This mod adds several bridges or fixes or deletions to existing structures so that they can serve as a bridge across various water locations.  There were several places in the game that either lacked a bridge altogether where it would be rather convenient to have one (hence the name of the mod) or there was a partial or makeshift structure that might serve as a bridge if there was some additional patching material of some kind added to the existing one or one or more blocking statics were removed.

This is mainly designed for players using survival mode as barring certain story-based fast travel options, they must walk everywhere in the game as fast travel is disabled and so might find these changes useful.  All locations have either had their navmesh adjusted as needed or new navmesh was added to the new bridge pieces so that companions and NPCs either default ones or modded added can and will use the new bridge connections.  Currently the mod adds, improves or makes changes to bridges in 7 different locations as follows:


Bridge Locations


Boston Airport River Mouth



A seemingly natural fit for a bridge, this settlement location and the nearby base for the Brotherhood of Steel is rather cut-off from the main city on something of a peninsula in the base game.  The mod adds a partially submerged "barge wreck" scene where two barges have broken free from their pre-war tie down dock and have drifted into the main river channel and become a rusting mess.  The barges are stuck in the sand and aside from getting your feet wet they offer a way across the river mouth without needing to go for a swim, something most survival players would want to avoid.

This presents to the player and NPCs a nice short-cut when dealing with the Brotherhood of Steel or moving to your nearby settlements from the heart of the city as well as the reverse of course.  Be aware that the center of the wreckage can be a bit of a battle zone on occasion as you can get some interactions with traveling groups of NPCs, active settlement defenses you've built here such as turrets, the Brotherhood, and the nearby Supermutant camp.


Breakheart Banks - ** New in version 1.4 **



This bridge is located over the hills from Breakheart Banks, a former settlement taken by Supermutants.  It crosses over the Saugus River from the southern shore below the farm and links to the northern side of the river to allow passage to the Lynn Woods and Parsons State Insane Asylum locations.  To do so, this makeshift bridge consists of several sunken shipping containers, some metal planks spanning gaps between them as well as a truck flatbed.  This location also features a set of metal ramps that allow easy access to and from the upper cliff level down to the shoreline for easy bridge crossing.  Also nearby are the player settlements of Greentop Nursery and The Slog, making this a handy crossing point when exploring the northern reaches of the map.


Egret Tours Marina



There is a rusting pre-war drawbridge here that has a gap in it.  By default this location is a one-way travel only bridge from west to east as west side is higher than the east side making travel in the opposite direction across the bridge impossible.  With the mod added a steel plankway has been placed across the gap that allows for easy two-way travel of both the player and NPCs.  Be advised that the bridge itself is a very active random encounter spawn point in the base game and the added pathway this mod has leads to a lot more cross faction conflict in and around the bridge.


Graygarden - Beantown Brewery Railroad Bridge



The existing railway bridge at this location has had the rusting rail shipping crates that were blocking the south end of the bridge removed to allow for more than just the player to traverse the span as no NPCs would use it previously due to the blockage.  On that note, the bridge is now fully navmeshed and set to be treated as a "main road" so NPCs and provisioners will actually use it now (and do so frequently in my testing experience) where as before they would always end up swimming in the water if they wanted to get to the other side.  No building issues at the Graygarden settlement were noted in my testing, the location functioned normally.


Gibson Pier



Similar to the Egret Tours location this is another rusting drawbridge and so a metal plank makeshift patch bridge that covers the gap and allows for two way travel has been added to fix this.  Some of the rusting cars on the south side of the bridge were removed to allow for better NPC pathing as they were blocking the clearest way across the newly fixed bridge.


Ticondaroga Safehouse



We have yet another rusting drawbridge stuck in the open position to deal with.  What are the odds eh?  It gets the metal plank treatment as well, allowing for easy two way north-south travel.  In my testing this has turned the location into something of a battle zone at times as it can be very active crossroads for NPCs with multiple groups hostile to each other crossing paths so be wary when in the area.


USS Riptide



This is actually a functioning bridge in the base game but it had some issues I wanted to address.  There is a single ladder crossing the gap in the bridge, and a rather narrow one at that.  If you use any added NPC mods or mods that add traveling NPCs you'll probably have noticed that this spot is a frequent source of NPC congestion and blockage as they all try to cross the narrow ladder at the same time.  If any of the NPCs are larger ones such as Sentry Bots they frequently can't do it at all and they end up doing that wonderfully immersive insta-teleport to get past a blocked path.

So to solve this I've added a second ladder and widened the pathing across this point to the limits of the mesh.  Both changes allow for easier NPC travel without getting stuck.  The bridge on both sides of the ladder area also was pockmarked with several holes in the bridge, these have been covered over with some wooden planking to make for a more usable path.  Similarly, some of the clutter and debris has been removed so that NPCs both large and small don't have a problem getting stuck anymore.  Finally, the navmesh was significantly changed to account for the added space so instead of the fairly narrow valid open path on the old bridge from the base game, NPCs now have a much wider path they can use as with the debris removed there are fewer places they might get stuck on.


Known Issues

This isn't a problem or a bug, just something to be aware of.  As I mentioned in passing above, these added bridges or changes to existing structures have the effect of making certain areas around the game world more connected (kind of the entire point of the mod existing at all) which can alter how certain other aspects of the game might play out.  The pathfinding algorithms of individual NPCs can and will choose to use the new routes as needed if they offer a shorter or better route - this can cause NPCs to appear or travel to where they wouldn't have before.  The changes that are near settlements may cause attacks to come from a direction you weren't expecting - for example players using the Boston Airport settlement never had to think about the side near the water without the mod, now it's a potential attack avenue.

Any traveling or wandering NPCs will have many more connected paths to take now, assuming they haven't been hardcoded to use a certain path only of course.  This can lead to more random encounters and events and NPC battles and so on.  In my view this is great side benefit and something I'm very happy about but it is something to keep in mind as it is a change in the locations the mod touches and things might happen you were not expecting.


Compatibility and Patches

Any mod editing the same spots of my additions and changes has a good chance of conflicting with this one.  Navmesh conflicts are another common source of a conflict when it comes to location mods.  Patches for any such conflicts are possible but as should be obvious (yet I'll say it anyways):  there are many thousands of mods out there for this game, I can't possibly know about or test every mod that exists.  If you notice a mod conflict, post about it in the comments and I'll look into it and patch the issue if I'm able to do so.  Known mod conflicts and any potential patchs will be listed below as issues arise.


Known Conflicts and Patches

Hangmans Alley Optimized - a compatibility patch that regenerates the necessary precombination and previsualization files to allow both mods to work is available in the optional files section for that mod.

Previsibines Repair Pack (PRP) - there is a patch in Cannibal Toast's Previsbine Compendium that allows both mods to work at the same time.  Thanks to Cannibal Toast for the patch.

Simply Lowered Drawbridges - a compatibility patch to allow both mods to work together is available HERE.  Thanks to Spiffyskytrooper for the patch.

Future Plans

I already have several more locations for possible bridges in mind, they may or may not happen in an updated version depending on perceived need and a desire to actually add them on my part.  That said, if you know of a location you think is just perfect for some type of a bridge that I missed or that you would like to see, post in the comments and I may add it at some future date.  DLC locations were purposely not considered for at least the initial release of this mod to get a baseline out and available for players that lack the DLC, they may be possibly added in a later version again based on need and player requests.