Best Mod Manager for Fallout 3? And load order ?

[SergeTroy]

Supposedly there are no stupid questions, but I may be putting that to the test.  

I’m planning on starting a new, modded Playthrough of Fallout 3 (Game of the Year Edition, of course) via Steam soon, and I needed some initial support.  As the Fallout 3 forum seemed pretty dead (retro much) I figured I’d ask my initial two questions here.  Firstly, would people recommend Mod Organizer 2 or Vortex as a preferred mod manager of choice?  Or some third option?  I know I’m asking in the MO forum so answers may be prejudiced, but I trust in more experienced gamers to be able to give me a reasonably balanced answer.

Secondly, is L.O.O.T a solid way to create a more or less final load order for all the mods I want to use, obviously with some fine tuning I’m sure.  If it’s not exactly the best way, or is only part way effective, is there someplace else I can go to better refine my approach?

I know about and have bookmarked the STEP Guide, Clear & Present Danger, for Fallout 3.  The main reason I’m asking more questions beyond what that guide has to offer is that I noticed via the changelog that the last update was in May (?) 2019.  Since then there has been the update on Steam, and the Fallout Anniversary Patcher was released.  Plus, I just don’t know if Mod Organizer 2 was even a thing back then.  Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered.  If this needs to be moved to the Fallout 3 specific forum I understand, I’m just trying to get the smarts of the active community.

[Greg]

I use and recommend Mod Organizer 2 for pretty much all Bethesda games. I know it works well with Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, Oblivion, Skyrim and Starfield.Mod Organizer 2 also makes it easier to follow guides. Vortex probably works, but you'll have to jump through hoops with manual LOOT rules to keep mods and plugins sorted in the correct order.

One point to bear in mind is that Clear and Present Danger for Fallout 3 and Fear and Loathing in New Vegas for Fallout New Vegas have not been maintained for a long time so you may have to do some investigating and troubleshooting to get these up to date. I know Compiled Fixes for Fallout 3 is no longer available and the darnified.net site was taken down a while back, although I think Darnified UI may be available on alternate sites still.

[DoubleYou]

I'd definitely recommend using Mod Organizer 2. Masterlix just made a new guide for Fallout 3 that may be of interest.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/25994