I tried this out; for me the mod stopped taking effect after level 5 (I've filed a but about what I think is wrong).
I tweaked the implementation to patch that up - while I was in there I also adjusted the scripting so that the ini can setwhatever values it wants at any level. Thats for game practicalities, for me it needs the difficulty to ramp up quite quickly at lower levels, more slowly afterwards (I can imagine this depending on character build and play style; I ramp up one combat skill rapidly early on - "good enough" weapons are readily available by level 15 at worst too).
In answer to earlier comments: AFAIK it needs to geck to make this change, the ini file processing is scripted, and only specific levels are checked in the existing scripts.
I did one more change - this script doesn't change the game settings at very easy - normal, and only applies half the tweak at hard. Thats just to make it easy to change down to a lower difficulty from the game menu if something is too tough - run the game at "very hard" to get the full effect
I've been using JSawver mod for ages mostly for its legendary difficulty addon but I don't think the Skyrim Legendary difficulty rules fits so well in New Vegas causing sometimes the severe inconsistency. Your mod balances the difficulty in more refined way and making the game much less frustrating. Good job!
I'm justed here because Wasteland Prospects has this mod in. Let me get this straight. The higher my level will be the weaker I will be? Then starting weapons just become absolutely useless?
This mod is meant for a "regular" type of playthrough, where you always find the next big weapon to replace your old one, and gun for every unique. That type of playthrough ends up making you really strong by the end; too strong for people who enjoy having downsides to builds. That's where this mod comes in.
If you want to do builds that revolve around you being a .22 caliber specialist through and through, getting by with your tactics instead of your firepower, then you don't want this mod for said playthrough. You might want it for your next "I'm grinding for the Bozar ASAP" playthrough, though.
Its already how very hard difficulty works, this mostly just helps because its easy to make the early game unplayable, but with this you can kinda create a more balanced "harder than very hard" difficulty for the game.
32 comments
I tweaked the implementation to patch that up - while I was in there I also adjusted the scripting so that the ini can setwhatever values it wants at any level. Thats for game practicalities, for me it needs the difficulty to ramp up quite quickly at lower levels, more slowly afterwards (I can imagine this depending on character build and play style; I ramp up one combat skill rapidly early on - "good enough" weapons are readily available by level 15 at worst too).
In answer to earlier comments: AFAIK it needs to geck to make this change, the ini file processing is scripted, and only specific levels are checked in the existing scripts.
scn ProgressiveDifficultyQSCRIPT
begin gamemode
if getgamerestarted
;printc "ProgressiveDifficultyQ: restoring settings"
SetOnMenuOpenEventHandler ProgressiveDifficultyUDF 1 1027
SetOnMenuCloseEventHandler ProgressiveDifficultyUDF 1 1013
call ProgressiveDifficultyUDF 0
endif
end
scn ProgressiveDifficultyUDF
int iMenuID
string_var sIniSetting
begin Function {iMenuID}
let int iLevel = player.getlevel
let int iDifficulty = GetGameDifficulty
let float fToPlayer = 0
let float fByPlayer = 0
let int iCheckLevel = iLevel
while iCheckLevel >= 0
sIniSetting = "Level " + $iChecklevel + ":fDamageTOPlayer"
fToPlayer = GetINIFloat $sIniSetting "ProgressiveDifficulty.ini"
sIniSetting = "Level " + $iChecklevel + ":fDamageBYPlayer"
fByPlayer = GetINIFloat $sIniSetting "ProgressiveDifficulty.ini"
if fToPlayer > 0 && fByPlayer > 0
break
endif
iCheckLevel -= 1
loop
if iDifficulty < 3 || fByPlayer <= 0 || fToPlayer <= 0
;very easy -> normal or no valid value
printc "ProgressiveDifficulty: level %g, ignoring toPC=%.2f, byPC=%.2f" iLevel fToPlayer fByPlayer
elseif iDifficulty == 4
;Very hard
SetNumericGamesetting fDiffMultHPByPCVH fByPlayer
SetNumericGamesetting fDiffMultHPToPCVH fToPlayer
printc "ProgressiveDifficultyVH: level %g, setting toPC=%.2f, byPC=%.2f" iLevel fToPlayer fByPlayer
elseif iDifficulty == 3
;hard
fToPlayer = (1 + fToPlayer)/2
fByPlayer = (1 + fByPlayer)/2
SetNumericGamesetting fDiffMultHPByPCH fByPlayer
SetNumericGamesetting fDiffMultHPToPCH fToPlayer
printc "ProgressiveDifficultyH: level %g, setting toPC=%.2f, byPC=%.2f" iLevel fToPlayer fByPlayer
endif
sv_destruct sIniSetting
end
I did one more change - this script doesn't change the game settings at very easy - normal, and only applies half the tweak at hard. Thats just to make it easy to change down to a lower difficulty from the game menu if something is too tough - run the game at "very hard" to get the full effect
If you want to do builds that revolve around you being a .22 caliber specialist through and through, getting by with your tactics instead of your firepower, then you don't want this mod for said playthrough. You might want it for your next "I'm grinding for the Bozar ASAP" playthrough, though.
sounds like it would make dead money really unbalanced
My load order:
FalloutNV.esm
DeadMoney.esm
HonestHearts.esm
OldWorldBlues.esm
LonesomeRoad.esm
GunRunnersArsenal.esm
ClassicPack.esm
MercenaryPack.esm
TribalPack.esm
CaravanPack.esm
YUP - Base Game + All DLC.esm
SolidProject.esm
NVInteriors_Core.esm
NVInteriors_ComboEdition.esm
A World of Pain Revised.esm
MD_Gold_AA.esm
Contextual HUD.esm
TheHUDEditor.esm
Main And Pause Menus Overhaul.esm
YUP - NPC Fixes (Base Game + All DLC).esp
Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus.esp
The Mod Configuration Menu.esp
ItemBrowser.esp
Enhanced Item Info.esp
delilah.esp
JustAssortedMods.esp
JustAssortedMods - EII patch.esp
JIP Companions Command & Control.esp
Damage Numbers.esp
Inspector.esp
Glowing items V2 New Vegas.esp
UBulletTime.esp
MarathonerRedone.esp
T4-plugin.esp
T4-modest.esp
1nivVSLArmors.esp
Roberts_NewVegas.esp
Roberts - Type 4 Patch.esp
Larger Packs.esp
Altitude.esp
CIBS.esp
Quick Trade.esp
AidUI.esp
Vanilla UI Plus Vault Girl (bigCman) Patch.esp
Progressive Difficulty.esp (on and off)
Edit: To answer my own question it seems that VNV only edit the damage multiplayer on Sbeve Tweaks, meaning this mod should be mostly plug-n-play
Time to try to break the game while the game actually tries to break me :^)
;Damage TO player increases by 10% every 5 levels
;Damage BY player decreases by 10% every 5 levels