Can someone teach me how use.....

[Deleted96090863User]

im new to modding I am trying to download a load order but it requires Mod Organizer 2, LOOT, F4SE, and FO4Edit which i just cant find any good youtube videos describing how to use all those in order to play a certain load order i found on youtube basically my computer can run 4K graphics and i found a youtube video of fallout 4 4k graphics mod load order but im confused. HELP PLEASE

[Ondrea]

Look for GamerPoets or Gopher on YouTube.

 

Mod Organizer 2 Tutorial

LOOT

F4SE

FO4Edit

[Deleted96090863User]

Ive tried those they are 4 years old or the cover them individually instead of teaching how use all 4 in one

[LucidLady]

I don't mind taking the time to help you learn. I know how daunting it can seem when you're new to modding.

Currently i'm using more than 3oo mods in my game, and my game runs nearly flawlessly.

 

I don't personally use MO2. I believe people when they say it's the best mod organizer, but NMM has never given me problems and does everything I need - and seems alot more simple and clear. Simple. Basically, if you know how to cut and paste, NMM is all you need.

 

LOOT is a helpful tool for detecting mod conflicts, or mods which may need cleaning, but you don't need LOOT. I almost never use it (maybe once every four months). LOOT is a really poor Load Order Organizer. If you have more than a dozen or so mods, it won't organize your LO properly. You should learn to organize your mods yourself, it's not hard. I can post how I structure my own LO if you like.

 

F4SE is a pain to update, I get confused every single time lol. All of the guides that are supposed to teach you how to do it are so old! Luckily the game doesn't update very often these days. It's the most confusing part of the equation, in my opinion. Just because all the guides I can find are different and outdated and poorly explained.

 

FO4Edit is a very helpful and handy little tool, but it's not necessary to using Mods whatsoever. I went years without ever touching it. But i've learned to do quite alot with it now, and am having alot more fun altering my game with it. But again, it's purely optional. You don't need it to get mods to work for you. Unless you're trying to create a patch so two mods work together - and there isn't already a patch out there for it. I haven't personally encountered a situation like that even once after all these years, and all these hundreds of mods.

 

But beyond all of that - I can suggest you some general good practice behaviors when it comes to modding. Things you don't think to do right away. Like - you should manually download every mod Zip. Put them in a special folder on your desktop (or wherever you want). You'll be glad you have the original zip files for all sorts of reasons. Especially if you're just starting to tweak things with FO4Edit. If you feel like you messed up, you can just instantly re-install the default zip file.

I have a special folder named "Pending ZIPS" - I put all the Mods i'm trying for the first time in there. And if they work out, I move them to the main mod zips folder. If they don't work, I move them to a "Failed ZIPS" folder, so I can at least play with them in FO4Edit later. And if i'm every done using a mod after a long time, I move the zip to a "Retired ZIPS" folder.

Also, make a special backup folder for all your saves. You want to keep your main save folder nice and light - but you don't want to completely delete all your older saves. So move them to a special backup folder. I make a separate folder for each different character.

I also name each Load Order text file after the current Character i'm playing. I keep those backup text files in a separate, specially named Folder too.

Another tip - You can use FO4Edit to really easily create empty, specially named ESP files to help organize your LO. For instance, name one "---Build Mode Mods---.esp", and put all your Build-Mode mods beneath it in your LO. Simple and easy.

It also doesn't hurt to keep a backup folder for your F4SE versions. Same goes for the main FO4 exe. So if you ever accidentally update, or want to roll back to a previous version of the game, it's as simple as hitting cut/paste. There's a really popular automated program that does this for people - but honestly, it's WAY too complicated. Just cut/paste the files yourself. It's easy.

Edited August 21, 2020 by LucidLady

[Ondrea]

Ive tried those they are 4 years old or the cover them individually instead of teaching how use all 4 in one

 

Nothing has changed so the videos are still relevant. When I got a new computer this year and had to download everything all over again, I still used those as a guide. You watch one video at a time, as you are just installing one program at a time. You start with Mod Organizer and then on to the others.

 

But, as LucidLady said, as someone new to modding, you really don't need all those programs just to get started. I use MO2 and would never use anything else but I'm sure NMM or Vortex are more user friendly. FO4Edit is for cleaning dirty files or editing, which you may not need at all at this point. LOOT organizes your load order, which is already incorporated into Vortex, or you can find general rules of thumb as to which mods should load where and move things around manually. F4SE is required for many mods so you may want that.

 

If you're just wanting beautiful graphics, you don't need most of these programs even though someone's video said you should have them.

[LucidLady]

Installing manually isn't difficult, either. You don't actually need ANY mod organizer - you could just use the built-in fallout mod section to organize your load order. It's the most cumbersome method, though.

 

I also built a new PC this year, and when it came time to reinstall all the little programs, I had trouble following those videos. I might just be stupid and overthinkiny, though. Especially any videos that try to teach you how to use FO4Edit - they're all outdated. But if you really want instructions on how to use FO4Edit, just shoot me a private message. It's not nearly as confusing as it seems at first glance.

 

On a personal note - people say Vortex is better than NMM but I completely disagree. I used Vortex for quite some time, and it just seems to be the worst of all Mod Organizers. I'd recommend anything but Vortex. (can you freely manipulate your load order with vortex yet? or is that still something you can't do) The fact that it has LOOT functionality is NOT a bonus point for it. Yikes. Go with MO2. I can't really help you much if you choose MO2, because i've never used it. I'm not familiar with it's more fancy features. But if you have any questions regarding Load Order structure, I got you.

 

And as Ondrea said - if all you want is visual mods, you don't need any of these programs. As handy as they might be.

Maybe you should link to whatever video you saw showing the 4k graphics mods.

[M48A5]

There is nothing wrong with tutorials that are four years old. The game is almost five years old (initial release 10Nov2015) and the game engine has not changed since the release.

 

The same goes for FO4Edit and F4SE. There has not been a change in the way they work because there has not been a change in the core programming of the game.

 

Just because they haven't been updated in the past couple of months doesn't mean they don't work correctly.

 

From reading the forums, Vortex appears to have a very large learning curve with a lot of rules. If you want a simple tool to organize your load order, don't use Vortex.

 

As the others have said, if all you want are graphic replacers, you don't need a mod manager.

[LucidLady]

There is nothing wrong with tutorials that are four years old. The game is almost five years old (initial release 10Nov2015) and the game engine has not changed since the release.

 

The same goes for FO4Edit and F4SE. There has not been a change in the way they work because there has not been a change in the core programming of the game.

 

Just because they haven't been updated in the past couple of months doesn't mean they don't work correctly.

 

From reading the forums, Vortex appears to have a very large learning curve with a lot of rules. If you want a simple tool to organize your load order, don't use Vortex.

 

As the others have said, if all you want are graphic replacers, you don't need a mod manager.

To be clear - the way you -Install- these programs hasn't really changed in a long while. (F4SE used to have a more complicated install process for sure) I still get really confused updating F4SE with every new iteration.

 

But the way FO4Edit, in particular, works HAS definitely changed over the years. The first guide i ever used to try editing a mod (simply replacing one chem with another) from just a year or so ago no longer works because the program has changed. I had become more familiar with FO4 since the guide was posted, so I was able to figure out the new method for doing what i wanted to do myself. Entire features have been stripped away from the program over the years, usually to streamline as far as I can tell.

But as said before, FO4Edit is purely optional.

Edited August 21, 2020 by LucidLady