Mod recommendations for Vanilla

[deepfried25]

Hello fellow modders im looking for mod recommendations, i currently have the vanilla game. No mods on but want to know of some good ones. I have beat the game on xbox and am starting again on pc. Looking thru the list here can be somewhat overwhelming. If you could help a fellow fallout fan who's just dipping thier feet in the water that be great.

[OGGrinskin91]

Horizon - survival expanded. It's a complete overhaul of the survival mechanics and levelling system. It pretty much fixes every issue I had with the game and it's lack of balance.

 

Natural and atmospheric commonwealth, it changes the games lighting, weathers and interiors and makes it a hell of a lot more realistic. gives the game a completely different feeling, and looks beautiful. Just remember to download the natural and atmospheric interiors optional plugin too.

 

To go with that pip boy flashlight and tactical flashlights, which gives you a directional flashlight more akin to something from a survival horror game like metro 2033. This with the darker interiors and more realistic nights from NAC feels great together.

 

And true grass really compliments it too, which gives all of the flora a lot more realistic and diverse look. That's how I have it set up alongside god knows how many others. Oh and if you have the fps to spare download flaconOils texture pack, personally I think tank the best on the nexus.

Edited April 27, 2017 by OGGrinskin91

[AGreatWeight]

Welcome to the never-ending labyrinthe that is pc modding! The mods that OGGrinskin91 recommends are a good solid start to acclimatise. An alternative to FlaconOil's texture pack is the 'Vivid Fallout' series by Hein84, which include performance friendly versions for those with lower specced machines.

I would suggest that instead of using the latest version of NMM (which is unfortunately full of bugs and no longer supported, as the devs are working on a brand new mod manager) that you read the post by the mod author Damanding in this thread. The first link she shares (to Github) contains the last working version of NMM, free of bugs. You'll save yourself a lot hassle using that version.

It's good to establish best practises when modding your game as early as possible, so watch Gophers tutorials on his Youtube channel for modding Fallout 4 using NMM and L.O.O.T.

I'm not going to add any recommended mods in this post as there are literally so many to choose from, and it's always subjective. Always make sure you read mod description pages & follow install instructions to the letter to minimize potential issues. You will at some point run into problems, looking at bug reports on a mod's page can help, and there is always the forums. Most mod authors/users are pretty friendly and willing to help others out when necessary.

Oh, and before you start playing with mods, make sure you do this. Load FO4 (vanilla) and start a new game. You'll need to do this to generate your .ini files that you'll need to tweak so you can start modding your game. Get past the intro bit, and once you exit Vault 111 make a fresh save. Keep the save safe, as you should always use it to test your mods out to make sure that they work correctly; a fresh clean untampered savefile is pretty important in that regard. A lot of mod users don't do that which just complicates things for them when issues inevitably arise.

Also, resist the temptation to add a shedload of mods at once - add mods one at a time, and test each mod out first. It might take longer, but makes it easier to identify conflicts between mods or other issues.

Good luck!

[Gruffydd]

This kind of question pops up every now and then and my answer is always the same: it depends on what play style you prefer. If you want really high res graphics you'll need different mods than if you want toned down res for better performance. If you're really into weapons you'd want different mods than if you aren't. If you want settlements but don't want to bother with building and decorating them you'll want different mods than if you like placing every object. And so on.

Giving some idea of what parts of the game you really like and what parts you don't will help people recommend mods.

[damanding]

Settlement building mod suggestions: http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/384/