Long story short: I'm brand new to modding. I wanted a little more realism in Fallout 3 so I got the idea of messing around with weapon damage, radiation effects, weight of items, etc. The thing is I got started and then got stuck pretty quickly. Here's a short summary of what I've been trying to do:

- Cut down maximum carrying weight
- Give almost everything in the game some weight (Stimpaks, Rad-Away, chems, caps, etc)
- Cut down how much of a particular item is found in the game (Stimpaks, Skill books, etc) - alternative could be finding a way to make Skill Books only increase your stats by .5 instead of 1
- Reduce the effects/percent bonuses of some perks (Action Boy gives 15 A.P. instead of 25, Strong Back gives +25 to carrying weight instead of +50, Grim Reaper's Sprint only gives you +10 A.P. back per V.A.T.S. kill, etc), bobbleheads give 5 instead of 10 points, disabled some perks (Explorer, Here And Now), and lowered S.P.E.C.I.A.L. bonuses (10 to Strength gives 50 to carrying weight instead of 100)
- Lowered the effectiveness of the Stealth Boy
- Changed weapon damage (essentially increased it all)
- Make radiation sickness more realistic (negative side effects start earlier, for example)
- Set a ceiling for skill points (maximum of 80 or so, for example)

Things that I don't think I can mess with via the G.E.C.K.:

- Give ammo weight (I now believe this to be only attainable with a combination of two mods outside of the G.E.C.K. - one to give ammo weight and one to make the Pip-Boy recognize the change)
- Having to eat food and drink water as to 'survive' (again, I believe this is something outside of the G.E.C.K.'s control)

List of issues:

- Increased the pistol damage (from 6 to 10 or something similar), but the game still showed that the pistol was doing 6 damage.
- Weird ass blur (similar to that of a chem wearing off) would occasionally show up on the sides of the screen when at the "One Year Later" part.
- Do I need either Fallout Mod Manager or FO3Edit? I didn't think so, but they've been mentioned so often that I'm thinking I should probably use them in conjunction with the G.E.C.K.
- Tried messing with radiation effects, but under the "Count" column now has a zero, a small 'x' as an exponent, followed by an uppercase 'D.' I now think that you really can't mess with the radiation levels in the game.
- I lowered the Skill Bobblehead increase from 10 to 5, but the game still gave me 10 points to Medicine (the first bobblehead you can get).

I thought that the G.E.C.K. was as simple as changing a few definitions (what perks do what when changed) and making up whatever numbers you want (weights, weapon damage, skill/perk bonuses, etc), but it appears to be much more than that. Just looking for something to help me with these issues. Any clarification or pointing in the right direction would be highly appreciated, thank you.

you mean like "0xD"? or "0^xD"? the first case im guessing is just a number in hexadecimal so that 0xD = 13 in the usual base 10. well, I've not yet done any of what you mentioned, but I might offer a few pointers:
1)Yes, use FOMM but also FOSE. FOSE has its own GECK version you will have to use, just use the command "fose_loader.exe -editor". I've only just started reading about FO3Edit, but it seems more to be a mod debugger then anything, and I would think that FOSE should have anything you need. If your new to modding or programming I doubt you will be able to do anything beyond what FOSE provides (or other mods you dl)
2)Half those tasks you want sound like functions from the FOSE library. Just get FOSE and then browse the command list. Here is that list:http://fose.silverlock.org/fose_command_doc.html
3)You can probably do much more with FOSE if you do it indirectly. For example, to give ammo weight, instead of changing its properties you could write a script that ran every time you picked up an item, checked to see if that item was an Ammo type, then increment your current weight load by +1. This might work too though:

Begin OnAdd player  setWeight xEnd

associate this script with the Ammo type. this way i think it might actually show up in the pipboy ( but prolly not before you pick it up).
As for the pistol damage, you could easily do a script instead of trying to edit properties. But if you really wanna mess with vanilla properties or you find the scripts lowering the fps (or not changing the pipboy info), you will most likely have to edit multiple properties across different actor classes to get something global. Don't forget that the player's SmallGuns skill also influences how much pistol dmg is possible.
4)I'm pretty sure there's already a bunch of mods that offer hardcoe modes that are most likely very similar to what you want. FOOK2 http://www.moddb.com/mods/fallout-3-overhaul-kit/downloads/fook2-v10-rc is a mod bundle that might have a hardcoe mode in there somewhere. FOOK2 is very good, it almost mocks Bethesda. You should be playing FOOK2 instead of the vanilla.
5)Go to the Fallout3 nexus and search "hardcoe". Here's some mods I found: http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/10964 and http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/17353
6)You could write a script that will handle the eating and drinking paradigm (a FOSE script). not sure if it would kill your fps, but worth a try, if even to learn. it would just be a matter of bookkeeping and counting time passage from last sustenance.
7)You've read the official Bethesda tutorials http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Main_Page, I'm assuming? They are pretty lame, but at least its a starting point.

Personally, I just play FOOK2 on very hard. I don't like the item management fu(kery that comes with hardcoe mode in games. If you run out of bullets while battling raiders in the wasteland, then you get to fast-travel back to your megaton house to get more bullets. Oh, you cant fast-travel while enemies are near? Well, I guess you lost this encounter before you even engaged, and now you have to quickload and either avoid them or go back to Megaton to get more bullets anyways (If you can indeed carry more). I don't enjoy those types of scenarios, myself, but I guess I can see the appeal. Have you played "I Am Alive"? I'm not sure if even FO3 implements stealth or enemy AI extensively enough, nor has enough stat building options to really make it a deep, difficult, and engaging rpg like some other classics out there. Plus with such a small level cap, at lvl30 your stat building is over, and now FO3 is a fps game onwards. Maybe there is a mod for raising lvlcap, maybe even on FOOK, but I havent played PC version very much, so I wouldn't know.

It seems like a lot of the stuff you would like to edit is governed by the Game Settings, which can be found in the GECK menu Gameplay -> Settings...

Careful, though!

Also, here is a related webpage on the GECK website: http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Settings.

That's certainly possible, and easy to do. You'll find the value in Game Settings. Don't except to see any .5 values in game though, skill levels will only show whole numbers, not fractions. Sure you can, you just need to learn how to work with scripts. There's far more the to the GECK than just fiddling with settings. Learn how to script and you'll be able to do much more than you can imagine at this time. Scripting is where the real strength of the GECK comes into play.

- Increased the pistol damage (from 6 to 10 or something similar), but the game still showed that the pistol was doing 6 damage.

Don't trust the in-game stats for weapon damage, it's kind of buggy and not at all accurate. There is a mod that works much better though I don't recall the name of it right now.

- Do I need either Fallout Mod Manager or FO3Edit? I didn't think so, but they've been mentioned so often that I'm thinking I should probably use them in conjunction with the G.E.C.K.

You should have Fallout Mod Manager at least. Load order of mods is important and it's a handy tool for organizing when mods get loaded into the game. FO3Edit isn't necessary, but it can be very handy to have.

I thought that the G.E.C.K. was as simple as changing a few definitions (what perks do what when changed) and making up whatever numbers you want (weights, weapon damage, skill/perk bonuses, etc), but it appears to be much more than that.

Yes indeed, you've only scratched the surface. Learn how to work with scripts, and there'll be all sorts of things you can with your game.

Wow. Thanks for all of the information, guys. I'll have to tackle the majority of this stuff Sunday (took tonight off, but there's nothing like a Saturday night in college, hehe). Oh, and then this little ditty came to mind:

I was just wondering if checking/unchecking either "Auto-Calculate" or "Script Effect Always Applies" could be affecting the changes I previously made in the G.E.C.K. I mean, if I change, for instance, the Unarmed Bobblehead's skill increase from 10 to 5 (Auto-Calculate checked, Script Effect Always Applies unchecked) will leaving either box the same do anything like override my change? That's the problem I had with the Medicine Bobblehead still giving me +10 instead of +5 last time. Made me curious if those two check boxes were the culprits. I also need to find the little description box so the game will say "+5 to Medicine" instead of "+10" when I pick up a Bobblehead.

Rule #32: Enjoy the little things.

Thanks once again, guys!

There's a special section in the left hand menu for messages, the text will be in there. It can be a bit hard to find the right entry sometimes though, so be prepared to do a bit of digging. Once you find the right one, it will be very easy to change as it's just a text entry. If you look in the scripts for the bobbleheads, you'll be able to figure out which message it is, plus that will give you a start on figuring out how to script. As for the problem you're having with the Medicine one, are you starting a brand new game before you come across it? That will make a difference as no changes will occur once you've already picked it up. Other than that, I can't really think what the problem might be as the changes I made in my game along those lines work fine. BTW, you might be interested to know that there's a mod available at the Nexus that will randomize the locations of all the bobbleheads in the game. Each one will have 5 possible locations where they can be found, none of them in the default areas.

So I finally found how to change the "+10" to "+5" when the text pops up and how to actually make sure the Bobbleheads do +5 instead of +10 per skill. It did take some digging, but my pickiness paid off. Thanks for the mod recommendation, as well, Belanos.

Also, as it were, I'm taking this free, online Computer Science 101 course via Stanford that will help me out with scripting and all sorts of nifty sh*t Check it out. Coursera is this new program that's been granted $16 million for free, online courses. Full 5-10 week courses with credited professors. You even get a little certificate after completion. Don't know everyone's age on here, but this is sure to help out with future resumes.

If I have any other questions I'll be sure to ask. Just wanted to say thanks for everyone's input. You guys know your stuff

No problem. There's also one that randomizes the skill books in the game as well. You might find that one interesting too.


It probably won't help you all that much with scripting for this game. It has it's own unique language and format that won't be covered by a program like that. If you really want to learn something about it, check out the GECK Wiki. It has a number of tutorials you can try out and all sorts of references for commands and functions that will allow you do various things in the game. It's the best reference available if you want to do any sort of modding of the game. It can be a bit difficult trying to find the actual info you want, as it has a lot od stuff, so again be prepared for some digging. But you're bound to come across some useful info you weren't aware of in the process of finding something you want to know, if you stop and take a look around while you're searching.