Modding vanilla FO4 in 2019

[LordVader88]

I have a brand new high-end rig so I want to make FO4 look really good and play as good as it should. I don't have any paid DLC, just the tex.pack. I installed Vortex.

 

I just started this guide here, and did STEP 0, but there's a LOT to it, and I don't have any DLC so would it even work . I stopped at STEP 1, does he mean I could DL any texture mods I want ?

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23556

 

 

What guide should I follow ? If I don't follow a guide, and just start adding the most popular GFX type mods, I'm sure it will make FO4 more buggy than I remember.

Edited February 28, 2019 by LordVader88

[SpaceMachineSixThousandOne]

 

 

You should ask in the Posts tab on the mod's page. But I mean, it's a little bit silly don't you think? This is Battlefield 3 & Skyrim benchmark gaming PC. That's like 7-8 years old or something. 1080p HD for that is mostly controlled by the config set by Fallout 4 Configuration Tool by BILAGO. Then a ENB pretty much. I used Vogue & Subtle ENB, but I had tried some others. Mostly this was just to clean up the horrible vanilla graphics once they ported this to PC. There are a few LUTS we can switch between that can change the look of the game which is nice, but it's more of a bonus on top.

Mainly ENBSeries v0.355 and Subtle ENB is what makes the game look good after the initial configuration with BILAGO's tool. Though FO4 is like Witcher, the render engine frame rate can be smoothed up significantly by Riva Tuner Statistics Server. That was a news article for FO4 from PC gamer a long time ago. It depends on the system, but it works by disabling Vsync & triple buffering in the video card driver. Then disabling Vsync in FO4 via BILAGO's tool. Though there are a couple of other settings one can play with in the raw config for frame rate if needed.

Most people need optimized textures. To be honest I doubt you would need the HD DLC unless you were using a 4K display. Even then there are some fairly heavy problems for computers attempting to run a 4K with a high framerate. They say computers are not built to be able to handle the amount of data associated with 4K yet. I saw Linus Tech Tips talking about it recently, and from their study they found that the speed of the framerate was more important. However, I usually run these games in steady 30 FPS even in 1080p as a preference even though it will hit 40 to 60 variable.

Detail is included already except for a few blury textures, and that might be what the person meant. When you notice something in the game that looks blury, go replace that with a texture mod specifically. If you asked me, it would be more important to establish the base game and foundations first. There are bunch of mods that just get the vanilla game in a good state. Establish that, and then add in mods later on as we find them desired. A full build for Fallout 4 without the HD texture pack is over 100Gb. It takes about 6 months to install all that. But you have to test it too.

Mostly I get 2K or 4K textures, but a 8K world map is nice. There are HD skins for power armor, weapons, clothing, cutter, ect. Usually, I leave the rest of it alone. Instead of that I tend to install mods that actually do something inside the game instead of mods that are just meant to make the game look good. This is mostly because the vanilla assets are fine. Depending on the load I can switch between configs for UHD, and a high setting with volumetric lighting & godrays disabled for high performance. It's about the same amount of fun either way, super fast, or super detailed.

You could go run Fallout 76 in ultra across the map if you were just looking for bragging rights. Nobody was able to run that game all that well. I don't know man. Fallout 4 is more of a game to run for pure fun over detail. The game has plenty of detail. Oldrim Skyrim though, that one needed tons of detail. Heck even Skyrim SE needs detail added. That might be your game to focus on detail with if you liked Beth games. I know the veteran modders were complaining about players that mix up the textures to get the max, and that breaks the game's aesthetic theme.

:ermm:

 

 

Edited February 28, 2019 by SpaceMachineSixThousandOne

[LordVader88]

What are u talking about BF3 and Sktrim ? I'm at 1440p, I have FO4 installed on steam, what are some good mods in 2019 that will run on the basic game ? I don't have any money to spend on game upgrades/DLC

[SpaceMachineSixThousandOne]

LOL, buy the DLC or don't use that mod. Sorry.

[SpaceMachineSixThousandOne]

F4SE

Achivements

Config Tool

 

xSE PlugIn Preloader

 

Private Profile Redirector

 

CBBE

 

Bodyslide

 

Eyes Of Beauty

 

Josie Body

 

Distinctive Teeth

 

Looks Menu

 

Looks Menu Compendium

 

DEF UI

 

HUDframework

 

iHUD

 

Place Everywhere

 

MCM

 

UFF

 

SMM

 

CWSS

 

Modular Kitchen

 

Survival Options

 

Dialog Peek

 

SWM

 

Zoom Out Extended

 

Colorful Survival Icons

 

DOF Removal

 

Subtle ENB

 

ENB 0.355

 

True Storms Need a 1024 max particle for this.

 

True Nights

 

Vivid Weathers

 

Weather Synergy

 

:laugh:

[LordVader88]

wow thanks a lot, I'll get started. I only played about 1/4-1/3 the game since I got it day 1

 

What order do I install stuff ?

Edited March 1, 2019 by LordVader88

[SpaceMachineSixThousandOne]

You have to learn how to fish. Go to Nexus Mods for the game you are modding. There's a tab for mods. Inside there is Top Files. That brings up the list of top for all time, non-adult, adult. I usually use Most Endorsed Files Of All Time. Start at the top, scroll down through 1,600 or 3,000 files. Play music, and just view mods. Read the descriptions, cross reference what will or will not conflict. Try to avoid anything overly complex.

 

Once you get a pretty good idea of the mods it's more like viewing a set of mods that were released during a time period you set. Also in that tab for mods is Mod Categories. Though when you view these lists it's important to switch between Sort By Date Published & Downloads. A easy way to see what we are all using the most is to view the mods by downloads. I just get the download started until I have a huge list to download.

 

Once I get tired of picking up download links and pausing them I go do something else for a while. Later on at some point when I'm not using the internet I start up the download. Though these mods get sorted into groups to install them in or by similar content. If you don't sort the downloaded mod into some sort of organization method you won't remember what each thing does, and it will be a mess. So practice, and sort it.

 

You can learn the hard way if you want. Just keep messing up the game until you break it, and then start the whole process over. STEP project has guides, and there are pinned topics usually on the forums boards here that help. The best way is to just play the game so you can see what the game needs, and then go get that stuff. The stuff linked above was just what I had gotten started to mod FO4 in 2019.

 

After that I typed the word Texture into the search, and then sorted that by downloads. I went through the first 12 pages grabbing what texture mods I wanted out of the mods that were downloaded the most which had the word texture in the name. After that I went to the Most Endorsed Files Of All Time, and grabbed the ones I wanted down to the 120 mark, then I wrote down the 120 number I was on, so I can go back to doing that later.

[SpaceMachineSixThousandOne]

Retextured Chems V2

 

Delightful Ivy

 

Ammo Retexture

 

More Realistic Pipe Weapons Retexture

 

Retextured First Aid Kits

 

Enhanced Blood Textures

 

Gore Overhaul 3.0

 

Head Wounds Decals

 

Long Range Bulletholes

 

Unique Player (for tattoos or unique player body)

 

Unique Player Body (for tattoos or unique player body)

 

Unique Uniques

 

4K Power Armor Textures

 

4K UHD Power Armor Textures (T45/T60 only, replaces above textures, Possible requirement to unpack BA2 to replace?)

 

Wasteland Creatures Redone

 

Pre-War Books Retexture

 

Robot Player Textures (For a possible Institute kidnapping of a player character, synth creation, or follower)

 

HQ Impact Decal Retexture

 

Bloody Mess EBT Add-On

 

Bloody Realistic ( If installed right, the 4 blood/gore mods can work very well together)

 

Better Fake Reflections

 

Glowing Fusion Core Retexture

 

Sweet Roll 5000

 

Pre-War Money Retexture

 

4K Institute Retexture

 

Institute Skybox

 

Sky Stars Retexture (Stars Get Really Colorful With Psychedelic Chems)

 

HD Moon Retexture

 

AWKCR

 

Armorsmith Extended

 

Homemaker

 

Crafting Workbenches

 

Scrap Everything

 

OCDecorator

 

Fr4nsson's Light Tweaks (Removes Bloom & Fake Lighting inside IMOD)

 

Immersive Vendors

 

We Are The Minutemen (First Of Many Factional Overhauls)

 

Scrap Dead Things

 

K9 Harness (First Of Many Custom Armors)

 

FO4 Edit (xEdit)

 

Runny Eye Makeup Retexture

 

UHD Power Armor Frame

 

Player Comments And Headtracking (First Of Many Dialog Mods)

 

 

Most importantly, I'm not playing this game while I'm installing mods. I just play test the game as I go until the game is more in a final state. You might play one of these games for a few months, and during that time you changed the game enough to break the save game. So it's better to get a 100% clean save game for use as a backup copy. This is usually created right after the beginning of the game.

 

Play through the tutorial area, and then grab the save game. It's not as important since we have Looks Menu and can just .json our way to happiness, because we can make a copy of a character/settlement to import to other save games. But it is still important to utilize that 100% clean save game. Also make backups of the game. Make backups of the installed mods. Make backups of the downloaded mods. Never know.

 

Usually I just keep loading that original save game in order to quickly play or test the game, but it's better to wait until the game is in a more of a final state to actually begin the game. Once the load order builds the game will begin to solidify, but it also requires many things to be fixed or repaired. It can take 6 months to download, install, and repair all of it in such a way so that it can be a game that lasts for 500+ hours or 6+ months.

 

Right now I am downloading, organizing, and installing mods for FO4. But I'm playing Spin Tires Mud Runner, The Sims IV, and SW:TOR. See I don't have to rush through the modding part that builds FO4. Right now I'm just play testing with Skip To Institute for testing purposes on a potential kidnapping of my launch character, but I might make that character into a companion for another main character.

 

:geek:

Edited March 1, 2019 by SpaceMachineSixThousandOne

[LordVader88]

Ok this is a lot to do

 

Ok I did all of Step zero from the guide I mentioned. I have no idea how to undo all that so I'm leaving alone. I downloaded all the mods from SpaceMachin'es 1st list w/ vortex, thx again.

[LordVader88]

Ok in the 1st guys guide, I uninstalled the HD texture DLC. Now I re-installed it, and it's a 55GB DL. Took all night/day. Can I keep that or not ?

 

What's 5-10 key mods I should install now, like for GFX and gameplay/bug fixes , just so I can start testing and playing.