Monthly Modder: Ethganz - Ethnet and Arroganz

There is a rich biodiversity of dangerous enemies throughout the Commonwealth: from Super Mutants and Deathclaws, to Synths and Raiders, and more.

Yet one of the most prominent opponents you’ll inevitably encounter is the Feral Ghoul, a mainstay of the Fallout series since its inception. Despite the frequency of these encounters, some players may quickly find these enemies to be simple bullet sponges after a few level ups: Hear the growl, unload a few bullets in them as they mindlessly charge at you, collect any loot and move on.

Enter Ethganz, the modding team of Ethnet and Arroganz, and their mod FGEP – The Feral Ghoul Expansion Pack (Xbox, Nexus) which introduces a whole slate of new ghoul types into Fallout 4. There’s the Feral Crawler that grabs and bites at your ankles, Feral Slashers that can wield melee weapons, giant and durable Feral Tanks, the stinkingly radioactive Feral Rotters, and more. Keep your distance from the Feral Exploder and watch out for the Feral Spitters’ ranged attack. We sat down with Ethnet, who conferred with Arroganz, for a few questions about the mod and his creative process. You’ll want to go on a Ghoul safari to observe and fight them all once you’ve added the FGEP to your load order.

What was it about ghouls in Fallout that inspired you to expand their ranks?

Feral ghouls had untapped potential in Fallout 4, something immediately obvious to me the moment I finished my first playthrough of the game since 2015. I noticed some major setbacks that prevented any of their encounters from being memorable. When I first stepped foot into Super Duper Mart, I was horrified. There were bodies everywhere, some waiting to pounce. So I made my way through the interior, disposing of any threats. I finally made it to the back storage area where the big prize chest awaited me, and in turn perhaps a special variant that would be difficult to take down. When I finished and headed back outside, I was horribly underwhelmed. Every ghoul encounter was just some variant of your cookie cutter feral, it charges at you, bites and claws, rinse and repeat. I knew from this moment, things had to change. The bloated, withered, and glowing variants alone were simply not going to cut it. Thus, FGEP was born.

What are some of the challenges in modding enemies that appear throughout the map vs. making a more contained mod in a specific area?

There were definitely some challenges in creating FGEP along the way, some that I still am fighting one year after its initial release. I really had no idea of the herculean task that lay ahead of me. Most of the work is primarily focused within the Creation Kit. A clunky, but functional tool at best. The interface looks dated, and the startup time is a slog to wait through, it crashes lots, but it makes modding ridiculously easy for anyone willing to learn. Despite all these aspects I described that might turn newer modders away from this software, I couldn't recommend it enough to people who want to take there modding experience to the next level. It's not made to look pretty, but it's functionality allows incredible tinkering with the base game. Don't like a structure in Concord? Remove it. Feel like there should be molerats in an empty interior? Place spawns then. The possibilities are endless! For the scope that I wanted FGEP to cover, I needed something dynamic. My new variants needed to show up within the world unsystematically, something that took manual placement out of the equation. Thus, I needed to work with a complicated form of spawn methods known as leveled lists. They are long, highly fragile, and usually end up conflicting with other modder’s works. However, thanks to a_blind_man’s fantastic injection toolbox, I was able to create scripts that still serve the same purpose but would end up making the mod highly compatible.

What was the most fun or exciting part of creating the Expansion Pack?

Brainstorming this mod was a blast. I talked it out with my brother, and we came up with plenty of amazing ideas, most of them being realized. Seeing my creations come to life one by one in testing sessions brought the biggest smile to my face.

What do you hope players will get out of playing with the FGEP in their load order?

I just hope that people will find it funner to fight and take down ferals now. I want them to strategize a bit. “Hey, there’s a feral that spits acid now. I probably need a gun besides my baseball bat.” or “that feral is huge, time to take out the fatman!”. All in all, it makes feral encounters a lot more challenging, but I personally find enjoyment in thought-provoking gameplay.

How did you get started modding?

Ah yes, how all this madness began. Back when I was 9 years old and my brother was 12, we had an old but capable laptop. So we decided to game on it. My first experience with gaming on a windows PC came in the form of flash games (Plasma Burst, Bowmaster, etc.). But the real interesting part is when we found a game by the name of Gratuitous Space Battles. Huge explosions. Massive fleets. It was definitely our cup of tea. Later on, we found out it was moddable. When we dug deeper, we found out that it meant you could change the game to your liking, adding custom teams, scenarios, and weapons. That sounds super sick. When I got a little older and I understood how to drag and drop folders and archives, my brother handed me the reins. I began modding games whenever I got the chance, starting with Half Life, Minecraft, and Skyrim. Then, I wanted to make my own. The rest is history.

What are some of your favorite mods or mod authors?

This is a hard one. I love mods, and I have thousands I’ve downloaded, loved, and downloaded again for my next loadorder. I highly recommend Arroganz82’s mods, as they add incredible renditions of Resident Evil Creatures into the Commonwealth. L00ping (Bethesda.net,Nexus) has made some of the best graphical mods seen to date, and an expansive horror overhaul. FX0x01 has made gameplay magical, with his high quality modern weaponry and triple A style of animation. Lastly, how can I forget the mod that inspired me the most? More Feral Ghouls: A Zombie Mod adds dozens of high quality feral ghoul variations that make each encounter unique. Each model is crafted with extreme care, as to even be mistaken for vanilla game craftsmanship. I highly recommend you check it out, as it can even be combined with FGEP for the ultimate feral face-lift.