Author's notes:
- If you are new to modding Fallout 4, make sure you check out a modding tutorial, such as this one.
- This mod is a Nexus exclusive, I will not spend time to upload my mod to other sites and I will not trust others to do so in my stead, please respect this decision (If you do find this mod on another site, it was stolen and may contain malware)
- Installing on an existing save is possible
- Versions 2.0.0 and beyond function in a completely different way and may need balancing passes
- Requires Automatron, Far Harbor and Nuka World DLC
- This mod uses the Mod Configuration Menu by Registrator2000, Neanka and Shadowslasher410; while it is not required for the functioning of this mod, you may want to use it to adjust the experience to your liking

TL;DR:

This mod removes the vanilla stat scaling of the player, and replaces stat scaling of enemies with a contemporary method that is non-linear. The purpose of this is to provide a better late game experience and emphasize the archetypes of enemies more.


INSTALLING:
Installing on existing save is possible.
Install using any mod organizer (Like MO2 or Vortex), after installation make sure NPCScaling - Actors.esp is placed at the end of your load order to avoid mod conflict issues.

UNINSTALLING:
You will need to wait for in-game cells to reset after uninstalling.
Some NPCs never reset, and will retain their modified values.

Longer Explanation:

In the vanilla version of the game, a location is fixed at a level between a minimum and maximum value through encounter zones when you first visit that location. The level picked depends on the player level and can never be lower than the minimum or greater than the maximum. After that, the game spawns enemies from a spawn table based on the level chosen for that location. These spawn tables are used only to differentiate between enemies of different levels. The main issue I see with this approach is that the power level of enemies in a given location is very limited, especially with some encounter zones having a maximum level as low as 35. To fix this, in this mod I decouple enemy level from the encounter zones, and instead use encounter zones to determine enemy tier. Rather than a Gunner Major simply being a higher level version of a Gunner Conscript, with this mod a Gunner Major and Gunner Conscript will be the same level, but a Gunner Major will be a higher tier than a Gunner Conscript. Additionally, higher tier enemies will have a higher minimum level.

The following points are the main takeaways from this:
- A Gunner Conscript (for example) at player level 50 will be stronger than a Gunner Conscript at player level 1. This is because a player at level 50 is also stronger than a player at level 1.
- A Gunner Major is always stronger than a Gunner Conscript, regardless of player level, because a Gunner Major is a higher tier enemy.
- Enemies can never be below a minimum level that depends on the tier of the enemy. This means locations of a higher level than the player level will not be scaled down to match the player level.
- Locations with a greater minimum level will spawn higher tier enemies. In practice this means enemies are generally tougher the farther away you are from Vault 111, similar to the behaviour of the vanilla game.
- Locations with lower tier enemies will better keep up with the increasing power level of the player.

Beyond that, this mod also offers the option to remove the maximum level from encounter zones, so that locations closer to Vault 111 will continue to spawn higher tier enemies upon location reset as the player level increases.

The second issue with player and enemy levels in the vanilla game is that HP scales linearly with level (you and enemies gain 5 HP per level), this scaling continues indefinitely and does not line up well with the increase in damage output of enemies and the player. As a result, the player at a high enough level becomes close to invulnerable due to the ever increasing HP pool, and a select few enemies that scale to player level in the vanilla game become bullet sponges. To address this, this mod removes HP gain per level, as well as granting enemies a non-linear HP scaling method that limits how much HP an enemy can gain.

Again, these are the main takeaways:
- The player will no longer gain HP from levelling up, and is limited to perks, endurance points, equipment and chems or aid items to improve their strength.
- Enemies will gain extra HP when they are spawned. The amount of HP they gain is non-linearly dependent on their level and can never exceed an upper limit.
- This WILL result in the game feeling more difficult than the vanilla game at higher player levels, as a consequence of no longer becoming a bullet sponge. The idea is that this will improve the longevity of the game.

List of features:

Known issues:

- Mod conflicts may result in poor game balance.
- Super Mutant Redux patch temporarily removed until I can figure out what makes it cause a CTD on load.

To-do list (I may or may not do these):

- Iron out inconsistencies and smoothen the experience
- Expand on MCM features (maybe?, I'm not sure what else I could add)

Changelog:

Compatibility:

- Basically not compatible with any mod that changes the same NPCs (Called Actors in the Creation Kit). Having another mod override NPC records is not the end of the world, but a smooth experience cannot be guaranteed if they are.
- May or may not conflict with mods that edit companions and settlers, such conflicts will not be game breaking, but may degrade the experience of this mod.

FAQ:

Credits:
Thirdstorm - For removing dirty edits in NPCs
Mod Configuration Menu - For enabling variable mod settings