and Relevant Mod Recommendations

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   Ever since I gave my primary gaming PC to a friend who had no PC at all to play games on, I have constantly found myself mired in real-life issues which kept me from being able to spend anything on this wonderful thing we know as gaming. My AMD A-10 based laptop died not too long after taking with it months of work on Unity I had. There is absolutely no blame on anyone or anything about my situation. I've had a  rash of bad luck and some poor life choices and now I feel the consequences of that. Life goes on. Onto the guide!

Do have some self-restraint and keep your mod list to under 50 mods total, not including retextures and bugfix mods. This is a must for stability on low-end PCs. You will be doing yourself a favor.

Check out my profile and give kudos/endorsements if you like my work. It lets me know that you appreciate the mods. You can also show support through Donations which would help me continue my modding endeavors and do something nice for the cats.

Intel video drivers

Prior to driver version 20.19.15.5058 for Windows 10/8/7, Fallout 4 was a complete mess on Intel iGPUs. I was able to run the game after finding a discussion thread where a user discovered turning the gore off and setting precombined meshes to 0 would keep the game from crashing due to faulty drivers. Of course, this had a lot of undesirable side effects but the game ran so there was that. Intel didn't exactly make this news and hunting down new drivers is pretty archaic even now. Here is the link to the drivers for Intel so the first issue of gaming on iGPU gets resolved. Click here.

Make sure you download the proper driver for your device. On a side note, the guide should also benefit APU users as well, but if you want to use the INIs, you'll have to manually change the video device listed in the files to your video device.

The .INI tweaks

Finding the balance between appearance and performance on integrated graphics is tedious and time-consuming. I've tried a lot of tweaks available here and other places online. The conclusion I came to was that they weren't very useful because most of these folks have the technical know-how but they themselves are not playing on the same systems.

I have included my fallout4.ini, falloutcustom.ini, and fallout4prefs.ini for download in the files section. Backup your .ini files so you can revert back if you don't like the results. Copy to your fallout 4  directory in my documents and overwrite your .inis with these. Make sure to set these files to read-only because the launcher will try to revert settings. 

Resolution settings

This is set to 856x480 in the .inis. I found this to be the sweet spot but if you have a more modern iGPU, you may be able to set it to 960x540. I have an Intel i5 4200m processor with iGPU 4600 so it is completely obsolete for any game that requires more than DirectX 11.1 hence the 480p for me. I have also included some alternate files in Optional files for utility.

Now, in order to run at these resolutions, you need to go into your Intel HD graphics control panel, under Display, click custom resolutions, type in the width, height, set vertical sync to 60 and click add. 

Once you have done that, Goto Display, General settings, Look under Scaling near the bottom, click on Scale Fullscreen, checkmark override application settings, and click apply. Now, you are all set to use the new resolution. 

Caveats

I hope you like immersion because having this unsupported resolution breaks the up/down map scrolling. the left/right/zoom works but you get the idea. No fast travel via vanilla methods but I will list some mods that will alleviate that in the next section.

Being that the only way in and out of the institute is fast travel, you'll have to resort to this mod and 4 points of science.

I have created a replacer available in miscellaneous files that changes this requirement to 1 point of science. Install mod above and use the replacer to override it. Do yourself a favor and have self-restraint since the mod will give you access to a lot of places you might not have visited yet.

Be cautious when updating/adding new mods in the middle of a playthrough. Take time to read the changelog. If your game isn't broken, it may not need the update. If it is a new mod, look under the compatibility to ensure it doesn't conflict with another mod in your load order.

Performance Mod recommendations
(Most of these mods below have been tested together for months before being set aside for this list)

This portion of the guide assumes that you have all of the DLC but if you do not, please pay attention to the different versions in the mod files if there is any or required. Also, please use Vortex or Nexus Mod Manager for mods. Manual installs can get messy and may cause issues later when you add more mods.

Before you begin, I highly recommend following the instructions in this Fallout 4 Master ESM cleaning guide on steam. This is essential knowledge and practice for modded Fallout 4.

Remember to set .inis in my documents to read-only every time you add/subtract mods through Vortex/Nexus Mod Manager. 

Faraway Area Reform - FAR optimizes and improves over 6000+ distant land textures, which means more performance and less stutter.

Vivid Fallout All in One - Vivid Fallout is an overhaul of all landscape textures, but also trees, rocks, roads, bridges, and some concrete stuff.
Dynamic Interior Fog Removal - This mod will modify all fog in interior cells dynamically, either making it disappear or toning it down to look more subtle.
Fallout 4 enhanced color correction - This mod aims to increase the quality of the colors and contrast in Fallout 4 with no performance impact.
Wasteland 512 Textures - Use the Far Harbor textures and Wasteland Workshop ones only.
No Ugly Plants and More - Replaces a few landscape textures with a 1 KB invisible texture to help the landscape seem a little more clean, and not so wild.
Reduced Rubble - This tweak reduces the density of game engine generated grass, shrubs, bricks and other misc. rubble that is not interactive and serves no other purpose but to be filler.
NMC's Texture Bundle - by NMC, the mod author who single-handedly saved Fallout 3's visuals. - Mini- texture bundle, retexturing the Nuka Cola Machine, RedRocket Truck Stops, Diners (including Drumlin), Drive-Ins, Roads (asphalt road only) and Sanctuary Bridge. Use the medium textures for performance.
Lone Wanderer Fast Travel - This will allow you to circumvent the fast travel issue with unsupported resolution while being more immersive.
Zoomed out Extended Map - The workaround for unsupported resolution so you can at least see the whole map.
Smooth First Person Sprint - Less Jerkiness & Stutter - Fallout 4 stutters when sprinting in the first person, it is an engine issue. This is a workaround to that.
Mist (dust) Begone - This mod removes 99% of the "mist" objects from the game, doubling my framerate in some areas ( mostly interiors ). ( Added cleaned esp under miscellaneous for those experiencing crashes from dirty edits. It still contains errors but doesn't cause crashes. )
Boston FPS Fix  - This can make modded Fallout 4 much smoother in Cities. The mod is only useful if you are using mods that affect previs and recombine. It is also not recommended for those using resolutions higher than 1080p. Your results will vary depending on your hardware.

Fallout 4 Fixes

Fallout 4 Fixes - Improvements - QOL - A Compilation of fixes/improvements/quality of life changes for vanilla Fallout 4 in one ESL flagged .esp.

Settlement Attack DLC fix - Combines the record so attacks will occur between all 3 DLCs.
You talk too much - Makes several changes to the way NPCs engage in conversations with you as well as other NPCs.
Keep Commonwealth radiant quests in the Commonwealth - No more "cleansing the Commonwealth" in Maine.
Fr4nsson's Light Tweaks - Tweaks the Fallout 4 lights. I recommend the indoor-only version. 
Companion Stealth Distance fix - A simple change that prevents your companion from charging up your posterior at full speed whenever you enter stealth. 
Lever Action Reload Fix - The most stable lever-action reload fix out there with working 3rd person.
Nuka World Bottle Scenery Fix - A fix for the outsized bottles appearing in Nuka-World. Replaces them with similar bottle scenery.
No Scope Fade-in - If you dislike the half-second blackout when zooming in with a scope, then this mod will remove it for you.
Power Armor Map Fix - Changes the texture material used for not having an over-brighten map when using power armor.
Grab the Damn Mag - Fixes animation clipping on a lot of modded weapons, specifically the ones that go sideways.
Decreased Automaton Bullshit Encounters - Tweaks a few simple aspects of the Rust Devils. Random encounters with Rust Devils should be rarer.

Better Fallout Mod recommendations

These are what I consider the best quality of life mods on the Nexus. Please do share your personal favorites in the comments. It is always interesting to discover new mods I may have overlooked.

Sim Settlements - Settlers should build their own damn houses (and farms, and shops, and...), you've got a Commonwealth to explore!

See-Through Scopes - Adds see-through (so no scope overlay) Combat Scopes to various weapons.
Heather Casdin - A Unique Companion - Heather is a story-driven character with over 1200 lines of custom, voiced dialogue, quests, etc.
Immersive Burning Molotovs and Flamers - Overhauls Molotovs to have a tactical use and real explosion values gathered from real-life Molotov explosions.
Automatically Lowered Weapons - Lowers your weapon automatically when not in combat.
Laser weapons 1st person reposition - Makes the institute and standard laser weapons smaller in the 1st person.
Better Companions - No Conflicts - Combines the effects of Companion Infinite Ammo, No Companion Power Armor Damage, Companions Can Sneak, and No Companion Fall Damage, for vanilla, DLC, and Mod Companions, WITHOUT making any edits to vanilla records and WITHOUT scripts.
Darker Nights - This mod will make the nights in the Commonwealth darker. Not by a whole lot, but dark enough I think so that you know the night has fallen without having to check the time on your pip-boy. Interiors will be darker during the night as well.
We are the Minutemen - The Minutemen are supposed to be the best alternative for rebuilding the Commonwealth because of More settlements = More resources = Better materials = Better firepower and a larger presence in all the Commonwealth. But currently this is not the case and this mod attempts to fix this problem.
Legendary Crafting Framework - Craft legendary mods, add a second legendary mod slot, ammo conversion for guns, modify/enhance armors and melee weapons and more. It now also adds FO76 Legendary mods that can be added to your gear. 
Better Settlers - Use the base option without additional mods. Better Settlers is a lore-friendly mod that adds more than 240 new settlers to the vanilla settler selections.

NOTE: It is a good idea to heed Sim Settlement's performance option warnings. If it asks you if it should go over the build limit, always answer no. I have broken this warning a few times, and it is generally a poor idea as it can lead to instability. The exception to this is if the Settlement is still at level 0. I find that most settlements are still performance-friendly at level 2-3 for medium/small settlements, and a max of level 2 for larger places like Sanctuary Hills.

Additional Mod recommendations

Comics Got Back - Oddly one of the few things that bothered me about Fallout 4 was that the comics and magazines had blank back covers. So I put ads on the back of them.
Welcome to Fallon's - This mod is an immersive, lore-friendly overhaul of Fallon's Basement in Diamond City. 
Sweet Roll 5000 - Replaces the sweet roll and birthday sweet roll with brand-new handmade meshes and textures, and gives the birthday variant its own color with 3D candles. 
Project Reality Footsteps FO4 - This mod changes almost all footstep sounds into more realistic ones.
Commonwealth Warfare - Realistic Gun Sounds - Replaces vanilla sounds with the sweet sweet music of combat!
Fashionable Valentine - Nick Valentine can wear every clothes and armor you can wear.
Wearable Backpacks and Pouches - This mod adds craftable & upgradable backpacks & pouches.
Larger Hunting Rifle Silencer - The default hunting rifle silencer was unrealistically small, I scaled it up.
Everyone's Best Friend - This mod allows you to have Dogmeat and a standard companion at the same time using in-game functionality (not hacks or console commands).

Mod Highlights 

Rickety Restored Sanctuary Bridge - by Evilviking13 - This mod adds a repaired version of the Sanctuary Bridge that fits in with the rest of the environment. 
Sim Settlements First Steps - by Bowenje - Simple Settlements (up to level 4) for Sims Settlements, ROTC, and Conquerors. The plans are for Sanctuary, Red Rocket Truck Stop, Tenpines Bluff, Abernathy Farm, and Starlight Drive-In. They are designed to focus on the simplicity of being below the build limit, have an upfront crafting station, and still be challenging in conquerors.
LAER  (Laser-assisted Electrical Rifle) - by TheRizzler1 - An Electrolaser-based weapon that gains bonus damage against Robots and Power Armor users, as well as the ability to shut down and/or paralyze enemies with critical attacks.
Hazmat Suit Redux - Spiffyskytrooper - Enhances the vanilla Hazmat Suit by adding a few tweaks to improve the visual style and realism.
Start Me Up - Alternate Start - by TinyManticore - Provides Alternate start, Quickstart, Normal start options. When you use one of the alternate start paths, there are over 800 dialogue edits, with voice and lip-sync, so your character is no longer the mother/father of Shaun (or even a Vault Dweller, if you want). Great for role players. (I have a replacer .esp available under Misc. files which fix a small error with starting out as med/hard thief character where the player was given 8/15 .44 revolvers in place of 8/15 .44 ammo. Now, you just get one .44 pistol with a bit of ammo.) 
I personally use this mod to skip past the prewar intro and for its added traits which are similar to New Vegas & Fallout 3.

Credits: All thanks goes to TinyManticore for Start Me Up - Alternate Start mod.

Recommended Weapon Mods

Disclaimer: This guide section contains no model/texture/mesh/sound assets. You must download the original weapon mods first before using any replacers.

Installation: 1. Download and install mods below. 2. Make sure the .esp for that mod is activated and all the assets from it are in your Fallout 4 data folder 3. Overwrite original .esp with .esp from replacer file. 4. Endorse above mod and give kudos to the mod author. 5. Done.

Standalone NCR Ranger Sequoia by Rakul
(I have a replacer .esp that reduces the damage of this weapon by a slight amount. It was doing more damage than the anti-material rifle previously. It will still be on par with it if you have gunslinger perks.)
AK-5C A Nordic Relic by AsXas
(I have a replacer .esp available under Misc. files which remove this from vendors and certain non-boss actors. This also makes the food items rarer so it doesn't show up absolutely everywhere. The weapon is rare like it should be instead of every other Gunner using it.)
Mosin Nagant by FX0x01
(I have a replacer .esp available under Misc. files which remove this from vendors but drops from Raider bosses/special gun drops. The weapon is pretty rare now like it should be instead of every other NPC using it. The base damage is now 62 instead of 90[which puts it a bit above the hunting rifle instead of the same range as gauss rifle], Iron sights have a 1.5x zoom for folks who like iron sights better. Accuracy boosted to counter odd accuracy while using iron sights.)
Bullpup Bozar by Deadpool2099
(I have a replacer .esp available under Misc. files which remove this from stores and non-boss actors. This makes it rarer in the Commonwealth)
Anti-Material Rifle by Toasty Fresh
(I have a replacer .esp available under Misc. files which fix the range, balances damage and removes it from most of the leveled list and all stores. I really loved this rifle but I felt it needed to be better balanced and much rarer in the Commonwealth. NPCs also glitch quite a bit using the rifle so I made the decision to remove it and also the cap's value has been decreased so you don't get an obscene amount of funds from selling it. You can get the rifle at Gunner's Plaza.)
DKS 501 Sniper Rifle by LTCommander
(I have a replacer .esp available under Misc. files which remove it from a lot of the factions except some bosses. I found that it simply was too common and it showed up way too often. I've also reduced the action point cost by a slight amount to account for balancing with other weapons. It also has been removed from certain stores because I felt it was too plentiful there as well. All of the unique rifles have not been touched.)
Winchester Model 1897 Shotgun by WarDaddy755 
(I have a replacer .esp available under Misc. files which add the weapon to gun specialty vendors and drops from special guns category only. Gun changes Base Damage 74 from 82, zoom set to 1.5x.  I did this because it felt as if this was all gunners and raiders ever used and Gunners/raiders without some range act stupid.)
Service Rifle by Deadpool2099
(I have a replacer .esp available under Misc. files which make this weapon not so common. The changes should place this in the hands of Minutemen and Gunners more than Raiders. I have also reduced the shops that sell them but it won't make the weapon rare.)


Credits: All thanks goes to the people responsible for creating the above mods in Recommended Weapon Mods. ( Rakul, Elgoes, Deadpool2099, AsXas, FX0x01, Toasty Fresh, LTCommander, and WarDaddy755 ).


Why I Stopped using F4SE and other great mods

F4SE like it's Skyrim cousin SKSE generally is a must-have since it allows so much more for mods, but every time a new Creator's Club item is released the executable changes which break F4SE. I always back up my entire Fallout 4 directory so it isn't a major issue but I find it a hassle enough to prevent me using it. Unfortunately, Fallout Cascadia will require it when it comes out, and I may break down then and use it again.

Armour and weapon keywords and Armorsmith Extended are good mods but too intrusive in the menus and adds too many things that I personally do not use.

The main issue I have is that mods that rely on the two mods have too many dependencies which can cause instability due to patches being flawed or a conflict causing issues due to heavy reliance on a network of patches and other requirements. 

Overall, It is generally a good idea to use mods that only rely on the core game and the DLCs on a lower-end system or a Potato like in my case for maximum stability and performance. 


If I could only use ten mods to improve Fallout 4:

Legendary Crafting Framework by DankRafft
Vivid Fallout All in One by Hein84
Sim Settlements by kinggath
Heather Casdin - A Unique Companion by LlamaRCA
Lone Wanderer Fast Travel by LoneRaptor
Fallout 4 Fixes - Improvements - QOL by tekmage
Start Me Up - Alternate Start by TinyManticore
NMC's Texture Bundle by NMC
Faraway Area Reform by SparrowPrince
Service Rifle by Deadpool 2099 

Why I don't recommend using individual texture mods:

Consistency. It really is a rabbit hole because yes, that one model you downloaded looks great but the unmodded models end up sticking out like a sore thumb giving you a very uneven look which will pull you out of the immersion. The same philosophy applies to weapons and armor, too. 
The best mods are the ones that are incognito. They should feel as if they were always present in vanilla. It is the #1 immersion killer, at least for me.

Load Order TST2PL5:

Spoiler:  

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Please, give mod authors praise and endorse if you like their mods. Leave constructive criticism and please don't be a troll. Constructive feedback always will make everyone get better.

I hope you find this guide useful and see you in the wasteland!

Check a look at my profile and give kudos if you like my work. It lets me know that you appreciate the effort. You can choose to support me through paypal.me/smgrinus or  Venmo me @grinus which would help me continue my art & modding endeavours and do something nice for the feline companions.

 "THIS MATERIAL IS NOT MADE, GUARANTEED OR SUPPORTED BY ZENIMAX OR ITS AFFILIATES."