Hi there.

I'm just about to get the game, and feel a little confused with a thousand different mods, so I thought it'd be best to ask here. I didn't quite find what I was looking for when searching old threads, so I figured I'd start a new one.
I'm looking for a modlist with quite a few criteria.

A realistic body replacer mod. I don't want any FF-cups bouncing around my wastelands. It should be quite popular, meaning it should have lots of compatible clothing and armor mods now and in the future.
Real or realistic weapons, preferably lots of them. Mini nuke launcher is badass, but doesn't quite fit my style.
Immersion mods, like MCA in Morrowind or Crowded Roads in Oblivion. One that adds lots of people and fauna in the world.
Clothing and armor. Realism here too, meaning no shiny plastic catsuits or Space Marine-costumes.
Something NoM-esque, meaning you've got to eat to avoid starving to death etc.
Also any essential mods, such as bugfixes etc.
These should also be as FPS-friendly as possible, as my computer isn't very powerful. It reaches just a little bit over the mimimum requirements for the game, so nothing fancy here.

I hope I don't sound too demanding here, and I'll really appreciate your help on this. Thanks in advance.

It's been generally accepted that http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1056342-mezs-gameplay-and-immersion-mod-list/ is a good place to start. One caveat is that Mez is head of the FWE team so it is a bit FWE-centric. That brings me to my next point. There are a few overhaul mods that will handle a good chunk of what you want, and then some. The big ones that I know of are the afore mentioned Fallout Wanderes Edition (FWE), FOOK and Arwens Realism Tweaks, if I left any off that list it's because I forgot about it not because I didn't think it belonged. I don't use body replacers so I cant help you there, but for weapons and armor I use a few mods from Antistar, Zelotlee and Khugan. There are plenty more out there that are of excellent quality but I use FWE so I try not to add too many more guns to the game, plus most of the gun mods out there don't fit my style of play.

Right, thanks alot. Already found quite a few interesting things from that list. Thanks!

FWE (see my sig) or Arwen's Realism Tweaks are both very comprehensive gameplay enhancers, both which focus on immersion/realism and better FPS and RPG elements. Of the two, FWE has more "stuff" and new content (new weapons/armor that are lore-appropriate, i.e. from prior fallout games). We've tried to pay attention to performance, and even REDUCED the texture sizes for some of the new items to maintain better performance. Arwen's doesn't have new weapons/armor content to my knowledge and is potentinally more compatible with other gameplay mods. For example, FWE includes it's own primary needs feature (i.e. need to eat, drink, sleep), while Arwen's dose not, allowing you to choose an independent needs mod that strikes your fancy.

If you have a slower system, I'd maybe stay away from FOOK, since it adds a lot higher resolution textures to existing and new items. I'm not the most qualified to judge the performance impact though.

Body replacers: Type3 is by far the most popular, and comes in a variety of propritions depending on what you want. I don't use it though because there doesnt' appear to be a non-nvde version. I do use the Babe body replacer (underwear version) which is a big improvement on the default replacer and not at all unrealistic. Babe does have a armor mesh replacer for all the vanilla armors, but not as much 3rd party armor/clothing addons. Breeze's works well for males, again, a nvde and non-nvde version is available.

Regarding weapons . . . FWE adds quite a few. Basically all the stuff that appeared in Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics, minus a few here and there. Otherwise, youre best bet for realistic is probably the 19th and 20th century weapons addon (also has an FWE patch) or the Arsenal Mod. Higher resolution textures migth be a problem when using any of these is your system is struggling though.

Search nexus for MTC Travelers . . . adds more NPC's moving between cities and such. Also search for "Crowded Cities" and "Your not alone" for additional NPC life in the wasteland.

Thanks a bunch. That's pretty much everything I needed.

First off if you have never played Fallout 3 before, I HIGHLY recommend that you at least just only play FO3 (no dlc's even)
to start with and do a few quests and gain some levels .... get a feel of the game ... see what you like/dislike before adding any mods.
Body replacers ... female: Type 3 (the Black Blossom variants are quite nice) Male: Breeze, Roberts
Weapons: Book of Earache ... default weapon replacer plus new ... good quest line.. fits in well with default FO3.
User Interface: DUI for FO3 (Darnified) http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1085562-wipzbeta-darnified-ui-f3/

For a female body replacer, I'd recommend Type 3 or BABE. Type 3 seems to be more popular, but BABE has a PG underwear version, which I prefer. Both have a good amount of vanilla clothing/armor replacements as well. Neither are insanely voluptuous, IMO.

Real weapons, FOOK has a ton of them. I avoid weapon mods though: 1) Yes, they're real weapons [in our universe], but not in the Fallout universe. (2) Many seem to be overpowered (OP). (3) Might not be compatible with Iron Sights (see below).

Realistic weapons, I'd recommend http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6938 and http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12519. Both require FOSE.

Crowded Roads... eh, it's the Wasteland. Not sure if you've thought about that. There are merchants running around in vanilla and plenty of raiders.

What I meant was more people around the wastelands. Hunters, scavengers, all that. Does the vanilla FO3 include enough of these? Or is it possible to walk around for hours without seeing a living soul?

No, you won't be running into this possibility. (Which was a bit of a disappointment to me)

Definitely not. In terms of humans, you'll run into a trader, wasteland wanderer, or raider every 10-20 minutes.

I noticed no particular recommendation for a Companion Mod in the Mez List. I'm in the process of adding one about now to round things out, to my FWE/MMM/WMK/Robco install.

I suppose Robco may be enough but is there another good fit for a Companion Mod?

btw, I would like to include EVE in my setup, but I do like Fallout 3 Re-Animated and understand EVE is not compatible. How bad would it be using both here? Some weapon usage wouldn't look right or crashes and the like?

I recommend http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1113184-relz-marts-mutant-mod-10-rc-60/, but if you're concerned about performance you probably want to turn down/off the increased spawns.

My own http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1061677-relz-unar-unique-armours-retextured/page__view__findpost__p__15418461__fromsearch__1 adds a bunch of outfits (for the vanilla body). I've made a point of not making them any more demanding than vanilla outfits.


I strongly disagree.

How so? He raised a valid point. Vanilla Fallout 3 has its merits, after all.

For performance, you may want to get http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1069833-relz-fallout-stutter-remover/page__view__findpost__p__16369634. It helps things a bit, although it can be a bit unstable depending on your system.

Thanks a bunch guys, you've been really helpful. Unfortunately I still haven't received my copy of the game, but until then I'll be anxiously waiting to be able to put your help in use.

Yes, and the strongest merit is it's modability.

Right, but you're disagreeing with the recommendation to at least try the vanilla game for a bit before modding? Because.. I'd actually recommend he do the same thing before modding things willy-nilly.

Playing the game as-is provides you with a point of reference, a base line if you will. From there you can take your experience in any direction. Otherwise, how will he know what he wants to mod if he hasn't played the game first? I think the only exception may be texture overhauls. There's generally no trade-off (except performance) if you simply increase the resolution of certain textures.

IME, well-received mods such as FWE, EVE, Type3 body, and more, generally weren't for me. I used them, loved some or most of the content, but had to scrap them for their immersion breaking (subjective) content. I never would have had a concept of what is or isn't appropriate for my experience if I hadn't played vanilla FO3 first.

I'm at the point now where I find mods that do less actually do more for me. Mods that try to do everything or too much tend to conflict thematically with my perception of FO3. Of course I'm NOT saying that any mod svcks, a few just aren't for me. Example: Even my spartan armor mod for Oblivion was not for me. I made it, but didn't use it. I felt it just wasn't appropriate for the TES universe.

If you're already adding RobCo, toss in Wastland Whisperer, and Companion Share&Recruit. They are the other two branches of Companion Core.esp (what Robco runs off of) fully compatible, and allow you to recruit critters and people, respectively. With the right skills, perks, and methods, of course.

I've been considering a character thanks to those mods designed to have 7 people, 14 dogs, 7 robots, dogmeat, and RL-3 following me around. And lots of wonders about potential engine panic attacks, and friendly fire.