New player with modding questions

[zenkmander]

So I haven't played F3 since it first came out and I'm about to try it again. Are there any essential mods I need? Should I be using the ArchiveInval or Mod Manager? What about the unofficial patch? I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me a quick rundown of the basics so I can get this fresh start going. :)

[WastelandAssassin]

have you played the game once, or not at all??

i couldn't quite understand that from the first sentence you wrote

 

anyhow, if it is your first run of the game, you should just play it as it is, unmodded and untouched

if it isn't your first run, however, there are plenty of amazing mods that you should try, depending on what your preferences are

i would strongly recommend that you visit the Top 100 page, as it houses some of the best mods you can find here (though sometimes the greatest jewels are hidden in between the mediocre)

 

FOMM (or Fallout Mod Manager) is definitely the way to go, and don't forget FOSE (Fallout Script Extender), as many great mods require it

i can't quite recall the unofficial patch, but i am pretty sure it is worth your time getting

 

now, if you really want to find a great collection of mods to play with, there are some ways you can go by, and these are quite easy

first, you can go to the Top 100 page as i mentioned before, or view the winners of the File Of The Month competition for the last two years (lots of great mods there)

you could choose a wanted category of mods, and organize by most endorsed or downloaded, and by descending order, hence seeing the most loved mods of the chosen category

or if you know what you are looking for, you could even try searching for mods, though finding what you want may be hard to find, if what you want has been done at all

and last but not least, you could always look at the many threads where new players asked for the best mods to use, or even start another one yourself (though i can assure you that many such threads exist, as i have commented in plenty of them myself, and these are quite common)

 

now, the key is usually looking at the most endorsements for mods, as this is your best method for seeing just how popular a mod is, though as in all things, you may find popular mods not to your likings, while some pearls were left hidden in their shell, winning only mild publicity, but that's just the way it goes

the more time you will put into searching for the best of the best, the greatest your finds will be

 

one more thing, and this is the absolute key to successfully modding your game, and not ending up with some broken game that crashes every minute or so:

READ THE MOD'S INFORMATION!! there have been all too many times where people have reported crashes in their game, where the solution was simply that they had installed two mods that were incompatible, and in most cases, such incompatibilities are known and written in the mod's readme, usually under some bold underlined incompatibility section

so look for these and read them carefully, otherwise you may experience issues and bugs

and do the same for installation instructions

it's ok to ask if you don't know, but as is with most simple questions, you are not the first to not know the answer, and it may be written down before you, so do check before asking for help (after all, many of us want to help, but it takes time, and sometimes people get tired of answering answered questions, so search for an answer, and on most cases you will find it. you will be surprised how useful googling for answers may be, but sometimes it's a true life saver)

 

this pretty much sums all that i think you need to know before you start adding mods to your game

it may seem like a lot of effort, but it really isn't, and it's not as scary as it may seem to be

but if you truly love the game, and want to give the time and care needed to mod the game properly, you'll find the result most rewarding, and acquire some useful skills along the way

 

i really hope this is useful and helpful to you, and i wish you the best of luck with modding your game

and have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year :thumbsup: