About this mod
Allows you to scavenge water sources for food, using fishing tools and skills.
Adds new items, crafting recipes, and a new Fishing skill.
- Permissions and credits
- Mirrors
- Changelogs
After working on this on and off since modding was made possible for NeoScavenger, I finally got this to a state that I was happy enough with to post publicly.
Basically, this mod lets you scavenge water hexes for fish (similar to how squirrel trapping works in the vanilla game). A new Fishing skill is available, and new fishing and related food items are added too. There's even a few new accidents that can happen while scavenging in water.
This is my first posted "proper" mod, so please be gentle! But I hope this is useful to other players... fishing was one of the first things I wanted added after playing this game, and remains among the most common things suggested in the forums under "game suggestions".
GAMEPLAY CHANGES:
Any character can "fish" by scavenging a lake or river hex and using a fishing pole, hand reel, spear (spear fishing) or your bare hands (good luck!). If a character has the Fishing skill, using it will increase your chances of catching anything a LOT. In other words, anyone can throw a line in the water and cross their fingers, but a character with the Fishing skill will have a much better chance of success.
Fishing pole can be made from fishing line, a branch (or spear), weights, hook, sharp edge and Fishing skill.
Fishing hand lines can be made with just line, weights and a hook.
Fishing weights can be made from small mechanical parts if you have the Fishing skill (to know the right size/weight nuts and bolts to use), as can fishing hooks if you have the Mechanic skill and the right tools (pliers and a fire to harden the hook with).
When scavenging, fishing items (poles, reels, line, hooks and weights) can be sometimes found in storage sheds and forest shacks, as well as at the Sprawl Junk Market.
To eat a fish, you need to clean and scale it first (raw fish + sharp edge = raw fish chunks)... but if you have the Fishing skill, you'll do a better job and end up with a raw fish fillet instead. Sorry, you're not Gollum, so you can't eat a raw unscaled fish!
Fish fillets are "better" food than chunks, and can also be cut into chunks (x2) with a sharp edge, meaning a Fishing character basically gets twice the useable "meat" from a raw fish compared to an unskilled one.
Once cleaned/descaled, fish fillets and chunks can be eaten raw or cooked (fried in a pot or roasted on a stick).
Fish will "spoil" when it degrades, but can still be eaten (*vomit*).
INSTALLING:
Unpack this mod to your NeoScavenger folder (it should end up in the subfolder "Mods"). The included "getmods.php" file will activate the mod automatically.
For expert users, also included in the package are "getmods.Fishing.php" (backup in case you accidentally delete the new "getmods.php") and "getmods.FishingTest" (adds all the new items to the cryo hex); to use either of these, copy one of them to your main NeoScavenger folder and renam it to "getmods.php".
USE WITH OTHER MODS:
There are "compatibility patches" included for use with Chiko's NeoScavenger Extended (NSE) or Kaaven's MmMoD mods (you can't use both at the same time, but those two mods aren't compatible with each other anyway). Copy either "getmods.Extended+Fishing.php" or "getmods.MmMoD+Fishing.php" to your main NeoScavenger folder and rename to "getmods.php". If you have everything installed as instructed (this mod and NSE or MmMoD), everything should work.
Note that when using this mod with MmMoD, new recipes will be available to make boiled fish (fire + x2 water + pot = boiled fish and fish stock) and/or dried fish (small fire + branch + sharp edge + Trapping skill). You can make these items in "bulk", too (x3 fish fillets = x3 dried fish).
There is also a "compatibility patch" for use with Layarion's Overhaul mod. If you use that mod, copy "getmods.Overhaul+Fishing.php" to your main NeoScavenger folder and rename to "getmods.php". To use a combination of the Overhaul Mod, Fishing Mod and either NSE or MmMoD, you will need to edit your getmods.php file yourself or find a merge patch made by someone else (these are likely available on the official NeoScavenger modding forums, if nowhere else).
Finally, there is a "compatibility patch" for use with the Big Bad Cheater mod. To use both mods together, copy "getmods.Fishing+BBC.php" to your main NeoScavenger folder and rename to "getmods.php". You will now be able to spawn fishing items and seafood if you have the Cheater skill.
Most recent cross-mod compatibility (as of writing): NSE v3.9, MmMoD v0.91, Overhaul v1.6h, Big Bad Cheater v5.5.
HELP NEEDED:
I need everyone's help testing this, though. Several things:
1) Balance issues: my main aim was to get fishing "working" with the base game. NeoScavenger is designed to be "harsh" but I instinctively tend to err on the side of "forgiving" when designing, so I'd like player feedback on fishing "loot drop" rates, accidents, etc. Is catching fish too hard or too easy? How is rods/reels durability? Is 2 points okay for the Fishing skill "cost"? Please let me know your thoughts so I can find a balance that suits everyone best.
2) Fishing weights: are these an unnecessary complication (re: realism vs fun)? Should "vanilla" small mechanical parts just be used in recipes instead of this new item? I was on the fence about including them, to be honest.
3) My new graphics suck, I know. I can't do pixel art so editing existing images was my only option. Anyone who wants to donate new sprites for anything is very welcome, but my main concern was making the mod working and playable right now. Although not up to the standards of the original game or some pixel artist modders, I feel at least you can (mostly!) tell what everything here is meant to be!
4) Adding loot locations! Where do you think fishing gear should be found in-game? Right now, it's very limited (Junk Market and storage sheds) for testing purposes, but I'd like to add weights, hooks, line and even poles and hand reels to existing scavenge locations and encounters based on player feedback. How easy/hard should these things be to find?
I made this mod for my own use, but since I'm sharing it with other players, I'd really like it to be what everyone wants out of a "fishing experience" in NeoScavenger!
FUTURE PLANS:
Graphics abilities permitting, I'd love to add the ability to catch freshwater crayfish and/or shrimp in craftable plastic bottle traps. Post apocalypse gourmet eating! :)
I've already made a "compatibility"/merge patch that makes this useable with Kaaven's fantastic MmMoD mod. I did consider making the maggots from that mod required to fish (as "bait")... but that would add a whole new level of extra work that I'm not sure is worth it for the sake of realism.
THANKS:
Special thanks to Dan for making modding a reality... I told ya doing so would open up a huge new lease of life for the game, didn't I? ;)
Thanks too to Kaaven and everyone else who helped answer my occasional question, and provided great mods to learn from!
FOOTNOTE:
At the last minute before posting this, I decided to include a "commercial quality" fishing rod (uncraftable and very rare, but better than the craftable and more common home-made fishing pole) item. However, my total lack of artistic skill (and time) forced me to use a crude "placeholder" image for it. Even compared to my feeble pixel art attempts, this image IMO looks really out of place with NeoScavenger's other graphics, but it was more work to go back and remove this item until I could get a better image than to keep it in as it is for now. Sorry!
Basically, this mod lets you scavenge water hexes for fish (similar to how squirrel trapping works in the vanilla game). A new Fishing skill is available, and new fishing and related food items are added too. There's even a few new accidents that can happen while scavenging in water.
This is my first posted "proper" mod, so please be gentle! But I hope this is useful to other players... fishing was one of the first things I wanted added after playing this game, and remains among the most common things suggested in the forums under "game suggestions".
GAMEPLAY CHANGES:
Any character can "fish" by scavenging a lake or river hex and using a fishing pole, hand reel, spear (spear fishing) or your bare hands (good luck!). If a character has the Fishing skill, using it will increase your chances of catching anything a LOT. In other words, anyone can throw a line in the water and cross their fingers, but a character with the Fishing skill will have a much better chance of success.
Fishing pole can be made from fishing line, a branch (or spear), weights, hook, sharp edge and Fishing skill.
Fishing hand lines can be made with just line, weights and a hook.
Fishing weights can be made from small mechanical parts if you have the Fishing skill (to know the right size/weight nuts and bolts to use), as can fishing hooks if you have the Mechanic skill and the right tools (pliers and a fire to harden the hook with).
When scavenging, fishing items (poles, reels, line, hooks and weights) can be sometimes found in storage sheds and forest shacks, as well as at the Sprawl Junk Market.
To eat a fish, you need to clean and scale it first (raw fish + sharp edge = raw fish chunks)... but if you have the Fishing skill, you'll do a better job and end up with a raw fish fillet instead. Sorry, you're not Gollum, so you can't eat a raw unscaled fish!
Fish fillets are "better" food than chunks, and can also be cut into chunks (x2) with a sharp edge, meaning a Fishing character basically gets twice the useable "meat" from a raw fish compared to an unskilled one.
Once cleaned/descaled, fish fillets and chunks can be eaten raw or cooked (fried in a pot or roasted on a stick).
Fish will "spoil" when it degrades, but can still be eaten (*vomit*).
INSTALLING:
Unpack this mod to your NeoScavenger folder (it should end up in the subfolder "Mods"). The included "getmods.php" file will activate the mod automatically.
For expert users, also included in the package are "getmods.Fishing.php" (backup in case you accidentally delete the new "getmods.php") and "getmods.FishingTest" (adds all the new items to the cryo hex); to use either of these, copy one of them to your main NeoScavenger folder and renam it to "getmods.php".
USE WITH OTHER MODS:
There are "compatibility patches" included for use with Chiko's NeoScavenger Extended (NSE) or Kaaven's MmMoD mods (you can't use both at the same time, but those two mods aren't compatible with each other anyway). Copy either "getmods.Extended+Fishing.php" or "getmods.MmMoD+Fishing.php" to your main NeoScavenger folder and rename to "getmods.php". If you have everything installed as instructed (this mod and NSE or MmMoD), everything should work.
Note that when using this mod with MmMoD, new recipes will be available to make boiled fish (fire + x2 water + pot = boiled fish and fish stock) and/or dried fish (small fire + branch + sharp edge + Trapping skill). You can make these items in "bulk", too (x3 fish fillets = x3 dried fish).
There is also a "compatibility patch" for use with Layarion's Overhaul mod. If you use that mod, copy "getmods.Overhaul+Fishing.php" to your main NeoScavenger folder and rename to "getmods.php". To use a combination of the Overhaul Mod, Fishing Mod and either NSE or MmMoD, you will need to edit your getmods.php file yourself or find a merge patch made by someone else (these are likely available on the official NeoScavenger modding forums, if nowhere else).
Finally, there is a "compatibility patch" for use with the Big Bad Cheater mod. To use both mods together, copy "getmods.Fishing+BBC.php" to your main NeoScavenger folder and rename to "getmods.php". You will now be able to spawn fishing items and seafood if you have the Cheater skill.
Most recent cross-mod compatibility (as of writing): NSE v3.9, MmMoD v0.91, Overhaul v1.6h, Big Bad Cheater v5.5.
HELP NEEDED:
I need everyone's help testing this, though. Several things:
1) Balance issues: my main aim was to get fishing "working" with the base game. NeoScavenger is designed to be "harsh" but I instinctively tend to err on the side of "forgiving" when designing, so I'd like player feedback on fishing "loot drop" rates, accidents, etc. Is catching fish too hard or too easy? How is rods/reels durability? Is 2 points okay for the Fishing skill "cost"? Please let me know your thoughts so I can find a balance that suits everyone best.
2) Fishing weights: are these an unnecessary complication (re: realism vs fun)? Should "vanilla" small mechanical parts just be used in recipes instead of this new item? I was on the fence about including them, to be honest.
3) My new graphics suck, I know. I can't do pixel art so editing existing images was my only option. Anyone who wants to donate new sprites for anything is very welcome, but my main concern was making the mod working and playable right now. Although not up to the standards of the original game or some pixel artist modders, I feel at least you can (mostly!) tell what everything here is meant to be!
4) Adding loot locations! Where do you think fishing gear should be found in-game? Right now, it's very limited (Junk Market and storage sheds) for testing purposes, but I'd like to add weights, hooks, line and even poles and hand reels to existing scavenge locations and encounters based on player feedback. How easy/hard should these things be to find?
I made this mod for my own use, but since I'm sharing it with other players, I'd really like it to be what everyone wants out of a "fishing experience" in NeoScavenger!
FUTURE PLANS:
Graphics abilities permitting, I'd love to add the ability to catch freshwater crayfish and/or shrimp in craftable plastic bottle traps. Post apocalypse gourmet eating! :)
I've already made a "compatibility"/merge patch that makes this useable with Kaaven's fantastic MmMoD mod. I did consider making the maggots from that mod required to fish (as "bait")... but that would add a whole new level of extra work that I'm not sure is worth it for the sake of realism.
THANKS:
Special thanks to Dan for making modding a reality... I told ya doing so would open up a huge new lease of life for the game, didn't I? ;)
Thanks too to Kaaven and everyone else who helped answer my occasional question, and provided great mods to learn from!
FOOTNOTE:
At the last minute before posting this, I decided to include a "commercial quality" fishing rod (uncraftable and very rare, but better than the craftable and more common home-made fishing pole) item. However, my total lack of artistic skill (and time) forced me to use a crude "placeholder" image for it. Even compared to my feeble pixel art attempts, this image IMO looks really out of place with NeoScavenger's other graphics, but it was more work to go back and remove this item until I could get a better image than to keep it in as it is for now. Sorry!