Original Support Topic (feel free to create more specific support topics)

[Kelmych]

Clear and Present Danger - A guide for modding Fallout 3

 

This thread is for reporting problems when using the "Clear and Present Danger guide for Fallout 3". This includes errors in the guide, problems in following the guide, problems with the mods included in the guide, and problems running Fallout 3 when following this guide.

 

Please post any problems such as these in this forum. It's also best to post them here vs. sending me a PM. Often I won't have an answer but the other readers of this forum might have a good answer.

[Brainfever]

Well about time someone would make a STEP-like modding guide for one of the best CRPG's ever made

 

 

So, here are some suggestions:

 

- A World Of Pain for FO3 is really a must-have you should consider adding it asap to the guide. On the other hand, I guess it's gonna need testing since the possibility of conflicting with the rest quest/ interiors expansion mods is very high.

 

- Franklin Metro Raider Bug Fix v1.0 [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/19759/? ] and Safe Regulator HQ v1.0 [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/11853/? ] should be added to the FIXES section since they are not included in the Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch and they are pretty useful and basic fixes.

 

- Here is a couple of mods that could be added as well since they are lore friendly and try to make the game more immersive and realistic:

 

  NPC-Confessor Cromwell has a Break EV _ DV [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/4660/? ]

  Sleep in Megatons Common House [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/18946/? ] 

- And some enhancement/texture mods that could fit/combined with the already included ones in your guide:

 

  Creatures/Critters:

 

  Vandr HD Creatures [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/18500/? ]

 

  Robot Revolution HD - Protectron [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/18902/? ]  Swampfolk Backwater Retexture [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/18894/? ]

 

  Glowing Ghouls - FO3 V1.0 [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/20321/? ] 

  Landscape/Areas/Clutter:

 

  Citadel Retextured 4096x4096 [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/13000/? ]

 

  Mothership Zeta DLC Retextured [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/8260/? ]

 

  UHQ Terrain Overhaul [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/19799/? ]

 

  Skill Books Hi-Res Retexture [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/19514/? ] (I prefer 6IX's retextures :) )

 

  Improved Glass Bullet Impact [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/13120/? ]

 

  Nuka-Cola Hi-Res Retexture [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/19276/? ]

 

  Retex_Gore [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/16940/? ]

 

  Retex_Gorycorpseparts [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/16927/? ]

 

  Retex_Brahmincorpsetrap [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/16933/? ]

 

  A Useful Metro Map - Texture Replacement [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/20005/? ]

 

  HD Smoky Fire and Explosions for FO3 [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/20053/? ]

 

Sounds/Music:

 

  Sounds From The Wasteland [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/17849/? ]

 

  Fallout 3 - HD Audio Overhaul [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/13055/? ]  Home brewed sound pack v1.2 [ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/12209/? ]

 

By the way, Wasteland clothing Hires retexture [ https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/54478/? ] works fine in FO3.

 

For the end I left probably the best weather mod for FO3, Weather for ENB - URWLENB FO3 [ https://www.moddb.com/mods/weather-for-enb-urwlenb-fo3 ] but it has one tiny disadvantage; it needs an ENB preset in order for the sky textures to appear properly(thus the mod's name -weather for enb-). I said "tiny" though cause in 2014 I believe everyone has the capability of running an ENB preset along with FO3 plus there are many performance friendly presets out there already. In fact with this weather/lighting mod you can actually disable Megaton Lighting Overhaul and Realistic Interior Lighting as well. Or you can disable this mod's plugins and let the others. It's up to the user.

 

 

PS. Lol I think my post was way off-topic. But anyway here's something that has to do with installing one of the existing mods in your guide. If I remember correct, Crowded Cities mod had an issue with the NPCs added by that mod causing them having white bodies or completely different head/body colors. The issue could be solved if CrowdedCities_v2.esp had its file header record flags changed to an ESM through FO3Edit.

 

Yep I confirmed its this mod. Take a look at the first page of the comments section in Crowded Cities page.

Edited August 19, 2014 by Brainfever

[bitdman]

FO3 Edit keeps hanging on this error, but I don't know why it's looking for it bcause I haven't, nor can I find a mod by that name. Does anyone know where or what mod this .esp goes to?

 

 

This problem is solved!

 

I found the mod with 5ALIVE in it on another site, but I dont think we need it.

[Kelmych]

This is part of the mod "20th Century Weapons". This mod is included in the Clear and Present Danger guide, but the instructions I meant to include said add the main plugin but you might want to move the "ALIVE' plugins to optional ESPs at least for now; it's hard enough to get everything working and balanced without adding the complexities that these plugins might yield since the author expected that they were loaded last so they could overwrite everything else. There are 2 compatibility mods in the guide that attempt to provide some balance in the weapon statistics. The ALIVE plugins change the weapons that are in the leveled lists that affect what NPCs receive and ones that are found in loot, and there aren't any "balance" plugins that affect these lists; the "balance" only affect the weapon properties. The ALIVE plugins change the leveled lists so the bulk of the weapons in the lists are the 20th century ones vs. a more varied mix. I'm not currently aware of any mods that expect these ALIVE plugins to be present. I've started to look at them, but some of them might introduce game balance issues. If you have a mod that wants to use them they are actually included when you installed the mod with MO. If you use them let me know how it works out.
 
The "20th Century Wpns -Plus- Reborn for FWE 603-WMK for FWE-Calibrv14-eXcalibrv23" also puts the weapons into leveled lists, and may be adequate without the ALIVE plugins to get the 20th century weapons distributed in the wasteland.

[Kelmych]

Also make sure that the three plugins with the word ''ALIVE'' in the "20th Century Wpns -Plus- Reborn for FWE 603-WMK for FWE-Calibrv14-eXcalibrv23" mod have been moved to optional. This was inadvertently left off the instructions for that mod (it's now fixed).

[perrob]

Hi folks. So, been almost pulling my hair out trying to get this to work as outlined, just cant do it.

As soon as I add FWE (part 1,2, and hotfix) and the DarnUI FWE patch, I get the 'can't skip intro / no main menu' bug. Even with no other mods active other than texture mods & darnified UI. 

 

Installing aHUD, iHUD, uHUD, after seems to make no difference to that.

[AcesofDeath7]

Look at the Filetree in dui f3a11 mod to ensure that the textures/fonts folder is there with all 20 font files listed.  I ran into this problem earlier and took a while to figure it out.

[perrob]

hi AcesofDeath7. Discovered those folders were empty - filled them back up and game loads properly now... as long as FWE & the FWE patched darnifiedui.esp aren't loaded.

[Kelmych]

The MO FOMM installer, unlike FOMM-fork, shouldn't be able to see the dui f3a11 folder. It shouldn't delete anything in the dui f3a11 folder when other programs are installed later. Were any other folders or files removed, or was it just the fonts folder?

 

At times I have thought that it would almost be easier sometimes to provide a list for the UI mods of what should remain at intermediate points in the installation so any missing or extraneous files/folders could be taken care of.

[perrob]

*every* file inside any subfolder in the darnified UI folder was gone. The .esp & readme etc in the bottom level were still there.

 

I've gotten a hold of the non-fork version of FOMM and if you think it's worth it I can try installing the whole of the UI section using it instead of FOMM - Fork. I've about half a mind to backup this entire installation, create a fresh one and do FOMM installs of the entire UI section using FOMM exclusively so I can create a big archive that can be installed in MO without all the intermediate steps & overwrites. 

 

Anyway, the bit I don't understand... this last attempt, all I've installed from the "The Need for Unified HUD Project" section is Darnified UI (i included the hotfix, although I know the fwe patch renders it obsolete - it lets me use the same mod listing whether FWE works or not), then FWE - part 1, 2, hotfix, and FWE DarnUI patch for FWE.  Why would this cause the no main menu bug? I'm not overwriting with any of the subsequent mods AFAICT.

 

edit: Tried adding Unified HUD Project to this using FOMM - Fork. Still get no main menu. If I un-check FWE on the left pane and make a new bashed patch then the game & menu both load just fine. This is nutso!

Edited August 30, 2014 by perrob

[Kelmych]

I haven't tried doing the UI installation with the latest MO; I know there have been some changes in the FOMM plugin it uses since the MO version I used.

 

If there is some way you can do so, try doing an clean installation with no other UI mods installed and note what happened after after each step starting with the dui f3 installation. The UI installation needs to be done with no mistakes, or you have to start from the beginning (Groundhog Day!). The main menu that you want Unified HUD to use comes from the FEW Darnified patch version, and if any mistakes are made or anything important is out of order this won't happen.

[perrob]

Cleared my F3 dir after making a backup. Used FOMM (old) to install all the 'unified' UI section until aHUD which required the newer version of FOMM to compile the script. Used the new FOMM to install aHUD, iHUD, and uHUD. Had *nothing* else installed. Manually added the [Fonts] section to fallout.ini. Game loads, menu works, all good!

 

Made a rar file containing only the files installed by all those mods, reverted to previous installation from backup, added new mod archive into my MO as a complete 'mod'. Guess what? Still no frickin' main menu !!!

 

I dunno. I get the feeling something is over-riding some required changes. It's not a file overwrite as I'd see that in MO. I'm going to try to narrow things down later today. Maybe try putting the FWE compatible DarnUI esp at the end of the load order. Or try without a bashed patch.

Edited August 31, 2014 by perrob

[perrob]

following on from last post:

 

Stripped back install to fixes, UI mods (inc supplemental), textures, and the Fallout HD sound thing. Same problem. No main menu.

Removed bashed patch. Main menu appears!! Game seems to be working almost fine, buuuut...

 

Now my pipboy's display is blank. When I press B to open it, it does -for a split second- appear, then it's like its covered over by a black rectangle the exact size of the display. Can only see it if I open & close pipboy quickly. The bottom row of the pipboy flashes on then seems to be covered over or blanked out. 

 

I have no idea how to fix this. Any help would be hugely appreciated.

 

Also, no idea why the bashed patch would cause the main menu not to work. I followed the instructions on the guide exactly. TBH, just getting the game to work with FWE and some nice textures + a few fixes would be fine for right now. If I could just get the pipboy to display anything. Oh... the chargen display was blank too, though I could use my controller to go through the options as if they were there & select/build a character from memory. All the surrounding chargen & pipboy textures are there and working correctly. Just the little fuzzy screens are blank.

[Kelmych]

There is a pipboy bug (I've had it happen) where the pipboy screen gets "washed out" with bright light. Turning the pipbpoy light on and off (tab key for a second or two) a few times sometimes fixes this. What you describe is a little different but I suppose could be related.

 

Make sure the Display settings seem reasonable. Make you have selected "Large" for texture size.

 

I'm assuming that the startup screen after launch is OK and that the pipboy on the lower left that DarNUI adds is there.

 

I think I'll post a screenshot of the all the files in the main UI set for others to compare theirs with.

[Kelmych]

I added in the guide a pointer to a set of screenshots of the UI mod menu folders after Unified HUD was installed. They are here. Perhaps this might help you.

[perrob]

I'm pretty sure it's not the brightness bug, the pipboy is its usual self other than the display being blacked out. Brightness setting is slightly below centre. Textures set to Large. 

 

The main menu is fine. Pipboy appears at bottom left just before main menu loads. DarnUI works fine. I'll have a look at those screenshots and try comparing but I didn't install most of the UI section though as I was trying to keep things as simple as possible. dUI, FWE, and FWE patch for dUI. I've tried adding uHUD to that, with no impact at all.

 

like i said, for that tiny split second - just a few ms at most - the pipboy display is there & looks clear. It just gets blacked out almost instantly on opening. it does this every time I 'open' the pipboy.