GUIDE General Feedback

[Kelmych]

It would be helpful if you provide a screenshots of a few of the textures with MG's and NMC so we can see why MG's is better.

[Adonis_VII]

It would be helpful if you provide a screenshots of a few of the textures with MG's and NMC so we can see why MG's is better.

I had started doing this awhile back, but it seemed a toss up, so I never made it though all the compares.  If someone wants finish doing it that would be great!

[Sarcarsis]

I have made some screenshots and uploaded them here.

First texture is MG's, second is NMC's and third one is vanilla for reference. First 8 comparisons are obvious. Rugs, wood and doors are personal taste (i have included ingame screenshot with different door textures cause You will see em a lot). Hope this helps.

[GrantSP]

Well, they do look better but they are also much larger than the vanilla so the detail will be clearer. Fine if you want to go for a texture heavy overhaul I guess. Of course with my new system that isn't a problem.

[Kelmych]

Thanks for providing these. The upper ones  seems to be pictures of the diffuse map texture file vs. screenshots from the game that include the normal maps, shaders, etc. Based on the post I assume the door pictures are ingame screenshots.

[Himself]

Thanks to Kelmych for the guide!!
 
Also thanks to everyone here at STEP boards for trying to help me somehow!!  :)

I'll try to post bugs/weirdness or just things that IMO are out of context. So far what I've found:

 

The teddy bear in the toys box at the beginning of the game was not materializing until I jumped inside the box (sometimes not even then), removing the meshes\clutter\teddyebear\teddybear01.nif seems to have solved it.
 
The ragdoll overhaul mod looks nice in concept, first I tried the "colisions" version, it causes a bug right at the birth opening with james moving backwards and returning to the front, then I replaced the mehes\characters\_male\skeleton.nif for the "no colisions" version (of the same mod), that fixed the james bug, but a while later in the 'escape the vault sequence' I noticed that grandma taylor body was half-inside the floor, it behaved weird in many following tries, removing the skeleton.nif again has erased the issue. So I guess I'm leaving that file out, uncomfortable with mods that cause weird behaviour ^^
 
The next may be a of bit nitpicking on my part... JIP selective fire shows its tutorial box message right at the birth intro sequence, thats really uncalled for.
Disabled that box from showing up by opening the plugin and editing JIPSFMainScript 

	if iMenu
		if fDelay
			set fDelay to (fDelay > 0) * (fDelay - GetSecondsPassed)
		elseif iMenu == 1
			ShowMessage JIPSFTutorial0
			set iAux to 0
			set iMenu to 10

erasing the  "ShowMessage JIPSFTutorial0" seems to have done it, hopefully with no side-effects. I would have edited the script to only show the message when out in the wasteland for the first time, however that goes beyond my current scripting capabilities (I'll return and "fix it properly" if I ever get to being advanced, or someone else could do it and post the how-to).

 

Theres also an issue with GOAT "cutscene" in the turn-in-test dialog sequences but its a Vanilla issue AFAIK, depeding on the way(s) you turn your test and mess/talk around to the other people it gets skipped/broken, I'll try a fix if I ever learn scripting (geez.. boolean code was so easy/fast in baldurs gate and icewind dale, scripting for bethesda games seems like a real chore to begin with =X).

 

The last issue is 'probaly' unfixable (or beyond my meager knowledge), in that if you change the pipboy model and or background image, everyone else with a pipboy is gonna be showing it, the background image will also appear in the face construction menul (at birth sequence or exiting to wasteland for 1st time).

 

Anyway thats it, the rest has been pure joy \o/

Edited December 4, 2015 by Himself

[Kelmych]

The additions for the changes in several posts will be added to the guide in the next update. Thanks for these Himself.

 

The last time I did a small test comparing a few clutter objects across MG's Neat Clutter, NMC, and some other mods I felt that some of the textures in MG's Neat Clutter were too clean. To me, the rug in the screenshots is an example of this. However, in some of the other screenshots MG's Neat Clutter textures look as good or better than those in the other mods while remaining lore friendly (comparable to the wear and dirt in vanilla, or to what would be expected after years of use in the wasteland).

[Himself]

Oh I didnt do anything. Cant even point where that teddybear01.nif came from (bad side effect from not using Mod Organizer) even though its a minuscule annoyance and not really a bug, like most of my rant xD

 

Right now I'm kinda pissed that I can just steal stuff from the backpacks shack at springvale and nothing happens (everything is red pointing I "shouldn't" steal). Gonna try to add a bodyguard inside and another outside plus have them +owner and his girl turn hostile if I steal, also some fixing (a satchel says +15 but adds +20 lbs capacity, glaring bug so probably there are more). That is if I ever get to properly learn some modding for bethesda games, slowly going thru my baby steps. Someone with enough skills could 'fix' that meanwhile and post how-to or plugin ^^

[krclark]

The weight thing you mentioned isn't really a problem, as in it isn't broken, but maybe labeled differently than usual.

I am assuming you mean the text in the item description where it says (+15).

The author seems to use this as a means of showing what your overall capacity change will be with the item equipped. The item gives +20 to your weight capacity, but weighs 5 pounds itself, gaining an overall 15 pounds of other stuff you can carry when the items is equipped.

[Himself]

Oh right, didn't consider that, so sorry!

[hellanios]

An essential addition I think

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/21899/?

[Kelmych]

How does it compare with or work with FO3LODGen?

[Turkeys]

How does it compare with or work with FO3LODGen?

This is copied from the Oblivion version, but the tool does the same thing across the different games.

 

"Compatibility

 

The tool is compatible with TES4LODGen (which replaces only the static meshes) as well as tes4qlod.

 

By definition, tes4ll is compatible with all mods which change landscapes."

Edited December 9, 2015 by Turkeys

[Kelmych]

Thanks; I'll start looking at is so it can be added to the guide. If someone else has already tested this with FO3 feel free to add it to the guide. Information on what it does beyond FO3LODGen and installation instructions would be useful to include.

[EDP]

I have a few things I'd like to discuss.

Sectioning & Sorting

When you get to the mod list of the guide, you don't start at the first section, Core Fixes, but at Base UI Mods, which is strange. Why not turn the sections around and order them in the way they should be installed? After Base UI Mods comes Core Fixes (or Supplemental UI? The use of main sections and sub(sub(sub))sections can help users a lot here! I'm confused...). The sections and their children all look the same (except for a hard-to-see font size difference). My points of discussion:

Why are the sections not ordered in a more user-friendly manner? Why do I have to install them in an order that is not clearly listed, but vaguely described in the text? I'd like to see the use of numbered 1. Chapters, 1.1 Sections, 1.1.1 Subsections, etc.

FWE installation

FWE is the second mod being installed, after DarNified UI. FWE is a hard one, because not only its installation requires some work, the in-game settings can be tough for inexperienced modders. FWE mentions a requirement: MMM. MMM is near the bottom of the page (which again is confusing, because if you install MMM before FWE, it is actually the second(!) mod installed). MMM is also a complicated install, becuase its section has multiple mods.

 

Here's what I did:

1. DarNified UI
2. (Down the page) MMM
3. Paradox Iginition MMM Merged
4. (I skipped the two body texture replacement fixes, as I won't use them, but I wonder: in what order should these mods end up, because at this point you're nowhere near the body replacement mods these two fix...)
5. Zeta Turret and Drone Karma Fix
6. (Back up the page) FWE
7. ... next mod in Base UI Mods...

Is this the correct order for my installation? Or do I have to sort the mods differently? And do I do this now, or after I have installed other mods at some unknown point in the guide?

Changing the installation order

Because of my confusion, I forgot to install the Supplemental UI mods. I installed Base UI Mods, Core Fixes and now I'm at the point I want to install Supplemental UI. Can I just install them now and in the left pane of MO put them before the mods from Core Fixes, is that how it's done?

Intermediate testing

I want to test the installed mods after I complete installing each (sub)section. I wonder if this could cause problems. E.g. after having installed the Base UI Mods, there's Vault Boy in the guide telling me to test the game. What does this do with e.g. the unfinished installation of FWE and MMM? They require some compatibility patches, don't they? These are near the end of the guide, so they are not installed at this point. So, what's the point of testing the installed mods? When I test, I play for at leat 15 minutes in both interiors and exteriors (to test stability/crashes/performance), so both FWE and MMM are probably used in that time, but I wonder if this can go noticeably wrong at some point.

Multiple interfaceshared0.dds files

When installing mods like Smaller Crosshair, Better High Detail Map And Icons, Complete Vault Girl Interface, etc. a different interfaceshared0.dds file is installed, located in \textures\interface\. This is a problem, because every overwrite of this file replaces the previous. The last mod in load order wins, unfortunately. Is there a mod that merges the various interfaceshared0.dds files that are installed? This could be done manually, but this isn't very user friendly. Also, Complete Vault Girl Interface simply replaces the interface, while it should have a plugin that detects the gender of the player character and replace files accordingly.

Wrapping it up

Thanks for reading and answering! This guide is awesome and I hope I can contribute after I finish installing it.

Edited December 10, 2015 by EDP