Camping is obviously one of those mods everyone wants in Bethesda games, myself included since day one. A month or so ago I jotted all my ideas down, and after I released Basement Living I set to work on this, with the intent on making something simple, but still "immersive" and fun. It ended up growing into what you see here.
Campsite adds craftable / carryable tents & sleeping bags (new meshes and HD textures in several colors, including camos), cloth wall, fires, lanterns, and cooking pot, each with their own unique gameplay dynamics, sounds, interactivity, and animations. Simple enough for light play, detailed enough to make you feel involved.
When Survival Mode is out of beta this will be updated to include some new functionality, but the goal is to keep it very lightweight and simple!
NEW ITEMS: At the chem station (or AWKCR station if you use the included patch) there is a new category called CAMPING GEAR. In here you will find the following items:
- Adventures in Camping Book: When in your inventory will unlock all the color variations; can be found in the Root Cellar in Sanctuary.
- Colors included are vanilla/white, black, blue, forest camo, desert camo, grey, green, red, and for sleeping bags two more extra colors: Nuka Cola (red) and Vault-Tec/Vault-Boy (blue.)
- Makeshift Tent: A tarp draped over a branch with a sleeping bag underneath, lantern can be attached.
- Pole Tent (single): New tent mesh, with a single sleeping bag. Lantern can be attached. 7 colors available.
- Pole Tent (double): Same as above but with two beds, so you can sleep with companions/NPCs. Lantern can be attached. 7 colors available.
- Sleeping Bag: The good 'ol trusty sleeping bag. Available in 10 colors.
- Dog Beds! New furniture with unused Dogmeat sleeping animations (and new snoring sounds!) - he'll sleep 'til you wake him! 7 colors available.
- Cloth Wall: Cloth draped between two poles, good for some extra cover and wind buffering. 7 colors available.
- Fire Kit: Wood, oil, cloth combined into a kit to start and maintain fires.
- Cooking Pot: Attaches to a campfire to cook food in the wild. Requires a lit fire.
- Lantern: Portable light on the go! Will attach to tents, or can be placed on the ground and won't fall over.
- GPS Beacon: Drop this at your campsite to put a map marker in your Pip-Boy map so you can use it as a base. Can be used anywhere.
- All items have Workshop equivalents so you can make these items at your settlements. Tents/Sleeping bags are under Furniture>Beds. Dog Beds, Cloth Walls are under Decorations>Misc. Campfires and Lanterns are under Power>Lights. Tents count as single or double beds in your Settlement stats, and fires made at settlements burn forever.
GAMEPLAY:
- Grab the Adventures in Camping book from the Root Cellar in Sanctuary, so you can craft all the colors!
- Craft the items you'd like to bring with you. They will be in your inventory as "Camping Kit - [item]". Fires will burn out after several hours so craft a few extra!
- When it's time to settle down and camp, look for a flat area; furniture doesn't like to work at steep angles. There's always flat ground somewhere nearby, even the middle of the street!
- Stand where you'd like an item placed, and drop it from your inventory. It will place directly in front of you. Set up your camp how you'd like.
- When interacting with the items, you will receive a menu, the first option always being that item's default action. For example, Sleeping Bags will give you the option to "Sleep" or "Pick Up", which will put it back into your inventory.
- Each item has a MOVE and ROTATE sub-menu, that will let you nudge and rotate objects if you'd like better positioning. It's obviously not as good as the Workshop system, but it's better than nothing! Sometimes simply picking up and dropping the item again is the best way to move it.
- TENTS: If you have a lantern in your inventory Tents will show the option to Attach/Detach Lantern. This will automatically hang it inside of the tent, giving you a soft, dim light. Can be removed, and if the tent is picked up, the latern will also return to your inventory. Followers can be told to sleep in the tent and will sleep with you.
- FIRES: Placed fires will burn for 4 hours. You can activate the fire and re-light it using another fire kit. If you have a cooking pot in your inventory, you will be shown the option to attach it to the fire to cook. NPCs and companions will sit by the fire, and as the player you will see a RELAX option, which will give you three options: sit, warm hands, warm hands kneeling. The vanilla camera does not adjust for these animations, so it's best so zoom out in third person all the way when using. Once you are performing the idle, you can WAIT like a regular chair, or press any key to get up.
- COOKING POT: Requires a lit campfire. If the fire dies out, the cooking pot will no longer work, asking you to re-light the fire with another kit.
- DOG BED: I'm very happy with this one. Tell dog meat to lie down and he will SLEEP. Unused animation, head-tracking is disabled so it's not creepy, and he will SNORE quietly so he doesn't seem dead (lol.) Simply command him to follow or do something else to wake him up!
- PET DOGMEAT! If you activate the bed, you have an option to pet Dogmeat if he's close enough. There's a 50/50 chance your male or female character will also say "Good dog!" or "Good boy!"
F.A.Q. Q: Can you use the Workshop positioning/placement system? A: I've done some deep experiments, and there are some risky issues with doing this, so no. At least, not yet ;)
Q: Why can't I craft fire kits in the wild just using wood? A: I wanted to keep it simple. Full Workshops don't work well out in the wild, and long, complex workarounds are required in order to 'scrap' inventory items into their base components. I'm working on additional ways to make fire kits in the wild without requiring a crafting station for those who want to completely "rough it"
Q: Why didn't I read the description? A: You tell me!