FO4 modding - the basics (info/help request)

[rootsrat]

Hello! I'm planning to start a FO4 playthrough soon - it will be my first modded one (worth adding that I never finished the unmodded one either). As I've been out of a loop for a loooong while now, can some helpful soul let me know if there are any differences to modding FO4 compared to older Beth games (SSE, FNV etc.) please? Also, any good FO4 modding guides out there?

 

I'm an experienced modder of other Beth games, with a good uderstanding of load order, custom patches creation etc. etc. etc., I'd just like to know if there is anything I should watch out for when modding FO4. 

 

So, in essence:

 

1) Any differences to modding FO4 compared to SSE/FNV?

2) Any good modding guides?

3) Which mod manager would you recommend for FO4?

 

Thanks!

[Greg]

Mod Organizer 2 should work quite well with Fallout 4, although you may want to use the latest 2.1.4 dev build on discord. The 2.14 dev builds fix a lot of issues related to downloading from Nexus. I'm currently using it with Skyrim LE and Skyrim SE.

[baronaatista]

1 - The big difference that I'm aware of is precombination - In order to cut down on resources (I guess, not like I really know) Bethesda implemented this system where tons of insignificant objects in the game get merged into these pre-combined meshes.  Any alteration to any object in that mesh - move it, re-size it, anything breaks the mesh for that cell / worldspace and if I remember correctly, for all adjacent cells.  This will absolutely tank your FPS in these areas, and can cause the 'sprint bug' where sprinting gets disabled because the game is having trouble loading adjacent cells (as I understand it).

 

More mods than you think wind up doing this as well - Halk Hogan's 'Fallout 4 Reworked HD' texture mod, for instance.  The reason is because objects that are part of precombined meshes don't respond to texture changes, so if you use his mod some piles of tires will look awesome and others won't. 

Which actually brings up another point - this game, as I understand it, really doesn't like loading loose files.  You can not use the .esp for HD Reworked Revised if you like (in order to not have it break precombination), you just need to use loose files (and be okay with some objects not receiving texture upgrades) but you can then run into another issue, which is textures taking a loooooong time to load in - the result of not having everything packed in .BA2's and loading from an .esp.

 

Some mods - such as 'scrap everything' type mods usually break all precombined meshes in the game (in order for them to work properly, they need to) and I've heard of some tweaking that can be done to stabilize your framerate, but I don't know what the 'state of the art' is in relation to this.  Never had any success trying to use these types of mods so I just avoid them in general. 

 

I use 1 mod that significantly alters the worldspace and that is Beantown Interiors.  Though Kris Takahashi's 'Tales from the commonwealth' is probably a more substantial addition.

 

2 - BiRaitBec's guide is probably the most current, but is pretty simple and focussed on graphics, doesn't really get into anything fiddly.  Slim pickings in Fallout 4 mod guides - Gernash has one but it has become quite outdated and he was trying to do some fairly complex stuff, so unless you really know what you're doing it's prettty likely to wind up broken, and I don't think most of his CR patches will be of any use.

 

3 - Yeah, MO2 ftw.  

[rootsrat]

Awesome, thanks a lot guys! As long as MO2 works - I'm home :)

 

Thanks for the guide links as well. I will probably start off small and then build up the mods as I go along. I don't have a problem with creating patches myself really - as long as there is FO4EDIT available :)