Hi all,

At the moment I'm bringing myself up to speed with the G.E.C.K., working through the tutorials and spending a lot of time looking at existing content to see how it's done (always found this a good way to learn). I'm new to FO3 modding, though I have modded before with Morrowind.

Long term, I'm looking to create a moderately small landmass mod, you know, new locations, quests and so on. Hard work for sure but something I really want to have a go at.

As a modder I believe it's important to be a good neighbour as it were. Not only does it increase the chance of people playing a mod but also, well, it's just plain polite.

With Morrowind this seemed somewhat easier, though not without complications. Easier because there was only one main consideration and that was real estate. One would look at all the major mods and take care not to build anywhere that another mod had already built on.

The real complication was the sheer wealth of mods that added new areas, settlements and so on. Finding empty territory could be tricky but doable with some diligence.

FO3 is very different. There seems to be a number of mods that tweak balance and add features. FWE, MMM, FOOK, Arwen's Realism Tweaks, Fellout, EVE, Type 3, Phalanx, Evergreen, Workbench and Crafting Expansion, Weapon Mod Kits and CALIBR to name a few.

This all scares the hell out me lol.

Because it seems not just that it could be quite easy to break something that these mods do but to also add things in, which would not be touched by these mods, that would then be out of place by people using the mods I've listed.

Now, in all honesty, I haven't got any of these mods yet. I intend to check some out, though I will be trying to limit it as having too many other mods around whilst trying to mod can be distracting in a number of ways hehe.

What I'm wondering is how much of an impact can these mods potentially have on a quest-based mod? Does a brand new NPC in my mod, for instance, then have balances issues for mods that deal with enemy behaviour and balance tweaks. Presumably giving an armour as a quest reward cause problems for people using body mods, etc.

How many of these mods change base items and how many actually change reference data?

Which of these do I not even need to worry about too much or will still work, or even enhance, my own content without me needing to do anything?

Are there any other major mods I should take into consideration?

Finally, I'm interested to know how others deal with the potential issues I've mentioned.

Now, I realise I'm not going to get all the answers I want and that, down the line, I might need to take a really good look at some of these mods in the G.E.C.K. before I know how I'm going to handle compatilbilty issues but I'd appreciate a few pointers in the right direction and some input in what I need to consider.

Thanks for reading

Well, I understand exactly what you mean. I am making a mod (see signature) that purely adds a large quest chain. Its meant as mainly a storytelling mod, focusing mostly on that, not so much on adding any new features or anything. The good thing with the vast amount of balance mods, is alot of the wasteland is open for use. But frankly, not much of it can be used. The way they built it, (Bethesda) its very hard to clear space and add things, so you mainly have to make use of unused filler buildings. My mod does this, so far with two houses, and another building. So when making a mod, ideally you want to change as little of the vanilla wasteland as possible. Add something small (like just a door) that leads into all the other stuff with your mod, that all being in your own worldspace, or interior cells. As for compatability, I do not worry much. I do not change ANY vanilla objects, which really helps with compatability, and you cant make everyone happy. If you have a quest reward with a gun that does 35 dmg, that is high for the vanilla game, but with a mod like FWE, thats weaker than the 10mm pistol (might not be exact, but I'm just stressing a point ) So theres not really any way to avoid that. Again, this is why I ignore adding too many 'special' items, because they will always be too good, or too bad to make a large group of people happy. Also if you modify anything in the default game (Spacially) its very important that YOU DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING. Instead, set all objects in your way to Initially Disabled (by double clicking them, and checking the respective box) or move them underground, or somewhere out of the way. Deleting vanilla objects in the worldspace causes objects you place in, to take their place. So the game is expecting, say, a car, and loads a fence, it can cause crashed and is a big no no in worldspace editing. Anyway hope this can help you figure out what to do. Oh and one massive thing with making a quest mod, HAVE THE ENTIRE STORY WORKED OUT AHEAD OF TIME. Its very fun to make as long as you know what your doing, but the instant your stuck due to no story, or whatever, it gets boring and can be very tough to continue.

Gunmaster95

There are a lot of clever ways that modders have addedreal estate to fallout. Find an empty stretch of road an plop a manhole cover in the middle and you now have a doorway to an as large as you want underground area, or find an empty wall and put a door on it. let the player go through an underground passageway and/or some form of long distance transportation, like a train or teleporter, and it takes them to a brand new made-by-you landmass. And if you find a place you think you would like for your mods "entrance" post it on these boards and ask if anyone is using it.

Good luck and have fun!

Thanks for the answers so far.

I'm not too worried about the real estate issue as I have an idea for that - the only real issue is the implementation, due to immersion reasons but that's a nice little challenge for me later.

@ SteveDog - Even though I have the idea I just mentioned I do like the manhole cover idea and it could actually make my own idea a little easier to put into action.

@ Gunmaster95 - In your post you touch upon quest rewards and special items - These are quite a concern for me as it's these things that can make a quest based mod that little bit special. Some of my quest rewards I could tie in with the main prize of the mod and it shouldn't be affected by any balance mods and the like, though that would mean making most the quest rewards all go along the way of one theme, which may or may not work.

Things like guns and armour though - it almost seems like I'm better off leaving those off the rewards lists lol.

Yea I was thinking for my mod I either would not have any quest rewards, except maybe access to a few generic things that can be ruined by 'balance' like an ammo press, or gun repairing station (for those with low repair) or some kind of small 'house' area the player can rest in. I haven't really decided. If I did add my own weapon, I would make it rather powerfull, so no matter what its a very strong gun, then add my own unique way to get ammo for it. Like maybe theres some kind of challange the player must complete in order to get ammo, each time they do it they get 25 rounds or something. That way its very strong, but you cant just have a million shots for it.

Well, one reward I plan is a player house, I'd been thinking initially that some of the items I have planned for the house would be obtainable via vendors - FO3, like Morrowind and Oblivion before it, always seems to end up with the issue of the player having a ton more money than they can spend it on - However, I may end up making some of the quests reward items for the house, not sure yet.

I also have something else in mind to add to the house but it might involve levelled lists (and I have yet to figure those out but from browsing in the GECK they look horrendous). Then, of course, that could pose definite balance issues for people using certain tweak mods, gah lol

Oh well, thanks for the replies to date :goodjob:

Literally, the best thing you can do is just say screw compatibility. If it works with other mods, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't, not your problem. The reality is not all mods will be able to work with one another, and unless you REALLY want to make something compatible, it is easier to just not worry about it.

The general way to make mods compatible is to not change anything relating to what they change.