Brand new to Modding.

[Arcadiuman]

Hello, hows it going.

 

Im looking to start about modifying Fallout 3 for the PC, but with it comes many questions, and some of them I cant find in the FAQ, So here we go.

I've been taking a look at the various mods and I don't know whats better over another, and whats compatible with another. FOOK, MMM, are musts I suppose. but my question is how to add more, clothing mods, homes, followers, textures, you name it, or even if there is a compilation out there that has all of the above and you put it in your directory, and that's that., I see a lot of topics about, "Merged Patch" or, "Load Order".

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, so far I have fallout 3 installed and with all the DLC, and its in a specific folder, (D drive)

 

Many thanks again,

Arcadiuman

Edited March 3, 2011 by Arcadiuman

[proconsu1]

I'll give you my version of how to get going with your modding plans. But I warn you, this is gonna read like a novel (with very boring characters).

 

First, assemble your tools. You will need these modding utilities to properly install and manage the mods you download:

 

1. FOSE - Fallout Script Extender - this is a support utility that greatly enhances and expands the scripting options available for the people who write mods, and makes your Fallout 3 installation able to run these advanced scripts when you have such mods installed. Put simply, it allows some of the more advanced mods like FWE and FOOK to run - no FOSE = no FWE or FOOK (or any other advanced mod). Its installation is very simple, but pay careful attention to its notes on how to use it. You must NOT use the normal Fallout 3 launcher program any more or it will run without the FOSE code being loaded, and the mods that need FOSE will then promptly crash and burn in spectacular fashion. FOSE's install instructions will tell you how you can change your Fallout 3 shortcut to point to the FOSE loader program instead of the Fallout program, and/or how to launch FOSE directly from.....

 

2. FOMM - Fallout Mod Manager - most mods only include manual installation instructions, e.g. "extract this file into your \\fallout3\data folder....". I strongly recommend you ignore those kinds of instructions and use FOMM instead (but still read all the instructions to take note of other important info like incompatibilities and the like!).FOMM can take a zipped up mod file like those you download from the Nexus here and use it to build what is called a FOMOD file, which is a sort of organized installer/uninstaller routine for that mod. It only requires that you supply some missing bits of info during the conversion process, like the name of the mod, the website you got it from (just copy and paste the address of the page you downloaded if from) and a short description of what exactly that archive is. For that description I advise you include info that will remind you how to handle that particular component, since many mods have multiple components that must be installed in a particular order, e.g. "Main installation file for mod ABCXYZ, REQUIRED, activate this first when installing this mod"; "Patch A for mod ABCXYZ, REQUIRED, activate this after the main file but before the optional plugins"; and "Plugin 2 for mod ABCXYZ, OPTIONAL, activate after both the main file and Patch A". Use some variation of a scheme like that which will help you keep track of which files go with which mods, in what order they get installed, and whether they are necessary or merely optional addons/plugins. FOMM will also ask that you provide a filename for each FOMOD you tell it to create, and I recommend that you include numbers into these names to help you keep track of the necessary install order, just like you did with the descriptions, e.g. "ABCXYZ-main-1st"; "ABCXYZ-patchA-2nd"; "ABCXYZ-plugin2-3rd" and so on. Once you have converted the file(s) into FOMOD(s), you can simply tell FOMM to activate each component one by one - bam bam bam - and it will handle copying files into the correct folders, overwriting where needed; and it will keep track of everything it did. The main advantage to this system is that FOMOD files don't just tell FOMM how to install the mod; they also tell how to uninstall it and keep track of any files it may have overwritten so that it can put them back the way they were. The problem is that it is all or nothing, i.e. if even one mod was manually installed, it could screw up FOMM's ability to cleanly uninstall other mods and return things to their pre-modded state- not a big deal if everything works, but a HUGE deal when something goes wrong. There is also a vital option in FOMM's Tools drop down menu called "Archive Invalidation" - make sure this option is enabled or many mods will fail to work properly. When all the FOMOD-ing and activating of FOMODs is done, FOMM can also sort your now-installed-and-activated mods into a proper load order for you. More on this in the next section:

 

3. BOSS - Better Oblivion Sorting Software - it was originally written for Oblivion, but since FO3 uses the same engine it was an easy deal to update it to work for FO3 too, and they just didn't rename the thing. What this does is download a masterlist of known mod and their specs and known issues, and then compares your active mods against this masterlist. It can then use that info to sort them into a good load order (or FOMM can use that same list to do the sorting itself) and...drumroll...it will generate an annotated listing of your mods that includes known incompatibilities, special handling tips and other useful info you may need to know about how each mod works and plays with all your other mods. Always run BOSS after you make any changes to your installed mods in FOMM, just to double check that you aren't about to stumble across an unworkable combination or some such.

 

4. FO3edit - not really an editor, at least not as a mod user like you or me will be using it - this utility does another function that is vital for folks like us who use multiple mods - it makes a "merged patch" to help those mods work together without fouling everything up. I won't go into the details, suffice to say it helps avoid crashes and nasty malfunctions of all sorts. It is also dead simple to use. After you set things up in FOMM and check them over with BOSS, just run FO3edit. It will popup a listing of all your active mods - just click "OK" and then wait for a minute or so while it loads all those mods in. When it is done you will see a message on the bottom status bar that says "Background loader: finished" or some such. Now just move your cursor to a blank spot in the left hand panel and right click. A menu will popup, and you select an option near the middle called "Create merged patch". It will prompt you for a name for this "merged patch", so just type in something generic like "merged patch". Click OK and off it goes. In seconds it will have created that patch file which will look just like a mod. Now just load up FOMM one last time and make sure that "merged patch.esp" (or whatever you named it) is at the very, VERY bottom of your load order and is activated. Hit the button to launch FOSE and you're off!

 

As for which mods to run, I strongly recommend you use Nexus's sorting function. First go to "Files" and choose the category of mod you are interested in, e.g. gameplay or quests or whatever. Then use the sorting function and tell it to list mods in descending order based on how many endorsements they have. Anything after about page 4 or 5 of such a listing is prolly either too old, too buggy or too lame to bother with. All the best mods will appear in those first 3 or 4 pages. You might also look to review sites like Gamespot, Gamespy and the like - many of them have articles posted in which they list their top 10 favorite mods, or most highly recommended mod lists...you get the idea. And last on this "which mods" issue - FOIP. The biggest and best overhaul mods, MMM, FWE, FOOK2, EVE and the like are all linked, so to speak, by the Fallout Interoperability Project, or FOIP. The FOIP is a set of extra "mod" files specifically designed to make these biggest, most popular mods work with each other. Be sure to check it out and get any components that apply to other mods you have chosen, e.g. if you decide to use MMM and FWE, there is an FOIP mod you will need in order for those two massive overhaul mods to work together.

 

These instructions should tell you everything you need to know to get your feet wet....up to your eyeballs. That is when you curse my name, then come back here and tell us what's going wrong and we help you figure it out.

Edited March 3, 2011 by proconsu1

[Fatalmasterpiece]

IMO skip BOSS. Their load order isn't kept as up to date as I would like and it's more effective to just learn how to use FO3edit to check for errors and make your own load orders that work based on an educated general load guideline. I've seen BOSS completely contradict a moders suggested load order of their own mods, if that is any indication.

[proconsu1]

IMO skip BOSS. Their load order isn't kept as up to date as I would like and it's more effective to just learn how to use FO3edit to check for errors and make your own load orders that work based on an educated general load guideline. I've seen BOSS completely contradict a moders suggested load order of their own mods, if that is any indication.

 

There may be merit to this, but in rebuttal I will point out that many modders don't know their butts from holes in the ground when it comes to making their mods work with OTHER modders' stuff. In fact, it seems like 90% of them think their own mod has be either the very last one to load or the very first one to load - nobody seems to think the middle is good place in the load order....except BOSS, and by extension FOMM.

Edited March 3, 2011 by proconsu1

[Arcadiuman]

Thank you so much for all the info, his is gonna be great.

 

My first question is towards the FOIP, Do I have to download and install all the mods individuality? Or download them, put them in a folder, then let FOMM create a FOMOD... then download the FOIP.

[proconsu1]

Thank you so much for all the info, his is gonna be great.

 

My first question is towards the FOIP, Do I have to download and install all the mods individuality? Or download them, put them in a folder, then let FOMM create a FOMOD... then download the FOIP.

 

FOMOD FOMOD FOMOD....get FOIP...FOMOD :ermm:

 

OK, now the translation. Download all the appropriate files for each and every mod you plan to use. Organize the downloaded files if necessary by putting them in folders by category or by individual mod names, whatever helps you keep them straight about which downloaded files go with which mods.Then one by one use the procedure I mentioned before to convert each and every one of those downloaded files (aka archives) into FOMOD files (lemme know if you need more details on how to do this). Also download whatever files FOIP says you need for whatever mods you already have. For example, if you got both FOOK2 and MMM, then the FOIP page will show you that you need one or two particular files to make those two mods work together. And again, convert each of those files into a FOMOD. The only mod-related things you should be installing without using a FOMOD to do it are the four utilities: FOMM, BOSS, FOSE and FO3edit.

[Arcadiuman]

so a FOMOD is a FOMM's version of the file that you downloaded.

[Arcadiuman]

Well i've started the huge task of sifting through the mods to see what I want im afraid I dont know a thing about getting them to all work together, . or to even go about installing them. So i'll ask, with every mod that I get, that has more than one, winrar file, for example, EVE has many little patches, Do I make one FOMOD of everything to do with EVE? Edited March 4, 2011 by Arcadiuman

[proconsu1]

Well i've started the huge task of sifting through the mods to see what I want im afraid I dont know a thing about getting them to all work together, . or to even go about installing them. So i'll ask, with every mod that I get, that has more than one, winrar file, for example, EVE has many little patches, Do I make one FOMOD of everything to do with EVE?

 

No. Each downloaded file gets its own FOMOD. So for EVE that would be like 4 FOMODS in all, IIRC. That is why I advised that when you make the FOMODS you tell the program to use filenames that will remind you not only which mod the FOMOD goes to, but in what order it needs to go amongst the other FOMODS for that same mod. So for EVE you would get files downloaded that would look something this:

 

1 - EVE_097_Beta_main-8340.rar

 

2 - Newest_update-8340.rar

 

3 - Updated_Mesh-8340.rar

 

4 - EVE_-_Operation_Anchorage-8340.rar

 

so each of those would be converted into a separate FOMOD file, with filenames and descriptions something like this (I will put the filename bolded and the description in italics):

 

1 - EVE_main_1.fomod - EVE v097 main installation file, required, install this first of all EVE-related files

 

2 - EVE_update_2.fomod - EVE patch file, required, install after main file

 

3 - EVE_mesh_fix_3.fomod - patch for EVE's patch, sheesh, required, install after the update file

 

4 - EVE_anchorage_4.fomod - EVE plugin for Operation:Anchorage DLC, optional, install last and only if Anchorage DLC is activated

 

Those are the filenames and descriptions I used for my own FOMOD files when I installed EVE. By doing it this way I can easily tell at a glance the order in which I need to activate the FOMODS (notice the numbers 1 thru 4 at the ends of the filenames?). And if in doubt I can look at the description for a reminder of what the file actually is, why it got that slot in the install order and whether I really need it or not.

 

Now, say I have installed all these files and then later the author of the mod posts a notice that the mesh fix (file 3) is bugged and should NOT be used until a fix is released. Well, all I have to do is fire up FOMM and tell it to uninstall that one FOMOD. FOMM will already know what files to remove, whether any older files had been overwritten during install, and if so it will have backups of those files ready to put back the way they were. In other words, because I used FOMM to install all my mod components separately I can uninstall any single one of them without worrying about whether it had already overwritten some other file or made some change that I won't know how to undo - FOMM kept track of all of that for me and knows how to clean up after itself. But if I had installed even one mod manually, instead of making FOMODS for it and installing it with FOMM, then I would likely not be unable to uninstall that mod cleanly, and I might also have broken FOMM's ability to uninstall several other mods whose files may have been overwritten by that one I manually installed. Since I didn't use FOMM, FOMM could not track the changes that were made, and is therefore unable to help me back out of it if I then find out that mod is bugged or is incompatible with something else I have...or if it just plain sucks and I want it gone. So basically FOMM is your best friend, but only if you are faithful to it and use it to install ALL your mods. If you mix other installation methods..well FOMM is still a great tool, but you will have thrown out what is possibly its most powerful feature.

Edited March 4, 2011 by proconsu1

[nisen]

IMO skip BOSS. Their load order isn't kept as up to date as I would like and it's more effective to just learn how to use FO3edit to check for errors and make your own load orders that work based on an educated general load guideline. I've seen BOSS completely contradict a moders suggested load order of their own mods, if that is any indication.

would love to know how to search fo3edit for conflicts, but havent read the instructions yet : ) only know to look for baseids for console commands, and making a bashed patch, but with your suggestion to skip BOSS cause its not updated enough, its a community project so if you got mods havent made it on the masterlist, or load orders dont seem to work, go to the BOSS team forum page, show them the mod (or apparent conflicts with their reorder) and itll get updated, sometimes in a few hours. And you can use BOSS and still reorder anyof them with your own userlist.txt exceptions. Idk if BOSS is more a noob tool or what, but im a noob understanding conflicts so rely on it.

 

Then one by one use the procedure I mentioned before to convert each and every one of those downloaded files (aka archives) into FOMOD files... The only mod-related things you should be installing without using a FOMOD to do it are the four utilities: FOMM, BOSS, FOSE and FO3edit.

also recommend making fomods, but consider two exceptions: apparently with some really huge mods the conversion can sometimes miss a few files, or doesnt unpack them properly, but, only consider with things say near or over 1GB and with a really easy /unique file structure so you see it wont be overwriting anything.. 2nd exceptions when its just an esp, or esp+BSA , those mods dont drop any file into data sub folders, so takes half a second to find and remove (FOMMs main benefits are removing the need to hunt thru dozens of data subfolders, and to restore overwritten files when fomods are uninstalled) Edited March 4, 2011 by nisen