Framework integration into custom mods

The following documentation will explain what features the damage threshold framework offers, and how modders or users can use those features in their mods.

A very basic knowledge and understanding of the Creation Kit is desirable.

To start using it you will need to load the needed .esp file along with DamageThresholdFramework.esm.

Adding DT on armors directly:

1.  Open the armor form you want to add damage threshold to.
2.  Right click on the damage resistance types, click new, choose _dtDamageThreshold, and then click ok. Then choose the desired value, click ok, and now it should appear on list of damage resistances.
3.  That’s it! That armor will have the amount of damage threshold you just added.

Adding DT on armors by OMODs (Object Mods):
This article wont teach you how you can make OMODs craftable - you should see other tutorials before doing all this. Instead it will show what property modifier an you should add on an OMOD for it to have damage threshold.

1.  Right click on property modifiers, and choose new.
2.  For property modifier data choose:

         Target: vdDamageTypeValues
         Op: Add
         Form: _dtDamageThreshold
         Then give the desired value.
   3. That’s all. When that OMOD is added on armor, it will have the amount of damage threshold you just added.

Adding DT to the player or other actors:
Just like in the previous part, this wont teach you how you can add new perks to players, there are tutorials you can find to teach you this.
Let’s say you want to make a perk that modifies the player’s damage threshold, but it shouldn’t be dependent on any specific armor. You would do the following:

1.  Go to Spells.
2.  Add new, make it – type: ability, casting: constant effect, delivery: self.
3.  Right click on the effects window, click new and choose the same effect as on the image, and  give desired value. Click ok.
4.  Go to perks, make a new perk, then right click on perk entries  and click new. Check ability radio button and choose the spell you created in the previous step.
5.  That’s all, as soon as your perk will be added to the player, they will have the amount of damage threshold you just added.

Implementing living anatomy functionality:
Living Anatomy is a new UI element that displays the health and damage threshold values of a given target in VATS. In the framework it's the actor value that you need to modify from 0 to 1 and it will start functioning.

There are multiple ways for how this can be done,  but I will only explain one of them - How to create a perk that will add it for player. (Of course Living Anatomy functionality is exclusive for the player, enemies having it wont make any sense since they cant use VATS.)

The steps are very similar to those taken to add DT to the player or an actor - you create the ability spell and perk, but for magic effect you create a new one. Its effect archetype should be a value modifier and you should check no duration and no area checkboxes, the name of actor value you should choose to modify is _hasLivingAnatomy. Then when you add this magic effect in your spell, you just give it a magnitude of 1. After that, once the perk is added on player they will have the Living Anatomy functionality.

Ignoring specific armors from dynamically adding DT values when the optional plugin is active:

While the optional plugin is enabled, every armor in-game including ones from other mods will have damage threshold values created dynamically based on the armor’s damage resistance. There are four occasions when the data wont be created:

1.  The Armor form already has damage threshold added directly in .esp with Creation Kit.
2.  The Armor has DT added from ingame using Armorsmith workbench.
3.  The Armor form has too low a base damage resistance - then its damage threshold will be 0.
4.  The Armor form has _IgnoreArmorOnDTAdd keyword.

Adding AP OMODS:
Add it using vaActorValues property modifier, operation ADD and choose _ArmorPiercing as form.

I hope this article gave you the basic information on how this framework can be used. See you soon in the Mojave!