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This is more of a two part mod idea, but both are relevant. ------------------------ Remember the days of Oblivion, where you felt like you were actually picking a lock? You had to actually bump the tumblers in a lock to unlock it? I remember. While the new method isn't bad, it's certainly not an improvement in my eyes. More of a side-step to the Oblivion method. I feel this needs upgrade to both. I propose merging the two methods. Using Oblivion's tumblers and Fallout's new method. First and foremost, no more being unable to attempt picking a lock because you don't have the skill. You can try, but you have a high chance of failure. So here's how it'd work. http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/lock-picking-cylinder.jpg The instance pops up and you see an isometric view of a lock with standard internals. Both the lockpick (bobby pin, I suppose) and the screwdriver are placed where they are in FO4's lockpicking. The screwdriver will apply a small force on the lock on it's own, to give the tumblers a holding position, like you would do on a standard lock in real life. Now, the bobby pin pushes through once, bumping the tumblers. Depending on your character's skill and the strength of the lock, some of the tumblers may immediately hold in place. A button could be assigned to brush the tumblers again, with diminishing returns on how well it works. The rest, you'd have to bump individually, just like in oblivion. Once you have all the tumblers held in place, you then use the screwdriver and finish unlocking the lock. Your character's skill will play a part in this as well. On your travels, you may notice some tumblers on the lock are dark or 'hidden'. These tumblers might not lock in place where you think they do. If they don't, and you turn the screwdriver, you'll break the bobby pin (it doesn't make sense, but it's a good mechanic and bobby pins are everywhere). These 'dark' tumblers appear more often if you are at or below a lock level, though if you aren't lucky even a rank 4 locksmith may notice dark tumblers on a novice lock. (preferably, dark tumblers would be randomized up until the lock is accessed, then the dark tumblers are there regardless of backing out, however once the lock is opened, the dark tumbler 'status' is reset) Of course, a rank 4 locksmith might also get lucky and just find that brushing the tumblers opens the lock for him! If you're lucky, you may be able to run across and old world lockpicking kit! If you do, you'll find two perfect tools for unlocking doors. A hook lockpick and a tension wrench! The hook lockpick has a high durability, and won't break for ages, but the tension wrench could. Luckily, once you've discovered either the lockpicking kit or one of the lockpicking comic book/magazines in the world, you will then be able to craft one or more at the standard crafting bench. 'But the screwdriver doesn't break, why would we want the tension wrench?' you may say, but ah! the tension wrench decreases the likelihood of 'hidden' tumblers by a whole 50%! And they are cheap, as you can make 3 per steel. The hook lockpick unfortunately isn't craftable by the player, but if you know who to look for, or get lucky, you can buy or find more in the wild. (Deacon might just be impressed enough with your skills with a lockpick to hand you his own personal kit! Although, it's the standard kit, so no special goodies there) ------------------------ Of course, picking locks on a door is one thing, but safes in fallout don't have keyholes, so what gives, Bethesda? Well, I got the idea covered here too. This is where immersion really plays a part in it, because picking a safe requires some auditory clues! (finding a stethoscope will help here a lot!) http://fallout4database.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/41-279x303.jpg Rather than your silly keyhole on a safe, you'll have an instance pop up with--spoilers--the front of the safe! ...makes sense, yeah? So here's the catch, there's two combination padlocks on the front of fallout safes. That means you have two dials to deal with on the safe. Luckily, we're keeping to simple combination padlocks, for the sake of sanity. Novice safes will only have one disc per dial, advanced will have three between them, expert four between, and master five or six between, each ranging between one to three discs per dial. The normal method is to go by each individual number and hope for a tell-tale sign that you've managed to get the right number. This is both time-consuming and boring in the long run, especially with how many safes are in the wasteland. So, rather than base the picking on numbers, we're going with an auditory sound and slightly faster motions only. Rather than a volume change, it will be an audibly different sound. Think: 'tick tick tick, tock' sort of difference. Depending on skill and lock level, the sound will have a more observable change. Alternatively, you could equip a stethoscope and use that as well, increasing by one skill level the difference in sound. Here's how it'll function. When the instance firsts pops up, both dials will spin counter-clockwise and stop on their own, to show resetting the discs. Then the player will have to grab the top lock with his mouse and simply start turning it, first in a clockwise motion. Listening for the 'click' that will say you're on the right number, then if the dial has more discs, you'll move it back counter-clockwise to the next click. Once the upper dial is finished, rinse and repeat on the lower. Now, once you have at least one perk upgrade in locksmith, you'll get a green 'vats' ring around a dial once it's completely finished, so getting that first skill point is helpful. The second point will tell you how many discs there are per dial. The third will increase the difference in the successful click sound, while the last will give you a green ring around each dial for each correct position. Those locksmith masters sure can fly through a safe, huh? Unfortunately, a master level locksmith takes a while to get to, requiring level 45 and a perception of 7! Because of the increase in requirements for rank 4 of locksmith, the mod would be adding some benefits to picking a key lock as well, changing the tension wrench benefits to 75% and the ability to craft a screwdriver into a much stronger tension wrench, giving you a huge durability boost of 500% but only a 20% chance of less dark tumblers. ------------------------ As a side note, I have tried in the past to learn how to mod, but having ADHD makes doing such things extremely difficult for me. I would absolutely love to help make this mod, but I fear I'd be more hurtful than helpful when it comes to coding and the like. I can help in other ways, such as typing up the mod page. I'm not sure how much more I could help than pushing the idea and hoping someone can make it.