I recently dl'd FO3 from Steam and added a handful of mods using Nexus. they all show up and the box for activation is checked but they don't appear in game. any thoughts on what I need to do to make them work?
I use the same for skyrim w/o issue. Thanks.

If you downloaded and installed through Nexus Mod Manager, many FO3 mods aren't structured for correct installation with it meaning you'll end up with mods located in folders the game can't see. Best advice is to always download manually, examine the folder structure making corrections where necessary and install with FOMM.

thanks for the reply. The attraction of Nexus is that its on auto pilot......for me, examining the file structure would not tell me a thing. I'll do some google work on installing mods in FO3.

this video should help (even though it's geared more towards Skyrim)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_4RotEtks0
especially around 11 minutes in