LIST OF (PROBABLY) ALL IMPORTANT FIXES AND PATCHES FOR FALLOUT 4 AND SOME POPULAR MODS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
OF COURSE, THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THEM IS HAVING ARCHIVE INVALIDATION / LOOSE FILES ENABLED
This setting allows the game to load files outside of official BA2 archives. Without this, many mods won't work or will outright crash the game.
Vortex - Archive Invalidation should be automatically enabled in latest versions, otherwise enable it manually or through BethINI.
MO2 - The integrated setting usually doesn't work properly, so you should always enable it manually or through BethINI.
- MO2 by default uses separate custom ini files, I strongly recommend that you disable this functionality.
- Simply navigate to Profiles [Ctrl + P] in MO2 and uncheck Use Profile Specific INI Files
- Now the game will use ini configuration files from the Documents folder.
Enable With BethINI (Recommended)
1.) Download the latest standalone version here.
2.) Extract it somewhere on your disk, but NEVER directly inside your game installation folder.
3.) Run BethINI.exe, check both Load Loose Files and Enable File Selection, then Save and Exit.
Or Enable Manually
Navigate to Documents\My Games\Fallout 4 folder and add these lines to Fallout4Custom.ini (and yes, sResourceDataDirsFinal needs to remain blank).
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=
[ ! ] VERY IMPORTANT CORE MODS, PATCHES AND FIXES [ ! ]
Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch | Comprehensive bug fixing mod for Fallout 4. Requires all 6 official DLCs (HD DLC excluded).
Installation: Simply install it with your preferred mod manager. You can read the full changelog here.
Load Order: Needs to be always loaded first, right after official DLC plugins (and CC content) and before all other mods.
Previsibines Repair Pack (PRP) | The next greatest thing since Boston FPS Fix, FO4FI Fix and sliced bread.
This mod improves upon the game's precombine system and already includes a couple of existing fixes inside it, such as:
Collision Fixes from Scrap Everything | Airport Transparency Fix | Cliffs Edge Hotel Wall Fixed | Cliff's Edge Hotel Window Fix
Flicker Fixer | Glitch's Fixes | Vault 111 Floor Guide Fix (Therefore, you are no longer required to download and install any of these).
Installation: Download and install the PRP Full Stable main file with your preferred mod manager. The main file contains compatibility patches for some mods.
Load Order: PPF.esm goes right after/below the Unofficial Patch. Its other plugins and compatibility patches should always go at the end of your load order.
Buffout 4 | Fixes many engine bugs and adds a crash logger to the game.
Installation: Full installation steps and troubleshooting for crash logs available here!
Baka ScrapHeap | Further expands the default scripting memory and increases game stability.
Installation: Install manually or with your mod manager. Load order is irrelevant since it's a DLL mod.
Navigate to Fallout 4\Data\F4SE\Plugins folder, open Buffout4.toml and set MemoryManager to false
Additionally you can also open BakaScrapHeap.toml in that same folder and set ScrapHeapMult to 4
Canary Save File Monitor | Monitors your save files for data loss and warns you if it detects save corruption.
Installation: Install it with your mod manager. This mod should be among the first ones in your load order.
High FPS Physics Fix | Unties the game speed from framerate, fixes physics bugs and reduces loading times.
Installation: Install manually or with your mod manager. Load order is irrelevant since it's a DLL mod.
Sprint Stuttering Fix | Fixes twitching and stuttering while sprinting in first person.
Installation: Install manually or with your mod manager. Load order is irrelevant since it's a DLL mod.
Workshop Framework | Improves and speeds up several Settlement Workshop scripts and prevents the grid scrap crash.
Installation: Install it with your mod manager. This mod should be among the first ones in your load order.
(OPTIONAL) Raw Input | Disabled Mouse Acceleration, Horizontal/Vertical Parity, Scalable ADS Multiplier, Normalized Sensitivity
Installation: Install it with your mod manager, load order is irrelevant. This mod is unnecessary if using a controller / gamepad only.
(OPTIONAL) Power Grid Tools | You can use this mod instead if you don't want Workshop Framework for whatever reason.
Installation: Download and install only the 0005 Power Grid Tools 1.4 main file, load order is irrelevant.
(NVIDIA ONLY) Weapon Debris Crash Fix | Fixes crashes caused by the Weapon Debris setting for Nvidia GPUs.
Installation: Install manually or with your mod manager. Load order is irrelevant since it's a DLL mod.
(NVIDIA ONLY) NVIDIA Reflex Support | F4SE plugin which can halve render latency (improves FPS).
Installation: Install manually or with your mod manager. Load order is irrelevant since it's a DLL mod.
(AMD / NVIDIA) Vulkan Renderer | Can give a significant performance boost for AMD GPUs.
Installation: Complete installation steps are explained in this document, page 7.
QUALITY OF LIFE FIXES ( NOT INCLUDED IN UFO4P )
Not having these will probably ruin your day at some point.
Installation: Simply download and install with your mod manager.
Load Order: These mods should always load last, after all other mods, fixes and patches.
3rd Person Behavior Fixes | Fixes some glitches related to 3rd person sneaking & sprinting.
3rd Person Movement Speed Fix | Fixes 3rd person move speed being slower than 1st person.
Automatron Face Light Fix | Fixes bugs in Automatron DLC that may cause major fps drops.
Barber Camera Fix | Fixes ability to see the front of your character while at a barber or surgery.
Codsworth and Nick Unassign Fix | Fixes Codsworth and Nick getting auto-unassigned from settlements.
Fallout 4 Particle Patch | Fixes many mesh & material files to make visual effects not glow in the dark.
FATE Patch | Combines a vast collection of bug fixes into one mod. Check included PDF for details.
Jet Chem Script Fix | Fixes a bug in Survival where player thirst increases whenever NPCs consume Jet.
LOST Audio Tweaks | Tweaks and fixes many game sounds and quiets down the annoying ones.
Melee Sounds & Material Impact Fix | Fixes melee weapon impact sounds for some surfaces.
Nick Valentine Jaw Sync | Fixes Nick Valentine's jaw not moving in sync while he is talking.
NPC Drinking Fix | Fixes NPC drinking animations having no sounds and facial animations.
NW Overboss PA Headlamp Fix | Fixes the headlamp functionality for Overboss Power Armor.
Outfit ReDress Fix | Engine bug fix to prevent NPCs from reverting to their default outfit/clothes.
Power Armor Ownership Fix | Fixes Fusion Core inserted into PA not transferring ownership.
Rusty Face Fix | Fixes the dark / rusty face bug caused by incorrectly sized face mods.
VATS Freeze Fix | Fixes the VATS freezing bug that sometimes occurs in survival mode.
Vault 88 Essentials | Fixes missing menus and door frames, adds snap points for wide halls.
Vault-Tec Workshop Overhaul Redux | Fixes many inconsistencies and bugs with Vault-Tec DLCs.
TEXTURES / MESHES / AUDIO / ANIMATION FIXES
Fixes for many textures and meshes, including animation and audio files. Should be obvious what each mod is trying to fix.
Installation: Download and install with your mod manager. You can also merge these mods since they have empty plugins.
Load Order: Should be loaded after after all other mods, fixes and patches. Merge instructions available in my OGC 2 Guide.
Alpha Maps Fix | Attack Reaction Speed Fix | Decayed Army Fatigues Fix | Gobo Effects Fixed | High Tech Benches Fix
High Tech Audio Distortion Fix | Power Armor Map Fix | Vault Doorway Snap Fix | Wetness Shader Fix | Wire Barrel Gobo Fix
Holly Shrub Texture Fix | Marine Armor Material Fix | Marine Wet Suit Material Fix | Pre-War Fence Fix |
PATCHES FOR SINGLE MODS
List of patches for mods that prevent crashes, improve performance and fix bugs or other issues.
- AWKCR & Armorsmith Extended | [GET PATCH HERE] | Replaces custom workbenches that rarely crash the game with vanilla benches.
- Beantown Interiors Project | [GET PATCH HERE] | Fixes fps drops, stuttering, crashing and other issues in many different locations.
- Combat Zone Restored | [GET PATCH HERE] | Adds Extended Dialogue Interface (XDI) support and improves navmeshes.
- D.E.C.A.Y Better Ghouls | [GET PATCH HERE] | Fixes crashes due to incorrectly compressed sound files and few other issues.
- Everyones Best Friend | [GET PATCH HERE] | Makes mod compatible with the script files fixed by the Unofficial Patch.
- Homemaker | [GET PATCH HERE] | Fixes a crash caused by scrolling over the Military/BoS fences workstation menu.
- Militarized Minutemen | [GET PATCH HERE] | Fixes crashes caused by the rolled sleeves variant of the minutemen outfits.
- More Uniques (Unique Weapons Expansion) | [GET PATCH HERE] | Should fix some problems contained in the original plugin.
- Raider Overhaul | [GET UPDATED VERSION HERE] | Version contains full Raider Overhaul installation, restored files and many fixes.
- South Of The Sea | [GET PATCH HERE] | Fixes crashes due to the original having serious bugs, various issues and deleted navmeshes.
- Start Me Up | [GET PATCH HERE] | General dialogue overhaul, fixes, additions and other important changes. Read the patch description.
- Super Mutant Redux | [GET PATCH HERE] | Removes AWKCR dependency, fixes annoying bugs and updates INNRs in the original.
- The Mercenary Pack | [GET PATCH HERE] | Adds new armor implementation and distribution methods. See description for details.
- Unique NPCs Creatures & Monsters | [GET PATCH HERE] | Fixes bugs, adjusts creature spawns and removes AWKCR dependency.
PATCH REPOSITORIES
List of mods with fixes or compatibility patches for several different mods at once.
- A Forest | [PATCH REPOSITORY HERE] | Compatibility patches for various vanilla and modded locations to remove clipping trees.
- Bullet Counted Reload | [PATCH REPOSITORY HERE] | Compatibility patches that add BCR reload animations / fixes to various mods.
- Immersive Animation Framework | [PATCH REPOSITORY HERE] | Compatibility patches that add IAF animations to various mods.
- Thuggysmurf Quest Mods | [PATCH REPOSITORY HERE] | Compatibility patches for Depravity, Fusion City Rising, Hookers of the Commonwealth,
Outcasts and Remnants and Project Valkyrie. Patches contain facegen data, fully generated precomb/previs and several quality of life tweaks.
PATCH COLLECTION / REPOSITORY FOR FEW OTHER MODS IS AVAILABLE HERE!
FIXES AND ALTERNATIVES FOR MODS
List of recommended fixes or alternative mods for those that do not have dedicated patches.
- Enhanced Blood Textures | Can rarely cause crashes due to poor script implementation. Use only the EBT Basic (Textures Only) version.
- FallSouls Unpaused Game Menus | Toggle the PipboyMenu in FallSouls MCM settings or reinstall the mod if it crashes in MCM settings.
- Gender Specific Skeletons | Can cause crashes if enabled while trying to start a new game. Enable this mod only after leaving Vault 111.
- FO4FI FPS Fix and Boston FPS Fix | Both are severely outdated and shouldn't be used. Both are replaced by Previs Repair Pack
- HUD76 HUD Replacer | Can sometimes cause interface and pip-boy related bugs, issues and crashes. You can use this alternative.
- Legendary Modification | Old mod that is plagued with all kinds of issues and crashes. Switch to Equipment And Crafting Overhaul
- Lowered Weapons | Can cause animation crashes and doesn't support some weapons. Switch to Automatically Lowered Weapons
- Zombie Walkers | Version 2.6.3 contains a resurrection script that will regularly crash the game. Use one of 3.0 Beta versions instead.
- SKK Craft Weapons and Scrap Ammo | Version 008 is incompatible with AWKCR and will crash while saving. Use 007 or remove AWKCR.
- Classic Holstered Weapons | Will usually crash when having tons of modded weapons and with mods that edit the skeleton mesh, such as ZaZ Extended Skeleton, High Heels, Unique Player and CBP/OCBP Physics mods. If you crash with CHW running, edit its ini file and set IsHolsterVisibleOnNPCs to 0, this should prevent most crashes. You can also try the Additional Skeleton Support mod for increased compatibility. For all other issues, see CHW Incompatibilies & Fixes
- ESP Explorer Maintenance | Updated version of the old mod that has a typo in the INI which crashes the game if you press F10. After running FO4 with this mod at least once, navigate to Fallout 4\Data\F4SE\Plugins folder (or the Overwrite folder if using MO2), open ESPExplorer.ini and change ; HotKey=0x79 line to just HotKey=0x79 (remove the ; part). Even still, this mod can rarely crash the game while browsing items / records. Consider switching to the newer In Game MOD Explorer
- FallUI Item Sorter Mod (OLD) | This is an outdated item sorting / tagging patch that only modifies vanilla items and will therefore conflict in all kinds of situations. I don't recommend using it. Instead, generate your own Complex Sorter patch and place it last in your load order. That way you won't experience any conflicts or crashes and even modded items will be sorted with one plugin. Install the NEW FallUI Item Sorter and generate your own patch with M8r98a4f2's Complex Item Sorter
- Functional Displays | Commonly causes object model (nif) related crashes. To make this mod work in most cases, open its Meshes folder and delete everything inside it except for the Functional Displays folder. You can also pack the mod into BA2s with Cathedral Assets Optimizer. When using any of FD's weapon displays, DO NOT grab displayed items directly from them, use their actual inventory screen instead. This is due to an old script that doesn't correctly preserve weapon attachments.
- Tactical Reload | Can cause weapon and combat related crashes. To prevent them, you need to make sure that all TR plugins and weapons patches load as late as possible, place them somewhere at the end of your load order. Check your load order with Wrye Bash. I also suggest you try TR Expansion For ECO Redux which should fix most reload problems and random crashes in combat. TR will also frequently conflict with Weapons Framework Beta and Extended Weapon Systems.
- Weapons Framework Beta | Will crash randomly when used with Tactical Reload and possibly other combat related mods. You have to unpack its WeaponsFramework - Main.BA2 with Archive2 or Cathedral Assets Optimizer, then delete that same BA2 and the extracted Meshes folder, and install any of its patches for Tactical Reload and/or See Through Scopes if you use these mods. If you still get the same crash, you'll have to uninstall either Weapons Framework or Tactical Reload.
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IT SHOULD RESOLVE MOST OR ALL RELOAD PROBLEMS & COMBAT CRASHES CAUSED BY THE ORIGINAL MOD
AND YOU NO LONGER NEED TO INSTALL TACTICAL RELOAD PATCHES FOR *MOST WEAPONS
*By most, I mean weapons that already have a TR animation file. Some patches might add that file if the original weapon doesn't have it, you'll know that's the case once you add the TR attachment from the ECO version to the weapon and you're unable to manually reload it afterwards. In that case, you only need the animation file and not the patched weapon plugin. For best results, just extract (with CAO if necessary) the Meshes folder from the weapon's TR patch and place it in the weapon's mod folder.
Article Changelog
Tracking major changes and additions to the article.
FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST OTHER PATCHES / FIXES THAT SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE LIST
January 13th
- Updated Tactical Reload details and links.
HERE IS MY CRASH REPORT
Unhandled exception "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION" at 0x7FF728023A2E Fallout4.exe+0203A2E
[Compatibility]
F4EE: false
[Crashlog]
AutoOpen: true
PromptUpload: true
[Fixes]
ActorIsHostileToActor: true
CellInit: true
CreateD3DAndSwapChain: true
EncounterZoneReset: true
GreyMovies: true
MagicEffectApplyEvent: true
MovementPlanner: true
PackageAllocateLocation: true
SafeExit: true
TESObjectREFRGetEncounterZone: true
UnalignedLoad: true
UtilityShader: true
[Patches]
Achievements: true
ArchiveLimit: false
BSMTAManager: true
BSPreCulledObjects: true
BSTextureStreamerLocalHeap: false
HavokMemorySystem: true
INISettingCollection: true
InputSwitch: false
MaxStdIO: -1
MemoryManager: true
MemoryManagerDebug: false
ScaleformAllocator: true
SmallBlockAllocator: true
WorkshopMenu: true
[Warnings]
CreateTexture2D: true
ImageSpaceAdapter: true
I don't know if it's the right place to ask, but Cross Gore-verhaul is a pretty popular mod but I don't know if it's safe to use as some people say it causes crashes while others say it works fine. Do you know anything about that?
What I do know is that I get reproducible crashes which only happen when Cross Gore Overhaul is loading a skeleton for an NPC burnt by plasma or fire; usually a ghoul.
Trying to do a runthrough of the Triggerman warehouses in Goodneighbor with an automatic plasma rifle will reproduce this bug within a few minutes. The Buffout logs confirm it's an issue with a skeleton.nif related to a Triggerman. Without Cross Gore Overhaul, I never have this issue.
I have some experience modding using FO4Edit, but so far I haven't found a good way to resolve the issue. It might be a bug in the scripts that mod uses, which sadly cannot be edited in FO4Edit.
I have only one question. Should I use just Buffout 4 or Buffout 4 and Baka ScrapHeap?
Baka expands script memory, but so does Buffout 4. I'm just straight-up asking: which one is better to use?
I've been using only Buffout 4 for months now and crashes don't happen that frequently (the majority of the crashes are generic ones). On top of that, Buffout had the last update this year, whereas Baka hasn't been updated since October 2020.
Nonetheless, thanks again for putting your time and effort into writing this!
Keep up the great work and take care!
Baka still works fine, otherwise I would advise against using it.
I'll keep only Buffout for now and if I notice performance loss for one reason or another I'll give Baka a shot. Again, at the time of writing this my game is rock stable and generic crashes are the only ones that caused CTD. On top of that, I get like 1 CTD every 3 weeks depending on what I'm doing, that's as stable as I can make it since I run over 550 active plugins (that's just ESMs, ESPs and ESLs).
Thanks for writing this and for replying!
Keep up the great work!
BO4 is more foundational and broad-featured (it's functionality incorporates a fairly large number of other/prev mods)...
... while Baka Scrapheap is really more of a [port, from Skyrim] of a solution rather more narrowly targeted at a specific resource bottleneck problem (which most noticeably/famously surfaced when trying to load large savegames with heavy script burdens, such as Sim Settlements, but pertains to others, too).
Baka is also *not* really a 'performance' utility (i.e., it won't improve FPS, per se), as much as it is a 'stability' tool.
yellowsickle shouldn't expect Baka to cure, e.g., more generalized FPS drops... but if ya run into the savegame load issue or otherwise need to allocate more mem to scripts {within the framerate processing limits of your machine} then Baka might be useful.
[fwiw, personally I run both, using the config settings per BO4's author]
There's also a Papyrus Virtual Memory Scrapheap bugfix utility by Nukem9 out on GitHub that further helps with mem scrapheap issues (which I also use):
https://github.com/Nukem9/Fallout4GCBugFix
[see also: Performance optimization guide - mod list and tweaks at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community (nexusmods.com) under its Core Files section]
hwo do you acutally install/use thos GCBugFix? I downloaded the ZIP from the Github Link you sended in but i dont get the "Quick Start" Guide. There is no "cmake --build build --config Release --target create_artifact" to run. Im Kinda a Noob but i would love if you could help me out quick <3
Anyhoo...
Since then, Nukem has posted the mod to Nexus here:
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/68681
Assuming you're in Vortex, just d/l and install as per usual from that mod's files page.
I like to keep my MO2 pile relatively short and I always manually install F4SE plugins: fast checking which ones can/should be put in this way would simplify the brain load as I go through your list since my method creates two content lists I need to verify as I move along the process. Just a thought!