Tales from the Burning Sands
Chapter 1: The Chef
Chapter 2: The Botanist
Chapter 3: The Architect

1.31b now available
*Compatibility Mods updated December.22.2013*




[size=+1]-- Compatibility Warning --[/size]
During an optional post-main-adventure sidequest in Chapter Three, having Nipton Rebuilt enabled may prevent the player from completing the sidequest due to a building being placed over a required quest item. If you experience this, It is recommended that you temporarily disable Nipton Rebuilt in order to find the object in question. Alternately, you can use the console command tcl to enable no-clip mode, which may let you fly "through" buildings and find the required item.

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What does this mod do?
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Tales from the Burning Sands is a lore-friendly, serialized adventure mod which will evolve through chapters. Each chapter will introduce a new character, story line, and/or location. The first chapter, The Chef, features an individual who needs your help for a variety of unusual tasks. To view the request, visit the Prospector Saloon in Goodsprings; there's a new Help Wanted terminal there that may have some useful information.

As with my Fallout 3 mods, Tales from the Burning Sands will be heavy on notes, characters, stories, and puzzles, and light on combat.

I rarely use waypoint/quest markers in my mods; you'll need to ponder over the notes/journals you've found if you get stuck. This is a personal preference, as a nice respite from the constant hand-holding of most 'vanilla' quests. The comments thread is a good place to seek help, and I'm more than happy to help (as are other friendly forum goers) with a hint/nudge in the right direction.

NOTE: If you are using other mods that let you teleport/fast-travel from interiors, make sure NOT to do so from the new/modified interiors added by this mod. There are (invisible) triggers that the player must enter to progress in the adventure, and if you fast travel/teleport from inside you may not enter the trigger properly.

[size=+1]All chapters are included in the primary download file. You'll be introduced to Chapter one to start with, and new chapters will become available after you've worked your way through a previous chapter. New chapters are started by visiting the Help Wanted terminal in the Goodsprings saloon.[/size]

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Installation
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Extract the contents of the zip file into your Fallout New Vegas Data Folder and be sure to place a check mark next to the Tales from the Burning Sands.esm file before launching the game.

If you've not used mods that use new textures/meshes, you'll need to make sure that bInvalidateOlderFiles is set to the correct value. In your Fallout_default.ini (it should be located in your New Vegas folder), look under the [Archive] section for the following entry:
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
Verify that the value is 1 and NOT 0.

You may experience mismatched skin tone on head/body parts on new NPCs. If this happens, open up your Fallout_default.ini and look under the [General] section for:
bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=1
Verify that the value is 1 and NOT 0. If the line is not present, add it as the very LAST entry in the [General] section.

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Requirements
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Fallout New Vegas, with the latest patch 1.4.0.525 installed.

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Optional additional mods
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Using Imp's Complex Needs? Check out the compatibility patch here:
Imp's Complex Needs Compatibility Patch

Enjoy Sortomatic? Here's a mod that Sortomatic-izes the Chef's house from Chapter One.
Sortomatic for Tales from the Burning Sands

Use NVEC? Here's a compatibility mod that ensures that the new recipes found in Tales still work if you're using NVEC. NVEC Complete-Tales from the Burning Sands Plant Script Fix by Sarcophski.

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Is this mod companion friendly?
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All new areas are at least partially nav-meshed, so the adventure should be at bare minimum "companion tolerable". However, I strongly recommend leaving your companions at home (I'm sure they'd enjoy a little time to themselves to catch up on needlecraft or what-have-you anyway), especially during Chapter 2. Chapter One's adventure is largely companion compatible, though, as with all my mods, not companion-recommended. Please, do yourself (and me) a favor and don't bring them along when you reach a certain new facility in Chapter 2. Your character will have to do a handful of rather atypical things at a few points during this part of the adventure, and a companion's reactions may cause issues.

[size=+1]--------Release History--------[/size]
v 1.31b
February.05.2014
+ overlooked toilet paper from a Chapter Two company added
+ a half-dozen cosmetic fixes in Chapter Two
+ several note typos corrected
+ one new recipe
+ minor display bug with the DNA Sequencer fixed
+ "finished" screen for Chapter Three (return to the Genefox CEO's room to see it. Ignore the comments about Leslie if you've ready done his mini-adventure involving the watch.)
+ a few short spooky vignettes in the middle of the Sunrise Hospital adventures (if you've already finished Chapter Three, return to the hospital (go slow and have your radio off, or even better, set to a "dead" station), talk to the Doc, then leave to experience them.
+ new unmarked location (as a hint, it's "Fab" ) with several new notes and a spiffy musical device
+ over 50 graphical corrections, adjustments, and minor additions on Tiger Campus
+ several additional tweaks to Moriella's Return
+ fix to a couple of recipes not having skill requirements
+ "special recipes" now include many more books to make the stuff that goes boom
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Click here to see the archived release history. The current version is 1.31b.