FO3 Phalanx
Multi-follower environment in development

Version 0.97 Release 2 uploaded on May 22, 2009.
Broken Steel Integration .esp uploaded May 23, 2009


-----------------------------------------
Obedient Dogmeat .esp no longer used with the mainline release!
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All-new "death handling" system, plz report any problems!
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FO3 Phalanx is a comprehensive Fallout 2 - themed mod for Fallout 3. Phalanx' main strength at this time is as follower overhaul mod. It is working toward these goals:

1) Bringing back to Fallout 3 the levels of follower sensibility and control that was offered in Fallout 2. or exceeding it.
2) Adds back some of the content that feels 'missing' from Fallout 3.
3) Additional objectives (related to ongoing Enclave warfare) after completion of the vanilla Fallout 3 Main Quest..

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgbRgqF22yc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrHKn8orEMQ



********************************************************************************
* The current release version is 0.97
*
* Version 0.97 has compatibility with the patched 1.5 game but requires
* http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=637 to work properly with it.
* Not using FO3MasterUpdate with .exe version 1.5 causes skin tone and navmesh issues.
*
*File location: http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/All-Phalanx-Modules-0.97.zip
* This file is 111 megs due to voice-acted files.
*
* Broken Steel Integration .esp: http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/Phalanx-BrokenSteel-Integration-1.0.zip
*
* A difficulty-increasing mod that I am personally using is here: (expects some form of MMM increased spawns):
* http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=997760
* This mod requires Broken Steel and does not expect you to be running mods that artificially limit stims, ammo, caps, etc.
*
* A (much smaller) zipfile that does not include the voice-acted files is at
*http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/downloads/All-Phalanx-Modules-0.97-NO-VOICE-FILES.zip
*
*FWE + Alternate Start compatibility .esps: TGBlank has provided two .esps that are intended to
*increase compatibility with these mods. See the files entry at
*http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1925 if you are interested in them.
*
********************************************************************************

********************************************************************************
* The pre-release development .esp for the upcoming version may be periodically made available
* for people who might be interested in running it.
* see: http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1231033373
* for download and details.
********************************************************************************


********************************************************************************
* I am looking for people to help test my development versions of Phalanx as they become usable.
* Check the "Tester Helper" message board on my forum for more information:

* http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

* To participate in the dedicated Tester Helper board, you will need to tell me that you want to and
* let me know which email address to use for you. I will be sending one email out when the first
* development version of each mainline version is available so that you know to check the message board.
********************************************************************************


***************************

* If you use this mod, be sure to make a fresh savegame before loading your game with
* these .esp files. I don't want my mod to break anybody's savegame, but the only way to
* positively prevent that possibility would be to never release it.
*
* If I can keep almost 700 savegames around, you can keep at least one, right?
*
***************************


Mod characteristics (some of the below listed characteristics can be adjusted or overridden by the player):

----------------------------------------------------
New Followers
----------------------------------------------------

Phalanx introduces 3 new followers at this time:

Malcolm is inspired by Cassidy from Fallout 2. He is voiced by Andr? D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" (cox@x-o-c.de). He's not identical to Cassidy however, and works out with characters of any karma (Cassidy was good karma only). Malcolm is intended to be picked up in Megaton when the player's character is young. He is is integrated to help the player through the young-player quests.

Deisha is implemented as the flip-side to Clover, and is not voiced at this time. She is hired in Rivet City.

K-9, a cybernetic dog follower, is inspired by K-9 from Fallout 2. K-9's mesh and texture were made by Drag0ntamer with thanks to Andrew Gardiner and TheDamned (arsailor89@yahoo.com). K-9 represents a later version of the same K-9 unit that existed in Fallout 2. He is your dad's follower in the vault, and then you get to have K-9 for yourself later in the game.

There are more new followers coming in the future.

---------------------------------------------------
Follower characteristics and changes:
---------------------------------------------------


- - - Like in Fallout 2, you get to work with a group of followers. Follower maximum number in Phalanx is not, however, based upon "Charisma", because Fallout 3's game balance does not use the SPECIAL points the way that Fallout 2 did and it does not work properly as a game balancer.

- - - Like in Fallout 2, you can apply stimpacks to all followers.

- - - Followers apply stimpacks to YOU if you are in trouble, as long as they themselves are not in trouble (no Fallout 2 equivalent).

- - - "Make a hole" group command exists to ask them to get out of your way if they are trapping you (this exists in Fallout 2 as an individual command).

- - Like in Fallout 2, you can accumulate a squad with any karma. The karma requirements for followers are:

* No karma restrictions: K-9, Charon, Jericho, Malcolm, RL3, Butch, Dogmeat
* Neutral or Positive karma for hire, re-hire at any karma: Deisha
* Negative karma for hire, re-hire at any karma: Clover
* Positive karma for hire and re-hire: Fawkes, Star Paladin Cross

- - - Like in Fallout 2, follower deaths in combat do not sneak up out of nowhere. The turn-based nature of Fallout 2 automatically prevented this. In Phalanx, this effect is achieved through the Leader's Sense perk, available from level 3. This perk gives you advance warning when one of your followers is losing HP and drops below two pre-defined thresholds.


- - - There are powerful group-at-once combat commands that do not have a Fallout 2 equivalent, and exist because Fallout 3 has an FPS element that Fallout 2 does not have. Currently, those commands are:

- Retreat to my position!
- Fall back to my position!
- Push to my position!

Two special, strategic attack modes:

- Wait, then charge when I enter combat.
- Follow at a long distance, then charge when I enter combat.

- - - Like in Fallout 2, you control what weapons your followers use. There are three aspects to this.

- - - 1) You get to choose the weapons and give them to the follower, without the interference of Fallout 3's invisible, "default" weapon being there.

- - - 2) Like in Fallout 2, followers switch between the weapons based upon target distance sensibilities. They don't waste all of your good ammo for dumb reasons, but instead, they make an effort to use their weapons the same way that you would. For this to work, it requires you to not use mods that change which ammo the followers' weapons use. This weapon selection mechanism can be turned off within each follower's tactics dialogue menu, if desired.

- - - 3) Like in Fallout 2, you have to manage your team's ammo. The only one who gets a free ride on this is the robot (RL-3).


- - - Like in Fallout 2, a follower's death THEORETICALLY gets a similar treatment to the player's death.

In regular Fallout 3, when the player dies, the game immedietely reloads to the last save, which has no Fallout 2 equivalent. But then, regular Fallout 3 lets the followers 'die' with no consideration at all. This is the difference that we Fallout 2 players feel as being wrong.

With Phalanx, both the player and the followers are considered 'essential'. Followers who take too much damage in combat are not allowed to simply die. Instead, they survive the fight but become useless for a while. For low-level player characters, the useless period only lasts until the fight is over and the player discusses the fight with the follower afterward. For high-level characters (14 and up), the follower stays unusable for longer, and must be given recovery time at the player's owned camp site or military base.

- - - Like in Fallout 2, followers do not tend to wander off without you realizing that they wandered away. The way this works internally is that there are two automatic follow modes to followers. One of them exists only during fights and for 60 seconds after a fight. While in that "Follow-Combat" mode, they are eager to investigate nearby enemies. Regular Fallout 3 followers are always in this mode. With Phalanx, once that 60 seconds are up, they switch to "Regular Follow" mode, and are much less likely to break out of your group and wander off in search of enemies.

- - - Some followers can have different weapons skills based upon your choice when you hire them. This has no Fallout 2 equivalent.

- - - Like Fallout 2, you can view all followers skills and stats on demand and observe them leveling with you.

- - - Like in Fallout 2, there is no magical auto-heal to non-robotic followers after combat. During combat, stimpacks heal followers for the regular amount, and if not in combat, a single stimpack will bring a follower back up to full health.

- - - Like in Fallout 2, the robot (RL-3) is able to repair itself after combat, but is not repairable during combat.

- - - Like in Fallout 2, an equivalent of "Rest until party is healed" exists. When you sleep at one of your player-owned campsites or your military base, followers auto-heal with you.

- - - Like in Fallout 2, your Super Mutant follower (Fawkes) is talented at unarmed skill and uses it well, achieving occasional knockdowns and doing good damage. Fawkes cannot equip a power fist due to animation limitations in Fallout 3, so his unarmed damage amounts have been adjusted upward to match what you would expect him to do if he had a "Super Power Fist". Fawkes has been statistically tuned to have the same success rate against Deathclaws with his fists that Fallout 2's Marcus does with a Super Power Fist.

---------------------------------------
Miscellaneous features:

---------------------------------------

Followers do not auto-fire to their hire locations when Vault 87 deal happens, they instead do something much more sensible.

Powerful follower-problem-solving NPC "Gary" lives in a trailer outside of megaton. He helps you work out various emergency situations with your followers, such as if one got lost or is broken by another mod scrambling its variables. Gary can also adjust some of Phalanx' gamsettings if you don't like them, such as, he can enable "take a break" behavior in any area you ask for it, turn back on the post-combat auto heal, etc. In the next version, Gary will be able to help you resolve mod conflicts by reporting which items are being overwritten by another mod.

Followers come to you on-command and ask for the ammo they need, which you can supply within the same dialogue.

Player comes to own 2 campsites, and eventually a military base (next version has the base).

RL-3 svcks less, handles itself more sensibly in fights.

Dogmeat is much more sensible due to "Obedient Dogmeat" .esp in effect

The robot-dog follower K-9 has two sensibility settings, and can take care of itself as well as Dogmeat on one of them.

Stimpacks heal more damage than usual, to balance for the fact that you use them on followers.

Group command exists for telling your followers to take-a-break, and they will unequip their helments and wander around. This is limited to pre-set areas that are configured to be safe from follower malfunctions, but, it can be enabled to work anywhere by talking to "Gary" as mentioned above.

You can tell followers to remove their headgear as a group command (this makes it easier to see who is who if you have them all in the same armor and need to find a certain one).


---------------------------------------------------------
Future direction:
---------------------------------------------------------

Phalanx will have its own quest lines after the Main Quest is completed (game does not end). Among the things these quest lines will work with are:

- - Ability to communicate with some followers at a distance will be implemented within the next few versions, but it will not be all-powerful, and will not generally be abusable. The player will generally not be able to use the tool to cover his ass if he made a mistake, but they will be powerful planning tools when used well.

- - The "Intelligent Deathclaws" from Fallout 2 are to be re-introduced

- - A race of Super Mutants that are more intelligent, like fallout 2's Marcus, will be re-introduced

- - Ongoing warfare with the Enclave, with challenging raid and defensive situations, will happen

- - There will be decisions to be made, new allies to be had, new enemies made, new technology to acquire, and new ways to do business.


************************************************
* MOD INSTALLATION PROCEDURE

Step 1: FALLOUT.INI FILE PREPARATION
------------------------------------
For this and many other mods, it's necessary to change a few settings in your
"FALLOUT.INI" file for them to work properly. FALLOUT.INI is in a strange location.
c:/Documents and Settings/your-username/My Documents/My Games/Fallout 3/ .
The two changes you need to make in the file are:

#1: Find the line that says:

bInvalidateOlderFiles=0

and change it to:

bInvalidateOlderFiles=1

#2: Add this line below the [General] statement:

bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=1


Step 2: File Installation
-------------------------------------
Put the .esp files into your c:/Program Files/Bethesda Softworks/Fallout 3/Data
directory.

Put the contents of the "Phalanx" directory into this directory as well, into exactly
the same subdirectories that are represented within (meshes, textures, and Sound).
Create the directories if they do not exist.

Step 3: Mod Manager Considerations
-------------------------------------
If you are running a mod manager, the Phalanx MainFollowerModule must in many
cases take priority over other mods if there are conflicts, especially any follower-related
mods. Phalanx-OPTIONAL-WeaponChange.esp on the other hand should be overridden
by any weapon mods. The changes to some creatures in Phalanx-Obedient-Dogmeat
can often be overwritten by other mods without consequence.

Step 4: run the game and click the checkboxes
-------------------------------------------

Run your Fallout 3 game and on the square black load screen, click "DATA FILES", and
click the checkboxes next to the Phalanx .esp files. The recommended .esps are:

Phalanx-MainFollowerModule
Phalanx-MoiraSupplySupport
Phalanx-Obedient-Dogmeat
Phalanx-PerksAndStims (NOT the "Not-Recommended" version!)
Phalanx-OPTIONAL-WeaponChange.esp

Do not click the checkbox for "Phalanx-Uninstall.esp" at this time.

Do not use both"Phalanx-PerksAndStims" and "Phalanx-Not-Recommended-PerksAndStims".
Use one or the other.

If you edited your FALLOUT.INI file correctly, they won't uncheck once you set them, and things will go smoothly.


Step 5: In-game follower reset procedure
--------------------------------------------

If you are not starting a new game, Phalanx will auto-detect this, and offer to move
you and your followers to a helper NPC who will help reset your followers so that
they are fully compatible with Phalanx. If you decline to move at that time, the NPC
can be visited later, outside of Megaton along the left hand wall.
---------------------------------------------

***************************************************


************************************************
* MOD UN-INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
*
* Remove all items from your followers, and save your game.
*
* Restart the game, and uncheck the boxes in the "DATA FILES" menu that were specified
*in the installation procedure.
*
* Check the Phalanx-Uninstall.esp box, and run the game.
*
* After that .esp has completed the follower reset, save your game into a new slot, and then

* restart the game without any Phalanx .esp files loaded to check that you are happy with
* the results.
*
* delete the .esp files if you want.
*
* Unless you downloaded and installed the .esp in "Phalanx-Not-Recommended-PerksAndStims.zip",
* nothing further is necessary.
*
* If you did use the nonrecommended version, I don't actually know how to get the perk out of
* your savegame. I could not get it out of mine. Hence, the "Not Recommended" name on the file.
**************************************************


Please report things that appear to be bugs either on the Phalanx forum or on the "WIPz" forum
thread on Bethesda's forum site. I did test this version but other people's savegames are likely
to catch stuff that I could not.


************************************************
* KNOWN ISSUES for version 0.97:
************************************************

If you use Fallout version 1.5, Malcolm, Deisha, and Gary will have pale white skin color.
This will be fixed sometime in the future.

If you use Fallout version 1.5 and do not use the Phalanx compatibility patch linked in the
download area of this thread, NPC pathfinding AI will fail in world areas where
Phalanx has edited the navmesh (the campsites and Gary's trailer area).


------------------------------------------------------
Contributor list for version 0.96
This list is not complete, I'm sure I've forgotton someone.
------------------------------------------------------

Tools used:

GECK, FO3edit, FO3Plugin

Author credits:

"Malcolm" follower NPC is voiced by Andr? D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" , email address: cox@x-o-c.de.

The Phalanx Headquarters interior cell is dual-authorship by FO3Phalanx and Liath (liath.ww@qmail.com).
This cell exists in this version of the .esp but is not available in the game world to the player during this release.

PhalanxK9's texture and eyes mod created by Drag0ntamer ()
with thanks to Andrew Gardiner and TheDamned (arsailor89@yahoo.com).

Ammo reload boxes originally from ReloadAmmo.esp by "b3w4r3", at
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1899.

.esp file cleanup and management assisted by Eliminster and his program FO3Edit.

TGBlank optimized the "caps on" code, and assisted with mod compatibility issues.

Cipscis provided help with scripting, including hands-on help with the weapon-selection system.

The script on the underworld door was made by QZilla.

Members of the Tester-Helpers group on the Phalanx Forums helped with playtesting

People on Bethesda's forums helped with technical questions

Other stuff is by FO3Phalanx

Modification usage terms:

K9 texture/mesh: contact Drag0ntamer ()

Questions about Malcolm's voice acting material should be directed to
Andr? D. Cox" aka "Mr. CoX" , email address: cox@x-o-c.de

Rest: do whatever, but it would make sense to credit Phalanx if you use a lot.

************************************
Broken Steel Compatibility Notes
************************************

Use the Phalanx-BrokenSteel-Integration.esp in the file listing to create proper behavior and follower handling during Broken Steel's main quest line. Side quests have not been addressed at this time. Load this .esp AFTER Phalanx-MainFollowerModule.esp.

*************************************
Fallout 3 Patch Version 1.5 Notes
*************************************

Use FO3edit Master Update: http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=637

The last thread had left off with:





Yep.

I'm still, positively, looking for people who would like to play my development versions as they become usable, thereby helping with the operation of testing them.

The way it would work is, when I get a development version that could use some testing, I would send out an email letting those people know. No obligation involved, just, whatever people felt like doing. There's also a message board we would be using. Check the "Tester Helper" message board on my forum for more information:

http://www.finhosting.fi/~fallout/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

The current development version of 0.96 is actually not a test candidate right now because I have to rework a bunch of stuff (splitting one level into 6 is not without its consequences in terms of scripting and resetting all of the REFs, the AI package targets, and... damn). But, the time is coming.

I will after I finish working on some stuff.. won't be for a few more days to a week probably though.

Version 0.96 has been taking a while. Here's what's been keeping me busy.

1) making the intercom system work properly both in same-cell and multi-cell situations. I had it fully functional for a one-cell level, but I had to redo it for the new level's 7-cell design. One strategy for making it work does not exist for the separate situations of the player being in same-cell vs. different cell, because greet and travel packages work differently when the NPCs are in a different cell. I have most of that worked out now, but it's been a difficult learning process regarding essentially undocumented internal intricacies of travel and greet packages.

2) making this player-owned military base work properly with followers (AI not locking up). I'm learning more about navmeshing "properly" than, well, I'd ever imagined there was to it. More than one thing can cause that, and apparently a huge level doesn't help, but there's also small things. The navmesh tutorials teach you the basics of how to create a navmesh, but there's much more knowledge and understanding that's necessary to make a navmesh work right in a complicated level. Tthe symptoms of a broken navmesh aren't always what you'd expect, it's easy to fault the wrong cell, and what you think should work in a cell does not always fly. I should write a Newbs-Guide-To-Troubleshooting-Navmesh when I'm done, newb meaning, I'm still the newb, but I've learned a little that I could share with other newbs.

3) I have to rework the REFs and so-on for the quest that I'd been working on, plus that quest had not had the dialogue editing finished yet, and the script code in both the quests and NPCs had not yet been optimized. It was a 3/4 finished job when I had to go back into it and tear it apart.

So, I donno when exactly this thing will be right, this particular one has been nasty in terms of needing to duplicate the same jobs (this is version 3 of the intercom system, and the base has been through 2 large version changes and a number of small ones). gah.

A change of direction is necessary for the next version of Phalanx. I've found some issues that are internal to the game that prevent me from releasing the PQ01 quest and its player-owned military base in the form originally planned. Also, the game's patch to version 1.5 has made my high-level characters unable to actually test the game in situations where the player must fast-travel. This seems that it would/might affect exactly the players who would be in a position to play or test PQ01.

The next version release is going to be 0.955 I have to number the next version as 0.96 due to my versioning system, even though it's not what I had envisioned the 0.96 release to be. It's going to have buxfixes to issues that 0.95 has, and a new mod-conflict-detection feature. My PQ01 quest will remain disabled (the code that starts it will be commented out).

From that point, I'll see what develops with the 1.5 game patch, and also what solutions present themselves for the issues that are making the player-owned military base unusable.

I hope the K-9 plugin will be on working order (and re-uploaded) by 0.955? ^_^
I can't be the only one that was ever frustrated by that dog X3

Yep. It's my dev copy of what was going to be the 0.96 esp, only with the quest content disabled (and the new base unattainable), and all the bugfixes completed.

Actually, because of the way my versioning system works internally, I cannot release a version 0.955. The next release must bump the version to 0.96.

Do you guys remember that problem with K-9 not having a GREET response when he was in "take a break" mode?

That was not a problem with the conditions in the greeting line. Those were structured identically to those of the other followers.

That was something strange which I fixed but it's hard to be sure exactly what did it. I *think* it was re-compiling K-9's object script, but I'd also deleted and re-entered the conditions in the GREET line by that time too.

Weird huh.

I've also verified and effectively removed a bug that causes K-9 and Dogmeat to sometimes lock up while dismissed or while on "take a break".

IF YOU ARE USING THE 0.96 DEVELOPMENT VERSION OF PHALANX-MAINFOLLOWERMODULE.ESP



Do not use the "mod conflict detector" that lives on Gary unless you've already hired all of the followers in the game.

The test method for base object conflicts being done by Gary has turned out to be inappropriate for unhired followers. It can break their hireability and potentially cause their deaths. It is harmless when used on hired followers, however.

The testing for base object definition conflicts will be handled more gracefully in the final version of 0.96.

There is an issue with the Fallout patch version 1.5 where objects that Phalanx has added to the world become invisible if you fast-travel into the area (or use a teleporting door such as Megaton, and then walk). This includes Gary's trailer and the campsites. They pop back into visibility if you save your game and reload onto that save. I will try to get a fix in for this in 0.96 which will be released soon.

May i ask, seeing as you have had a indepth look into the companions

What happens to Jerico if you fire him after

You know what's funny lol! I made the K-9 Unit mesh/skin but I don't use this mod lol! They kept getting in my way because I used both Dogmeat and K-9! How do I do those commands that tell them to get out of my way?

Also this needs to be loaded AFTER FWE and before MMM correct?

Tarrant, are you aware that you've deleted Fisto from the desk in the MDPL-13 Power Station?

The deletion record is in MainFollowerModule. It took me a while (in FO3edit) to find which mod had deleted it

Yeah, I caught that in the latest version. 0.96 is quite close to being done, and it's got that as one of its bugfixes.

It was done on accident obviously

NM

The command to get them to try to move is group command "make a hole" but in the mainline 0.95, Dogmeat does not respond to it (K-9 does). Reason was an old issue with mod compatibility.. anyway the 0.96 version that I'm about to release has that fix. It's also got an important fix to K-9, if you have him "take a break" in 0.95 he doesn't talk to you any more, you have to use another follower's dialogue to get him out of "take a break" mode. Weird problem with his script or conditions not playing nice that I repaired, not an error on my part really, just a strange thing.

0.95 makes a faction change that conflicts with MMM but 0.96 does not. Also, the version of Obedient Dogmeat has things in it that would conflict with mods that change the enemies around (maybe MMM does this?), but the Obedient Dogmeat version going out with the new 0.96 version has 2 Dogmeat-related ESPs, one of which can be disregarded if it conflicts with enemy-changing mods.

Phalanx should go last. No major conflicts with FOOK+MMM+FWE with the latest version i believe (or was it only on the dev one?)

Quaternionfaction played with the brotherhood faction in some way you'd suggested was not ideal for MMM. That's the big one I remember, aside from Obedient Dogmeat's changes to certain enemies' "strength" stat and interfering with what I think MMM was trying to do to those certain enemies.

Hmm, obedient dogmeat is separate from phalanx, and the enemy stat changes are independent from it even, no need to load it with mmm running.
The faction thing is easily patched and won't see any action until the end of the game anyways. Also, fo3edit->make merge patch solves it.

Is your FWErebalance esp needed, TGBlank? When I have it activated Fallout 3 crashes on launch. It's loading after FWE and the Phalanx mods.

Edit: I'm dumb. I put it above Phalanx but after FWE and it works now.

Not required, but rebalances hps and follower weapons to FWE standards. Just a balance tweak.

A bit of clarification (TGBlank knows this, this is for people who may read the comment).

Phalanx followers by and large do not come with special, default weapons like the vanilla game assigns them. They are re-designed to work properly with non-default "follower" weapons. When TGBlank mentioned a follower weapon, he's referring to the case of some specific-job melee weapons that followers have been allowed to keep. For example, there's a follower weapon called FollowersCharonCombatKnife or something like that. That weapon has been put on the follower to correct a behavior, not for them to actually to fight with. Without a weapon like that, they will loot every single piece of crap melee weapon they see on a nearby corpse.

In the case of the FollowersCharonCombatKnife, it has had its damage changed to match that of regular combat knives as they appear in FWE.