What is this?

My personal take on Fallout 4 inventory sorting. I’ve used this mod for years and love how it works. Some people might feel the same way, so I’m sharing it.

Who is this for?

People who want a practical inventory sorting mod without any bloat.

What are the drawbacks with traditional sorting mods?

A) They can require frameworks like AWKCR that you might not want.

B) Compatibility patch hell: all you want is some decent sorting, but you end up having to install several dozen patches to make it work, and then worry about keeping all the patches updated to avoid breaking your mods when the underlying mods you are patching receive updates.

C) If you use a mod like Rudy88’s Simple Sorter that avoids issues A and B, you may still have to re-run it each time you add a new mod or one of your mods updates.

The Seven Commandments of Sorting

1) Thou shalt not require Armor and Weapon Keywords Community Resource, a.k.a AWKCR.

2) Thou shalt not alter any game strings.

3) Thou shalt not alter or add any menus or sub-menus. This avoids the need for scores of patches to make other mods work with the new menu framework implemented by the sorting mod.

4) Thou shalt not create unnecessary confusion. An example: Renaming “Vodka Bottle", to “[Bottle] Vodka Bottle”. Now I have to hunt this thing down in my Pipboy and guess whether the prefix is [Trash] or [Collectible] or [Crafting] or [Bottle]. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Just call it what it is, unless there is a good reason to rename it.

5) Thou shalt not override vanilla records unrelated to individual items: no edits for Form ID Lists, Keywords, Instance Naming Rules, etc, and no changing stats on anything. Just rename selected items for easier sorting. That’s it. Don’t risk incompatibilities by altering other records.

6) Thou shalt be selective. The Miscellaneous section of Inventory is the nightmare. Items like keys and quest objects the game never lets you drop - these are things you never need to access but are constantly cluttering your Miscellaneous section. Let’s focus on those without worrying about renaming everything else in the game from sections like Ammo, Junk, Perks, Mods, Armor, or Weapons, as doing so can end up creating more problems than it solves (see compatibility patch hell above). Any item you can easily drop or store typically doesn’t need to be renamed.

7) Thou shalt not take up a load order slot. Not only can sorting mods take up plugin slots, the dozens of patches they may need can take up additional slots, and then you have to avoid mods you want that add content to the game just to fit in all your sorting patches. The sorting mod should be just one file, and tagged as an .esl so it doesn’t take up a load order slot.

What does this mod do?

Really Simple Sorting focuses on the items that matter most, and only those - for example quest items that can get permanently stuck in your inventory and keys that clutter your inventory even though you never need to access them via menu. The mod moves objects that you never need to interact with lower in the Miscellaneous section of your inventory so that they aren’t in your way. Specifically:

1) Adds a [Key] prefix in front of any object that functions as a key in the game. For example, “Jamaica Plain Town Hall Key” becomes “[Key] Jamaica Plain Town Hall Key”. The [Key] prefix moves the key lower in the Miscellaneous section of your inventory so that it doesn’t clutter up the top parts of the Miscellaneous section that you actually care about.

2) Adds a [Note] prefix in front of passwords in the game that Bethesda classified as “Books”. For example, “Federal Ration Stockpile Password” becomes “[Note] Federal Ration Stockpile Password”. The [Note] prefix moves the item lower in inventory, out of your way, since it is an item you never will use.

3) Adds an [Object] prefix in front of various miscellaneous objects in the game, mostly quest objects you aren’t allowed to drop but that you will never need to interact with after picking up, so that A) They don’t clutter your inventory during the quest, and B) If the game fails to remove them from your inventory at the end of the quest, you aren’t stuck looking at them forever. For example, “Knight Astlin's Holotag” is changed to "[Object] Knight Astlin's Holotag", moving the item lower in inventory, and preventing you from having to look at it forever in the event the quest “The Lost Patrol” fails, after which the game doesn’t give you any way to remove the holotag.

4) Adds a [Bobblehead] prefix in front of the bobbleheads.

5) Adds a [Holotape] prefix to certain quest related holotapes if those holotapes are prone to getting stuck in your inventory during a quest or after a quest ends, without the game allowing you to drop them. For example, “Eddie Winter Holotape 3” is changed to “[Holotape] Eddie Winter Holotape 3”, thereby by moving it lower in your inventory. No one wants to look at nine Eddie Winter Holotapes in their inventory for an extended period of time, and many of us pick up the holotapes without finishing the silly quest they’re a part of, so we’re stuck with those holotapes forever.

The mod does this without taking up a plugin slot. The .esp file is tagged as an .esl so it won’t count against the 255 mod limit.

Installation and Requirements

Download it here and install like any regular mod. This mod requires the base game, Far Harbor, Nuka World, and Automatron, as items from these three DLC’s are affected. There will not be a version of this mod that doesn’t require the above-mentioned DLC.

Why isn’t this a separate mod?

Frankly, I don’t feel like making a new mod page right now and answering scores of questions from a mob of functionally-illiterate teenagers stuck in COVID-19 isolation who expect me to read the mod page for them and then tell them what it says. But you’re here, reading this, which means you can read articles, so God Bless You!!!

Compatibility?

Should be compatible with pretty much everything except other sorting mods, and even in that case, this is technically compatible (but almost completely pointless) with VIS-G or Valdacil's Item Sorting if you put those mods lower in load order. With respect to other mods, put this one wherever you want in your load order. I have it near the bottom of my load order, but do whatever strikes your fancy.