Fallout 4 just added AI realism mod for combat
It's been eight years since Bethesda dropped the gaming bomb that is Fallout 4, and while we've had the disappointing (and then redeemed) Fallout 76 between, most of us are looking at what's stepping out of the vaults and into the Wasteland next.
We know Fallout 5 is on the way, although we've still got Starfield to get out of the way first. Beyond that, Todd Howard has warned that The Elder Scrolls 6 will still come before Fallout 5. With this in mind, players are coming up with imaginative ways to keep the older games fresh
Fallout 4 mod overhauls its AI
For many, it's the Fallout London expansion of Fallout 4 that's keeping them invested - with the team regularly giving updates and still targeting a 2023 release. When it comes to the vanilla version of Fallout 4, other modders have been overhauling its AI.
It's safe to say that the enemies in Fallout 4 aren't the most advanced in the world, but that's hardly surprising considering how far the industry has come in the past eight years. The REAL.AI mod gives the various Ghouls and Deathclaws a buff, boosting their intelligence and making them more than sitting ducks.
The OP writes how this labour of love goes all the way back to when they learned how to mod The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, with REAL.AI apparently removing a "lot of the limitations left over from the console port," meaning you can now "experience Fallout 4's AI at its full potential."
The REAL.AI mod works by removing Bethesda's "blinders" from NPCs. These invisible barriers lock enemies into a bubble, and by removing it, they can fully interact with the world around them and interact with the environment. This means snipers will actually snipe and NPCs can flank you. Despite being for robots, it's a human way of thinking.
Fallout 5 can learn from the REAL.AI mod
Click to enlargeThere are some criticisms that REAL.AI is too hard and makes enemies too quick, Modder Tumblesteen reminds us that this is supposed to be a lawless place and not The Sound of Music. Saying it'll turn a five-minute quest into a 30-minute one, it's more for hardened Fallout players.
They concluded, "This mod is mostly intended for people who find surplus enjoyment in the immersion of carefully moving through dangerous environments, and having unexpected twists and turns." Still, the idea of harder NPCs is definitely something Fallout 5 should implement.
Fallout 4 might've come with different difficulties, but even at its hardest, the AI was hardly firing on all cylinders. While no one was loving the bots on Warzone 2's Strongholds, they provided some extra challenges.
The issue of AI in video games is a big one, but when not stealing the job of artists, it can do some good by helping machines think a little more like humans.
