Fair Firefights
Making NPCs’ guns equal to yours.
Description
Did you know that NPCs in this game deal different damage with their guns compared to when we, the players, use the same weapons? This discrepancy depends on your difficulty level, but on average, weapons fired by NPCs deal 61% less base damage. Is that fair? I don’t think so, which is why I created this mod.
Important Notes:
1. Matching Damage Ratios:
To make NPC and player damage match exactly (1:1), a custom difficulty mod is required. Currently, the base damage distribution varies by difficulty level as follows:
• Easy: 1.2 (player) to 0.2 (NPCs)
• Medium: 1.0 (player) to 0.85 (NPCs)
• Hard: 0.75 (player) to 1.02 (NPCs)
I haven’t edited difficulty settings in this release because modifying DifficultyPrototypes.cfg could conflict with many other mods, and creating compatibility patches would be a hassle.
2. “Guard” NPCs:
Some NPCs, labeled as “guards,” are configured to deal more damage than players by default. I’ve chosen not to alter their damage for now.
3. Mod Compatibility:
This mod changes NPCWeaponSettingsPrototypes.cfg. As a result, it won’t be compatible with other mods that modify the same file unless compatibility patches are made.
FAQ
How does this mod work?
The game uses several configuration files to define weapon damage:
1. The base template.
2. The player config, which adjusts values from the base template.
3. The NPC config, which builds on the player config with further adjustments.
This mod simply erases some of the adjustments in the “NPC” config, making NPC weapon damage more in line with players’. However, a few exceptions remain untouched to avoid unintended gameplay issues:
• ArmorDamage: NPCs deal durability damage to the player’s suit, unlike players. Changing this would prevent suits from breaking under hostile gunfire, which is beyond the scope of this mod.
• ChanceBleedingPerShot: NPCs have a much lower chance to cause bleeding. Changing this would result in players needing band aid non-stop.
• DurabilityDamagePerShot: NPC weapons don’t degrade from use, and this behavior remains unchanged.
• BulletDropHeight: NPCs fire weapons like lasers since AI cannot adjust for bullet drop. Changing this would make NPCs miss entirely at long ranges.
• DispersionRadius: NPCs have tighter bullet spread to balance their inability to aim through sights. This setting keeps their accuracy between a player’s hip fire and aimed fire, so I left it as is.
• FireDistanceDropOff, DistanceDropOffLength, MinBulletDistanceDamageModifier: Adjusting these could cause issues, like NPCs using shotguns ineffectively from too far away without moving closer. Ideally, these should also be equalized, but thorough playtesting is needed, so I’ve left them as is for now.
• RPG remains unchanged for reasons.
So, which parameters does this mod exactly affects then?
In most cases affected parameters are:
• BaseDamage: NPC guns previously dealt, on average, 61% less damage than player-used guns. This mod equalizes the values.
• BaseBleeding: NPC guns previously caused 54% more bleeding damage on average. Since bleeding does less overall damage than direct hits, this adjustment does not fully negate the change in BaseDamage.
• ArmorPiercing: NPC guns had 17% higher armor-piercing values on average. This has been adjusted to match player values.
How does this mod influence difficulty?
It makes game harder, but not quite hardcore. I call this fair, hence the name of the mod.
Is this mod polished to perfection?
No. The changes in this mod are based purely on theoretical assumptions and have not undergone extensive playtesting. I’ve decided to release it as a proof of concept, with the hope that it will inspire others to create more refined and balanced mods in the future.
Installation
Put the extracted .pak file in %GAME_FOLDER%\Stalker2\Content\Paks\~mods folder.
