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Mod Name: Fens Station Basic Player Home

Version: 0.9
Series: Home Away From Home
Series Number: 4

Author: Myrystyr
Original Author: Myrystyr
Date: 13/01/2023
Categories: Player Homes

Requirements: Fallout 4 base game (no DLC or other mods required and latest version assumed)

Recommended:
Play on Survival Mode (for a thematically appropriate immersive playstyle)
Legendary Chance Reduced - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/57015 (can you survive with fewer legendary items?)
Boston Jacket Fatigues - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/5518 (for further immersion)
Wastelanders Overalls - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/50671 (for greater immersion in 4k)
Scrap Annoying Things - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/9443 (for getting rid of the skeletons)
SKK Workshop Ownership Utilities - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31625 (for upgrade and diagnostics)
SKK Dynamic Workshop Time - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/29069 (for building at your own pace)
Makeshift Battery - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20081/? (for a survival-themed power source)
Switchbox Generator - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14965 (for not-so-lore-friendly power)
Compact Crafting - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/18264/ (for crafting in confined spaces)
Companions Go Home - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10029/ - OR
Companions Go Home Fix - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/51578 (for resetting dismissed companions)


Home Away From Home
1 - Simple Talos Plaza Home - http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/47790/
2 - Erthor Gives You Bleak Flats Cave - https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/49414
3 - Falcar's Room Becomes Safe Storage - https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/49542
4 - Fens Station Basic Player Home - this mod


DESCRIPTION
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Tired of living in Home Plate? Want a player home close to Diamond City that isn't a full settlement, or you just don't feel like clearing out Hangman's Alley yet? Hey, maybe you're playing on Survival Mode, looking for somewhere you can bunker down after making it all the way from Concord to the Charles River, and you need a break before going any further. Well, looks like you're in luck - someone dragged a workshop workbench into that subway station over there.

Hello, and welcome to this mod. Fens Station Basic Player Home is my first attempt at making a settlement, and was playtested on three different characters. I've long wanted a settlement or player home in this location, and while there are a couple of other mods on the Nexus that put a settlement here (and a few other mods that put settlements of varying sizes in the general area), they're not really what I was looking for. This is, as the title suggests, a basic player home - it has the same type of workshop workbench as Home Plate (including the same values for current and maximum draws and triangles), and does not make any drastic changes to the interior cell. In particular, while scrapping recipes are provided and some static and other items are swapped out for other versions (e.g. the sleeping bags and magazine rack are now of the workshop type), nothing else is added or removed. Furthermore, while precombines were broken during the making of this mod they were regenerated properly along with visibility.

This is a continuation of my Home Away From Home series, which started in Oblivion. While I did have several ideas for further player homes in that game, most of my gameplay these past few years has been in Fallout 4. Therefore I feel it is appropriate for the fourth entry in that series to be in this game.

In order to claim Fens Station as your player home, simply enter the location and clear it like any dungeon. As you approach the workbench you should get a message (top left corner) that you can now use the workbench here. You do not need to buy a key or complete a quest, although you will have to kill the vermin that are still here. Enough of the static items in the cell can be scrapped to provide some basic resources (including some that were swapped out for custom items so that custom scrapping recipes could be made), although the rubble cannot be cleared. If you want to get rid of the skeletons, you will need another mod that does so - I can recommend Scrap Annoying Things by iwonderif, but there are probably other mods on the Nexus that do the same. While the Protectron is scrappable, the dead Raider is not; if you don't want his corpse stinking up the place, you'll have to drag it away on your own.

I do not use Scrap Everything or Place Everywhere, so cannot comment on what you might be able to do with this site if you have those mods installed. The buildable zone actually extends quite some distance outside the interior walls, in order to cover everything inside the subway station, so if you do have those mods and feel like doing some extensive remodelling there is nothing really stopping you from doing so.

As always, if you are already satisfied with other settlement mods in this area you don't have to download this mod.

This mod is released as is. While feedback may be helpful, be aware that not every suggestion or request may be taken into account. Furthermore, if you would be more satisfied with the mod going in a different direction than the one I have chosen, please note that permission is given for further modification (see below for full details).

Please read the ReadMe in full before downloading and installing this mod. For optimum results manual installation is recommended. If a mod user downloads and installs this mod without reading the ReadMe, then no support can be offered.


CONTENTS
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This mod contains the following files:

FensStationPlayerHome - Main.ba2
FensStationPlayerHome.esp

Both of these files need to be installed for this mod to work.


This mod adds a player home to the game that is not registered with the Workshop Parent Script, but does have a Workshop keyword and some of the markers that a full settlement would use. It will therefore show up in the list of workshops in the Pip-Boy, with a happiness of 20 (this is not a bug), and companions may be dismissed to there. From the script properties on the workbench no attacks will occur here, brahmin cannot be recruited, and minutemen quests are prohibited. Although settlers and companions may be sent here, the workshop is not set up for resource management. Similarly, while a supply line might be established the provisioner's brahmin will probably get stuck in the entrance.

IF you do send companions and/or settlers here, note that the workshop is linked to the build area with the WorkshopLinkSandbox keyword; they should therefore wander about as if this were a normal settlement.

While there is a mapmarker, clicking on the Fens Station in your list of settlements will not centre the map on the player home. It is possible to fast-travel to and from the location however.

Note that the mapmarker is linked to a heading marker inside the entrance, so if you do fast-travel to here you will appear inside the subways station and not outside. This is a good way to purge the game's memory of loaded exterior cells without having to load all of the area around Hangman's Alley at the same time. Similarly, if you save your game inside the station, upon starting and loading again the game will only need to load the contents of this interior cell.


This mod will conflict with any other mod that edits the same location, encounter zone and/or interior cell.

The esp is of standard type, not esl-flagged, and an esl version is not provided.


INSTALLATION
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0 - Identify a prior savegame to revert to in case of uninstallation
1 - Extract to a temporary location
2 - Copy the archive and esp to your Fallout 4\Data folder
3 - Tick the esp and adjust your load order as you see fit
4 - Make a new save when next you play


UNINSTALL
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1 - Untick the esp
2 - Delete the esp and the archive from your Data folder
3 - Click yes to continue when next you play (accepting load order changes) and make a new save
OR: revert to a savegame prior to installing the mod (and make another new save)


CREDIT
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This mod was created by Myrystyr and uploaded to NexusMods.

This mod was made after careful consultation of the following articles by SKK50:

Corrupt Workshop Lists - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/1343
Workshop Resource Test - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/2612
Workshop Keyword Test - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/2094
WorkshopParent Registered Scrappable Settlements - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/2298

And the following tutorial by El Ha aka Zorkaz:

Creating Custom Settlements - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/39353


Additional thanks to other mod authors for inspiration, and players like you for downloading my mods.

Tools used: Creation Kit (including Archive2), File Explorer, Notepad, 7-Zip, Edit, Bethesda Archive Extractor.


PERMISSION
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This mod was created by Myrystyr.

This mod is free to use, distribute, and adapt in accordance with the following conditions:

* Please do not distribute any part of this mod for commercial purposes.
* Please give courtesy notification of any use of this mod in another project.
* Please give credit to myself as Myrystyr the creator of this mod, any others mentioned in the ReadMe as appropriate, and any other contributors to your version of this mod.
* Please include a link in your readme and description to this mod.
* Please include the readme for this mod in the download for your mod.
* You accept full responsibility for any changes you make, including dealing with any issues that may arise, and will direct users of your mod to seek support primarily on your mod's webpage.
* This mod was uploaded to NexusMods, on the date given in the Description, and if downloaded from anywhere other than the original webpage no support can be offered by the mod author.
* This mod is not available on the console for technical reasons.
* If you translate this mod into a language other than English, please note that you assume all responsibility for that version of this mod; any questions or comments regarding the translation must be dealt with on your mod's webpage.


CONTACT
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You can contact me by commenting on this mod's webpage, or any of my uploaded mods. While I do make an effort to read every comment, an immediate response is not always practical and should not be expected.

Hostile comments will not be tolerated, and any such activity will be reported, blocked, deleted and locked.

If the comment section of a mod's webpage has a sticky note, please read that before commenting.

Please inform me as soon as possible of any problems you may encounter while using this mod, provided you are reasonably certain the issue you experienced is actually related to this mod. There are a number of common problems encountered by mod users that often turn out to be caused by the base game, seemingly unrelated mods, unwise edits to the .ini files, changes in load order, corrupted saves, loose files, dirty edits, etc. Feedback and constructive criticism are welcome, although I am not currently taking suggestions for future mods. If a bug is found, clear details will be required.

If you would like to submit images to this mod's webpage, note that approval is usually granted within 24 hours.

This mod is available only on the Personal Computer and not the Console, because the only gaming console I own is a PS3. If you want to convert this mod for the console please contact me beforehand for permission, provided you understand that you will be taking responsibility for the console version of this mod.


CONFLICTS AND ISSUES
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Disclaimer: I do not play on survival mode, as the imposed restrictions make it impossible to fix issues I repeatedly encounter in the base game. Therefore any issues encountered using this mod in that mode cannot be addressed.

Having said that, if i did play on survival mode this mod would be ideally suited to my preferred gaming experience.

Known Issues: The main thing you need to know is that the cooking station doesn't want to be moved about in workshop mode. That's not really a problem, as having a campfire there provides a lore-friendly light source.

On occasion, while walking in the area around Fens Station and Hangman's Alley, my game would crash when approaching Diamond City. Typically this would occur after playing for an hour or more, and after reloading there would be no repeat of the incident. After extensive examination of my load order, I came to the conclusion that this was due to the (vast) number of mods I have installed that add encounters in the general area and/or add lots of stuff to the levelled lists that equip NPCs encountered in this area. It might also be due to a game engine limitation or bug, as prior to the creation of this mod I would sometimes experience drastic framerate loss in the same area. We all know that downtown Boston can be a framerate nightmare at times (the worst I've seen Fallout Performance Monitor report was a framerate of 4 during a massive battle near the entrance to Diamond City), so this might have nothing to do with this mod. If however you experience an increase in freezing or crashing after installing this mod, please check your load order before informing me of the issue. One potential safeguard is to save the game when near the shipwreck or grocery shop, fast-travel into either this site or Diamond City, and then save again before going out into downtown Boston.

This is also why I was reluctant to use some of the other settlement mods available for this general area. The more things going on in loaded cells, the more changes made to those cells, the more problems that might arise.

Skimpiness Factor: Well that is going to depend on what the levelled lists dress the raider corpse up in . . .

Playtest Report: If you have already cleared the location before installing this mod, it will probably still be in whatever state you left it in without resetting; the only noticeable change should be the addition of the workbench.

At one point this site was set up as a full settlement, but I found it works better as a player home. If you wish to turn this into a full settlement, the SKK Workshop Ownership Utilities mod will prove useful; or you can modify the esp as desired (and at own risk). This makeshift home has worked as intended for a high-level character who already completed the main questline and claimed most of the settlements in the game (and a few added by mods), and for a starting character who has done next to nothing with Sanctuary Hills and Red Rocket Station. The only issues encountered were when precombines and visibility were not regenerated properly, and in experimenting with how the workbench was set up.

Compatibility: This mod will conflict with any other mod that alters the same location, encounter zone and/or interior cell. It is recommended that only one mod altering these records be installed:

Cell Block 7 Sub-Block 1 001BAE01 FensKenmoreStation
Encounter Zone 001BDDF3 FensKenmoreStationZone
Location 001BDDF2 FensKenmoreStationLocation

The location record does not include the music edit that the Unofficial Patch has, so you will hear background music. The only addition to a worldspace is the persistent placement of a mapmarker, so no exterior cell is affected by this mod. Every change or addition is on a custom layer. There is a centermarker and a spawnmarker, but not an edgemarker. In theory it should be possible to dismiss companions to here, send settlers or even build a supply line, although there isn't really any reason to do so. During testing it was possible for Raider jobs from Nuka World to target this site, although that won't really accomplish much either. As there is no registration with the all-important Workshop Parent Script, resources cannot be managed here and Happiness will not start at 50. Upon being able to use the workbench, Fens Station will show up in the settlement list with a happiness of 20 (this is not a bug); if it shows as any other number, e.g. 0 or 80, something is wrong and you should quit the game and uninstall this mod immediately.

Due to the small number of records in the esp, it is theoretically possible for an esl version to be made. That would require using the Creation Kit to compact/renumber the records, which I would rather not do. As an esl is a light master, an esl will load after master files and before all esps - regardless of the load order! I prefer being able to move esps up and down the load order to resolve conflicts as situations arise. Anyone who desires an esl or esl-flagged esp version of this mod is free to make their own, on the understanding that no further support will be supplied.

Fens Station Player Home is my first settlement-type mod for Fallout 4, and I learned a lot in creating and playtesting this mod. I hope that the lessons learned will be of benefit to further mods I make for this game. While I consider this mod to be complete and effectively in its final form, there is always room for improvement.

Lastly, the esp for this mod was cleaned by the Quick Auto Clean function of Edit version 4.0.3.


This mod was used alongside over 200 other mods, all either downloaded from NexusMods or of my own private creation (including custom patches). My load order includes a fairly recent version of CBBE, and the Unofficial Patch, but not AWKCR or AE. No mod manager is installed or used, and in all cases manual installation is recommended and assumed. While I do have Edit installed it is primarily used to manage custom patches at the end of my load order. Although I play with over 200 mods installed, compatibility with any given mod or load order cannot be guaranteed or assumed.

If a load order conflict is experienced when using this mod with others that affect the same records, you will have to decide for yourself which mod should be kept or edited and which might have to be removed. Given how small an impact this mod has on the game, conflicts are unlikely but you never know for sure. If another mod adds anything to this location, it might not be a problem; if it moves or disables anything in here, it could be.

My current roster of playtest characters are mostly retired, having completed the main questline and most of the DLC questlines at level 80 or above (average 200+ hours play). Your gaming experience may differ if your characters are of notably lower or much higher level, or have not advanced particularly far in the game's storyline.

I am reasonably certain that any problems I encounter are typically due to other mods that have issues of their own, pre-existing known bugs in the game, or the general issues that may arise from having over 200 mods installed. In particular, I have had to retire some of my playtest characters due to various issues specific to their playthroughs. They have earned their rest, and I will carry the lessons we learned for as long as I play Fallout 4.


FAVOURITE ANNOYING QUESTIONS
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Question: Can't you give us the short version instead?
Answer: Too many mods on the Nexus are poorly documented. This is not one of them.

Question: Why doesn't this mod do something that shouldn't be done?
Answer: Because it shouldn't be done.

Question: Why won't you change this mod to do something I want?
Answer: Because I made this mod to do something that I want.

Question: Why don't I use this other mod instead?
Answer: Go ahead and do that if that's what you want.

Question: Why isn't this mod available for the XBox or PS4?
Answer: Because I don't own a gaming console that it may or may not work on.

Question: Why did my game crash when I installed a whole lot of mods including this one?
Answer: Because of any number of causes that will vary according to your load order, file structure and savegame.

Question: What do you mean by load order changes, reverting to previous savegames, or manual installation?
Answer: If you don't understand any of those things then I suggest you reconsider playing with mods.

Question: When will the next train arrive?
Answer: In BXK&$! minutes.

Question: Can I blame problems caused by other mods on this mod?
Answer: No. *sigh* No you cannot.

Question: How about this other thing that was happening before I installed any mods?
Answer: A game engine limitation is a pre-existing issue and not a mod bug. Try using the Unofficial Patch.

Question: Can you do something about something added in another version of your mod made by someone else?
Answer: That's for them to deal with, in accordance with this mod's permissions.

Question: Should I have read the ReadMe?
Answer: *sigh* Yes. *incoherent muttering*

Question: Why was the name changed from Subway Station?
Answer: Because you're Way out in the Fens now.


IN CLOSING
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This mod was created using the latest version of the Creation Kit, as available from Steam and requiring a Bethesda login, and playtested with the Game Of The Year edition of Fallout 4. All six DLCs are installed, although unless otherwise noted they are not required for use of this mod. The only utility installed and used is Simple Plugin Manager. While Edit was used during the creation of this mod, it was not the primary tool.

Note that in some cases screenshots might not accurately reflect the nature or usage of a mod. Where screenshots are provided, note that they reflect the settings and load order particular to personal use. This may include some material from other mods, and may be taken as demonstration of what a modded game can look like.

This ReadMe is written for clarity and utility. It is assumed that the end user of this mod has read the ReadMe and understands that some issues which may arise during their modded play are beyond the mod author's control.

To reiterate: If a mod user downloads and installs this mod without reading the ReadMe then support will be limited.

These mods are my way of sharing some of the fun I have playing Fallout 4. If you like the mods I make, please consider endorsing them so that others can know they are appreciated; and, feel free to recommend them to others.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy your gaming.


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