Omny

I don't really see FNV to be either superior or inferior to FO3. I like them both equally, but for different reasons. In Fallout 3, the characters are a lot more "real". Yeah, the voice acting is sub-par and the characters just stare straight ahead at each other making vague hand gestures, but I still managed to feel attached to some of them, especially Moira and James. Not only that, but the setting has more meat on its bones, so to speak. Not only is there always seems to be something new over the horizon wherever you go, but the Capitol Wasteland really looks like it was a nice place to live before the war. Compare that with the Mojave Wasteland, which is pretty flat and boring compared to the rolling hills and crumbling DC Ruins, which are a lot more impressive then the disappointingly small city of New Vegas. Plus, the Mojave Desert in real life is already an arid, God-forsaken hellhole, the only difference is the game adds giant scorpions and rapists in football gear. Of course, it often feels unfinished and quite buggy, which is especially prevalent when you come across a building with missing polygons floating above a blank grey void. Fallout: New Vegas improved a lot of little things in Fallout 3: consolidating Big Guns and Small Guns into just "Guns" and adding Strength requirements, and the new Companion Wheel interface is very useful. There's a lot more variety in weapons, especially with Explosives, Melee, and Unarmed, all of which I found to be quite lacking in Fallout 3 (though I do miss my dear Deathclaw Gauntlet). I also like the addition of different ammo types, as they add more strategy in battles. It's like I'm personally gift-wrapping the bullets to be delivered into my enemies' skulls! The "Survival" skill, however, I found to be quite useless, since I practically trip over Stimpaks in the game every other step, rendering the need to eat or drink food and water pointless. Pretty much the only time I used campfires was to brew chems, which used the Science or Medicine skills rather than Survival. Plus, the "Hardcore" mode was more annoying than immersive. When I'm a badass mo-fo stomping through the wasteland gunning down ghouls with my massive, throbbing minigun, stopping to have a picnic and a nap just breaks the flow. It's also a very cluttered game, with loads of useless loot littering the land. As much as I like different ammo types, I despise having a bunch of shells, cases, powders, primers and other junk cluttering up my already-cluttered inventory. Not to mention the arbitrary need to break down ammo before rebuilding it. Why not just turn regular ammo into hollow point or armor-piercing rounds straight away for, say, 2 regular bullets for 1 hollow-point and 4 for 1 armor-piercing? That seems like a fair trade-off to me. And why the planet of Hell can't I make more than 100 bullets at a time??? If I were to re-design the workbenches, I'd combine both the workbench and the reloading bench together, and just have separate menus come up for ammo, explosives, weapons, tools, etc... if I could be bothered to learn modding skills. So yeah, both games have their strengths and weaknesses. I can't really hold one over the other.

Personally, I don't really want more loot; I just want BETTER loot. One problem I had with New Vegas is how cluttered the game is with useless items that aren't worth selling or using. A better way of organizing everything wouldn't hurt either.

Thanks a lot, man! That was one of my major concerns.

I'm currently working on modeling a pirate cutlass to put into Fallout 3, using Autodesk 3D Studio Max. I have a few questions I want to ask, as well as any opinions and advice. First of all, is there a limit to how many polygons my model should have? It's not a terribly huge or complex weapon; it's just a plain cutlass. I don't want it to look blocky, but at the same time I don't want it to drop the framerate either. Second, is 3DS Max the program I should use? I've seen a lot of people talk about building models in Blender, but I'm more used to 3DS Max. I don't think it would really matter, but I'd like to hear from the more seasoned modder crowd. Lastly, if I do succeed in making this pirate cutlass and sticking it into the game, would anyone be interested if I were to post it on the Nexus for download? I've been thinking about making a whole pirate pack of weapons and gear sometime in the future, but I'd like to start small and build up from there. All answers, opinions, advice, and meatloaf recipes are welcome. Thanks again!

I've been tinkering around in FO3Edit for a while, mostly tinkering with weapons and how they work in-game (their damage, rate of fire, etc.). However, I'm a little confused as to how explosive weapons work. Specifically, I'm trying to edit the Pulse Pistol (from the Apocalypse Armory mod) so that it does more damage to robots than it currently does, which isn't very much. I've looked under the "Weapon" and "Explosion" tabs for the pulse pistols' damage, but it doesn't seem to have very much effect. tl;dr- How do I edit EMP damage in FO3edit?

Is there a mod or some other method of giving your personal favorite weapons unique names? The only way I know of right now is the "setname" console command, but that doesn't work quite as well as it could- when I click on, say, a Sniper Rifle and rename it "The Headhunter" or something like that, every single Sniper Rifle in the game is renamed "The Headhunter", and when I turn my game off and back on again, the name is reset back to "Sniper Rifle".

I've noticed in the game that whenever I walk into a room with one or more of those flaming barrels, the framerate drops dramatically, sometimes by as much as 30 fps. As cool as they are, they're a real kick in the processor for my computer and probably several others out there. While you certainly can remove them via the 'disable' command, having to constantly pause the game every time you see a barrel would just be annoying and immersion-breaking. So what I suggest is a mod that removes all flaming barrels from the game, sacrificing aesthetics for gameplay. Of course, removing them also removes their light, so if I were to suggest a replacement of sort, I'd say go with those yellow construction lights you also see in the game.

So hardcore mode is supposed to be more "realistic", right? Of course you need to eat and drink regularly or else you'll get dead. But what goes in has to come out eventually, so I propose this: the "On The John" mod! Basically, just as you need to regularly eat, sleep and drink, so too do you need to visit the little wastelander's room. Simply find a bush or a toilet and do your business! You could even go in an empty drink bottle and apply it to your melee weapons to poison your enemies! Be careful though: Go too long without using the loo and you immediately soil your garments, severely dropping your charisma (because nobody's gonna listen to someone who smells of dooky) and risk dying of infection until you clean yourself up by either repairing your soiled clothing or putting on new clothing. In all honesty this is really just a joke, because characters in video games (and fiction in general) rarely ever use the toilet and I thought it'd be funny for a game aiming for realism to incorporate that into gameplay. Anyone who actually wants to do this, feel free. We could all use a good laugh.

What if it took place in Chernobyl? But in a bit of irony, instead of being an abandoned ghost town, it's a technological wonderland, Like a radioactive Disneyworld! Though really, I'd like to see it take place anywhere outside the US. Why not someplace like South Africa, or Russia, or even Brazil or Japan? Actually, those last two may be great candidates. They both are pretty big in the fields of science and technology. Sounds like a great place to find laser guns and battle robots.

One of my favorite tactics in Fallout is the Shady Sands Shuffle, AKA Exploding Pants, AKA Shoving-a-lit-stick-of-dynamite-in-their-back-pocket. The only problem is I keep getting hurt from the explosion, and I can't get away fast enough because I'm always sneaking when I'm doing it, and I can't get up and run because I don't want to get caught by anyone else. Is there a mod that can make you immune to exploding pants?

Thanks for the guide! And no, I do not have New Vegas yet. But I'll probably pirate- I mean, pay for it in a legitimate and totally not illegal transaction at my local electronic game boutique using money that I have earned as a hardworking American.

I already have that one; it works great. Rivet City flows so smoothly now! Currently I have the graphics set for high-quality textures, but low-quality polys at 800x600 resolution.

Anyone know of any good mods that help to lower framerate? My game runs pretty smooth most of the time, though it does get rather sloggy when faced with certain things: 1: The missile launcher. Specifically, those big thick trails of smoke the missiles leave behind. 2: Those Protectron containers that release a big cloud of steam when they open. 3: Places like Rivet City and the underground tunnels that have all those clouds of dust floating around (though its only minor). Any recommendations for mods that remove or improve these?