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About this mod
Beyond Lethal Overhaul reworks, rebalances, enhances or expands:
Enclaves, Missions, Vehicles, Base Building, Facilities, Outposts, Skills, Traits, Crafting, Consumables, Firearms, Melee Weapons, Trading, Radio Commands and More!
Interested? Read detailed description below!
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
- Donations
Hi! My name is T1Slam, aka TheEpicRationalThinker, aka TheBackstabPresident - and I want to introduce you to the Beyond Lethal Overhaul - a product of my love and passion for State of Decay 2, 4 months of serious work and more than a year of casual conceptualization.
I'd love to tell you about everything it has to offer, but the list of changes is so vast that I had to create an entire Google Document specifically for the purpose of describing all the changes and rationale behind them. If you're interested in exploring them before trying out the mod:
Installation Instructions:
Important Notes:
Know These Technical Issues:
Due to the enormous size and technical complexity of the mod and despite my honest attempts at making it bug-free - it still has problems that are impossible to fix.
Here is how to avoid encountering them to make sure that your experience is as smooth as possible:
Mod Recommendations
This mod is meant to be an only overhaul and won't work with other overhauls, BUT there is a list of other smaller (and medium-sized) mods that I recommend using together with Beyond Lethal Overhaul to create the best possible experience:
Other mods: AdjustVisualDayCurve - simple, but in my opinion very effective quality of life mod - it allows you to make the annoying super dark nights much shorter, and it may sound not like much, but trust me - cutting down unnecessarily tense nights makes the gameplay MUCH more pleasant, especially in the long run. Only "Golf Swing" Finisher for Blunt Weapons - this mod does one simple thing - it leaves only one very quick finisher animation (called "golf swing") for blunt weapons class, making finishing downed zombies MUCH faster and reliable in any situation. This IMMENSELY improves melee weapons balance, properly finalizing knockdown-centered combat style of blunt weapons, putting them on par with other two classes in terms of effectiveness, alleviating the combat with blunt weapons to previously unreachable levels of enjoyment.Silent Screams - this mod makes annoying regular zombie screams that are as loud as Screamers' screams on lethal quieter and less annoying. Snow Mode - this little mod changes the visuals of the maps, covering them with snow. It doesn't affect the gameplay at all, but will help to emphasize the feeling that you're playing something entirely new. Mods To Experiment With: Basic Training Mod - this mod improves followers AI, turning them from annoyances into reliable combatants. Although it also adds several other features that would break the balance of my mod - so I recommend not using them (snowflake tower facility). NOTE: I have experienced issues with Growing Threat mod while using Basic Training (it made Plague Hearts revert to basic health), so approach it with caution!Anti Plague Heart Rushing - this mod increases the range of hearts' calls for help and the amount of Ferals that they spawn for defense. As user Macclaudd says - it works good in tandem with Growing Threat Hard Scale version.No Mans Land - this mod makes game more difficult in various ways - read description to decide whenever you'd like it.
There are a lot of nuances and details that can be confusing and for whatever reasons were not mentioned in the detailed description document - here are the answers to questions users have already raised:
Special Thanks
Finally, my personal “thank you” goes to:
Nexus users for taking their time to help me find bugs and other issues: Others not mentioned too - all of your contributions helped me bring this mod to the quality it deserves!
Contacts
If you have any questions or inquiries feel free to:
Thank you for taking an interest in Beyond Lethal Overhaul - I'll be really happy if you try it and I hope that you'll enjoy it!
I'd love to tell you about everything it has to offer, but the list of changes is so vast that I had to create an entire Google Document specifically for the purpose of describing all the changes and rationale behind them. If you're interested in exploring them before trying out the mod:
READ DETAILED LIST OF CHANGES
OR: If you don't want to waste time reading and pondering whether you should or shouldn't try - just download the files and start playing! this mod aims to expand and enhance the core State of Decay 2 experience - you don't need to learn or prepare for it - just install and explore!Installation And Nuances
Installation Instructions:
- Install the mod using KaiHeilos' Mod Manager - it is an extremely simple and intuitive tool that provides flexible and reliable mod managing functionality and it is mandatory for integrated mods such as mine.
- This mod is uploaded in a format of one main mod file and a group of small mods that provide independent tweaks and changes - all of the small mods provide changes that I personally enjoy, but I understand that some players might not find them desirable, so I separated them from the main mod to allow players to customize their experience with Beyond Lethal Overhaul.
- Also, there is a cheat mod - it is there if you'd want to install the mod and check it's features out - you can quickly gain resources and build and upgrade all facilities instantly to see what they offer.
- I recommend using all additional mods from "optional" and "main" categories - the "miscellaneous" category contains mods for other uses (including the Cheat Mod).
Important Notes:
- Heartland DOESN'T WORK - the mod is Campaign only and for many technical reasons all other game modes will either crash outright or have various issues.
- This mod is intended to be played WITHOUT "CRUTCHES" - The BEST experience will be achieved by starting FRESH BOONLESS LETHAL community and never interacting with bounty broker or red talon contractors during playthrough.
- The mod greatly increases initial map loading time (NOT the time when the game is starting) - don't be alarmed if you feel that you're looking at the loading screen for too long - this is normal! After the first long map load all the next map loads will be fast as usual (until you completely close the game)!
- The Mod Manager will display "Mod Integration conflict", but this is NOT AN ISSUE - it's happening because the mod creates new entities (facilities, items, etc.) and as result disables the multiplayer - which is what the "conflict" is simply telling you about!
Know These Technical Issues:
Due to the enormous size and technical complexity of the mod and despite my honest attempts at making it bug-free - it still has problems that are impossible to fix.
Here is how to avoid encountering them to make sure that your experience is as smooth as possible:
- SKIP TUTORIAL - right now the tutorial mission "build infirmary" is incompletable - I know how to fix that kind of problem, but for the love of my life I simply can't find the file that contains that mission! So, please simply skip tutorial when starting the game to avoid the issue.
- CANCEL MISSIONS OF THE "BUILD X FACILITY" TYPE - this is because missions of the "build X facility" and "craft Y equipment" type ARE INCOMPLETABLE!
- WAIT FOR COMMUNITIES TO LOAD BEFORE DELETING THEM - the mod has problems with deleting communities - it will crash at the attempt to open the "delete community" menu WHEN the community is not fully loaded.
Mod Recommendations
This mod is meant to be an only overhaul and won't work with other overhauls, BUT there is a list of other smaller (and medium-sized) mods that I recommend using together with Beyond Lethal Overhaul to create the best possible experience:
- Neru's mods:
- Growing Threat (Health Scale TCS version) - this mod makes Plague Hearts increase their health in accordance to player's Total Community Standing and it is MANDATORY for playing Beyond Lethal Overhaul as intended!
The reason is because it introduces the missing dynamic element to the difficulty curve - as with rising global difficulty Plague Hearts begin to provide increasing level of challenge, emphasizing player's needs to acquire more effective means of their destruction. - Growing Threat (Health Scale TCS version) - this mod makes Plague Hearts increase their health in accordance to player's Total Community Standing and it is MANDATORY for playing Beyond Lethal Overhaul as intended!
- Plague Heart Health Gauge - this is another mandatory mod - it shows any Plague Heart's health when the player is in close proximity to it - not only it GREATLY helps to understand how weapons affect hearts, but without it it's impossible to play with the Growing Threat mod, as hearts' health pools quickly rise to thousands of points.
- Vehicle Health Bar - this mod displays vehicle health bars - very useful to understand vehicles' conditions and what is good for cars and what is not.
- Follower Health Bar - this mod displays the health, stamina and infection level of your followers - it is an incredibly useful mod, because figuring out your followers’ states without it during tense moments is practically impossible.
- Enclave Health Bar - this mod displays health of the enemy enclaves when they notice player and initiate combat - this one is also an incredibly useful mod, MOSTLY because original game does incredibly poor job at displaying hostile npcs health.
- ALTERNATIVELY: NPC Health Bar - newer version of npc information mod from the same author - depicts their states above their heads and applies to all npcs.
- In-Game Clock - simple, but convenient mod that displays current in-game daytime, helpful for planning and keeping a tab on day-night cycle.
- Brighter Lights - mod that improves flashlights, car lights and lights at bases. It improves visuals inside buildings and makes night looting more convenient and less stressful.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are a lot of nuances and details that can be confusing and for whatever reasons were not mentioned in the detailed description document - here are the answers to questions users have already raised:
- Q: Does this mod makes game easier or harder?
- Q: Is there any difficulty increase change in terms of the spawns?
- Q: I can’t capture the outpost at this specific site, even if it shows that all requirements are met! What’s the deal!?
- Q: How do I promote my survivors to hero status?
- Q: I can't complete the final CLEO mission on Trumbull Valley!
- Q: Is the mod playable in coop?
- Q: Description says there are more than one facility mod slots for upgraded facilities, but I only see one.
- Q: How do I invite enclaves?
- Q: Which skills affect outpost mines?
Special Thanks
Finally, my personal “thank you” goes to:
- KaiHeilos - for creating an amazing Asset Editor tool that allowed me to bring (almost) all of my fantasies into reality.
- SoD2 Modding Discord for the help with problems and the tough process of learning the toolset:
- User and prolific modder Neru himself - for creation of many mods that allowed me to learn how things work and occasional advice.
- User and prolific modder Neru himself - for creation of many mods that allowed me to learn how things work and occasional advice.
- User and modder T1Maniac - for creation of many facility-related mods that allowed me to learn how things work and useful advice (ESPECIALLY about how to make custom icons).
- User and amazing modder Tenoz/TheTrueTenoz - for the help with figuring out one of the biggest problems I have encountered during the process of learning the Asset Editor.
- Others that I have definitely forgotten - for small, but nonetheless valuable advice on various subjects.
- RedDestiny123
- FeenieTheFeenus
- xSiNiSTAx
- killerhobbit
- Zetsu513
- russjac2000
- Garybluerose
- TimTheGreek75
- USSVagrant
- Omer03
- Girlie100
Contacts
If you have any questions or inquiries feel free to:
- Leave them in the Posts section.
- Find @thebackstabpresident at the Discord and send a message!
- Write an email to [email protected].
Thank you for taking an interest in Beyond Lethal Overhaul - I'll be really happy if you try it and I hope that you'll enjoy it!