Armor Upgrades Rebalance

1. Installation

Run Install_Armor_Upgrades_Rebalance.exe and follow the instructions.
You will find a copy of this text with a better readability and without obligation of installation.

2. Uninstallation

In your override folder, delete the same files as contained in tslpatchdata. Restore the files from the backup folder to your override, except dialog.tlk to be replaced in your installation folder.

3. Existing saves

This mod does not affect any upgrades you already have in your current game. You will have to recreate them at the workbench or start a new game.

4. Compatibility

This mod changes the lines regarding armor upgrades in itemcreate.2da and itemcreatemira.2da so it is incompatible with other mods doing the same.

This mod creates a copy and overwrite .uti files of armor upgrades. It is therefore incompatible with mods doing the same.

This mod replaces the icons (.tga files) of the "Armorply Plating" upgrades. Be careful with your install order if you have mods that modify these files.

5. Changes

Modifies the stats, names, descriptions and icons of "armor upgrade" items.
See below and Armor_upgrades_rebalance.ods for details.

6. About

This is my first mod !

It was thought out and designed to play with high difficulty mods (Beancounter, Difficulty Options ...). Over the course of my games, by dint of being mistreated by the game, I have come to several conclusions :

- With hardcore difficulty mods, the only viable upgrades are those that immunize against energy and melee weapons.

- ...because Defense and, to a lesser extent, Blaster Bolt Deflection are useless. Conversely, Attack becomes paramount.

- Jal Shey armor is ugly, I can't see it anymore.

- ... but it is the only armor that allows the use of Force powers (especially Speed) and is therefore essential.

From there, I made the robes the same upgrade level as the light armor. Rehabilitating the robes in this way makes Jal Shey armor more dispensable (to the detriment of other light armors but...).

Since armor prevents the use of Speed, it is not viable in hardcore difficulty. Enemies have too much health and without Speed the DPS is too low. So I decided to turn them into tank.

So I put very high bonuses on the medium and heavy upgrades. And even more to those that do not protect against energy or melee, in order to make them attractive and potentially viable. Or at least, useful on certain occasions.

Getting the feats "Medium Armor Proficiency" and "Heavy Armor Proficiency" are investments I wanted to reward. This is why most mark 4 or 5 upgrades are only available to these categories.
As they are "different" from Mark I to III, the skills needed to create them are also different.

This makes intermediate and heavy armor more dispensable at the beginning of the game but more and more attractive as you progress. I haven't tested a full game yet, I will do so when I'm done with the rebalanced weapon upgrades.

I changed the order of the icons to make them more consistent with their new stats and descriptions. I only changed the "Armorply Plating" icons by desaturating it to make it gray and more "discreet". If you want to get back its original green color, delete the 4 .tga files concerned from your override (the same ones as in tslpatchdata) and restore those contained in backup if there are any.

7. Credits and thanks

TSLPatcher by Stoffe
KotOR Tool by Fred Tetra
K-GFF by TK102
2DA Editor By VarsityPuppet

I thank Beancounter for his Hardcore Mod which I have never been able to do without and otherwise this mod would not exist.

I thank PramodMarlon for his AI Upscaled Icon Overhaul mod which I used just to desaturate (I have no image editing skills) the icons in the Armorply Plating. I can not do without this mod, I recommend it.

A huge thank you to Sireyn, because while I didn’t use any assets from his Implant Rebalance mod, I completely copied and reused his Upgrades Summary Table to help me create my mod. I still use it to work on other mods and continue to supplement it.
Without this table, I would still have to struggle on my disgusting .txt, a big thank you <3

I thank Google Translate otherwise this text would never have existed.

And I thank you also for making it this far and playing KotOR with mods <3