If you're checking this mod's description out late at night as I did, or you ran the Cabot quest high on plot and adrenaline and don't remember the interior too well (as I didn't), some questions may come up, the answers to many of which seem somewhat obvious in retrospect. Here they are:
Q What screenshots are what zones? A There are 4 zones. There are 12 screenshots. 3 per, in correct order.
Q How large are the settlements? A You may not remember it from running the quest, but the asylum actually has 3 different zones inside, the "Administration" (where you come in, with the skylight/atrium), the "Asylum" (the "bridge" part with the living quarters and individual cells, the jumps of no return, etc.), and the "Basement" (with The Cell, where the decision/showdown happened). Each interior zone has a workbench that unlocks the *entire* zone; you won't be running around and suddenly dropping out of workbench mode. You get everything!
Q There isn't a nexus manager link / fomod / whatnot! A Not a question, but ... yes, for now, you're only seeing a "manual download" link. But your Nexus Mod Manager can e.g. "Add mod from file" (the green plus on the left), so you don't even have to unpack the thing yourself, you don't have to place it in the right directory yourself, and it's going to be in that nice large list together with your other mods. (You can presumably also "Add mod from URL".) If you do this, you add all 4 workbenches/zones, which is perfect if you want all 4 locations, and presumably still fine if you just want the outside ("If you never go inside anyway, any changes there probably won't matter much."). Either way, the 4 .esp are 62KB - 94KB each, so it's not like you'd expect huge overhead. Might be easiest to just install all 4, and then to just unlock the workbenches/settlements you actually want once in game.
Q So what exactly are the zones again / where are the workbenches / ...? And which zone corresponds to which file? A Here goes ...
Zone 1: Outside - "Parsons Insane Settlement"
If you look at the screenshot, the awesome spiral staircase is *behind* the building (looking from the main entrance), or to the right (sniping from the overpass). This means that while it looks awesome in itself, it doesn't directly clutter the side with the little lake. Perfect!
Q Where is the workbench? A Go up the spiral staircase in the back of the building.
Q Why do I want this settlement? A You get a free exterior wall, and an interior one dividing the compound in a small "market" area near the gate, and a large "private" area in the back where you get a lake for looks and water, a greenhouse, and enough space to farm produce / keep brahmin / build shelter, etc. You're getting a free castle here, and in contrast to the other 3 locations it's out in the open world to boot. What's not to like? This is prime estate in the game for settling (give or take the danger of being sniped at from the overpass by someone with a really good rifle, but there are worse vanilla locations for that). If in your head canon you view all of the estate/asylum as one location, it's certainly a no-brainer. Again, "free castle!"
Zone 2: Parsons State Administration (aka "just behind the front door") - "Parsons Asylumium"
The offices, plus the atrium / large room with the skylight. (Also where the "quick exit" elevator chucks out after you finish the Cabot quest.)
Q Where is the workbench? A In the atrium, up the scaffolding. You can just about see it in the screenshot once you know it's there.
Q Why do I want this settlement? A The atrium! You get natural light (presumably good for morale), (added) water, and the thick walls of the asylum, in addition to those of the compound. Talk about castle theme! It also has a decent amount of grass/dirt where you can plant your corn and whatnot. Other than that, some offices. Nice room up the scaffolding, but since it's where the transition to the next zone / settlement is, not somewhere you'd RP as player home (unless you're not using the 3rd zone).
Q What is the deal with that atrium, anyway? Inside, the skylight is all round shapes, yet examining the top of the building from outside, all we see is triangles! A Damned if I know. Please let me know if you find out! Not really mod-related, though?
Zone 3: Parsons State Insane Asylum - "Parsons State Funnery"
Communal sleeping (if you can pick the lock, or use the console), lots of individual cells, a kitchen, a bar, lots of "living room" type shared space. Again, water. This is the "intermediate" bit with the cells and the "jumps of no return" (which now have stairs). Bottom level is now flooded (1'), with two water purifiers.
Q Where is the workbench? A All the way at the bottom. If you see water purifiers or the elevator, it's right there.
Q What about food? A There's some dirt you can plant in, but not much. You can awkwardly fit in some "garden plots" on the top level if you have 'em. The hydroponics mod or the working food planter mod or the planters from the Homemaker mod may be of great help here (but I haven't tested any of them in this location).
Q Why do I want this? A Sure, it has no fancy skylight or even just windows, but neither do vaults, and in many ways, that just makes it more of a safe haven. On the plus side, it comes with armor, weapons, chemistry stations as well as water purifiers, and as discussed above, a lot of beds, living space, etc. already there. Whether it's your cup of tea may depend on how you feel about that whole "2nd part of a trilogy" part -- "The Empire strikes back", "The two Towers" -- tedious bridges from exciting opening parts to satisfying climax instalments, or the best of the lot? You decide. :)
Q What does it connect to? A Zone 2 - a door in the room up the scaffolding leads to the top level of Zone 3 Zone 4 - an elevator connects goes from the bottom of Zone 3 down to Zone 4
Zone 4: Parsons State Basement - "Parsons Insanitarium"
Where the key decision of the Cabot quest happens. This location is small. Following a small room that the elevator from Zone 3 connects to, we find one partially flooded room with two water purifiers. Jack Cabot may still be in the next room, the control room / lab, after finishing his quest. If that irritates you, you know what to do. Finally, there is The Cell (see screenshot, or remember the quest).
Q Where is the workbench? A In the cell. This is convenient, but somewhat awkward; the control room might have been a more natural fit.
Q What about food? A See Zone 3 -- the hydroponics mod or the food planters mod or the planters from the homemaker mod (all untested in this location) may be of great help if food production is desired.
Q What does it connect to? A Zone 3 - an elevator goes up from the "water room" to the bottom of Zone 3 Zone 2 - an elevator goes up from the control room / lab to the superintendent's office in Zone 1
Q Why do I want this? A The cell is an awesome location, and is halfway tastefully decorated already. This is somewhat marred by the workbench, but it's as good a time as any to find out whether setpos is safe on workbenches. That said, the location seems a more obvious fit as a player home than as a settlement.
Q What about access / fast travel? A 3 of the zones are interior; so without some "fast travel anywhere" magic on your side, the zone transitions can add up: - zone 1: 1 (to get to (the outside of) the building) - zone 2: 2 (zone1 + 1 to get inside to administration / atrium settlement) - zone 3: 3 (zone2 + 1 to get from zone 2 to the asylum) - zone 4: 3 (zone2 + 1 to get from zone 2 to the basement) And that's just to get there; double each count to factor in leaving. If you usually check all of your settlements sequentially anyway, it's probably less painful.
Q Speaking of fast travel, do raiders etc. randomly spawn inside? Do I have to randomly defend interior locations? Do I even need Defense in there? A The game seems aware that the location is interior (e.g. the interior workbenches won't let you place artillery pieces), but I'm not sure yet what that implies, sorry.
Q Why write this? A Seeing the location, it struck me as *the prime estate* for a settlement - water, existing greenhouse, existing walls (exterior compound for market stalls, interior compound for farming), huge largely intact building that can house many, tall structure that snipers can be placed on, large generator (prop-only, alas), etc., plus, you pretty much clear it during a regular play-through, so there's a lore reason why someone else hasn't settled there before you. So, a fantastic location, and yet somehow, Bethesda doesn't offer it to you as a settlement. I was delighted to see there was a mod, and I think it richly deserves more endorsements. (It unlocks an awesome location. It prevents duplication of effort by pre-building the things everyone needs, but no more, so beyond that, you get to do your own thing. What's not to like?) So here's to helping people understand why they want this :) just in case they're unsure of what they'll get, of which files they need, etc. Provided in the hope that it's helpful / correct, that is saves the mod's author some time, and that it's OK to post as someone with all of half an hour's expertise. Thanks a ton for the mod!
Do these cells compliment and/or share resources with each other? Would the internal plots attract settlers and such? I love the idea of layered settlements.
All 3 internal settlements are designed to work together but there is no sharing of resources, at least not planned anyway. Just create trade routes between them for resource sharing. You can also attract settlers the normal way, with Radio Beacon. These settlements were most fun but somewhat difficult to make, so thank you for liking the concept!
Is each workshop under the same name? I currently am building on the inside of the building after finishing building outside and when I try to send settlers to the settlement, only the outer one shows up. I know you stated that beacons work, but I wanted to send a bunch of settlers over from my other settlements. Just wondering if I did something wrong (all 4 esp's are enabled)
EDIT: Okay I just checked the workshop tab in the pipboy and there are four Parsons Insane Asylum Settlements. Their stats are different (bc I built in two of the workshops) and it is reflected in two of the settlements. But since they are all named the same thing, it doesn't allow me to send settlers to the inside of the building. When pressing R and moving a settler, there is only one Parsons Insane Asylum option. After moving them to the one option I have and trying to move them a second time, there is no other 3 Parsons Insane Asylum Settlements.
EDIT 2: Settlers also aren't coming through beacons
WOW! I must start with that because your mod here is an amazing piece of art! there are so many better settlement choices then allot of the ones we have option too and I am so happy you decided to make this one! truly an impressive piece of work! I am only having one problem with it and I was hoping it would be an easy fix, I have not investigated the inside yet so this problem is only applicable to the outside so far but it's really important to me so I just had to ask. I am having a problem with removing some objects on the outside, for example; The trashcans by the small water source wont remove only one of the two trashcans will remove them selves, also the gurneys on the outside by the small pool also will not remove, some pieces of the destroyed wall will not highlight so I can't fully repair the wall, also there is a desk inside the shed nearby that can be removed but the trash on top of that desk and the chair won't highlight. Any suggestions?
But those don't clean all? Hmm. I use same, but haven't notice this problem, however, that might be because I don't usually delete very much. Also, I have noticed that sometimes you need to wait little, few inworld game days usually, and you can 'miraculously' delete more stuff than before. Why so? No idea.
So I am at this moment unable to help you with your problem, I am so sorry about that! I hope you find solution yourself, or someone else has encountered these same problems and knows how to advice you! Good gaming!
I can make the first 3 get 50 % happiness but not the last one (stuck at 0). Also, the Outside aria of Parson State Insane Asylum shows up as Commonwealth in the workbench list. (heavy moded game)
Edit: Ok after I paid Nick every bottlecap I could find in my apartment (0 caps), here are our findings installation in the following order on heavy moded game (worked for me at least):
install the mod and activate Parsons External settlement (ParsonsInsaneSettlement) only and load game, activate workbench, Save and exit.
Activate the Lobby/Administrations Settlement (ParsonsAsylumVillage) activate workbench, Save and exit.
Activate the Clinic/Asylum settlement (ParsonsFunnery) activate workbench, Save and exit.
(Optional) Activate the basement settlement (ParsonsInsanitarium) activate workbench, Save and exit.
Move the external settlement (ParsonsInsaneSettlement) to position 4 of the mods, ore you get un-scrapable objects at the front of the building. Move the Basement settlement (ParsonsInsanitarium) to position 1 ore you get un-scrapable objects in the Lobby. I could not get the basement part to be at 50% (stuck at 0), so I will use it as a player settlement only.
Thank you for reporting. Shame you couldn't get basement also working. That 0% happiness doesn't happen to all. Well, other settlements work and you get fun places to build at! :)
I got the external workbench as 50% happiness as it should be. but the main inside area up the scaffolding passed the fountain shows 0%. I went back to an previous save b4 I entered and tried again but still the 0% bug
No. from the main door outside, you go inside, then you walk farward and you see an indoor fountain with water pumps and beyond that is some scaffolding. go up the scaffolding and the workbench is there
I know where the Workbench is, I also know where the scaffolding is, but you said that area at scaffolding shows 0 happiness, and that one room that I mentioned is beyond scaffolding. There happiness is ok again?
ok so that area that you know where the workbench is says 0% happiness. shouldn't that be 50% when you first get it? really, im not sure what is so confusing, when you open workbenches for the first time they should show as 50% happiness. regardless of if its the 'one room' or wherever. The main outside area is 50% The inside area where Lorenzo was held captive is 50% the 2 other areas are 0%
Ah, now I understand. The first two of the 3 interior settlements show you 0% happiness, while the third, the laboratory one, is 50% happiness. Also the outside settlement is 50%.
So, yes, all 4 should be 50%
The fact that you get 0% on two of them is not something that happens to everyone, it is instead rather rare - have you activated all Workbenches before you start using them? I know that they can be used before activation, but I recommend activating them none the less - also did you do Game SAVE before activation of each Workbench? This way if you get 0% happiness, you can try fast again. This sometimes helps - if the trick above doesn't help, there is big possibility of your LOAD ORDER being wrong and that you need to twiggle it. Try first with these 4 MODs, and if that doesn't help, you might need to consider if you have other MOD's that need to be elsewhere in Load Order compared to these ones
I hope this clarifies things, and maybe even helps! Have good games!
It is this mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/28085 It places a companion in one of the holding cells. Bigger question is will it work with Scrap Everything?
Established the outside settlement, and everything looks OK except one thing - workers keep un-assigning themselves. So it doesn't play nicely with Sim Settlements. Probably could be good as uninhabited settlement.
And robots. They are created not linked to the settlement. Before assigning them, have to move them to this settlement. This doesn't happen in other, even custom, settlements.
That worker thing is a known behavior of Bethesda software. It is usually fixed by teleporting away and then spending some time away, and finally coming back to see if things look ok.
As to robots, well, what robots? There are some mad robots at Asylum now? Just joking, LOL, I don't use robots much in my settlements, so I don't test for them either, thus there might be something not right about it. About SIM Settlements, I don't test that either, but so far people have reported to me that they work just fine with my settlements. Can't help you on this one either, sorry.
I've got another report about SIm Settlements not working right with my MOD, so you aren't alone with this problem, sadly, I still don't know how to fix your problem, sorry!
71 comments
"The missing FAQ"
If you're checking this mod's description out late at night as I did, or you ran the Cabot quest high on plot and adrenaline and don't remember the interior too well (as I didn't), some questions may come up, the answers to many of which seem somewhat obvious in retrospect. Here they are:
Q What screenshots are what zones?
A There are 4 zones. There are 12 screenshots. 3 per, in correct order.
Q How large are the settlements?
A You may not remember it from running the quest, but the asylum actually has 3 different zones inside, the "Administration" (where you come in, with the skylight/atrium), the "Asylum" (the "bridge" part with the living quarters and individual cells, the jumps of no return, etc.), and the "Basement" (with The Cell, where the decision/showdown happened).
Each interior zone has a workbench that unlocks the *entire* zone; you won't be running around and suddenly dropping out of workbench mode. You get everything!
Q There isn't a nexus manager link / fomod / whatnot!
A Not a question, but ... yes, for now, you're only seeing a "manual download" link. But your Nexus Mod Manager can e.g. "Add mod from file" (the green plus on the left), so you don't even have to unpack the thing yourself, you don't have to place it in the right directory yourself, and it's going to be in that nice large list together with your other mods. (You can presumably also "Add mod from URL".)
If you do this, you add all 4 workbenches/zones, which is perfect if you want all 4 locations, and presumably still fine if you just want the outside ("If you never go inside anyway, any changes there probably won't matter much."). Either way, the 4 .esp are 62KB - 94KB each, so it's not like you'd expect huge overhead. Might be easiest to just install all 4, and then to just unlock the workbenches/settlements you actually want once in game.
Q So what exactly are the zones again / where are the workbenches / ...?
And which zone corresponds to which file?
A Here goes ...
Zone 1: Outside - "Parsons Insane Settlement"
If you look at the screenshot, the awesome spiral staircase is *behind* the building (looking from the main entrance), or to the right (sniping from the overpass). This means that while it looks awesome in itself, it doesn't directly clutter the side with the little lake. Perfect!
Q Where is the workbench?
A Go up the spiral staircase in the back of the building.
Q Why do I want this settlement?
A You get a free exterior wall, and an interior one dividing the compound in a small "market" area near the gate, and a large "private" area in the back where you get a lake for looks and water, a greenhouse, and enough space to farm produce / keep brahmin / build shelter, etc. You're getting a free castle here, and in contrast to the other 3 locations it's out in the open world to boot. What's not to like? This is prime estate in the game for settling (give or take the danger of being sniped at from the overpass by someone with a really good rifle, but there are worse vanilla locations for that). If in your head canon you view all of the estate/asylum as one location, it's certainly a no-brainer. Again, "free castle!"
Zone 2: Parsons State Administration (aka "just behind the front door") - "Parsons Asylumium"
The offices, plus the atrium / large room with the skylight. (Also where the "quick exit" elevator chucks out after you finish the Cabot quest.)
Q Where is the workbench?
A In the atrium, up the scaffolding. You can just about see it in the screenshot once you know it's there.
Q Why do I want this settlement?
A The atrium! You get natural light (presumably good for morale), (added) water, and the thick walls of the asylum, in addition to those of the compound. Talk about castle theme! It also has a decent amount of grass/dirt where you can plant your corn and whatnot. Other than that, some offices. Nice room up the scaffolding, but since it's where the transition to the next zone / settlement is, not somewhere you'd RP as player home (unless you're not using the 3rd zone).
Q What is the deal with that atrium, anyway? Inside, the skylight is all round shapes, yet examining the top of the building from outside, all we see is triangles!
A Damned if I know. Please let me know if you find out! Not really mod-related, though?
Zone 3: Parsons State Insane Asylum - "Parsons State Funnery"
Communal sleeping (if you can pick the lock, or use the console), lots of individual cells, a kitchen, a bar, lots of "living room" type shared space. Again, water.
This is the "intermediate" bit with the cells and the "jumps of no return" (which now have stairs).
Bottom level is now flooded (1'), with two water purifiers.
Q Where is the workbench?
A All the way at the bottom. If you see water purifiers or the elevator, it's right there.
Q What about food?
A There's some dirt you can plant in, but not much.
You can awkwardly fit in some "garden plots" on the top level if you have 'em. The hydroponics mod or the working food planter mod or the planters from the Homemaker mod may be of great help here (but I haven't tested any of them in this location).
Q Why do I want this?
A Sure, it has no fancy skylight or even just windows, but neither do vaults, and in many ways, that just makes it more of a safe haven.
On the plus side, it comes with armor, weapons, chemistry stations as well as water purifiers, and as discussed above, a lot of beds, living space, etc. already there.
Whether it's your cup of tea may depend on how you feel about that whole "2nd part of a trilogy" part -- "The Empire strikes back", "The two Towers" -- tedious bridges from exciting opening parts to satisfying climax instalments, or the best of the lot? You decide. :)
Q What does it connect to?
A Zone 2 - a door in the room up the scaffolding leads to the top level of Zone 3
Zone 4 - an elevator connects goes from the bottom of Zone 3 down to Zone 4
Zone 4: Parsons State Basement - "Parsons Insanitarium"
Where the key decision of the Cabot quest happens. This location is small. Following a small room that the elevator from Zone 3 connects to, we find one partially flooded room with two water purifiers. Jack Cabot may still be in the next room, the control room / lab, after finishing his quest. If that irritates you, you know what to do. Finally, there is The Cell (see screenshot, or remember the quest).
Q Where is the workbench?
A In the cell.
This is convenient, but somewhat awkward; the control room might have been a more natural fit.
Q What about food?
A See Zone 3 -- the hydroponics mod or the food planters mod or the planters from the homemaker mod (all untested in this location) may be of great help if food production is desired.
Q What does it connect to?
A Zone 3 - an elevator goes up from the "water room" to the bottom of Zone 3
Zone 2 - an elevator goes up from the control room / lab to the superintendent's office in Zone 1
Q Why do I want this?
A The cell is an awesome location, and is halfway tastefully decorated already. This is somewhat marred by the workbench, but it's as good a time as any to find out whether setpos is safe on workbenches. That said, the location seems a more obvious fit as a player home than as a settlement.
Q What about access / fast travel?
A 3 of the zones are interior; so without some "fast travel anywhere" magic on your side, the zone transitions can add up:
- zone 1: 1 (to get to (the outside of) the building)
- zone 2: 2 (zone1 + 1 to get inside to administration / atrium settlement)
- zone 3: 3 (zone2 + 1 to get from zone 2 to the asylum)
- zone 4: 3 (zone2 + 1 to get from zone 2 to the basement)
And that's just to get there; double each count to factor in leaving.
If you usually check all of your settlements sequentially anyway, it's probably less painful.
Q Speaking of fast travel, do raiders etc. randomly spawn inside? Do I have to randomly defend interior locations? Do I even need Defense in there?
A The game seems aware that the location is interior (e.g. the interior workbenches won't let you place artillery pieces), but I'm not sure yet what that implies, sorry.
Q Why write this?
A Seeing the location, it struck me as *the prime estate* for a settlement - water, existing greenhouse, existing walls (exterior compound for market stalls, interior compound for farming), huge largely intact building that can house many, tall structure that snipers can be placed on, large generator (prop-only, alas), etc., plus, you pretty much clear it during a regular play-through, so there's a lore reason why someone else hasn't settled there before you.
So, a fantastic location, and yet somehow, Bethesda doesn't offer it to you as a settlement. I was delighted to see there was a mod, and I think it richly deserves more endorsements. (It unlocks an awesome location. It prevents duplication of effort by pre-building the things everyone needs, but no more, so beyond that, you get to do your own thing. What's not to like?)
So here's to helping people understand why they want this :) just in case they're unsure of what they'll get, of which files they need, etc. Provided in the hope that it's helpful / correct, that is saves the mod's author some time, and that it's OK to post as someone with all of half an hour's expertise. Thanks a ton for the mod!
ps. ever checked some of my other settlement MODs? (there are couple or so...)
Edit: Nvm, got it working with the Unofficial Patch.
Edit: Until I added others settlements, it disappeared again.
And yes, complete the secret of Cabot house first. Jack can't navigate to his office, he just stops in front of the door and the quest can't continue.
And thanx for loving my settlement MOD's, they told me they love you back.
EDIT: Okay I just checked the workshop tab in the pipboy and there are four Parsons Insane Asylum Settlements. Their stats are different (bc I built in two of the workshops) and it is reflected in two of the settlements. But since they are all named the same thing, it doesn't allow me to send settlers to the inside of the building. When pressing R and moving a settler, there is only one Parsons Insane Asylum option. After moving them to the one option I have and trying to move them a second time, there is no other 3 Parsons Insane Asylum Settlements.
EDIT 2: Settlers also aren't coming through beacons
Also, I have noticed that sometimes you need to wait little, few inworld game days usually, and you can 'miraculously' delete more stuff than before. Why so? No idea.
So I am at this moment unable to help you with your problem, I am so sorry about that! I hope you find solution yourself, or someone else has encountered these same problems and knows how to advice you! Good gaming!
Edit: Ok after I paid Nick every bottlecap I could find in my apartment (0 caps), here are our findings installation in the following order on heavy moded game (worked for me at least):
install the mod and activate Parsons External settlement (ParsonsInsaneSettlement) only and load game, activate workbench, Save and exit.
Activate the Lobby/Administrations Settlement (ParsonsAsylumVillage) activate workbench, Save and exit.
Activate the Clinic/Asylum settlement (ParsonsFunnery) activate workbench, Save and exit.
(Optional) Activate the basement settlement (ParsonsInsanitarium) activate workbench, Save and exit.
Move the external settlement (ParsonsInsaneSettlement) to position 4 of the mods, ore you get un-scrapable objects at the front of the building.
Move the Basement settlement (ParsonsInsanitarium) to position 1 ore you get un-scrapable objects in the Lobby.
I could not get the basement part to be at 50% (stuck at 0), so I will use it as a player settlement only.
really, im not sure what is so confusing, when you open workbenches for the first time they should show as 50% happiness. regardless of if its the 'one room' or wherever.
The main outside area is 50%
The inside area where Lorenzo was held captive is 50%
the 2 other areas are 0%
So, yes, all 4 should be 50%
The fact that you get 0% on two of them is not something that happens to everyone, it is instead rather rare
- have you activated all Workbenches before you start using them? I know that they can be used before activation, but I recommend activating them none the less
- also did you do Game SAVE before activation of each Workbench? This way if you get 0% happiness, you can try fast again. This sometimes helps
- if the trick above doesn't help, there is big possibility of your LOAD ORDER being wrong and that you need to twiggle it. Try first with these 4 MODs, and if that doesn't help, you might need to consider if you have other MOD's that need to be elsewhere in Load Order compared to these ones
I hope this clarifies things, and maybe even helps! Have good games!
Now that is the cautious way, it still might work with my MOD also...
And robots. They are created not linked to the settlement. Before assigning them, have to move them to this settlement. This doesn't happen in other, even custom, settlements.
As to robots, well, what robots? There are some mad robots at Asylum now? Just joking, LOL, I don't use robots much in my settlements, so I don't test for them either, thus there might be something not right about it. About SIM Settlements, I don't test that either, but so far people have reported to me that they work just fine with my settlements. Can't help you on this one either, sorry.