A few questions about FOMM and steam

[Malminos]

I bought FO3 through steam and I thought i had to run it through fallout mod manager after i installed it and mods etc. However, i am having trouble alt-tabbing and chatting with buddies while i play through steam, when i run it through FOMM.

 

Then i read somewhere that after you set everything up in FOMM you can launch it like normal through steam. i tried it and it seems to work fine and load my mods, but that's where my question is

 

Questions:

 

1) Is it okay, if after i've set everything up in FOMM that i run it through steam?

 

2) Also, when i launch it in steam, it runs fine, but when i check the load order after loading into the FO3 launch menu thing via steam, if i click "data files" it seems to be organizing everything alphabetically, does my load order carry over from FOMM? it seems to work fine but i figured i'd double check

 

3) I downloaded FO3 edit and created the merged patch. I was reading that it's best to put the patch last in my load order but it seems to want to put itself right below pointlookout.esm every time i load, what's up with that?

 

Thanks!

[BlackRampage]

I bought FO3 through steam and I thought i had to run it through fallout mod manager after i installed it and mods etc. However, i am having trouble alt-tabbing and chatting with buddies while i play through steam, when i run it through FOMM.

 

Then i read somewhere that after you set everything up in FOMM you can launch it like normal through steam. i tried it and it seems to work fine and load my mods, but that's where my question is

 

Questions:

 

1) Is it okay, if after i've set everything up in FOMM that i run it through steam?

 

2) Also, when i launch it in steam, it runs fine, but when i check the load order after loading into the FO3 launch menu thing via steam, if i click "data files" it seems to be organizing everything alphabetically, does my load order carry over from FOMM? it seems to work fine but i figured i'd double check

 

3) I downloaded FO3 edit and created the merged patch. I was reading that it's best to put the patch last in my load order but it seems to want to put itself right below pointlookout.esm every time i load, what's up with that?

 

Thanks!

The alt-tab problem might be easily solved by "installing" this mod: Fake Fullscreen Mode

If that works for you, I'd recommend starting FO3 only through FoMM from here on in.

 

As for the merged patch: Yes, you indeed need to put it last in your load order, but if it seems to want to relocate itself to a different position you could try disabling all plugins, then sort your load order according to the way you want it (or use BOSS) then re-enable then again, starting at the top and working your way down.