How to install Tales from the Commonwealth alongwith its fixes correctly ?

[Tinxi]

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704?tab=files Tales from the Commonwealth

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/53726?tab=description Tales from the Commonwealth - Precombined Visibility Patch

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/45148 Tales from the Commonwealth - FaceGen Data (for PhyOp or Vanilla)

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/43974 Tales from the Commonwealth Visual Fixes

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/50266 Quest mod Plus - performance

 

How to set their load order using Mod Organizer ?

[Sgt. Marge]

On 10/28/2021 at 10:29 PM, Tinxi said:

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8704?tab=files Tales from the Commonwealth

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/53726?tab=description Tales from the Commonwealth - Precombined Visibility Patch

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/45148 Tales from the Commonwealth - FaceGen Data (for PhyOp or Vanilla)

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/43974 Tales from the Commonwealth Visual Fixes

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/50266 Quest mod Plus - performance

 

How to set their load order using Mod Organizer ?

 

** UPDATE: Follow the instructions in this post for precombines patches instead. **

 

Hi,

 

Thanks very much for linking these, I've been having issues and suspected tftc might have a hand in them. 

 

I'm looking at the patches now.  2 of them attempt to fix facegen and 2 attempt to fix precombines.  You'd only need 1 of each of those, and I'll detail the experience I just had with installing them below.  Note that if you already use high poly faces or whatever the mod is, you may end up choosing differently than I did for the facegen mod.

 

The "Tales from the Commonwealth - FaceGen Data (for PhyOp or Vanilla)" and the "Quest mod Plus - performance" have the exact same files in them.  However, the Quest mod Plus requires HiPolyFaces.esp as a master, which I'm not currently using.  I think I'm going to try the older of the 2 mods (Tales from the Commonwealth - FaceGen Data (for PhyOp or Vanilla)).  I went with the Vanilla option since I don't have PhyOp.  The 3dNPC_FO4 Facegens.esp would take up a plugin slot so I'm using the R88 ESLify converter via FOEdit to flag it as an esl plugin.  This plugin only has the base game as a master file, so I don't think it matters what load order but just to be safe I'm gonna load it after the base mod Tales from the Commonwealth.  MO2 as not showing any conflicts either.

 

Next I'm going to load Tales from the Commonwealth - Precombined Visibility Patch because that looks like it's going to fix textures and precombines.  That one I'm going to put way down at the bottom on the left side but it's probably ok to just put it right after the facegen patch.  I guess we'll see.

 

I just had a look at the other patch you linked "Tales from the Commonwealth Visual Fixes" and that is an older attempt at fixing meshes and precombines, and doesn't have near as many files as the "Precombined Visibility Patch" so I'm going to leave that out.

 

Here is what I ended up with after looking at all of the patches you linked.  Edit I should also add this info.  I load all my body and game fixes first and then I load my quest mods after that.  The basic structure is modeled after the beginners guide linked in my signature.  I've changed out alot of mods since then but kept a similar load order.  I don't currently use LOOT and have not had a single CTD yet on this run through (fingers crossed, I still save the game all the time lol) But that's not to say there's something wrong with using LOOT.  If you are experimenting with your own mod list it's a good tool to use apart from the adult mods which you should follow the up to date adult guide for which is also in my signature:

 

Game / stability Updates

...

Texture Packs

...

Body/Hair/eyes/Overlays etc

...

Quest Mods including:

3DNPC_FO4.esp

3DNPC_FO4_DLC.esp

3DNPC_FO4Settler.esp

AtomicRadio.esp

3DNPCFO4FaceGens.esp (esl flagged with eslify)

...

Everything Else

...

3DNPC_FO4[PATCH Pre-Vis].esp (This one is already an esl flagged esp file)

 

I'm going to try and run up to easy city downs before I go to sleep here, and see if the bowling ally is ok now.  I haven't been there yet on this run but in my previous game the building's edifice was flashing and disappearing something fierce, and I know that there's a 3dnpc quest in there.

 

Edit:  Just checked out the bowling ally next to easy city downs, and it's fixed.  So far everything looks better.  I'll have to do some more checking tomorrow, but I was having little flashes on the floors of some places, and some walls previously.  Wonder if that was all the same issue.

 

** UPDATE: Follow the instructions in this post for precombines patches instead. **

Edited November 20, 2021 by Marg597
Bowling for textures, added a bunch of general load order info

[Tinxi]

4 hours ago, Marg597 said:

Here is what I ended up with after looking at all of the patches you linked.  Edit I should also add this info.  I load all my body and game fixes first and then I load my quest mods after that.  The basic structure is modeled after the beginners guide linked in my signature.  I've changed out alot of mods since then but kept a similar load order.  I don't currently use LOOT and have not had a single CTD yet on this run through (fingers crossed, I still save the game all the time lol) But that's not to say there's something wrong with using LOOT.  If you are experimenting with your own mod list it's a good tool to use apart from the adult mods which you should follow the up to date adult guide for which is also in my signature:

 

Game / stability Updates

...

Texture Packs

...

Body/Hair/eyes/Overlays etc

...

Quest Mods including:

3DNPC_FO4.esp

3DNPC_FO4_DLC.esp

3DNPC_FO4Settler.esp

AtomicRadio.esp

3DNPCFO4FaceGens.esp (esl flagged with eslify)

...

Everything Else

...

3DNPC_FO4[PATCH Pre-Vis].esp (This one is already an esl flagged esp file)

Wow! thanks so much for the well detailed, in-depth guidance. Would it be okay to skip some mods like atomic radio or setters of Commonwealth ? Out of these two, which one would provide more roleplay options ?

 

Also, https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/54872?tab=description - Optimization Patches Collection seems to contain fixed .esps of this mod, so i replaced the original mod's 3DNPC_FO4.esp and 3DNPC_FO4_DLC.esp, with the .esp of same name included in this optimization Patches mod. Please check this too. Thanks again.

[Sgt. Marge]

4 hours ago, Tinxi said:

Wow! thanks so much for the well detailed, in-depth guidance. Would it be okay to skip some mods like atomic radio or setters of Commonwealth ? Out of these two, which one would provide more roleplay options ?

 

Also, https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/54872?tab=description - Optimization Patches Collection seems to contain fixed .esps of this mod, so i replaced the original mod's 3DNPC_FO4.esp and 3DNPC_FO4_DLC.esp, with the .esp of same name included in this optimization Patches mod. Please check this too. Thanks again.

 

Personally I wouldn't skip either of those.  The radio station is actually pretty good, and lore friendly.  Has some funny sketches, and there's a good amount of content.  It's like listening to old time radio plays.  But if you don't care about the radio station, I'm pretty sure you can just not activate that esp and it shouldn't break anything. 

 

As for the settlers esp, I like nearly all of the settlers it adds.  They all have unique dialogue lines that are voiced by decent voice talent so it adds some variety and flavor.  I'm assuming you don't have to have that one enabled either so maybe check them out and see.  If you end up not liking the settlers it might be best to start a new play-through after disabling the settler esp as it has a few cell edits in there.  One of the things it does is adds a settler to several of the early game minuteman quest settlements so you can get a head start or send them somewhere else.  They are separate from the quest so you can see them even if you aren't on it and send them somewhere.

 

As for the "Optimization Patches Collection", the description says that the TFTC patch just moves the bowling ally to a different spot nearby because of clipping.  But if you use the precombines patch like I did last night, that fixed the clipping for me, so I will pass on that patches collection.  I don't think it'll hurt anything to use the patch, but if you notice any issues from the bowling ally being moved by it you could go back to the original esp and just rely on the precombines patch.  The bowling ally issue never caused any crashes for me as far as I know, it just looked bad and you could still go inside it.  Hopefully what I just typed out made sense, I'm still on my first cup of coffee

 

Cheers

[Tinxi]

14 hours ago, Marg597 said:

 

Personally I wouldn't skip either of those.  The radio station is actually pretty good, and lore friendly.  Has some funny sketches, and there's a good amount of content.  It's like listening to old time radio plays.  But if you don't care about the radio station, I'm pretty sure you can just not activate that esp and it shouldn't break anything. 

 

As for the settlers esp, I like nearly all of the settlers it adds.  They all have unique dialogue lines that are voiced by decent voice talent so it adds some variety and flavor.  I'm assuming you don't have to have that one enabled either so maybe check them out and see.  If you end up not liking the settlers it might be best to start a new play-through after disabling the settler esp as it has a few cell edits in there.  One of the things it does is adds a settler to several of the early game minuteman quest settlements so you can get a head start or send them somewhere else.  They are separate from the quest so you can see them even if you aren't on it and send them somewhere.

 

As for the "Optimization Patches Collection", the description says that the TFTC patch just moves the bowling ally to a different spot nearby because of clipping.  But if you use the precombines patch like I did last night, that fixed the clipping for me, so I will pass on that patches collection.  I don't think it'll hurt anything to use the patch, but if you notice any issues from the bowling ally being moved by it you could go back to the original esp and just rely on the precombines patch.  The bowling ally issue never caused any crashes for me as far as I know, it just looked bad and you could still go inside it.  Hopefully what I just typed out made sense, I'm still on my first cup of coffee

 

Cheers

Many thanks! i will test the mod and report my findings here.

 

Plz let this page remain open for further replies.

Edited October 30, 2021 by Tinxi

[Sgt. Marge]

On 10/29/2021 at 11:30 PM, Tinxi said:

Many thanks! i will test the mod and report my findings here.

 

Plz let this page remain open for further replies.

 

This post is an addendum to the previous post I made in this thread, specifically to deal with the precombines patches.  I still have the other patch installed "3DNPCFO4FaceGens.esp" and haven't really seen any issues with that one.

 

I ran into a problem the other day with one of the other structures that is changed by Tales from the Commonwealth and it turned out that one of the patches that I had detailed in the post didn't fit well with my load order at the time.  Basically the house near Croup Manor was invisible / clipping really badly, so I disabled the precombines patch and it seemed OK.  I went ahead and revisited all of those today, and I hope I've got it right now.  After making these changes I tested running to both the bowling ally and the house near Croup Manor and they looked perfect.  Here's what I ended up doing, and here's my current load order specific to precombines patches.

 

Many of these mods were just recently updated this month.

 

1. Installed Previs Repair Pack (*Do not use BostonFPSFix if you are using PreVis Repair Pack)

 

- plugin = PRP.esp (I converted this to ESL flagged ESP)

 

2. Installed Tales from the Commonwealth Visual Fixes

 

- plugin = 3DNPC_FO4-Patch.esp (I Converted this to an ESL flagged ESP, 3DNPC_FO4 is a master)

 

3. Installed Unofficial Previs patch collection - I Installed both of these patches into the same mod folder in MO2, choosing the Merge button when installing the second mod.  The important part is to load the plugins in the order I have listed in the Plugin Load Order because one is a master over the other one as noted.

 

Install "TFTC Visual Fixes" and choose the no precombine version in the FOMOD installer

 

Install "Tales from the Commonwealth" patch, which has a description currently 'Fixed the f3dnpcVault75a cell'

 

- plugin = TFTC_Precombines (This is already esl flagged esp, and has PRP, 3DNPC_FO4 as masters)

- plugin = 3DNPC_Patch_Precombines (This is already esl flagged esp, and has PRP, TFTC_Precombine, 3DNPC_FO4-Patch as masters)

 

Plugin Load Order (All of these are at the very bottom of the list, highest priority)

PRP.esp

3DNPC_FO4-Patch.esp

TFTC_Precombines

3DNPC_Patch_Precombines

 

Mod Load Order (At the very bottom of the left side in MO2):

Previs Repair Pack

Tales from the Commonwealth Visual Fixes

Unofficial Previs patch collection TFTC

 

If I run into any more issues with any of the Tales patches I have installed I'll update the post.