Fallout 3 mod suggestions

[Childs]

Since the post apocalyptic theme is popular these days, I decided to play Fallout 3. What are the critical mods to get? From what I gather, Nexus has a mod manager that I can install to manage everything, but I dont know whats good. I'm mainly looking for a graphical updating. Something to improve the shooting mechanics along the lines of a traditional FPS would be welcome as well. I know, RPG, blah blah, but I think thats what put me off FO3 originally when I tried to play it years ago. I think Rh_IronSights should take care of that, but if there is something better please suggest it.

I did a search for FO3 mods, but the last thread was over 6 months old. It seems like the mod community for this game is still strong.

 

[AlexAL]

Here's the first of a Fallout 3 mods series...would take hours to watch all of them. Starts with fixes and ends with enhancements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SAeXsA6Nt8

 

[Childs]

Here's the first of a Fallout 3 mods series...would take hours to watch all of them. Starts with fixes and ends with enhancements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SAeXsA6Nt8

lol I came across this earlier tonight and have been watching these all night...and I'm still not done! I'm at Part 7. All I wanted was textures, but he makes a convincing case for everything. The only things I passed on was the color stuff.

 

[AlexAL]

lol I came across this earlier tonight and have been watching these all night...and I'm still not done! I'm at Part 7. All I wanted was textures, but he makes a convincing case for everything. The only things I passed on was the color stuff.

Lol. I ended up using a bunch of those mods, successfully, I might add. However, I ended up losing my compass and didn't pay attention which mod caused that, so fixing it was a pain. I'll restart the whole thing one day, and get it right.

 

[Childs]

OK, after watching all the videos and debugging an issue with the Eve mod, finally got everything working. Then I noticed I had the GOTY edition, and wondered why I none of the DLC was detected my NMM. I find out in the Steam forums you have to manually enable them! I installed the mods on the assumption I didnt have the DLC...so now it looks like I need to redo some of the mods. This is gonna be a pain in the butt, because in some cases you have to repackage mods, not use the download manager, etc. Watching all the videos again will drive me crazy.

I dont think I want to play anymore. I'm going to bed. lol

 

[AlexAL]

OK, after watching all the videos and debugging an issue with the Eve mod, finally got everything working. Then I noticed I had the GOTY edition, and wondered why I none of the DLC was detected my NMM. I find out in the Steam forums you have to manually enable them! I installed the mods on the assumption I didnt have the DLC...so now it looks like I need to redo some of the mods. This is gonna be a pain in the butt, because in some cases you have to repackage mods, not use the download manager, etc. Watching all the videos again will drive me crazy.

I dont think I want to play anymore. I'm going to bed. lol

Same thing happened to me when my modding hiccuped.

 

[you2]

I'm so confused; does fallout 3 actually require mods? I've had the game for ages but havne't played yet and as soon as ai finish mass effect series this is next in my queue (unless wasteland, shadowrun, divinity, aow3 or project eternity comes out first)

 

[AlexAL]

I'm so confused; does fallout 3 actually require mods? I've had the game for ages but havne't played yet and as soon as ai finish mass effect series this is next in my queue (unless wasteland, shadowrun, divinity, aow3 or project eternity comes out first)

There's lots of little things. Like high res textures for better visuals, game fixes for things that don't work or appear right in various places and quest quirks, UI tweaking to resize and add/take away info on various things, a full-screen mod that fixes crashes and graphic weirdry to some point, and so on. Up to you if these things are required.

 

[AlexAL]

OK, after watching all the videos and debugging an issue with the Eve mod, finally got everything working. Then I noticed I had the GOTY edition, and wondered why I none of the DLC was detected my NMM. I find out in the Steam forums you have to manually enable them! I installed the mods on the assumption I didnt have the DLC...so now it looks like I need to redo some of the mods. This is gonna be a pain in the butt, because in some cases you have to repackage mods, not use the download manager, etc. Watching all the videos again will drive me crazy.

I dont think I want to play anymore. I'm going to bed. lol

I finally remember now. The two things I could not get working when I modded it was losing the onscreen compass and having the full-screen mod work.

Were you able to get the full-screen mod to work?

 

[you2]

Is there an easy way to get a list of the bug fixing mods; high res texture wouldn't hurt but those can be a pain; but anything that fixes bug is always good.

 

[Childs]

I finally remember now. The two things I could not get working when I modded it was losing the onscreen compass and having the full-screen mod work.

Were you able to get the full-screen mod to work?

Yeah, that wasn't a problem. I didnt install all of the HUD enhancements though. I remember he went over the compass, and said you needed to manually move it everything time you played, so I passed on it. The problem with fake fullscreen is it minimizes all other windows. I have a second monitor, so its kind of annoying.

 

[AlexAL]

Yeah, that wasn't a problem. I didnt install all of the HUD enhancements though. I remember he went over the compass, and said you needed to manually move it everything time you played, so I passed on it. The problem with fake fullscreen is it minimizes all other windows. I have a second monitor, so its kind of annoying.

Cool. I'll be more hands-on with it next time. Let me know how it plays.

 

[Childs]

Cool. I'll be more hands-on with it next time. Let me know how it plays.

I redid everything from scratch, taking notes this time, and I have to say the game is pretty sweet with all the mods. Even looks better than most current games...*ahem* Rage. I am still working out one issue with Project Reality MKI where the weather doesn't seem to change, but otherwise its working great.

I was watching a video on someone mods, and they were doing something where they brought up something in the HUD with changed the time. Kinda like what you see when you go to sleep. Does anyone know what it is?

 

[AlexAL]

I redid everything from scratch, taking notes this time, and I have to say the game is pretty sweet with all the mods. Even looks better than most current games...*ahem* Rage. I am still working out one issue with Project Reality MKI where the weather doesn't seem to change, but otherwise its working great.

That sounds pretty awesome. Will make sure to re-mod it on my playthrough.

 

[werepossum]

I really enjoy Fellout, which removes the green overcast, adds weather effects (albeit with no game effect), and makes night dark enough to be scary. Nothing but your character seems to be affected by the dark though, so it does get harder. I've also added mods to make my flashlight brighter and make weapons and armor more durable, so I'm not straining my eyes and I don't have to carry an armload of shotguns and my load capacity in spare armor at high levels.

 

[Childs]

I really enjoy Fellout, which removes the green overcast, adds weather effects (albeit with no game effect), and makes night dark enough to be scary. Nothing but your character seems to be affected by the dark though, so it does get harder. I've also added mods to make my flashlight brighter and make weapons and armor more durable, so I'm not straining my eyes and I don't have to carry an armload of shotguns and my load capacity in spare armor at high levels.

When I was following Gopher's videos I went with Fellout, but then switched to ProjectReality. I'm not a big fan of really dark.

I'm starting to remember why I dont play Fallout that much...the inventory/weight system! I can't stand managing inventory...I want everything. I may just look for a mod to remove it.

 

[Dahak]

I'm starting to remember why I dont play Fallout that much...the inventory/weight system! I can't stand managing inventory...I want everything. I may just look for a mod to remove it.

Just open up the console (usually by hitting ~) and type in
player.setav carryweight xxxx
or
player.modav carryweight xxxx

cant remember which one but either one should work. replace the xxxx with the number you want

 

[SpacemanSpiff46]

If you only use one mod, I highly recommend Fallout Wanderer's Edition. Even for your first playthrough.

Just a small sample of how combat is different with the mod. Other elements change as well. Read the release notes for all the changes. I thought Fallout 3 was quite boring the first playthrough just vanilla. Got the GOTY edition and installed FWE along with some other great mods, slowed the leveling down, cranked up the difficulty and had one of my most memorable gaming experiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7b0mjp1wRA

 

[Truthslayer]

I'm going to make the suggestion for anyone getting back into the recent Fallout games (or for first-timers) to use Mod Organizer instead of NMM. It supports both of those games as well as Skyrim and makes it easy to add/remove/manage mods. I can port my entire setup between 2 pcs easily because of how compartmentalized it makes everything.

 

[werepossum]

When I was following Gopher's videos I went with Fellout, but then switched to ProjectReality. I'm not a big fan of really dark.

I'm starting to remember why I dont play Fallout that much...the inventory/weight system! I can't stand managing inventory...I want everything. I may just look for a mod to remove it.

I kind of like the challenge in deciding what to carry the first time around. However, on the one New Vegas DLC that shows you all the gold of which you can carry almost none, I did cheat and used player.setav carryweight to take it all. Didn't really make any game difference because I already had a quarter million or so caps, but it pissed me off that the game showed me something and then took it away. (Should have been an epic game moment I know - I was almost rich! - but instead it just pissed me off.) I'm using the backpack in my current play-through of Fallout 3, which with the satchel gives me 380 or so units to carry which is insane, but I found myself literally carrying three sets of extra armor and three to five of each weapon each time I went out, which meant there wasn't much point in exploring. So I've loaded another mod that slows breakdown to 1/10 of the designed amount and I'm much happier. I was happy with the default settings at low level, but at high level it's just irritating; when I have to shoot something in the face a couple hundred times to kill it and my weapon loses half it damage potential from that one fight, it's irritatingly non-immersive.

 

[Childs]

I kind of like the challenge in deciding what to carry the first time around. However, on the one New Vegas DLC that shows you all the gold of which you can carry almost none, I did cheat and used player.setav carryweight to take it all. Didn't really make any game difference because I already had a quarter million or so caps, but it pissed me off that the game showed me something and then took it away. (Should have been an epic game moment I know - I was almost rich! - but instead it just pissed me off.) I'm using the backpack in my current play-through of Fallout 3, which with the satchel gives me 380 or so units to carry which is insane, but I found myself literally carrying three sets of extra armor and three to five of each weapon each time I went out, which meant there wasn't much point in exploring. So I've loaded another mod that slows breakdown to 1/10 of the designed amount and I'm much happier. I was happy with the default settings at low level, but at high level it's just irritating; when I have to shoot something in the face a couple hundred times to kill it and my weapon loses half it damage potential from that one fight, it's irritatingly non-immersive.

The pack rat in me wants to keep everything. When I played FONV I literally crawled through the desert because I was so overloaded, cause I wanted to take all my treasures to my locker. I think I stopped playing after that. hahahahaha

 

[werepossum]

Here's the first of a Fallout 3 mods series...would take hours to watch all of them. Starts with fixes and ends with enhancements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SAeXsA6Nt8

Thanks for the link. I generally find video unbearably slow, but I went through the first video last night and it was well worth the time (plus dude has a cool accent that hasn't yet started to piss me off.) I'm going to go through the whole series; I could never get that many modes to work together on my own, and the things I don't want (like bullet time or VATS) I can simply ignore. Big change though; I'm in the middle of a re-play and now I'm suddenly carrying literally a ton rather than 380 lbs!

 

[Childs]

Thanks for the link. I generally find video unbearably slow, but I went through the first video last night and it was well worth the time (plus dude has a cool accent that hasn't yet started to piss me off.) I'm going to go through the whole series; I could never get that many modes to work together on my own, and the things I don't want (like bullet time or VATS) I can simply ignore. Big change though; I'm in the middle of a re-play and now I'm suddenly carrying literally a ton rather than 380 lbs!

I took notes on all the videos if you want it. On the videos where I chose not to install the mod, I created links with times for the different components.

 

[werepossum]

The pack rat in me wants to keep everything. When I played FONV I literally crawled through the desert because I was so overloaded, cause I wanted to take all my treasures to my locker. I think I stopped playing after that. hahahahaha

Me too. I hate leaving anything behind, wanna take it all. And I HATE when the game tells me it's okay to shoot this guy in the face, but you'll lose karma if you take his stuff and you can't sleep in his bed. Grrr!

My wife gives me a hard time over it too. I told her the other day that I had to replay a couple hours because when I finished the main story arc, my dog and my companion disappeared. I used player.placeatme to move them to me, but after a couple hours I ran into them and discovered that I had actually made duplicates instead of moving them to me. Two Fawkes was pretty cool and I just dismissed one, but I could not dismiss one Dogmeat without having him wait forever outside of Vault 101 and that's just sad. She said "You DO know they aren't real, right?" Of course I know they aren't real!

Doesn't mean I'm gonna leave him by himself.

And I'd love to have those notes, thanks! I'll PM you with my email.

 

[lord_emperor]

Me too. I hate leaving anything behind, wanna take it all. And I HATE when the game tells me it's okay to shoot this guy in the face, but you'll lose karma if you take his stuff and you can't sleep in his bed. Grrr!

My wife gives me a hard time over it too. I told her the other day that I had to replay a couple hours because when I finished the main story arc, my dog and my companion disappeared. I used player.placeatme to move them to me, but after a couple hours I ran into them and discovered that I had actually made duplicates instead of moving them to me. Two Fawkes was pretty cool and I just dismissed one, but I could not dismiss one Dogmeat without having him wait forever outside of Vault 101 and that's just sad. She said "You DO know they aren't real, right?" Of course I know they aren't real!

Doesn't mean I'm gonna leave him by himself.

And I'd love to have those notes, thanks! I'll PM you with my email.

LOL that's awful.

If it happens again there's a set of commands to reset an NPC and the quests associated with them. It's on the Fallout Wiki under each companion's entry.

I've had to do this repeatedly for missing companions.