Night Stalker will make the perks Night Person and Cannibal very dependant on each other, as well as expanding upon them, making their effects central to the gameplay. During night time or when in the dark, the player will enjoy some very powerful bonuses, but daylight will come with some very dangerous penalties.


Description

Unlike the vanilla game, "night" now refers to the time when it's actually dark outside. As such, the following times are used for each definition:

8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. – Night

6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. – Dawn

7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. – Day

7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. – Dusk

Everything affected by this mod is covered here. Any other instances of these terms being used in the vanilla game or by other mods will not be included.


Night Person Bonuses

During night or when it's raining, anywhere, or when inside, at any time, the player will...

• Have +5 to Intelligence and Perception (with rank 1)
• Have +10 to Intelligence and Perception (with rank 2)
• Have 300 extra Health (with Dark Craving)
• Have 1.00 health regeneration (with Dark Craving)
• Have another 300 extra Health (with rank 2)
• Have night vision when sneaking and not moving (with rank 3)
  

In addition to these bonuses, the player will at all times take reduced falling damage (with rank 1) and have falling damage removed altogether (with rank 2).


Night Person Penalties

If it's not night, not raining, and the player is not inside, there can be severe penalties. First and foremost, the player will always suffer -10 to Strength and Endurance under those circumstances. In addition to that, depending on the time of day, the weather, and the light level, the player could suffer from radiation damage in the sun. The magnitude of that can very between minimal radiation damage during a cloudy dusk or dawn, to serious flaming radiation damage during a sunny day. There are however some mitigating factors – if the player is outside and is wearing a hazmat suit, a full set of any Power Armor, or staying in the shade, they will be able to avoid this radiation damage altogether. Wearing sunglasses (or anything similar covering the face) will provide a tiny amount of protection as well, but it's insignificant enough that it's only useful just as the sun is about to go down.

In older versions (prior to version 2.0) the aforementioned features didn't work the way they currently do. Instead, there was a mechanic that instantly removed all Health from the player if they were exposed to sunlight. Since version 2.0 and onward however, this is of course no longer the case. In addition to that, version 2.1 uses a much more refined system, where light levels and shadows are used to determine damage, rather than the entire cell. As such, this is why it's possible to take cover from the sun anywhere where there is some shade.

Notice: Due to some light sources (for example lamps) being located in otherwise shaded sections of exterior cells, you might experience a few false positives where these lamps, if all other conditions also are met, could trigger the radiation damage. However, this is fairly uncommon and should cause less problems with the immersion than previous versions, where you would suffer solely determined by time and weather.


Cannibal Feeding

When picking the Cannibal perk, while also having the Night Person perk, feeding on a corpse will...

• Quench thirst similar to purified water
• Cure any diseases and heal limb damage
• Give +5 to Strength, Endurance, Intelligence and Agility for five minutes (with Night Person rank 1)
• Give +10 to Strength, Endurance, Intelligence and Agility for five minutes (with Night Person rank 2)
• Unlock the first 300 extra Health and regeneration (from the way the mod is designed, this is practically permanent)
  

Regardless of whether the player has the Night Person perk or not, feeding on a corpse will now also give -2 to Charisma for two minutes. In other words, this particular feature should be the only gameplay change the player will experience when having the mod installed if they do not have the Night Person perk unlocked.

If the player has the Night Person perk, the standard blood packs can also be used to quench thirst similar to purified water, as well as curing any diseases and healing limb damage. They don't sate hunger or provide any of the other bonuses that feeding on corpses do though.

If the player has the Night Person perk, the Dark Craving effect cannot be cured by a doctor nor by any chems or consumables that normally would be able to do so. If the player doesn't have the Night Person perk, Dark Craving can be cured normally just like in the vanilla game. All the other addictions remain unaffected and can be cured normally regardless of whether the player has the Night Person perk or not.


Balancing

This mod is not directed towards average players, but rather to those who want a more hardcore survival experience in Fallout.

As of version 1.1, night vision and extra Health have been reversed, which means that extra Health is unlocked with Night Person rank 2, and night vision is unlocked with Night Person rank 3. Furthermore, night vision is now only activated when the player is sneaking and not moving.

As of version 1.1.1, falling damage is reduced when having Nigh Person rank 1, and completely removed with Night Person rank 2. As such, this is an optional version for users who also use another mod to increase falling damage under normal circumstances. Users who don't use such mods might not find version 1.1.1 to make much of a difference compared to version 1.1.

As of version 1.2, rain is equal to night or being indoors in terms of bonuses and penalties. Version 1.2 also adds additional bonuses from feeding, more penalties from sunlight, as well as bringing the falling damage reductions from version 1.1.1 into the mod as a core feature. There is an optional "easy" version of 1.2, which comes with identical features except for that the night vision isn't activated at all times in daylight.

As of version 1.3, the new debuffs to sunlight and the night vision in the sun added in version 1.2 have been removed, to increase functionality with older characters.

As of version 1.4, you now have to feed on a corpse to get the Dark Craving effect in order to "unlock" the first 300 extra Health and regeneration.

As of version 1.5, the reduction to carry weight in sunlight has been removed. This was done in order to ensure full compatibility with HSC.

As of version 2.0, the instant death in sunlight has been removed, and now the player instead takes damage from radiation when exposed to sunlight. The magnitude of this damage depends on the time of day and the weather.

As of version 2.1, both corpse feeding and blood packs will cure diseases and heal limb damage if the player has the Night Person perk. This version also introduces a more advanced system for sunlight radiation damage where shadows and light levels are used to determine when damage should be applied. Many masks and glasses will now also provide a small amount of protection from the sun. Finally, this version gets rid of the -65 (or -66) points of Health the player would suffer during daytime, seeing how this feature was a remnant of the old system, and not of great importance to the gameplay and design of current versions.

As of version 3.0, the mod has received technical updates to improve its compatibility with other mods. It also received changes to light detection in an effort to reduce more false positives. Finally, severe sunlight will cause flames to appear on the player when they have the Night Person perk.


Installation

Using Vortex is the recommended method.

Due to user requests, any new update for any mod in this series, uploaded to the Nexus from August 14, 2021 and onward, should no longer follow the system where the same ESP file would be given a new name for each new version. Instead, new version names should be given to the ZIP file in which the other files are contained. For mods in the collection where one or more ESP files have a name that ends with a version number, they will be renamed back to their original names in their next update, and the plan is to not rename published ESP files after that point.


Requirements

This mod is intended to be played in Survival Mode. This mod requires the Far Harbor DLC.

This mod is simple and can usually be installed without the need for creating a new character. Just be careful if you already have any of the affected perks, since their effects will be drastically different from what they were before. In that case, there may or may not be issues.


Compatibility

Night Stalker should be compatible with most mods, unless they change any of the same assets that were used here. If it has not been mentioned above, it has not received any form of changes.

Night Stalker version 1.4 or older is not compatible with HSC. If you are using HSC, make sure you are using Night Stalker version 1.5 or newer.


Mod Collection

This mod is part of a larger collection of mods aiming to make Survival Mode more difficult and immersive. They come packaged as separate mods in order to allow the player to choose which they want or not, but using them all together should hopefully bring out the best and the most immersive survival experience possible. The mods come in three main categories:

Survival

The mods in this category are aiming to make the game significantly more difficult and immersive in every way they can.

• HSC
  The primary mod of the entire series, HSC is the foundation for an extremely challenging survival experience. This mod focuses on making food, water and sleep management much more essential, as well as making sure things such as carry weight, healing, medical services and damage scaling are far more realistic and challenging than ever before. All the other mods in this series are designed or updated according to the standards set by HSC. For anyone looking to make their survival experience harder and only were to download a single mod in this collection, this should be it.

• HSC-SB
  Where the main HSC mod made sure to make food, water and sleep more important, HSC-SB makes these things more difficult to obtain. Introducing massive challenges in what you are able to build, along with a system for using tools in the construction of more or less everything, settlement building should be far less of a convenient safe zone than it was before.

• Falltoxin
  This mod significantly increases the danger and potency of most types of poison in the game, both from wild creatures as well as the syringes you are able to use. Falltoxin also comes with an optional secondary set of mods known as the Food Add-on, which increases radiation in food, and introduces simple mechanics related to food poisoning and nutrition. These mechanics add a third layer to the food aspect, and are of course designed with HSC and HSC-SB in mind.

• FallMisc
  Enabling the player to craft a bunch of tools and other useful items, this mod adds a lot of convenience. Aside from essential items, many other mods in the series will be referencing FallMisc, rather than having each mod introducing its own set of craftable tools. Both HSC-SB and Falltoxin rely a lot on FallMisc for this purpose.

• WDI
  This mod increases the damage for a variety of weapons from the vanilla game. It also introduces a few new special mechanics for a few weapons, making them more unique than before. Additionally, WDI increases the durability of most turrets. All in all, most of the changes made by this mod will be useful both to you, your allies, and your enemies.

• PADI
  This mod increases the defensive capabilities of Power Armor, a few other types of armor, and gas masks. It also introduces a variety of new features related to Power Armor, making it more detailed and functional. All in all, most of the changes made by this mod will be useful both to you, your allies, and your enemies.

Environmental

The mods in this category are focusing on making various obstacles in the world more difficult to overcome.

• Fallfall
  This mod increases falling damage to a much more realistic level. This should encourage the player to navigate the world in a more careful manner. Not only does it make the world feel bigger, but it also adds a lot to the immersion when you actually have a reason to properly navigate the environments, rather than carelessly performing super dangerous jumps and stunts without as much as a scratch.

• Swimout
  This mod significantly increases the amount of radiation in the various bodies of water across the game. This should encourage the player to actually stay on land, use bridges to cross rivers, and avoid falling into the water.

• FallExD
  This mod increases incoming and outgoing damage for the player in Survival Mode. This makes the game's combat far more dangerous.

• Fallock
  This mod makes lockpicking significantly more difficult, and gives lockpicks some weight. All in all, this should encourage the player to be more careful when picking locks.

Perks

The mods in this category are focusing on improving the variety of features some perks can have, but they also exist as a way to prevent certain perks from completely undermining gameplay mechanics intended to make the game more challenging.

• SPI
  A mod that improves a bunch of perks that had too little or too weak usage throughout the game. This mod comes in three editions, where the two others could be considered for everyone, but the HSC Edition is particularly designed for being used alongside HSC.

• Night Stalker
  A mod that adds new functionality to the Night Person and Cannibal perks. Aside from being fun and allowing for a new playstyle, this mod introduces a small new penalty to cannibalism.

• TWG
  A mod that adds new functionality to the Ghoulish perk. Aside from being fun and allowing for a new playstyle, this mod introduces small penalties depending on where you are.

• RTT
  A mod that adds a few small mechanics to the Solar Powered and Rooted perks. Aside from adding a few new fun and convenient mechanics, the main point of this mod is to reduce the ability to heal radiation damage when in the sun. Being able to get rid of radiation that easily undermined a huge part of the mods with features related to radiation, such as HSC and Falltoxin.