Mojave Damage Bench
Mojave Damage Bench

Weapon

Enemy

ARMOR WORN

Situation

Readout

Simulator

Click a body part to fire one shot with everything set above. Each shot rolls for a critical, tracks limb damage and explains the math. Every click lands; aim chance isn't simulated.

    Last shot

    No shots yet. Click a body part.

    From the game files: each enemy's body parts, their damage multipliers and their share of max HP as limb health (body part data). Modeled, not confirmed: the body part and sneak multipliers are applied after armor, like difficulty, and a limb is crippled once the damage it has taken reaches its share of max HP. A sneak attack only applies to the first shot; after that the enemy knows you're there.

    Directory

    Filters

    Sources & method

    How it was sourced

    Each number in this tool comes from the strongest source we could find, in this order:

    1. 1 · Game filesValues read directly from the data files the game itself loads.
    2. 2 · Engine codeOpen-source code that replaces or hooks the game's own functions, plus mods that profiled the unmodified game.
    3. 3 · Two sources agreeIndependent player tests or write-ups that reach the same numbers.
    4. 4 · Wiki onlyUsed when nothing stronger exists, and labelled as such.
    5. 5 · ModeledOur best reading where no source settles it. Always labelled.

    The Evidence ledger on the Formula & sources tab gives the level for each rule.

    Game files

    Read from copies of the ten master files in Fallout New Vegas/Data. Nothing in the game folder was changed.

    FalloutNV.esm DeadMoney.esm HonestHearts.esm OldWorldBlues.esm LonesomeRoad.esm GunRunnersArsenal.esm CaravanPack.esm ClassicPack.esm MercenaryPack.esm TribalPack.esm

    RecordWhat we took from it
    GMSTGame settings: the 20% damage floor, 85% DR cap, skill and crit constants, block DT, sneak multiplier, NPC health formula.
    WEAPDamage, crit damage and chance multiplier, fire rate, clip, pellets, requirements, handling type, weight, the non-playable flag.
    AMMO + ammo effectsDamage and DT modifiers for every ammo type.
    ARMODT, DR, weight, value, condition, slot and class flags.
    PERK, FLSTPerk and trait effects, ranks, level requirements and the weapon lists perks apply to.
    CREA, NPC_, RACE, LVL*Enemy health, level, type, attributes, templates and the armor they carry.
    SPEL, MGEFNatural DT and DR granted by creature abilities.
    BPTDEach enemy's body parts: damage multiplier, limb health share and cripple target.

    Your .fos saves are read in the browser only, to fill in your character. They are never uploaded or changed. FalloutNV.exe was not opened, because Steam's copy protection encrypts it.

    Engine code and mods

    • JIP LN NVSE source code. Its CalculateHitDamageHook replaces the game's damage function and mirrors it. This settles the DR/DT order, the 20% floor and the automatic-melee rule. AdjustDmgByDifficulty places difficulty after armor, and the BGSBodyPart struct confirms the body-part layout we read.
    • Armor Damage Fix (Nexus Mods). Its author profiled the unmodified game and reports the same DR/DT order.
    • fnv-save-explorer. Save-file layout, validated by its author on over 600 saves. We checked it against six of your saves.

    Wikis and community sources consulted

    We found four places where the wikis disagree with the game data. See Wiki errata below.

    Wiki errata

    Where a wiki or common reference disagrees with the game files or engine code. Open an entry for the detail.

    WrongDamage threshold is subtracted after resistanceThe wiki formula only works when DR is 0.
    Wikidamage = hit × (1 − DR) − DT
    Enginedamage = (hit − DT) × (1 − DR)

    DT is scaled by (1 − DR) before it is subtracted. The result can't fall below 20% of the hit before ammo and perk modifiers.

    JIP LN NVSE's replacement damage function multiplies DT by the resistance factor before subtracting. The Armor Damage Fix author profiled the unmodified game and reports the same. Most vanilla armor has DR 0, so the wiki rarely looks wrong in normal play. Try it:

    Wiki says36
    Engine does42

    Wiki: Damage Threshold JIP LN NVSE source Armor Damage Fix

    Wrong“Resistance above 80% does nothing”The engine cap is 85%, and nothing in the code makes 80% special.
    Wiki

    Damage resistance over 80% has no further effect.

    Engine

    The damage function clamps DR with min(DR, 85). Values from 80 to 85 still reduce damage.

    Nothing in the engine code or the Armor Damage Fix write-up supports 80. This comes from reading a reimplementation of the function, since the game executable is encrypted and wasn't opened.

    Wiki: Damage Threshold JIP LN NVSE source

    WrongWeapon condition settings in the data files don't do anythingThe fDamageGunWeapCond settings are Fallout 3 leftovers.
    What the data suggests

    The game settings list condition-based damage values, so a reader may build the penalty from them.

    Engine

    The penalty is hardcoded: none at 75% condition or better, otherwise 1 − (0.75 − condition) × 0.67, about half damage at 0%. Forum tests that edit the settings see no effect.

    GECK: SetConditionDamagePenalty Step forum: settings unused

    IncompletePerk wording hides what the perk record doesNinja is a multiplier, and Kamikaze also lowers DR.
    Wiki wording

    Ninja: +15% critical chance with melee and unarmed. Kamikaze: +10 action points, lower damage threshold.

    PERK record

    Ninja's crit chance is a ×1.15 multiplier, which gives less than +15 points at low base chances. Kamikaze also reduces damage resistance by 15.

    Both were read from the perk entries in the master files. Not every perk's wiki text was checked against its record.

    Wiki: New Vegas perks

    UnresolvedSkill points per level: 10 or 11 plus half of IntelligenceThe game file says 11. Players report 10.
    Wiki

    10 + INT ÷ 2 per level, with half points carried over.

    Game file

    iLevelUpSkillPointsBase is 11. How the engine uses it isn't clear.

    The bench keeps the wiki's 10, because that's the value players have tested in game. Educated's +2 matches its perk record.

    Wiki: Skill point

    UnresolvedWhere crits, head shots and sneak attacks sit relative to DTNeither the wikis nor the game files settle this.

    The bench adds crit damage to the hit before armor and applies body-part and sneak multipliers after armor. A sneak attack counts as a guaranteed crit. The engine code that applies these wasn't inspected. Also unconfirmed: how a shotgun splits damage across pellets, whether the game reads the skill-damage settings, and the ×5 melee sneak multiplier.

    Why the inferences are credible

    • Same data the game uses. Weapon, armor, enemy, perk and body-part numbers are read from the game's own files, so they can't drift from what the game uses.
    • Rules from working code. The damage order comes from code that replaces the game's damage function and must behave like it, or players would notice. An independent mod author reached the same result by profiling the original game.
    • Cross-checks. The file layouts we read were matched against the engine's own structures. The save reader was tested on six real saves, and the difficulty table on two independent sources.
    • Wikis are checked, not trusted. Where a wiki and the data disagree, the data wins, and the difference is listed.
    • Uncertainty is labelled. Anything we modeled is marked in the Evidence ledger and in the simulator's notes, not presented as fact.

    Known limits

    • Where crit damage, the head and sneak multipliers sit relative to armor, and how shotgun damage splits across pellets, are not confirmed.
    • The ×5 melee sneak multiplier and the 0.5–1.0 skill damage range come from wikis only.
    • The limb-crippling rule in the simulator is modeled from the body-part data.
    • VATS and free-aim hit chance aren't simulated; every simulated shot lands.
    • Skill points spent, tag skills, sex and Intense Training choices can't be read from saves yet.