Lonesome Road Flare Ammo

REQUIREMENTS:
Lonesome Road (uuuhhh...)
NVSE
JIP LN
Optional Ammo Crafting Schematics patch included

I suppose I have too much time on my hands lately, since it just bothered me that the Flare Gun from Lonesome Road is seemingly capable of magically converting 10 "units" of flamer fuel into a proper cartridge projectile each time it loads. It also didn't help that of course ammo effects like those of the home-made or optimized flamer fuel also affect it, for some reason...

This mod adds two flare ammo types: 12 Gauge and 25mm, found in place of the flamer fuel that accompanied flare guns, in proportion of roughly 3:1. 25mm flares have double explosive radius at the cost of less firing range, kind of a gimmick but what's a FNV weapon without ammo choices? The Flare Gun is changed through scripts so that its clip size and ammo consumption is lowered to regular issue, 1 shot empties the clip and consumes 1 flare. The changes are scripted and account for weapon mods that increase the clip capacity, so this mod should be pretty much compatible with all weapon mod expansions. I also took the liberty of moving its measly 10 base damage to the flares' explosions proper, so as little damage as it does it will be distributed in the area of effect. Finally, I changed it skill type from Energy Weapons (since it used flamer fuel, I suppose) to Explosives, which IMO suits it much better.

I view the use of the Flare Gun as circumstantial enough that having it use its own dedicated ammo wasn't too much of a hassle. Wanna go for a tunnel-run in the Divide, or Deathclaw tipping? Just be sure to load some flares beforehand so you can scare abominations away if things get nasty. 12ga flares can be crafted and broken down with a Repair skill of 25, 25mm flares require the Hand Loader perk. Both use the old 10 units of flamer fuel to be made. For the most part, there should be no economy difference between the old flamer fuel and the new flares in terms of ammo usage. Included is a patch for my beloved Ammo Crafting Schematics mod, to categorize these in its ordering.

A final and kinda lame tbh tweak is the addition of actual light sources to the flares while they're in the world... but don't get your hopes up. Flares do leave a light where they impact now, but as it turns out the flare explosion model (NVDLC04\Effects\NVDLC04FlareExplosionFireLarge.NIF) disappears in a matter of seconds, so I've made the lights follow suit or else it looks kinda weird (and bloaty). I have no idea of working with meshes, if I did I'd tweak that mesh for the impact burning flare to last longer or something. It might still be useful enough to get an idea of your surroundings in a pitch black place, but then there are plenty of night vision options around.

To install drop and activate Flare Ammo.esp. You can also use Flare Ammo - ACS.esp after it and the AmmoCraftingSchematics.esp if you want to. To uninstall get rid of the files, though note Flare Guns in loot you didn't pick up will likely not be accompanied by flamer fuel if you revisit them, but that's hardly an issue.

This mod's idea is hardly new, way back then it was also worked on by TraderRager in the similar FlareAmmo mod. I opted to work on this simplified version to better suit my needs, but still, credit goes to him for the original idea.