wip-fallout-4-using-modorganizer-2

rhodsey · September 18, 2016

ok got as far as diamond city and al seems good from what I can see. I've gone ahead and added in the mods I was thinking of (minus the survival overhaul one - as I say thats somethign you build a guide around) and all seems good at present. I did drop the landscape and tree textures to 2k from 4k since, with my resolution, wasn't seeing the beenfit anyway and since then i've not dropped below 30fps and am usually at 60 indoors.

Gernash · September 18, 2016

@rhodsey

Nice I would have thaught you would get more with a 970 like 40-48fps I'm 50+ indoors as well

I've changed

Ladscape mods to 2k performance

weather mod just updating the lighting.

And I'll look at your list (I usually play in game for a day or so to see if there are problems (will get back to you.)

did you read

in Fallout4Customini

[General]

iTextureDegradeDistance0=1600
iTextureDegradeDistance1=3000
iTextureUpgradeDistance0=1200
iTextureUpgradeDistance1=2400

?

Edited September 18, 2016 by Gernash

rhodsey · September 18, 2016

@rhodsey

Nice I would have thaught you would get more with a 970 like 40-48fps I'm 50+ indoors as well
I've changed
Ladscape mods to 2k performance
weather mod just updating the lighting.

And I'll look at your list (I usually play in game for a day or so to see if there are problems (will get back to you.)

did you read
in Fallout4Customini
[General]
iTextureDegradeDistance0=1600
iTextureDegradeDistance1=3000
iTextureUpgradeDistance0=1200
iTextureUpgradeDistance1=2400

?

Didn't touch those settings i'm happy. most places it is 40-50 just the lowest it's been in 30. I can live with that.

GSDFan · September 18, 2016

This is really looking good.

Fyi, you have a double entry for Alternate Desk Fan.

Gernash · September 18, 2016

@GDSFan

no I dont :innocent:

any Must have mods that will cause me nightmares?

Edited September 18, 2016 by Gernash

Gernash · September 18, 2016

@rhodsey

QuickTrade - yes

Immersive Vendors - yes

Donâ€™t Call Me Settler(Settler Renaming and Naming) - yes (BUT I remember a mod in list has issues can remember which on fo4edit clean)

Better Settlers - yesish (I'd like to but I'll have to review the process of installation as it's a bit do this do that...)

Dogmeat's Backpack - Yes

Where Did I Put Thatâ€¦ - yes ( lol was looking at that before)

Singing Settler - No (Buggy limited songs last I looked at it (cool concept though))

Scrapper Highlights Only When Weapon is Drawn - Maybe (mmmm I assume people will install if they go that way, I Dont really play a scrapper so Unshure)

Horizon - Survival Mode Expanded - No (the curent mod list would not suport this mod and I would make a Whole loadout just to support it mmm I've seen a few different ones. )

Edited September 18, 2016 by Gernash

GSDFan · September 18, 2016

@Gernash

While I havenâ€™t done a side by side comparison of mods, I probably have most of what you have and then some.

My load order is set up more for settlement building, an active atmospheric environment, game play settings and bug fixes than visuals.

I did just download some of the texture mods you have and will give them a try.

On the weather front I use the following with no problems:

WET - Water Enhancement Textures, Vivid Weathers - Fallout 4 Edition - a Weather Mod and Climate Overhaul, True Storms - Wasteland Edition (Thunder-Rain-Weather Redone), Radiant Clouds and Fogs and Weather Synergy - Merge Patch with True storms priority.

I may have to revisit darker nights and interiors enhanced as I forgot about them after I lost my setup after my HDD died.

I have switched from Valdacil's Item Sorting to Bhaal's Better Sorting mod along with some Bhaal's Better Compatibility Patches, just because I wanted to try something else and I think the instance naming rules replace Better Armor and Weapon naming and sorting.

I also have the following mods merged into my own custom ESP to reduce ESP count. They do not contain any scripts or archives, do not get updated often and as far as I can tell at least with the mods I have installed, are not masters to any other mod.

Better Artillery Signal Flares - invisible wall bugfix and more

Configurable Power Armor Fusion Core Drain balanced option

No Health and Crippled Pop-Ups

Realistic Death Physics - No Animations

Shaikujin's Better warning for settlements being attacked at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community

Move (Get Out the Way)

Vault 81 Mole Rat Disease Fix

Mole Rat Disease Fix

County Crossing Crash Fix (Automatron)

Longer Area Respawn

No Aggro Impact Landing (Power Armor)

I am currently rocking 246 ESPs and ESMs. I canâ€™t and will not stop until I have to.

Gernash · September 18, 2016

@GDSFan

yea very similar I've tried 4 combos of lighting and weather I think the vivid+Darker nights+Reverb and Ambiance Overhaul is nice. (VIVID does the fog and water in this load mainly) I dont think the storms are stormy enough (when I have time Ill review them and create a true storm merge patch as an "replacer" patch with proper probability)

Bhaal's - tell me how it goes thats a Polar shift (have to be very special for a life choice change)

County Crossing Crash Fix - The patching for DEF_UI should have that handled??

Better Armor and Weapon naming and sorting -oooooo need to stare at that later

Yea I need to look at fixes ie the impact longer re-spawn disease fix etc

with

Better Artillery Signal Flares

I think a minute men overhaul is needed to to make it more useful I haven't looked at those type of mods.

You said you do settlement building (I do not, I'm a shooter RPG guy) Can you please give me a list of Builder mods that are all encompassing? I'm unsure what

ones are needed to build stuff with ... I just wack a house down sick a bed in it and slap the settlers into shape I don't really care for their "well being"

The https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/12032/? was a find for me soooo good

And fort builders would have their own GOTO mods. Any "guides" I've come across have been um basic to say the least.

BoSoxBry · September 18, 2016

So I think I understand how to convert loose to BA2 using Archive2, but I'm a littttttle confused with the naming conventions. What's the different between using - Main and - Textures? So does it have to be like a dummy ESP through creation kit "After the Fallout.esp" and then "After the Fallout - Textures.ba2"? Where does the - Main come in?

Also, what's the easiest way to optimize vanilla textures?

Thaaaanks

Gernash · September 18, 2016

The dummy file is so the mod manager loads the files you can open fo4edit and select one mod create an overwrite then delete everything in it exit and save.

In Mo2 you just create an empty mod and copy the dummy mod into it

IF you want to be technical you can use the same naming convention as in the FO4 data folder i.e. -misc -shader -meshed

BUT I recommend only 2

-main and -textures as that is the simplest and won't cause headaches

What do you mean Optimize vanilla textures? do you have a vram issue?

did you read this? https://forum.step-project.com/topic/11094-wip-fallout-4-using-modorganizer-2/page-19?do=findComment&comment=181904

After the fallout is all textures so just - texture (no need for main) all 3 are 4gb in size so just 1 texture archive (try not to go above 4Gb per archive)

Edited September 18, 2016 by Gernash

BoSoxBry · September 18, 2016

Ok I think I understand. Well, not a VRAM issue per se, but I do play at 4K with 980 SLI and it would be nice to have all textures that aren't covered by mods in an optimized format to save some VRAM just because 4K is so taxing. I easily get steady 60 FPS with god rays low, AA off, shadow distance medium even with mods but my VRAM usage can creep up to 3.8-3.9 gigs with mods.

Gernash · September 18, 2016

AH.. then in that case do it like this

create 2 empty mods one called landscape and one called Items drag to the top of the same named folders. (if your following the wiki)

copy all the files from the mods in the order you overwrite in into these folders

!!!IMPORTANT!!! If you find any BA2 files extract them into these 2 folders then delete the BA2

you will have many folders mesh,misc, sound and textures

right click the texture folder and properties look at the size(in GB)divide by 4 that is the archive count

compress the texture folder with archiever2 make sure in settings it's in DDS format and the archive count is the number you worked out

call the file Test - Textures.BA2 if test is the name of the dummy mod

then compress all the other folders into Test - Main.ba2 make sure it's in general format and the archive count is set to 1

Here is a dummy file

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/73053307/Test.esp

you can call it WHATEVER you like you dont have to make new ones each time and you cant have the test.esp the same name or they overwrite test1 test 1 etcetc

Once you done delete all the folders and any loose files not any .esp.esm (mainly text tmp jpg etc)

Edited September 18, 2016 by Gernash

Gernash · September 18, 2016

3.8-3.9 gigs MEh should be ok this will only help load speed of textures not vram usage

i.e. cough and shudder

Edited September 18, 2016 by Gernash

Aeradom · September 18, 2016

So I think I understand how to convert loose to BA2 using Archive2, but I'm a littttttle confused with the naming conventions. What's the different between using - Main and - Textures? So does it have to be like a dummy ESP through creation kit "After the Fallout.esp" and then "After the Fallout - Textures.ba2"? Where does the - Main come in?

Also, what's the easiest way to optimize vanilla textures?

Thaaaanks

You are in luck friend because I just so happened to of spent 8 hours figuring just that out. Now, it might of been easier to do one file at time but I just did one super large file (which might of been why I had difficulty because I did that with a smaller mod and had no issues). Any who, if you are converting loose file mods to ba2 format here's what you do:

''What to do exactly is:

1. Extract the .zip from the download into a temporary folder.

2. Navigate to "Tools\Archive2" inside the fallout 4 folder. And open Archive2.exe

3. Drag the extracted folder named "Textures", from where you extracted the downloaded .zip, onto the Archive2 interface. Can take a while, the program may be unresponsive, just wait.

4. In Archive2 press "Archive -> Settings", in format choose "DDS". Press OK.

5. Then "File -> Save" or "CTRL + S", and choose the Data folder and the name "TextureOptimizationProject - Textures.ba2". Wait til done.

6. Open up the Creation kit and load up the fallout4.esm.

7. When loaded, simply save a new plugin by pressing the "floppy disk icon" or "File -> Save". Name it TextureOptimizationProject.esp

8. Activate it for loading in NMM or through the mods menu ingame. Then you're done.''

(Credit: Mind Dozer @ Nexus)

As to what it does, well I'll let the guy ianpatt (f4se, originally dumped .ba2 for bsaextractor) explainL

There are two types of ba2 archives: general, and texture. General archives can contain anything, while texture archives are optimized for storing textures. There is no significant size advantage when comparing the two, but texture archives store textures in a more intelligent way that is friendlier to the runtime texture streamer. When reading a DDS file, finding the lower resolution textures requires seeking to, and therefore decompressing most of the file. This is inefficient, because in most cases you will care about the lower resolution mips first, when the object is off in the distance. Texture archives store any mips higher than 256x256 in their own separate blocks, while the 256x256 and below are all in their own block.

@Gernash What's left to overhaul on the guide right now?

Edited September 18, 2016 by Aeradom

GSDFan · September 18, 2016

@Gernash, My workshop section. It closely follows my install order, but I may have reordered some mods in MO. Also I should mention I have heavily modified my LOOT load order with custom placements after I viewed the mods in FO4Edit to try to eliminate conflicts.

Please forgive the formatting as this is a cut and paste from OneNote and looks good in the editor, but not good in the browser.

[spoiler=Workshop section]

NSO - New Snap Order - snap points for furniture and decor

Meshes only. Install before other building mods and let them overwrite this.

Snap'n Build

Includes latest:

If you don't like vanilla textures, I recommend using Clean Settlement Shacks by dgulat with patch for Snap'n Build!

From <https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/7393/?>

Expanded Settlement Buildings

No Categorization for best compatibility

G2M - Workshop

The Master Plan

Settlement Resources Rebalanced

Vanilla Extensions

Requires The Masterplan. Loose file version

SLR Stairs ladders and ramps

Not in The Masterplan yet

Port Royal

Requires The Masterplan and Flags of the Old World

Pipe Galore

Requires The Masterplan

The Cabin in the Woods

Box Houses for Fallout 4

Workshop Wall Filler for Fallout 4

They will snap to themselves sideways and top-bottom. They will snap to vanilla walls top and bottom, as well as to floor/ceilings. This will be integrated into VE.

From <https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/15914/?>

Red Rocket Reborn for Fallout 4

1x1 Craftable Foundation Pieces

Snapable Power Armor Workbenches Plus Optional compact station

Craftable Interior Shack Doorway Wall

DD, do not install as the thumbnail is invisible. May be covered in

Improved Shack Bridges

Alternate Settlements

Download/install 1.1 and 1.2. Merge 1.2 into 1.1. Requires SKE

Quieter Settlements

Use recommended Use aio

Dog Bed for Dogmeat