A comprehensive and narrated Step-by-Step video guide on how to set up a fully modded Fallout 3.
With this guide you should be able to avoid some common problems like CTDs, texture issues and crashes on start up. Also shows how to create a merged patch, setting up your load order etc...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ix-dOGfXs: Fallout installation, Multicore fix, FOSE, Fallout Mod Manager, mod downloads...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDWzcb01Xug: Mod downloads, mod installation via FOMM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueEh38BUP2w: Mod installation via FOMM, archive invalidation, setting up your load order
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMhUR9rpatA: Creating a Merged Patch and finalizing load order



Tools used:
http://www.7-zip.org/
http://fose.silverlock.org/
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1086
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=640
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=637

Mods demonstrated:
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2761
http://ui.darnified.net/wip/F3/dui_f3a11.zip
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3211
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3388
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8340
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6341
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4968

If this video was helpful to you and you would like to raise awareness for it, please download the small zip file in the downloads section to endorse this video on http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13111.

Nice!

This is something that has really been needed. And as usual if theres something important to be done around here Kai was on top of it!

Nice! A lot of people will find this very helpful.

Could I recommend making another version for Vista Users? I have a couple friends running vista who have had trouble getting mods to work on their systems. There's also a number of people reporting problems with GOTY Edition on Steam, and GOTYE + Steam + Vista... maybe you could cover these as well.

Just a suggestion to cater to a wider range of people experiencing issues with mods.

Great work! :foodndrink:

Thanks. As modders we tend to forget how confusing installing all this stuff can be, so I hope this will help people out. Especially since I can't seem to get people to read ReadMe's and FAQ's, so maybe videos will do the trick



This is actually on Windows 7, which has the same issues as Vista. I mention those problems and how to avoid them in the first video. (Basically just don't install Fallout 3/Steam in C:\Program Files)

Right on. I just gave em a quick click through, so I didn't catch that.
Thanks for making this. It's going to help a lot of people finally play all the great community mods.

I request this to be a sticky. Even we don't have any. This is a much watch to noobies.

WOW can I say WOW again OK WOW. Here i was thinking I would never be able to play fallout3 again.


I am just over at PC issues Forum were most people with crashes are i have made a link over to this thread for you. If you like might be an idea to have your own thread or just put up with my newbie looking thread.

Nothing about bashed patches or Gary Bash or http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1084204-bain-mod-installation-projects/.

So I wouldn't say indepth - more a guide for using FOMM/FO3edit.

Great idea Kai, well done. I'm queuing this up to watch now (background loading Bashur's latest foray into the Wasteland as I type!)

M

Great videos, Kai. Thank you for taking the time to make them. This will be linked often both here and at Nexus.

Glad you all like the videos


Thanks Mart. If you find the videos alright feel free to link them on the MMM page (since the video does especially point out the installation of MMM)


Because FOMM/FO3Edit are a requirement. Garybash is merely an alternative and is not needed at all for this kind of setup.
Fact is:
FWE, MMM and DUI all have fomod scripts for FOMOD installations. All those files, especially FOIP, are especially designed with a Merged Patch in mind. Using a Bashed Patch will not give you any better results, quite contrary, unless you know what you're doing the results of a bashed patch will actually be worse. FO3Edit merges exactly the content that needs to be merged in this setup.
I dont see the point of needlessly complicating this guide (which was made with beginners in mind), with a tool that is not needed at all in this case.

It is your guide and of course can do what you like.

The only reason that the bash approach is not more widely used is simply because it has not been embraced by the mod makers. Its use itself is not necessarily more complicated than making a merged patch and installing it is easier than ever. I'd sure like to know how using a bashed patch gives a worse result. You can actually do more creative merging with bashed patch with the use of tags and the like.

Then also there is a very powerful installer with Wrye/Gary Bash that even now comes with an install wizard for a kind of scripted install.

While I understand that you are catering this install guide to the mods you are intimately involved in (FWE/MMM/WMK/FOIP) not everyone will use those and so the guide is not for everyone and not indepth. That said I very much use Gary Bash with that exact set up and experience far far less problems that I do with FCOM and Wrye Bash.

In fact use of he bashed patch is allowing me to combine mods with that kind of set up that were a friggin headache to deal with when using FO3edit merged patch.

But again - your guide, so obviously you can do what you like and don't even need me saying that much. But with the bash programs I would just like to point out that they are still very much in development and supported and updated - unlike the merged patch features of FO3edit. Further while there is a bit of a learning curve of getting bash up and running once that is surmounted all the merge fiddling is automated. That combined with the ability to fine tune the merging with tags makes for a more controlled automation of merging.

I agree if this is to be beginners guide then yeah perhaps a bit much, so beginners =/= comprehensive.

Psymon like you mentioned I worked on several of these mods. And as a modder I know how I need to setup my Fallout3 and mods so they work exactly as they should.
And never did I need Garybash for that.

And yes there are many many more things you can do with your Fallout setup, be it using MasterUpdating, using GaryBash, identifying mod conflicts etc...
I could easily have made this video several hours long if I wanted to touch on every single aspect. But with this video I wanted to focus on the steps that players really need to do, that are absolutely vital to your setup. And I wanted this video to be comprehendable even to a person who has never installed a Fallout mod before.

So yes I do think this guide is very comprehensive, as it includes all the necessary steps. Of course you are free to disagree and you can make an own video guide that is 'more comprehensive' if you think that's necessary.

Very informative videos Kai, I wish I had something like thing when I first started modding. These should be very helpful for a lot of new modders, kudos!

Very nice videos. I wish I had had access to them when I started modding FO3! Would have saved me some time and embarrassment!

I'm just curious if you're planning further videos to highlight more advanced features, like FO3 edit trouble shooting your load order. Perhaps an intermediate level video...

Thanks and yes I plan on releasing another video that will demonstrate some more advanced troubleshooting techniques.

Looking forward to more video on FO3edit About the only thing I can do with it is making a merged patch. Anything else I do more good by clicking the red x in the top right corner

Mission accomplished there! I've never installed a FO3 mod before (my experience with mods in general is pretty limited), but your guide was very easy to follow and everything is running just as it should. More importantly, this fixed the terrible constant lock-ups I was experiencing that made the game virtually unplayable. I tried everything I could find on how to fix it, and your tutorial was the only thing that worked. THANK YOU!

For the love of god, somebody sticky this thing.

Yes, and I think that's perfect since it seems like almost every mod at Nexus tells you to use FOMM or FO3Edit. And, it seems pretty indepth since it covers those things a beginner needs to know to get a good sized list of mods running. I would say if mod makers ever to begin to embrace GaryBash that will be the time for the video you want and that you might be the perfect person to produce such a thing as you are such a strong and vocal supporter of it.


@Kai, excellent idea and great contribution to the community. Players just starting out with mods really need something like this (and even some who have been around for awhile may be really relieved to have such a resource). Thanks for taking the time to do it.

:) llama

Cheers, glad to hear it was helpful to you

Hey Kai,

I have the Steam version of FO3 GOTY. How do I install it outside of the Program Files directory on Windows 7? Steam automatically puts everything in its own Steam directory, and I don't think it can be installed anywhere else, or else Steam will have issues.

I turn UAC off anyway, so I don't know if this would be a big deal.

Anyways, I've installed the mods shown in those videos exactly how you demonstrated, but I also included Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch and CASM to my order using the FOIP order guidelines. Is the UFO3 mod even needed with all these other mods? What about CASM?

Back on track...after I do everything, create my merged patch, and load Fallout 3, everything seems to be working. However, my game crashes or freezes very very frequently after playing the alternative start. I've tried Ghoul and Regulator starts so far. The game crashes when I closed my pipboy, opened a door, or even just wandering the wasteland it will freeze up.

I never got these issues playing Fallout 3 vanilla, just the occassional random crash, which doesn't happen until about 30hrs into a playthrough. I know it's not Fallout 3's normal crashing behaviour causing this now, and has to be linked to the mods, because the crashes are so frequent (5min apart or so). I have a dual-core CPU, and use the multi-core fix in the ini. I've tried removing it from the ini as well, but same issue. Playing vanilla Fallout 3, I use the multi-core ini fix and I don't crash like I do with a modded game.

I gave up trying to play like that and just completely removed Fallout 3 from my system.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129

I do not have any bethesda games on steam - I only get games on steam I know I'm not going to mod. That said I did move my install of STEAM (the games and all) with this method. Mostly for making more room.

The crashing issues are likely going to require posting load order and I would suggest another thread if you cannot determine which esp is the cause and post in that thread.

Kai-
my point was simply to raise awareness of BAIN/Gary Bash which does unfairly get the jacket that they are too complicated.
If you do add more I'd recommend a video tutorial on basic mod cleaning with F03edit.

My load order is exactly the same as in those videos and what shows up on the FOIP and FWE pages.

You might wanna leave the Unofficial Fallout Patch out, for some people it seems to increase CTDs.

Another thing you might want to try is MasterUpdating your load order. You can check our http://sites.google.com/site/fo3wanderersedition/faq, it has instructions on how to do that.

I create Merged Patch, then immediately after I MasterUpdate my order based on the FAQ on the FWE page. What are your thoughts on CASM? Could that create CTDs?