GUIDE General Feedback

[whitewolf87]

Yep. Found it. Thankya.

[Kelmych]

I'm not entirely sure that this is the right thread to post this in...if it's not, point me to the right one and I'll copy this there and remove this one

 

Question in regards to Better High Detailed Map and Icons and installing through MO...

 

When I hopped in game I noticed that the whole "Data" section of the Pipboy was far too large and the image was still the default green color. No worries, I remembered seeing the note that there were some edits to make in the .xml. (Sidenote: at this time I was using the 2500 so I tried messing around with some settings to get it right but just couldn't find the correct proportions.) Again, not too worried about it. Disabled the 2500 and downloaded Omni Hi-Res Pipboy per the guide.

I had to make a choice on which PipBoy replacer to use, and I chose to use the same one used in the Fallout NV guide. You can always use the other replacers, but then some of the instructions (notably Better Maps) won't work quite right. I made it a Core mod since the choice of Pipboy replacer affects the installation of other mods, and it's too time consuming supporting different options that are not compatible. You can always use the 2500 if you want, but you'll need to read the installation instructions from the Better High Detail map and Icons nexus page (or use a different map replacer; there are several other good ones, but this one has the best resolution and the best icons). It works fine with any of the choices, but you will need to remove Better High Detail map and Icons, install the Pipboy replace of your choice, make sure the old xml file is gone, reinstall Better High Detail map and Icons, and then make the small necessary changes to the reintalled XML. This is hopefully more straightforward with UIO than it was with Unified HUD.

This is when I really noticed something wasn't quite right...It says that Better Map will detect which version of the Pipboy you are using (3000/2500/Readius) and set itself up accordingly...but, I'm feeling like this wasn't the case. When I opened the .xml with the 2500 activated the height and width were 980 and 724 respectively. Reinstalled Better Map after removing the 2500 and installing Omni Hi-Res and the dimensions were still 980 x 724 (I noticed in your guide you mention a height of 660). This is what leads me to believe it isn't detecting the Pipboy mods...

It detects this when it is initially installed; if you change the Pipboy replacer you need to uninstall Better High Detail map and Icons and reinstall. (uninstall/reinstall, not untick/retick)

 

My suspicion (though perhaps I'm way off) is that it has to do with MO's virtual data folder? (I am an avid Skyrim modder and I know that when you install SkyUI the fomod doesn't see the SKSE scripts and throws an error, even though the scripts are in the *actual* data folder...thus SkyUI works perfectly)...

 

Am I missing a step in the install? Any clues as to what the proper dimensions should be for the 2500 (if not I'm content to play with Omni Hi-Res)...more importantly, any clue as to why the map is still green after installing?

 

Happy to provide screenshots and more information if it's needed...

 

(unrelated note: your guide suggests the use of LOOT. I *love* LOOT for Skyrim...does an amazing job. Makes an absolutely MESS of the FO3 load order though. BOSS gets it almost perfect. Perhaps people should still be using BOSS until the team can make LOOT work for FO3 with the same level of accuracy? Food for thought...)

Many of the FO3 mods in the guide aren't covered by BOSS, or are quite out of date in BOSS, and the BOSS database isn't maintained. I've provided a lot of information to the LOOT team which wasn't in BOSS.

 

Many of the mods in the guide don't affect each other, and for these the load order is often not extremely important. For the ones that are important and not handled properly by LOOT I'm adding load order instructions to a userlist.yaml (as mentioned in some other posts); STEP is doing a similar approach for Skyrim.

[Terrorfox1234]

Edit:

 

I'm an idiot...somehow missed the clear instructions for fixing the green map. So...that's taken care of

 

As far as the Data menu size:

 

I uninstalled and reinstalled Better Map multiple times, alas it would not set itself up according to the Pipboy 2500 dimensions. The good news is I figured out exactly what to tweak in the xml to get the proper dimensions!

 

I'd like to note here that it wasn't just the map that was disproportionate. It was the whole Data section of the Pipboy (quests, notes, etc) The top of the Data section was off screen as were the navigation buttons. Your instructions in the guide cover shifting the map and navigation buttons up to a visible location, but the top was still off screen

 

What I ended up doing to fix this was shifting the axis for the main header and time down to a value of 40 and 20 respectively. (I'm at work right now so I can't get the exact lines in the xml)

 

This shifted the whole Data section down and then I was able to adjust the three height variables you mention to a value of 650 and voila! Looks perfect!

 

I'd be happy to send you my xml and an exact line by line rundown of my edits when I get home...could be useful to add to the guide?

Edited February 1, 2015 by Terrorfox1234

[whitewolf87]

Just to give some quick ENB profile feedback for future consideration...

 

I originally elected to use no weather mods at all because I found an ENB profile that I really liked and chose to run it because I thought it just looked ever-so-spectacular. However, that ENB (ENB of the Apocalypse [https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/18514/?]) has proven to have multiple graphical issues to include...

• See-through robots
• Half-invisible weapons
• Entire wings/sections of the Museum of Technology have their walls rendered as white space and cannot be seen
• Flashlight/Pipboy light don't work
• Does not work with weather mods in the slightest
• Any character with blonde, red, or dyed hair will have their hair glow in the dark, even in pitch black.

Needless to say, I was so keen on getting that ENB for immersion that I ended up with something that was not only immersion-breaking, but was a bonafide ejector seat. I would definitely not suggest this ENB as one of the reccomended ones for C&PD when the times comes to put out a list of such.

That all said, I found another ENB that I quite liked which is an offshot of the Midhrastic ENB called the Lone Wanderer. I went back after deactivating my first choice, installed all the weather mods, reran LOOT/bashed, adn then slapped this one in there, and it works very nicely indeed. Not my first choice, but still *very* pretty.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/18881/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Ffallout3%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D18881&pUp=1

Edited February 1, 2015 by whitewolf87

[Nozzer66]

With that ENB issue, what binaries were you using? There's some of the ENB's there that don't play nice with newer ENB binaries.

[whitewolf87]

I always keep my ENB's up to date, so version 0.263 for Fallout NV/Fallout 3.

Edited February 2, 2015 by whitewolf87

[Nozzer66]

Just check that ENB isn't one designed for older binaries. Most of them work with newer ones, but have found some dont.

 

I suspect this may be one that doesn't as its page has a download link to 0.194 binaries.

 

Though maybe I should read the posts as the author in the posts says it should work with newer ones... Ah well. 

 

 

But in general, I've found missing walls, funny transparencies etc often are caused by some form of AA SNAFU.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Nozzer66

[whitewolf87]

Yeah, I see what you mean about it being designed for an older binary. Author created a spectacular ENB, and I'm sure lots of folks are getting joy from it.

 

Either way, I'm not going to fuss with it. I'd rather not downgrade now. The new ENB is cool-looking, albeit it a bit...colorful.

[Lonewolf]

I looked at this guide from the distance for a while, and since my "Fallout monkey" has come back, I decided to try and mod it by following this guide. So far i'm at the UI section, and I have a few questons:

1. Why the Flashlight mod is Core? What patches depend on it? I would like to remove it, since a magical beam of light that starts from your face is not my thing :)
2. Are there any good ENBs that remain true to the vanilla look? I tested with ENB Boost only following the guide, but unless you activate the effects you have some crappy antialiasing, and if you leave the game antialiasing on the grass start to look funky...
3. About the alternate fast travel from FWE not being recommended, J3Xified Driveable Motorcycle is not the best alternative, or at least the most healthy gudging from the comments on the mod page, so why is it preferred over the default bike from FWE? From what i remember from my last playthrough i haven't had any issues with it.

Oh, and thanks for the time youre devoting to this incredible guide!

[Brainfever]

Guys, dont forget that you can always use a Fallout New Vegas ENB preset in FO3 easily. For example I'm using the Eremotherium ENB preset for FNV in my FO3 build and the game looks amazingly fine and sharp!

Of course some enbseries.ini tweaking is necessary, but nothing too hard or difficult. Well, this depends on what kind of weather/lighting mods you use, but we all know that ENBs are the definition of trial & error process, plus I believe that the majority of players are familiar with ENBs nowdays.

 

PS. There is a very nice presentation of the Blackout ENB for FNV used in FO3 on youtube. With an effortless search you can check for yourselves.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Brainfever

[Lonewolf]

A thing that i have noticed about ENB so far on Fallout 3 is that it causes stutters when turning around, in particular when looking at the orizon. I'm still at the UI section of the guide, so i do not have texture mods installed yet, and I have tested this with Midhrastic ENB and with ENB boost only. Capping the FPS at 30 using the Fallout Stutter Removing ini didn't solve the problem (the stutters passed from 60-55 to 30-28), I have also tried to disable everythig on the enblocal.ini and the enbseries.ini, but the only fix to my stutters seems to set ReduceSystemMemoryUsage to false, which basically means to disable the purpose of the mod :confused: . Am I the only one with this problem? Because if not i will simply live with the stutters (better to have stutters instead of being forced to abbandon a playthrough because of the continuous Freeze/CTD...)

[Brainfever]

I've had the same problems too. Well, for me doing exactly this-disabling totally the enblocal.ini/enbhost.exe- did the trick. I have large adress enabled, Fallout Stutter Remover, and NVAC, I think they are enough anyways. It's strange though I don't face this stuttering in FNV or Skyrim. My gpu is an HD 7870 2GB and I've learnt to live with any kind of problems regarding ENB's long ago (I still remember those enbseries versions that AMD cards wouldn't work at all because of a drivers issue or something :) ).

[Lonewolf]

Thank you, i'll try without ENB, i can always add it later if problems arise

[Nozzer66]

Never had an issue with Fo3 with ENB or stutter at any time.

[Brainfever]

By the way, any ideas on how to fix Roberts Male graphical glitches with some NPC's? On my character the body looks fine except maybe a small black spot under my heros armpit which ok is minor and its not something you notice immediately, but on some NPC's the visual result is a total mess. First example that comes in mind is Moriarty in Megaton. His chest looks like a mutated surface with different textures mixing and generally its really ugly.

 

Only files that get overwritten in Roberts Male mod are the textures in ghoul's folder upperbodymale.dds and upperbodymale_n.dds from Ghoul Retexture mod which is stated in the guide that it's fine.