Fabulous Las Vegas, Jewel of the Desert: The Strip by prodlimen

The Strip worldspace has been turned back as closer as possible to its original
concept: A large, spacious, fully opened, cleaned, well-preserved, exclusive and
fancy place, crowned with colorful neon lights and green areas. The whole
worldspace was restored, all the hidden areas were opened, concrete walls were
raised around it...

Description:
A mod that intends to enhance the sight, atmosphere and gameplay experience inside
The Strip by attempting to turn its worldspace back as closer as possible to its
early version during the development of Fallout New Vegas: A large, spacious, open
and clean area, the most exclusive and fancy in the Mojave Desert. The whole
worldspace was cleaned and restored, all the hidden areas were opened, all the
billboard walls were replaced with concrete ones, all the vanilla resorts were
reworked and completed, the LOD was regenerated, the green areas were increased and
the boundaries were extended, using Strip Open plugins as a base and incorporating
most of its improvements.

Which are the features that FLVJOD-The Strip add to the gameplay?:

- The Strip worldspace is now a fully open single section without any walls hiding
areas.

- All the sections in the Strip have been fully navmeshed according to the
extentions and relocations that were made.

- The Billboard walls between resorts, the destroyed roads, the debris piles, the
litter papers, the damaged cars, the bridge in front of Vault 21 are all gone for
good.

- The Tops hotel tower model has been replaced with one that doesn’t have the chunk
in the top corner.

- The Billboard walls that surround the strip have been replaced with concrete
walls, and moved a little further in order to gain some space to host the Resorts
backside.

- All the main resorts (Lucky 38, Gomorrah, The Tops and Ultraluxe) models were
completed to resemble their courtyards and backsides. Now its possible to walk
around each of them.

-The STRIPWORLDNEW worldspace LOD was regenerated; the LOD models of all the main
resorts (Lucky 38, Gomorrah, The Tops and Ultraluxe) were changed to match their
new High poly models. The ghost of the Billboard walls/Tops Hotel tower Chunk are
gone for good.

- The Ultraluxe original annex Hotel building was restored and connected to the
casino through a little bridge passage. A section of the gained area behind the
Ultraluxe was claimed in order to give the Resort its very own courtyard, allowing
it to have now similar dimensions and services than the other resorts
(Tops/Gomorrah).
- Some grass has been added to the green ground. 4 new green areas are available
now for the gamblers to go and relax/step out: one behind and another next to
Gomorrah, one in the backside of the Lucky38 and one behind the Ultraluxe.

- The area behind Michael Angelo’s and Vault 21 was cleaned. The first one was
relocated there, and the NCR Embassy was moved to its old location. The Ultraluxe
Hotel Building was located where the NCR Embassy used to be placed.
- The Las Vegas Boulevard Station increased its size in order to cover the empty
area generated by the movement of the concrete walls.

- 3 new Parking lot areas have been built: 1 in front of the Lucky38, one next to
the Gomorrah and one behind Vault 21. Originally those areas should have been
filled with prewar cars, but since most of them are just junk Mr. House had them
removed out of the Strip.

- The Tops Lobby building was crowned with the same pink neon lights that are
displayed inside; the neon musical notes have been put too outside the casino.

- Some glowmaps were put outside The Lucky 38 and Tops in order to make them look
more colorful.

- The door that connects Freeside with The Strip has been replaced with Camp
McCarran main gate.

- A row of Queen Palms with lights have been placed in the Street to highlight the
Strip area. Some other plants have been distributed in all the green areas to
enhance the atmosphere of luxury and exclusiveness.

- The Stripdoor located in Freeside that teleports you to the Strip worldspace was
changed to match the new door model.

- Due to the fact the mod was built using the Strip Open plugins as a base, most of
all the hardwork done by its authors is incorporated here, in the form of bug fixes
and restored content.

Notes:
- The door model that teleports the courier from Freeside to The Strip and vice
versa (originally located next to the Lucky 38 and Gomorrah) has been physically
moved to where the concrete wall bound is located; however, the activation marker
to teleport back remains on its original place, as well as all the triggers/markers
related to quests and NPC’s spawns. Therefore, you have to activate it in the air,
to find it you just have to take the magazine machine dispenser in front of the
Queen Palm as reference.

This had to be done to prevent possible bugs.

- No new NPC’s or additional clutter have been added to the new areas in order to
keep performance high. Through feedback I’ll decide in the future if something is
added there to make the gameplay more complete.

- Getting to see the embellished Strip comes with a price in performance. Rendering
large open areas full of NPC’s and neon lights everywhere might cause even mid
range PCs to struggle at times. Therefore, it is MANDATORY you use this mod with a
4GB address space enabler patch. Here’s where I got the chance to personally
check/verify/fully understand why the early Strip iteration had to be rejected in
favor of performance and inmersion. The billboard walls were the less intrusive
solution to allow the engine to hide NPCS and be spared from drawing too much
areas/objects at the same time. Considering all the additional pressure the new
stuff had put to the engine and the resultant hit on performance, adding new
Resorts/neon lights to the STRIPWORLDNEW worldspace is out of the question.

Two LOD models (Gomorrah Resort and Vault 21 sign) as well as some concrete walls
weren’t recognized by the GECK during the last 2 runs of the LOD Regeneration
process. This will be fixed ASAP.
The Ultraluxe glowmap is not being fully displayed, due to the change of the model.
The old glowmap for the Tops old damaged Hotel tower is still being displayed. They
will be fixed ASAP.

Some Road pieces seem to display a white seam depending on the ENB Shadder you’re
using. This will be revised and fixed ASAP.

In order to keep the lore all the new doors in the Tops Resort, BLV station and
Michael Angelo’s are locked or inaccessible. The same applies to the new main gate
located at the end of the south section of the strip.

The billboard walls that surround the Strip outside in the Wasteland worldspace
will remain there, same as the ones located in Freeside. They can be considered as
additional protections that Mr. House raised to prevent intruders from climbing the
concrete walls.

****************************
How was New Vegas Strip modified from its original concept and why?

During Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 (E3 2010) Bethesda presented some Fallout
New Vegas footage that shown a New Vegas (Freeside and the Strip) that looked
different from what we got when the game was released. The more evident difference
was the fact the Strip was a clean, well-preserved and stripdoor-free area
surrounded by concrete walls. However, the version we found when the game was
released featured a splitted worldspace surrounded by billboard walls. What
happened there and why?.

I started working in a project that aimed to enhance and expand New Vegas, Freeside
and the Strip in particular. One of the planned main features was to increase the
amount of resorts in both areas; however, the lack of space inside the strip led me
to inquire about the worldspace design and the options available to expand it. I
remembered some time ago a friend of mine told me that during the development of
the game, Freeside and the strip areas were very different from the version that
was released to the public. Therefore, I wanted to get detailed information about
the differences and the reasons behind the modifications both areas suffered. It
was very important to be able to identify the opportunities the project could have
and the obstacles that I would have to come to grips with.
I started researching experts that knew about the topic. Moburma80, a talented
fellow modder and author of some popular mods hosted here in Nexus, scrutinized
through the game code and found a lot of information bits that he later sticked
together to reveal some of the content that was cut, left incompleted or abandoned.
Based on that information and with the help of other skilled modders, he looked
after of restoring a part of the cut off content and created a series of mods from
which Open Strip and Freeside Uncut can be emphasized. He also wrote a blog where
he detailed all his findings and where other fans have contributed posting new
evidences and clues.

More pieces of information were found in some youtube interviews made to Bethesda
staff while promoting FNV in E3 2010, some teaser images that were posted before
its release, as well as the very game BSA files. The NIF models in contrast with
the footage provided during the interviews and with the worldspaces in GECK
revealed some of the adjustments that were made to both areas. An additional
evidence was found in two of the loading screens that feature the Lucky 38 and
Ultraluxe resorts on prewar times.

According to all the collected information The Strip and Freeside were splitted in
sections and some of their content was cut off or hidden because of performance
issues. The game requires a lot of memory to be able to render big open areas full
of NPC’s, such as the ones mentioned; the users of Strip open and Freeside Uncut
mods can confirm this. Since the game was planned to be released as well for game
consoles like XBOX and PS3, that at that moment were unable to handle such amount
of work without experiencing constant bugs and freezing, it was required to make
adjustments that could allow a decent performance. In the case of Freeside the
worldspace was splitted in 3 different worldspaces linked between them:
FreesideNorthWorld, FreesideFortWorld and FreesideWorld. As for the Strip, the
Worldspace remained in one piece (StripNewWorld), but it was divided internally
through doors that hide some spots and spared the game engine from rendering an
extra load of assets and NPC’s.
The way I see it, in the case of the strip a dilapidated touch was added to the
whole worldspace to make the divisions more coherent and less intrusive. It was
required to hide areas and NPCs, but how?. Placing concrete walls between the
resorts would have been very intrusive and would have a major impact in aesthetics.
However, the billboard walls were something thiner that could create the illusion
of makeshift stuff that was put there years later, while in the case of concrete
walls would have suggested they were there in prewar times. Because this change
affected the Strip, it was required to implement it to Freeside as well (some
footage revealed Freeside was originally surrounded by concrete walls as well).

Since the reason that motivated the researching was the lack of space in the strip,
below are mentioned the most important differences and adjustments between its
early development version and the one released to the public:

- Both Freeside and The Strip were enclosed inside a concrete wall at some point of
the game development; it was replaced later with a makeshift wall made of
billboards.
- Freeside and The Strip were two complete worldspaces without any divisions; they
were later splitted in sections and some doors were put between them.
- The Strip worldspace used to be more spacious.
- The four casino models were somehow cut in the rear and the access to that area
was cancelled. The Ultraluxe even had an adjacent building that seemed to be where
the hotel rooms were located, but it was cut off and the new model was also cut
from the rear. The original model was kept in the Wasteland Worldspace though.
- LVB Station building model during early development was very different to the one
that appeared in the released version of the game. A piece of the new version was
fully viewable and the rails were clearly spottable, but it was later hidden behind
some billboard walls and the access cancelled.
- Some planters and paths had another shape or were set in a different way.
- The streets inside the Strip looked cleaner and well-preserved in contrast with
all the dirt, debris and concrete chunks we find in Vanilla Strip.
- The Tops hotel tower was originally pristine and the Lobby building used to have
another circulating neon light.
- Some of the original glowmaps were discarded, but kept in the game files.

The researching results provided a very useful reference for the project: if the
Strip got expanded it would require a balance between aesthetics and practicality
in order to be able to run the mod with a playable performance. Therefore, it was
decided to keep and enhance the original Strip area and its resorts and channel any
new custom content to another section in the future.

Installation instructions:

1)Go to the The Strip Open by MoBurma - original by Schizofriendlia mod page and
download version 1.4. Inside the compressed file you will find 4 files
(NVStripOpen.bsa, NVStripOpen.esm, StripOpen V1-4 readme and StripOpenMain.esp) and
a folder named sound. Cut/Copy ONLY the Files NVStripOpen.bsa, NVStripOpen.esm and
the sound folder and drop them inside your data folder, located in the following
directory:
C:/Program Files(x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Fallout New Vegas/Data
You don’t need the other files, so you can erase them. The plugin provided by this
mod is an edited version of one of them.

2)Go to your LOD folder, located in the following directory:

C:/Program Files(x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Fallout New Vegas/Data
Look for a folder called LODSettings. Open it and look for a file called
TheStripWorldNew.DLODSettings. If you find it make a backup first in case you want
to uninstall the mod and revert the Strip back to its original look. Then erase the
file.

C:/Program Files(x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Fallout New

Vegas/Data/Meshes/landscape/lod
Look for a folder named TheStripWorldNew. If you find it make a backup first in
case you want to uninstall the mod and revert the Strip back to its original look.
Then erase the folder. It contains the original LOD generation of the Strip
Wordlspace, I mean the files that allow the game to render certain low poly models
at distance (like the Lucky 38 when you are in the other extreme of the Strip).

3) Go back to FLVJOD-The Strip mod page and download the file FLVJODTheStrip
Resources. It contains all the custom models and LOD files for the Strip. Inside
the compressed file you will find 3 folders (LODSettings, Meshes, Textures) and 1
file (FLVJODTheStrip Readme.docx) Cut/Copy all the folders and paste them inside
your Data folder, located in the following directory:
C:/Program Files(x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Fallout New Vegas/Data

4) Download the file FLVJODTheStripLatestPlugin. Inside the compressed file you

will find one file named 50sFFFLVJODTheStrip.esp. This file is the Strip Open
edited plugin that tells the game what to modify inside the Strip and how. Cut/Copy
the file and paste it inside your Data folder, located in the following directory:
C:/Program Files(x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Fallout New Vegas/Data

5)Open Fallout Mod Manager or Nexus Mod Manager. Locate the plugins NVStripOpen.esm
and 50sFFFLVJODTheStrip.esp, put them as low as possible in your load order and
activate them.

3) Run the game

It’s highly recommended to start a new game before starting to use the mod. That
way bugs can be prevented and in case you want to uninstall the mod you won’t loose
your progress in an already started game.

Prodlimen Creature Integration Pack

Integrates Prodlimen's lore-friendly creatures into the game via script as enemies.

Main
This mod is a coalescence of Prodlimen's Skynet Classic Robobrain, K9 Cyberdog,
Gorgon, Miss Nanny, Sentrytron, Classic Mr. Handy (Both 1 and 2), Miss Brainmocker
Robot, Snallygaster, Frenzied Bloatfly, Floating TVs, Bloodbug, Flamer Bot,
Protect-O-Bot, Cazador Nymph, Crippled Cazador, Honey Beast, Tendril Floater, and
Swarmbot modder's resources, integrated into leveled lists via script as enemies.
You can expect any lore friendly new modder's resources from Prodlimen to be
integrated into this after they release.
Any creatures you don't want can be disabled in Config\Prodlimen Integration
Config.ini.

My Changes
I made a selection of changes to the existing implementation of the creatures to
make them better suited to be enemies:
Creature factions have been updated to make sure each has the correct allegiances.
Bloatfly Frenzied changed to Frenzied Bloatfly.
Bloodbug Berserk changed to Berserk Bloodbug.
TV of Death renamed to Rusty Radio Bot, Radio Bot, Rusty Speaker Bot, and Speaker
Bot. EDE versions were removed. Each also plays Mojave Music Radio.
Radio Bots has antennae, Speaker Bots do not. I'm open to changing these names to
something lore friendly and more intuitive.
Miss Nanny changed to Deranged Administration Handy and Administration Handy. They
have an extra chance to drop cameras, pre war books, and sensor modules.
Special stats have been adjusted to fit new names.
Snallygast renamed to Feral FEV Mutant.
Snallygast is a silly name, more chosen for cultural myth context than fallout
context. Open to replacements, but I'm not changing it back, F76 or no.
K9 named Deranged K-9 Police Dog.
The idea behind this is that they were police cyborg dogs that have since become
hostile to anyone.
F3 concept art handy pack 1 renamed to Antique __ (Mr Handy, Mr Gutsy, Police _,
Deranged _, Repconn _, Outcast _ Polished _, Enclave _).
F3 concept art handy pack 2 renamed to Mr. Observer, Enclave Observer, Police
Observer. Observers have extra chance to drop cameras and sensor modules.
Sentrytron renamed to Prototype Sentry Enforcer (/Deranged, Police, Repconn).
Skynet robobrain renamed to Antique Robobrain.
Miss Brainmocker renamed to Miss Instructor. Miss Instructor has a chance to drop a
skill magazine, and a really low chance to drop a book.
Worldspace entries for all but Miss Brainmocker have been removed.
Minor changes to creature turn and movement speed.
Flamer Bot renamed to Mr. Incinerator, made it destructible, using the Inc. 40mm
grenade explosion. My idea with it's name is that it's an autonomous garbage
disposal unit. Totally ridiculous and horribly unsafe? Absolutely. Fits into unsafe
corporate decisions made by pre-war companies? I certainly think so!
Protect-O-Bot has been renamed to Prototype Protectron. This name is definitely up
for replacement if I see a good idea. I tweaked it's speed down a bit, and changed
it's DT to protectron DT.
The cazador nymph is about 60% bigger than the original modder's resource plugin.
It's still very small, but the original was a little too close to a horsefly's size
for visibility during gameplay.
I created Giant and Nymph versions of the crippled cazador.
Swarmbot renamed to Wasteland Robot. My idea is that it's a custom robot, made by
wastelanders over time. Name is definitely up for change if I hear a better
suggestion.
Robot Spiders renamed to Spider Drone and Attack Spider Drone.
Centaur Salamander renamed to Centimones (Roman mythical monster with many arms)
Classic Centaur renamed to Centaur Mutt.
Centaur Twin renamed to Conjoined Centaur.
Classic Handies, Etc. renamed to Obsolete ___.
Skull Centaur changed to Decaying Centaur
Junk Mob renamed to Centaur Mob, balanced to be a boss.
Brahmin Extramutations renamed to Mutated Brahmin.
I removed the eggs on the back of the Honey Bee, because I didn't think they looked
very good.
I made the default tiny honey bee non hostile, with a slightly larger one as a
protector version.
I shrunk the default size of the Honey Beast a little, and made a larger Queen boss
variant.
I removed the Manowar Floater's weapon, made it burst on death, and renamed it to
Burst Floater. I tried to make it use the glowing ghoul's rad burst when it attacks
you, but it doesn't really seem to attack at all. It's mostly scenery.
Implementation
Robots have been added to robot and wasteland encounter lists, and creatures have
been added to wasteland leveled lists and some similar lists to the ones they
inherit animations from (bloatfly+bloodbug, etc.) by script. Each creature is
generally not added with equal saturation to vanilla enemy proportions; they're
left relatively rarer than the creatures you're used to seeing. Most robots have
just the robot faction, but the base game protectrons and such that spawn with the
enclave and talon just have that faction too, so the new robots shouldn't fight the
patrons they spawn with.
Any creatures that don't have dismemberment in the original mods still don't here.
Any limitations described on the original pages still apply.
Mr. Incinerator shows up solo at first, then in packs of two or three at higher
levels.

Installation
First, use your mod manager to install the asset pack.
Then, install the main file and select your integration options in the config .ini.