This Far Cry 4 mod is a combination of:
JVarnes' Far Cry 4 Open World Mod v1.10
&
Rickvs64's FC4 Hardcore Survival mod

I have made mods for Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 4, Skyrim, and No Man's Sky. Now I have come to share this with the Far Cry community -- I've taken two great mods with two great ideas and made them compatible with each other. Before install remember to back up your files: patch_hd.fat, and patch_hd.dat.

How do I backup my files?
Make a folder in Data_Win32 called "Vanilla Backup" and drag those two files into it. The game won't use them once they're in there. Make sure you download the two mods above and name their files "Hardcore Mode" and "Enhanced Mode" and put them in their own folders for your reference.

How do I install this?
Drag patch_hd.fat, and patch_hd.dat into your data_win32 folder after you've backed up the vanilla files.

Will I need to start a new game to play this?
No but I recommend you do since it doesn't make sense for so much to change after the story is halfway through. This mod should be enjoyed from the time you meet Ajay Ghale and experience his journey from a new experience. Please select "Hard" when starting your new game.


So, what does this mod do? It does everything that Hardcore and Enhanced modes do with some changes. I'm going to talk about how this mod picks and chooses what is best for your experience.

Think of Enhanced Mode as an unlocker -- it makes the game open world, changing scripts and immersing you into the game by changing the User Interface and making your choices more optional.
Hardcore Mode, instead, makes the game brutally realistic through changing the games economy, looting, enemy spawns, and User Interface.
These mods are not only incompatible because they both are the same file, they also crash if you do a basic combination of the two because of user interface conflicts. I've fixed those conflicts, and now, in version 1.3, I've overhauled the economy. I've also updated the propaganda posters to 1920x1080 resolution and the car rust to 3840x2160 resolution, because you get close to both of these objects for gameplay purposes (rip down posters, repair cars).

OVERHAULED ECONOMY: AMMO AND SPICES ARE THE CURRENCY OF KYRAT!
Due to the ongoing civil war, Kyrat militias are hoarding ammo for the war efforts. Rapid firing weapons are being brought into the country en-masse and installed on all-terrain vehicles. There are plenty of bullets being fired, but unless you're serving in the military, there isn't much left for you. The Kyrati rebels disdain seeing Pagan Min's tyrant face printed onto the fiat currency, and prefer trading most supplies in bullet currency. Rupees from India are also highly preferred, but are increasingly harder to come by. Prove your worth by serving in the rebellion, and higher karma will have traders willing to give you more ammo for the cause. The traders only want peace, and will gladly make money off of both sides in this war. Since Pagan Min spends most of the military money on high capacity, rapid-fire weaponry, there is an abundance of these in the country, while local militias have to settle with arming their foot-soldiers with automatic weapons that fire less bullets, to conserve ammo. The price of ammo has exploded over 40x, and weapons that use a lot of ammo are now incredibly cheap. The citizens prefer hunting rifles since ammo is unaffordable and soldiers no longer have time to keep the local wildlife in check. Predatory animals are popping up everywhere, feeding on what remains of the dead bodies of Kyrat. Families weep for their loved ones in the open fields, some commit suicide. What have you gotten yourself into?

The Kyrati citizenry have historically enjoyed an abundance of local stimulating plants. Used in celebrations of festivals, dyes, teas, and for energy, the citizens prize these plants. Serve the people by harvesting plants and selling them for 5x the price! Especially prized are blue leaves. Since leaving the house has become dangerous, and swimming is a liability, blue leaves are a rare treat for the people of Kyrat. Your main source of money can be in killing enemies, fulfilling missions, or harvesting plants and selling them. Pagan Min is pumping his soldiers with illicit drugs like meth, but the Kyrati rebels prefer the traditional natural plants of Kyrat. Trade your leaves for ammo!

With the best weapons being smuggled into the country and ammo being at such a high price, attachments are 10x market value. Rifles being favored by the military for accuracy, SMGs are relatively cheap, maneuverable, and the ammo is slightly less costly than rifle ammo, but you'll find less SMG ammo on soldiers, so choose your main weapon carefully.

Arrows are 2000 rupees per arrow, as they are harvested from local trees, but beware: the bows are quite expensive, since the best craftsmen are abducted by Pagan Min to help construct and design makeshift cities.

The Karma system has been completely overhauled. It no longer reduces the price of guns, but can reduce the price of ammo. Participating in karma events now is a spiritual journey -- a choice. Only you can discover whether or not this land of Kyrat is spiritual. Are there rewards? Are there punishments? Will the local citizens smile upon you? Will animals avoid or chase you if your karma is high? Will the birds attack your enemies if you please the gods? This is for you to discover.

In Kyrat, since ammo is so scarce, most citizens desire weapons that do not require a lot of bullets, but are the most effective. For this reason, guns that use a lot of ammo are less costly than guns that don't.
The new gun price calculation is as follows:

For example, the Assault Rifle .700 Nitro has Accuracy 7, Damage 9, Range 8, Handling 3, and Fire Rate 2. Plugging in the values yields a price of 1,974,993.
If that same weapon had a fire rate of 9, the price would be only 206,893.
So it might seem wildly imbalanced at face-value, but the price is actually based on the concept of a real economy that needs ammunition.
So you'll see interesting things: even though the P416 is considered a more precise weapon than the AK47, and capable of dealing more damage per second, the AK47 is prized higher by Kyrati militias because it wastes less ammo during practice shooting and it's easier to cover the costs of a militia using only AK47s rather than P416s.
AK47 Price: 184,726.
P416 Price: 98,520. (Almost half price! Uses twice as much ammo per second despite being a better weapon!)
Did you know the Kyrati love elephants? Likewise, everyone wants an Elephant Gun. It's 1,567,455 rupees. Have a nice day.
But cardamom! That's unfair!
IS IT?? 6P9 old price: 30,000 rupees. 6P9 new price: 39,653 rupees! Are you really that upset? :)
PKM old price: 44000 rupees. PKM new price: 48982 rupees! It's not that bad, right? :)

YOU have the option to spend your time conquering Kyrati towers to gain new weapons, or earn money and buy them.
YOU can choose to save up a lot of money for an excellent weapon, or buy a weak weapon and customize the attachments to make it your own masterpiece.
Hardcore mode gets rid of silencers and other gun extensions, they are back and available for purchase (if you can afford them -- they've gone up in price 10x). Smugglers are bringing in these extensions from outside of Kyrati territory, and Pagan Min's tightly controlled borders makes smuggling a very expensive prospect.

Hardcore mode makes ammo looting from bodies impossible or you only pick up 1 bullet. I have changed this, you can pick up any kind of ammo from any dead soldier body including mines and molotovs, but there is a caveat: there's a very high chance of finding handgun ammo and fuel for flamethrowers, but anything you find will be in small amounts and so you will have to switch weapons a lot and you will lose a lot of money buying ammo in the late game.

Sniper rifles have a different pricing formula because they are already slow, so vendors make more money on faster rifles rather than slower ones. A dead sniper won't return to you to buy your ammo. Handling is now preferred by snipers and hunters. Sniper rifle pricing formula:

But cardamom! With your formula, the AMR -- the best sniper rifle in the game -- would cost 6,531,064, which would make it more expensive than a wallet can carry!
That's right. It's now 5 million -- the maximum you can attain in the game. Might be easier to go find it somewhere. Good luck. :)

Rocket Launchers:
GL-A87: 2400000
GM-94: 1837619
LK1018-MAAWS: 2955622
RPG-7: 1600000
M-79: 1600000
MAAWS: 2955622

Special and signature unique considerations that differ from the formulas:
Signatures -- Ripper is unchanged. Driller now is sold at 246874 rupees. Stinger is double the formula price, since the Skorpion is part of the economy. This will encourage players interested in this weapon to use the Skorpion instead of buying the Stinger.
Specials -- Flare Gun price unchanged (100,000 rupees). LPO 50 lowered by 1,000,000 rupees to 800,000 rupees. Harpoon has gone up from 0 to 731,479 rupees.

Items still locked: Painted Pachyderms (UPLAY LOCK -- don't want to make Ubisoft mad), A.J.M. 9 (UPLAY LOCK -- don't want to make Ubisoft mad), Flamethrower (don't want to see if unlocking it early, without use of a mission breaks the game -- better safe than sorry). That's it. Those are the three.

RECOMMENDED:
Set field of view 2 ticks below the midline (10 ticks in the bar, starts at 5, tick down twice)
Change COLOR settings accordingly (have to use mouse, 10 ticks per bar, 100 miniticks per bar):
Brightness 2.5
Contrast 7.5
Gamma 5.5

You can try brightness 3, contrast 7, gamma 5 but it's a little darker than it should be. This is the realest looking coloring system available for far cry 4.

Contact me here in the comments of this mod if you wish to let me know about your journey, or your plans, or your feedback, or if you need help from the mod community.