Vibroblades/swords replaced w/vibrocutters, upgrade oddities. Why?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman 40]

Posting this here because a search of "vibrocutter" points to TSLRCM being responsible for that change. This seems more like an oddity/set of oddities in terms of design decisions than a bug, so Idk if I should fill out the questionnaire.

Something I soon noticed on Peragus was that instead of the vibroblades/swords (I forget which it specifically was) you find there in the vanilla game you instead find "vibrocutters". I did not think much of it at the time, thinking it was just a name change. But now I know different.

Eventually, I got to a workbench and noticed something odd. In vanilla TSL, the short sword - specifically described to be the plainest of the plain as far as weapons go - is non-upgradable. This makes perfect sense. it's too simplistic of a weapon to be able to take upgrades. Whereas the more sophisticated vibroweapons are upgradable.

Yet now, the crappy short sword is what you can upgrade while the new vibrocutter is non-upgradable. That seems like a rather bizarre change, and I'd like to know why (as well as why neither this nor the change from vibroblades/swords to vibrocutters is noted in the "what's restored" list) - it doesn't seem like it would be more in line with authorial intent, because A. it's less in line with what was upgradable in K1 and B. the upgrades you acquire at Peragus include an energy cell (something that has no business being in anything other than a vibroweapon). Also weird is that the short sword has a slot for an energy cell upgrade even though it's not a powered weapon at all.

The other upgrade oddity is with the miner's uniform. In vanilla, while it can't accept nearly the same variety of upgrades as actual armor it can accept at least some - including IIRC the heat shielding (which makes sense). Now, while it still has slots... the game isn't allowing me to put any of the upgrades in them, not even the heat shielding. What gives there?

[TK-664 69]

Those issues seem to be on your end, the short swords have always been upgradeable at the edge and grip only, and the miner's uniform only accepts robe upgrades even with TSLRCM. The vibrocutter is a mining tool, it can't be taken apart and upgraded with military-grade cells and stuff in the same way a mining laser can't be upgraded with power cells and gun chambers. They look like a vibroblade and blaster pistol respectively because noone bothered to make extra models for them. I'm sure a guidon beacon isn't supposed to be a quarterstaff either. Also any upgrades you aquire at Peragus are completely random.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman 40]

9 hours ago, TK-664 said:

Those issues seem to be on your end, the short swords have always been upgradeable at the edge and grip only, and the miner's uniform only accepts robe upgrades even with TSLRCM. The vibrocutter is a mining tool, it can't be taken apart and upgraded with military-grade cells and stuff in the same way a mining laser can't be upgraded with power cells and gun chambers. They look like a vibroblade and blaster pistol respectively because noone bothered to make extra models for them. I'm sure a guidon beacon isn't supposed to be a quarterstaff either. Also any upgrades you aquire at Peragus are completely random.

Okay, there seriously needs to be an easy-to-find list of the changes between the XBOX and PC versions of TSL. 😠 Trying Google the results are choked with stuff about mods.. I admit to some level of ignorance, because all my experience with vanilla TSL has been on the Xbox version.

1. I'm fairly certain that in the Xbox version of TSL, the short swords are completely non-upgradeable. Likewise, I'm fairly certain that on Peragus you found Vibroblades (and fewer of them), not Vibrocutters. As such, when I encountered these things I assumed them to be changes wrought by TSLRCM because they deviated from what I remembered finding in vanilla (or is my memory playing tricks on me? <.>) and none of my other mods when I first encountered the Vibrocutter seem like they could have possibly affected Peragus loot. EDIT: Looking at a thread of someone trying to get TSLRCM working on XBOX confirmed that yes, you find Vibroblades in that version.

2. If the short sword is supposed to be upgradeable at the edge and grip only, why does it even let you try to add a cell? That much is just plain weird.

3. I was misremembering about the miner's uniform accepting the Heat Shielding, I was thinking of the Bio-restorative Underlay.

4. You are completely wrong about all upgrades found at Peragus being random, unless that's something that changed on PC. Maybe some upgrades are random, but several - such as the Heat Shielding, the Zabrak Grip, the Basic Ionite Edge, the Improved Energy Cell, and the Bio-restorative underlay - are definitely constant. I have found those every single time I've played through Peragus. And it's constantly finding that energy cell - about the same time you have access to the Dormitory workbench, no less - that makes me think you're meant to have an upgradeable vibroweapon at Peragus.

Edited June 29, 2021 by ZeldaTheSwordsman

[TK-664 69]

I never played on Xbox, so I can only attest for the PC version. In vanilla you can find a vibroblade off a corpse in first the room after the medical bay, it has been replaced with the vibrocutter in TSLRCM. Short swords are only able to be upgraded at the hilt and edge with the cell slot greyed out, you can't even try to insert one.

Random loot in Peragus is purposedly toned down, but I know JC confirmed that weapon upgrades of all types were dropped for some reason which he then removed it in his loot fixes. You can always find several droid items, a Bio-restorative Underlay Mk I, a Basic Ionite Edge and a pair of Insulated Gloves. I've been scoping the placeables and I can't find any mention of a Zabrak Grip and I only came across an Improved Energy Cell inside a cheat cylinder which doesn't spawn in the actual game.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman 40]

14 hours ago, TK-664 said:

I never played on Xbox, so I can only attest for the PC version. In vanilla you can find a vibroblade off a corpse in first the room after the medical bay, it has been replaced with the vibrocutter in TSLRCM. Short swords are only able to be upgraded at the hilt and edge with the cell slot greyed out, you can't even try to insert one.

Random loot in Peragus is purposedly toned down, but I know JC confirmed that weapon upgrades of all types were dropped for some reason which he then removed it in his loot fixes. You can always find several droid items, a Bio-restorative Underlay Mk I, a Basic Ionite Edge and a pair of Insulated Gloves. I've been scoping the placeables and I can't find any mention of a Zabrak Grip and I only came across an Improved Energy Cell inside a cheat cylinder which doesn't spawn in the actual game.

1. Okay, so the Vibroblade is in vanilla in both the Xbox and PC versions then. Why was it replaced by TSLRCM?

2a. Might have to set up the Xbox 360 again to double-check, because I'm pretty sure that short swords and long swords are flat non-upgradeable in the Xbox version.
2b. Something's definitely gone weird with short swords in my install then, because it lets me try to insert a cell without greying out the slot.

3. Well, I'm at least fairly sure I've always found a Zabrak Grip and a cell inside the dorm when playing on the Xbox (including my unfinished TSL playthrough earlier this year), and I found them again this playthrough... So unless those were forced by VarsityPuppet's  Peragus Tweak (

) they would seem to be constant..

4. Was it TSLRCM that added the Heavy Mining Laser?

[TK-664 69]

Being a restored content mod, the tslrcm crew saw fit to restore all the cut miner items, the heavy mining laser too. I won't comment on that decision. I checked again just to be sure and I didn't find a fixed zabrak grip or energy cell drops, besides the cheat plasteel cylinder. There's something going on with your install or mods because fully upgradeable short swords are neither vanilla or TSLRCM, guaranteed.