VBD Tweaks

Description
FIRST IMPRESSIONS, AND AN EXPLANATION FOR MY FIRST ATTEMPT:

First off, let me say that this mod--or, rather, this little collection of tweaks--is geared towards realism, for the most part... As such, you pretty much won't find any amazingly powerful weapons or armors in it...
With that out of the way, let me also say that this little collection of tweaks is far from impressive... I originally started work on this for my own personal use, with no intent to distribute--but, after sharing some information and telling stories about what I was working on over at the Zone Survival Guide board, there turned out to be a number of people interested in the things I was doing...so, after a bit of talking it over, I've decided to put my tweaks out here.

Again, I tell you, there is nothing particularly amazing in this collection of tweaks. All it is, is some simple weapon tweaks(accuracy and power, price, increased compatability with accessories, and what I believe are the most accurate and realistic descriptions and titles), combined with some equally simple armor modifications(slightly increased and staggered carry weights, different prices, slightly adjusted attributes for like one or two suits), plus a few extra weapons based on real-life items and some tweaks to the traders to get all of those new toys on the shelves of the zone's traders... To be perfectly honest, there are also a few alternative textures that you may or may not use, along with a sound file that has been applied to the 7.62x39mm weapons I've worked out...

As far as I am aware, this collection of tweaks should be fully compatible with all versions of the game, it shouldn't require anything more than dragging the "gamedata" folder into your game directory to install it, and for the most part it shouldn't even force you to start a new game(actually, the 'fix' for the Freedom Trader might take a fresh start to function 100% correctly, but it still shouldn't cause any problems if you don't start a fresh game)... I'm currently running version 1.'4, with no other mods except for this little collection... If anyone out there finds that this mod will not work for them, because of version incompatibility or whatever, please, let me know and I'll see about fixing it...

CREDITS, BECAUSE I COULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN THIS DONE WITHOUT SOME GOOD TEACHERS:

Now, a moment ago I mentioned that this collection includes alternatively textured visual models for the weapons, plus a sound file for three of the weapons... I have to give credit for this stuff, at the very least! So, to get those credits out of the way, here goes:
- Retextured USP, PM, PB, AKS-74U, and AKS-74 - By Gohda.
- Retextured "Chaser 13" (Winchester 1300? Mossberg Maverick 88? Remington M870? WTF IS THIS THING?!) - By philibuster.
- Retextured SVD - By Mattressi.
- Retextured L85 and SUSAT scope crosshair - SOMNUS.
- 7.62x39mm sound file - By...well, hell, I haven't a clue who did it; I snagged it from one version or another of "Rebalnced"...so, credit goes to the whole bunch who worked on that mod, and by extension everyone they gave credit to...

Aside from the weapon-related visual and audio changes, there are also a few other things I need to give credit for:
- For inspiration and guidance, and the files to base the tweaks on when it came down to modding the trader inventories - Athanasios, who put together the EMPORIKON trader modification, on which my work with the traders has been very heavily based...
- For the included repair mod - CtV, I believe--and by extension MoDD, as well...

For the total package, I have to give further credit to all the folks who have supported me, inspired me, and guided me in the brainstorming and creation of this little collection of tweaks and changes--so a big shout out to all the folks who hang out on the Zone Survival Guide board regularly - NatVac, Pepe, and everyone else who may not have been modders but who still did help me to figure things out and get things done...and then a big shout out to all the guys who've posted mods on FileFront, here, who have similarly guided and inspired me without ever even knowing or being in contact with me...

INSTALLATION, BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE KNOWS HOW TO GET MODS TO WORK:

Alright, so I mentioned it before, way up top... As far as I know, this should be compatible with all versions of the game, and it should be an extremely easy thing to install... All I have to do to get this collection of changes to work, is stil the "gamedata" folder into the game directory...it goes into "C:/Program Files/Games/THQ/STALKER/" and sits in the main directory, there, right beside the other folders and files, nice and neat, with no mucking around with the fsgame.ltx file or anything else...

THE FINAL WORD, BECAUSE IT IS TIME FOR ME TO SHUT UP NOW:

ANYWAY. Feedback. Yeah. IF anyone tries out this little collection of changes, please, let me know what you think of what I've done. But, please, don't ask me to do any of that super-difficult stuff that I've already said I likely can't do... Modding in more armor shouldn't be too difficult, I should be able to manage that, but those other things--weather and day/night cycles, darker nights, etc, etc, I just don't think I'm qualified to even try to do...at least, not yet. Maybe I will get to that point, eventually--but, please, don't rush it... On the other hand, if any of you other folks would like to put this little collection of changes to work in an even larger compilation, maybe even all the way up to a total conversion or complete overhaul...be my quest! I don't mind at all! I did this bit of work for my own pleasure, and I'm glad others took interst in it! If you see something you like and you want to use it, by all means, go right on ahead! It would be nice to be mentioned in the credits, but I'm not going to jump on your back if you don't mention that I did any of this work. It isn't for profit, so why should I care who uses it, or how they use it? Then again, if I catch wind of anyone using my work for their profit, in a monetary sort of way...THAT might cause some trouble. So, watch it. Take it, use it, play it, have fun with it--but don't you dare charge anyone for it! Also, if anyone could accurately translate my titles and descriptions into other languages, that would be quite nice. As it is, with me being in the USA and primarily an English speaker(though I do know some very limited German), I'm pretty much incapable of accurately translating anything--so all I have ready, here, is an English Language version...sorry, guys.

Peace. Love. Cherry Pie("BOOM, HEADSHOT!"). Victory By Default.

P.S. - I'm a long-winded sonuvagun, ain't I? Sorry about that. Bad habit? I like to explain everything as well as I can, get it all out, finish it all in one go, ya'know? Oh. As far as contacting me goes... You can find me on the Hitman Forum (http://www.hitmanforum.com/forum/) as Victory By Default, and the Zone Survival Guide board (http://stalker.heroesradio.com/Forum/index.php), on Yahoo! Messenger as roger_stryker_usmc, or send me an E-Mail at [email protected]... Be warned, however; I'm not on Yahoo! Messenger very often, and I rarely ever check my E-Mail, so you'll have much better luck--and get a much faster reply--contacting me on one of those forums...and, considering if you're reading this you probably play STALKER, the Zone Survival Guide boat is always looking for good members!