03.24's update has arrived, a little overdue but better late than never :D Some key QoL fixes & some great new additions. Changelog below & article updated.
Spoiler:
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03.24
---Added---
Part 1: Steam Overlay Enabler Part 1: Bethesda Plugin Manager for Mod Organizer Part 2: F3TF - Fallout 3 Tick Fix Part 9: 3DNPC Followers Relax Part 17: DC Npc's Part 17: Mutated Confessor Cromwell Part 27: Action for Men Part 28: Level 50 Cap - ESPless Part 28: Misc. Gamesetting Tweaks
---Updated---
Part 1: Added [HAVOK] to Falloutcustom.ini Part 2: iStewie Tweaks INI (changed tick fix to 0) Part 3: Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch (ESM Hotfix 3.3.6) Part 5: Fallout 3 HD Ovehaul Mothership Zeta v.1.01 Part 26: ATMOS Ambient Sound Overhaul v.1.1 Part 28: Fugacity - Vanilla-Plus Balance and Difficulty Overhaul v.1.1.1 Part 28: Perks - From New Vegas v.1.3 Part 28: NS Perks v.1.3.5 Part 31: LO Updated
---Removed---
Part 28: Level 50 Mod Appendix: Fixed 'Minor stutter from LODs in heavy open areas'
You're so dang nice lol! I'm now having trouble with darnifieds first tooltip popup screen, when first hitting pause, not closing when I click the button to do so.. also at the beginning baby sequence where you are born, dr. li and james just stare at you while pop ups from mods come in... is there a way to fix that?
Oh I see now we are on to nitpicking eh If I could figure out what you mean about the tooltip I could test mine but I haven't had any issues with darn at all. Popups from mods would likely take another mod to stop too (like a dlc delayer does) and I didn't notice anything that bothered me when I played through the whole game! In fact, Mr Lix did a remarkable job bringing FO3 back to life I'd say!
i installed the delay dlc mod from the guide, but at the very beginning pop ups still happen before the baby born sequence.. hopefully i did it right, but the image of the screen should be in the picture i tried to provide lol
Of note, and one thing to look at is the DUI Grenade Addon in part 28, as it overwrites some menu .xml's from Darn. Masterlix has instructions to change <eq> 9 </eq> to <eq> 8 </eq>. This is in the pause menu too. And he says this "Note it is unresponsive at the main menu; the menu is invoked once ingame."
This is exactly what happens in my game. Unresponsive at the main menu but works fine once ingame. So don't try to invoke from main menu! Edit: One more thing...Darn was pretty buggy in New Vegas until Roy Batty and friends did a lot of work on it. Needless to say, no one has worked on the FO3 version that I know of, and Darn hasn't modded in years. Doubt it works with FO3 since there is an MCM for FNV lol ModDB link
I'm having the strangest issue as I go through this list.I just finished part 5 Texture baseline and everything in the data folder seems to be in order and yet it feels like half the textures aren't loading in. For example when I leave the vault in the beginning, the ground textures look nice and clearly modded but the rocks around the ground textures look vanilla bad and not at all like your screenshots or Fallout 3 HD's screenshots. I've tried everything from archive invalidation invalidated to replacing them manually direct from an unzipped download and it still feels like half the textures are not updating. As I don't see any major landscape texture packs further on down the list, I'm genuinely lost as to what the issue could be.
Hey Loveblanket and good to see you! Haven't heard that one at all except on the modpage for the overhaul download. What mod manager are you using if you don't mind? We are all on MO2 and haven't had any issues at all with this (or you can bet I would have heard lol) and simply have archive invalidation active in MO2's profile for the game. You might hop on our discord and see if durbin is on and has encountered this. (I just looked and he wasn't on just now, but probably will later) I also did a search for this and couldn't get a hit that made sense here. Oh believe me you'd know if ground was Spiffy's! Wow great landscape mod indeed. Let me know what manager you use and we can go from there. I can tell you a friend of mine had issues with all kinds of things and discovered his downloads were corrupt somehow. After we sent him some files, he had it going!
Nice to see you as well, Wellden! It probably is my mod manager. After the UI section I kinda planned on going on my own way and I'm using the Community version of NMM. I tried all manner of archive invalidation through NMM and various things on Nexus and nothing worked. In the end I just redownloaded Fallout 3 HD and copied the landscape textures into my install directly and it seems to have worked, so no worries. I feel kina like an ass asking for help while clearly not using the proper manager, it was just so strange I had to see if it was a common problem or if I was a doofus. Turns out, I was a doofus. So far I'm loving this modlist though. I don't think I've ever played a cleaner, smoother or more stable version of Fallout 3 so kudos to you and all the work this must have taken. Cheers, friend!
Thanks for the kind words but please, this is a top to bottom install for MO2. As for the rocks, you wont see that in Part 5 as they're installed within the Landscape separator.
Ah, I see. Yeah, sorry for not following the guide, I'm just dreading switching mod tools. I rename mods to create my own easy categories list. For example a radio station in Fallout 3 might read "audio - radio - Old World Songs". The problem is I literally have thousands of mods done that way over a bunch of games and to switch to MO2 would require me to rename all of them and that makes me want to slam my head into a wall even at the thought. I shouldn't have come here with my issue. In the future I'll just try to figure it out. I apologize for that. I really do love the list though. Great work. Have you ever thought of applying this to something like Collections?
No...no collections! Masterlix has always liked the learning aspect of modding as have I. I didn't realize you were using NMM Community! Wow haven't thought about NMM in a long time ;) I think I read the luxor still uses it though, but I like MO2 myself (and I still like Wrye Bash) Well now we know the mystery of the missing textures!! Come on over to MO2...you won't regret it I just bet!
Yeah, I know I'll have to switch to something at some point, but it might mean waiting for either my next system upgrade, or to see what Nexus is cooking up for their Vortex replacer. Still, after this hiccup everything is going pretty smooth. like I said I'm going to change a few things to my personal taste later in the list so fingers crossed. Cheers, Wellden and thanks for helping.
OMG, THIS GUIDE MAN!!! you create a new concept of mod lists, this one are the best available on the internet for F03, Completely gorgeous, you rule nexus mods M8, i spend 1 week to absorb and finish all this modlist, and the result is AMAZING, Thanks for you very,very very hard work bro!
Hey Robert! Now that's what we like to hear indeed! Yep it IS gorgeous and I told Masterlix that even after all the years I've played and modded this game, that this was the best build yet....even moreso than my own! Glad you made the journey and now sit back and have a kudo and some fun ;)
I am very happy about the replies, and more happy to see a lot of work put into my favorite game, and surprised that it is all free. OMG unbelievable, thanks for all your time guys!
Hi there & welcome - Given that Nexus has been down for me all morning, in weather & lighting, the clarity patched cells link points to the first main file in the files section of this modlist as intended. Hope this is what you are asking. If not let us know. It is several plugins as well.
Thank you for this! I have another question on the Better RC Church plugin there is the instruction
Once QAC'd, open the plugin in xedit & search for xx000FE3 > Right click & delete.
I am using FO3edit and it doesn't find xx000FE3. It can find the formID 00000FE3 in Fallout 3 esm that is also loaded when i open the better RC church plugin. is that the same object?
Hey there- At work, but just to make sure you are looking for the right number ... the "xx" refers to the "mod index" (shown in the right pane of MO2) of the Better RC Church plugin in your load order. Get that & then look in FO3Edit. I will look when home also, but don't remember any issues.
Thank for your help wellden. So in M02 the mod index of better RC church is 32 so I should find 32000FE3 in FO3edit. Form ID and Editor ID search don't find the before mentioned code.
Hey you are welcome! Glad to help. I looked when home and loaded up my entire load order. My mod index was "6B" for Better RC Church. I used an original plugin from the download and here is what I got with a search :
I have a hard time trying to use FO3Edit, because my one never finds a "partial form ID" for example this one xx000FE3 i try to search only the 000FE3 and FE3 but he refuse to work, he only jump to FO3.ESM file, don't find using the search tool, I LITERALLY need to look one by one line of codes to find T-T. I'am doing anything wrong in F03Edit? He finds a complete form ID, but not fragments. I search the Xedit bible but i can't find a solution, by the way i already finish this GREAT Mod list this is just for curiosity.
Hey there Robert! Yep as I said above the "xx" refers to the mod index (in the right pane of MO2 where your load order is) Be sure it's not the priority, but the mod index! In this case, when you run xEdit, leave everything checked and run the whole load order. Then type in your mod index + the number Masterlix gives you (in this case for me 6B000FE3...6B is my mod index for the church plugin) It won't accept partial numbers for the searches (or it will fail/bring up wrong items) It's normal for it to find Fallout.esm since everything is based on it. Make sure what column/plugin you are in before you delete something! Masterlix is the guru in xEdit around here for sure. There are also video tutorials online for help with xEdit
i don't understand a shyatt about FO3Edit, FNVedit. 'shyatt' but combined with 's#*!'. im a special user and a person tho. you will never see a comment like mine around Nexus or in another social media
bro thinks I have a gaming PC or gaming laptop to install mods like these. No man, I have a shitty computer. do you get it or not? By the way, I don't care about your Oblivion Mods, lil Vault-Boy (instead of lil bro), do you see how special I am? You don't see people like me on Nexus, do you?
I don't read replies or notifications. Don't waste your time replying me back. you can delete both of my comments (one is in the user called LoveBlankets), but if you decide to delete them, you will lose a great original comment and you will probably never see a comment like this in your Mods again. I'm like that when I want. you are not the first to receive a comment like mine, I have already left others out there like on YT for example. okay, yes. I will read the notifications when I have a gaming laptop. an MSI if I can
Massively enjoying this new Fallout 3 experience. I have a question though. I have patched the original game with the Fallout Anniversary Patcher as instructed and all seems to be working well, but the MOFAM instructions says to point out the executable in MO2 to fose_loader. Well if I do that fose complains that i am not using the right version of FO3 and doesn't launch the game. This is expected as in IStewieAI instructions he says
Do not use fose_loader.exe to run the game with FOSE after running the patcher. Launch Fallout3.exe instead, it will auto-load FOSE.
Hey fleenots! Glad you are rockin the wasteland. That instruction threw me too, as I too am using Fallout3.exe. Meant to ask on discord but forgot! Feel free to hop on & see or I maybe can later. Fallout3.exe works well for me
Hello everyone - great mod instructions - many thanks! Everything has worked well so far.
Unfortunately, I now have a problem with the skill books. They don't grant skill points with or without the Comprehension Perk. Does anyone have an idea what the problem could be? Thanks for any tips.
Yep...I'll look when I can...but it seems you need to read 2 books for a point (if memory serves). Also ..dismiss companions before going to the labs facility just to be safe ;)
Thank you! I was not aware that there was such a balance patch in the new quest section. As we also deleted a lot of stuff, I do not really understand which features of that mod are gone and which are still active.
Not directly mentioned in the description, but the comprehension perk is also changed? No additional skill point? Only Xp, correct?
I think you are correct there. I went through the whole game after Masterlix uploaded it and can't quite remember all the details! I believe you are right about the xp though. Really excellent build (not just sayin that cause he's an old friend either) it really is a great one indeed! have fun ;)
Hello! What about the damn game update? Will the build also be updated when the mods are updated? Or is it unlikely because mods will take too long to update?
Hey there Aviator! Are you thinking about the FO4 update maybe? Check the FO4 page. Masterlix is working on that as we speak. As for FO3... There are always rumors. I believe them when they get real ;)
Hey there- I think I saw a couple of mods here on Nexus (and one is a port of a New Vegas mod). How it would fit in with conflict resolution would remain to be seen! If you're good in xEdit you could handle it though. You might consider dropping by our discord (link on description page) and ask Masterlix or Durbin when they are on. It's possible one of them may have tried some of them. I don't have as much time these days so I haven't been able to. Happy modding!
Hello and thank you for this awesome guide! I had a quick question. Is Fallout 3 Tick Fix mod made redundant by StewieAI's Tick Fix ini setting? Is there any reason we use the separate Tick Fix mod over using Stewie's ini setting?
Hey SpectreG! Good eye and yes...it can be either/or. Personally, I use stewie's ini without the standalone tick fix and the following ini settings under [Tick Fix] bFastExit = 0 bFastResolution = 0 bGetTickCountFix = 1 bRemoveRCSafeGuard = 1
Also keep in mind we do not use the critical hook sections of the stutter remover as it is all but broken on win 10+. I do have fast exit enabled in FSR though...but stewies is fine too. Glad you like the guide and have fun! Edit: I also have "iSchedulingResolution = 1" in FSR. My game is really smooth with great fps
226 comments
My Fallout 4 Guide is here - come check it out for a similar adventure!
A massive thank you back to everyone endorsing & enjoying the projects.
03.24
---Added---
Part 1: Steam Overlay Enabler
Part 1: Bethesda Plugin Manager for Mod Organizer
Part 2: F3TF - Fallout 3 Tick Fix
Part 9: 3DNPC Followers Relax
Part 17: DC Npc's
Part 17: Mutated Confessor Cromwell
Part 27: Action for Men
Part 28: Level 50 Cap - ESPless
Part 28: Misc. Gamesetting Tweaks
---Updated---
Part 1: Added [HAVOK] to Falloutcustom.ini
Part 2: iStewie Tweaks INI (changed tick fix to 0)
Part 3: Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch (ESM Hotfix 3.3.6)
Part 5: Fallout 3 HD Ovehaul Mothership Zeta v.1.01
Part 26: ATMOS Ambient Sound Overhaul v.1.1
Part 28: Fugacity - Vanilla-Plus Balance and Difficulty Overhaul v.1.1.1
Part 28: Perks - From New Vegas v.1.3
Part 28: NS Perks v.1.3.5
Part 31: LO Updated
---Removed---
Part 28: Level 50 Mod
Appendix: Fixed 'Minor stutter from LODs in heavy open areas'
---CR---
Check notes tab of mod for changes.
---Final Steps---
Part 32: Rebuild Bashed patch
If I could figure out what you mean about the tooltip I could test mine but I haven't had any issues with darn at all.
Popups from mods would likely take another mod to stop too (like a dlc delayer does) and I didn't notice anything that bothered me when I played through the whole game!
In fact, Mr Lix did a remarkable job bringing FO3 back to life I'd say!
This is exactly what happens in my game. Unresponsive at the main menu but works fine once ingame. So don't try to invoke from main menu!
Edit: One more thing...Darn was pretty buggy in New Vegas until Roy Batty and friends did a lot of work on it. Needless to say, no one has worked on the FO3 version that I know of, and Darn hasn't modded in years. Doubt it works with FO3 since there is an MCM for FNV lol ModDB link
Haven't heard that one at all except on the modpage for the overhaul download. What mod manager are you using if you don't mind? We are all on MO2 and haven't had any issues at all with this (or you can bet I would have heard lol) and simply have archive invalidation active in MO2's profile for the game. You might hop on our discord and see if durbin is on and has encountered this. (I just looked and he wasn't on just now, but probably will later) I also did a search for this and couldn't get a hit that made sense here.
Oh believe me you'd know if ground was Spiffy's! Wow great landscape mod indeed. Let me know what manager you use and we can go from there. I can tell you a friend of mine had issues with all kinds of things and discovered his downloads were corrupt somehow. After we sent him some files, he had it going!
It probably is my mod manager. After the UI section I kinda planned on going on my own way and I'm using the Community version of NMM. I tried all manner of archive invalidation through NMM and various things on Nexus and nothing worked. In the end I just redownloaded Fallout 3 HD and copied the landscape textures into my install directly and it seems to have worked, so no worries. I feel kina like an ass asking for help while clearly not using the proper manager, it was just so strange I had to see if it was a common problem or if I was a doofus. Turns out, I was a doofus. So far I'm loving this modlist though. I don't think I've ever played a cleaner, smoother or more stable version of Fallout 3 so kudos to you and all the work this must have taken. Cheers, friend!
Well now we know the mystery of the missing textures!! Come on over to MO2...you won't regret it I just bet!
Now that's what we like to hear indeed! Yep it IS gorgeous and I told Masterlix that even after all the years I've played and modded this game, that this was the best build yet....even moreso than my own!
Glad you made the journey and now sit back and have a kudo and some fun ;)
i noticed that the Clarity Patched Cells mod from Weather and Lightning doesn't point to the right file. Can you clarify? thanks
Given that Nexus has been down for me all morning, in weather & lighting, the clarity patched cells link points to the first main file in the files section of this modlist as intended.
Hope this is what you are asking. If not let us know. It is several plugins as well.
I have another question
on the Better RC Church plugin there is the instruction
Once QAC'd, open the plugin in xedit & search for xx000FE3 > Right click & delete.
I am using FO3edit and it doesn't find xx000FE3. It can find the formID 00000FE3 in Fallout 3 esm that is also loaded when i open the better RC church plugin. is that the same object?
Thank you
At work, but just to make sure you are looking for the right number ... the "xx" refers to the "mod index" (shown in the right pane of MO2) of the Better RC Church plugin in your load order.
Get that & then look in FO3Edit. I will look when home also, but don't remember any issues.
So in M02 the mod index of better RC church is 32 so I should find 32000FE3 in FO3edit. Form ID and Editor ID search don't find the before mentioned code.
Edit: Found it xx is the Form ID prefix!
Thank you for your lead
I looked when home and loaded up my entire load order. My mod index was "6B" for Better RC Church. I used an original plugin from the download and here is what I got with a search :
Yep as I said above the "xx" refers to the mod index (in the right pane of MO2 where your load order is) Be sure it's not the priority, but the mod index!
In this case, when you run xEdit, leave everything checked and run the whole load order. Then type in your mod index + the number Masterlix gives you (in this case for me 6B000FE3...6B is my mod index for the church plugin)
It won't accept partial numbers for the searches (or it will fail/bring up wrong items) It's normal for it to find Fallout.esm since everything is based on it. Make sure what column/plugin you are in before you delete something! Masterlix is the guru in xEdit around here for sure.
There are also video tutorials online for help with xEdit
you will never see a comment like mine around Nexus or in another social media
By the way, I don't care about your Oblivion Mods, lil Vault-Boy (instead of lil bro), do you see how special I am? You don't see people like me on Nexus, do you?
I don't read replies or notifications. Don't waste your time replying me back. you can delete both of my comments (one is in the user called LoveBlankets), but if you decide to delete them, you will lose a great original comment and you will probably never see a comment like this in your Mods again. I'm like that when I want. you are not the first to receive a comment like mine, I have already left others out there like on YT for example.
okay, yes. I will read the notifications when I have a gaming laptop. an MSI if I can
Massively enjoying this new Fallout 3 experience. I have a question though.
I have patched the original game with the Fallout Anniversary Patcher as instructed and all seems to be working well, but the MOFAM instructions says to point out the executable in MO2 to fose_loader. Well if I do that fose complains that i am not using the right version of FO3 and doesn't launch the game.
This is expected as in IStewieAI instructions he says
- Do not use fose_loader.exe to run the game with FOSE after running the patcher. Launch Fallout3.exe instead, it will auto-load FOSE.
So am I misunderstanding something here?Thanks
Glad you are rockin the wasteland.
That instruction threw me too, as I too am using Fallout3.exe. Meant to ask on discord but forgot!
Feel free to hop on & see or I maybe can later.
Fallout3.exe works well for me
Unfortunately, I now have a problem with the skill books. They don't grant skill points with or without the Comprehension Perk. Does anyone have an idea what the problem could be? Thanks for any tips.
That aspect is entirely as designed; read the modpage for mantis imperative as that’s the skill books component.
Also ..dismiss companions before going to the labs facility just to be safe ;)
Not directly mentioned in the description, but the comprehension perk is also changed? No additional skill point? Only Xp, correct?
Thanks for that great support!
I believe you are right about the xp though.
Really excellent build (not just sayin that cause he's an old friend either) it really is a great one indeed!
have fun ;)
Are you thinking about the FO4 update maybe?
Check the FO4 page. Masterlix is working on that as we speak. As for FO3... There are always rumors. I believe them when they get real ;)
I think I saw a couple of mods here on Nexus (and one is a port of a New Vegas mod). How it would fit in with conflict resolution would remain to be seen! If you're good in xEdit you could handle it though.
You might consider dropping by our discord (link on description page) and ask Masterlix or Durbin when they are on. It's possible one of them may have tried some of them. I don't have as much time these days so I haven't been able to.
Happy modding!
Good eye and yes...it can be either/or. Personally, I use stewie's ini without the standalone tick fix and the following ini settings under [Tick Fix]
bFastExit = 0
bFastResolution = 0
bGetTickCountFix = 1
bRemoveRCSafeGuard = 1
Also keep in mind we do not use the critical hook sections of the stutter remover as it is all but broken on win 10+. I do have fast exit enabled in FSR though...but stewies is fine too.
Glad you like the guide and have fun!
Edit: I also have "iSchedulingResolution = 1" in FSR. My game is really smooth with great fps