Fallout 3 mods

[Pighardia]

As i have mentioned recently, i have been playing through Fallout 3 for the last few months heavily modded. I thought i would create a thread for the discussion of mods for the game. Specifically because lots of people will be picking it up in the recent Steam sale and i haven't really found a place to discuss them

Mods for Fallout 3 are regularly being added, and i regularly check the Fallout nexus for updates etc. I must have tried practically every mod on the Nexus over the last few months

Just thought it would be nice to have a place to discuss the mods which imo move this game to a whole other level.

First off, these are the essential programs for modding Fallout 3.

Fallout mod manager- allows you to manage mods and change load order etc
FO3edit- allows you to create merged patches, fix compatability errors and do a master update which sometimes increases stability.
Archiveinvalidation Invalidated Mods do not work without it
Also check this page for compatibility patches between all the major mods.

For higher res textures there is NMC's Texture pack. This is amazing. This guy improved every texture in the game and it looks so much better with this on.

The 2 major overhaul mods for Fallout 3 are FWE and FOOK2.

Fallout Wanderer's Edition is a great overhaul which changes many features making the game much more challenging. It also adds some items and great features such as sprint, explosive entry, grenade hotkey. It also adds the need to eat,sleep and drink to the game. It is a very good mod which many people use

FOOK2 is simialr to FWE, but it adds many more weapons/armours and incorporates many other peopular mods such as Fellout,EVE, Streetlights and Phalanx Followers, it also does many of the things that FWE does but does not introduce the need to eat/sleep/drink, but you can add another mods to do that.

Fook2 and FWE are not officially compatible, though there is a patch to make them work together but it is not exactly the most stable, and as they both change many of the same things, it is probably best to just use one of them.

MMM is another great mod which adds many new creatures and changes the way in which they behave. It also allows you to manually change spawn increases etc. A great feature of this mod is Natural Selection, which has animals fighting eachother instead of just alkways ganging up and going after you.

DarnUI changes the user interface to one better suited to the PC. Fonts are smaller and better presented. Essential really.

Fellout is a very popular mod which removes the green tint to teh game and generally improves the atmosphere of the game. Also makes nights much darker, which is a great feature which greatly enhances the game imo. Already included in FOOK2.

Enhanced Weather is a mod which adds lots of different weather features to the game such as sandstorms, rain, snow and radioactive rain if you want(for the hardcore). There is alos a great mod which works in conjunction with this called Dynamic Weather which adds more effects. Both are compatible with every other mods really as they only affect the weather.

These are great mods which really add to the base game. Build a game around these and you will have an amazing game

Anyone else recommend some mods?
What mods do you use?

 

[Pighardia]

DC Interiors is a must have. It adds so much to the otherwise completely desolate cities. Loads of explorable shops with unique items in them.

Deifinitely. Add Busworld as well and it really improves the DC region. Busworld adds load of crashed buses to the game which you can enter and blow up or rig to explode. They are all unique, some might have feral ghouls in them, some might have scavengers in them.

Also another mod which i found greatly improves the DC region is BOS Patrols, bascially adds some BOS patrols which move around the DC area and you can have them escort you or trade with them. Epic moment where i was down low on health with super mutants closing in on me, suddenly i see lasers flying past me and 5 BOS soldiers run past and kill them. One of those great unscripted moments that make this game.


Also CASM- Absolute godsend. got it saving every 3 minutes for me.

Yea NMC's texture pack is unreal, notice the difference straight away,

The effort that NMC put in is unreal! He apparantly spent ages singe-handedly changing every texture in the game, and it improves it a hell of a lot. It is enough to restore your faith in PC gaming (if you are losing it)

 

[Pighardia]

This is the last quest mod that i played through and i can not recommend it highly enough-

Vault 101 Revisited

A vision of how Vault 101 might have developed in the aftermath of Trouble on the Homefront, when it reached the point at which it felt confident to open its door and establish contact with the Outside. This may not fit with your vision, but I hope you enjoy the story. There are four main quests, an introductory mini-quest, and three unmarked scavenger quests.

This is easily the best quest i have played beating anything in Vanilla!! the quests are not signposted, without many quest markers and a great story very much influenced by Resident Evil (the movie).
It is also very hard, i had to move the difficulty down a notch as it was just getting ridiculous.

It features all of the characters from Vault 101, fully voiced as well. And after it ends you can use Vault 101 as a player home which is companion friendly!
I have around 20 companions in there atm.

Excellent mod

 

[Pighardia]

Thanks for listing them,just wondering is there any mod out that allows you to continue playing after the you finished the main story?

Broken Steel official dlc expands the main story which allows you to continue playing.

If you do not have the dlc then there is this-

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=586

 

[Pighardia]

Amy wong companion (going around on your own can get boring, VERY well made mod. No idea why it is marked as adult.) - http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10577

Sydeny Follower - The only companion you need. Fully voiced with a quest too. She also comments on places and you can start conversations with her about your surroundings in a similar way to New Vegas.

I am using the Amy Wong Companion too, i don't think i have seen all of the features though.

I don't use the Archiveinvalidation program tbh, i just put a line in the INI. Then you never have to worry about it.

Frenzy, you know that the last pack you linked includes all of the others

 

[Pighardia]

I can use sydney with amy then? I'm going to give that a try.

I had around 20 companions in my player house (underground vault near rivet city - another great mod) decided to move them all to Vault 101 and ended up running half way across the wasteland with all of them following me. Epicness!

Kelsy and Jessi are other good companions as well. Supposedly sisters who have some good features such as being able to heal you.
Also You can have Lucy West as a companion, but i am having problems getting it to work atm

 

[Pighardia]

I'm gonna aim to have every weapon in the game in my Megaton home

With the Underground Hideout mod, you get a vault as your player home with every feature you could imagine. Item sorters, dummies to display armour, cases to display every weapon and an armoury where you can order ammo/weapons. It is fully companion friendly and also has a smallish quest to acquire it.

You can also expand the outside of the vault with watchtowers and turrets etc and you will occasionally be attacked by raiders which you can fend off. You can also hire guards to patrol the grounds.

I had loads of weapons on display and quite a few armours. It is good because they are actually on display, as oposed to in a locker.

Probably the best player home mod. Also in New Vegas as well

 

[Pighardia]

Upon loading my saved game, all of the DLC messages kicked in and activated the quests, which hadn't happened up until that point. Is that what is supposed to happen with them, or are they only supposed to open up at a certain character level etc. and I should leave them unticked and they'll still work?

Ticking them activates them yes. You can activate them as you need them sure, or you could use a mod which delays the dlc's. FOOK2 has a dlc delayer which i think is a great feature. Basically all of the dlc is activated from the start but instead of having all of the signals come up at the start, you have secific criteria to meet in order to access them which is usually just being in the vicinity of the radio broadcast.

I think you have to have Broken Steel enabled all of the time though. Not sure, but it won't do any harm anyway

 

[Pighardia]

Yes. The way it starts is after the dlc ends, a button appears on the ship which you press to initiate it.
Absolutely epic mod, but not exactly lore friendly. I would recommend playing it after everything else tbh.

 

[Pighardia]

installed this earlier- OWNED

Been playing with it a bit. Really good, adds a new aspect to the game.

This mod aims to make the game more realistic. I always found it annoying that when I killed
The owner(s) of a property, I still could not sleep, take stuff and store away my items without
some kind of punishment for doing so.

This mod corrects these flaws that are so prevalent in the original game.
Now when you kill the owner(s) of a property, you will get full privilege to everything in
the house including the beds, the items and storage without any negative effects (beside a dose
of bad karma of course).

Some NPCs may be essential. If this is the case you will only have to knock them unconscious and
they will either leave to sleep and eat somewhere else or they may stick around for a while.

For the karma conscious you can buy selected properties via property managers. Hand over
your hard earned caps and you can aquire them. If you do not have enough caps in your inventory the
property will not be available to buy until you do. The managers can be found inside of properties.

You can also tax all of the properties, which is perfect if you want a little extra cash
at any time. Tax is collected once every three days from when you activated it, and the amount
you get varies on how expensive the house is. You can even turn it off at any time if you feel
you have enough cash in your pocket, it's up to you.

 

[Pighardia]

Yes and yes.

You can add/remove mods as you like during the game. There is a very slight chance that removing a certain mod might corrupt the savegame, but i have never had it happen, or known someone to. It is a very slight chance though

 

[Pighardia]

Here are some great quest mods made by a modder called Puce Moose. I really enjoyed playing through these. They are a great change in pace from the ususal FO3 quests.

In his mods he always makes things a bit challnging, usually not having quest markers and making you think about what you are doing.
If you are after extra quests, i would highly recommend these, especailly as they are all just a single ESP file and have no compatability issues whatsoever.

A Note Easily Missed

A Note Easily Missed is an adventure mod for Fallout 3. It attempts to provide the attentive player with insight into the lives of several ordinary people before the nuclear disaster. If you do not care for reading notes, taking terminal quizzes, or exploring for the sake of exploring then it is doubtful that this mod will appeal to you.

An Evening With Mr Manchester

An Evening With Mr. Manchester leads the player on an adventure through the use of various notes, hints, and puzzles. If you do not care for reading notes, taking terminal quizzes, solving puzzles, or exploring for the sake of exploring then it is doubtful that this mod will appeal to you. Combat is kept to a minimum. That said, there are a few locations that may test your trigger finger as well as your brain.

In The Shadow Of The Swamp This is great as it adds a fair bit of content to the Point Lookout area.

EPISODE I
A shady doctor took up residence in Point Lookout years ago. Exploring his motel room may yield clues as to his motivation for being there as well as the plan he had laid out for the residents of Point Lookout.

EPISODE II
A biologist travelled to Point Lookout to research and document the symbiotic relationship between Punga plants and the indigenous Punga scorpions. Will his research bring him into contact with the disreputable doctor from Episode I?

EPISODE III
A young anthropologist finds herself taxed with investigating the history and culture of the swampfolk in the Point Lookout area. She finds more than she bargained for in the murky swamps.

To Sleep- Perchance To Dream

To sleep, perchance to dream takes the player on a surreal adventure through the use of various notes, hints, and puzzles. If you do not care for reading notes, taking terminal quizzes, solving puzzles, or exploring for the sake of exploring then it is doubtful that this mod will appeal to you. Combat is kept to a minimum. Only in the sunset of this adventure will you become obligated to bear force against those who seek to do you harm.

 

[Pighardia]

The only really popular mod which i do not use is Project Beauty. It needs a lot of compatability patches and every time i had a problem, it ended up being down to this. In the end i uninstalled it as it is hardly essential really imo.

Gonna be getting the following:

FWE has more gameplay changes and will make the game very challening.

FOOK2 also changes many gameplay settings and also includes some very good mods.
If you go with FWE, definitely also get Fellout,. It is included with FOOK2.
If you get FOOK2, you might want to get RI Primary needs or IMP's more Complex Needs, both of these add the hunger/thirst/sleep requirement to the game. These are already included in FWE but not ****.

And MMM works very well with both Overhauls


Also, make sure you load the weather plugins after Fellout/**** otherwise they will not change anything

NMC's texture pack already includes the other ones you mentioned (Rivet City/ Megaton/Terrain)

Both FWE and FOOK2 definitely need compatability patches with MMM, Project Beauty and WMK.

 

[Pighardia]

Some of the most essential mods imo are the ones which improve the towns in the game. I know it is supposes to be a Wasteland, but all of the towns just seem a bit lifeless in Vanilla. I use these town overhauls:

More2Megaton - This adds many more shops to Megaton, with quests to go with it. All new characters are fully voiced as well. It just fits right in with Vanilla. It adds lots of NPC's around Megaton, as well as a hotel, bar, Telegraph office and Loan Shark who you can borrow money from, as well as others.

Adding extra life and opportunities to Megaton. Trade, hunt debtors, gain support for sheriff & protect Megaton from the dangers of the Wastes.
Over 300 lines of voiced & lip-synced dialogue, a variety of repeatable and unique missions, a new type of weapon and lots more buildings and people.

with Megaton Contracts it adds a hell of a lot to Megaton, this mod adds a NPC in Megaton who gives you contracts such as assasinations and items to steal from the residents.

A mysterious man who calls himself the "Contractor" has arrived in
Megaton and wants you to carry out his dirty business for his own
gain.

Big Town Overhaul greatly improves Big Town, which in the vanilla game was just a few huts with a handful of NPC's. With this mod it is turned in to a much larges settlement with lots more NPC's but is very inkeeping with the lore of the game as well.

The Crimson caravan is a mod which greatly expands Arefu, adding many new houses, vendors and a bar, and also adds a lot of quests as well including one which rebuilds the Arefu bridge. It is a very good mod, but can be quite unstable in my experience. It also includes the mod Arefu Expanded.

A new Caravan has moved into the town of Arefu, and they need your help.
- Embark on new quests that will test your combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving skills to the very limits.
- Explore 5 brand new Wasteland locations.
- 15 new characters, each with their own backstories and dialogue.
- Your own caravan, with 5 fully customizable followers.

Cantebury Commons Overhaul is an expansion of Cantebury Commons which includes the mods Cantebury Commons Embiggened and CC Interiors. It adds shops and a casion/brothel and many NPC's to CC. Also a few small quests. It makes CC into the town that it should have been really considering how NPC's describe it in the game.


Republic of Dave Expansion expands Republic of Dave obviously. It adds an armoury, a few merchants and more defenses.


Also there is Crowded Cities which adds NPC's to all settlements. It is compatible with all of teh above mods, but can cause some instability which may need a merged patch to sort out.

 

[Pighardia]

I feel like a newwwwbbb at the moment

I've got the following downloaded:

DarnUI
Colour hi res map
fo3edit
**** 1.2 beta
fose
enhanced weather
weapon mod kits
unofficial patch
Fallout mod manager

which ones do I install via the mod manager, and how do I do it, and in what order?

Thanks

DUI iirc has to be installed via the mod manager. open up the manager and then click on Package manager and find the files and it will install them in to the proper directory. When the message about using INI fonts appears you must click yes or continue.

This does not work with all mods however as some are packaged differently and will have to be placed in the data folder.
Personally, i install of the mods manually anyway and only use FOMM for mods that need it such as DarnUI and i believe Enhanced Weather.

Hi res map is just textures i believe so just place them in the data folder and replace all.
FOSE has to be placed in your Fallout3 directory, FO3edit the same.

FOOK2 can be tricky to install, make sure you have downloaded all of the required files. The Open Beta Data folder is just extracted to the data folder with 7zip or equivelent and the actual FOOK2 main can be installed through FOMM if you like.

You can always tell where folders need to be placed as all mods are made form ESP/ESM plugins and Texture/mesh/sound folders. All of these folder/files should be placed in your Fallout3/data folder. If the mod is packaged in a folder called data, you can extract to the Fallout3 folder and it will overwrite all that it need to

 

[Pighardia]

Sounds like another case of the great GFWL to me

GFWL might have created another location for the savegames. Try looking for it and move them in to that folder if this is what has happened.
It happened to me when i first played the vanilla game after one of the patches

Incidentally, FOMM lets you run the game without accessing GFWL at all

 

[Pighardia]

You're right, I searched for the files and there are two save game folders!

I'll take a look at FOMM.

Actually it might me FOMM taht does that now i think of it. There is a GFWL disabler you can download though

 

[Pighardia]

no, it is the specific FOOK2 ingame menu i believe, what lets you configure everything the mod does.

don't forget the hotfixes and compatability patches

How do you mean merge them?

Use 7z to extract to the required folder, you only need to extract the first of the 3 and it does all of them automatically

 

[Pighardia]

The page on the nexus site will tell you all of the patches you need. FOOK2 will need the hotfix files and compatability for quite a few mods. Many compatability patches on the nexus are outdated so you may need to download them from the FOOK2 website directly,such as the patches for MMM and WMK.

Check the documentation that comes with them too and it will give you info on load order for the mods

 

[Pighardia]

Here are useful programs and fixes for improving performance for the game. It is almost impossible to have a completely stable game really, even without mods.

Stutter remover removes the ingame stutter greatly improving performance. There is no plugin, it's just a file placed in teh Fallout3 directory

Large Addreess Enabler forces the game to use more RAM. Can improve performance and really reduce the chance of crashing.

These are 2 very common fixes if you are experiencing crashes

The "Quad-core fix" makes the game run better on quad-core computers
Open up the .INI file in the My documents/fallout 3 folder and change the following lines

change this line from 0 to 1 bUseThreadedAI=0

and add this line- iNumHWThreads=2

there is also a problem caused by audio codecs and the fix is explained in this article- http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f15/fallout-3-crash-desktop-solution-here-189880/