13thGeneral

Yeah, I've been through the guide process several times, and each time encountering a different issue, resulting in having to start over. Luckily this time was just an oversight on my part. I've been very meticulous this time around (4th.. 5th time??) in the installation and setup, so as to know exactly what is being done. This will teach me yet another lesson; esp not to mod while ill. I'm dreading the Merge/Bash section, because that's where it gets a bit tedious and tricky. Thanks for your help in getting my brain on the right track for the solution.

lol, yeah, that was a slightly tongue-in-cheek remark. I expect a lot of bugs, though I'm at least hoping it doesn't crash as much as Fallout 3. I did a "clean install" of the ini files but it's possible that they left residual settings. I just don't see how that would be creating this issue; I removed all the .ini files and launched the vanilla client to allow it to regenerate them, but I'm still having the issue. UPDATE: Tried deleting and allowing the game to regenerate the ini files, again, and replacing them with the fINIp3 files, again, as well as checking BSA management and Archive-Invalidation were checked. None of that worked. I thought about it a bit, read the FalloutLauncher Replacer, FOSE, Mod Organizer, and fINIp3 install and setup instructions again, and looked at the guide instructions again, and... I realized I had forgot to copy the new ini files into the Mod Organizer profile(s).* ~facepalm~ So, in conclusion - SOLVED *I've had a bit of a cold and blame it on the fever.

It was brought up in the Nexus forums, in regards to my dilemma, that it's possible the .ini files were corrupted or not generated properly with the new graphics card settings. Also that I may have to reinstall the fINIp3 files as well. Not sure this was the issue - as I'm not at home to test it - but its a possibility. I'll be trying it as soon as I can.

This started happening to me today after upgrading my graphics card. It was working fine prior to that. Very peculiar. I'll have to check if my BSA management or ArchiveInvalidation have somehow unchecked themselves since yesterday. Nope: all those were still set as expected.

For some reason this morning Mod Organizer has suddenly decided to start launching the FalloutLauncher Replacer when clicking the FOSE option within MO - selecting the 'Fallout 3' start option in MO crashes with an error (I'm at work, will post screen later) - and I cannot figure out why. The only change from two days ago is that I installed a new graphics card (updated drivers and DirectX 11 installed). I click 'play' in Steam, it opens the FalloutLauncher Replacer, I press '3', MO opens, I select FOSE, click 'start' and it opens the FalloutLauncher again. Obviously I stop there and hit 'ESC' to Exit and close the FalloutLauncher - which crashes and Fallout.exe needs to be force-quit in Task Manager. If I select option '1' after originally opening from Steam, the game client opens as expected - and the vanilla game runs fine from there. I can't recall if selecting option '2' in the initial FalloutLauncher to run with FOSE works or not. I'll update later. I know I've seen someone else post about this issue, but I cannot seem to located that particular thread discussion. - ah, nevermind, found it. I'll check the fix found in the other thread, when I can tonight, though any help would still be appreciated. Seems like I just can't ever completely get through the guide without some issue rearing it's ugly head. Thank goodness Fallout 4 is out soon...

Sorry, wrong thread (I blame the fact I'm on a tablet). A somewhat related issue, but different enough to likely have distinguishable solution, and thus a separate thread.

This sounds really useful. Thanks for providing it. How can this be used - where do we place this file so MO sees it?

It's the same for me, but I haven't had any issues.

Seraph's Personal Achievement Log FIX "SeraphTC's Personal Achievements Log FIX is a repack of the 'Personal Achievements Log' mod (https://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/11326) by Bofra. That mod has been inactive for a long time. Whilst it supports all of the DLC, there was a logic error in the main script which would cause UI-Spam when the 'Bog Walker' achievement was gained. This mod simply fixes that issue." Don't know if this has been suggested, but I thought you might want to take a look and see if this could be included in the guide; its suggested in the top of the PAL mod description, and I was surprised it wasn't mentioned in the guide. I haven't checked to see if any of the larger patche mods include this fix, but I think it's worth investigating. I have it installed, but haven't got to a point yet to test if it works, but the game loads fine with it installed.

Yeah, I've been playing for years and have never made it all the way through a modded playthrough because of the instability and unreliability of the game engine - but I keep trying. I'm certainly more interested in location mods, as well as those that add more ambiance and variety to the game world, and not so much the new quest or new items mods. I'll take a harder look at the "optional" mods that don't have any reliance or requirements to other mods - That way I could perhaps weed a good many out. Thanks, I'll have to check that out too. I wouldn't be opposed to testing it on a separate mod profile & save game.

True, I always try to consider that factor as well. I keep coming back and trying to get through the entire guide with a stable game, despite all my frustrations and free-time consumption going into it. I'll take a look at your system specs and see where mine differs.

I have noticed, through the multiple times I've worked on installing the mods in this guide, that at various points I started having random issues and crashes. They never seem to have any correlation or commonality to determine what happened or what went wrong; just random peculiar behavior or flat-out crashing. Even with creating a merged patch or a bashed patch, the number of plugins is just massive and thus invites potential issues. I simply don't have enough experience or knowledge to completely understand the processes and tools (let alone, the time) and use them to their full potential. It's unfortunate that modding has these barriers that dissuades or hinders the average user from really enjoying a modded game. Based on my experience alone trying to get a stable build, I do feel there's a long way to go to help those with less experience reduce the number of plugins, and get them working well together. For instance, I managed to get all the way to the end of the guide once, but the sheer amount of plugins didn't allow me any flexibility to add other mods that I like to use - and then, in my efforts to try, I screwed something up and had to start all over. I've seen this concern expressed multiple times by others utilizing this guide and others like it, and all over the Nexus. Perhaps the guide could use a bit more tweaking and additional advice to, but I'm not sure what can be done though.

I completely reinstalled the game, but it's still crashing at launch with the vanilla unmodified Fallout3.exe Gonna try uninstalling that Win10 update... UPDATE 1: Nope, uninstalling the Win10 update prior to this occuring didn't resolve it; it's still giving the "not compatible" message, suggesting GfWL, and crashing at loading screen. Installing GfWL and applying the GfWL disabler didn't help. Setting it to compatibility mode - I tried WinXP thru WinVista - didn't help. The 3GB & 4GB disabler, didn't help. Making the Threads edits to the .ini didn't help. I'm running out of solutions. Update 2: Well, I thought about it and, after uninstalling the recent Win10 update (KB3093266), I decided to uninstall GfWL (had to use Revo Uninstaller), and reinstalled the game again (wiped out everything except the MO, Mopy, and DATA folders... again); this time, when launching, it gave the "Not compatible..." message and instead of crashing it said "xlive.dll missing" - so I copied that file from my FO3 back up folder and, amazingly, it loaded. Then I applied the GfWL disabler and it still loads; though I still get the "Not compatible..." message (which wasn't showing up a few weeks ago when playing). So, we'll see if this stays working. Now I have to go back and set all my prefs and such. Still not sure it was the Windows Update that borked it, but it was the only change made prior to the crashing at launch. The only other potential contributor could be, about three weeks ago, I migrated my Steam drive to a new 3TB Hybrid HD, but the game was fine for a few weeks following that. However, I figured it was worth mentioning as a possible factor.

Thanks. I did try that, and it does stop that message, but the game still crashes at the loading screen - no matter how I launch the game. Looks like I'm going to have to nuke everything, again, and start over... again. *sigh*

I think updating something in Windows 10 screwed it up. After all the initial crashing, I re-verified the Fallout files and it's still crashing - except now it's telling me "This app might not work correctly. Fallout 3 isn't compatible with this version of Windows" and suggests that I install Game for Windows Live... wtF? I checked Skyrim - just in case - and a message pops up "Please update to latest version of Skyrim" before launching; it seems to run fine though.

And, once again I'm having crashes when launching through MO. I was playing fine last night, and suddenly this morning - boom - it crashes at start. I had played all the way through the Vault with only up to the Fixes & UI sections active without issue. There was a problem with serious slowdowns in FPS during the fight at the Vault Exit at the end of the tutorial phase, but I feel that's unrelated. I haven't added anything new since my post above, but even with everything turned off except Cleaned Vanilla ESMs and Textures, it crashes at start. Even with EVERYTHING turned off, it crashes at start. I checked the BSAs are in proper order and AI is checked. Still crashes. I made sure the items in the 'Overwrite" folder were also not active. Still crashes. Also, occasionally it will get to the loading screen but the menu text is invisible (only a bow appears). This is so frustrating. I follow this guide to the letter, and each time, at random seeming points, it starts crashing again. I can start the game from the Steam Launcher just fine though (selecting 1. in the FalloutLauncher), it's only when using MO that this is occurring. I'm thinking I'll just go back to using NMM. EDIT: Well, now it's crashing no matter how it's launched. I'm at such a loss as to what's going on.

When I click on the link for 'Collision Meshes FO3 Pack' I get a missing file message;

Any further thoughts on using OneTweak? I had it set up in one of my previous installs of the Guide, but have been holding off on this one this time, until I get through without recurrence of my past issues. It seemed to work as designed though.

So far, so good. I've just finished adding some of the mods in the 'Quest' section - the ones in interested in, at least - and haven't run into any loading issues, freezes, or ctds on startup. I'm going to try running around a bit outside of Megaton, before confining with installing more mods from the guide, just to give it a little shake and see if it holds.

Cool, thanks.So far, so good. I haven't really messed with those mod settings in-game yet, but ill try playing around with them a bit in the next few days - but I don't anticipate any issues.

I guess is what I'm getting at is that in order to activate the patch you'd have to essentially 'Install' the JIP CC&C mod again anyhow, though, in order to activate the necessary patch(es). When installing the JIP mod for the first time, unless you already have the companion mods installed, it won't detect any supported mods and thus not activate the ability to install of the patch .eps files. Otherwise those .eps files are not present to be activated. It's not a huge deal, because the current need to - essentially - reinstall the JIP CC&C mod if/when you install a supported companion mod doesn't really effect anything negatively as far as I can tell; except, as mentioned, making sure the load order of the plugins is correct. But I had seen some confusion over on the Nexus and thought it was something worth discussing. Thanks.

JIP Companions Command and Control When should the supported Companion mods that this mod references be added? And once they are added, if added after the fact, I'm fairly certain that this mod will have to then be re-installed in order to acquire/activate the necessary files to support them. So, then I wonder; should this mod be held off from installing (e.g. not installed in the UI section) until the Companions you want that it supports are installed?

After some careful consideration and research, I added the Dynavision, Cinematech, the Imaginator, & the Directors Chair mods to my game. I added them during the "User Interface" section - but before the "Supplemental UI" group - after installing everything except the UIO mod, which should always be last in that section. So far they seem to be working just fine - although I am only up to the "Additional Fixes" section in my process.

It looks like Caravan Merchants Heal After Combat (Additional Fixes) was merged into UF3P - Exotic Caravans (Gameplay).

I was actually wondering about those too, since I've been using them for a while now in my NMM gameplay. I am not currently using an ENB, and have no experience using them, so I'm a bit hesitant to go that route at this time. (for my main play-through). These mood enhancement mods give me options to customise and tailor my settings in-game as needed; and I like that versatility. In the grand scheme of this guide, I'm not entirely sure where they would/should be added - and am also cautious about where to place them in my load order.