1. Description
2. Features
3. FAQ
4. Installation
5. Recommendations
6. Compatibility
7. To Do List
8. Credits
9. Disclaimer

Please read everything thoroughly for the best experience using this mod.



Jack's Fallout Overhaul is an overhaul that attempts to bring a different, possibly better style of gameplay to Fallout 4 through a mixture of realism, lore, and RPGness.

Compared to other Overhauls, this mod isn't just a 'change a bunch of numbers' overhaul, JFO seeks to add in things to fill some voids as well as change things to be a lot better or to how it really should to be.  You will have new ways of doing certain things, have things that felt meaningless before have better meaning, and things that really shouldn't be that way are no longer that way.  In other words, this will be like FOOK, Project Nevada, and After War Nevada from Fallout New Vegas, or even Requiem from Skyrim.  If you still don't understand, move on to the features section for the gist of what this mod does.

Currently JFO is in alpha as this mod is far from where I want it to be and it's certainly not perfect, but don't be discouraged if you think that this mod is unplayable or not worth playing because of that status.  If you still feel doubtful, then don't be reluctant to track this mod as it develops and try it at a later time after I iron out the core features which, giving a rough estimate, will be after A.1.5.


 
This mod changes and adds a lot of things and I can't possibly list them all here, so I'll state most of the the more important changes that you'll need to know before jumping in.

TL;DR (Skip this paragraph for more details.)

Combat is overall deadlier.  Difficulty has been revamped. Weapons and weapon mods have been completely reworked.  Enemies have a more consistent stats, (e.i. no inappropriate bullet sponges) as well as a few new types of them with new weaknesses tailored for the each and every type of NPC.  Legendary Enemies are less legendary. Perks are also being reworked for better balance and progression.  Your player-character will have more derived stats like random critical hits and health regeneration, as well as your SPECIAL affecting more derived stats, like movement speed and bash damage. They've also 'forgot' how to do certain things like pick novice locks and hack basic computers.  Loading Screens will also be worked on to be better, as well as the help section.

Deadly Combat

Combat is overall deadlier.  Majority of enemies (and you) will generally die in a few shots unless they/you are well armored or are naturally resistant to the type of damage your dishing out.  Limb damage has been modify to enhance weak-points in opponents that are both logical and rewarding.  Taking the human body for example, damage dealt do the head will be multiplied by x5, to the torso: x1.25, the Legs: x1, and the arms: x0.625.  This scale also affects your character, so be careful when you stick your head out of cover.

Difficulty has been revamped to the following for a more reasonable adjustment of difficulty:

• Very Easy - Player takes 80% reduced damage and earn 40% experience.
• Easy - Player takes 60% reduced damage and earn 60% experience.
• Normal - Player takes 40% reduced damage and earn 80% experience
• Hard - Player takes 20% reduced damage, healing items take twice as long to heal, and earn 100% experience.
• Very Hard - Player takes full damage, healing items take 4x as long to heal, and earn 120% experience. 
• Survival - Player takes full damage, all around damage is increased by 50%, healing items take 10x as long to heal, and experience is earned at 150%.. 
  

If your trying this mod out for the first time, I recommend playing on Hard and adjust from there.  If you find that combat is too easy, try it on Very Hard before making a comment about it as the name of the game here is shoot first and don't be shot.

Consistent Enemies

In Vanilla, you could encounter some high-level human enemies that had more health than a Behemoth.  This is no longer the case in JFO, as every NPC now has a set amount of stats they are loosely restricted to.  They've also been made a little smarter as far as detection of the player goes, where they can spot you from much farther away (Those Raiders on top of the Corvega Factory will surprise you with their potshots, even if you were avoiding Lexington) and if they happen to find you and you give them the slip, they will make a better, longer attempt to find you.  They've been deleveled to a greater extent, where you can encounter almost any kind of enemy no matter your level, where instead tougher enemies spawn simply by chance. Vanilla Legendary Enemies are no longer considered Legendary, at least not in name.  Lets instead call these Special Enemies, as the Legendary prefix have been removed from enemies names, so they can blend in with similar enemies better, and they no longer instantly heal up when their health is down to half, instead it's triggered when they receive any kind of damage, except for killing blows of course.  Many creatures around the wasteland will have logical strengths and weaknesses, which means that some weapons will be more effective on them than others.  For instance, fire kills bugs really well, and anything cold-blooded will be very damaged by cryo damage.  Death drops will also be enhanced, and even be more specific such as irradiated meat found on glowing animals, infected meat found on infected animals, etc.

A more believable Player-Character

In vanilla, when your character walks out of that cryo-pod, he/she suddenly knows how to fire/fix/change every weapon known in the Boston area, both public and classified, erect large structures from common household items, make miracle drugs from blood and toothpaste, jump into
power armor as if it was a bicycle, pick locks with just a bobby pin, build and hack into computers... I could keep going, but I think you get
the point.  This mod will aim to make the player less like Vault Boy (with all his silliness) to more like you and me; a man/woman who's been
dropped in a time he/she just wasn't prepared for, equipped only with common knowledge (skills, planned), personal traits (planned) and their
attributes (S.P.E.C.I.A.L.) to take on the new world before them to find their son!  Only as you level up, will you begin to acquire the skills necessary to do certain things.  To aid in this, many rules involving the player have been changed:

• SPECIAL Training has been limited to just 5 uses per character, just like in previous games.
• Health is no longer gained per level (true for NPCs as well) and is solely based on your Endurance, but can still be temporarily increased by items that improve max health.
• The player now has a VERY slow health regeneration and rad absorption that's dependent on your Endurance and is significantly slower in Survival mode.
• Random Critical Hits (outside of V.A.T.S.) also make a return which is influenced by your luck and the weapon you wield.  Similar to previous games, the formula generally goes as shown: Luck x Weapon Modifier.
• Use of the Critical Meter found in V.A.T.S. is disabled by default (I've set the charge to 0) and is unlocked when you invest in the first rank of Critical Banker (Luck 7). Note that other perks that reward a banked critical hit can still be received and used through V.A.T.S.
• Speaking of V.A.T.S., the player takes more damage in V.A.T.S., from 10% damage taken to 50%.
• Radiation Sickness returns to penalize your SPECIAL as well as your max health if you've gained excessive amounts of rads.  Currently this isn't displayed in the pip-boy or shown with messages and will be updated to do so in the next version.
• The player also possesses natural ingested rads resistance (if you didn't know there are two types of rads resistances) that lowers rads from foods and is influenced by Endurance (at this point investing in Endurance sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?)
• Fall damage has been altered for the following situation: for the average person, a one-story fall can hurt somewhat, a two-story fall is livable and may break a leg assuming you started with good health, but a three-story fall is usually fatal.  Increasing your Agility will reduce your fall damage, and vice versa: your more likely to fall flat on your face with lower Agility.
• Bash damage is affected by Strength as well as unarmed damage.
  

Better Weapons

One of the goals for this overhaul is to create some diversity among weapons, to make each gun feel better and unique in both purpose and function, but will still fall into their category well.  In addition, weapons are made to behave more closely to their real life counterpart, or at least their predicted behavior.  A general list of changes for weapons are provided in the forums section, as I can't fit everything in this description.  Pipe Weapons are really crummy guns that can explode in your face if its not well made, but will do in a pinch.  Ballistic guns are high in variety, both in ammo types and roles, and are overall great weapons, but are uncommon to find.  Laser weapons perform better overall than comparable conventional guns while sharing only a single ammo type or two, but altogether are much harder to find.  Plasma weapons are a rare treat, being devastating weapons if you happen to make a well-placed shot.

Certain Ammo like [Micro]Fusion Cells now act more like batteries in the sense that each cell can provide a certain number of shots for the weapon (Very similar to Fusion Cores).  This number is affected by certain factors like the weapons mods and weapon type.  Currently implementation lacks a charge percentage that's found on the Fusion Core, so all ammo affected by this mechanic are found at full charge.  I've made this feature standalone as found here: Fusion Cells are Batteries.

Melee weapons are significantly more damaging, and can have different tactics depending on the weapon.  Bladed weapons (Combat Knife, Machete, etc.) are better for weak characters as they have a higher base damage and inflicts variable bleeding to your targets.  Blunt weapons (Tire Iron, Baseball Bat, Sledgehammer, etc) are recommended for high strength characters as they receive more bonus damage from strength (Each Strength gives Bladed weapons +10%, while Blunts receive +30% per strength) and can stagger much better then bladed weapons.  Certain mods on blunt weapons can change it into a bladed weapon (such as saw blades on a bat) and thus will lose the strength bonus.

Explosives are far more dangerous than before, including to the player.  Differences between the grenade and mine have been rebalanced to where grenades are handy for quick use and provides a good punch, and mines have much more destructive power, but would be harder to use effectively (You've got to lure your foes into them).  Nuclear weapons can especially wreak havoc to anything caught in its radius, which is much wider than vanilla.  Typically these will kill most anyone within its main radius, burn those just outside of it, and will leave behind lingering radiation where the explosion took place.  So if you hear that distinct whistle coming at you, say your prayers.

Better Weapon and Armor Modifications

In order to make weapon and armor modifications more interesting and have deeper meaning, I've tailored every weapon to have more unique mods. E.g. There's not a Light/Heavy Receiver for every single gun in the game.  Many weapon mods, like most receivers, were pointless since there was always that one go-to mod for every weapon (I'm looking at you advanced receiver).  This is especially true if you're at a high level with all 4 ranks of Gun Nut.  Now nearly every mod will end up trading one stat for another, so you can really customize your weapon, rather then just plain upgrade it.  The most common example you'll find is choosing between short and long barrels, where you can either have speed (better rate of fire, lower AP cost, and aiming time) or damage and accuracy, respectively. There will still be a few mods that are superior to others, but they'll likely be harder to get/craft then the others.

A similar change has been made for weapon and armor materials like baseball bats and most armor pieces,  where you can no longer craft change a specific material type of an object with generic materials and now are more collectable than made.

One important note, if you're going to change the caliber of your gun, be sure to have enough material to make a new mag to fit it, because guns with detachable magazines (Combat Rifle, Hunting Rifle, etc.) can now have their mags detached (null) like muzzles, and have different sizes (calibers) of them, and your gun won't be able to fire until a proper mag is in place.  If you're going to change the caliber of your gun, be sure to have enough material to make a new mag to fit it.

Better Armor

Armors have been reworked to be a little more diverse than before in addition to being rebalanced (Much work remains for the rework, so far only numbers are rebalanced).  For the main armor pieces, the three categories have been renamed to better reflect their status, which are Light Armor(Light Combat Chest Piece), Normal Armor (Combat Chest Piece), and Heavy (Heavy Combat Chest Piece) and these should no longer be overwritten by certain mods on them for better scavenging. More work to make each armor more diverse will take place, such as heavier armors slowing you down and such.

Revamped Perks

Perks no longer remove elements of the game that had added depth to it, like (Immune) Limb damage, (Infinite) Underwater breathing, and [Un]breakable Lockpicks, but instead either come close to it or approaches it a different way. 

Perks that increased damage has been greatly nerfed in power so that by the end of the game, you can still do decently well with a pistol even if you fully invested into the Rifleman perk and none in the Gunslinger perk (unlike vanilla, where it would be very hard to have fun with a pistol in that situation). Weapon perks also have better accuracy as the main focus of the perk.

Perks will also be adjusted in a way where the more you invest, the better the perk.  E.g. Toughness Rank 1 starts out with a small +2DR, but dramatically increased to +6, +12, +20, and finally +30DR.

Better Companions

Companions have been tweaked to have a better variety between them.  SPECIALs have been assigned to them that reflect their character and physical appearance.  Some have been given better and/or different weapons, so now you won't find two characters with the same weapon.  In line with that, they've also been given perks that will make them more effective with some weapons better then others.  Also, the down time for when companions lose all their health (e.i. Bleed out) has been increased to a good minute, which also applies to essential npcs, so don't be shocked if your companion doesn't get up right away, they need some time to recuperate.  Combat styles will get worked on eventually and will really make a difference in choosing the better companion for you.

Better Medicine, Foods, and Drinks

Items in the aids sections will behave a little closer to their real life counterparts (Most of this is still W.I.P., so this is a little vague for now).  Animals will drop more meat in vanilla, so characters can keep nourished for a while if they bag a good size animal (Especially beneficial for Survival plays).  Cooking those meat will mostly eliminate the radiation found in them (not completely) and the majority of them won't exactly have super stats, but for food items that take more then 1 ingredient in its recipe, it will see some additional bonuses to better reward making complex food recipes.  Certain foods and medicine can also be found in more than one serving/dose, such as finding a full box of Mentats that contains 10 pills for you to use when needed, but that will also mean that they will be much harder to find generally to balance things out.

Misc

Messages are now displayed in First Person.  E.g. "You can't exit your Power Armor here" is now "I can't exit my Power Armor here".  This will seek to make loading screen tips more immersive, more interesting/informative, and less spoiling.  The help section (found in the pause menu)
will also be updated with JFO logic so you are less likely to come back here every time need to remember a detail.



Q: Will this cover Official DLCs?
A: Right now, current DLC support only resolves major conflicts.  I'm still deciding whether or not JFO should require the all major DLCs (Automatron, Far Harbor, Nuka-World) for the best integration of features, or just have separate plug-ins for each DLC for better modularity (which honestly would be a lot more work, so I'm leaning towards requiring DLCs).  If you find that you like this mod enough to comment, please state how this would affect you.  It will help a lot.

Q: Will this be on Bethesda.net?
A: At this time, No it will not be.  Wait till JFO is more developed then I will judge if it's even possible to have it at Bethesda.net.

New/'Still trying to get the hang of it' Modders

1.  Download and install Nexus Mod Manager.
2.  Once set up, download this mod into Nexus Mod Manager by pressing the green "Download through NMM" button in the Files section.
3.  Click open the Mod Tab at the top of NMM, find Jack's Fallout Overhaul, double-click it to Install it.
4.  Go into the Plug-ins Tab at the top of NMM and make sure that Jack's Fallout Overhaul is activated [checked].
5.  The installation includes patches for Official DLCs Far Harbor and Nuka-World, uncheck those patches if you do not have them.
5.  Make sure that JFO is placed at the bottom of the load order by dragging it down the list, if it's not letting you do that, move the DLC patches down first, then the main plug-in.
6.  Start Fallout 4 up.
7.  Click New Game. (Do not load up a previous game, unpredictable things will happen to that save.)
8.  Enjoy.

Veteran/D.I.Y. Modders

You know what to do.

Patches and load order

The main download of JFO includes patches for Far Harbor and Nuka-World, but for patches for other mods, look under Optional in the Download Section for a file called 'Jack's Fallout Overhaul - Patches'.  You'll want to download this file if you have another mod in your load order that conflicts with JFO but that I cover under these patches.  Being relatively new, there is only one patch currently, but it will grow with time.  It also lacks a installer since the number is so few, so you'll have to sort through the ones that you don't need.  Here is the suggested load order with all of the current patches and recommended plug-ins.

• Fallout4.esm
• RobotDLC.esm  (Official DLC - Automatron)
• Workshop01.esm  (Official DLC - Wasteland Workshop )
• CoastDLC.esm  (Official DLC - Far Harbor)
• Workshop02.esm  (Official DLC - Contraptions Workshop)
• Workshop03.esm  (Official DLC - Vault Workshop)
• NukaWorld.esm (Official DLC - Nuka-World)
• Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch.esp^
• <Other compatible mods>
• EveryonesBestFriend.esp^
• Some Assembly Required.esp^
• Jack's Fallout Overhaul - Main.esp  (My Main Mod)
• Jack's Fallout Overhaul - Far Harbor.esp (Included in Main Mod Download)
• Jack's Fallout Overhaul - Nuka-World.esp (Included in Main Mod Download)
• LooksMenu Customization Compendium.esp*
• <Mods that you wish to override JFO> (Don't put mods here unless you know what your doing.)
• JFO - LMCC Patch.esp**
  

^ = recommended mod, * = a patchable mod, ** = a patch for a mod




These mods I have deem worthy to work with alongside my mod.  (This will grow once I start making compatibility patches)

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch by Arthmoor and his team
A great mod by a great author that will squash most bugs you come across.  Place this as high in the load order as it can go.

Everyone's Best Friend by Valdacil
A nice little mod to let you travel with dogmeat and another companion at the same time, just like in previous games.  This can go anywhere in your load order really.

Gatling Laser and Fusion Core Ammo Fix by IDontEvenKnow
IDontEvenKnow has extended support to JFO so now your inventory won't get cluttered by all those Microfusion Cells that have various levels of charge.




Many things were touched to meet this mod's goals, like weapons, mods, armors, aids, npcs (companions included), perks, leveled lists (loot drops) just to name the majority.  So if its not in my recommended list just above this, then obviously I suggest you don't play with any other mod, especially if you're going to be submitting bug reports and such.  If you see anything that may be added to this list, please comment about it as these are just the ones off the top of my head, and I don't have the time to test each and every mod for compatibility right now.

Compatible

• Darker Nights or an equivalent mod. I would almost recommend True Nights, but it's your choice.
• Any and all retexture Mods (unless its edits the mesh).
• Mods that adds things through World or Interior Edits (I haven't touched anything in the world yet).
• Mods that add in a new system that don't rely on anything vanilla. (Like a Bullet Time Mod)
  

Works with Patches

• LooksMenu Customization Compendium - patch found in JFO - Patches under Optional Download
  

Works but needs patching

• New Standalone Weapons that are delivered through scripts are fine, but will likely be over/under-powered to be used in JFO. For weapons that are reasonably balanced for vanilla, just attach their advanced receiver and it should do for the time being.
• New Standalone Armors are generally fine as well, but will be over/under-powered.
  

Incompatible

• Obviously other overhauls that do the same/similar thing as JFO like "Better Locational damage", "Plausible Weights", "Full Weapon Rebalance", etc.
• Any Mod that must touch the entries mentioned above for it to function or work well.
• Weapon/Armor Replacers that replaces Vanilla weapons/armors.
• Any 'LooksMenu' mod that adds new hairstyles/face details by editing the Human Race.  If you place these mods after JFO, you will get their new looks, but the player and human NPCs will be weaker in health then intended (vanilla/overwritten base health=40, JFO base health=100) along with other very minor effects.  It's possible to patch this however.
  

This list will update if any significant and popular mods are shown to be incompatible.




This mod has a long way to go before its considered "done", so don't be afraid to make suggestions about a certain aspect of the game that needs improvement.  If you do make a suggestion, please be descriptive about the idea.  If you would like to help me in any way, I got most things covered besides Scripting, Meshes/Textures, and advanced uses of quests.  I'm have a basic understanding for these thing, but to pull off some bigger stuff (look below), some expert help would be greatly appreciated.  PM me for more information.

Here's a rough draft on what more to expect out of this mod.  None of this is concrete , so things can and will likely change.

I'm currently remaking to mod to integrate Ammotweaks as well as the 3 major DLCs

Next few Updates:  Have all Weapons, Weapon Mods, Armors, Armor Mods, and Aids Items pretty well finalized.  Also overhaul support for all the major DLCs will be done in the later A.1s. (likely A.1.6-8)  Here's a general list of major things I'll be working on till A.2.0.

• Finish rebalancing ranged weapons, primarily through accuracy at this point.
• Rebalance Melee Weapon Reach.
• Rebalance Foods and medicines.
  

Update A.2.0: Effective rebalancing of the crafting system will begin here. Everything related to crafting, from recipes to components to crafting perks will be covered in this update. A lot of new Component types and junk items will be added and things will be put together more realistically.  This update will take while, as there is much to edit, but I do look forward to it as well.  Any kind of crafting pertaining to settlements(structures) won't be forfilled till A.4.0.

Update A.3.0:  Effective rebalancing of Settlements. Might even introduce an optional plug-in that will up the challenge of settlements by imposing realistic circumstances to Settlement building.  E.g., To build a shining, working fridge, you'll need to start with a solid fridge husk and use additional parts to fix it up, cause you're not going to build that husk out of scrap.)

Update A.4.0:  Effective rebalancing of loot drops and store inventories. Possibility of nothing in a container will be large without investing in scavenging perks. Plus Loot will be a lot more... predictable, e.t. you're not going to find a lot of gold watches in toolboxes, just once in a long while.

Update B.1.0 (B = Beta):  Great additions that involves editing the game world like additional spawns, placement/removals of items, new random encounters (Wild Wasteland :D ), and new small locations are all possible.  Game World/Cell edits will likely be a separate plug-in for compatibility reasons.

Update O.1.0 (O = Official Release):  Version of the game when JFO is considered stable. Compatibility work with many popular mods will take place after this version.

Additional Game Elements that I plan on expanding/changing but is yet to be determined when it will be in the mod, primarily because I'm still figuring out how I want to go about these.

• Cannibalism
• Power Armor
• Healing System
• Legendary Status, Effects and Weapon drops.
• Ammo Types
• Companion Interaction.
  

Bigger Things I'm really hoping to implement in someway somewhere along the line once I figure a good way to do it:

• The addition/integration of Skills, Traits, and additional, one rank perks.
• Good, simple way of implementing weapon durability, need to figure a way to degrade, I've got everything else thought out.
• Possibly introduce a 'simpler' Survival Mode (Hardcore Mode).
• My own version of 'Alternate Start'. Likely during Beta if Skills and such are in place.
  

Bethesda for creating Fallout 4 and the Creation Kit (even if Fallout 4 isn't perfect).
All Staff of Nexus for creating and hosting such a wonderful site for mods.
[Wants to remain Anonymous] who helped with ideas and testing.
Kotlecik for inspiration in making the overhaul that sits before you.

The Following Mods for inspiration (still working on the full list)

• All of Zzyxzz's Mods: Better Locational Damage/Explosives/Perks/Power Armor, and Give Me that Bottle. They are all great mods for making Fallout 4 a generally better game.
• MM137's Search and Destroy
  

This mod makes a lot of changes and uses scripts, so it would be best to make a new game when using this mod.  I highly don't recommend loading an existing save with JFO or things may fail/not happen.  Like when dealing with ANY mod, in the unfortunate event that mishaps/damage to software and/or hardware occurs while using this mod, YOU are responsible.  Not that it's in anyway likely to happen, just a disclaimer.

For Permissions, just view the PERMS button found in the Actions section under the Unique D/Ls statistic.

Any features found in JFO that may be similar to another mod, both large and small, are simply inspired from it (which was credited above), or even a common idea that was formed by several, like-minded people at around the same time (aka coincidence).  I would never blatantly rip off someone else's content/scripting to implement without permission.  All content not created by me will be credited appropriately.