This is a minor peeve that arose after some criticism was mentioned regarding a mod (not mine) that added greenery to FO4. The complaint was that the greenery destroyed the "immersion" into the game. I say the game as-is destroys the immersion...

FO4 supposedly takes place over 200 years after a global thermonuclear war, yet there's nothing that grows except for a few plants (and, of course, the plants you farm. THOSE grow just fine!) Trees that were denvded over 200 years ago still stand. Leaves that fell off of those trees over 200 years ago are still sitting in piles all over the Commonwealth. Ditto for the dead grass clumps and bushes. Those items would have crumbled due to decomposition within 10 years, max. Why hasn't vegetation reclaimed the Commonwealth? If someone wants to blame the nuclear blasts, I refer them to the Bikini Atoll - where the largest thermonuclear surface test ever conducted by the U.S. was detonated on March 1, 1954 - "Castle Bravo". The detonation occurred on an artificial island in the Northwest corner of the atoll. There's a natural island just a hair over a mile to the East of where the artificial island used to be. Google Earth shows this natural island completely covered in green vegetation only 50 years after it was laid bare by the Castle Bravo test. (Photo taken March 15, 2004) If that's what can happen after only 50 years, why isn't the Commonwealth ALSO that way?

Bloatflies and Stingwings are eating most of the vegetation

This is only my opinion but I always found ridiculous mods that added all that fake greenery and pastel colors in Skyrim. I suspect it must be similar for Fallout.

It's a game! Would it be fun if everything was realistic?

Fritz

It would be for SOME people. There are mods to remove your ability to act as a "bullet sponge", mods to provide photo-realistic "pre-war" weapons, and mods to help retain "immersion" by adding the ability to build supports for those platforms you have floating in the air. For some people, FO4 should be a reasonably realistic representation of what humanity would face 200+ years after a global thermonuclear war.

In some Cases. Realistic means for me a more intense Game. You can buy on every Corner Jump'n Run Games, where you are God and nothing can hurt you. After some Time i get bored as hell. We already try and see everywhere Games with Realistic Parts. Even Skyrim is in some Ways realistic while its a Fantasy Game. Its a deadly rough World where you can die every Second, like in Fallout. How would our World looks like after a Nuclear War, except these Giant mutated Creatures but still a rough World like Mad Max. Some kind of how Fallout 4 is or? Maybe not exactly the same but the Main Pattern is Realism. All Houses, Vehicles, Weapon are Part of our Dimension (Realism). How many People would still play this Game with coloured Boxes with Gold Coins like in Super Mario? Or Pink flying Unicorns? We all want Realism but the most People also want it easy.

We are actually seeing a pattern here that is leading to a much less barren wasteland.

The first two Fallouts were completely bare.

They happened in the Mojave Desert.

Fallout 3 was still bare and ruined as it happened around the worst attack areas. The US capital got irradiated much harder than most places.

New Vegas saw less actual Nuclear devastation, but it was still in a Desert area where the artificial infrastructure built up to keep Vegas running was slowly failing.

Fallout 4 happens in an area that saw very little in the way of actual Nuclear Attacks. Maybe only the one single bomb that created the Glowing Sea. It is a much more lively place than any of the previous games in terms of actual plant and animal life. Most of the problems seem to be the result of a recent invasion by the Gunners destroying the social structure of the Commonwealth combined with the Institute sabotaging all industries and large scale settlements from within.

Perhaps a DLC or Fallout 5 will take us to someplace that largely escaped the worst of the devastation, with no nearby Nukes or hostile Factions to hold them down.

I could see Northern Canada as an absolute PARADISE compared to most of the world, with the overwhelming heating and desertification actually warming it into a temperate or even sub-tropical rain-forest.

There's at least two more places on the map where there's a massive crater filled with rads Both well north and to the east of the glowing sea.

As for the glowing sea, I think that may have been multiple strikes. There is a facility there (Without spoiling) that would have been a prime target for multiple strikes. The whole landscape looks like multiple nukes hit that area.

No, it was one big bomb, the one that goes off at the start of the game. The crater is visible on the map.

From what I've seen, much of the radioactivity seems to be the result of the massive pollution that occurred in Massachusetts up to the 1980's. In our real world it is no where near as bad as it once was, but in the Fallout Universe this pollution not only never stopped, but actually got worse. Most of the worst Radioactivity seems to be on the grounds of the worst of the dumping sites, areas full of the Radiation Barrels but without large craters. I've seen a few smaller craters that could be from small weapons (Fatmen, maybe?) or from explosions of dumped materials or even from explosions of very large atomic vehicles.

Im fairly positive Deven was right.

It might not be as severe as what happened in Washington, and at least one must have been a low payload since the buildings around it are intact, but there where definately two nukes.

As for the OP discussion:

I think a lot of people look at the bomb test sites, Cherbobyl and both Nagasaki and Hiroshima and instantly think the green vegetation is still present and so the world would go on to become green again should a FO scenario take place. What I think most people are forgetting is the nuclear winter that took place straight after the nuclear holocaust which essentially removed seasonal changes and got rid of almost ALL vegetation. If there is no vegetation to begin with, then no vegetation can grow back.

I will admit, the number of "Radioactive Barrels" laying around the Commonwealth is pretty extreme, but I suppose you could argue that in this alternate universe where EVERYTHING became nuclear-powered you would have much more nuclear waste to deal with than in the actual universe. Still, with so many nuclear-powered devices, there would have been a specific method and location for storage/recycling besides "put it in a barrel and dump it wherever".

Agreed, unfortunately there is not that many good texture replacers for Skyrim. Most set out to make the land what it is not.

Regarding more on the subject of how FO4 disrupts immersion, raise your hand if you have entered a locked and abandoned room/vault/dungeon only to discover candles burning. Who lit them and when? The vertibird landing pads still have pad illumination 200+ years after the last time the lights were replaced. I want those immortal lights in my house!

I think that may be a "Flashback" view of what happened at a previous time.... not actually happening now..... similar to an occasion I had deep in a mine location. Perhaps I'm wrong... maybe.

Just read my opinion as a "Flashback" of my thoughts before I actually read the Thread. Enjoy.

I would point out that crazy ass rad storm that blows through...buuutttt......

No, that mine was Dunwich Borers I'm guessing? That's altogether more...sinister...regarding its flashback causes.

It is fall in the game......just saying.

http://america.aljazeera.com/content/dam/ajam/images/articles_2015/08/hiroshima_081315.jpg

http://i1.wp.com/www.zenlikeben.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/DSCF0738_DxO.jpg

Nature always finds a way, so realistic wasteland? No. But I think it's cooler that way, and adds more atmosphere.

As I said earlier, you are forgetting that the WHOLE world was hit by nukes and what followed the event was a nuclear winter. IE ash filling up the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight, radiation spreading to every corner, and therefore almost all vegetation being killed off. Hiroshima's case is not applicable to fallout, there is no way to know what would happen.

We're forgetting the actual realism here. If the amount of Nukes we had went off and somehow did NOT completely obliterate the planet itself causing fractures and other nasty planet-ending stuff, it would almost certainly have caused the "Exterminatus" effect any of you Warhammer 40K players will be familiar with. Surface Oxygen being purged, back to pre-life supporting rock status etc.

That's your realism if you'd like it

To be fair it's also canonically October and the base game doesn't have radiant seasons so the constant dead leaves and shrubbery makes sense.

It was just an example. But 200 years later, the Earth would still be green again. Seeds survive ice cold winter in the most barren places on Earth, and yet still manages to bloom from nothing but bare rock and a few slivers of sunlight every year. Nature will find a way, always does.

LOL at people complaining about the result of a MOD. That's like complaining about what other people use as positions for six. How the hell does the existence of this mod affect your game in any way? If a particular mod doesn't suit your fancy then move on and ignore it.

"oh, i'm going to give my opinion about this completely optional thing that i don't like and will never use"

It's all just drama for the sake of drama and doesn't even spur a worthwhile discussion. Stop it.

consider that after WW2 in FO lore, America uses more nuclear energy as a base than anything else. Every house and automobile is nuclear powered. So if a bomb goes off, and possibly creating a chain reaction, then the radiation levels would be much more than that tested in 1954. Thus creating a extended barren wasteland.


Plus, the ozone is prolly messed up too.