Mod: Prepper Cache

Game Talk The Lab
1
What is It?

This is a simple mod that adds Prepper Caches to the game. These caches are located in the woods and are small bunkers that contain a particular type of supplies.

The inspiration for this was the game ‘The Long Dark’ which has these exact things implemented. They randomly spawn and contain one type of supplies (Food, clothing, tools, etc).

My mod adds several types of caches, each with a particular theme. I don’t know how well-balanced the caches really are. On one hand, everything you’ll find in a cache is pretty basic and obtainable elsewhere, or there might not be that many items in the cache. On the other hand, it’s basically free supplies, so some people might not like that.

Why make this mod?

Well, I wanted to put a mod out there. I tinker with mods every now and again, but I always start these grand projects that never really go anywhere. For example, creating a college from scratch, creating new items, monsters, and locations that fit that theme. It’s a very large project and I have such a short attention span it’ll probably never finish it

So, I wanted something simple and straightforward that I could knock out over the weekend. I love the long dark and so this seemed like a quick and dirty little mod I could finish easily.

Why not mainline it?

Three reasons.

One, crippling self-doubt and the general lack of knowledge about what is and is not acceptable to push. I think what I do is borderline useless and I don’t know what I’m allowed to do. So, mod.

Two, I used custom itemgroups. I probably should have worked within the itemgroups that already existed, but I wanted to cultivate my own lists because I figured it would help me create things later if I understood how everything works. If this were to be mainlined, they’d probably want me to use pre-existing itemgroups rather than adding redundant groups I created myself.

Three, Balance. I don’t know if this mod is balanced or fair or if there are rules regarding risk/reward of any given location. This mod fluctuates between giving entirely too much stuff and basically nothing, neither of which feels like that’s how it should be. I’ll dial it in as I get feedback from players, but odds are good this will just be a random thing for a few people to play with.

Where can I get it?

https://github.com/TheMurderUnicorn/PrepperCache

As far as I know that’s set up right. Just download and put it in the modfolder of your Cataclysm directory. If there’s any issues with the files please alert me as I still barely know how to use github.

Can I give you some feedback?

Yes. I will listen to whatever you have to say, but it may or may not cause me to change things, based on my own discretion.

6 Likes
2

I took a look through the files and I’ve got to say it looks very well made. The format looks good and you haven’t gone overboard on spawnrates. I’m going to add this to my world and check it out. I hope I find one of those rare bunkers :slight_smile:

3

I think the game already has something like this to a less advanced degree.
If you wonder around the world enough you might find crates sitting in the middle of no where with various MIL grade gear like MREs, ammo, guns, clothing of various types, and explosives.
Also question is this mod compatible with mods like the nano tech mod or arcana (choose those two because those are the ones I recall having especially unique items)?

4

I think this will run just fine with other mods, you’re using mainline items for your groups and unique overmap special. And yeah, I know the crates you’re talking about. I think Cata++ adds some survivor camps and another mod adds homeless camps, which are way nicer than they sound. This is a little bit like the LMOE shelter from mainline in execution, but it will add even more variety, which is always good.

5

Ah the way it sounded to me was a shack with guns and stuff in the woods like Neoscavenger’s shacks in the woods loaded with guns and stuff but hard to find or get into (also what I mean by this is four largeish particle boards put together and called a house).

6

The airdrops are neat, I’ve found a few, but I think they only have military gear in them?

And yeah, let’s be honest, the mod’s redundant in the sense that it’s just one more place to loot. They are basically shacks with a tiny underground that contains loot. I think all that’s okay, though, given that any given building in the game is just full of various types of loot, some of which are redundant.

1 Like
7

If you push something that’s unacceptable, you’ll be politely told to change it. Otherwise, it’ll get accepted. It’s no big deal.

People try to push unacceptable stuff all the time. It’s a minor rejection at worse.

People add custom itemgroups all the time. Itemgroups were not passed down from on high, carved in Tongues on sacred stones. They’re an implementation tool to control item spawn and are created and modified very casually. If you have an item group that is very close to an existing item group, you may get asked to merge, but all your groups look pretty distinct.

Again, any contribution will get reviewed, and review comments are usually fairly polite and welcoming. If there are balance issues, people will point them out and make suggestions. But CDDA already has a bunch of stuff that is oddly balanced - like mansions that are basically loot pinatas guarded by the lowest tier of zombies - so this is no big deal.

Do what you want, but I really do encourage you to at least attempt to mainline this.

5 Likes
8

This made me smile.

I hear all of your points. I’ll consider what to do, but I think this will probably remain as a mod, at least for now. If I do something more innovative or something I have more faith in, I will be more inclined to attempt mainlining. But really, I appreciate the information.

2 Likes
9

BUMP.

Updated the Prepper Cache mod. Never really planned to update it and not sure I’ll update again, but there were some changes. Minor, really.

Changes:

-Changed color and symbol that represent the caches, to make them easier to spot.
-Slightly changed top level of cache so it’s more easily spotted when passing by.
-Added Map that reveals nearby prepper caches.
-Map can now be found on Survivor zombies and with other survivor gear.
-Increased max occurences, though this may be a mistake.
-Slightly rebalanced which caches are likeliest to spawn.

2 Likes
10

Will give it a try, and say hello to the Apartement Rat.

11

I tested to see if this worked, and these errors come up when its loading

error1
error1824×236 2.53 KB
error2

12

Yeah, the symbol string bit can be ignored, I guess anesthesia had its ID changed.

I’ll be honest, the mod’s sort of crap anyway, I don’t really plan to fix it.

The sym can be changed to “?” instead of whatever ASCII value it currently is. And in C_advmed you’d have to change anesthesia to whatever the new ID is. If you don’t know how to do those things, well, like I said it’s not a great mod anyway.

13

Ah, screw it, I felt guilty and fixed it. Redownload from my github and use the new one, it works, easy peasy, shouldn’t have told you to do it yourself.

1 Like
14

Cool and thanks :stuck_out_tongue: and the mod adds nice variety.