The Perception Bug (Special Stats bug) and the mod 'Survival SPECIAL Bug Remover'

[Lonewanderer]

Hello,

I think most of this is already known here, I write it up despite that, because there is a fix, but not simple.

According to posts this is what can happen:

1) Head crippled, and the effect remains even after using a Stimpak or visiting a Doctor.

2) Use Med-X while poisoned (have the poison effect) and the Perception penalty remains.

To fix 1) You can try to become head crippled again, and then use a Stimpak. This works only if the bug occurred because of 1). I tried it with my problem and it did not work.

To fix 2) Become poisoned (poison effect from animals), and lower your poison resistance, this is complicated and only works in some cases, and needs you to have a poison resistance item, so that you can unequip it during the poison effect.

Both descriptions are especially interesting in Survival Mode, since you cannot use the console. Using the console otherwise is rather bad I think, because you will only counteract the buggy penalty, not remove it.

There is now a mod 'Survival SPECIAL Bug Remover', which you can get for free at Bethesdas Site, as the UFO4P. Here is the LINK. The mods works with Survival, but also in other game modes.

Since I did not see the problem for hours, I decided to try it. There are instructions how to use it. It adds a Holotape near Vault 111, which you have to pick up. After this you have to remove everything which influences Perception (clothing), wait for 10 hours (sit and wait) to remove all special effects, and then use it.

Here is my story: Found out, that I had Perception (-) 1. Originally the character had Perception 4, and then 5 with the Booblehead from Concord. There were no effects shown, and neither Addictol, Stimpak nor visiting a Doctor fixed it. In the perk chart Perception always had 5 stars, but in game it was 1 effectively, and 3 with clothing.

Now I used the Holotape from the mod once, like the instructions said. After this I had no (-) before the value, but the value was now 4! After a bit fiddling around (and always keeping the save from before) I found, that I had to use the Holotape twice! After using it a second time (still naked, no effects) the Perception value now is 5 again, without (-) or (+) before it, my base value including the Booblehead effect. So maybe I had even two buggy effects?

This seems now fixed, I can equip my items and have now the normal value with a (+) before it, because of clothing effects. I will continue to play with this, and not remove the mod, and keep the Holotape. I hope this has no detrimental effects...

By the way: The mod is loaded correctly after the UFO4P, and I hope it does not change the UFO4P.

Lesson learned: Always check your SPECIAL stats after a fight and in regular intervals, and restore an older save instead of fiddling around. (In my case this would have meant to loose around 12 levels and all progress)

I hope this helps...

NB: If this post belongs into another forum part, please move it. It IS a bug, so I posted it here.