mod not working

[ellusivegman]

This is going to sound like a dumb question to seasoned modders, but how do you get mods to work for fallout 3? I just downloaded and activated the nmc texture pack with the manager (not manually) but when I started the game up, nothing was changed. How can I fix this problem? Do I have to change the ini file or what?

[pmmurphy]

Go to fallout folder that holds your .exe. Open up the data folder, make sure the zip file was unpacked properly. When you install mods with a manager it sends it directly to your data folder. So your files are there. When its unpacked. Make sure its in the proper places. Before you unzip the zipped file, look at its contents. There will be a folder with files in it. Depending on how the mod was created and designed will indicate how you should go about installing your mod. If there is a folder that says data. All you have to do, is unzip that folder and have it merge with your fallout/data folder. The mod will then overrite and replace everything it has to and properly install.

 

But if it is not a data folder, and something else. You need to first identify what it is. Then you need to find a location in your data folder that holds similair file types. There are several that can be found in several locations. You need to find a logical location where this file type is located at, then place it there. There are types such as .dds .esm .esp. All these types go in seperate locations for reasons because that is how your game searches your computer for memory. There are hard-coded directories that it retreives modifications over its core elements. So you must have it in the proper locations or else it won't work.

 

NMC should work with a proper install if you chose the FOMOD version. It shouldn't work instantly. If it doesn't open up your fallout.launcher and make sure HD is selected. That COULD be the cause. If that is not the cause uninstall NMC and install it again.

 

Before you start debugging you should just uninstall and reinstall. Yes NMC takes a long time to install, but debugging the problem will take longer. So if it was just a poor installation, its smarter to just reinstall.

 

If the manager doesn't work, locate your zip file on your pc and manually install it. To manually install do the process i said earlier. The game is already prepared to handle mods very easily, you simply just put it in a folder and it uploads those files instead of the games content.

 

Now there is one other issue you may have forgotten. There is a txt file known are archivation invalidation or whatever. It tells the game what is acceptable content and isn't. There is a mod on this site that will deactivate this and allow you to use models and textures that are NOT from the vanilla. Same with Darnified UI.

 

If you have not deactivated this .txt file, your mod will not work. An alternative way to solving this is to manually deactivate it. But honestly you should just deactivate it wit hthe already created program.

 

 

 

Well there you go. Follow this process for all your mods you install. It should work. If it doesn't work, there is more. But that is where google comes in, through time you will learn. Modding can get pretty complicated. But you will pick it up and figure it out. I gave you a general case process that applys for every single mod you could ever possibly install. Instead of just telling you how to fix NMC.

[ellusivegman]

Go to fallout folder that holds your .exe. Open up the data folder, make sure the zip file was unpacked properly. When you install mods with a manager it sends it directly to your data folder. So your files are there. When its unpacked. Make sure its in the proper places. Before you unzip the zipped file, look at its contents. There will be a folder with files in it. Depending on how the mod was created and designed will indicate how you should go about installing your mod. If there is a folder that says data. All you have to do, is unzip that folder and have it merge with your fallout/data folder. The mod will then overrite and replace everything it has to and properly install.

 

But if it is not a data folder, and something else. You need to first identify what it is. Then you need to find a location in your data folder that holds similair file types. There are several that can be found in several locations. You need to find a logical location where this file type is located at, then place it there. There are types such as .dds .esm .esp. All these types go in seperate locations for reasons because that is how your game searches your computer for memory. There are hard-coded directories that it retreives modifications over its core elements. So you must have it in the proper locations or else it won't work.

 

NMC should work with a proper install if you chose the FOMOD version. It shouldn't work instantly. If it doesn't open up your fallout.launcher and make sure HD is selected. That COULD be the cause. If that is not the cause uninstall NMC and install it again.

 

Before you start debugging you should just uninstall and reinstall. Yes NMC takes a long time to install, but debugging the problem will take longer. So if it was just a poor installation, its smarter to just reinstall.

 

If the manager doesn't work, locate your zip file on your pc and manually install it. To manually install do the process i said earlier. The game is already prepared to handle mods very easily, you simply just put it in a folder and it uploads those files instead of the games content.

 

Now there is one other issue you may have forgotten. There is a txt file known are archivation invalidation or whatever. It tells the game what is acceptable content and isn't. There is a mod on this site that will deactivate this and allow you to use models and textures that are NOT from the vanilla. Same with Darnified UI.

 

If you have not deactivated this .txt file, your mod will not work. An alternative way to solving this is to manually deactivate it. But honestly you should just deactivate it wit hthe already created program.

 

 

 

Well there you go. Follow this process for all your mods you install. It should work. If it doesn't work, there is more. But that is where google comes in, through time you will learn. Modding can get pretty complicated. But you will pick it up and figure it out. I gave you a general case process that applys for every single mod you could ever possibly install. Instead of just telling you how to fix NMC.

So nexus mod manager does't unzip the files for you if you choose install with manager? I am just a bit confused because you were talking about zip files, but I don't see any in the data folder, or the textures folder. To me it looks as if nexus automatically extracted the files because it does say that the texture folders were modified today in my computer.

[pmmurphy]

Yes it does. But there are mods that contain zips inside the zip. NMM will not unzip a zip inside a zip.

 

For a demonstration as to this problem, try installing GNR enhanced with NMM.

 

 

As for locating your zip files. They are indeed on your computer. NMM downloads the zip and puts it on a discrete location on your computer for reference. Then when it extracts it remembers where and what it extracts. That way it knows what it did, so when you uninstall it can safely remove everything.

 

But the problem is the technique used to do all this, doesn't take account for mods that have zips inside zips. Or unrecognizable folders inside a zip that contain a esm or esp. So you yourself. Have to open it all up and move things around manually. When you do this NMM is no longer keeping track and understanding what is being moved. So when you try to uninstall with NMM all your manually adjust will remain, but everything NMM did will remove.

 

If you don't have a zip file in your data folder. That means NMM successfully unpacked your zip that came from the nexus. Now you need to search the folders and see if everything looks to be in order.

 

Open all folders.

 

Look at them all, do they seem to be where they should be do they make sense.

 

Ways to do this is to look for names of files what they say and where they are. If the programmer or developer named his files properly you can make a good assertion as to what folders these files should be in. Also the file type is good too. If you see a folder with a file type that seems like it doesn't belong, try putting it in another location and running your game again to see if it will work.

 

Often times people make misstakes when developing things, sometimes things just don't work.

 

As for finding your zip files, go back to NMC's texture pack on this website. Try to download it again but when it asks you to download the file just look at the name of the zip file. Type a serach for that name and NMC's texture pack's zip file will be indeed on your hard-drive. You can open it up to see what exactly is being removed from the zip. Then go back to your data folder to see where it was placed. You will notice what it adds and where it adds. Then you will need to repeat the process for all mods installed and see if anything conflicts with anything.

 

Now i will save you time. Your data folder without mods is basically empty except for some esm / esp files.

[pmmurphy]

key things to remeber. Bethesda is not going to have wierd folder names. All folder names intended for use of fallout 3 will be organized names that are short easily rememberable and are named for the purpose they are designed.

 

The reason is for technical reasons. Bethesda has to locate memory on your hard-drive with file directories. So they won't have folders that aren't generic and they won't have folders with crazy names. That requires the people who manage the software to remember much more than needs to be remembered and also makes typing the names out and locating them in source code much harder.

 

So folder names should all be short sweet to the point and do and say what they are intended to say. If you get a folder, that does not fit these discreptions. It is a folder created by a modder, and more than likely contains files that needs to be transfered to an appropriate folder.