I am interested in playing through Fallout 3 again and I’m considering improving the experience with mods. The problem is, I know nothing about using mods.

I am hoping for some advice from this forum as to what mods I should use and how I should go about setting them up.

Here is my system information:

Intel Core i7-990x processor (12mb l2 cache, 3.46 ghz)
12GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1333Mhz
ATI Radeon HD5970
2TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit

Also, I am using the Steam version of the game, and I have all 5 DLC installed.


I was looking up some mods and these looked interesting. Are they good? Are there others I should use as well or instead? How do I go about setting them up? And what versions should I use?
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12056 (NMCs Texture Pack)

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6341 (Project Beauty)

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6510 (Large Address enabler)

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7670 (Fallout 3 Re-Animated)

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3211 (Marts Mutant Mod)

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2761 (FEW – FO3 Wanderers Edition)

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1418 (GNR–More where that came from)

My system is terrible, so I occasionally use the Lite version of NMC. At that level of detail I sometimes can't seven see a difference, which is to say that the mod fits the theme of the game very well. If you can use the bigger versions of the mod, and it's it clear that you can, then you should definitely try it. I can't really say which size is best for you.

I don't use Project Beauty because it does http://www.theaterhopper.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/makeup_shotgun.jpg to female NPCs.

Fallout 3 Re-Animated is nice, but I can't play without RH_IronSights. You need to make that decision.

MMM is a fantastic mod, but I don't like the respawn plugin. Think twice about enabling all of the optional plugins.

FWE is an impressive mod, and you shouldn't worry too much about the fact that it hasn't been updated recently. The latest patch is just fine. You need to make a decision between FWE and other overhaul mods (e.g. Arwen, FOOK2), and I think there are reasons to like and dislike all of them. I use Arwen's Realism Tweaks, personally, so I don't mean to disparage any particular mod, but I think it's safe to say that FWE will give you the most options in terms of content and compatibility. FWE seems to have the most community support. Consider using Book of Earache on top of FWE.

I really like the GNR mod. I usually listen to the radio when I'm in range.

OnoyojiOmn,

Thank you for your reply. I have a few quick follow up questions. Do you know if NMC, FO3 Re-Animated, MMM, FWE, and GNR compatible with each other? Do they work with all 5 DLC? Are they easy to set up?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Worries with compatibility are solved easily. Just ask yourself, does mod X have anything to do with mod Y? GNR most definitely does not conflict with, say MMM or FWE.
Compatibility is mostly an issue with the overhauls (Ironsights, FWE, MMM) but there are usually compatibility patches for them separately (search for "FOIP" in Nexus)

It's all confusing at first but I recommend that you take it slow. You'll get your Eureka moment and then it all will be clear.

Those mods support all of the DLC and they do work well together, but the process of getting them up and running is pretty complicated. You'll need a few utilities:

- Wrye Flash for installing/uninstalling mods and managing plugins. It's pretty intimidating, like its Oblivion counterpart Wrye Bash, but it's worth it to learn the most common functions. The Installers tab in particular will save you a lot of time.

- BOSS for ordering plugins.

- Master Update, which I described http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1228518-best-practice-for-bug-free-modded-game/page__view__findpost__p__18543231. MMM in particular will give you ghostly white raiders unless you run this.

- FO3Edit for creating the merged patch, which you will need for FWE.

- A fix for archive invalidation. You can search for this on the Nexus, or can get the Fallout Mod Manager (mentioned below) just for this and activate it through that program.

Some mods require FOSE, but I'm pretty sure these don't. FOMM is another commonly-used utility, but it's mostly been superseded by Wrye Flash.

Actually installing the mods is as easy as activating them from the Installers tab in Flash, running BOSS to reorder them, and activating them from the Mods tab in Flash. There's a little button in Flash's status bar to run BOSS. Once that's done, create MMM and/or FWE will probably replace some of the same textures as NMC, so you will want to activate NMC first and let the others overwrite the files. After activating the plugins, create the merged patch and then run master update.