A broad Fallout 4 Overhaul
requires all DLC except Hi-Res Texture Pack
requires AWKCR

Description

See readme in readme section for details (this is highly recommended as your fallout experience will be very different from vanilla).

I made this mod because I thought vanilla fallout was too easy/broken and felt that survival mode just added more tedium and frustration than challenge. I also wanted Fallout 4 to feel more like a role playing game. This doesn't add a lot of new content, this makes Fallout 4 feel more like it should have on release. Compiled from many of the mods I have made, Lunar Fallout is the end goal. A large scale overhaul and rebalance of many systems in the game to offer a fresh experience for those looking to replay. Designed to be challenging at normal or hard difficulty (but survival works if you are a masochist).

Perks: Game breaking perks like Blitz are completely changed or nerfed. Damage boosting perks like Rifleman are unlocked at higher levels to better scale with NPC health increase. Traditionally unappealing perks like Lead Belly and Animal Friend have new uses. Building a character should involve tough choices each level up and different builds should encourage different play styles beyond what type of weapon you carry.

Armor: Only "outfits" (no underarmor or hats) can use lining, and more outfits allow lining. Some outfits have stats changed to be already armored (some full raider outfits, brotherhood uniforms and boss outfits like Kellog's or Minuteman General). Both increasing strength of some NPCs and offering non-railroad outfit options. Power armor now requires Armorer and Science to repair, locking it's use to later levels and specific builds.

Food: Cooking has it's own crafting perk system now with increasingly powerful foods (and more foods in the game). Sodas are AP focused instead of health sources. Cooking no longer removes radiation.

Economy: An entire overhaul of the looting system. By default, vendors will buy items at 50% their value and sell them at 200% their value. Most vendors have much more unique inventories. Items like ammo and stimpaks are rarer in the world. Some DLC weapon and ammo is integrated into the wasteland. Settlements produce less food and water (that goes into the workbench) and water is heavier/cheaper so not an easy source of money. Some junk items had their prices changed as they were always worth buying for scrap or were easy sources of money. Prewar money value is low enough that it is best used for filling mattresses now. Getting rich will be much more of a challenge.

Settlements/Crafting: Lots of items have stricter perk requirements to build (in particular functional settlement buildings). Animal Friend is required to build cages and brahmin troughs. Gun nut is renamed "engineering" and used for a lot of items like power generators. All turrets require science and biometric scanners to build. Robotics Expert is required to build new robot parts. All gun mods except scopes are locked behind at least gun nut 1, so you can't just keep swapping out parts with no skill. Everything was done carefully to make sure the game can be played without using any crafting skills and no quests will be locked out, but you will be far more limited in what you can do without them.

Challenge: Radiation is more of a threat. Resources are rare. You will face higher level hostiles in many areas. Limb damage will always be a risk. Legendary items are less common and not as powerful (if you use the recommended legendary overhaul). Weapons do more damage. Melee attacks are much more of a threat (you will fear Mirelurks charging). You will want to spend perks to make better food even outside of survival as you will need to keep stimpaks for emergencies and limb repair. Raiders are a little tougher and have worse loot. Everything isn't handed to you at the start of the game. NPC combat styles have been changed (including companions) which should offer some variety in how fights play out.

Immersion: Lots of little touches to bring the world to life. Simple things like renaming "dish rags" to "rags" so they don't seem out of place everywhere. Finding what you would expect to find in containers, like newspapers in newspaper bins. Flavor junk in NPC inventories instead of just stimpaks. Merchants sometimes having unique inventories (or even unique items). Someone said a particular merchant had good pie, now they do. Now every time you visit Diamond City you'll want to drop by Power Noodles for a good meal.

Companions: I intentionally did not directly alter companion NPCs (so you can change their appearance), but I have altered a few settings related to them. Each should behave differently in combat and if they are downed they will stay on the ground much longer after combat (to encourage using a stimpak on them). There were a few other features I wanted to add, but found others had done a better job so I will add their mods to the recommended list.


Because this is an extensive mod I recommend it for a new play through with only mods listed bellow (even if you know what you are doing). If you have a mod organizer that allows multiple profiles you can set one up for this and keep your 500+ mod setup the beautiful creature it is. However, if you do have a mod you think might fit, mention it in the comments section and I will check it out and possibly add it to the list below. I'd like this to be just as much a mod list spot for good, balanced mods as a page for my mod.

Required Mods
This is a bit of a misnomer, as the mod will work fine without them, but Lunar Fallout was designed with their use in mind.
Armor and Weapon Keywords AWKCR: used to ensure melee weapons are labeled correctly.
Realistic Guns and Bullets Overhaul: Well thought out, makes guns feel fresh (and dangerous). Well balanced with this mod (especially against melee change
note: you can use any other weapon balance overhaul and it should be fine. The only thing built into Lunar Fallout is melee weapon changes so compatibility shouldn't be an issue.
Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch: Not "required" for this mod, just you know, you should use it.

Recommended Mods
These aren't required, but fit the theme of Lunar Fallout and I highly recommend them/use them.

Regrowth (if your system can handle it): more than a graphics overhaul, lowers visibility which changes gameplay.
Cryptdick's Expanded Series: A great series that manages to blend into the vanilla world and feel like it was always there.

Wet: water enhancements
Immersive Aquaboy: untested and probably needs to be loaded after Lunar Fallout due to perks, but I plan to use this in my next play through.
Aquatic Bestiary: A bit glitchy (fish on land sometimes) but interesting

Settlements

Settler Sandbox Expansion
Better Settlers: mortal settlers version preferred.
Longer Power Lines
Settlement Attacks Beyond
Shaikujin's Better Warning for Settlements Being Attacked
BS Defense: tweaks settlement defense rating system
Sim Settlements and it's expansions work fine with this overhaul, it will just bypass a lot of balance changes making settlement gameplay easier.
Easy Supply Lines: (cheat), but I feel it is valid if you don't want to bother with settlement stuff or sink lots of points into charisma just for that convenience.

Old Style Criticals
Search and Destroy
Deadlier Deathclaws
Super Mutant Redux: (version 1.4 I will not make a patch for the newer versions) A small patch is included in Optional Files section to balance a few added weapons against this mod.
Moon's Legendary Overhaul: Removes/nerfs the most OP legendary effects and adds a few more mundane
ones. Not perfect, but most other Legendary overhauls make the system
stronger.
Realistic Ragdoll Force or Realistic Death Physics
Pip-Boy Flashlight
See Through Combat Scopes: load after Realistic Guns and Bullets
Companion Stealth Distance Fix
Reverb and Ambience Overhaul: greatly enhances in game sounds.
People are Strangers: You don't learn a character's name until you talk to them.
Cross Crit Gore Overhaul: Nice critical effects
Everyone's Best Friend: extra company is welcome in this extra harsh commonwealth.
Realistic Movement Speed: Slows movement speed just enough to feel more natural without being so slow it is annoying
Darker Nights
Weapon Mod Fixes: should be loaded before any other weapon rebalance mods

Perks

Life Giver Solar Powered and ghoulish Perk Fixes (load before or after Lunar Fallout depending on which perks you want)
Intimidation Overhaul (untested) or Pacify Overhaul (untested)
Rad Perks: Atom's Blessing is already included in this mod, but you may also like my take on the Ghoulish perk.
Wasteland Cannibals and Dine and Dash (untested but should work with Lunar Fallout)

Replay/Quality of Life

Start Me Up - Alternate Start: Includes an option to change all dialogue related to searching for your child (for role players)
SKK50's Fast Start Mods: (might not want to use with Project Valkyrie) Check out all of their mods as they are well built and some let you skip chunks of the game that are a chore to replay through
Full Dialogue Interface or Extended Dialogue Interface
Visible Companion Affinity
Skip Dima Memories: (cheat) good after first play through
Skip Nuka World settlement raiding: (cheat) Good if you want to do all of Nuka world without sacrificing Commonwealth settlements
Nuka World Collectible Quest Markers (cheat) marks locations of hidden items for that DLC
Random Valuables: randomizes locations of many items like bobbleheads
Companion Weapons Auto Upgrade lessens need to mess with companion inventories
Project Valkyrie More ending options for main quest and lots of extra content. Good quality so far. Haven't played it enough to judge balance.


Elen Companion: An all around well made and balanced companion
Independence Radio: more music is good
KMart Institute Radio: it is terrifying how well this fits the tone of the game
Boston Pirate Radio: for those darker moods
Looksmenu
ODSC: optimized debris shells and casings
Recruitable Settlers: adds some character(s) to the wasteland
Worthwhile Eyebots
Swinging Meat Bags
True Grass
Varied Raiders
Better Companions
Wasteland Salon: nicer looking existing hair
Glowing Animals
Smokeable Cigars-Cigarettes
DEF_UI
Barrels and Tires Don't Float
Improved Map Visible Roads


If any of my other mods aren't listed above it is because they are already included in this mod or conflict or are not balanced to match this mods goal.

Compatibility
Read the readme in documentation section as it has a detailed list of changes this mod makes. Then compare it to what other mods say they do.
Mods that change specific perks that aren't listed in the readme section should be fine. I know there are some good cannibal, intimidation, bloody mess perk mods out there but I haven't tried them enough to recommend them.
Mods that alter graphics and sounds should be fine.
Mods that add a ton of stuff to settlements, like homemaker, should be avoided, but small cosmetic only packs should be fine.

My Mods included in this mod:
here is a list of all of the mods that are merged into this mod. Some changes were made to fit them together and this is not all that is included here (content wise).
Loot Logic and Reduction
Moon's Food Balance Overhaul
Desperate Raiders
Scavenge Station Improvements
Automatron Robot Expert
Moon's Melee Rebalance
Moonracer's Armor Overhaul
Vendor Diversity Overhaul
NPC Loot Drop Rebalance
Addiction Requires Doctor
Moon's Chem Changes
Moon's Legendary Overhaul
Rough Start Less Handouts
Settlement Progression
No Legendary Items From Creatures

*Thank You to all the modders out there making amazing mods. Thank you to the community who has offered feedback and great ideas to make this better than I could have on my own.