Recommended mods?

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:33 am

galraen wrote:I didn't bother with FWE as I don't want to turn the game into even more of a FPS than it is already. Obviously, from the popularity of that mod the game has attracted a lot of Shooter fans.

What? The entire point of FWE is to improve upon the badly expressed RPG elements in Fallout 3. Skills play a much more vital role and tie back to ability scores more that they did before. Sleeping, eating and drinking are features you don't usually even find in RPG's. Yes, it adds a number of FPS features in the game too, but all the old features and presets are still there, and nearly of all the new stuff can be turned off, or safely ignored.

Rad · Post by **Rad** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:51 am

Most of the mods I'm running are mostly small bug fixes, but these are the main ones that aren't:

- Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM) & Fallout Script Extender (FOSE). Not mods but these are "must haves".

- Fallout Stutter Remover. Though not as big a deal as it was in Oblivion, it still helps. Requires FOSE.

- Black Wolf Backpacks. They look cool, and for a scavenger, these are a must.

- A heavily modified and customized version of the abandoned "Classic Fallout Weapons Beta". My version integrates the weapons and ammo better, improves the repair lists, and replaces a few stock weapons (the combat shotgun is now a Saiga, the 10mm SMG is now a MAC 10, etc). Felt the game needed more weapon variety, and it was a good starting point that I've built on. Integrates the DLCs as well. Kinda a one stop shop for every weapon mod I have (if I like it, it get's merged into this one).

- Cross Repair Armor. Tweaked it a bit, but it's a improvement over vanilla. Also includes all DLC armors.

- Arwen XPR. This one reduces XP awards, so it slows down leveling. I always thought you level too fast in vanilla FO3, this fixes it.

- DarnifiedUI for FO3. A PC interface instead of the nasty console one.

EDIT: Forgot a couple because they don't have plug-ins.

- Fallout3 Reanimated. New weapon idle and holding animations that look SO much better than vanilla.

- Can't remember the name of it, but it moves the holstered pistol and (optionally) 1 hand melee weapon holstered positions. Comes with a pistol holster as well.

Those are the major ones.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:41 pm

Tricky wrote:What? The entire point of FWE is to improve upon the badly expressed RPG elements in Fallout 3. Skills play a much more vital role and tie back to ability scores more that they did before. Sleeping, eating and drinking are features you don't usually even find in RPG's. Yes, it adds a number of FPS features in the game too, but all the old features and presets are still there, and nearly of all the new stuff can be turned off, or safely ignored.

Well in the description on Nexus it clearly states that it improves the FPS aspects and nerfs VATS.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:49 pm

galraen wrote:For some reason there isn't a sticky for mod recommendations in this forum so I guess I'll use this thread.

Good point, and remedied.

@All:

Since I've now stickied this thread so it can act as a resource, please try to keep things reasonably OT so it serves as a hub for people looking for mods.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 3:30 pm

I suggest you give Detailed Changes - Fallout 3 Wanderers Edition a read for the full word on what was changed. I will only say this about combat elements in FWE:

The only major additions to FPS combat is a running mod that consumes Action Points (I thought I wouldn't like this since I walk by default, but it has grown on me since), a 'bullet-time' mod that also consumes point (but I never really find need for). Other mods and tweaks make combat (and healing yourself from it) a much more unforgiving experience (note: which can still be disabled/set to vanilla default)
Strangely enough this makes players much more serious about alternative solutions to a given situation. Facing an entire battalion of Enclave troopers can really be just as stupid as it sounds. So you could even say that the changes in combat encourage people to use their skills before their brawn. :laugh:

I think FWE is just about the best mod I've ever played for any game, in terms of added value. Installation can be a bit tricky though, I recommend going over the tutorial videos posted in its Tesnexus download page.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:30 pm

Installation can be a bit tricky though

I realised that, which was the final straw.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:34 pm

Update on RobCo Certified. I was really enjoying this mod until I got to the Zeta Plugin. Unfortunately even with the latest version of the mod, latest versions of FOSE and FOMM the mod causes a CTD at the end of the 'Beam up' cut scene.

Sadly the mod no longer appears to be supporte3d, so if you like to use the Zeta plugin, avoid this mod, or activate it after finishing Zeta.

I've also completed another mod Project Genesis. This is a very well executed load of rubbish! No bugs, only one slightly uber weapon, but the storyline is absolutely stupid, and the final 'dungeon' contains a ridiculous puzzle maze and to make matters worse the 'dungeon' is a lock-in. Not recommended.

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:48 pm

Marts Mutant Mod is a nice one. Get all the meanest options, and suddenly ghould infested metro is fun.

Edit : Ah, damn it. The thread is so old that i didn't even remember that i already posted about this one. Still, it deserves to be mentioned twice anyway. Dozens upon dozens of ghouls swarming you endlessly is fun.

Lemmus · Post by **Lemmus** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:29 am

I agree on MMM, I consider that a must have, although I will vary certain options depending on the run-through. Mods I recommend that aren't mentioned above are:

- (Dree's) More Perks & Ultimate Perk Pack
Some of these are a bit over the top or slightly exploitive, but most have the limited usefulness and general feeling of vanilla perks. UPP also includes quest and experience perks, so for example if you use a lot of chems you will eventually increase their duration.
More Perks - Fallout New Vegas Mods - Planet Fallout
Ultimate Perk Pack at Fallout 3 Nexus - Fallout 3 mods and community

- Starting Energy Weapons
Puts some laser pistols on guards in the vault. Could be seen as mildly exploitive since they are at full repair which is very valuable that early in the game, but it makes sense for the vaults to have decent tech.
Starting Energy Weapon at Fallout 3 Nexus - Fallout 3 mods and community

- Rockville Commons
New town with 12 quests, fully voiced, and a player house after completing either a good or evil quest-line.
Rockville Commons - Fallout New Vegas Mods - Planet Fallout

- RobCo Universal Battery Charger Kit
There are a few mods like this, I find this one to be the most useful without being exploitive. Once found, the charger lets you drain energy from ammo then charge another ammo type. You must have at least one of the target type.
RobCo Battery Recharger at Fallout 3 Nexus - Fallout 3 mods and community

- Other Stuff:
* If using MMM or similar, you'll want a Slower levelling mod.
Slower Levels at Fallout 3 Nexus - Fallout 3 mods and community
* Depending on how many side-quests you do, you may want to increase the max. level.
Level Cap Increaser Skill Workaround at Fallout 3 Nexus - Fallout 3 mods and community (so skills can pass 100)
Level Cap Workaround at Fallout 3 Nexus - Fallout 3 mods and community (max level)
* With combat oriented characters, or if you don't pack-rat stuff, you may want a slower degradation mod.
New Slower Degradation at Fallout 3 Nexus - Fallout 3 mods and community

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:08 pm

Wow, I just found out that Fallout Nexus cforums are a complete waste of space. Saying anything critical on there of a mod, without any expletives mind you, and you wacked for flaming!

I went there to post a work around for the RobCo Certified Zeta bug, only to find a snotty message form a dipstick mod!

I was going to post the work around here anyway, now it will only be here.

I found that if you disable all the Robco mods in FOMM before approaching the site the 'beam up' cutscene works just fine. You can then save, reactivate the mods, (important, make sure you also activate the updater ESP) and the only problem is you lose your The Mechanist Armour if you had it.*

the Zeta quest then ran perfectly. However on exiting I found my 'bots no longer followed me, so had to resort to going through the deactivate, reactivate process again.

Is the mod worth all that effort? I think so. Yes it does have the potential for making combat too easy, but that's within your control, and the counter is that you get less experience if the 'bots join you in combat of course.

It does give you the opportunity to role play a computer nerd, who couldn't zap his way out of a wet paper bag. :laugh:

*I simply loaded the mechanist mod in the editor (through FOSE, it tells you how in FOSE's readme), created a quest with one stage, inserted

player.additem a0aMechanistPA 1

into the result Script box. Then in game opened the consle and typed in Setstage 01RA 10, 01RA being the ID I gave the quest, and 10 being the stage number I used.

PS Is there anywhere else that one can download mods from where they don't have the 'Gamespot' attitude that they have at Nexus?

Rad · Post by **Rad** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:16 pm

galraen wrote:Wow, I just found out that Fallout Nexus cforums are a complete waste of space. Saying anything critical on there of a mod, without any expletives mind you, and you wacked for flaming!

That's odd. Must be a douche of a mod, because I've never had an issue with posting constructive criticism over at the Nexus. Sorry it happened to you.

Lemmus · Post by **Lemmus** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:15 am

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience Galraen. That policy at Nexus is the reason that I use them as little as possible. I try to do my downloads from PlanetFallout (dot) gamespy (dot) com, since Planet Elder Scrolls has always been my favourite site for those games. Unfortunately, some things just don't appear there.

PlanetFallout's message boards do allow actual comments, with normal forum rules (no harassment, porn, material under copyright, etc.). The Nexus used to state their rules for comments on the front page, but I guess that they decided that was too easy. Put simply, the attitude seems to be "If you can't say anything nice then shut the cluck up!". I've always had the feeling that they might tend to draw, or have in the past, a younger audience, and these rules were necessary to maintain control. Somewhere along the line, though, the decided to enforce the letter of the rules instead of the spirit.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:37 pm

The modder has responded to my criticism, and if he'd thrown a wobbly I could have understood it, after all he (and others) have spent a long time and effort putting the mod together. He didn't though, controlled his obvious disappointment, and asked me to clarify what I found wrong with the story.

I do find it unfortunate that I did find the story deteriorated rapidly towards the end, because there was a lot of very good work done on the mod. But if we can't call a spade a spade when commenting on the mod for the benefit of other potential users, what's the point of allowing comments at all. Evidently the site owner has joined in the debate now, it'll be interesting to see how she/he reacts.