Hello all.

After playing modded Oblivion for a few years, I thought I’d check out the game that has stolen some of the best TES IV modders!

I expected things to run in a similar manner to OB so: Install, Patch, install DLC, get Mod Manager and Bash, install Unofficial Patches. Once that is done, play vanilla for a day, change the UI (looks like DarN has worked his magic here too) then play until I see what annoys me before going on a mod frenzy!

Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of gripes about Games for Windows Live (which I’ve never used) being thrown around which has made me apprehensive about the initial install process. I gather that FOMM and FOSE both have features that allow you to play without being connected but I still have a couple of questions so that I can get stuck in as soon as Royal Mail get my GOTY disks to me!

1. Is GfWL as bad as some people make out re instability in FO3?
2. Do I need GfWL for the initial installation and registration? (I Googled for workarounds but couldn’t see anything apart from torrent guides)
3. If so, will it force me to put the DLC into it’s own folders or can I install them into the Data folder as usual?
4. Are there any things I’ve learned from Oblivion that are considered bad practice and will break the game unless handled in a FO3 specific manner?

Thanks in advance for your help
TLS

PS I'm using Vista and installing to a dedicated games partition on my HDD

Some people report bad crashing bugs connected to "Achievements" from quests when using GFWL. If you don't care about achievements you probably won't be using GFWL and it won't be a problem.

I don't believe GFWL does anything at all during installation (other than maybe trying to install itself). I don't recall having ever created an account for it so it shouldn't interfere at all.

GFWL only affects the DLCs if you download them from the GFWL service. With the GOTY disc they are installed into the Data folder same as Oblivion DLCs.

The only thing I've noticed that's different is that FOMM is more robust than OBMM and Bash may not even be necessary unless you get into some complicated mod orders. Plus FO3Edit.exe has two alternate versions FO3MasterUpdate.exe and FO3MasterRestore.exe which are for stability purposes, and FO3Edit.exe has a functionality for creating a "merged patch" for stability as well.

Actually, to me it seems Oblivion modding scene is more active then the Fallout 3 one. Anyway, if you want to use advanced mods, you need FOSE (Fallout 3 equivalent of OBSE), that diables GfWL by default. I've reinstalled Fallout 3 more times than i can count, and haven't heard a peep of GfWL since i downloaded Zeta.

Gary Bash is the best Wrye Bash port available for Fallout 3, it has pretty much all functionality of Wrye Bash and is actively supported. Also F-BOSS is pretty nice nowadays too, though personally i use load orders recommended by overhaul mod authors and tags from F-BOSS. FO3Edit is Tes4Edit, there really doesn't seem to be any differences, apart from the MasterUpdate and -Restore modes showler mentioned. Same can be said about GECK and TESCS (atleast from a casual user's viewpoint ).

Overall, setting up modded Fallout 3 isn't harder than setting up modded Oblivion. I might even say it's easier, though that might be because my load orders are more simpler in Fallout 3 than Oblivion :shrug:

http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13111, might want to give that a view.
Explains the most common steps when installing mods and also a bit of the background behind those steps.

Great, what about patches? Are they spoon-fed via GfWL or can I get them straight from the Beth main site?
I know it looks like I’m being lazy, but I’m actually killing time at work where a lot of sites are blocked by the firewall so I can’t check right now and I’m just being an impatient over-excited 37 year old kid and I'd hate my research to eat into playing time!


Good news.

Thanks


I was just going by the names I found on the first page: Martigen, Princess Stomper, SaidenStorm and Talkie Toaster . DarN moved on from OB to here too. I half expect to see Sotobrastos/Oscuro and Francesco to start posting any minute!

Thanks to all of you for the advice on installation of the game and mods. I’m going to keep it VERY simple to start with and give vanilla at least a couple of weeks. I just wanted to give myself the best chance of a simple and stable install for when the inevitable mod addiction kicks in!

One last thing: have Beth decided to stick with the same levelled-world mechanism as in Oblivion?

Thank goodness, no. Low level mole rats are always easy pickings, they don't become level 24 super-stomper mole rats like they would in Oblivion. (Same goes for the raiders.)

That being said, FO3 does have "level lists" of spawns, where you'll only see an easy variant at an early level, then as you level up more advanced variants will show up. So in the beginning, you'll only see regular Super Mutants (which are tough for any player under about level 8). Then you'll start to see brutes, then masters, and finally overlords in increasing frequency. It's much more natural feeling then Oblivion was - and there are lots of areas where the enemies (even at low level) are going to be too tough for you to take on until you are level 10/15/20.

Brilliant. Oblivion lasted three days before I caught the modding bug because of that. First time I realised what was going on I hit the web and found OOO. Glad to hear that I won't be installing FWE or similar to save my sanity in the first week.

Who knows, I may even take the time to learn BAIN before installing a bucketload of mods. I was always too lazy to learn it before as my HDD was already full of OMODS!!!

Well, if the leveling system in Oblivion irritated you after only three days I'm sure you'll find a lot of things in Fallout that will merit "fixing" in short order as well. Enjoy!

GOTY is fully patched so there's no need to patch it.