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Re-Balanced Ammo & Damage (Read Desc.)
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type: assets
weapons: pistol, smg1, shotgun
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11.835 KB
17 Apr @ 4:18pm
18 May @ 7:34pm
4 Change Notes ( view )
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MNC
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Re-Balanced Ammo & Damage (Read Desc.)

Description


"The ULTIMATE ammo count and damage tweaks mod."
(And a fix for automatically setting magazine capacity)

Now I know, this is nothing new. Fact is, this was supposed to be a private mod. (Like, some of these changes are straight up taken from/are similar to other mods, credits down below though) However, I'm publishing it as an anonymous request from a friend while I was figuring out HL2 modding stuff on my own. Might be my first and only public upload.

Regardless, why re-balanced? I wouldn't exactly call it like that actually. I'm no game designer and I think HL2 on its own is actually really well balanced. But then...

Why?
  • I simply feel like the max reserve ammo count and damage output for some of the base game's weapons is a little lower than they should.
    You could argue that for the worse ones, they have a higher skill floor and these changes go against their purpose.
    While partially true,     it's no secret that the average player will prioritize certain weapons over others which they'll leave behind. I made this mod so that pretty much all of them are a solid choice in combat for the casual player, all without changing their values too much (Except for the Pistol which you normally wouldn't use it for anything besides weaker enemies).
  • Other weapons take me out of my "immeeersionnn..." because their magazine cap is inaccurate in comparison to their real life counterparts.
    And yet, NO MOD has offered a solution to the fact that you, FOR WHATEVER REASON, need to load a save from HL2:EP2 for the weapon scripts to work EXCEPT for this one random mod for crosshairs (Check out credits) which EVEN THEN is an indirect solution that I found out accidentally.
  • Even if it still requires a manual installation, it's still a solution regardless and I even oversimplified it so that you no longer require external programs.

So I decided to make the perfect ammo count and damage tweaks mod of my dreams!
(Sorry if my rant sounded selfish or rude idk)

This mod changes skill.cfg as well as the weapon scripts for the Pistol, Shotgun and SMG; and will conflict with any other mods that change them, beware!


Extra Installation Steps:

This mod changes the magazine cap for certain weapons (Pistol, SMG and Shotgun) via Scripts. To apply these changes correctly, you used to need to load a save from HL2:EP2.

If you don't want to go through that hassle EVERYTIME you launch the game, follow these steps:
  1. Download from the following link and extract the zip's contents: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b9XfOJ34XCeMSQWIj3Rz3vGiiGwj2KEr/view?usp=sharing
  2. Inside the main folder you'll find another two, one of them is a backup for a file you're going to need to replace with the other folder.
  3. Copy the hl2_complete folder inside the main folder.
  4. Go to your HL2 game files in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2 and paste it, replacing everything.
  5. You're done! If done correctly, you should be able to see that the cap from the weapons previously mentioned has changed without needing to load a save from HL2:EP2 as long as you're subscribed to this mod or any other mod that changes the magazine capacity.

And if you wish to revert these changes, just do exactly the same thing except that you copy the hl2_complete from inside the backup folder instead and unsubscribe.

If this mod's weapon scripts still don't work regardless, you can try either re-subscribing (Since subscribing to another mod might cause that) or set up a custom folder for this mod. For either way, you're still going to need to follow the extra installation steps above.


Changes:

Crowbar



  • Dmg: 10 > 17

Increased damage, you may actually use it for combat a little besides headcrabs, but chances are you won't either way.
However, you can destroy wood without slowing down (Only requiring 1-2 hits).

Pistol (USP Match)



  • Cap: 18 > 15
  • Ammo: 150 > 120
  • Dmg: 5 > 10

Decreased cap for accuracy with real life USP Matches.
Increased damage so it's still somewhat reliable in the late-game. You can actually kill combine soldiers with it as long as you place a few quick shots on their heads without needing a godlike precision with the revolver, which on itself has a delay between shots.
This makes it a solid option along with the revolver for quick kills depending on your skill. In turn, the decreased reserve ammo should make it a tad more fair.

Revolver (.357 Magnum)



  • Ammo: 12 > 18
  • Dmg: 40 > 47

Increased reserve ammo. If you fail too many of your shots, you'll still have some spare ammo, but if you don't, you get a lot more. Slightly increased damage.

SMG (MP7)



  • Cap: 45 > 40
  • Ammo: 225 > 240
  • Dmg: 4 > 6
  • Alt: 3 > 5

Decreased cap for accuracy with real life MP7s (They can also carry 20 and 30, but for the sake of sticking close to vanilla, I've chosen 40). Slightly increased reserve ammo to compensate for the decreased ammo capacity.
Slightly increased damage so combine soldiers won't be complete bullet sponges without being as powerful as the AR2.
Increased reserve alt fire grenades as to differentiate from the AR2's alt fire, as the SMG's is weaker.

Shotgun (SPAS-12)



  • Cap: 6 > 8
  • Ammo: 30 > 32
  • Dmg: 8 > 9

Increased cap for accuracy with real life SPAS-12s. Slightly increased ammo taking in consideration the extra eight cap. Slightly increased damage.

RPG



  • Ammo: 3 > 5

Increased reserve ammo so that you don't need to get rockets from ammo crates repetitively when fending off against striders and gunships.
Rocket crates will still give you three, but you can just shoot one then grab another three and use all of your five rockets uninterruptedly.

All other weapons remain unchanged.


Credits:

Marisa Freeman for part of their feedback down in the comments that helped with some of the mod's updates.

This mod for the file needed to make the weapon scripts work:

Simple HUD Icons, Fixes, and Crosshairs Standalone by 2.5 Bobux; whose solution to the problem was inspired by thatmoodyguy. Though the installation process had to be further simplified by me.

These other mods for inspiration:

Better Ammo Limits by Guicool; you may use this mod's fix to play with it or any similar mod.

Slight Damage and Ammo Tweaks by PlumpZombie; some of the damage changes are taken directly from it.
43 Comments
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MNC  [author] 19 Jul @ 11:34am 
I mean it's ony an *if*, it's not like you actually have to do any of that in order for this to work. And so far with that being the only report, it seems like it does work for everyone else so I can't really do much about it.
SwordMachine 17 Jul @ 2:49pm 
it seems i didn't have to do any of that but for some reason. oh well can't complain :p
Baltza 8 Jul @ 12:28am 
@MNC Welp, I tried to do what you told me, but it didn't work. I'm kinda just tired of doing all of this, I just wanna play the game. If I ever decide to come back to this issue and try to fix it, I'll let you know.
MNC  [author] 5 Jul @ 2:37am 
Extra notes because of Steam's character limit, for further assistance don't hesitate to message me:

You don't need to have a custom folder for each game (EP1 which is known as 'episodic' and EP2 known as 'ep2' in the game's files for instance) since the one for the base game applies these changes for every game. After doing that you can unsubscribe if you'd like.

Now if this feels like a doozy for you, according to a brief investigation. This mod's weapon scripts break after subscribing to another mod (though you can just re-subscribe after doing that), but doesn't when you set up a custom folder. The extra installation is still required for those same scripts to work without having to load an older EP2 save though.
MNC  [author] 5 Jul @ 2:36am 
@Baltza Sorry for the late response, regardless, your only requirement is to actually install an external program (GCFSCape is the most popular option, but I personally use VPKEdit, both work anyway)

- Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\220\3465733261 (Where 220 is the game's ID seen in the store URL and 3465733261 is the workshop item ID URL)
- You'll find two .vpk files there, copy whichever one of your liking (In my experience both should work fine).
- Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2 and create a folder named 'custom' if you don't have one.
- Create another folder inside the custom one with whatever name you want (Like 'Rebalanced Ammo and Damage') and paste the .vpk file inside it.
- Extract the file's contents with the external programs mentioned above.
Baltza 4 Jul @ 2:35am 
@MNC Okay, I can try that. Also, yes, I will need your help because I don't know how to set up a custom folder.
MNC  [author] 3 Jul @ 3:06am 
@Baltza You see, that would be a concern for me since the whole point of the whole extra installation process is for you to not have to do that anymore. Some friends and I just tested and it does work on our end by just subscribing without setting up a custom folder (which usually fixes many things the workshop can't replace by just subscribing, such as subtitles for instance).

I can't be certain that it'll work since it still requires the manual installation because without the fix, that one bug that makes the ammo scripts not apply is still present even though you're actually setting up a custom folder instead of just subscribing. I do urge you to try this process just to verify it's just workshop jank or try to do the installation process again. I could help you setting up your custom folder if you don't know how to.
Baltza 2 Jul @ 10:40pm 
@MNC I loaded up Episode 2, then HL2 and it works. I guess loading up an EP2 save everytime I open the game is just something I'm going to have to live with now because I have no idea what's causing this problem. I can tell you that it's not one of the other mods I'm susbcribed to because I tried disabling all of them except for this one, while it was on the top and that didn't fix it. But thanks anyway.
MNC  [author] 2 Jul @ 11:13am 
@Baltza Sorry for the inconvenience.

Try loading an older save from EP2, if the changes don't apply regardless then it must be another mod and you'd have to figure out which or put this mod above everything else on the load order list, do remember this only changes weapon scripts for the three weapons mentioned above.

If the changes do apply however, I can't tell you what might be causing this issue and I assure you this was tested heavily. As a last resort, you could try going for a manual installation with external programs (GFCScape or VPKEdit) and setting up a custom folder.
Baltza 2 Jul @ 8:29am 
This mod is kinda broken for me. I did everything it said in the extra installation steps and on the first launch it worked. But now, for some reason, the maximum ammo capacity is different (as in, from this mod), while the capacity in each magazine is still the same (for example, the pistol is now 18/120, smg is now 45/240, etc.). I tried turning off certain weapon mods that I thought might be interfering with this one, but that didn't fix it. What should I do?