Vanilla Dreams

[manlyMAN0890]

I am not a modder. I will admit, the reason I have gotten to where I stand in my interactions with the game, my computer and the mods is credited to my ignorance, not to be confused with the deliberate ignorance which plagues the minds of lesser men. I am where I stand because I failed to complete two tasks before uninstalling a mod that led to a fatal Crash to Desktop cycle; a mod many of you know well, a mod I will only refer to in its abbreviated form: A.P. To those of you who know my mistake and feel compelled to humor at my ignorance, I will say that you have every right to do so, but we must move on.

 

Sitting inside the bowels of my deep thought, I pondered quite easily, "What if there were a way to go back?" To change it all back to the same blank slate we all started from? For any other circumstance, it would be like asking a child to build a time machine from elaborate blueprints constructed from the most brilliant scientists and engineers in the world today. But, we are in the cyber realm, and in the realm of the data chip, many things are possible. I'm sure there have been mods constructed to alter the data of the Fallout 3 Files automatically, without manual process. Such files, at limited ability, like the Fallout Mod Manager and ArchiveInvalidation_Invalidated! are examples of the very few Mods that I am aware of that have such a capability. Why not take that a step further? Surely the modders of this community should be fully able to make a program that could help hundreds, thousands of desktop crash victims.

 

What I propose is the production of a mod capable of reverting the entirety of a owner's Fallout 3 database back to its original state, the "vanilla" condition. The mod simply has this: names. Names of all the vanilla Fallout 3 Files. Upon completion of installation, if activated the mod will automatically search and save all original Fallout 3 Files. Those it will save, while all other files that do not match the vanilla name or are corrupted or altered will be removed, forever. Afterwards it will perform a scan to make sure all vanilla files are accounted for. If not, and this will most likely be the usual case, the mod will download via links to the internet any missing vanilla files. Once the gaps are filled, restoration of the vanilla Fallout 3 Files will be complete, and the owner is free to forge again his path through the mods, able to note and prevent any mistakes he made that lead to the crash of his game. Think of it as similar to the FEV Virus, specifically the modified genophage in Fallout 3 produced to purify the Wasteland by destruction of the impure. That at least explains the first of the mod's functions.

 

I do not know how modding works, nor do I pride myself in computer engineering prowess. Obviously clear, I couldn't manage mods to save my life. But there has to be a way, maybe not possible the way I imagine, but somehow, there must be a way to create a mod that can restore the Capital Wasteland to the way it once was: order, peace, prosperity. But... war never changes.

[Tony the Wookie]

It would be illegal to upload ANY file found in the Vanilla game to the internet for people to download.

 

If you really just want to put your game back to its original state, simply uninstall it and put the disc back in and re-install it. Then you will have a perfectly vanilla game without any problems.

 

But really, most mods are incredibly simple to uninstall. I am not sure exactly what you are running, but I would think that if you go into your Fallout 3 Folder, and then into the Data Folder all you would have to do is delete all the ESM and ESP files besides Fallout.esm and whatever DLC you have. Then take the Meshes folder and the Textures folder and delete them.

 

In most cases something that simple will fix your problems, if not, just re-install the game. Remember, your disc is the easy button to make everything new again.

[Wolfiefang]

It would be illegal to upload ANY file found in the Vanilla game to the internet for people to download.

that's not what he's asking at ALL.

 

I think far more he's asking for a mod that KNOW what is vanilla and removes what isn't. This actually wouldn't be a MOD per say but a program that runs and cleans both the data files as well as your save (I assume).

Basically the CTD that he's having, if I'm not mistaken, is one where his save files requests files that where only in the mod. If I remember correctly it's a perk. and it's his save file he really wants to fix. Otherwise yes... just uninstall FO3, delete whatever it didn't, and reinstall for successful vanillafying.

 

This program would be far too amazing though, because it would have to know how to remove things simply because it's not "normal" and I'm sure if anyone made one it'd have many bugs, misses, false positives, ect. Fixing the save files being the real pain. Not a bad idea, except the programing horror it would take. But overall only a FEW mods would need it since most completely remove themselves just by no longer loading it or just removing the files. Only a few need you to uninstall through different means.

 

Overall a wet dream I suppose. Not a bad though process but in the end.. backup your saves.. and reinstall if needed. Heck you can always reinstall the mod, remove properly following instruction, and the remove mod. There's overall just not enough motivation in my book.

[Tony the Wookie]

Afterwards it will perform a scan to make sure all vanilla files are accounted for. If not, and this will most likely be the usual case, the mod will download via links to the internet any missing vanilla files. Once the gaps are filled, restoration of the vanilla Fallout 3 Files will be complete...

[evilneko]

If he removed a perk mod and now crashes, could he not just install it again, remove the perks properly, then remove the mod and continue on his merry way?

[bben46]

Instead of a mod, MOVE your entire data folder to a new folder outside of the Fallout folder name it something like Oldata. Then create a new empty data folder and copy (Don't move) the files needed for a vanilla install back to the new data folder.

 

Here is the list of those files in a vanilla data folder.

 

Music (folder)

Shaders (folder)

Video (folder)

Credits.txt - probably not needed

Fallout-MenuVoices.bsa

Fallout-Meshes.bsa

Fallout-Misc.bsa

Fallout-sound.bsa

Fallout-Textures.bsa

Fallout-Voices.bsa

Fallout3.esm

[123rune20]

There's my problem. Because of how ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated! works (I think) if you have stuff in the music, sound, textures, meshes, or voices folders, they will overwrite the vanilla stuff, if that's what they are intended to do. Unfortunately, when I try to install new mods, it seems that because AII! is required, some of them are clashing. Not sure which ones, so I thought about deleting the whole folder. Of course, then I hesitated when I remembered vanilla requires some of the stuff in there.

 

I just reinstalled, not too tough, but does take longer then I would have preferred.

[manlyMAN0890]

It would be illegal to upload ANY file found in the Vanilla game to the internet for people to download.

that's not what he's asking at ALL.

 

I think far more he's asking for a mod that KNOW what is vanilla and removes what isn't. This actually wouldn't be a MOD per say but a program that runs and cleans both the data files as well as your save (I assume).

Basically the CTD that he's having, if I'm not mistaken, is one where his save files requests files that where only in the mod. If I remember correctly it's a perk. and it's his save file he really wants to fix. Otherwise yes... just uninstall FO3, delete whatever it didn't, and reinstall for successful vanillafying.

Okay. So if I read this correctly, it's my save that's causing the game to crash? When I load Fallout and select play, I get two, three seconds before CTD. Can't even make it to the save file. And if that's the case, I could delete my save and solve the problem?

NOTE: The only reason I suggest this is because I only made as far as Megaton.

 

But yeah... Should have seen it coming, so this is a suggestion coming from negligence. Whatever I do, I'll definitely make a vanilla Fallout backup directory, and backup saves from now on.

Edited March 19, 2010 by manlyMAN0890

[Quetzlsacatanango]

If it's before you get to the load menu, run fo3edit and see if you're missing masters or have them in the wrong order.

[Yossarian22]

- Install Fallout Patch 1.7 !

- Now delete ALL Folders from your Data Folder BESIDE: Video/Shaders/Music

 

That should do it.

 

Or just make a new Data Folder and copy as bben46 suggested.

I have currently around 6 different data folders for different reasons.