fallout:london and the upcoming issue with mod compatibility

[363rdChemicalCompany]

I also do not wish to ruin my working profiles.

But I do not have as much invested into the game as karna does also I have the GOG installation seperately (though it does not seem to "take" quite a few mods that work fine on steam, i've gone back to pahting my vortex to steam again, I have one F4se tab pathed to steam , onVortex , and one pathed to the taskbar, for GOG. )

We, or at least I, dont yet know how this mod will be disbursed. Maybe I will wait until my Household goods come to me with my desktop and run it on my desktop only.

[dferstat]

Known facts, and my suppositions

So what do we know about FOLON? The last I heard, the developers were describing it as mod. If this is so, then it's going to require the base game executable. After all, BethSoft isn't going to permit distribution of modified versions of their executable without a license, which'd cost mucho moolah.

If the EXE runs, it'll almost certainly load Fallout4.esm and any available DLC when it does so.

 

If FOLON requires the game .exe, then any utilities that currently modify the behaviour of the exe, or which talk directly to it, should still work. This will include F4SE, Canary Save File Monitor, PhotoMode, Address Library, Workshop Framework, Better Console, Rename Anything, MCM, Buffout and others.

 

Looking at the data side of things, let's consider core game features.

Character preset creation is currently pretty powerful, especially when you consider LooksMenu and HiPoly Faces. I doubt that the FOLON developers would try, even were it possible, to replace the current data structures and tools. Therefore, any tools and resources made for FO4 or LooksMenu should still work.

If FOLON has settlements, then, again, I think it very unlikely that settlement data would be structured differently. If I'm correct, then current mods that deal with general settlement data and modes should still work. This should include Transfer Settlements, Place Anywhere, mods that deal with provisioning and provisioners, probably Conquest, Settlement Menu Manager, and, of course, the myriad of excellent mods that provide settlement objects, such as Snappy HouseKit, Build Your Own Pool, cvc Dead Wasteland, Kraggle's Structures and many, many more. Of course, these mods may contain assets that look very out-of-place in what's left of London.

Mods which specifically address the released landmasses of the game (both DLC and mods, such as Point Lookout) or their specific NPCs, won't, of course, work. This includes LOD packs, mods changing existing settlements, or adding new ones, most (if not all) quest mods, and the hundreds of Transfer Settlements and WSFW blueprints. Scrapping mods may not work, depending upon the degree of changes wrought on the original game's landscape, and how much use FOLON developers have made of existing game assets. Landscape and weather mods might also not work.

Manufacturing mods will likely need patches to incorporate new crafting recipes. This might cover ArmorSmith, Better Manufacturing, and possibly more. Sorting mods, such as VIS, will also need patching.

 

Body mods such as CBBE and EVB, etc, should work, along with any armour and clothes made for them

Weapons should also work, unless the FOLON team have disabled requisite ammo, which I think unlikely. Even were they to do so, I expect Munitions would be able to fix this.

Remember that the FOLON team have already released samples of the armour and weapons they've developed. I doubt very much that, given their time constraints, they went to the trouble of especially converting these from special FOLON assets to FO4 assets.

 

In an ideal world, the FOLON team will provide some guidance as to which major mods are known to be compatible, which can be made compatible with patches, and which are flat-out not compatible. Hopefully, they can also provide some guidance on how to identify the appropriate categories for less well-know mods, and even provide some of their internal data to help modders create patches.

 

Semantics

Technically, this is a game mod, as it modifies the existing game data. Practically, however, it's a new game, as it (apparently) completely replaces the existing game experience.

 

Special category for FOLON mods?

Just because this is a mod does not mean that it does not deserve its own category. After all, we have categories for ENB presets, Sim Settlements 1 and 2, and Transfer Settlement blueprints. Categories exist to help the user, not to reinforce rigid data structures. If there are enough mods for FOLON to justify a new category, then I'm sure Nexus admins will do this.

As far as FOLON compatibility tags are concerned, I think this is a good idea. FOLON promises to be so different to FO4 that compatibility can't, on the whole, be assumed. I think it's very much in the interests of the users, and the site, to have this info readily available.

 

Game profiles

Lastly, I confess that I'm astounded, in 2024, to find players who seem unable to have more than one profile for their game. I've been running mod managers (Mod Organiser, then Vortex) on Skyrim and FO4 for the last eight to ten years, specifically so that I could have multiple playthroughs, with different characters, play styles and mixes of mods. I've successfully migrated profiles from one mod manager to another, and from one computer to another. The idea of not using a mod manager is, to me, completely alien.

[fraquar]

It's going to be the mother of all headaches for their modding team to respond to the multitude of "false issues" with their mod - caused by other mods the Fallout: London team simply didn't build their own mod around anyway.

My suggestion:   Play it as is first all the way through.   

Enjoy (good or bad) the experience that these modders who spent years of their own time created.    Learn to appreciate it for a couple seconds at least.

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Think about it.   

You go to Germany and order "insert food dish here" - why on earth would you throw heaping loads of Ketchup, Mustard or any other condiment on it first?  

It should be a different taste, enjoy it the way it was prepared.

[showler]

Y'know, "Sim Settlements" and "Sim Settlements 2" have their own mod categories and series of tags.

This isn't difficult or unprecedented.

[Darkhessian]

FO London is like Skyrim Enderal, whole different game that kind of needs its own section, afaik.

[xrayy]

what happened to fallout london is tragic. i hope they recover soon before another update ruins their release plans.