For years I always admired the work of modders who brought new life to such amazing classic games such as Fallout and Deus Ex. I always wanted to make my own mod but I never felt like I was smart enough to be able to do it. Back in high school I was the second dumbest person in my C++ class so I figured that if I ever attempted to modify actual real code I'd probably manage to make the game overwrite my entire hard drive or something.
However, a while ago I started working on a Fallout 2 mod which is very modest in scope. All I plan to do is change most of the non-scifi weapons into classic weapons from World War I through the very beginning of the Vietnam War. At first I'd planned to keep everything all Americana in better keeping with the Cold War theme of the setting and the 1950s graphics but Fallout 2 had too many guns so I added burp guns and I'm considering adding the Mauser carbine, a MG42, and that German paratroop rifle. I've already added AK47s and RPKs. I think this enhances the period feel artwork of the game moreso than generic modern weapons and such toys as HK G11s and Pancor Jackhammers. Probably it would have just been easier and better to modify Fallout 1 which had less weapons but Fallout 2 has a most excellent GUI editor which is faciliating my amateurish effort immensley.
The hardest part of this has been doing the research and getting graphics for everything off the internet. My graphics-fu is abysmal so now a lot of the guns in game are poor quality small photographs from the internet next to the other cartoony-looking inventory items. Personally, though, I never cared about graphics in games at all. I usually felt like they were a distraction from the key issue, which would be any number of the following pillars: gamplay, innovative ideas, strong simulationism, compelling characters, effective humor, engaging complexity, etc.
I've decided to tweak the statistics to make the game feel more realistic as well. Obviously, since Fallout is driven by levels and hitpoints it's impossible to be totally realistic. There's no way you can make things so that a rifle is equally likely to explode the head of a peasant as a legendary war hero should the round hit because that's just not in keeping with the style of the game. But, after some playtesting, I believe that I've managed to add the following real-feeling elements:
*There are a lot more rifles, submachineguns, and carbines and less pistols. Pistol rounds do less damage and perform less well against armor than rifle rounds in all cases. Since most powerful weapons require two hands to use pistols now fulfill more of a sidearm role in case your character gets a crippled arm or runs out of ammunition for his primary weapon, or if he really needs to make a key attack but doesn't have enough APs left to use his big bolt action rifle.
*Bolt action rifles are a lot better for long range sniping (and now there are more really long range weapons) but require a lot of APs to use. Semiautomatic or automatic weapons with short barrels (i.e. submachineguns) usually require only 4 APs to fire in semiautomatic mode to represent how they're faster to aim and fire. Pistols usually require the usual 5 AP to represent how recovery after shooting in inferior than with a carbine or submachinegun.
*Getting hit with a .30-.06 round HURTS, as does a shotgun blast at close range. I'm seeing shotgun blasts do around 30-40 points of damage per hit against my character when he's wearing leather armor. .30-.06 does 30-40 points of damage per long range hit against the mercenaries who are raiding Vault City, and on a critical it can do like 110 points of damage on one hit. Using full cover and sniping from as long a distance as possible is really key now because it's very difficult to play Superman when the opponents all have rifles. (Unless I decide to add Mausers, .30-.06 is currently the most powerful cartridge.)
*No more of this irritating and unlikely equipment stepladder where for some reason all the equipment you find in the beginning of the game sucks and it gets better towards the end. I always found that to be blatant and disbelief-destroying. The annoying and pointless Pipe Rifle has been replaced with a De Lisle carbine. Although it lacks power compared to a real rifle it's more accurate at long range than any pistol so it's possible to play strategically by using the De Lisle carbine at first and switching to a pistol when the enemy gets close. Since I changed the Hunting Rifle into a Remington 700 in .30-.06, a very damaging firearm is available near the beginning of the game.
*The most common cartridge of the wastes is not the somewhat newfangled 10mm cartridge, but rather .45 ACP. 1911s have replaced the ubiquitous 10mm pistol. That's more americana.
*I used real world rates of fire for automatic weapons and made the amount of rounds they spray out in Burst the same as that weapon would spray out in real life in 2 seconds. This means that burst mode at close range is brutal but it also chews through your ammunition very quickly. I think that this forces the player to be both tactical (how do I manuver so I can burst and then turn a corner?) AND strategic (how do I come up with more ammunition all the time?).
*I'll have to playtest more to be totally sure but I believe I finally made non-JHP ammo not suck by slapping really heavy penalties on JHP ammo versus armor and getting rid of the half damage modifier that non-JHP ammo was often slapped with. JHP can still really ruin your day with an armor-bypassing critical, though. Which is as it should be, I believe.
I don't think that my mod would be very popular with the general public since the graphics are admittedly ugly, the amount of damage dealt by the weapons probably makes the game more difficult, and most people probably don't care enough about the history of firearms to want to play the exact same game over again with only revised guns. But, personally, I feel that I'm going towards a major accomplishment. If I can say that I made and completed one mod during my life I think I'll really have done something good.
When I'm done and figure out how to send the mod to other people I might put a link here on DSF since there are some people here who like firearms. Then Raygun and AE can tell me I did it all wrong, or something.