[FO3] Help Load Order sorting (Missing Textures, wonky LOOT sort)

[mpkross]

Here are my system specs, just in case:
https://wiki.step-project.com/User:Mpkross/SystemSpecs
 
And my current Load Order as generated by LOOT:

[spoiler=FO3 LOOT Load Order]0 0 Fallout3.esm

1 1 Anchorage.esm

2 2 ThePitt.esm

3 3 StreetLights.esm

4 4 BrokenSteel.esm

5 5 PointLookout.esm

6 6 Zeta.esm

7 7 Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch.esm

8 8 iHUD.esm

9 9 Advanced Recon Tech.esm

10 a Detect Traps.esm

11 b Enhanced Weather - Rain and Snow.esm

12 c Project Beauty.esm

13 d RH_IRONSIGHTS.esm

14 e Vault 101 Revisited.esm

15 f Xepha's Dynamic Weather.esm

16 10 DCStreet - BS.esp

17 11 CouncilSeatFix.esp

18 12 Realistic Interior Lighting.esp

19 13 Rivet City Realignment.esp

20 14 Xepha's Dynamic Weather - Main + DLC Merged.esp

21 15 RH_IronSights_Basic_AnchoragePlugin.esp

22 16 RH_IronSights_Basic_ZetaPlugin.esp

23 17 Radio Ownership Fix Fixed.esp

24 18 YearlingBooks.esp

25 19 Confessor Cromwell has a Break_EV.esp

26 1a RH_IronSights_PL_NewItems.esp

27 1b safe_regulator_hq.esp

28 1c Lookout Outfits.esp

29 1d Tattered_suits.esp

30 1e Double barreled shotgun fix.esp

31 1f IMPACT.esp

32 20 RH_IronSights_Basic_VanillaPlugin.esp

33 21 UniqueWeaponsRetextured.esp

34 22 DeNerfing Colonel Autumns Laser Pistol.esp

35 23 Barkskin.esp

36 24 DarNifiedUIF3.esp

37 25 No UI Blur.esp

38 26 cCCursorNotOnMaps.esp

39 27 PiPBoy Light Range x3.esp

40 28 PiPBoy White Light.esp

41 29 Advanced Recon Gear.esp

42 2a Advanced Recon Tech.esp

43 2b Advanced Recon Tech - Detect Traps.esp

44 2c Detect Traps - DLC.esp

45 2d Detect Traps - Perk.esp

46 2e Detect Traps - The Traponator 4000.esp

47 2f Advanced Recon Range Finder.esp

48 30 CASM.esp

49 31 megalight.esp

50 32 Xepha's Dynamic Weather - Dynamic Sneak Bonus.esp

51 33 Xepha's Dynamic Weather - Green Tint Remover.esp

52 34 Xepha's Dynamic Weather - Rain.esp

53 35 Xepha's Dynamic Weather - Sandstorms.esp

54 36 Xepha's Dynamic Weather - Weather Machine (Start Game Added).esp

55 37 Enhanced Weather - Weather Sounds in Interiors.esp

56 38 Project Beauty- Broken Steel.esp

57 39 Project Beauty- Point Lookout.esp

58 3a DIM TYPE3clothesRETAIL.esp

59 3b RH_IronSights_RemoveReticule.esp

60 3c RH_IronSights_Basic_PointLookoutPlugin.esp

61 3d RH_IronSights_Basic_PittPlugin.esp

62 3e RH_IronSights_Basic_BrokenSteelPlugin.esp

63 3f RH_IronSights_Pitt_NewRifleSights.esp

64 40 FO3_WRP.esp

65 41 32S&W.esp

66 42 Millenia_CombatShotgun_replacer.esp

67 43 Millenia_C96_replacer.esp

68 44 Millenia_AK47_replacer.esp

69 45 UniqueWeaponsRetexturedPITT.esp
 

70 46 dD - Enhanced Blood Main.esp

 

 

I tried following most of the STEP guide for Clear and Present Danger here:

https://wiki.step-project.com/User:Kelmych/Fallout3

 

And also followed the Gamerpoets Fallout 3 My Way guide playlist here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlN8weLk86XhW4DeotXq0BvY4dBpnphVE

 

The game is running super well. But I have the following issues:

 

• NPCs having white faces (I checked the ArchiveInvalidation setting in MO, no dice). This is coming from Fallout 3 Redesigned mod. If I disable this, no issues with NPC race.
• Missing textures for some weapons from Millenia's mods. Notably, the .32SW I think. The NPC Silver in particular has a huge missing texture hologram over her body, when I looted her handgun (.32) I can equip it, but the texture/model is missing. Some other Megaton settlers (Jenny Stahl and randoms) are also having the hologram.
• Unable to aim down sights with some weapons. Notably, the AK-47 from Millenia's replacer mod. I have downloaded the RH Iron Sights patch, so I'm guessing it's a load order issue.

My instinct tells me it's the Load Order, since I can see the plugins activated in the window. Could it be something else? Anything I can try to troubleshoot this? I think I'll be good without the FO3 Redesigned if I can't get it to work... but I need to fix the weapons and textures.

[mpkross]

Woo, bit of a debugging session. Managed to fix a few things, then. 

 

• Missing textures...
  • Turns out I was missing the Revolver texture because you're supposed to download it separately from the New Vegas version. Whoops.
• Unable to aim down sights with AK-47
  • So this was a little more involved. There's nothing on the STEP guide, but I went and looked at the mod page, and saw something interesting. The mod was installed correctly, but I needed to do another edit in FO3Edit in order to fix the issue. For future reference, remove the flag "Don't use 1st person IS" from the offending weapon entry in FO3Edit.

 

I'm still unable to use FO3 Redesigned (Project Beauty) without the skin problem. I'm trying to do a bit of sleuthing, see if I can uncover something.

[Greg]

I think you need Automatic Archive Invalidation checked, but do this to double check. Open Profiles, click the profile you are currently using, and ensure Automatic Archive invalidation is checked. The layout of the dialog makes it look as if this is a global setting, but it really applies to the currently selected profile. I assume you are using Mod Organizer 1.3.x, so do you have the "Have MO manage archives" checkbox in the Profiles tab (right pane) checked and are all of the BSA files checked? Do you have a "Fallout - Invalidation.bsa" at the top of the archive  tab?

[mpkross]

Yes, I do. Other textures from NMC's, Ojo Bueno and Hall's are fine too. Here's a screenshot:

 

[mpkross]

And, fixed. I had to add a setting to the .ini file. I saw this setting when searching for fixes but only for New Vegas, and was hesitant to put it in the Fallout 3 .ini since I didn't know which section it belonged to. But for those having problem with skin/face mismatch with the FO3 Redesigned mod, add the following line to the .ini under [General]:

 

bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=1

[Greg]

You way want to review the INI Tweaks section in the Clear and Present Danger guide that links here.

[mpkross]

Thanks, Greg! I see now that the line is actually there in the posted .ini tweaks. I guess I relied on the GamerPoets guide for tweaking since it does a better job of explaining the effects of each line. But I missed that one tweak I needed to load the correct skin and face textures since I didn't review the guide's .ini tweaks.

[Kelmych]

Woo, bit of a debugging session. Managed to fix a few things, then. 

 

 

• Unable to aim down sights with AK-47
  • So this was a little more involved. There's nothing on the STEP guide, but I went and looked at the mod page, and saw something interesting. The mod was installed correctly, but I needed to do another edit in FO3Edit in order to fix the issue. For future reference, remove the flag "Don't use 1st person IS" from the offending weapon entry in FO3Edit.

 

I'm still unable to use FO3 Redesigned (Project Beauty) without the skin problem. I'm trying to do a bit of sleuthing, see if I can uncover something.

If you use the userlist.yaml referenced in the guide for LOOT it helps in getting the correct load order, and in noting some of the bash tags needed by mods. The Project Beauty problems are usually taken care of by the bashed patch if the bashed tags are setup correctly. If mods are used that aren't in the guide that change NPC face characteristics then you will might have to either build a patch or determine what bash tags should be added.

 

Any weapons that want to use Ironsights  need to have Ironsights compatible meshes for the weapon, and need to have the correct value for the !st Person IS flag. The Millenia Assaultrifle Replacers RH WMK Patch should have taken care of this flag unless some other later loading patch undid it. The Wasteland Patch Collection patches provide some help with getting the correct models and flags for various weapons, but they only work if you happen to use all the plugins for each patch used.

 

Getting the correct load order for weapon mods and getting the bashed patch and other patches to provide the right values, particularly for the models and flags, is especially tricky with Fallout 3, as mentioned in the guide. The guide tries to handle this for several possible sets of weapon mods, but when different weapon selections are used and the patches and/or core mods mentioned in the guide aren't used it will take a little bit of effort with FO3Edit to avoid missing weapon textures and to get Ironsights and/or WMK to work properly.

[mpkross]

Thanks for the reply, Kelmych! Your guide was a tremendous help throughout this process! Definitely the most complete modding guide I've seen for FO3.

 

While I based my mods off of the GamerPoets My Way series (which I believe was based of Clear and Present Danger), I don't believe I use mods not mentioned in the guide. I wanted a fairly vanilla experience, without any major overhauls. So my biggest difference is not installing large project mods like WMK and FWE.

 

I'm thinking about going through the bash tags and patch process, as well as cleaning ITM records. But the game is running fine as is and I find conflicting information on the benefits. So I'm reluctant to change anything when nothing is broken right now.

[Kelmych]

The guide tries to indicate which mods need cleaned ITMs. Whenever we know that they should not be cleaned it is indicated in the guide.

 

Mod developers and users have generated a bunch of compatibility patches for FO3, but most of these include one or more of the popular mods (e.g., WMK, RH_Ironsights, FWE, EVE, MMM). When these mods aren't used the compatibility patches may need to be done manually. Several such patches have been created specifically for mods in the guide, but this is only done when there aren't already available related patches on Nexus. The Patch section of the guide covers several possible sets of mods and the compatibility patches to use, but there are too many mods to provide a complete list of such patches for a large portion of the possible combinations.