N-DReW's NPC Overhaul Series

[DeathScepter 46]

Looks great.  Side note: I am not good with TSLpatcher but i am half way decent with Kotor tool.  I can upload a class mod with a mandalorian commando for any NPC if you want.

[Malkior 476]

I'm definitely looking forward to the Mandalorian update! The faction had a lot of coverage in the game, but the original 3 or so variations were so visually limiting.

(BTW, as a minor aside, Beskar or "Beskar Gam" wasn't invented by Disney, but was an invention of Karen Traviss in her Republic Commando books and then backported into the Disney canon via Filoni. Humorously, her books had so many parts canonized that she should probably be credited at least partially with the show. )

[N-DReW25 1,336]

18 hours ago, DeathScepter said:

Looks great.  Side note: I am not good with TSLpatcher but i am half way decent with Kotor tool.  I can upload a class mod with a mandalorian commando for any NPC if you want.

You're welcome to send that through for inspection.

 

19 hours ago, JasonRyder said:

Great update! Looking forward to downloading this once it's released. Oh and will this be compatible with https://deadlystream.com/files/file/693-sherruk-attacks-with-lightsabers/?

I wouldn't be sure of that until my mod is released, however, even in the event that it isn't compatible with Sherruk attacks with Lightsabers I might just make it so that Sherruk is given Lightsabers in this mod.

 

17 hours ago, Malkior said:

(BTW, as a minor aside, Beskar or "Beskar Gam" wasn't invented by Disney, but was an invention of Karen Traviss in her Republic Commando books and then backported into the Disney canon via Filoni. Humorously, her books had so many parts canonized that she should probably be credited at least partially with the show. )

I'm aware of such, I'm mostly referring to Disney canon to appeal to a modern audience that might be more familiar with the on-going TV Show rather than books from the mid 2000s.

 

Other than the callbacks to Disney canon in my promotional screenshots and posts here, very little Disney canon content from The Mandalorian will be taken into consideration for the actual mod... whereas Legends content will.

[Malkior 476]

14 hours ago, N-DReW25 said:

I'm aware of such, I'm mostly referring to Disney canon to appeal to a modern audience that might be more familiar with the on-going TV Show rather than books from the mid 2000s.

 

Other than the callbacks to Disney canon in my promotional screenshots and posts here, very little Disney canon content from The Mandalorian will be taken into consideration for the actual mod... whereas Legends content will.

Fair enough.

Ironically, that naming scheme is one of those rare moments where both Disney and Legends content agrees. I do hope you at least retain the few things Disney decided to add unaltered from the old Expanded Universe such as those created during the Republic Commando and Open Seasons era as I consider those the strongest times for Mandalorian content. 

[N-DReW25 1,336]

On 7/1/2023 at 1:35 PM, Malkior said:

Fair enough.

Ironically, that naming scheme is one of those rare moments where both Disney and Legends content agrees. I do hope you at least retain the few things Disney decided to add unaltered from the old Expanded Universe such as those created during the Republic Commando and Open Seasons era as I consider those the strongest times for Mandalorian content. 

If I'm able too, I shall... though if I don't add a particular piece of Mandalorian content that you like there's a very high chance I might not know it exists. Should Hearts of Beskar release without certain Mandalorian content from Legends that you think would work in the Kotor game engine (aka no jetpacks etc.) feel free to suggest it here or on the future HOB mod page, I'll look into it and get back to you (or anyone else) as to whether or not I can add it.

 

Today, I have a small leak for you all:

 

That's Kandon Ark wearing the Mandalorian Combat Suit item from the Hearts of Beskar mod. Why is he wearing it? Well, 7 years before the start of the game in the year 3963 BBY was a little event called the Taris Siege where Taris was invaded by the Mandalorians during the Mandalorian Wars. The Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars fought the Mandalorians during this time, you can canonically consider Gadon Thek, Zaedra and Brejik as all being veterans of the Mandalorian Wars as they technically fought the Mandalorians as partisans. The Mandalorian occupation of Taris lasted for 2 to 3 years finally ending with the Liberation of Taris which saw Revan drive out both the Mandalorians and the Exchange (for a time) from the planet, it's during this event where Juhani was freed from slavery.

 

With that established, consider these things: Mandalorians have a warrior culture, Mandalorians develop overpowered weapons to fulfil the obligations of their warrior culture (fighting), Mandalorians forge heavy protective armor to fulfil the obligations of their warrior culture (surviving) and the Mandalorians built what's called War Forges to mass produce said overpowered weapons and heavy protective armor on occupied worlds close to the battlefront with the only two confirmed War Forges being on Jebble and Tarnith... two of Taris' own resource planets.

 

What am I getting at? With Mandalorian Soldiers being killed in combat there's no doubt the Taris Resistance, the Hidden Beks, the Black Vulkars and the Exchange would've taken Mandalorian equipment off their corpses to be used for their own purposes. By the time of Kotor, it's not unreasonable to assume that Mandalorian equipment is flowing through the black market.

 

Now from a gameplay perspective, Taris is the starting planet... I cannot add overpowered modded items on Taris as it would both make enemies extremely difficult to kill and if the player gets these overpowered modded items it can ruin the balance of the game as normal enemies would either do no damage to the player if they're wearing modded armor or will die instantly if the player's using modded weapons.

 

The Mandalorian Combat Suit is one of the few Mandalorian items which works on Taris as it's something one can believe is a black market item and it isn't overpowered. The Mandalorian Combat Suit only has 5 Defense Bonus and 5% immunity to melee damage, this makes it weaker than the Republic Mod Armor and the Echani Fiber Armor. The Mandalorian Combat Suit can also only be obtained by killing Kandon Ark, which is only possible if the player does the light side ending for the Prototype Swoop Engine quest... why is this important? If a player does the dark side ending, it ends with the player killing the entire Hidden Bek gang and gaining all of their items, credits and XP.

 

With Hearts of Beskar, this mod adds a bit of weight to your decision on how you complete the Prototype Swoop Engine quest: If you go Dark Side you get a bunch of XP for killing the enemy Beks and their generic item loot you're bound to gain later (Light Battle Armor, Military Suits, Double Vibrosword etc.) which can be sold for credits... but if you go Light Side you obtain a decent piece of armor from Kandon which isn't overpowered yet might fair useful against future melee NPCs on Taris (Sith Governor, Marl etc.)

 

Since Kandon doesn't drop a Military Suit anymore, that drop has been moved to Brejik who now drops his Military Suit and a Mandalorian Blaster which does 2-7 energy Damage (generic Blaster Pistol does 1-6 energy damage) and +1 Attack Bonus. In the vanilla game, the Mandalorian Blaster is obtained from loot from the Kashyyyk Mandalorians though by then you've already obtained stronger weapons that make the Mandalorian Blasters obsolete by default... by having Mandalorian Blasters drop earlier, like on Brejik, it gives the player a proper opportunity to use this otherwise useless weapon at a point when it was actually useful.

 

I still haven't decided on other NPCs on Taris who'll use black market Mandalorian gear, I'm considering adding the Mandalorian Melee Shield as a drop for select Black Vulkar NPCs though suggestions are welcome as I don't want to make these drops too overpowered.

 

And to conclude this post; I also fixed the bug with Inyri Forge's Female Mandalorian model which turned the male Mandalorians into Female Mandalorians if Female Mandalorians were present in the module, Female Mandalorians now work as intended and won't affect their male counterparts.

[djh269 264]

I love how thought out each of your decisions are, the amount of obsolete items you pick up later on in the game is maddening -Leviathan, Unknown World are the worst examples of this. So getting a Mandalorian Pistol early on is massive win!

[DeathScepter 46]

fun idea: Bonus Feats(force jump and lightsaber feats) to an mandolarian armor of your choice with JC's Dark Saber.

Force Jump for Armor 

Improved Force Jump for Upgrade

Master Force Jump for the other Upgrade

Same logic for Lightsaber as bonus feats. 

 

Think of    Canderous as a Mandolarian Jedi without the said Jedi Class with this armor.  Also Mandos should function as a boss type Character but Never Mary Sue Level

[Natural Law 47]

Really want to try out this mod for my 20th anniversary play-through this Dec 5th. First played Kotor in the summer of 04' and our family PC was no match for its system requirements!

A question, N-DReW. If I play as PFHC02, will the Jedi leader on the Star Forge be the same model as in your screenshot?

Or is it like the female Jedi on the Endar Spire, who switches to PFHC05 if you elect to play as PFHC01? (which is the usual character model stand-in I believe)

[DarthParametric 3,785]

13 hours ago, Natural Law said:

If I play as PFHC02

The vanilla backup head for that NPC is #30, PFHA05.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

On 7/7/2023 at 3:12 PM, DeathScepter said:

fun idea: Bonus Feats(force jump and lightsaber feats) to an mandolarian armor of your choice with JC's Dark Saber.

Force Jump for Armor 

Improved Force Jump for Upgrade

Master Force Jump for the other Upgrade

Same logic for Lightsaber as bonus feats. 

 

Think of Canderous as a Mandolarian Jedi without the said Jedi Class with this armor.

So... have an armor give the full tiers of Force Jump ability + Lightsaber Prerequsite.

 

Whilst I highly doubt Snigaroo would add Hearts of Beskar to the Kotor Reddit Builds, I'm developing these mods as if they were anyway. If my mods can get by his standards, then chances are my mods will turn out good... and one thing I know Snigaroo despises is overpowered items. Whilst I can justify the Beskar giving large energy resistance bonuses, I can hardly justify giving Force Jump to non-Jedi party members in a Mandalorian theme mod (That is if Force Jump would even work with non-Jedi party members).

 

But the Lightsaber Pre-Requisite for non-Jedi party members may be possible for a different mod, it would allow Canderous to use JC's Dark Saber!

 

Quote

 Also Mandos should function as a boss type Character but Never Mary Sue Level

What are you talking about?

 

21 hours ago, Natural Law said:

A question, N-DReW. If I play as PFHC02, will the Jedi leader on the Star Forge be the same model as in your screenshot?

Or is it like the female Jedi on the Endar Spire, who switches to PFHC05 if you elect to play as PFHC01? (which is the usual character model stand-in I believe)

This screenshot?

 

Yes, as DP has already said, if you play as her head it will switch to a different player head to prevent clones.

 

On 7/6/2023 at 11:23 PM, N-DReW25 said:

I also wanted to clarify that Hearts of Beskar does NOT turn Kandon Ark orange, I have this installed alongside the NPC Diversity Pack mod which does that instead. Hearts of Beskar should be compatible with other mods which give Kandon Ark a unique head, such as Leilukin's Twi'lek Male NPC Diversity mod.

[DeathScepter 46]

what i am saying that Mandalorians Enemy NPCs should be powerful enough to be a proper boss but not so powerful that they are undefeatable that they are consider to be Mary Sue

[Natural Law 47]

Good to know. Sorry, one more question!

How would

and

interact with your overhaul if installed afterwards? Though I'm leaning towards only the latter to finally erase the Sith pajama party.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

13 hours ago, DeathScepter said:

what i am saying that Mandalorians Enemy NPCs should be powerful enough to be a proper boss but not so powerful that they are undefeatable that they are consider to be Mary Sue

Ok, now I understand... typically the word 'Mary Sue' is used to describe a poorly written protagonist, not an enemy type... the word 'overpowered' or OP for short would've gotten the message across much better.

 

And yes, I've already taken this into account. You would've known this had you have read this following quote from my Dantooine leak.

 

On 6/30/2023 at 12:14 AM, N-DReW25 said:

As of right now, an energy immunity of 90% is the highest thus far and it belongs to Cassus Fett's Battle Armor though I assure you this mod shall be play tested with a vanilla build and weapons to ensure that they can be defeated. If need be the armors offered shall be nerfed, though do expect the strongest Mandalorian Armors to have a high energy immunity.

 

So yes, they will be tested before release to ensure they can be defeated. It'd be considered a bug if they couldn't.

 

12 hours ago, Natural Law said:

Good to know. Sorry, one more question!

How would

and

interact with your overhaul if installed afterwards? Though I'm leaning towards only the latter to finally erase the Sith pajama party.

Jedi Diversity on the Star Forge should work fine when installed after the NPC Diversity Pack mod, though any future NPC mod I make which affects Jedi would have to be installed before Jedi Diversity on the Star Forge.

 

Dark Jedi Wear Robes is different, however, the reason it's different is that the NPC Diversity Pack swaps some of the Dark Jedi trio encounters with the Dark Jedi Master appearances from the Dark Side ending. You can install Dark Jedi Wear Robes after the NPC Diversity Pack if you want, but the worst I can see happen is that some Dark Jedi might have DP's unique Dark Jedi Master appearances and this might not look very good considering one of them is literally Darth Malgus.

[DarthParametric 3,785]

6 minutes ago, N-DReW25 said:

one of them is literally Darth Malgus

No, one of them uses a TOR breath mask which is similar to the one Malgus uses. But it's a standard head slot item for Sith Warriors in TOR.

Regardless, I plan to revise the three Master appearances at some point, as I don't like them much.

[DeathScepter 46]

as for me, Drew, I just briefly read this thread of now. For i have be on call for work

[Natural Law 47]

6 hours ago, N-DReW25 said:

the NPC Diversity Pack swaps some of the Dark Jedi trio encounters with the Dark Jedi Master appearances from the Dark Side ending.

Do you mean the original Sith governor and all the other bald twonks who want to line up and be slaughtered by Revan? Can't remember any Sith masters in the Dark Side ending atop the temple that aren't 2D sprites!

[DarthParametric 3,785]

The three Masters on the Star Forge.

[Natural Law 47]

2 hours ago, DarthParametric said:

The three Masters on the Star Forge.

Ah, cool... So instead of three variants of dark Jedi you'd get six by using these two mods in conjunction. Sounds even better! DS ending in KoTOR has always felt a bit rotten to me regardless. I suppose Malak committed the bulk of the war crimes compared to his master; so the redemption doesn't feel too hackneyed on the LS. 

[N-DReW25 1,336]

On 7/10/2023 at 1:12 AM, Natural Law said:

Do you mean the original Sith governor and all the other bald twonks who want to line up and be slaughtered by Revan? Can't remember any Sith masters in the Dark Side ending atop the temple that aren't 2D sprites!

No, I'm referring to the ones on the Star Forge DP pictured above. 

 

On 7/10/2023 at 2:07 AM, Natural Law said:

Ah, cool... So instead of three variants of dark Jedi you'd get six by using these two mods in conjunction.

Unless DP can confirm otherwise, that is absolutely not the case... DP's mod replaces the appearances of the 3 Sith Masters on the Star Forge though my mod uses them on Tatooine and Kashyyyk assuming you wouldn't use DPs mod.

 

That means if you use Dark Jedi Wear Robes & NPC Diversity Pack you could get the exact same Dark Jedi you see in DP's above screenshot.

 

If you don't mind that, then yes you can play both mods just fine assuming you install Dark Jedi Wear Robes after the NPC Diversity Pack, but if not I will say this: the use of the Star Forge Sith Masters on generic Dark Jedi does not have to be a permanent feature of the NPC Diversity Pack.

 

The Czerka greeter on Tatooine who you pay to enter Tatooine and the Czerka Merchant on Korriban both use the Czerka Commander appearance, but that's not permanent as I intend to eventually make a Czerka themed mod to replace those guys & give them unique appearances... right now I'm developing the Mandalorian themed mod.

 

Eventually, I'll make my own Dark Jedi themed mod which would do the same thing as Hearts of Beskar which would add new Dark Jedi variants to the game. I'm not sure if this mod would be compatible with DP's Dark Jedi Wear Robes as my mod would be very uniformed meaning, for example, Sith Assassins have a distinct look, Dark Jedi have a distinct look, Sith Lords have a distinct look... whereas Dark Jedi Wear Robes doesn't have anything like that, in-fact, it looks as if males have Sith Lord mask whilst females have a Sith Assassin mask. What I'm saying is, it might not look good alongside my highly uniformed work.

 

But for now, if requested, I might consider replace the generic Dark Jedi who use Star Forge Master appearances to ensure compatibility between the two mods.

[Natural Law 47]

14 hours ago, N-DReW25 said:

But for now, if requested, I might consider replace the generic Dark Jedi who use Star Forge Master appearances to ensure compatibility between the two mods.

Cheers, mate, but no need. I think it would only be jarring if I went Dark Side and Malak's three "unique" apprentices he sics on you are the same as those I've already encountered. But is that not what would happen in your mod? Multiple red and blue jim jam jump-suits?

[N-DReW25 1,336]

20 hours ago, Natural Law said:

Multiple red and blue jim jam jump-suits?

Yes, that's exactly it... and I just found a screenshot to confirm it!

 

Though if you think about it the red and blue jumpsuit Dark Jedi looked no more unique then the grey goons you saw throughout the galaxy by that point. I could still remove the red and blue Dark Jedi so the red and blue unique Dark Jedi are found only on the Star Forge... as I said that might be better for the Dark Jedi Wear Robes mod.

[Natural Law 47]

17 minutes ago, N-DReW25 said:

I could still remove the red and blue Dark Jedi so the red and blue unique Dark Jedi are found only on the Star Forge...

Sounds awesome if you really desire to do so as an option. I won't stop ya!

[DarthParametric 3,785]

On 7/11/2023 at 1:24 PM, N-DReW25 said:

it looks as if males have Sith Lord mask whilst females have a Sith Assassin mask.

No, there are three head variants for each gender, six total. The vanilla K1 pajama face with N95 Covid mask, the red eyed TSL helmet, and the Scream TSL helmet. I tried to switch the UTCs so the was a reasonably even distribution. I think I posted a spreadsheet of the full breakdown at some point.

[N-DReW25 1,336]

I have returned with more Hearts of Beskar leaks, this time... on Kashyyyk!

 

On Kashyyyk, the player encounters a pack of Mandalorians using the Kashyyyk wildlife to train as they use Stealth Field Generators to ambush their prey.

 

Most of these Mandalorians shall be replaced with the previously revealed Mandalorian Marauder who appears once on Dantooine though shall appear numerous times on Kashyyyk!

 

As I revealed earlier, the Mandalorian Marauder are a Neo-Crusader Mandalorian variant who only ever appeared in a Star Wars Miniatures toy series. Brought to life from a texture lifted from the K1 Enhancement Pack modder's resource by SpaceAlex, the Mandalorian Marauders shall use melee weapons against the player!

 

However, the Marauders aren't the only new Mandalorian threat you'll encounter in the Shadowlands...

 

 I introduce to you... the Mandalorian Shock Trooper!

 

The Mandalorian Shock Troopers are based on the Neo-Crusader Shock Trooper, they're called "Mandalorian" instead of "Neo-Crusader" to maintain consistency between the other Mandalorian variants of this mod. If you look on the Wookieepedia page for the Shock Troopers, you might see that their armors don't match the screenshots presented here:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/68/Neo-Crusader_Shock_Troopers.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130421185101

 

But if you go to the Wookieepedia page for the Neo-Crusader Assault Armor, you'll realize that canonically the Mandalorian Shock Troopers wear the same Mandalorian Assault Armor that appears in the Kotor games!

 

This armor is Neo-Crusader Assault Armor!

 

So if my Mandalorian Shock Troopers are the same as Neo-Crusader Shock Troopers, why don't they look the exact same?... for the same reason the Imperial Storm Troopers don't look like Phase 1 Clone Troopers, in the comics the Neo-Crusader Shock Troopers only appeared once in 3963 BBY whilst Kotor is set in 3956 BBY. In Hearts of Beskar, the Shock Troopers simply have updated armor (and it's totally not because I can't make a unique Shock Trooper model).

 

Again, special thanks for 90SK for making the Shock Trooper skin... these Mandalorians couldn't have been brought to life without your good work!

 

What's left for the Hearts of Beskar mod? Well, I need to finish the Lehon Mandalorians and I need to finish the placement of Mandalorian items throughout the game as placeable loot, merchant loot and enemy loot drops... speaking of loot, I've made much progress on the Taris and Dantooine Mandalorian loot that'll be found in the mod! These changes shall be leaked in their own dedicated leak!

[N-DReW25 1,336]

I am pleased to announce that my Hearts of Beskar mod has been released to the public! Once an Admin approves the mod it shall appear in the following link:

 

This is the 1st "big" mod as part of the NPC Overhaul Series, for now I'll shall focus on the "smaller" mods that are still in development before I jump right in with another big mod. When I have more content to leak I shall return to this thread, though if anyone wishes to ask questions I'm more than happy to answer them.