Questions about Fallout 4 modding

[Blaze69]

So, the thing is, after playing FO4 at launch in console for a while and dropping the game not long after (due to me not liking the whole thing), I recently snatched the GOTY version of it during the Steam sale with the intent of starting over in PC and fully modding the game as soon as I get the chance.

 

Due to RL reasons as well as having plenty of stuff on my to-do list for my Skyrim mods, I won't really be able to get down with FO4 until September or so (best case scenario). I have some doubts and questions about the game and its mods, and figured I might as well ask the community since I won't even be able to play the vanilla game for now. I am fully aware some things (mainly concerning existing or recommended mods) may change in the meantime, but I still wanted to ask and get a rough picture of what I should expect once I start.

 

So these are my questions, in no particular order. Some are related to the way the game/mechanics work when it comes to mods, others may be about existing or recommended mods (at the moment) that fit a certain criteria, etc. Any and all answers will be welcome:

 

--- Alternate Start mods: having to go through the vanilla intro once is enough boredom for me; if I have to do it all over again, I might as well not even install the game in the first place. From some quick searchs some time ago, I think there were some options for alternate starts just like there were for pretty much any other ES/Fallout game. I think there was even one that edited vanilla dialogues and quests so you could play as someone that is not Shaun's father/mother or even not a Vault Dweller altogether. Not sure if those are up to date and working or there have been any new alternatives/developments on that front.

 

--- Player's backstory change: may or may not be tied to the point above, depending on whether Alternate Start mods take care of this or not. I hate the vanilla plot for the PC, including the whole "muh babeh iz gone!!" crap and the fake urgency of it all while at the same time wanting you to help yet another settlement (gee, thanks, Preston). Would much rather have a (relatively) open backstory for the PC like FNV had, and most importantly, have the PC not be related to Shaun at all.

 

--- Settlement Building bypass or streamlining: having to build and micromanage a dozen of settlements is tedious after the first 2 or 3, but is made a big part of the game altogether for some reason. Is there any mod that skips it altogether, or at least makes it so the settlements grow on their own or something like that and you don't need to put that much time and work into them unless you want to?

 

--- Weapon animation system: FNV had plenty of great weapon mods, but the problem there was that the animation slots for weapons were limited, so you could only have a limited amount of anim sets (and thus weapons with different animations); there was also the problem of some custom animation replacers screwing up vanilla or other mod weapons that used the same slot and such. Is that limitation also present in FO4? Or does it allow you to add as many weapons with unique animation sets as you want?

 

--- Dialogue system edits: is there any way to fix the awful console-oriented dialogue system and return it to how it was on previous games? I think I've seen a mod or two that do that and replace it with a traditional list with the different reply options that also lists the full response instead of only "Yes", "No", "Sarcastic", "Goodbye", but would like to know how things are on that front. Also, do the mods that make those changes to the system have problems with mod-added quests or dialogue?

 

--- Is ENB needed and/or worthy?; I can't play Skyrim Legendary anymore without an ENB, or else the game looks hideous. And one of the factors that has kept me from jumping to SSE is the fact that the SSE ENB is/was limited in features when compared to Legendary so the game still looked ugly by comparison (not sure if things are better now). From my experience playing in console, FO4's graphics are okay-ish, but then again graphic settings can't be changed on console and are fixed so it may be better or worse on PC. My question is, does the FO4 ENB really enhance the graphics like it did for Skyrim Legendary? Does it have a big impact on performance, and if so, is it still worth it?

 

--- Optimization mods?: Skyrim Legendary isn't really playable/moddable to its highest potential unless you use bugfix mods like Crash Fixes or the ENBoost memery enhancement. Does that also apply to FO4? I'm not talking about stuff like Unofficial Patches, but rather memory and/or bugfixes to the game executable/engine itself (probably through F4SE or .dll plugins).

 

--- Body replacers: at first glance, seems like the only "main" female body replacer for FO4 is CBBE, which if true will probably be good news as most or all armor mods and such will be CBBE based and there won't be issues with lack of conversions (like it happened in Skyrim with the CBBE/UUNP divide). Is that so? Are there any other serious contenders? Is the lack of CBBE conversions a problem with gear mods or are most of them covered. Also, which male replacer(s) (if any) are the standard for FO4 modding as a whole (or at least LL modding?).

 

These are my questions for now. I'll make sure to post any other I can come up with.

 

Thanks in advance.

[darkconsole]

for most of those categories there is only one right answer and its all on nexus. basically if you search for what you asked for there lol, because there isn't that much to choose from.

 

alternate start / backstory change : Start Me Up

settlement streamlining: SimSettlements

dialog: full dialog

body replacerers: cbbe or you're doing it wrong, the others are jokes.

optimisations: enb with graphics hack enabled with graphics disabled

[Blaze69]

10 minutes ago, darkconsole said:

for most of those categories there is only one right answer and its all on nexus. basically if you search for what you asked for there lol, because there isn't that much to choose from.

 

alternate start / backstory change : Start Me Up

settlement streamlining: SimSettlements

dialog: full dialog

body replacerers: cbbe or you're doing it wrong, the others are jokes.

optimisations: enb with graphics hack enabled with graphics disabled

Thank you very much for your reply!

 

To be honest, coming from Skyrim I'm used to there being waay more offer of certain mods (see follower framework edits/replacers), and sometimes it's hard to tell what's outdated or what's not widely used due to conflicts with other mods and stuff. Plus, not having any experience at all with Fo4 modding except for the few mod searches I did back in the day doesn't help either. I figured it would be much easier and faster to ask the community right away, and work from there.

 

I'll make sure to check the mods you list, and also glad to see the body choice is not an issue due to it being the standard. Again, thanks .

[ralfetas]

On 7/13/2018 at 12:55 PM, Blaze69 said:

Is ENB needed and/or worthy?;

Check NAC to use with any ENB preset, is amazing and will give your game a new level of immersion, in special in combat, is another game.

 

Funny that i was in your situation 3 months ago when i got back to skyrim, the research was long..... LOL After i manage to find the perfect spot of mods+enb+stability, i got back to fo4

[zax]

Extended Dialogue Interface is the most modern dialogue mod (it unlocks additional lines on F4SE level)

Atomic Beauty is also popular and viable alternative to CBBE when it comes to body mods

[Blaze69]

12 minutes ago, zax said:

Extended Dialogue Interface is the most modern dialogue mod (it unlocks additional lines on F4SE level)

Sounds like the perfect mod for that. Thanks for pointing it out!

 

I assume this one doesn't need any patches for mods or stuff like that? For example,  I was checking out Start Me Up and it has a patch for the other dialogue mod but not this one.

12 minutes ago, zax said:

Atomic Beauty is also popular and viable alternative to CBBE when it comes to body mods

I think I'll stick to CBBE to keep things simple, but since apparently it uses the same UVs as CBBE (and thus can use the same textures), I'll keep it in mind as well. Thanks!

[JefDalhmerNecroLuv37]

I love this preset but I'd love to give a NPC or follower this face, how could I do that?

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33362

[KoolHndLuke]

On 7/13/2018 at 11:01 AM, darkconsole said:

body replacerers: cbbe or you're doing it wrong, the others are jokes.

Couldn't agree more.

[KoolHndLuke]

3 hours ago, JefDalhmerNecroLuv37 said:

I love this preset but I'd love to give a NPC or follower this face, how could I do that?

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/33362

Face Ripper.

[Blaze69]

I didn't really expect the thread to be used for other generic questions about Fo4, though I see why that would happen and I'm cool with it.

 

That being said, I would still want to know about this:

On 7/13/2018 at 5:55 PM, Blaze69 said:

--- Weapon animation system: FNV had plenty of great weapon mods, but the problem there was that the animation slots for weapons were limited, so you could only have a limited amount of anim sets (and thus weapons with different animations); there was also the problem of some custom animation replacers screwing up vanilla or other mod weapons that used the same slot and such. Is that limitation also present in FO4? Or does it allow you to add as many weapons with unique animation sets as you want?

Can anyone clarify this for me?

[cleavagesweat]

On ‎7‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 3:17 AM, Blaze69 said:

I didn't really expect the thread to be used for other generic questions about Fo4, though I see why that would happen and I'm cool with it.

 

That being said, I would still want to know about this:

Can anyone clarify this for me?

i'm in the same situation you are. I would love an ENB recommendation and also weapons as well. I just wish there was a 10mm replacer, that thing is fugly.

[Selfcontrol]

If you are looking for weapons with animations, there are PLENTY of them on the Nexus right now.

 

What you should be careful about (regarding animations) are animations mods that replace an existing animation.

 

For example, there is a mod on the nexus that replaces the Handmade Rifle (from Nuka-World) animation and changes the meshes (so that the weapon's bolt is on the right side of the gun instead of the left side). If you download this mod and a weapon mod that uses the Handmade Rifle animations (for example the 10mm SMG mod), it will uses the new animations but it will be "weird" because the model for the 10mm SMG has the bolt on the left side.

 

But this case tends to become rarer and rarer. Nowadays, all the great weapons mods have their own first and third persons custom animations so there is no conflict at all.

 

I'm using myself a great number of re-animations mods (all of them from WarDaddy except for the vanilla Hunting Rifle from Haru and his pals) and weapons mods and I haven't had any problem.

 

Regarding the weapons themselves, you have a lot of choices on the Nexus. There are "modern weapons" but also "old weapons" and even "lore weapons". Most of the weapons mods I use are either "old" or "lore" because I like my guns and armors to fit in the Fallout world

 

[Blaze69]

1 hour ago, Selfcontrol said:

[...]

So, I take it there is indeed no limit on custom animation sets for weapons (or if it exists, it's high enough to not be a problem). Neat. Thanks for the explanation!