TN's Out in the Blackness (A Space Survival Mod)

WARNING: Elements of this mod can leave you stranded out in space and unable to get planetside. This can soft lock a Hardcore save, or require backtracking in your save files. Don't let your ship break down on you!

I miss my dear Darling and New Atlantis, As I wander the Blackness of the deep abyss. My Ship is in tatters all dented and worn, But I trust my old engine to get back by morn. Way oh, out in the blackness, Way oh, out in the void. Way Oh get me back to my true love, as quick as an old asteroid.

Survival out in space isn't just about having enough food to fill your own belly. You are a ship captain, and you're responsible for your ship, and all of your crew. Out in the Blackness adds survival elements focused on the rigors of space travel. You will need to feed and care for your crew, and in return, their high morale will help your ship run better, or their low morale will leave it running sluggishly. Maintain your ship, diagnose and repair malfunctions that may arise while out in the void. When you find derelicts, find out what is wrong with them and repair the damage, claiming legitimate salvage rights on them! Out in the Blackness is an in depth and immersive take on ship maintenance that can have deadly consequences for you and your crew if you are unprepared!

The system will not activate until after the first tutorial mission. Once you get to the Lodge and complete that mission, you will get a message indicating the mod is active.

Ship Maintenance:

• Over 20 malfunctions, and several unique malfunctions from unique encounters.
• Malfunctions have up to 5 stages, with worsening symptoms the longer it is left unrepaired.
• Symptoms can effect how well your ship functions, how happy your crew is, or even bring unwanted guests onto your ship. Some malfunctions can even spawn deadly ship-wide hazards if left untreated.
  • There are 28 unique malfunction symptoms with different effects on your ship and crew.
• Your skills will effect how quickly your can scan or repair your ship, how many resources are needed for repairs, and certain ships skills can help you detect malfunction symptoms related to them.
• Immersive and in depth information terminal entries can be used to diagnose issues with the ship, even if you don't have the right skills.
• You can build a Portable Diagnostic Terminal in the decoration menu (Crafting) or find them built into (vanilla) Engineering Habs.
  • Includes an in depth how to guide to get you through the process.
  • Be sure to check this page on Bethesda.net for included video guides (and trailer).
• If all else fails, take your ship to one of the settlement ship techs, and use the diagnostic terminals there. You can get the ship techs to make diagnostics and repairs, but they will cost credits and take time.

Derelict Repair:

• Derelicts (and even ships you disable and board) can come with their own malfunctions already.
• The mod will look at the contents of and damage to a Derelict and assign malfunctions to it.
• Derelicts can have unique "Critical Malfunctions" that need to be repaired before you can take control of it.
• Once you repair the ship, you can Hack into it to unlock the Pilot's seat and begin to fly.

Crew Morale System:

• Feed your crew and prevent malfunctions that impact their living conditions and morale will go up.
• High morale increases the bonuses from crew skills like Piloting and Shield Systems provided by crewmembers. Low morale will lower them.
• Different food and drinks give different levels of morale, and you can even provide alcohol so the crew can kick back. (Cora will need to eat and drink, but will NOT share in the alcohol! Instead, she eats double the snacks! Vasco does not need to be fed, as you would expect.)
• If the crew has to, they can survive off basic Nutrients and unfiltered Water, but won't gain morale from it.
• Specific crew members can help prevent or slow down malfunctions on your ship depending on their specialization. The effectiveness of this mitigation depends on crew morale. (Crew Eats Food by viaconflictu is a free alternative to this feature.)

Gameplay Options:

• If you have a Fuel Enabler like Fuel Consumption Unlocked by 7starC or Real Fuel by rbtRvlt, you can enable integration in the Gameplay Options. It gives you an extra terminal menu, and allows Malfunctions to effect fuel.
• The morale system is optional, but recommended. You can turn it off in Gameplay Options, but you lose some functionality from the malfunctions.
• Hazards will effect NPCs on ships by default, but Robots are immune to some of them. This can be toggled off in Gameplay Options.
• You can change the mod's difficulty with settings for how often malfunctions appear and how quickly they progress, including Level Scaling (which is on by default).
• There is an option to enable fast start compatibility, which will skip the normal tutorial mission wait, and start the system immediately.

Highlights:

• The Xenogrub Infestation and Heat Leech Infestation can spawn Xenogrubs and Heat Leeches respectively on your ship. Other malfunctions may spawn other creatures/hazards.
• A new interaction with your Cargo panel gives you the ability to jettison unwanted cargo into space. (Great for when you're needing to get rid of contraband before you're discovered.)
• The Ship Status menus show you stats for your ship that you didn't have access to before, and can be used for finding malfunctions as well as immersing yourself in the experience. (Such as the Life Signs detector, which can be used to find the number of NPCs on a ship, even an enemy ship.)
• You can power off different ship systems. When your grav drive is powered off, your ship no longer has gravity. When your reactor is powered off, your ship is dead in the water.
• You can adjust the overall gravity on your ship when you're in space. (When on a planet, your ship will use the planet's gravity scale.)
• Power down your reactor to halt a radiation leak, vent atmosphere to vent out deadly gas, or even open your reactor's shielding to cook unwanted intruder, plus many more options for dealing with enemies and malfunction.
• Quickly repair key systems like your Engines and Reactor using ship parts from the terminal menu.
• Full built in integration with my other mod, TN's Realistic Oxygen Meter.
• Surprises await! 3 unique malfunctions trigger from unique interactions found in space!

Uninstalling/Updating:

• Find the Uninstall option under Installation in the Diagnostics Terminal. Use this to stop all active scripts before uninstalling the mod.
• Find the Reinstall option under Installation in the Diagnostics Terminal. Use this when you are updating the mod, or the mod is not functioning correctly. This will clear all of the scripts and restart them. Morale, malfunctions, and progress will not be lost when using Reinstall. Updating the mod's file while outside of the ship is best practice.

Notice: Any ship modules/weapons/spacesuits/etc shown within the trailer videos are not included with Out in the Blackness. Consult the video descriptions/comments for information on any mods showcased.

If you wish to contact me, find me on the Nexus, or on many Starfield discords as TheTennessee. You can also join "The Stuff of Legends" discord here: https://discord.gg/K4eRYKzcAv