GUIDE General Feedback

[Kelmych]

Fallout 4 lore seems very different from Fallout 3/NV to me; it's like a magic cleaning wind moves through postwar Boston on a regular basis. The guide hasn't added any of the Fallout 4 based resources yet; if there are some that are reasonably lore compatible with Fallout 3/NV let us know. I've been reviewing the new additions and changes on Fallout 3 Nexus. There hasn't been much that seems relevant, but I'm testing a few things.

 

I was reading the FO3 related portion of the changelog for TTW. Adonis might have some recommendations for additions to the FO3 guide; I'm not sure because a lot of the TTW additions created by the TTW community are only to be used for TTW.

[Adonis_VII]

Most new mods for FNV and TTW are gameplay and script based due to the continued progression on NVSE proper along the JIP and Lutana plugins and are incompatible with FO3.  As far as asset creation that'll stay transferable, but really there have been more assets released for FO3 and FNV in the past couple months. The TTW community doesn't really seem to have many asset artists.

 

In terms of FO4, yes some assets will be usable. As an example, I have not seen a high quality retexture of mushrooms in FO3/FNV that retains the same look.  FO4 however has a higher resolution version of the FO3 texture. Bethesda keeps the original assets used to create meshes and textures. To see for yourself:

FO3: \textures\landscape\plants\wastelandfungusstalk01.dds    x256

FO4: \Textures\Landscape\Plants\wastelandfungusstalk01_d.dds  x512

 

Additionally there are things like the high poly Chinese Rifle from FO3 that sits unused in the FO4 files.

 

The problem however, is that these are not drag and drop like FO3/FNV. They have to be converted back like you would if transferring assets between Oblivion and Skyrim.  While you can do this on your own, this makes it difficult for most people to use as you cannot of course distribute FO4 assets.

 

EDIT: I should add that obtaining permission and porting original FO4 mod assets is fine, though not something I've looked at yet.  For example, I obtained permission to port assets from SMIM from Skyrim over to FO3/FNV, particularly some of the food that shared meshes between FO3 and Skyrim, though have not released it on the nexus yet.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Adonis_VII

[cstarkey42]

The unofficial patch has been updated.  

 

Also, there's a new ENB that I've been using and it's by far the best one I've used for FO3.  The colors can be a little too vivid at times but everything is so clear and it's great indoors and out.  The description even mentions this guide and how well it works with the weathers you've selected.  It's even made for .278 so it's good to go out of the box.  Vivid Fallout 3 ENB

[RabbitB]

I have exactly the same problem, but in my case fires up around 150 plugins and has nothing to do with using mods out of this list. I know because after the first time this happened to me, I started from scratch and put all the mods not in the list (quests) in an early stage, and the game was working smoothly all the way until I reached the 150-odd plugins mark.

  It's driving me crazy. I wasted 3 weeks following this guide just to crash and burn 2 feet away from the goal line, twice!I used to play FO3 with +200 mods with no problem in this same computer, but that was with a)an older graphic card, b) in Windows 7 and c)with a retail copy. I'm starting to think those details are significative, particularly b and c.

I know this is from a few months back, but I just learned about the guide the other day, and I too found myself getting to around 150 plugins and everything falling apart. That said, I've put together a lot of load orders over the years, and that's not out of the ordinary. That's about where it always starts to glitch and crash. I was just hoping I suppose, that the guide would stay close to that limit or would have instructions on exactly which plugins to merge.

 

Looks like I have my work cut out for me. I have 20+ plugins to merge or remove.

[Kelmych]

What kind of system are you using? I haven't had problems with numbers of plugins with Fallout 3 in the playthroughs I have done since I originally started playing it years ago. There can be problems with mods that use a lot of script processing or, for systems with modest VRAM, mods with a lot of high resolution images. Mod Organizer supports multiple profiles, so try creating a few profiles. For example, a profile with only the core mods and another with core plus other mods they aren't shown as optional. Do the problems occur at the start of the game or after playing a while?

 

Fallout 3, unlike Fallout NV, doesn't have inherent problems with number of plugins. Of course, there are still potential problems with CPU usage and VRAM. There can also be problems with the Windows environment. The guide includes information on any problem areas we understand.

 

Suggestions on which plugins that are easiest to merge could be provided. This isn't in the guide since there not been many users with problems that seem to be related to nr of plugins vs. other problems

[Skadi]

I have been beating my head against a way trying to get this to work and I'm running into the same plugin number limit. At 165+ the main menu won't show up. At 145-165 it's a coin toss as to whether UIO applies the font change for DarnUI and there are a lot of missing meshes and black textures. 

 

I did a full install twice, wiping mods in case of some unknown corruption, and tested on Win 7 and Win 10. My rig is more than up to the task, so I doubt its a hardware issue.  

 

Out of sheer frustration, I used Merge Plugins and merged plugins 140-224, ran Add Bash Tags to the merged plugin, and made a bashed patch for a total of 124 plugins. It works. Something has changed. I don't know what it is. There appears to be a plugin limit for some of us. 

 

I think a merge guide may be useful as all of the compatibility patches makes it a tangle. 

Edited January 24, 2017 by Skadi

[Kelmych]

Several users have reported problems with the number of plugins and merge recommendations will be added. I don't understand why this problem happens, but I suppose the Windows environment might affect this and Windows 10 is very different than Windows XP for which the game was designed.

 

Would it be better to include the merge recommendations along with the mod list, to have a separate page and/or guide topic with merge recommendations, or a combination? The Fallout NV guide uses a combination of both methods.

 

Would it be better to label more mods as optional, or to provide potential merges so they don't need to be eliminated? There have also been comments about the number of mods included and the size of the guide; some users would prefer a simpler guide with fewer mods. It isn't obvious how to do this while still supporting users who want the full set of mods. If there are suggestions comments would be useful.

[Nozzer66]

I like the mods set as it is. A Merge guide at the end after adding all mods flows nicer IMHO.

[GrantSP]

I think the size of the userbase indicates the mod number, as it stands now, is fine and the few reports by some users should be viewed as extraordinary.

However it may be possible to add a merge section for some mods to reduce that number somewhat as well as marking some of the them as optional. The 'quest' mods fall in to that category. As much as I like the "Puce Moose" mods, they can be left off the load order easily enough.

[GamerPoets]

Simple mod, but they are my favorite. Might be worth giving a look https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/22430

[Makkli]

UF3P - Exotic Caravans was updated recently. Per the author - Project Beauty changes are now part of all .esm files (mod still not need, but recommended).

 

 

This invalidates the installation instructions as written in the guide as there is no longer a UF3P - Exotic Caravans (Project Beauty).esm.

[Spatvark]

The entry for "WeaponModKits - FWE Talon Loot Crash Fix and Enclave Loot Crash Fix" should specifically say to download the "WeaponModKits - FWE Talon Loot Crash Fix and Enclave Loot Crash Fix NO RECORDS FLAG" file, since the other version causes the esp to be marked as a master file, and thus messes up the load order badly, resulting in a cyclic interaction in LOOT.

[Kelmych]

The new update for the guide includes the above recommended changes and additions. Thanks for providing them.

[Makkli]

The links to the LOOT userlist.yaml are invalid. I'm getting dropbox 404 errors. Is this file still being provided? If so, is it elsewhere? Either the link needs updating, or the guide does. (Plus I could really use that file....) 

 

Also, I've seen an occasional comment about how that page is a wiki that anyone can edit. It feels wrong to me to mess with the content in a substantial way but, for tiny things like spelling errors, would it be helpful if I just fix them rather than come and take 19 times as long to make a post about changing one character? What's the protocol?

[Kelmych]

It looks like the drop box links changed for several files in the guide. They have been updated now, so try again and let me know if it doesn't work this time.

 

Yes the page is on a wiki and anyone can edit it. There are some minimal restrictions on who can edit the wiki based on how many forum posts a user has made, but if you want to edit it yourself you can (or you can mention suggested additions in posts like the ones you have entered).