PANPC 2.0.11 Released: Melee and Out-of-Ammo Upgrades (Patreon)

PANPC 2.0.11 has been released and is now available to Citizen role users on the GreslinGames Discord.

Changelog:

[NEW] Out-of-ammo behaviors on non-infinite-ammo enemies (Base)
[CHANGED] Melee vs. Power Armor now triggers "scary" behaviors (Base)
[CHANGED] Improved melee vs. ranged weapon switching
[CHANGED] Moderate courage boost if target doesn't have weapon drawn
[CHANGED] Special attacks increased in melee combat styles
[CHANGED] NPCs no longer attempt gun equip if out of ammo
[COMPAT] Refactored custom AI assignment system
[COMPAT] New PANPC_NoProfileAssigns global overrides all profile settings
[COMPAT] Legal AI package overrides now exposed in patchable formlist
[COMPAT] PANPC.esm plugin version rolled back to 0.95 (VR compat)
[FIX] GoThere() failing to override DefaultMasterPackage
[FIX] Arena now fully compatible with GGTS Friendly Mode
[FIX] Version message no longer appears on every game load
[FIX] GTFO could make NPCs flee towards their attacker

This is one of those "doesn't sound like much, but it is" PANPC releases.

Out of Ammo and Melee Behaviors

I started out trying to solve what turned out to be an unsolvable problem: can openers. Basically, trying to stop NPCs from attempting to attack power armor with knives, a move that represents classic Bethesda combat idiocy at its finest. I spent considerable time testing various ideas before finally concluding that any successful path there would cause more problems than it solves.

But it did get me back into melee combat in general. I recently spent an afternoon in the GreslinGames Mod Author private chat, documenting several hours of testing out-of-ammo situations with weapons set to limited ammo. I finally figured out how to detect when they run out and switch over to melee or unarmed combat. So the AI now catches that and adapts to the change.

Likewise, the AI no longer considers a gun as their "best" if they don't happen to have ammo for it. Their melee preference odds will also now scale a bit depending on their gun's ammo situation - they should no longer keep switching back and forth between melee and ranged weapons. In general, they should be doing better with melee and unarmed combat.

A Couple of Significant Bug Fixes

There were several small bugs and glitches here and there, but two significant ones that are now fixed.

The first was a bug in the flee ("GTFO") code that handles the NPC's panicked search for a safe runaway location. That code is supposed to reject locations that take the NPC closer to the current enemy/player, but a simple typo kept it from working right. Panicking NPCs should now run in the right direction.

The second was a bigger issue. PANPC's movement control system is designed to only override certain vanilla AI packages, and I discovered a bug that kept that from happening reliably. As a result, a lot of movement orders were being rejected. Now nearly all of the AI's movement orders should be carried out. We're already seeing in tests that movement is much smoother and more dynamic - you're now getting all the moves that the AI wants.

Compatibility Features

I've added several new features for compatibility patches, making 2.0.11 the new compatibility patch standard going forward. PANPC patches are always forward compatible, so older patches will continue to work. But any new ones should be assumed to require at least PANPC 2.0.11.

I've written a new guide for creating PANPC compatibility patches that includes the new features in addition to all the old ones and a few tricks that I use but haven't before documented anywhere. You can find that guide here.

Project Zeta Patch Released

Finally, I've finished a compatibility patch for Project Zeta (PANPC 2.0.11+ required). You can find that in the GreslinGames Compatibility Patch Repository.

I think that covers it for now. I've got new versions of Random Doors, Squawk Boxes, and the GreslinGames Test Suite released this weekend - I'll get those announced here in the next day or so. I'm also hoping to have a new version of Tuckered Out done in the next few days.

As always, you can get the new downloads on the GreslinGames Discord. If you don't already have Citizen role (you need it), read the #read-this-first channel for full instructions. 

My best,

- G.