Modding Fallout 4

[Sarafan]

I decided to make a little comeback to Fallout 4. I finished the game for the second time last year, so I made a decision to heavily mod it. The final effect is quite next-gen, but I had trouble to find texture packs in such a good resolution as in the Skyrim case. This was mitigated by Apex ENB which implements a sharpening filter. Anyway, this time I decided to try Vortex Mod Manager instead of Mod Organizer 2. Now I somewhat understand why some people prefer it over MO2. It has a big disadvantage though. You can't easily pick mod load order if the app doesn't recognize them as conflicting.

Why is this a problem though? Let's take texture packs for example. On Nexus Mods you can find two types of these. Complete overhaul textures packed in the same format as original files and smaller packs which change only particular textures in the original texture packs. When I activate complete overhaul texture packs everything is obvious. The new textures replace the original ones. But what if I want to use complete overhaul packs and smaller ones simultaneously? In MO2 I can set to load the complete overhaul before the smaller ones. In Vortex I can't, at least not without a very time consuming method. So which textures are finally applied to the game? Vortex doesn't show any conflicts, but if you unpack the complete overhaul texture files, you'll find the same files inside that the smaller texture packs have. Is Vortex smart enough to recognize both and apply them in a proper order? I do hope so. I don't plan on modding the thing from scratch again in MO2.

Anyway, Fallout 4 is a quite stable game. This means that any stability patches are unnecessary. Basically, the only thing that the game needs from a technical point of view is uncapping the FPS and fixing broken physics (it's is a direct effect of uncapping the framerate). It also opens the possibility to accelerate map load times, but I decided to stick with default settings for now. Also keep in mind that I'm playing in survival mode (very hard mode, you can save only when interacting with beds). I also decided to unlock fast travel and install mods that change the character leveling system to a system that matches the one from previous Fallouts. Here's my list of mods:

Rendering and executable mods:
Fallout 4 Script Extender - necessary prerequisite for a lot of mods.
APEX ENB - it requires original Fallout 4 ENB files. I also had to increase the brightness of the ENB in the enbseries.ini to 1.0. The interiors are still dark though, so you might want to increase it even further. Also I decided to disable the blurring in the "enbeffectpostpass.fx" file that's in the "enbseries" folder. Without it the game looks awful when you look on the distant terrain.

Lighting and weather mods:
NAC X - basically a must have for APEX ENB.
Enhanced Lights and FX
Radiant Clouds and Fogs
Wateland Illumination

Texture packs:
Fallout 4 HD Overhaul
Flaconoil's Complete Retexture Project (Fomod 4K)
Church Walls 4K Retexture
4K Posters Retexture by Wolf7808
Gravel Redone 4K
Langleys HD Textures Workshop
Roads Redone 4K
NMC Texture Bundle (very high)
SavrenX HD Vanilla Landscape
Rubblerock Redone 4K
Vaultsuits UHD
Enhanced Blood Textures
Better Leaf Piles

Character progression system:
LevelUpMenuEx
Be Exceptional - Skills and Perk Overhaul

Other mods:
Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch
HUDFramework
More Grass (medium)
Achievements Unlocker
Survival Mode Fast Travel Enabled
Vehicle Overhaul
FAR - Faraway Area Reform
WAVE - Wave Animation Vanilla Enhanced

That's it for now, but I'm planning to install even more mods. As for the final effect... Behold!

I'll provide more screenshots later. Maybe I'll even record a video?

 

[Pifanjr]

Are you planning on getting the Sim Settlements 2 mod? I would like your opinion on it if you do.

 

[Sarafan]

Are you planning on getting the Sim Settlements 2 mod? I would like your opinion on it if you do.

I was considering it, but I'm not sure whether it's compatible with Be Exceptional. If I decide to install it, I'll share my opinion.

 

[Pifanjr]

Some other mods I'm using I can recommend:

Extended Dialogue Interface: replaces the normal dialogue menu with one based off of the one in Fallout 3, so it includes the full text of what you're going to say. It includes icons that show whether a dialogue option will exit the conversation, open a trader's menu or just give extra information without moving the conversation along.
Faster Terminal Displays: speeds up how fast text appears on terminals
Improved Map with Visible Roads: improves the map on the Pip-Boy

 

[Sarafan]

Some other mods I'm using I can recommend:

Extended Dialogue Interface: replaces the normal dialogue menu with one based off of the one in Fallout 3, so it includes the full text of what you're going to say. It includes icons that show whether a dialogue option will exit the conversation, open a trader's menu or just give extra information without moving the conversation along.
Faster Terminal Displays: speeds up how fast text appears on terminals
Improved Map with Visible Roads: improves the map on the Pip-Boy

I like the concept of the Extended Dialogue Interface. I might consider installing it. One of the mods that I'm using already increased the speed of text in terminals. Not sure which one. It may be the unofficial patch or it's some leftover of the Horizon v1.9 which I tried and decided to remove. It focuses heavily on the survival aspect of the game, but I found that I'm satisfied with the standard Survival mode.

Meanwhile I installed the The Fens Sheriff's Department - Bleachers 2 mod. It appears that both Bleachers 2 and Be Exceptional are compatible with Sim Settlements 2, so might try this as well. I heard however that SS2 is quite buggy and it's the main thing that discourages me from trying it. Once I install SS2 there will be probably no turning back without starting the game once again. Besides that, Survival mode has a strictly limited number of save slots and this limits the space for experimentation.

I also decided to disable Luma Sharpening in the "enbeffectpostpass.fx.ini". I get some screen flickering on objects while moving the camera when it's enabled. I tried to figure out which setting is responsible for this and it looks like I've finally found it. It appears that the Luma Sharpening filter disables itself when I move the camera and immediately appears again when I'm standing still and this is the reason of flickering. Anyway, it's solved now. I left the Depth Sharpening on, so everything still looks quite sharp.

 

[Brian Boru]

there will be probably no turning back without starting the game once again

Whenever you face such a possibility, image your system disk—and maybe game disk, if different. A simple Restore Image 30-60 minute operation will then get you back to the before situation. Guide in my sig

 

[Sarafan]

Whenever you face such a possibility, image your system disk—and maybe game disk, if different. A simple Restore Image 30-60 minute operation will then get you back to the before situation. Guide in my sig

That's a valuable advice, but it might be a little overkill. Backing up game and mod folders, along with some saves, should be enough. The problem is that Sim Settlements 2 needs some time to actually shine and it might be painful to revert to an old save. But it's an option of course.