Fallout 4 mod help PLEASE!!

[codsworth]

Hi all! Fallout 4 is my favorite game of all time. That being said, I haven't played for almost 2 years as my last playthrough became unplayable with crashes etc. After 300 literal days of game play! I have now acquired a Xbox series X, and a new TV to support the HDMI 2.1. 

Here's what I'm after please...I have NO clue on how to use mods. I have read that some mods don't work with others, that some mods also don't work with creation club content and that the load order of mods must be a certain way.

I'm looking to add some mods to improve the game overall, improve fps, minimize crashing, plus some building improvements and who knows what else.

 

Last playthrough I always had issues in/near Boston and at certain settlements. I'm a Horder and HEAVY builder at times. Sometimes I'll do nothing but work on settlements for days in a row. I did at the time exploit the build limit glitch. 

 

TLDR.. I'm looking for a experienced player/modder to help walk me through using mods on Xbox series X so I can enjoy my beloved game again please, THANKS in advance!!

[Scythe Bearer]

Lets start with my set of Simple rules for adding mods to your game.

1. Read the description for every mod you are considering adding to your game. All of it. Almost all of the issues people have with mods is a result of their not reading and following the directions in the description.  Some mods need other mods (prerequisite mods) to work. If you don't read the description, you will miss this requirement and the mod will have unpredictable results.  Some mods require actions prior to use to work. Some mods require a specific position in your load order to work.

If you do not read the description and follow all the directions, any subsequent problems with a mod, it is your own fault.

2. Get a good Mod Manager. If your are on Xbox or PS, you are kind of stuck with Bethesda's offering. On PC, there are a host of offerings. Just ask someone who's answer you trust and ask them.
- Given that you are on a Xbox, you are stuck with Bethesda's Offering.  It is rudimentary to say the least, and is not helpful. 

3. Learn the difference between a MOD LIST and a LOAD ORDER. Any list of mods (MOD LIST) needs to be ordered so that the mods load in the optimum sequence (LOAD ORDER). When two or more mods hit the same form (MOD CONFLICT), the last mod loaded is the winner. If your Load Order is haphazard, so are your results when attempting to play the game. There are several sites and much documentation on Load Order, as well as some pretty useful tools. Read, learn, enjoy the game.

4. Be prepared to start a new game. When you install a mod, you MUST be prepared to start a new game. MODS will impact your SAVE, and installing a new mod into an existing save can prove disastrous. Better to just bite the proverbial bullet and start a new game.

5. Install mods in a step-wise fashion. Installing dozens (or hundreds) of mods and expecting things to "just work" is a fools dream. Install one or two, test, install a few more, test, rinse, repeat.  If a newly added mod causes issues, adjust its position in your load order,  If it continues to cause issues, get rid of it and move on. 

6. NEVER remove a mod in the middle of a play-through. If you do, and you continue to play, you're screwed. Your save is now indistinguishable from burned toast. Oh you may survive for a few days, weeks or even longer, but eventually, your game will plant itself on it's nose and refuse to rise. You did that.

I will add, that if you are having performance issues in Downtown Boston, you will want to back away from the "beautification" mods.  Most, if not all, of those type mods will have an impact on performance. 

As for what mods, I will make no recommendations, because that can start a war.  Just start with the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch (UFO4P).  Then add that ONE mod you simply MUST have.  Test.  Install another, test, and another, test, and another, test ...  If you have a problem it will generally be because of a newly added mod, so adjust the NEW mods position in the load order until things work, or you finally reach the conclusion that the mod won't work in your load list and you scrap it.  Keep at this until you have a WORKABLE set of mods.  Remember the KISS principle and don't overload your system with a lot of mods. 

If you were expecting a TLDR, you are already in trouble.  There is no short cut to a working load order, as every players list is different.  Even if you follow a guide, you will find things you want to chuck aside and things you want to stick in.  At that point, start over with Rule 1 above. 

 

[codsworth]

Thank you for the reply! A few more questions if you don't mind. I have read mixed reviews that creation club content and mods can effect each other, any truth to that? I have previously bought probably 3/4s of all CCC. 

 

For testing mods, I will be starting a new game, and understand will take a little time, but roughly how long do I play to see if the current mods will work? 

Boston... Beautification mods like better weather etc? 

Also I'll ask this... As I'm switching from a Xbox one  and normal HD TV to a Series X and high end TV capable of 120 fps, should I still be concerned with Boston and over building? (I think I remember seeing something about a unlimited build mod with added build stuff and even expanded build area? That would be awesome!) Thanks again!

[Scythe Bearer]

One at a time. 

Yes, some mods are incompatible with CC content.  It cannot be helped, as some mods attempt to do the same thing as the CC content.  My recommendation is that you consider any CC content you are using to be part of the base game, and treat it with the same love and respect you give the game and the DLC. 

Downtown Boston and beautification mods are two things which impact each other.  Weather is only one component of beautification.  Things which also apply are green/leafy trees, more trees, greener grass, more grass, better/repaired roads, et al ... all qualify under the label "beautification".  Basically, the eye candy mods which make the Commonwealth look good qualify as "beautification" and these can adversely affect the performance in Downtown Boston.   

You should always be afraid of overbuilding.  I play on a very robust PC, and the only building site I break the building cap on is Vault 88, and I do it there because it is a separate interior space, divorced from the world space.  The mods for "overbuilding" can permit huge settlements, and then proceed to turn the game into a nightmare with poor frame rates, and even an unresponsive game.  I cannot recommend such, in good conscience.  

Now, if you want to go that way in spite of the potential to make the game unplayable, then ONLY do that.  Do not couple the expanded settlement building with weapons and armor and power armor and expanded vendor inventories and beautification and new enemies and new creatures and other such game play and combat mods and focus ONLY on the settlement stuff.  The more you load the engine, the less power the game will have to play with, as there are only so may processor cycles available.   

As for how long it takes to test, that is always a dilemma.  To adequately test, you should play long enough to ensure that you have exercised the mod in question.  Fore some mods that's easy, while others may take longer.  Some of us have built our load order up over years of testing and tweaking.  The answer to "how long" is always problematic, because sometimes one can get weeks or months into a play through, only to discover  that a mod has taken a sledge to your save and you're doomed. 

Finally, the the new TV is nice, but it is not the only limiting factor.  As I mention above, your Video card and the processor inside the Xbox are also limiting factors.  If the graphic processor gets overloaded, it shifts its processing off onto the central processor.  If the central processor is busy processing video, it has fewer cycles for the rest of the game and other things, like combat, may suffer frame rate drops.  It is always a tradeoff between what the hardware can handle at one end or the other.  Just remember that a high end screen cannot compensate for an overloaded GPU. 

 

[codsworth]

I'm currently on Xbox looking at the available mods, I see some that have (XB1) on the description, some don't, and some say in the mod description there not compatible. Do only the mods with (XB1) work for me or will all work unless specifically saying they don't? Thanks!

[Scythe Bearer]

If you are on your Xbox, looking at mods via the game interface, every mod listed will work on your Xbox (my grandson told me so).  If you are looking at mods on Bethnet via a browser, then selecting Xbox as your platform will show only mods for Xbox. 

The (XB1) is there as a convenient shorthand to differentiate XB1 (Xbox One) from PS4 (Playstation 4) from PC (Personal Computer), the original platforms which supported mods for Skyrim and Fallout 4.  Given the growth in consoles, the 1 in XB1 and the 4 in PS4 are redundant, as multiple variants of those consoles now support mods, so XB and PS would suffice. 

[codsworth]

Awesome thanks! Iv spent several hours picking and researching the exact mods I'd like to try. They are as follows.

- chem crafting expanded/ merchants have 10k caps/  homemaker/ Z's super foods/ settlement limits slashed/ holotape of quest fixing (God forbid it's ever needed)/ cloud storage/ shipments fix/ Boston less enemies (chest Boston as a backup)/ builder mode-full performance/ 60 fps ultra 90 FOV (it seems majority find this better than the official fps boost?)/ Better manufacturing/ Boston drinks/ dead wasteland/ cargo buddy/ snappy house kit/ settlement supplies expanded/ everyone's best friend/ UFO4P/ cheat terminal/ Boston fps fix (should I use the automation, far harbor & Nuka world as well?) In all just under 30 mods, I'm doomed for failure lol. From what I can tell, UFO4P at the top, and a few that specifically say at the bottom order wise but I can't find anything that leads me to think any interfere with each other. Have you ever had problems with any of these? Thank you again for the patience and info!!

[Scythe Bearer]

The only mod in that list I have ever used is UFO4P.  So I will leave it to others to guide you further. 

I will note that you might want to leave off the "60 fps ultra 90 fov" until you see how the game actually performs, as it may not be necessary. 

Enjoy.

[chotabhai807]

only request i have is to stop archiving older threads the answers are WRONG on MANY of these posts that you closed as answered