Fallout New Vegas:

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Librarian Of The Wastes

Version: 1.0
Date: 28-01-2011
Author: Antistar (Joseph Lollback)
E-mail: josephlollback@hotmail.com
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1. Description
2. Requirements
3. Installation/Uninstallation
4. Playing the mod
5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
6. Save games
7. Conflicts/Known Issues
8. Credits
9. Modder's Resource Info
10. Contact Information
11. Legal Stuff/Disclaimer
12. Version History

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1. DESCRIPTION
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Librarian Of The Wastes (LOTW) is a mod of several parts united by a central theme: the use of recorded knowledge to grant permanent stat increases to a character.

In the 'Mojave Book Exchange' part of the mod, unwanted 'skill books' (the books that give permanent skill point increases when read) can be exchanged at Mojave Express drop-boxes for other skill books of the player's choice.

The 'Librarian Of The Wastes' perk (or trait) itself gives the player character the ability to craft their own (less effective) versions of skill books.

Finally, the 'Well-Read' perk lets the player character craft chems that provide (up to a point) permanent stat bonuses of various kinds.



***Mojave Book Exchange***

This one's pretty simple. Upon taking a skill book to a Mojave Express drop-box, you will be given the option to exchange it for a skill book of a different type. This is useful if you find a skill book for a skill you have already increased to its maximum - or for a skill you're not interested in.


***Librarian Of The Wastes***
(Perk/Trait)

"You are considered well-organised when it comes to handling recorded information, and can craft 'Annuals' from 12 matching magazines at a workbench. When consumed, each Annual grants a permanent +1 to the appropriate skill."

Gaining this perk is somewhat flexible. It can be taken at level-up as usual - or at the start of the game, as a trait (requires a minimum Intelligence of 5 in both cases). It will also be granted automatically once you have read at least five skill books.


***Well-Read***
(Perk)

"Through your extensive reading, you have discovered how to craft the following rare and valuable chems at workbenches: Antivenom Plus, Asbesto!, Augmentor Stimpaks, Impervium, Insu-Derm, Mercuron, Ox-Innate and Rad-Vac. All of these chems grant permanent stat bonuses, but your Endurance determines how many doses your body can sustain."

Each of these chems grant bonuses similar in nature and potency to the perks that can be chosen at level-up, or gained through completing 'challenges' and quests. However, multiple doses need to be taken to reach around the same level of effect as a similar perk, and there is a maximum number of doses of each chem that can be taken. Any more will have no effect.

The total number of doses (of any combination of LOTW chems) that can be taken is also limited by your Endurance. For each Endurance point, four chem doses can be sustained by your body.

Gaining this perk is also somewhat flexible; it can be taken at level-up (requires the Librarian Of The Wastes perk, and at least level 6), or granted automatically once you have read at least ten skill books.

Here are the recipes for the chems, and what their exact effects are:


Antivenom Plus

- Effect: Permanent +4 Poison Resistance
- Max Doses: 5

- Requires: 65 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Antivenom (4)
---- Bark Scorpion Poison Gland (2)
---- Fixer (2)


Asbesto!

- Effect: Permanent +4 Fire Resistance
- Max Doses: 5

- Requires: 65 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Fire Gecko Egg (3)
---- Med-X (2)
---- Stimpak (3)


Augmentor Stimpak

- Effect: Permanent +10 Max Hit Points
- Max Doses: 5

- Requires: 70 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Buffout (1)
---- Hydra (1)
---- Super Stimpak (3)


Impervium

- Effect: Permanent +1 Damage Threshold
- Max Doses: 5

- Requires: 90 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Hydra (2)
---- Med-X (2)
---- Slasher (2)


Insu-Derm

- Effect: Permanent +4 Energy Resistance
- Max Doses: 5

- Requires: 80 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Atomic Cocktail (3)
---- Cateye (2)
---- Rebound (2)


Mercuron

- Effect: Permanent +5 Action Points
- Max Doses: 5

- Requires: 75 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Rebound (1)
---- Rocket (1)
---- Turbo (3)


Ox-Innate

- Effect: Permanent +10 Max Carry Weight
- Max Doses: 5

- Requires: 55 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Buffout (4)
---- Slasher (1)
---- Steady (1)


Rad-Vac

- Effect: Permanent +4 Rad Resistance
- Max Doses: 5

- Requires: 80 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Antivenom (1)
---- Rad-X (4)
---- RadAway (2)

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2. Requirements
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- Fallout New Vegas

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3. INSTALLATION/UNINSTALLATION
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Installation:

- Using 7-Zip (http://www.7-zip.org), extract the contents of the LibrarianOfTheWastes.7z archive file to your Steam\steamapps\common\fallout new vegas\Data\ directory.

- In the Data Files section of the Fallout New Vegas Launcher - or using a mod manager tool - place a tick in the box next to LibrarianOfTheWastes.esp.



Uninstallation:

- In the Data Files section of the Fallout New Vegas Launcher - or using a mod manager tool - clear the tick in the box next to LibrarianOfTheWastes.esp.

- If desired, delete all files copied to your Steam\steamapps\common\fallout new vegas\Data\ directory during installation (check the LibrarianOfTheWastes.7z archive file to identify these files).

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4. PLAYING THE MOD
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No special knowledge is really needed to play the game with LOTW installed; the new content is integrated seamlessly into the game. In case it's helpful though, here's a list of points of information regarding the mod:


- The option to access the menu used to swap skill books at Mojave Express drop-boxes will not appear unless you are carrying at least one skill book when you activate the drop-box.

- Similarly, the new workbench recipes added by LOTW will not be visible in the workbench crafting menu until you have the relevant perk/s.

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5. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
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Q) Don't you think [this thing] is unbalanced [in this way]?
A) At the time of writing; no, I don't. I may change my mind after I get more time to play the game normally with LOTW running, however...

Q) Why don't you make it so that when swapping skill books at a drop-box, you need to wait for it to be delivered?
A) Doing this - while ostensibly more 'realistic/immersive' - seems to me like it would just add inconvenience, rather than anything much gameplay-wise. I'm (potentially) open to persuasion though, should you have a *good* argument for it.

Q) Is LOTW compatible with [insert name of mod here]?
A) LOTW should be compatible with almost all other mods (see the Conflicts/Known Issues section below for more information). Beyond saying that, it's unlikely I'll be able to give you a direct answer to this question. I simply don't have the time or the inclination to investigate compatibility between LOTW and the hundreds or thousands of other mods out there that may - or may not - conflict with it in various ways and to varying degrees.

Q) Will you make LOTW compatible with [insert name of mod here]?
A) I am unlikely to make compatibility patches for LOTW and other mods unless the other mod in question is one I want to use myself. It's probably not worth asking, in other words.

Q) What do I do with the file I downloaded? It's an unknown file type/I don't know what to do with 7z files.
A) You need a program like 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org) or WinRAR (http://www.rarlab.com) to open the file you downloaded. After you have that, follow the installation instructions above.

Q) Will you tell me how to cheat to get items from this mod?
A) There are console commands to give your character any items you want; and with a bit of research I'm sure you'll work it out. I'm not going to actively help people to cheat at my mod though: it goes against the intended design of the mod.

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6. SAVE GAMES
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- Activating or de-activating this mod should not have any negative effects on your existing save game/s - but as always, it is good practice to keep backups.

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7. CONFLICTS / KNOWN ISSUES
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- LOTW does not directly edit any existing records, so it should be compatible with virtually all other mods.

- LOTW is balanced with the vanilla game in mind, but other mods that rebalance the game generally would have to do so fairly dramatically to 'clash' with LOTW.

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8. CREDITS
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- Design and scripting by Antistar (Joseph Lollback - that would be me).

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9. MODDER'S RESOURCE INFO
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- Please ask my permission before releasing mods that alter - or are based on - LOTW.

- Please do not re-upload LOTW anywhere without first asking my permission.

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10. CONTACT INFORMATION
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My e-mail address is josephlollback@hotmail.com

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11. LEGAL STUFF/ DISCLAIMER
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By downloading and using this modification, you agree that the author of the modification cannot be held responsible for any damage to software or hardware directly or indirectly caused by the aforementioned modification. Use at your own risk, basically.

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12. VERSION HISTORY
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Version 1.0 (28-01-11)
- Initial public release.

When I saw the idea earlier in the month, I wasn't to keen on the idea, but after reading the description I decided to try it. However I'm not getting any menu at the drop-boxes (the Mojave Express ones, not the regular mail ones). Any suggestions? I've looked in FNVEdit and I've no mods touching the drop-boxes as far as I could see, or the scripts attached to them.

Is your character currently carrying a skill book? As mentioned in the readme, that menu won't appear if he/she isn't.

Yes, carrying a skill-book and I checked the perk had been properly added.

Damn, I thought I'd posted a reply already. I discovered that VMods is the culprit - at least deactivating the .esp and the .esm fixed the problem for me. That any use to you?

I should have thought of this earlier, but it's the Container Sorter feature of VMods that clashes. Turning that off via the in-game menu fixes the problem.

Ah - thanks for letting me know. That's a shame, too; it means that part of that mod may interfere with aspects of other mods as well, by the sound of it.

Yes any mod that alters the properties of the skill books/mags will have conflicts with the many sorter mods out there. It's easy to fix, just pick you preferred skill book/mag altering mod such as this one and edit the esp to include the sorter name alterations of your favorite sorter mod. Takes a few minutes in the GECK and lets you use any 2 such mods together.

On the subject of balance, just want to point out that you need to be very careful not to make extra skill points too easy. On my last character I used a somewhat similar mod that added permanent skill points based on increasing numbers of skill mags used and it was fine at first but got overpowered in the later stages of that character, with nearly every skill at ~ 60 or better and all the important ones maxed out. Skill mags are so numerous in the base game that you can easily build up lots of free permanent skill points just by wandering around the wasteland or hitting up a few vendors known to sell and restock sets of magazines.

Fortunately LOTW doesn't directly edit any existing records (as mentioned in the readme/OP), so that's not an issue.

I think I saw the mod you mentioned a while back, actually, and passed on it because it sounded like it would be overpowered.

Ah, I see my apologies then. I haven't directly compared the esps to know one way or another, although it's curious why he had a conflict with your mod if you don't edit existing records. Ah well, the mysteries and joys of mod creating and using.

Lots of stuff

Well I'll certainly keep all that in mind; thanks for taking the time to write that up.

What I really need to do first though is play the game normally with it installed to see how it goes - but there's still a bit of modding I want to do before I start my second playthrough...

One thing I noticed, if I took the Librarian as a trait at character creation, I would have the perk, and
if I read enough skill books, it would announce that I earned the perk and it was listed twice,
then I took the next level perk when it became available (The one where you can make chems),
and I received the perk again after reading the required amount of books.

One thing I want to ask, do you think the 12 Magazines to make a +1 to a skill is a bit steep?
I've been running around collecting magazines, and I figure I have a ton of them, so
I go to a crafting bench, and I find I only have maybe 2 or 3 of each magazine, (Because I don't pay attention to what I pick up, so
after picking up a ton of magazines during my travels, I assume I have 12 of SOMETHING by now :biggrin: )
but I never do, as I said, I'm lucky to have 5 of one type at the most, and to "acquire" some of them is kind
of difficult in certain places, as I would have to steal them, and there are certain places where it's very hard, if not
downright impossible to be "HIDDEN"

[*]For using the Mojave Book Exchange, I think that imposing a slight "penalty" of some sorts for exchanging books is needed. Let's say, for instance, you are using 2 combat skills. That leaves the remaining 3 with 4 skill books a piece, making it 12. So that equates to 48 skill points being transferred to the other 2 skills. While it sounds alright, it may quicken character progression for lower levels and end up being overpowered. What I'm suggesting is that instead of gaining 3 skill points from a book, 4 with Comprehension, you only earn 2 skill points, or 3 with Comprehension. While it still makes it more worthwhile than the Annuals, it doesn't make a character turn into some kind of beast at level 4 with 70 skill in one weapon category. The now exchanged books could be considered "Used" skill books, hence why they earn less skill points than "New" ones. Trading Used for Used grants you the same skill point gains.