Trouble with getting started with modding

[echemh]

I just got into Fallout 4 a few months ago on the PS4 at first and just recently on the PC. I spent a week scouring this site for mods I wanted to use. I go to try to get it setup and several mods won't work. I used to play New Vegas all the time using mods. I don't know if it is because of this chaos I have been hearing about where modders are leaving this site or if it is because I can't find a good Youtube Playlist like Gopher had for New Vegas. I used his playlist to start me off and after getting crucial mods went and started finding others I wanted and have had fun playing New Vegas. I was against this game for a long time but when I saw I could mod it on PS4 I gave it a try. I have had some issues with it on there so I tried transitioning to the PC. Some of the issues I have had include manually installing F4SE and Vortex telling me it not installed, MCM installed but not showing up in plugins list and not showing up in game. I have also tried using a couple of mods on Bathesda.net. I tried using them from inside the game in the Mods menu. I also tried importing them into Vortex and installing them that way. I am giving fup for now after several days of trying to get this to work. Once all this chaos is done on this site and if I can find a playlist that can walk me through the essentials I might come back. I love this game and its mods. Hopefully Nexus and the modders can work this out because gamers like me are suffering through this.

[Guest deleted34304850]

sad you're suffering. it must be hard.

[aurreth]

@echemh It's not quite as bad as you think. Getting F4SE set up correctly and knowing how to launch it is one of the initial hurdles, but once that is done a lot of the rest is pretty straightforward.

 

For F4SE:

1. Start Vortex, go to the Games tab (on the left) and tell it you want to manage Fallout 4.
2. Go to the Downloads tab. At the bottom you'll see a download icon. Click on that, and in the popup box paste https://f4se.silverlock.org/beta/f4se_0_06_21.7z That will download F4SE. When it's done click the button to install it.
3. Go to the Dashboard tab. Click "Add Tool". Here you are going to tell it you want to use F4SE and where to find f4se_launcher.exe. That is located in your Fallout 4 directory.
4. Back at the Dashboard you'll see a new entry for F4SE right next to or below Fallout 4. Click the three little dots, then pick Make Primary. The F4SE button will turn gold.
5. From now on when you click the picture in the upper left corner to launch the game it will launch F4SE, which will launch Fallout. If you launch from the dashboard use F4SE, not Fallout 4.

That covers the major external requirement. For other mods GO SLOW. Don't grab dozens right off the bat. And read what they require before hitting the download button. Clothing mods are likely to require one of the custom bodies, and what works for one won't work for the others. Setting up some custom bodies can get very involved so you might want to avoid those at first.

 

A lot of mods depend on a very small number of "major" ones, but over the years the majors have become bloated with extras that completely change major systems of the game. Make sure you know what those changes are before installing them or any other mods that depend on them.