Fallout 4

[HeavensCloud]

I finally bought the game. I'd appreciate suggestions on what mods would be good to start out with.

Play vanilla until you really know what you want out of the game. The only thing I would get as a newbie to the game is the unofficial patch which can be had from Nexus and the Bethesda mod loader.

 

[deaedius]

All finished (still needs some furnishing though), probably the most fun I've had in this game.
I'm actually scared to start the DLC because I think it'll break my mods lol.

Very well done!

 

[tungt88]

Console gamers upset about PC modders not porting their mods to the Bethesda app.
Things are heating up...

Dear console players. Please stop spamming modders to port their mods. • /r/fo4

Whoa. The amount of garbage the console kiddies were dumping out is possibly even worse than Barrens Chat at its nadir (the GameFAQs thread linked in that reddit was super toxic). Serious entitlement issues amongst this vocal minority ...

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Just got Raider + Super Mutant overhaul mods, combined with War of the Commonwealth, really adds a lot more variety and excitement to exploration.

Raider Overhaul WIP at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community

Super Mutant Redux v1.1 at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community

War Of The Commonwealth - Spawns at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community

 

[RW2112]

Anybody got a full Far Harbor map with all locations shown? Curious about the size.

edit: Is this complete?
http://www.ign.com/maps/fallout-4/the-island

Yep, seems to be.

 

[AceGoober]

TaintedSquirrel Very nice build you got there. Well done. If you wanted to add some color to the structure then I highly recommend the following mods:

Renovated Furniture - re-upholstered furniture

Brighter Settlement Lights - self explanatory

Colored Workshop Lights - I think either variation of the white lights (warm or cool) would be a great addition.

As far as I can tell the IGN map is complete. I ran a cursory search against my Far Harbor Excel spreadsheet and the IGN map and it does appear to list each major location and find. There are a few minor good loot locations it doesn't list but other than that it is a good reference.

=======================

HeavensCloud You got the right idea but here is a suggestion for at least one of the available sidequests:

Spoiler: One of Far Harbor's Side Quests

Bring Nick with you to the vault - trust me on this one

=======================

Q-BZ Boy, what did I tell you about ScrapDeadThings.esp? Put that sucker at the very end of your load order. I oughta slap you around like a red-headed pinata with a whiffle bat for not listening.

Speaking of which, if you haven't already got it, ScrapDeadThings has an update. Only minor bug fixes but I recommend getting it anyway.

With regards to your load order, there are two glaring issues but otherwise your load order looks good to me.

First, if you have each mod updated and installed properly, Settlement Keywords is no longer required since the menu object space has been raised from 256 to 64k. Since you are well into the game I wouldn't recommend removing SK since it could bork your workshop menus and corrupt your character saves. If you decide to start a new character then that would be a good time to make the conversion.

Second, you've got duplicates, duplicates, duplicates, duplicates; which isn't a good thing.

- Homemaker:

"We put your Greenhouse and Bunker in your Disabler so you can Greenhouse and Bunker while you Disable." (groan - I need more coffee)

Homemaker - SK Integration Patch.esp=1
Homemaker - Streetlights Use Passive Power.esp=1
Homemaker - Unlocked Institute Objects SK.esp=1
Homemaker - Greenhouse Disabler SK.esp=1
Homemaker - Greenhouse and Bunker Disabler SK.esp=1
Homemaker - Bunker Disabler SK.esp=1

You only need Homemaker - Greenhouse and Bunker Disabler SK.esp. Get rid of Homemaker - Greenhouse Disabler SK.esp and Homemaker - Bunker Disabler SK.esp.

Next:

Homemaker - Unlocked Institute Objects SK.esp=1
Homemaker - Greenhouse Disabler SK.esp=1
Homemaker - Greenhouse and Bunker Disabler SK.esp=1
Homemaker - Bunker Disabler SK.esp=1
WET Clearer.esp=1
Armorsmith Extended.esp=1
MGSOutfit.esp=1
Armorsmith Automatron.esp=1
DarkerNights.esp=1
DarkerNightsDetection.esp=1
DarkerNights-TrueStorms.esp=1
Homemaker - Unlocked Institute Objects.esp=1

You have Settlement Keywords so get rid of Homemaker - Unlocked Institute Objects.esp (not the SK version).

Get the listed issues corrected and you should be good to go.

=======================

Tips and Tricks:

Unsure if everyone knows workshop mode has function keys so I'll post them here:

F1 = Object Snap On/Off - toggle off if you want to stack objects on top of each other, such as floors, without snapping, to other pieces

F2 = Surface Snap On/Off - when used with Place Everywhere it will allow for placing Convenient Stores cash registers on counters

F3 = Workshop Grid Snap On/Off - great for aligning furniture square against walls or with other furniture

F4 = Object Highlight/Outline On/Off - without the highlighting I can place objects a heck of a lot more accurately

=======================

For anyone who hasn't played Far Harbor I highly recommend it. IMO, this is the absolute best DLC Bethesda has released for any Fallout game. The quests are excellent, new enemies are a good challenge (I play on very hard) and the landscape design is outstanding.

=======================

At the current moment I'm disabling every mod, uninstalling Fallout 4, wiping the folder then reinstalling clean. Reason being is I'm moving away from using Settlement Keywords and Settlement Keywords Independent and only using mods which stay with the vanilla categories or add their own category within the vanilla categories without using SK/SKI. Practically every mod I use has a non-SK variant with the same features so I feel SK/SKI is no longer relevant. I am keeping AWKCR since many of the armor/weapons mods I use require it.

Since I save every mod I download onto my storage SSD it should only take me about seven hours to do a full install including mods. That means by roughly 3pm PST I'll be back-up and running with a new character. Yeah, sure it is a lot of work but my game will run alot smoother and uninstalling workshop mods have less of a chance of messing up my character save.

 

[Q-BZ]

Thanks Ace!

Aw damn it, I had used Loot and forgot to put that thing back at the end where it belongs. Thanks for all the great tips and help. You've been huge in this thread. Maybe you should get a consultation fee or something at this point.


Can I update Homemaker to 1.34 and Snap And Build past 1.8 to 1.9 if I'm stuck on SK? Since I'm using the same character I'm not going to switch away from SK per your recommendations.



I wholeheartedly echo the Far Harbor glowing praise!

 

[AceGoober]

Q-BZ Homemaker 1.34 patch isn't recommended as it isn't fully compatible with SK. From the description page:

1.34 is out! This is a small fix to fix some missing menus with the new patches and DLC's. I would advise you all to hold off on using SK for now as it is not currently updated for the latest patches and deletes menus. I WILL be updating to the SK menu extension when it is released, but it will take time.

I tried the 1.34 patch with SK and it did indeed mess-up menus.

Sanp and Build 1.9 is safe to use only as long as you follow the instructions for updating.

Installing and updating:

Use NMM. Uninstall any previous version, install v1.9. Make sure no SNB folders left in your "Meshes", "Textures", "Materials" folders.

V 1.9 Goes only with one "Snap'n Build.esm" and two b2a's. No more different esp for each module.

The one benefit of mod authors converting their mods from loose files to properly packed BA2 files is there is a performance gain to be had. Load times will be decreased since the Creation Engine doesn't have to search for each of the files a particular mod uses. As soon as a proper BA2 packer tool is released I'll be packing every mesh/texture mod I use into one or more BA2 files. This does mean I'll have to take some time to compile the mesh/texture mods I use (already done) and I won't have record in NMM of which mods/textures I use (I keep a spreadsheet so no issue) but the method will certainly alleviate the performance issues.

Well, until I go hog-wild with ENB and make the game look as close to real as possible with a few added effects.

 

[Q-BZ]

Ok. Didn't touch Homemaker. Updated Snap N Build to 1.9 per instructions and made sure no SNB folders remained in those areas. Also updated Clean Snap N Build accordingly afterwards.

Here is my load order now. Guess what I made doubly sure was at the very bottom?

Spoiler: loadorder

GameMode=Fallout4

Fallout4.esm=1
DLCRobot.esm=1
DLCworkshop01.esm=1
DLCCoast.esm=1
Homemaker.esm=1
SettlementKeywords.esm=1
ArmorKeywords.esm=1
SpringCleaning.esm=1
Snap'n Build.esm=1
Faster Terminal Displays (100x).esp=1
EasyHacking.esp=1
EasyLockpicking.esp=1
TrueStormsFO4.esp=1
TrueStormsFO4-ClimateSettings.esp=1
Homemaker - SK Integration Patch.esp=1
Homemaker - Streetlights Use Passive Power.esp=1
Homemaker - Unlocked Institute Objects SK.esp=1
Homemaker - Greenhouse Disabler SK.esp=0
Homemaker - Greenhouse and Bunker Disabler SK.esp=1
Homemaker - Bunker Disabler SK.esp=0
WET Clearer.esp=1
Armorsmith Extended.esp=1
MGSOutfit.esp=1
Armorsmith Automatron.esp=1
DarkerNights.esp=1
DarkerNightsDetection.esp=1
DarkerNights-TrueStorms.esp=1
CBBE.esp=1
SkjAlert_DLC01+.esp=1
SkjAlert_RS+.esp=1
TrueStormsFO4-NoConstantRads.esp=1
Crossbow.esp=1
BetterGenerators.esp=1
Fusebox Generator.esp=1
Clean Wasteland Workshop.esp=1
WastelandWorkshopPatch.esp=1
Build High - Expanded Settlements.esp=1
SatelliteWorldMap.esp=1
ConvenientStores.esp=1
BTInteriors_Project.esp=1
Remove Interior Fog - Merged.esp=1
SC_ExpandedScrapList.esp=1
mso_sms.esp=1
SettleObjExpandPack.esp=1
Snap'n Build - reinitialize fix.esp=1
SnB_Structures_Fix.esp=1
CleanSettlement Snap'n Build.esp=1
ScrapDeadThings.esp=1

So far everything *seems* ok. Snap and Build loaded up right... I did his menu suggestions... I love his new configurator set up he did.

I am getting a "Lookup Failed!" message on Workshop (WW) related items.

 

[AceGoober]

Q-BZ Looks good from my point of view. One suggestion to add if you experience any glitches with various uniforms:

Move CBBE.esp down to just below Snap'n Build.esm. Also ensure that you have the latest version of CBBE as it corrects various issues with other clothing mods.

Edit: corrected load order statement

 

[Q-BZ]

Verifying integrity of game cache... I got that lookup failed message when opening a door to a place right there in Far Harbor instead of the proper name of the place. (It's the lumber yard you rescue for Bertha)

I'll update CBBE...

 

[HeavensCloud]

Wow, screw DiMa memory puzzle #5. That was aggravating.

AceGoober I brought Nick to vault 118 and besides getting over 3000XP for the murder mystery he didn't say a thing the entire time. Am I missing something?

 

[chineseman]

Did they add head bobbing to the game or something? I played through the game just fine when it first came out and reinstalled for the new DLC but I get so dizzy playing now. I can't play for more than a minute without getting a massive headache.

 

[HeavensCloud]

Head bob has been there when sprinting since release.

 

[chineseman]

Oi, maybe there's some video setting I forgot to turn off or enable that's causing the problem. I'm getting dizzy just walking around the house in the beginning of the game before the nukes drop.

 

[AceGoober]

Q-BZ Are you using any Full Dialog mods and have updated with the latest patch to support Far Harbor? That is the common cause of Lookup Failure messages.

HeavensCloud DiMA puzzle #5 did take a bit of creative thinking to get through. Good hint: When looking at the puzzle from the top down, think of the letter G.

That's really odd Nick didn't say anything. He quipped a couple of times for me which gave me the hints I needed to solve the case.

chineseman Common cause is low FOV. Set FOV to 90 or above and it will help greatly.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Has anyone encountered a bug with the Fast Travel mat not working properly in Hangman's Alley? It's been an issue with my last 2 games, but I started a new game and NoClipped there as soon as I left Vault 111, after unlocking it the mat works fine. So I think there's something you can do before unlocking the settlement that breaks the mat.

I found one thread about it on the Beth forums with some ideas.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Another fairly comprehensive mod list:

[fo4] A very long, indefinite list of mods for Fallout 4. Will update based on suggestions of others. • /r/FalloutMods

Missing quite a few popular ones though, check the comments for more.

 

[Q-BZ]

Q-BZ Are you using any Full Dialog mods and have updated with the latest patch to support Far Harbor? That is the common cause of Lookup Failure messages.

Actually I stopped using it and uninstalled it. I just was in the mood to go back to the default.

I deactivated it and deleted it out of NMM. I'll doublecheck to see if I made a mistake on uninstall.

I might put it back in. (EDIT: I did. Fully updated)

The Lookup Failed messages were and are not happening in dialogs. They happened when I looked at a locale's door for the place name and they happened in Wasteland Workshop items in that particular menu.

That's really odd Nick didn't say anything. He quipped a couple of times for me which gave me the hints I needed to solve the case.

Right now I'm using Longfellow while I do sidequests and clean ups but I saw someone say take Nick to the Vault for that quest.... too late for that so I hope I didn't miss anything real good... and I keep getting the idea I should use Nick when it's time to do the "main Far Harbor story quest."

Traits and More Perks at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community <- Anyone try this?

 

[AceGoober]

Q-BZ I haven't tried that particular mod. I usually leave traits and perks un-modded since my primary character is a tank anyways.

 

[AceGoober]

To retro answer the question in your previous post, Lookup Failure errors are caused by absent keywords to support the new mods and released DLCs. Verifying Steam Game Cache or any other solution won't work until SK is patched.

That said, Settlement Keywords Expanded is tackling that particular issue. I was using the mod prior and did not encounter the issue. Give it a try as there is a lot of support for it.

Actually I stopped using it and uninstalled it. I just was in the mood to go back to the default.

I deactivated it and deleted it out of NMM. I'll doublecheck to see if I made a mistake on uninstall.

I might put it back in. (EDIT: I did. Fully updated)

The Lookup Failed messages were and are not happening in dialogs. They happened when I looked at a locale's door for the place name and they happened in Wasteland Workshop items in that particular menu.

 

[Q-BZ]

When the time comes I want to start as a new character.... what's the cleanest way to move on from and abandon SK like you are talking about doing? I understand with my current character and saves I'm married to it so I won't mess with it on that front.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

idk if I posted this or not, but the Old World Radio mod is ridiculously good.
It has around a dozen custom radio stations, with new tracks and fully voice acted DJs. Blown away.

OLD WORLD RADIO - BOSTON at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community

 

[AceGoober]

Q-BZ Be ready for one ridiculously long process and hopefully you have enough free space on a hard drive/SSD or a large enough flash drive. Then again, you don't have as many mods as I do so your time will be considerably less. The method works and I'm completely SK/SKE/SKI free with every mod intact and full workshop menus.

I'll post complete instructions on what to do later on today. You'll need your reading glasses for this one.

When the time comes I want to start as a new character.... what's the cleanest way to move on from and abandon SK like you are talking about doing? I understand with my current character and saves I'm married to it so I won't mess with it on that front.

TaintedSquirrel Yeah, that is one kickass radio mod. Haven't tried it myself but the reviews are positive.

 

[husker4life]

This game looks so much better with a bunch of texture mods, i'm pushing 5GB usage and it looks a lot better then those muddy textures that were in vanilla.

 

[Q-BZ]

This game looks so much better with a bunch of texture mods, i'm pushing 5GB usage and it looks a lot better then those muddy textures that were in vanilla.

What texture mods are you using?


I continue to be very impressed with Far Harbor.

 

[husker4life]

What texture mods are you using?


I continue to be very impressed with Far Harbor.

I just typed in 4K in the models and textures search box at nexus mods, this article has a lot of good texture mods as well Give Fallout 4's Wasteland a Fresh New Look with Mods | GeForce

 

[Parja]

I continue to be very impressed with Far Harbor.

Indeed. I'm only a few hours in and already the depth of the story and the quality of the voice acting is leaps and bounds above the main quest line.

 

[Q-BZ]

Intruiging: Increased Build Limit Enhanced 4K at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community

 

[AceGoober]

Q-BZ

Spoiler: Far Harbor

Have Longfellow as a companion when doing side quests for Far Harbor. Once the FH side quests are complete, take Longfellow to the Commonwealth. He'll favor CW over FH.

Apologies to everyone for the delay but I'm not done typing-out the instructions to eliminate SK/SKE/SKI. I'm working on the instructions now and hopefully will have them complete by sometime tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.

 

[Q-BZ]

Q-BZ

Spoiler: Far Harbor

Have Longfellow as a companion when doing side quests for Far Harbor. Once the FH side quests are complete, take Longfellow to the Commonwealth. He'll favor CW over FH.

Thanks. Basically what I've been doing by happenstance.

Apologies to everyone for the delay but I'm not done typing-out the instructions to eliminate SK/SKE/SKI. I'm working on the instructions now and hopefully will have them complete by sometime tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.

I certainly hope you aren't doing all all that work up just because I casually asked about it. I stupidly would have figured that if I were starting a new game with a new character that I would simply have no SK and have all "non SK" variants on mods as applicable.

It sounds like it's way more complicated than that if this is anything to go by.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

I'm about to grab Far Harbor if it breaks my mods, I'm going to be mega pissed.
I've never actually updated a Bethesda game while actively playing it. Usually I just install the game, then all my mods, play and finish.

 

[Skott]

I don't know about Far Harbor but the other DLC and patches has been known to break people's mods. It doesn't happen to everyone so maybe luck will be with you.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

I don't know about Far Harbor but the other DLC and patches has been known to break people's mods. It doesn't happen to everyone so maybe luck will be with you.

One of my mods removes lvl requirements from Perks, that broke. I know the DLC changes a few perks so I already knew my perk mod would break.
Everything else seems to be working. Far Harbor only installs separate mod files (ESP / B2A files) and doesn't modify existing stuff.

And, solved.

 

[Parja]

I'm about to grab Far Harbor if it breaks my mods, I'm going to be mega pissed.
I've never actually updated a Bethesda game while actively playing it. Usually I just install the game, then all my mods, play and finish.

There's two steps to installing DLC.
1. Backup your saves, just in case.
2. Don't be a pussy.

 

[CrimsonKnight13]

I had a few issues with mods after Far Harbor was installed but all of that was fixed with troubleshooting. Now I have a ton of mods working & Far Harbor is a blast to play (level 77 I think).

 

[HeavensCloud]

Did they re-work difficulty scaling with the Far Harbor patch? My last play-through by the time I hit level 60 EVERYTHING in the game melted on very hard difficulty. This play-through I'm level 69 and enemies seem to actually be scaling and I have some pretty damn hard battles.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

Did they re-work difficulty scaling with the Far Harbor patch? My last play-through by the time I hit level 60 EVERYTHING in the game melted on very hard difficulty. This play-through I'm level 69 and enemies seem to actually be scaling and I have some pretty damn hard battles.

I recommend War of the Commonwealth.

Features:

Spoiler

* A complete spawn overhaul for Commonwealth exteriors, with addition of thousands of spawn points for enemy groups in outskirts of Boston as well as in city itself.

* Large variety of spawn settings, including spawn point area density, numbers of units in spawned groups, group patrolling, chances of spawning story factions in certain areas, randomness of unit count in spawned groups and respawn settings for new enemy groups.

* Mod uses random number generator (RNG) based scripts to switch between different group placement points and group enemy numbers. This mechanism offers fully dynamic spawning, with high degree of randomness, meaning you will almost never meet same enemy groups at the same place.

* All placed spawns are not static anymore and will go on the patrols in the surrounding areas. This new additions brings up completely new experience since you will never know, when and where you will meet the enemy. Your in-game situation can escalate in very unexpected and dramatic fashion, forcing you to react and do tactical decisions on the fly.

* Faction of the spawned groups will be different depending on area you are in. Many locations in the game will have individual faction lists for new spawns, modeling major faction area of influence. This mechanic offers you a great diversity of encountered enemies, allowing you to encounter any faction from the game.

* Special group compositions for any generated NPC groups. Each group will have leaders, strong, medium and weak mobs in it. Larger groups will have much greater chance to have some strong units and legendary leaders. Some hard faction unit variations, including power-armored mobs will be common sight in the whole CW area.

* New spawns will include many factions underused by the vanilla game. Commonly you will encounter some Forged, and DLC Raider-bots along with normal raiders, will encounter Triggermen in central Boston and so on.

* Mod uses new mechanics to generate story faction spawns. That includes Minutemen patrols around the player owned settlements and Minutemen/BOS/Railroad patrols in central Boston and Cambridge areas. Minutemen settlement based patrols will become more numerous and expand their patrol area further from their base, based on settlement population and happiness, while chances to see Railroad and BOS groups will depend on story progression.

* Adjusted encounter zones, with increased enemy levels, while moving from the Sanctuary corner to the south, for the Quincy and Glowing Sea Areas. Increased levels dramatically rise the chance to see mobs, that are greater than your current level, meaning not any fight can be won, forcing you make new tactical decisions based on enemies you encounter.

* Mod completely overhauls the Glowing Sea area, which will be populated by the most dangerous enemies, such as swarms of Supermutants, deathclaws, robots, children of atom and ghouls. That place is a dangerous warzone, as it was intended to be.

* In overall,mod content includes about 50000 of new placed NPC’s and creatures, around 1500 of new group spawn points and patrol routes in common CW area, around 200 group spawn points and patrol routes in cites, and around 200 Minutemen settlement based conditional patrol groups/routes.

 

[TaintedSquirrel]

On another note, is anyone familiar with sorting/icon mods? I tried several with DEF_UI yesterday and there's always a bunch of icons missing:

http://i.imgur.com/YIoxOwG.png

What's the point of these mods when half the items aren't covered?

 

[AceGoober]

Nah, it is information people might find useful especially those who are just getting into modding their game. If it helps people have a better gaming experience then it is well worth the effort.

The instructions are not all that complicated, just time consuming with much of it preparation prior to installing non-SK mods. With my current configuration I'm at 97 total mods with 71 active plugins and it runs smooth as silk to include ENB and ReShade.

I certainly hope you aren't doing all all that work up just because I casually asked about it. I stupidly would have figured that if I were starting a new game with a new character that I would simply have no SK and have all "non SK" variants on mods as applicable.

It sounds like it's way more complicated than that if this is anything to go by.

Valdicil's Item Sorting, Updated ICONLIBS2 for DEF_UI, Gold Kit for Color Pipboy -anti-Black and White Screen- are what I recommend. Validicil updates his mod shortly after each DLC is released and is, IMO, the best item sorting mod out there.

On another note, is anyone familiar with sorting/icon mods? I tried several with DEF_UI yesterday and there's always a bunch of icons missing:

http://i.imgur.com/YIoxOwG.png

What's the point of these mods when half the items aren't covered?