ZLM - ZCP Loot Module revised [4.1] addon - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Disclaimer : This mod was created by extracting and using the loot module from ZCP - Zone Customisation Project as a base and expanding its feature. All credits of the original functionnalities go to its original creator, Diphenhydramine-HCI. You can find the full original mod here :

Zone Customization Project

Introduction

Hello Stalker! Do you like loot? Do you like ZCP but some features generate conflicts with your other mods? Well if you answered yes to both those questions, I can say "This mod is for you!"

Why?

Because of the reasons above. As a WarDogs (MilSim armory and Warfare overhaul modpack for GAMMA by Mo3, available on GAMMA's Discord #mods-posting) and ZCP enjoyer, unfortunately, those two are somewhat incompatible. So I had to take matters in hands.

Summary of what it does

Depending on your settings, ZLM will try to spawn items on NPCs that just died and in stashes the player opens. (even non-marked ones)

Each item category can be toggled on or off, and can have its spawn chance and item tiers thresholds changed. If multiple categories are toggled on, an item of each said categories may spawn on one roll.

This mod doesn't take control of the spawn, it just spawn items on top of all other things that makes loot spawns in the game, including other mods.

Detailed How does it work available below.

Debug logging will bloat your debuglog for sure.

Features

Here are the current features in version 4.1 :

• Enable additional loot spawn on NPCs and stashes (including non-marked stashes) ;
• Settings for NPCs and stashes are split, independently of each other ;
• Settings to influence items spawn depending on NPCs ranks ;
• Settings for spawn enabled, spawn chance, tier thresholds and amount for each categories of items ;
• Presets for fast customisation of settings ;
• Anti-crash failsafe from item section name pulled from droptables, spawning a debut item to indicate an error happened ;
• Current included categories :
  • Repair items : anything to repair guns, armors and parts ;
  • Meds : medical items ;
  • Drugs : consummables to boost stamina and carry weight ;
  • Food : food items ;
  • Drink : drink items ;
  • Tools : useful items like scrapping tools, batteries and camping gear ;
  • Devices : any handheld or worn devices like PDA and nightvision goggles ;
  • Containers : items to put other items in, like backpack and artefacts containers ;
  • Ammo : to shoot things with.
• Current included patches available for :
  • G.A.M.M.A : adds 3 items exclusive to G.A.M.M.A to the droptables ;
  • Magazines Redux : spawns a magazine needed for one of your equipped weapon (from ZCP, need rework) ;
  • Anomaly Lootboxes : all lootboxes in their own category, lockpicks and stuff in tools ;
  • Lootboxes GAMMA : a modified version of Anomaly lootboxes ;
  • Experience Framework : potions in drugs.
  • More Food from Denro : various food & drinks ;
  • Little Bits Food pack : even more food & drinks ;
  • Hot Drink Hoopla : hot drinks like teas ;
  • Western Goods : edibles from the West ;
  • HeatVision : thermal goggles ;
  • Mo3's WarDogs MilSim Armory & Warfare overhaul for GAMMA.

Installation

Features a FOMOD installer. Use Mod Organiser to install it and follow the simple steps. Some indications are in the MCM (in-game mod manager) to know which settings can be toggled on or off during the game.

Requires DLTX, DXML 3.0 and MCM.
DLTX and DXML 3.0 are included in the modded exes that you can find here :
Modded exes
Requires higher prio over : MCM, WarDogs.
I suggest to disable ZCP's loot settings, notably "Find extra items on NPCs" in the MCM menu. It's not necessary but will obviously prevent overspawning of items. It is not needed to disable ZCP entirely.

Simple preview of the settings in the MCM

How does it work?

Exactly like the loot module of ZCP. I just added new ways of customising the loot settings.
Here is how is works :

1. ZLM checks for those the main option first, if ZLM (main) is enabled or not. If yes, new functions will triggers. If not, nothing happens.

2. When the player starts a game, according to your settings, the mod will hook new functions to spawn loot on two major conditions : when a NPC dies or when the player opens a stash for the first time. Those functions hooks only if "Find extra items on NPCs (main)" or "Find extra items in stashes (main)" are enabled respectively.

3. When one of those two functions is called, ZLM checks the chances to try spawning loot for the called object, either "NPC item spawn chance" or "Stash item spawn chance". A random number between 1 and 100 is generated and compared to the required threshold. If the number is inferior to the threshold, we can advance further into the spawning. If not, it stops there.

4. As the same manner for the NPC and stash function, ZLM will checks if spawning a item from a certain category is enabled. If yes, it will do the same check for each category for each call of the NPC of stash function.

5. For each category, there is 4 tiers of loot : tier 1 is the most common, tier 4 is the rarest. After passing the chances threshold, a new number is generated to choose a droptable for the rarity of the item spawned in this manner : each tier has a threshold, which cannot exceed its superior's. The number is first compared with the rarest threshold : if the number is superior to the threshold, then the spawning can continue. Else, it will check the next tier threshold, etc... Until it passes or reach tier 1, the lowest.

6. Once the droptable has been chosen, a random item is chose from the list and is spawned where it was told to be spawned, either on a NPC that just died or in the stash the player just opened.

And yes, it does mean that if all categories are checked and chances are at 100 for each, an item of each category will spawn. Then all depends on tier settings for what it will be exactly.

Planned features

Here is a short list of what I plan adding for this mod :

• Rework ammo spawn : needs work for their own droptables ;
• (maybe) Junk spawning : because why not get even more item bloating ;
• (not sure) Rework Magazines integration : random magazines and droptables ;
• (not sure) Faction-specific droptables : a new type of spawn category, tied to a NPC's faction ;
• Faction-specific stashes : some stashes are in 'designated' areas of some factions. Those stashes would be able to spawn said faction's items ;
• Different patches for other mods : patches for mods to add their items to the droptables. If you want your mod included or any other, contact me and I'll see what I can do.

If you have any suggestions for a feature, let me know!

File structure

Most of the code is filled with comments for indications of what does what.
The main files are :

• configs\scripts\[droptables].ltx : for all droptables. Easy edit if needed, easy override, easy include for new mods ;
• configs\text\eng\[file].xml : where all strings of text are stored ;
• scripts\[script].script : where the magic happens.

Changelog

[01/04] [4.0 > 4.1]

• Added a failsafe to avoid crashes, thus instead of crashing now, a debug item will spawn ;
• Added support to original Anomaly lootboxes, as the 'current' lootboxes mod supported was GAMMA-specific ;

[26/03] [3.1 > 4.0]

• Added presets for each sub-sections ;
• Added settings to control the amount of loot per category ;
• New patches for :
  - Little Bits Food pack
  - Hot Drink Hoopla
  - Western Goods
  - HeatVision
  - Mo3's WarDogs MilSim Armory & Warfare overhaul for GAMMA

[18/03] [3.0 > 3.1]

• Base mod adapted for Anomaly and added a separate patch for GAMMA ;
• Added russian translation made by leevithan.

[12/03] [2.1 > 3.0]

• Added new settings to influence loot spawning on NPCs depending on their ranks ;

[10/03] [2.0 > 2.1]

• Temporary fix for ammo spawning functions to works before needing a full rework ;

[10/03] [1.1 > 2.0]

• Added Arcade Tokens (from Anomaly Lootboxes) in tool_tier4 in the mod's droptables patch ;
• Settings for NPCs and stashes are now split, each getting their own settings section in the MCM.

[10/03] [1.0 > 1.1]

• Fixed correct section name for the Scientific Stimpack, from 'stimpack_scientific' to 'stimpack_scientic' in zml_droptables.ltx.

Troubleshooting

If you have any problems with my mod, leave a comment below, and if you can, keep a copy of your crashlog in case I'd need it to debug and fix the problem.

Also the most common crash you could encounter with ZLM is this one :

To help me with debugging, I included a debug line that always works even with debug logging off. It is located before the spawn function mentionned above that can cause crashes. If you happen to have this crash, check your crashlog located at anomaly/appdata/logs/xray_<something>.log and open it with a text editor software. At the end of this log should be the error itself. If you scroll up above it, you'll normally find a line of debug that will say "# ZLM create_item_random_uses <item_name>". This is where you can see what the last item that tried to spawn and which surely caused the crash.

This is due to the fact the spawn function received an incorrect object name from the droptables and couldn't spawn said item. This is mainly due to having modded items in droptables from mods you don't have installed. Check in ZLM/gamedata/configs/scripts/ for any droptables patch for mods you don't have. If you do, delete those you don't need to avoid crashes. Installing the required mod works too obviously.

Thanks for reading!

If you want to talk about my mod, feel free to leave a comment below or join the GAMMA's Discord, and find my post in # |mods-posting

Good luck and enjoy the loot.

Check out my other mods

• ZAS - Zatura's Auto-Stacking items : an automated version of TheMrDemonized's Combine All Items that triggers when opening the inventory ;