Fallout3 mod issues

[Striker51z]

Hi, downlaoded a tactical Armour mod, MK23 mod, PSG-1 mod, M82A1 mod and a M16A2 mod and all of them but the M16A2 get the big ! and i have the right programs and they are all in the fallout 3 data folder and i installed fallout3 to a folder in my desktop so the invalidator will work properly. Can someone tell me how to fix this? its really confusing when i can use my M16A2 and nothing else works,

[mechine]

Well yeah

 

 

The HK 23 uses Mp ammo, for one will cause a conflict in the future

Everything is pretty much going to Calibr for ammo. That MK 23 though

is built into FOOK, and is the same thing, Also there are HK USP which

is basicly a MK 23 just a little different.

 

 

 

Something else I wouldn't really put the bethesda folder on the desktop

rather put a shortcut to it with the folder located outside program files

 

C:/Program files

C:/Windows

C:/Bethesda softworks

 

It sounds like you took the folder out of program files yeah

which is good

 

but where it is at is

 

C:/documents and settings/desktop/bethesda softworks

 

Only reason I mention it is maybe windows keeps stuff in the /documents and settings/desktop

either in the windows shell or cashed, in which case 6Gb just got cashed

 

Unless you use vista an some vista person told you to put it there for some vista reason

 

 

Idk it could be good or bad, might make your exporer.exe process use more ram?

 

 

Besides that, usually the big red ! is a error

 

like the system can't find a texture or mesh, usually the mesh

or conflicting meshes, .esp, an such

 

 

I've heard of conflicts within master update an archive invalidation

causing some things to do this, but that's only if you use master update

from FO3edit. I guess they fix it from switching off an on the archive invalidation

or master updating again.

 

 

Something else rather silly is the names of the textures an files, I've ran into a lot that

use the name 10mmpistol

 

Probably it's a problem when you installed it, or conflicts

 

You can use FO3edit to trace down the error maybe

when it loads up, text is displayed to what causes error

or even look inside the .esp

 

You would have to read the info on FO3edit to know how to do it

pretty much inside the esp in FO3edit the different items have

different colors on them which tell who wins an loses the conflict

 

 

Sorry I don't have much help, this is part of it though

You just sort of learn how to do things an not do things

to get them to work.

 

It's easy yeah, but only after you first get started

When you're new you screw stuff up

then when your not so new

you're still screwing stuff up

 

 

Something that might help is when you install stuff follow the folder path all the way down

and look both in the mod zip/rar an your data file for what it replaces

 

You could also uninstall all that, and do them one at a time testing out

to see where the error arises, which would somewhat narrow down

what you would have to do to get them all to work

 

it very well could be that the armor mod has a gun in it

or the PSG-1 has one, that conflict with MK 23 depending on

what they use, or the other way around.

[Striker51z]

lol, can u put that in english for noobs? I just started this yesterday and idk wth ur talking about. I dont make these my self i just download them from here. I use windows vista and i transfer the files from my desktop to my laptop which has XP and i open them with rar here and transfer them back sense im not allowed to install rar on the desktop. I just dont see why the textures and meshes arnt working so can u please helping me understand this more sense im the noob here XP?

[Striker51z]

Also when i re-installed the game for mods, i customly set it to install the files into a folder on my desktop.

[Skotte]

Also when i re-installed the game for mods, i customly set it to install the files into a folder on my desktop.

 

A very odd place to install a game, the desktop is generally for shortcuts

[Striker51z]

Yeah but its easier to maintain the files though, u can access them easier.

[Striker51z]

Well yeah

 

 

The HK 23 uses Mp ammo, for one will cause a conflict in the future

Everything is pretty much going to Calibr for ammo. That MK 23 though

is built into FOOK, and is the same thing, Also there are HK USP which

is basicly a MK 23 just a little different.

 

 

 

Something else I wouldn't really put the bethesda folder on the desktop

rather put a shortcut to it with the folder located outside program files

 

C:/Program files

C:/Windows

C:/Bethesda softworks

 

It sounds like you took the folder out of program files yeah

which is good

 

but where it is at is

 

C:/documents and settings/desktop/bethesda softworks

 

Only reason I mention it is maybe windows keeps stuff in the /documents and settings/desktop

either in the windows shell or cashed, in which case 6Gb just got cashed

 

Unless you use vista an some vista person told you to put it there for some vista reason

 

 

Idk it could be good or bad, might make your exporer.exe process use more ram?

 

 

Besides that, usually the big red ! is a error

 

like the system can't find a texture or mesh, usually the mesh

or conflicting meshes, .esp, an such

 

 

I've heard of conflicts within master update an archive invalidation

causing some things to do this, but that's only if you use master update

from FO3edit. I guess they fix it from switching off an on the archive invalidation

or master updating again.

 

 

Something else rather silly is the names of the textures an files, I've ran into a lot that

use the name 10mmpistol

 

Probably it's a problem when you installed it, or conflicts

 

You can use FO3edit to trace down the error maybe

when it loads up, text is displayed to what causes error

or even look inside the .esp

 

You would have to read the info on FO3edit to know how to do it

pretty much inside the esp in FO3edit the different items have

different colors on them which tell who wins an loses the conflict

 

 

Sorry I don't have much help, this is part of it though

You just sort of learn how to do things an not do things

to get them to work.

 

It's easy yeah, but only after you first get started

When you're new you screw stuff up

then when your not so new

you're still screwing stuff up

 

 

Something that might help is when you install stuff follow the folder path all the way down

and look both in the mod zip/rar an your data file for what it replaces

 

You could also uninstall all that, and do them one at a time testing out

to see where the error arises, which would somewhat narrow down

what you would have to do to get them all to work

 

it very well could be that the armor mod has a gun in it

or the PSG-1 has one, that conflict with MK 23 depending on

what they use, or the other way around.

 

Are u saying that the caliber file may be causing this?

[mechine]

not really,

 

 

There was a problem at first because each gun had custom ammo for it

 

an it really confused folks when they were looking to find ammo in the game world

 

 

MP ammo was a solution sort of,

Only a few guns use MP ammo

 

later on Calibr came out which is larger, and a lot more guns use it

Calibr is like a common ammo file that everybody can use

to make custom weapons so that people don't run into getting lost looking for ammo

 

 

The HK 23 uses MP ammo still though

 

So like later on you'll either add in Calibr to use the mass of weapons out there

then won't be able to tell which ammo to use for which weapon

 

because there will be like 2-3 different types of say .45 ammo

 

 

You can get a calibr version HK mk 23 that's built into FOOK

 

You could also open the HK mk 23 mod .esp with the GECK

select to load fallout.esm and the HK mk 23 mod

setting the HK mk 23 mod to active

 

then change the type of ammo that the HK 23 uses

And click save, click the X to close the window

which you'll have to enter task master an end the GECK process

to get it to close probably

 

 

Idk I got off track though, I guess what I was trying to say is that maybe you should drop the

MK 23, and MP ammo to see if it's causing the bug, as you might have to drop it later anyway

because you have more than one ammo mod or wana take advantage of the larger base of weapons

with other ammo mods.

 

 

Kind of sucks too, the HK mk 23 gun is clean, I can't look at the mesh to see how clean though

If we could open it then we probably would have made a stand alone version

I was about to try creating a new .esp with GECK for the HK mk 23

but I'm not sure if it will even let us do that

Opening the mesh in nifscope causes a crash

 

 

Also I'm not trying to argue or anything, but most of the tweekers out there

pretty much flat out say to drop everything you have on desktop

icons, shortcuts, and even the background to the minimum you can get by on

For the same reason you stated as getting fast access to the data

I would imagine they came up with that pre-vista days though

before puters were shipped stock with 4Gb of ram

 

Short cuts an a few files to make mods with an my desktop has

like 1.5 Gb of stuff in it, doesn't really effect the explorer.exe process

but then that 1.5Gb does effect how much it takes to run the windows shell

I guess if you notice that you crash a whole lot if you exit the game

then that would be why, going from the fallout3.exe shell to the windows shell

Thinking about it again, pretty much it's just in a folder which happends to be the desktop

 

You can find the file, on your hard drive under documents an settings and your user name

On second thought you know the whole problem with putting fallout 3 in the program files

was security risks that windows puts on things in program files, it isn't a stretch to figure

that the same security risks would be put inside the documents an settings folder

[mechine]

For the most part when you just start it's really hard to understand all this stuff.

 

I mean you're viewing stuff that is either old an not used anymore, or brand new

 

then there is stuff in between to screw you up even more.

 

besides a whole set of lingo an slang that's particular to our fallout 3 mod crazy world.

 

 

 

Okay so let's start over...

 

 

You download zip/rar files to your awesomeness vista puter

 

then transfer the files downstream to your laptop which is uber XP

 

I think I read on the box that FO3 requires SP3 with XP, a lot of games do now.

 

Now were you saying that you have only the three mods

 

Tactical Armor, MK23, PSG-1, M16A1 and 2

 

 

We kind of need to know about all the mods you have

 

because for instance the MK 23 requires the MP ammo mod to work

which is packed in with the MK 23 zip/rar, And I don't really

have any idea what the others may require

 

 

You mentioned archive invalidation, in the context I take it

you have the stand alone, archive invalidation invalidated?

 

If so that's great, works great. However there is a archive invalidation invalidated

program built into the FOMM mod, which is fallout mod manager or FOMM

FOMM has a lot of great uses, toggle invalidation on or off, It has BSA tools

like the BSA unpacker, which lets you unpack the huge bethesda BSA files

which are file archives, like all the sounds, meshes, textures of the game

The reason why you would want to unpack some of them is to use them

to mod or change things. Also FOMM allows more easy control of the load order

of mods, the order that you load mods is very important, also when you get 150 mods

FOMM allows you to copy that load order to the clip board an then paste it

to get a diagnosis of the monster crash load order you created

 

There's also a program called FOSE (fallout script extender) Which FOMM will detect

and launch instead of the Fallout.exe if it detects FOSE is installed. One of the benifits

from using FOSE is that it disables games for windows live durring game play, which

was enough to get me to download an use it, besides the obvious benifits of allowing

player made scripts, Also a lot of the better mods out there take advantage of

FOSE to fully intergrate their mods into the game world.

 

 

I think you just use the most current version of FOMM, and then pick which FOSE version

to use based on which version of fallout 3 you run, which brings us to patches

 

 

PATCHES? PATCHES? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING PATCHES!

 

 

Anyway, so Nexus folks pretty much use four different patch setups

 

1.0.15 plus the fake patch mod path

1.4 plus the fake patch path

1.5 plus FO3edit master update

1.6 plus FO3edit master update

 

 

Fake patch goes on the basic idea that all the later content like DLC's an stuff

require the Fallout.exe to be replaced or updated by the patches, which is part

of what a patch does, the Fake patch mod an path are ways to obtain a work around

to allow the use of the old ways with the new stuff. Something like that.

I have no idea why you would want to run 1.4 fakepatched, maybe there is a reason

I know the 1.0.15 get's fake patch so that players can keep the ability to shoot grenades

that get thrown at them with VATS, some of the perks got nerfed later on as well

not really a big deal I don't really notice.

 

The arguement is that the old patches like 1.0.15 and 1.4 worked better with mods

While the newer patches maybe didn't work well or at least at first

also maybe before there was such a thing as master update

 

The 1.0.35 patch and everything after it 1.4 1.5 1.6 pretty much adds in

more support for multi grapix card users, the big factor in making a decision

on if you wanted to go past 1.4 or stay with grenade shooting LOLZ

was if you had more than one grapics cards, If you only have one

then going the 1.0.15 plus the fake patch path should yeild more

system stability, but then it's a work around, a hack, who knows

But you don't care, you're shooting down grenades mid air in VATS

 

 

I've used the 1.0.35 patch, everyone pretty much hated it

I didn't crash as much or well more than normal, but it had

SLI stuff built into it, which is why I liked it, before hand I

was just using 1.0.15, and in the switch I didn't even notice

not shooting grenades, but it did crash twice as much or even more

than running 1.5 and the master update, 1.6 is only a bit different from 1.5

 

Totally lost you huh, There is 1.0.15, 1.0.35., 1.4, 1.5. and 1.6 the latest.

 

 

Since I went the 1.5 plus master update, this last time

I have to say it's the best. But what do I know

I'm such a nooby nub nub, blab blab blab

 

 

Pretty much the only problem is the DLC's using them

you just throw a big wrench in the gears so to speak

I wouldn't know, but DLC's are flamed across the net

for the problems they cause. I'm not saying that they are

not great, but it would require more work to get running smooth

And people do it, I saw I guy that ran 1.6 masterupdate with DLC's

an he said it worked great.

 

I just use the base game, and a poop ton of mods.

 

The key to getting this crap to work is having a clean install.

No mistakes, and orgainized like some OCD freak

 

 

You wana be a hard drive defrager, and also update the drivers every so often

the old drivers cause a hard crash at megaton among other things.

 

 

Pretty much, I install Fallout 3 in it's own directory, like C:/Bethesda softworks

Then I download a poopton of mods, in a folder named mods

Read all the hub bub on patches an what not until my eyes bug out of my head

Download the GECK, FOMM, FOSE, FO3edit and install them

Pick a patch an install that.

Create a system restore point in the windows system tools

 

Create a shortcut to the Data folder inside C:/bethesda softworks/fallout 3

Put that shortcut on the desktop, right click propertys, change the icon to

something fallout like, a big biohazard sign or somethin, You use it a lot

 

Open up the mod file, and open a zip/rar

Then click the data folder, so there are two windows

I go down the path of folders in the zip/rar

looking at what's in there, looking at the other window

which is my fallout data folder

Also I'll have two other folder created

one named done, the other not done

The first few mods are easy to install

because there is nothing in the data folder

so you know it's not replacing anything

after a few though you are following

down the path in the zip/rar

and you run into things that will replace other

things, which the easy way out is to put this

mod in the not done folder an worry about it later

sometimes the names are the same so you just

pick the best one, an throw the other away

then install the rest of the stuff

each mod I install

I put the zip/rar file into the Done folder

as in I've done it already

Then the stuff where conflicts came up

either by read me's or viewing what it would replace

Also it's very important not to install things that change

the same things, but that doesn't stop us.

 

 

Yeah some mods have auto installers, which is great

nothing is better than doing it the hard and awful way

The auto installer doesn't work for everyone or every program.

 

I'll keep that method of going thru each mod I downloaded

until I get about 3-4 Gb of stuff added to the 5Gb of fallout

100 to 150 mods or so.

 

Then I finish what I had downloaded, maybe 150 zip/rar files

in the done folder which is the 3-4Gb of added content I installed

then maybe 30 or more zip/rar files in the not done folder

things I found wouldn't work with what I had in mind

Now you have a copy of what you did incase you have to reinstall

if it's a nightmare you can just system restore to or create more points as you go

 

 

Toss the Done and not done folders somewhere, need to take them

off the desktop, but we forgot

 

 

I launch FOMM, which brings up the load order list

Which is completly Fubar right now

Esm's at the bottom, Fallout.esm the most important one

is hidden somewhere in the poop load of mods in there

 

One by one, I move all the .esm files to the top

Then start to group things together that should be together

like FOOK, MMM, RI, mods with lot's of optional esp files

 

Then I group the other smaller mods together based of

what they change or what they add, clothing with clothing

weapons with weapons, perks with perks, weather with weather

 

FOIP an Nexus say there are Tier 1 2 3 4, which leaves a lot of

grey area for us noobs. Pretty much it's .Esm first .ESP later

there is some particulars to follow with .Esp orders

You wana have your largest mods in size load first after the ESM's

The new rule for MMM is load it last, very last, load weather

right before MMM, with all the tiny stuff in between the largest and MMM

The tiny esp like something that just adds a weapon or armor can be in any order

after the large mods. Hit the forum when you get lost.

 

After a few hours you get the load order an launch FOSE via FOMM

Which the game crashes instantly, and you tweek the load order again

with help from the forum. You get it to finally load the load screen.

Then exit the game.

 

Find the FO3edit.exe, create a short cut for FO3edit.

right click the short cut, propertys, see the target line

"C:/FO3edit.exe" add a space after the last quote

then type -masterupdate so it looks like

"C:/FO3edit.exe" -masterupdate

 

Launch the shortcut to FO3edit

which runs the master update program

words words words, it's running

more words

Error blah blah something wouldn't save

master update canceled

 

Go back up an find which mod caused the error

Open that mod with GECK set it to active

it should prompt you to auto fix

or let GECK fix it, FO3edit says

to ask the mods maker to fix it for ya

good luck with that, if GECK prompts to fix

say yes, then save it an run the master update shortcut again

if it causes a error again, then delete the mod

run master update, yay it finished, all you

have to do is hit X an close the window to save it

Then run the master update again when you add in new mods

 

Now you can create a charicter,

Turn all the auto saves off and you won't ever have auto save crashes

Make save points in the tutorial

because you might crash

Get outside, level up

set all the settings for the

mods you have, then create

a save point, delete the other saves

 

run inside a building somewhere an wait 4 days or 96 hours

which is a problem if you have primary needs, In that case

you wait 24 hours eat eat drink drink look around get drunk

then wait another 24 hours, the 4 day wait is for spawn mods

like MMM, The mesh an textures for NPC enemys is going

to be messed up until the respawn point which is every 3-4 game days

 

Auto save is a bad idea, causes crashes an problems

Take control, you wana save before you enter a door

most times, and also before you go out on a raid

and even durring a raid, also delete some of the saves

but also keep a handful of them just in case

 

 

Radiation from falling rain, What is this fresh new hell I've made?

 

 

Half the stuff you add you have no idea what was in there, and can't get to it anyway.

Also Sometimes the system slows down, or lags, frame rates drop because the

fallout world is so vast, with a very large view distance that for the most part

we don't control. The status quo fix for this is to stop running an let the system catch up.

Kind of a drag, but you only have to stop for a moment to allow the catch up.

 

http://www.tweakguides.com/Fallout3_8.html This guide goes over a lot

of the custom settings in the documents and settings/games/fallout 3/ 2 notepad option files

Also there are a lot more settings to change an go over that you can turn down to half way from

max settings, before you even notice a change. There are settings in game, settings via the

Fallout.exe launcher, and then the two notepad files. The guide helps figure it out.

 

 

GECK is pretty useless with out unpacking stuff via FOMM's BSA unpacker

GECK is also hard to learn how to use at first, and is just generaly quirky

 

FO3edit is most useful, you can quickly open a Esp, and look at what is in it

edit it to suit your world, look at what is in Esm's, You can load up your whole

load order in a minute or so, then look for errors marked in different colors

to show conflicts an who wins an loses the conflict, which allows you to fix stuff

It also allows you to set the fire rate for semi auto guns while keeping the

same 1.00 attack animation, which is something GECK won't do.

[mechine]

Remember how I had like 1.5Gb on my desktop

 

stuff in the desktop folder in C:/documents and settings/desktop

 

 

I've been having problems sometimes locking up when I exit the game

 

And go back into the windows shell, which is probably where that 1.5 Gb comes in

 

 

I deleted about 1Gb and noticed that the change from the fallout games shell to the windows shell

worked in one of those times when I knew there would probably be a lock up

 

 

It's not much to go off right now, but I'll keep an eye on it.

 

 

I deleted it just from the tweekers talking about how to tweek XP

and then taking notice how much crap was on my desktop

When you brought it up in this post, but I didn't think it would effect anything.

Just a game habit, LOLZ I need to get a wild situation going in fallout

maybe even a heavy FOSE going and then just quit to the windows shell real hard

see if it makes a difference, that's good though if it does.

 

 

You must realize by now fallout is like 5Gb an 3Gb of mods is a good start

Woot a 8Gb computer killing cashe!

 

 

Sorry man, I've been making a mod for the last 3-4 weeks that is way huge

My brain is totally fried. I can't even really get the last 10 guns done.

It should be around 53 high quality guns like that HK mk 23

If I can I'll work that one in too. You run into the problem of compatibility with

gun mods, which is where this one comes in, plus the second version of me first mod.

 

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