Prey (2017)

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RoSoDude

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RoSoDude

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About this mod

This mod seeks to improve Prey's game balance without substantially altering its core design, with optional modules for hardcore and casual players.

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PREY CORE BALANCE MOD - Version 1.3
by RoSoDude
https://rosodudemods.wordpress.com

#### What is CORE BALANCE? ####
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CORE BALANCE is a modification that seeks to improve Prey's game balance without substantially altering its core design.

Neuromod skills, chipsets, status effects, etc. are essentially the same, but numbers are tweaked to even out the viability of strategies, while also reducing the abusability of certain systems.
The player's strength will start out on par with the base game, but they will have a longer route to unstoppable godhood, with fewer no-brainer skills and more playstyle flexibility.
The total number of Neuromods needed to fully upgrade Morgan remains roughly the same, but overabundant resources are reduced and character progression is slightly decelerated.
Survival Mode options are now finely tuned to provide the intended depth and challenge, where in the base game they were easily trivialized by resource balance and other numerical oversights.
Far from simply nerfing everything, this mod aims to enable greater creativity and player expression by bringing underpowered options up to par, so every Neuromod and chipset is an interesting choice.
Enemy designs and hazards are also rebalanced, with some previously undodgeable attacks and instant death events mitigated, and enemy resistances made more intuitive and explicit for the player.
This mod is NOT designed purely for hardcore players, though there are optional modules to suit them as well as more casual players and everyone in between, making for a highly tweakable experience.
CORE BALANCE is Prey as it should have been; retaining all of the nuanced gameplay that Arkane is known for, but with none of their famous balance mishaps!

#### Overview of Changes ####
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Most weapons no longer auto-reload when running out of ammo as reload animations can no longer be canceled due to the Survival Mode patch.

Food heals over time and more slowly (but for a longer duration).
Oxygen is limited in space in Survival Mode even when at full suit condition.
Weapons degrade at vanilla rates (so trading for new copies remains viable) in Survival Mode, but have a chance to jam below 5% condition. Spare parts are much less effective at repairing weapons. The Huntress Boltcaster can now degrade and break too, just like a real nerf gun!
Loot tables contain far fewer Suit Repair Kits, and psi hypos, spare parts, medkits, and food are somewhat rarer. Trauma-clearing items are slightly more common in Survival Mode.
Difficulty settings expanded with greater impact on the effect of healing items and trauma acquisition, while damage intake scaling on Hard and Nightmare is removed.
The radial selection menu only slows time down by 50% rather than stopping it entirely, the effect of Combat Focus is downtuned at every rank, and it no longer provides any bonus damage.
Directly damaging alien abilities require more investment to ramp up to full potency, and higher ranks are more expensive.
Less direct alien abilities such as Remote Manipulation and Lift Field are slightly cheaper, and Mindjack/Machine Mind last longer at the higher ranks.
Mimic Matter now provides increasing benefits to stealth camouflage, and base visibility while rolling around as a coffee cup is as low as while sneaking (rather than as high as running)
Human skills offer increasing benefits as you upgrade them, rather than often suffering from diminishing returns except in the case of already overpowered skills.
Hacking puzzle times are rescaled, so tier II hacks are not more difficult than tier III and IV hacks.
Anomalies in chipset balance are resolved, and niche chipsets buffed to encourage unique playstyles. Thorough numerical detail is added to chipset descriptions to better inform player choices.
Enemy research data are expanded to include resistances, where it was previously poorly communicated that some enemies were resistant but not immune to Mindjack, Fear, etc.
Overly damaging enemy attacks and hazards are downtuned to lead to fewer cheap deaths and more recoverable situations in gameplay.
In addition, there are 5 optional modules which can provide further gameplay changes (these go in the same folder as the main patch file):
-patch_COREBALANCE_1-3_HALFMAT.pak halves recycling yield. Recommended for hardcore players (requires new game, not compatible with MOREMAT module)
-patch_COREBALANCE_1-3_MOREMAT.pak increases recycling yield by 1.5x. Recommended for casual players (requires new game, not compatible with HALFMAT module)
-patch_COREBALANCE_1-3_NOFREELUNCH.pak removes fountain healing and all restoration from Operators except Survival Mode traumas and replaces food heal over time with trauma chance reduction. Recommended for hardcore players
-patch_COREBALANCE_1-3_LESSAMMO.pak reduces the counts of ammo found in containers and in the world (requires new game). Recommended for hardcore players
-patch_COREBALANCE_1-3_WEAPMODCRIT.pak replaces the Pistol range mods and Shotgun recoil mods with critical chance mods (may or may not require new game)
The full changelist is provided in "CORE BALANCE changelist.txt".
Mooncrash is not currently supported. Stay tuned for similar balance updates for the DLC in the future.

#### Installation Instructions ####
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Place the patch_COREBALACE_1-3.pak file into Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Prey\GameSDK\Precache\, alongside patch.pak. This is the main mod file with gameplay changes.

Place any other optional module pak files into Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Prey\GameSDK\Precache\. All pak files are loaded in alphabetical order
Copy the English_xml_patch.pak file over Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Prey\Localization\English_xml_patch.pak. Back up the original first if you like. This updates game descriptions.
To uninstall, simply remove the files from the \Precache\ folder and replace the original Localization file (delete and Verify Integrity of Game Files in Steam if you didn't backup of the latter).
WARNING: Many changes require a new game to go into effect. This also means that you must start a new playthrough if you wish to fully uninstall this mod.

#### Recommended Configurations ####
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For most players, particularly first-timers, I recommend Normal difficulty with the Survival Mode options enabled or disabled as desired and none of the modules installed.

For casual players, I recommend Easy (or Story) difficulty with the Survival Mode options disabled and the MOREMAT module installed.
For hardcore players, I recommend Hard or Nightmare difficulty with the Survival Mode options enabled and the HALFMAT, NOFREELUNCH, and LESSAMMO modules installed.
Note that Hard and Nightmare mode no longer increase damage taken (affect medkits/psi hypos/traumas instead), so they are best paired with Survival Mode options and modules.
For players looking to acquire the Split Affinity and No Needles achievements, I recommend avoiding the hardcore setup, as it is designed around full engagement with the upgrade systems.
The WEAPMODCRIT module may be of interested to veteran players who want to spice up a playthrough, but is not recommended for first-time players.
I HIGHLY recommend playing without any form of save abuse -- just rely on the autosave and try to live through your mistakes! This holds many of the systems together, and encourages adaptive play.
The mod (and game) is tuned to provide a challenge even on Normal if you play this way, though I still found it reasonable on Hard and Nightmare for veteran players looking for punishment.

#### Compatible Mods ####
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CORE BALANCE is compatible with the following mods on the Nexus:

-Real Lights Plus Ultra Graphics: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/22
-Prey Xinput Fix: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/19
-PREY Super Easy hacking: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/8
-Prey Interface Customizer: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/18
-Proper Infinite Ammo: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/17
-PREY Immersion Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/2
-PREY Better Scopes Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/5
-Undarken: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/30
-Prey 2017 FPS Config: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/3
-Prey - Stunning Visuals: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/29
-mimics squek: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/16
-Horror Typhons: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/31
-One Button Hacking: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/43
-Mooncrash Weapon Cosmetics in Prey: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/50
-1st person player model overrides: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/47
-Apartment Intro Skip: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/54
-Mimics With Silly Hats: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/55
-All keycodes are 1111: https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/60
-An updated version of Detailed Tooltips (https://www.nexusmods.com/prey2017/mods/39) is already included

#### Tweaking the Mod ####
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All you need to modify CORE BALANCE is to rename the .pak file to a .zip, extract its contents, and edit the .xml files (preferably in Notepad++).

Then zip up the contents, rename to .pak, and place it in Precache. Remember that all .pak files are loaded alphabetically in the case of any conflicts (one .xml overwrites the other, no merge).
This is limited to the .xml files that I included in the .pak, while the .pak files you'll find in \Prey\GameSDK\ need to be decrypted before they can be manipulated in this way.
For more details, please check out my full Prey Modding Guide: https://rosodudemods.wordpress.com/prey-modding-guide/

#### Credits and Use ####
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I (RoSoDude) am the sole creator of this work. You may modify my work as you please for personal use, but please ask for permission if you wish to use my mod as a base for your own.

Thanks to Sir Kane on the XeNTaX forums for the modding tools.
Thanks to other Prey modders for inspiration, especially the creators of Prey for Death Hardcore, Prey Survival Mod, Neuroshock, and SHOCK.
Special thanks to Buzboy, creator of the SHOCK mod, and jmx7777, creator of the Real Lights plus Ultra Graphics mod, for technical help and design feedback/discussion.
Special thanks to kida and ProudNitro on the PREY Discord for testing, detailed information on the game and design feedback/discussion.
Special thanks to Ash, ciox, Durandal, Zakhad, <3sRichardSimmons, Average Manatee, and Ventidius on RPGCodex for testing and design feedback/discussion
Special thanks to AugmentedTTV for testing and streaming my mod at https://www.twitch.tv/AugmentedTTV
And thank you for your interest! I welcome any and all feedback. Please let me know if you encounter any bugs that you believe are the result of the mod, or if any features don't work as claimed.