PANPC 2.0.13 Released: New Years Update

PANPC 2.0.13 has been released and is now available to Citizen role users on the GreslinGames Discord.

Changelog:

[NEW] Fallback movement options in case of navmesh move failures
[NEW] PANPC_KW_NoAutoHeal keyword added to block self-stimming
[NEW] PANPC_KW_CheckOutOfAmmo keyword added to force OOA checking per NPC
[NEW] PANPC_KW_MajorThreat keyword added to force deathclaw-type response
[NEW] PANPC Ferals in groups of 5+ now considered "major threat"
[NEW] Supermutants in groups of 3+ now considered "major threat"
[NEW] BOS/Enclave in groups of 3+ now considered "major threat"
[NEW] Suiciders now considered "major threat"
[NEW] Pipboy/player radio visibility penalty now exposed as globals
[CHANGED] Leveled list edits removed, changed to death drops
[CHANGED] DLC reqs removed - back to base game only
[CHANGED] Arena Rust Devils auto replaced by Boss Raiders if no DLC
[CHANGED] Wait mult values reduced on most ranged combat styles
[COMPAT] Secondary hazard/item drop option on RTR scripts
[FIX] Sinjin Gang faction blocked to avoid early Kent death in Silver Shroud
[FIX] Out-of-ammo checking now defaults to off
[FIX] Deathclaw panic deprecated in favor of KW_MajorThreat feature
[FIX] Minor bugfixes in Raiding Party territory identification
[FIX] Throttle - negative values deprecated, timer rescaled
[MCM] Minor text fixes in MCM config

So after playing Starfield for the last few months, and seeing everything that game had to offer, I decided it was time to get back to Fallout 4 and PANPC, and to do some housecleaning to start off 2024.

Whenever someone brings up a good idea or makes a useful comment about a change or new feature, I usually say that it'll go on "The List". It always sounds like I'm blowing off their idea, but there really IS a List, and whenever I get around to a new PANPC update I always start by going through it and implementing what I can. Larger feature changes usually emerge from patterns in the player-provided List items.

My plan for 2.0.13 was to revisit stealth, but after staring into the Starfield AI abyss for a long time and reviewing the List, I saw that other things needed to be done first.  So this is more of a maintenance release - bug fixes, adjustments, a few overdue but solid suggestions - to prep for continuing PANPC work in the coming year.

Threat Assessment Changes

"Deathclaw Panic" was a very old feature that needed to go. It didn't do much, was pretty bad at the things it did, and should have been cut when I overhauled threat assessment. So that's now gone.

Replacing it is the PANPC_KW_MajorThreat keyword. If an NPC has that keyword, everyone else bumps their threat assessment of that NPC up a notch. You can use it in patches, and in certain cases (such as Ferals) an NPC will automatically get it if they show up with friends.

Movement Fallbacks

PANPC's movement system calculates its own navmesh destinations. Unfortunately, Bethesda's system offers almost no script interface to the navmesh, so sometimes those destinations don't actually end up in legal positions. Normally, PANPC would respond by rejecting the move request.

Now the movement system contains an optional fallback, telling the move controller where to redirect the move if it fails, instead of rejecting it. Right now this is used mostly for retreats: if an NPC is trying to back off and can't get a legal position, they should redirect to one of their teammates' locations.

Compatibility Updates

The DLC requirement has been removed. The only thing it was used for was the Rust Devils Arena team, and so I changed that to dynamically detect the Automatron DLC and change them to boss level Raiders if the DLC is not present.

PANPC no longer changes any base game records. The mine/grenade level list edits have been removed, in favor of an on-death inventory drop whose rate can be adjusted in MCM. Current default is a 5% chance of a Base AI enemy being dynamically given a PANPC mine or grenade when killed by the player.

The Pipboy light and radio visibility penalties are now exposed as global values in the ESM. These control how likely an enemy will notice your presence if you have the light or radio turned on.

I've also updated the Real Time Response scripts to support secondary hazard/placed object drops. This is to deal with mod situations where an explosion or trap (such as Molotovs or fire traps) lay down a Hazard object using the data field that PANPC needs for its RTR system. The RTR drop can now be configured to spawn the intended hazard at the same location, so that now you no longer have to choose between them.

Other Odds and Ends

Sinjin's faction (the Silver Shroud quest) has been completely removed from PANPC support. Several people have reported problems with Kent being murdered too early, and while I doubt PANPC is to blame, the simplest solution on my end is to take that NPC group out of the system. If you want to revert that, you can easily do so my custom configuring that faction for the Raider AI system.

The Ranged Wait Mult values have been reduced in all PANPC ranged combat style records. Hopefully that will reduce gunplay reaction times a bit.

Throttle has been changed to remove the negative value option (it didn't work), and recalibrated in light of post-2.0 script optimizations. Everyone should be processing AI decisions more quickly now. However, keep an eye on your Papyrus log for stack dumps - if you're getting them, you'll have to play with the Throttle setting to get the balance you like again.

Everything else is minor bug fixes and tweaks.

About PAST (Pack Attack Starfield Troopers)

I have a compiled prototype of the PAST scripts, and a surprising number of things are working. However, I'm currently roadblocked on a single technical factor - which also happens to be the most critical one - that works one way in Fallout 4 and apparently doesn't in Starfield. If I can somehow guess my way around it, a working PAST prototype will probably come together pretty quickly. If not, we're waiting until Creation Kit drops and hoping that the situation clarifies then.

I'm not as enthusiastic now about Starfield as a modding platform as I was in August, for a variety of technical reasons, but I still plan to push hard into PAST the moment that roadblock clears. In the meantime, I will be continuing development on PANPC, PACE, and all my other Fallout 4 projects well into 2024 and probably beyond.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about 2.0.13 features and changes, please address them to the #pack-attack channel on the GreslinGames Discord and I'll try to answer them the best I can.

All my best,

- G.