Octopus Overlords

Hi-res texture pack coming out next week.
58GB!

Alefroth wrote:Hi-res texture pack coming out next week.
58GB!

Here

Wow. Well, that went sideways fast. I think I was a little too much of an idealist for Fallout's world. Just finished Far Harbor. Badly.

The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. You make a 'good guy' choice, and you are given a 'roleplaying' choice of either participating in a massacre, or sitting and watching the massacre. That's not consequences, that's broken. You should at least have the option to defend the innocents.

I enjoyed that DLC more than any of the others (especially Nuka World), but the ending was utterly unsatisfying.

Just got back from a trip to Boston. Fallout 4 is somewhat geographically and architecturally inaccurate!

I only had time to walk about 1/4 of the Freedom Trail, but I managed to pass by Faneuil Hall and Goodneighbor, and Boston Common of course. Also got a chance to visit Diamond City.

Boston's a really nice town. It was a pleasant surprise to visit a big city that isn't encrusted in filth (looking at you NYC)!

killbot737 wrote:Just got back from a trip to Boston. Fallout 4 is somewhat geographically and architecturally inaccurate!

I only had time to walk about 1/4 of the Freedom Trail, but I managed to pass by Faneuil Hall and Goodneighbor, and Boston Common of course. Also got a chance to visit Diamond City.

Boston's a really nice town. It was a pleasant surprise to visit a big city that isn't encrusted in filth (looking at you NYC)!

In the game, I actually had to go to Diamond City to figure out that it's the ballfield. For some reason I thought it was just central Boston. Duh!

It was a regular playtime in F4 for me, and then I found a special combat shotgun with... explosive rounds!
F*** me that was awesome! Even though my fps drops every time all those fractions explode
That gun is super effective and it maims the biggest enemies very effectively.

The free weekend and $20 price tag finally sucked me in. As someone said a year and a half ago it's just like FO3. Luckily I loved FO3.

I have nothing new to add since I'm just at Lexington but thank you to everyone who mentioned mods in this thread. It's odd, but very nice, to hold off on a Bethesda game long enough to start with a stable and finalized set of mods.

So Fallout 4 VR is coming.

The number of VR titles is quickly ramping up my desire.

No, I am not playing it a third time!

Sh#$.... I may have to break down and get VR....

Blackhawk wrote:The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. You make a 'good guy' choice, and you are given a 'roleplaying' choice of either participating in a massacre, or sitting and watching the massacre. That's not consequences, that's broken. You should at least have the option to defend the innocents.

What stopped you from doing that?

Grifman wrote:

Blackhawk wrote:The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. You make a 'good guy' choice, and you are given a 'roleplaying' choice of either participating in a massacre, or sitting and watching the massacre. That's not consequences, that's broken. You should at least have the option to defend the innocents.

What stopped you from doing that?

It's been a little while, but what stopped me from doing that was that...

Grifman wrote:

Spoiler:

Also if you do enough good things for the town, you can limit the killing to just DiMA. Also, what did you expect the town to do to DiMA - he's a murder and there are no prisons in the PA world.

Save me from reading 73 pages...what Fallout 4 mods do you consider indispensable? When I told my nephew I was getting ready to play he hit me with a list of 20+ must-haves out of the 100 or so mods that he has.

I haven't started the game yet so I'm a blank slate. In general, I'm not really into the crafting aspects, but approach Fallout more as adventure/exploration games. I'm interested in things that make overall playability easier or more interesting, and combat in particular. I really suck at realtime shooter-type games, so pausable combat (like FO3 and New Vegas had) would be appealing.

I don't really feel like it needs a ton of mods. I think at my peak I had a couple mods that improved textures and weather effects, unofficial patch mod, and a mod or two that added features and new items to settlement building. Settlement building is fun, but some of the mods do a better job of giving them a real purpose in the game.

If you'd like a bit more of a challenge I'd recommend starting in survival mode, but getting one of the mods that will let you save anywhere. Survival mode adds some cool features that add some survival tension to the game, but the save restrictions were a little too much for me.

If you like using VATS, make sure to spec your character out initially with high Agility and Perception. IIRC those translate directly into improved shooting with VATS.

Sepiche wrote: ↑Fri Jul 06, 2018 12:16 pm
If you'd like a bit more of a challenge I'd recommend starting in survival mode, but getting one of the mods that will let you save anywhere. Survival mode adds some cool features that add some survival tension to the game, but the save restrictions were a little too much for me.

Really read up on the chosen mod, though. Many of the mods that bypass save restrictions have serious, serious issues (corrupted saves, disappearing saves, etc.)

As to suggestions"

First, the warning: Read the description for any mod you consider and the Readme for any mod you install. 90% of all issues people have with mods are because they didn't do one or the other, and either don't install a required file, or install mods that conflict, or whatever.

My recommendation:

1. Choose a mod utility. You have two choices: Mod Organizer, or Nexus Mod Manager. MO is more robust, but has a learning curve. NMM has far less utility, but is quicker to learn. Watch a video or two.
2. Start with the unofficial patches. They are a must.
3. Go to the Fallout 4 Nexus, go to the Mod Categories page and click on 'Visuals and Graphics.' Now sort by Endorsements (not downloads.) Pick the ones that both appeal to you and that you feel your PC can handle. Now do the same for the Environment category.

Now you have a more stable game that looks pretty. That's all you really need, and 3 is optional.

Now, for more:

4. Go to the other categories, sort by endorsements, and see if there are any others that catch your eye. I personally suggest Super Mutant Redux and Raider Overhaul WIP. They add some challenge and variety without being absurd, and are very lore-friendly.

5. NOT OPTIONAL: When you're done, download and run LOOT, then watch this video.

The whole process looks a little complicated. It really isn't. You just install a mod manager, download the mods you want, and activate them. Run one program and click one button, then run another and do a three-minute process as described by that video.

Thanks, I'll do all of that. I very likely still have the Nexus manager installed from FO3.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Fri Jul 06, 2018 12:36 pm
2. Start with the unofficial patches. They are a must.

The Unofficial Patch requires all six DLC to run. Are there other unofficial patches, or just The Unofficial Patch? When I google "Fallout 4 patches" I get a bewildering list. Reddit says there's an old, unsupported version for vanilla that's missing a lot of recent updates...and advises me to buy the Season Pass ($50!). The Unofficial Patch available through both Nexus and the in-game Mods dialog is the one that won't load due to DLC. If I don't have this patch, am I going to get crashes and lockups?

I finally did get the Nexus manager installed and working after some grief (what an awful website), and the game does just barely run on my laptop in the lowest resolution.

Maybe I should wait until I get my new desktop machine, but I've done so much installing already that I'd kind of like to give it a whirl. Plus I have a block of quality gaming time coming up next week.

It is likely you would have crashes. The patch would refer to things that don't exist in your game, and the code would go *kaboom!*

You'll find that a significant number of mods are going to assume you have the DLC.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:00 pm If I don't have this patch, am I going to get crashes and lockups?

I'm currently playing with no mods or unofficial patches, and I've had exactly one CTD in something like 100 hours of playtime over the last few weeks.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:14 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 7:00 pm If I don't have this patch, am I going to get crashes and lockups?

I'm currently playing with no mods or unofficial patches, and I've had exactly one CTD in something like 100 hours of playtime over the last few weeks.

Good to know, thanks. As long as it's not a repeatable (unavoidable) crash, that's fine. FO3 crashed on me left and right, so I expect 4 to stumble and fall from time to time, especially since my computer just clears the minimum specs.

FWIW, the unofficial patches are more about bugs than crashes (although they often do address known crash bugs.) Quests that never start, triggers that don't get triggered, pathhfinding that doesn't work right, that sort of thing.

I think I'm going to try to track down the vanilla version of the unofficial patch and start a game with no mods. If/when I get my new desktop machine and the season pass bundle goes on sale, I'll start over/play again with the official unofficial patch and a smattering of mods. I'd pay $25 for the DLC bundle, but $50 is crazy talk.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 8:27 pm

Good gosh, that's a mod? It looks like what Fallout Las Vegas was to Fallout 3. There must be a catch somewhere...

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 31, 2018 10:19 pm Good gosh, that's a mod? It looks like what Fallout Las Vegas was to Fallout 3. There must be a catch somewhere...

There's been some massive Elder Scroll mods so it's nice to see Fallout get some love. The mod is suppose to be DLC sized not a full length game. There's also Fallout Cascadia in the works:

[yt][/yt]

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Jul 08, 2018 2:26 am I think I'm going to try to track down the vanilla version of the unofficial patch and start a game with no mods. If/when I get my new desktop machine and the season pass bundle goes on sale, I'll start over/play again with the official unofficial patch and a smattering of mods. I'd pay $25 for the DLC bundle, but $50 is crazy talk.

I never could find the vanilla unofficial patch. There was rumbling about subsequent official patches partially breaking it, so it was a risky proposition anyway. I decided to hold off on FO4 until the season pass went on sale.

Well, it's on sale for $25 through 8/13, so it looks like I'm finally about ready to play me some Fallout.

If you want to cut corners, I'd say the only DLC that I wouldn't wanted to have missed was Nukaworld. All the others were just okay storylines or just extra base building content.

The unofficial patch requires that all six DLCs be installed, and a little reading convinced me not to start playing without that patch.

I saw the base game somewhere for about $5 recently. Cant recall where.

NM its $10 through Fanatical. Loads from Steam though.

I have put a lot of time and effort into just installing this game.

0. Buy PC capable of running Fallout 4.
1. Install game. Find out that The Unofficial Patch is strongly recommended.
2. Try to install patch. Find out that all DLC is required.
3. I've been waiting 4 years to play this game. Buy and install "Season Pass" bundle.
4. Install Nexus Mod Manager.
5. Puzzle over Nexus Mod Manager.
6. Install Unofficial Patch.
7. Research recommended mods, download and install. (I ended up with 10, I think).
8. Edit .ini file to support one of the mods. Hope that the altered file is supposed to be renamed Fallout4Custom.ini.

After all of that I am finally ready to spend some quality time in the Wasteland (or I will be in 54 minutes, when the last mod finishes downloading). Probably a LOT of quality time. I want at least 200 hours of gameplay to make up for the hassle of getting it ready. Pray that it launches when I double-click that icon tomorrow night.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sun Sep 23, 2018 1:17 am I have put a lot of time and effort into just installing this game.

0. Buy PC capable of running Fallout 4.
1. Install game. Find out that The Unofficial Patch is strongly recommended.
2. Try to install patch. Find out that all DLC is required.
3. I've been waiting 4 years to play this game. Buy and install "Season Pass" bundle.
4. Install Nexus Mod Manager.
5. Puzzle over Nexus Mod Manager.
6. Install Unofficial Patch.
7. Research recommended mods, download and install. (I ended up with 10, I think).
8. Edit .ini file to support one of the mods. Hope that the altered file is supposed to be renamed Fallout4Custom.ini.

After all of that I am finally ready to spend some quality time in the Wasteland (or I will be in 54 minutes, when the last mod finishes downloading). Probably a LOT of quality time. I want at least 200 hours of gameplay to make up for the hassle of getting it ready. Pray that it launches when I double-click that icon tomorrow night.

The only steps that you need to do:

0. Buy PC capable of running Fallout 4.
1. Install game.
2. IBuy and install "Season Pass" bundle.
3. Launch the game and then Install Unofficial Patch Mod from inside the game.

Victoria Raverna wrote: ↑Sun Sep 23, 2018 1:43 am
The only steps that you need to do:

0. Buy PC capable of running Fallout 4.
1. Install game.
2. IBuy and install "Season Pass" bundle.
3. Launch the game and then Install Unofficial Patch Mod from inside the game.

Right, that's all you need to do. Then you get to what you want to do, which can be between 0 and several hundred mods.

Why does the unofficial patch do such that it is deemed required? I never installed anything beyond the game and DLC. A first for a Bethesda game for me. But I didn’t detect any problems that would render that insufficient, or worth the time and energy to get back into the mod scene. Are there fatal flaws that I’m not aware of?

From what I read, the patch fixes quests that don't trigger, companions that never appear, rewards that aren't awarded, and stuff like that. After waiting this long to play the game, I hope to optimize the experience. That's why I installed a gig and a half of mods, too.

I'd say the same goes for every Fallout and Elder Scrolls game since at least Morrowind. Bethesda patches major crash issues and such, but doesn't generally bother with glitch issues, quest issues, or quality-of-life issues that only affect PC users. Most of their games are amazing, but buggy. And the thing is that you won't always notice the bugs. If it is a quest that won't complete you'll see it, but you won't know if an NPC never offered a quest to begin with, or a companion never spawned, or a significant item was missing from loot, or a door to an optional area didn't show up, or the effects of a powerful piece of gear never actually worked like they were supposed to, perhaps only giving a fraction of the bonus.

Where Bethesda stops, that's where the unofficial patch takes over.

Understood. I’m not anti-mod per se, but I really dialed back after Oblivion and found that I enjoyed the games every bit as much as I enjoyed my Steaming POOP version of Oblivion, without spending all my time working out mod compatibility issues. To each his own though.

RunningMn9 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:17 pm Understood. I’m not anti-mod per se, but I really dialed back after Oblivion and found that I enjoyed the games every bit as much as I enjoyed my Steaming POOP version of Oblivion, without spending all my time working out mod compatibility issues. To each his own though.

I'm with you there. I try and limit my modding to a subplot of game installation instead of an experience unto itself. My last setup of Skyrim was the most extensively I've modded a game, and I largely used someone else's list and just cropped some things off I didn't want.

Generally, though, I have about as much fun with a vanilla game than I do a modded one. The Fallout & Elder Scrolls titles, though, seem to always warrant some genuinely needed tweaking - like the UI or broken quests - and once you've got the framework built, why not add this and that.

Most of the people who heavily mod ES/FO ( ) do so because they enjoy the setup process as much as they enjoy the game. To me, every mod is a tweak. I sit down for a game of, say, Skyrim and imagine exactly what kind of fantasy game I want to play. Then I pick mods that enhance those qualities and eliminate the other ones. To me, that planning and research is a lot of fun. It's like building with LEGOs. For someone who didn't enjoy that, though, it would be a nightmare. For them I'd suggest (for any of those games) the Unofficial Patch, a HUD replacer and a UI replacer (the interface is still optimized for consoles and controllers), and something to adjust the leveling, which is always terrible in Bethesda games unless you play straight down the main quest and avoid exploration.

Most of the mods I chose are environmental in nature, with a few interface tweaks -- nothing that really affects gameplay. I installed 11, and Nexus shows them all installed, but the in-game list only displays 6 of them. IDK if I'm going to take the time to research and fiddle with the others...although I was looking forward to the seasons one. Its instructions say "Choose a season from the downloads page. Choose only ONE season at a time, you can manually switch seasons via your mod manager at any time. It is quick and easy for you to do this!" WHAT downloads page?