I downloaded the medkit backpack and a couple other mods and when I got the option to either save or open the file I chose save, the problem is it was set to open with internet explorer. When i tried to open the file internet explorer popped up and nothing happened.

Long story short what do i save the nexus files to to get the downloads to works?
And where do i put the files of the mods I've downloaded once i get them to work?

You need 7zip or winrar to open the file, more than likely. Also, try just clicking "Open." Once you get the file opened then move the contents to (it'll probably be) "C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3\Data." Or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3\Data" if you're on Vista.

It would be a very good idea for you to read this thread:

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/972878-fallout-3-mods-faq/

Thanks to both of you)

There's one other problem.
I'm using the fallout 3 mod manager because it's making most of the installs easy.
Some of the downloads I'm installing tend to swap colors. One moment they'll be all black and the next they'll be white. Others give me a big red diamond with an exclamation point.
Is there anyway to fix this?

That means there are missing meshes. You can't always use an archive directly in order to make an FOMOD, the author may not have laid out the folder structure properly. You'll need to take a look inside and see whether it's set up to go directly to a FOMOD version. Otherwise you might need to rearrange a few things or install it manually.

"archive invalidation" might solve both of those issues. I believe FOMM has a button for it or something. i just used the mod archive invalidation invalidated.

Archive invalidation will do nothing for meshes, it's only used with texture replacers. And I doubt it would solve his colour swapping either. Any texture replacers that he added simply wouldn't show up in the game, they wouldn't just swap between black and white. I haven't a clue what might be causing that one but it's possible it's also an install problem.

Correction: It won't do anything for added content, just for replacement content. Mods that change the mesh of a gun, while keeping the original texture, will require a properly-configured Archive Invalidation scheme.

But that's not the situation here; this is an issue of new resources (a mesh) that's not present.

Actuallly some ppl had shifting texture color problems with my mods wout archiveinvalidation invalidated. I always make sure not to use the same names as any original files, so added content may need it too in my experience.

Messed up textures means either:
You didn't set the "binvalidatearchive" or whatever thing in Fallout.ini to 1,
You didn't unpack it correctly, or
The author didn't put everything together correctly.

Missing meshes means you didn't unpack correctly or you didn't download the original file that will contain base meshes(only sometimes is this the issue). If the issue is the missing meshes then it is most likely the downloader's fault. Just open up the mod folder and see if the meshes are even there. It's much easier to do that if you have NifSkope, but that's just from personal experience.

Well i tried the FOSE idea (along with the wasteland wanderer dl) and i get a little window that keeps popping up saying it isn't installed or i have an old version installed. I know i installed it and i got the dl from the FOSE site.
What would be the problem?

I'm sorry for all the question. I'm new to this game moding stuff.

Did you install FOSE correctly? No, this is not a trick question - FOSE needs to be extracted to the Fallout 3 folder, and not the Fallout 3/Data folder. Please review the fose_readme.txt in the archive you downloaded.

Last time i had similar problem:
Installed my FO3 then 1.7 patch then fose and fomm and both kept crashing on startup with messages like "program is old, cant recognize FO version" and like. Tried reinstalling same thing happened, first i suspected my Win 7 and//or the 1.7 patch was the problem since i had XP last time FO was installed.
My solution was to grab my External HDD, go over to a friends house grab his whole intalled FO3 directory, go back home and overwrite mine with it, and it worked.

btw i have the Polish Fallout 3 Disk (that was sold here as "English version" pff), my friend gone trough the trouble to get the real english version, it was strange because last time i could install both FOSE and FOMM with my disk, (on WinXP/1.5 patch)

Hope it helps.

DaiShi

I'll check it again.)

I'll try to get ahold of a friend with the game. Hopefully some one has everything i need.

No don't do that, learn how to do it your self. You don't want to have to rely on someone to do your modding for you. What if you need to reinstall the game for whatever reason and your friend is no longer around? You're obviously doing something wrong in the installation and you just need to figure out what it is. Try posting the error message you're getting so everyone knows exactly what it says, because frankly you're being very vague about what the problem actually is.