Fallout 3 - Held off till now, looking at best overhaul mods + load order help!

[dlthorpe]

Hi all,

Ok first off thanks for reading, I am only posting because ive been reading about mods for the last few days every evening to choose what to do here. So before I get into all that, is there another post I should just go for someone asking the same thing as me? I pretty much just want to follow a guide for multiple mods and get them loaded correctly.

Basically I am only starting the game now because of my experience with Oblivion. I loved Oblivion and I modded the hell out of it. But it was only when I had pretty much completed the thing did I discover a massive overhaul mod called OOO. As my one and only run through the game was about 200 hours long I decided I wouldn't be going through it again with OOO. So knowing Fallout 3 was arriving and would follow a similar pattern I have avoided playing it until now.

So im looking at mods that will change the game to make it simply amazing. I have found the following to be of particular interest...

**** - FallOut 3 Overhaul Kit
FWE - FO3 Wanderers Edition
MMM - Marts Mutant Mod
XFO - Fallout 3 Balance Overhaul
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch

Now obviously there are compatability issues with mods and thats where I think something called FOIP comes in. In particular im looking at this URL for that.

The main thing that is confusing me are all these mods sound great, each one says its compatiable and provides esp (CP's) files for that. But there doesnt seem to be a central place which tells me how to use them all together except maybe the FOIP URL.

I also have The Pitt, Operation Anchorage and Broken Steel. And to add more confusion there are further esps for the above mods to get these DLC mods working.

I would love it if someone can just reply saying they are already setup with these mods and show me the load order for your files. I just want to set it up and go for it!

So questions...

Q: Are XFO and FWE effectively two mods for the same thing - meaning I would only want one of them? If so, which do you use? XFO seems more popular?

Q: Does anyone have a similar setup and can give me your load order?

Q: As Broken Steel is new should I be waiting until these mods properly support them? Although if triggering Broken Steel is a quest only, i doubt ill do that until ive finished the main quest so it could be quite a while until i get to it.

Q: My current load order looks like this. How does it look?

[X] Fallout3.esm
[X] ThePitt.esm
[X] Anchorage.esm
[X] BrokenSteel.esm
[X] CALIBR.esm
[X] ****.esm
[X] Mart's Mutant Mod.esm
[X] XFO_full_Preconfig_STANDALONE.esp
[X] addon_compendium_for_XFO.esp
[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch.esp
[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Operation Anchorage.esp
[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - The Pitt.esp
[X] ****.esp
[X] **** - Additional Power Armor Training.esp
[X] **** - Free Play After MQ.esp
[X] **** - The Pitt.esp
[X] Mart's Mutant Mod.esp
[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - ****.esp
[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - Natural Selection.esp
[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - Hunting & Looting.esp
[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - Tougher Traders.esp
[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - Increased Spawns.esp
[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - XFO + ****.esp

Q: XFO has a "Addon Compendium for XFO Fallout 3 Balance Overhaul" mod which seems to be for compatability. Should I be using this as well as the FOIP "Mart's Mutant Mod - XFO + ****.esp" mod?

Q: I couldnt find the **** - Anchorage.esp but think I need it, do I need it and where can I get it?

Q: I have not included any the supplied XFO "****" mods as the XFO site says "the **** esp and the MMM - **** esp are from v1_1b. Versions after v1_1c will not be compatible with my **** patches.". Is that right or should I include it?

Q: As you can see I have not looked at other mods like the Babes ones, or anything recommended by XFO, ****, etc. When I do, where do I place them in the load order?

Thanks a million to anyone who gets this far and is feeling kind smile.gif

D.

 

[PCZ]

If you feel the need to mod the *hit out of the game then perhaps you should consider that the game isn't for you.

You will just create problems for yourself and others who have to try and help when inevitably your game gets broken.

 

[Rich]

The game is brilliant as it is. The last time I was so engrossed in a game was Oblivion, also by Bethesda. Looking forward to whatever they come up with next.

 

[Antar Bolaeisk]

This game really doesn't need mods in my opinion. I'd suggest playing the game through un-modded first as it is a brilliant game straight out of the gates and then on your second playthrough throw some mods at it if you wish.

 

[MURDEROUS G]

The game is brilliant as it is.

This game really doesn't need mods in my opinion. I'd suggest playing the game through un-modded first as it is a brilliant game straight out of the gates and then on your second playthrough throw some mods at it if you wish.

Agree with these guys.

A lot of stuff in Oblivion might seem counter-intuitive or unbalanced to many people and necessitate modding before starting the game, but that's no reason to assume F3 is the same. Fallout is superb straight out of the box.

Until you've played the vanilla version extensively and have ascertained that you would enjoy it more with a certain mod, I wouldn't mod it.

 

[stude1983]

i play without mods too i'm happy with it as is, the only thing i've done with it is get the pitt and broken steel not bothered with operation anchorage yet, but they add a bit more playability...

 

[MystaEB]

I actually found **** caused some serious balance issues with the game last time I tried it; so I just play without it. I combined it with MMM as recommended, and found that raiders and other humanoid enemies were ridiculously easy, and mutants like Mirelurks and so on were stupidly difficult. It meant I had to keep fiddling with the difficulty slider - something I'm not prepared to do as it ruins immersion.

I too would recommend playing it at least once without modding the hell out of it, or at least avoid some of the big gameplay "improvement" mods, as the game is pretty damn good out of the box gameplay-wise in my opinion. It's not the same as Oblivion, which had some awful gameplay issues from day one; Fallout 3 is pretty well rounded.

What I would recommend is some textures packs to make the game a bit sharper. There are plenty on Fallout 3 Nexus. There are also some nice weapon mods out there that add lots more weapons into the game.

 

[dlthorpe]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I really appreciate the comments.

Seems like I check out the Vanilla version which I now realise means unmodded Was reading about vanilla this and vanilla that before now and wasnt sure what it meant hehe.

Nice one all.
D.