GreslinGames News: March 2022

I'm sitting here at my desk in California today, enjoying the cool breezes coming in from the backyard and the smell of orange blossoms. Our tree had a huge crop this year and I still need to get out there with the pole and get them down. Maybe this weekend. For now, spring is here and it's nice to get some sunshine again.

In case you haven't checked in at GreslinGames much lately, here's what March looked like. 

10,000 Users.  It's Been A Trip.

When I decided to leave Nexus altogether in July, my wife and I were hiking up in the Marin headlands just outside of San Francisco, yanked this way and that by our always-ready-for-adventure Lab, and enjoying the Pacific air. Pulling out of Nexus wasn't a decision I came to lightly: I'd been there for ten years, Nexus had been good to me, but the situation had grown untenable and it just wasn't the same scene anymore. It was leave, or quit altogether.

Thing is, I had no idea whether or not I was destroying my projects in doing it, if anyone would be willing to follow me and let me continue hacking my little code toys. I think at the time we had somewhere around 800 users subscribed at GreslinGames, and that still seemed like a lot to me. I was about half sure that those numbers would plummet.

Less than a year later, this month we cracked 10,000 users on the GreslinGames Discord. 

I don't even know what to do or say about that, other than thank you. I've tried to give back wherever I could, to spend some time every day trying to cultivate this little backwater gamer dive into a larger and richer community. I'm beyond grateful for that opportunity, and for everyone who stuck around and has helped. I know that "I only do this because you let me" is somewhat of a cliché, but it's a cliché for a reason, and that's really how I feel about it.

So thanks.  Thanks for following, thanks for sticking around, thanks for being patrons. It means so much, in ways you'll never know.  

Okay, enough of that. Let's get on to the news.

New Mod Uploads and Channel News

When I sit down to start coding, I often get distracted by a project idea, or more often, by things that have to get done before I can get back to work on the other thing. PANPC saw a lot of progress in March, PACE basically saw none, and Insult to Injury 2.0 is crawling its way to life. I hope to have ITI 2.0 out in the next week or so, maybe less.

We added a new channel, #mod-matchmaking, for anyone who wants to connect with other modders on larger projects. You don't have to know how to code or do 3D or anything like that - if you just want to contribute to something, or you have a project and would like an extra set of hands on it, you can pop into this channel and find each other.

I got three new projects out the door in March. First, I completely rewrote my New Vegas mod, Immersive VATS, for Fallout 4. Someone else had ported it years ago, but I felt it was time to do an official author's port. The new version, iVATS, implements a system that blocks VATS usage unless the player is either using a loaded energy weapon or a powered up PA helmet. So no more computer-assisted targeting on that lead pipe.

The second project was Natural Camouflage. This mod implements a perk that gives the bearer selective invisibility based on keywords. Depending on the keyword on the NPC's actor record, they'll turn invisible in or out of combat, if they are or are not moving, at night or at day, or if it is raining or snowing. While intended as a modder's resource, Natural Camouflage adds movement invisibility to Chameleon Deathclaws, and if you are using PANPC 2.0.7 they will turn invisible when they ambush. (This perk can also be applied to the player.)

Finally, I released the GreslinGames Test Suite, a mod which gives the player a holotape that offers safe teleport access to a group of custom NPC-free interior cells, as well as "friendly mode" switch makes all the NPCs in the game ignore the player. I'm using this as a test tool in my own mods, and it should be safe to install or uninstall mid-game.

PANPC/PACE Compatibility Patch Database

I recently got a start on a long overdue effort to consolidate all the various PANPC and PACE compatibility patches in one place. It's just a start for now, but you can find official patches for FROST and Mutant Menagerie, and we will add more over time.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G0m19_VfwEv3Kx-enVwl27U-JLbVIbC7?usp=sharing 

PANPC Updates

So now I really am taking a short PANPC break to work on other things, starting with Insult to Injury 2.0 and then a new release of PACE.

At this point I'm feeling pretty good about where we are with PANPC. Arena is pretty much done, and 2.0.7 saw a major Deathclaw refit that I'm happy with, and so nothing right now is seriously pressing for a hard update. 

If you are still running any version of PANPC prior to about 2.0.6, and especially if you're running 2.0 or earlier, I strongly strongly recommend updating. You're missing out on some really good stuff. You can get the latest with Citizen role off the GG Discord, but I will also continue to post the latest version releases here as well for the convenience of patrons.

Videos: Watch Greslin Respawn

I've been collaborating a lot lately with Red and the folks over at the FROST Discord, and they finally talked me into giving FROST a spin. And while it's been kicking my ass, it's been doing so in a fun and allegedly entertaining way.

This month I began a new video series, Watch Greslin Respawn, where you can watch me get pretty much wrecked by the deadly combination of FROST and late-release PANPC. I haven't actually played Fallout 4 solid in quite some time, so I'm quite rusty.

If you're enjoying what I'm doing on YouTube, please don't forget to subscribe.

Are You A Mod Author?  Let Me Know! 

If you are a mod author and currently a GreslinGames Discord member, please let me know so that I can give you the Mod Author role. This grants you access to a private chat for MA's only, where we talk about coding, platforms, promotion, community issues, user support challenges, and the like.    

There is no requirement for the Mod Author role, except that you have completed a mod of some kind and have made it public somewhere. If you have your work out in front of users, you're in and I want to recognize and support your efforts.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRONAGE! 

I really don't feel like I say this enough, but thank you. Your patronage makes a difference, and opens up some options in the coming months for building up this community. I enjoy it immensely, and I know I wouldn't be able to do it without your support.

If you are reading this and for some reason do not have a supporter role on the GG Discord, please let me know so that I can fix that. I'm just one guy, and I often miss things, so I'd really like the chance to correct that.  Thanks.

In the meantime, see you next month. Have a good April.  

All my best,  

Greslin