D.E.C.A.Y Compatibility

Zombie Walkers + D.E.C.A.Y = terrifying looking walkers

Mod Conflict

The D.E.C.A.Y - Better Ghouls mod started out as just texture and sound replacements for Fallout 4's Feral Ghouls. This initial first version didn't conflict with Zombie Walkers (or probably most mods out there). Then they released an update (v2.1) that introduced additional changes to drop lists, new Feral Ghoul types, and most importantly a modified leveled list.

The custom leveled list included brand new Feral Ghoul types, some of which were customized and didn't inherit everything from the base template. Specifically, it was reported on several occasions that some Zombies were performing leap attacks when my mod was used with this one even though I explicitly disabled those.

Fixing the Conflict

I ended up "fixing" the conflict accidentally while working on a totally different change. I modified the Feral Ghoul default leveled list which meant if my mod is later in the load order, only zombies in my leveled list will spawn and the new ones introduced by D.E.C.A.Y will not.

The reason I finally modified the leveled list for Feral Ghouls was that I wanted to introduce spawn variety. Basically, I created a whole slew of new Feral Ghouls so that each of the base types in the game were represented at each "level" of Feral Ghoul. I also made the leveled list spawn each zombie independently so each would be a random type even when they spawn in groups.

It is nice when you kill two birds with one stone like this.