Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch

Translating from Sumerian cunard ....

Which mods will show up at the workbench for a given armor piece is handled by mod association keywords (all keywords whose names start with "ma_" ). Combat limb armor mods use the following keywords:
- ma_armor_Combat_Lining_Limb: these are for all limbs, i.e. both arm and leg pieces
- ma_armor_Combat_Lining_LimbArm: these are only for arm pieces
- ma_armor_Combat_Lining_LimbLeg: these are only for leg pieces

Which armor piece a mod is supposed to apply to is also consistently reflected in the mod names:
- mods for combat armor arm pieces are named "mod_armor_Combat_Lining_LimbArm_<mod name>"
- mods for combat armor leg pieces are named "mod_armor_Combat_Lining_LimbLeg_<mod name>"
- mods for noth combat armor arm and leg pieces are named "mod_armor_Combat_Lining_Limb_<mod name>"

To make this work, the armor pieces have matching keywords:
- combat arm armor pieces have both ma_armor_Combat_Lining_Limb and ma_armor_Combat_Lining_LimbArm
- combat leg armor pieces have both ma_armor_Combat_Lining_Limb and ma_armor_Combat_Lining_LimbLeg

To put it short: if the mod's keyword does not exist on the armor piece, it will not show up for that armor piece at the workbench.

When the game generates modded armor pieces on its own (the so called "epic armors" which you can find on enemies and in vendors' inventories), it uses a different procedure. This is handled by the object template records of the armor pieces themselves. All we need to know about this in the current context (I don't want to go into the details of how this works) is that the mods to apply to an armor piece by this procedure are specified in so-called mod collections. A mod collection is essentially a leveled list for object mods (it also allows for specifying a minimum level for every mod in that list). There are two mod collections that apply to the combat limb armor pieces:
- modcol_armor_Combat_Linings_Arm for the arm pieces
- modcol_armor_Combat_Linings_Leg for the leg pieces

It's also IMPORTANT to know that the object templates will override the mod association keyword rerstrictions: any mod referenced in the object template records (either directly or by a mod collection) can be applied to the respective armor piece if the level requirements are fulfilled, but irrespective of whether the mod association keywords match or don't match !!!

If we have a look now at the muffled mod with all this in mind, we'll immediately find an inconsistency:
- The mod's name is "mod_armor_Combat_Lining_Limb_ReducedDetection", suggesting that it was supposed to apply to both arm and leg armor pieces
- This is also supported by the fact that it is in the mod collections for both arm and leg armor pieces, i.e. the game will apply it to arm armor pieces that are found on enemies or at vendors.
- On the other hand however, it has the mod association keyword ma_armor_Combat_Lining_LimbLeg, restricting it to leg armor pieces at the workbench

This makes no sense, given that any other armor mod that can be found in the game (except for legendary mods of course) can also be constructed by the player at the workbench (if he has the required perks), and I don't see why this should be any different for this mod specifically. Thus, there is clearly something wrong, but it is difficult to tell what Beth's intention was:
(1) Was it intended to apply to leg armor pieces only ? [in that case, it should be removed from the mod collection for the arm armor pieces], or
(2) Was it intended to apply to all limb armor pieces ? [in that case, its mod association keyword needs to be changed]

For comparison, I also had a look at the muffled mod for leather and metal armor pieces, and found the exact same inconsistency. That is, the inconsistency applies consistently, so to say, and if we go for consistency to tell whether something is a bug or not, this would support the view that this is not a bug but was intended. In my opinion however, this is more likely the result of a copy and paste error because the records for the leather and metal armor pieces are almost the same as those for the combat armor pieces, excpet for "combat" replaced with "leather" or "metal" respectively in all mod and keyword names.