I know the answers are probably right in front of me, or easily found. But it's one of those days. Usually, I do OK just following instructions, making educated guesses, and experimenting. For some reason though, I'm finding dealing with multiple FO3 overhauls a bit harder (or less intuitive, perhaps) than those for Oblivion.

Right, so. Just wondering whether I need Mez's Merged Patch if planning to use FWE, WMK, EVE and MMM. Presumably yes. OK then. How about all the various (relevant) FOIP patches? Some of those are older than the original files that, in some cases, they even outright replace. This strikes me as a bit risky, to say the least. So, only use some of them? The ones that are (hopefully) up to date with the latest versions of the overhauls?

I'm reinstalling because of hella conflicts and crashes last time around. Taking it slow this time. At this stage, I have: base install to [ C:\Games\... ], 1.7 update, FOSE, FOMM, AI!, DLCs, G4WL Disabler, DarnUI, FWE (all latest, patched, etc.) - installed in that order. Running Win7 x64, incidentally.

I would like to get the four forementioned mods (plus DLCs) playing together nicely, plus a bunch of - carefully vetted - other things, one by one. But mainly those.

Also curious about BOSS and GaryBash. Necessary? Worth a try? Last but not least, I've heard some bad things about the Unofficial Patch - would it be best to leave that one off, as I'm currently planning to?

Any advice most appreciated. I'm willing to do whatever is required, btw, be that starting again, using FO3Edit, FO3Plugin, or what have you.

Yes, Mez's Merged Patch is recommended. The http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4968 patches are updated for the latest FWE 5.02 release. Also, check http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1062103-overhaul-load-order/page__p__15425469__fromsearch__1&#entry15425469.



BOSS for F3 isn't updated as often as the one for Oblivion, but it handles the major mods fine. You can also tweak the masterlist manually of course. Personally, I love Wrye Bash so it's nice to see GaryBash being developed. I haven't used it much yet, though. As I understand it, its installer feature works fine so it's an alternative to using FOMM for mod installs/uninstalls. I'm also curious about its Bashed Patch, but haven't checked it out yet as Mez's Merged Patch seems to work fine with my mod list.

The Unofficial Patch for Broken Steel is broken and need a hotfix. Also, the patches haven't been updated since last summer. I'm using the main Unofficial Patch without any issues that I have noticed at least. See http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1083395-unofficial-fallout-3-patch/ for more info.

This is what I was led to believe... *but* looking at, for example, the "WMK package for FWE", the replacement ESPs (e.g., "Weapon Mod Kits - BrokenSteel.esp") are dated 1/1/2008, whereas the latest original ESPs, that those ones will by default replace, are dated 1/1/2010 ! Now maybe the dates aren't right, and that's all there is to it. Just thought I'd make sure though, before getting frustrated with any further bizarre CTDs, etc.



Thanks. Though I was pretty much right with that anyway, it seems. Yay me!



OK, well I mightn't bother for now. It's just I see Merged Patch.esp on the end of all these cool, cutting edge mod lists and I burn iwth envy! Kidding. Kinda.



Ah. This couldv'e been something to do with why my last attempt was disastrous, after all. Not just that, with the benefit of hindsight, but it might have played a part.

Thank you so much for indulging me there, and helping out considerably. As I said, I'm usually good to go with mods and stuff. But today I've been tired, harried, and, I dunno, not quite up to speed I guess.

Oh, silly me. :nono: The answer (er, one of them) was - naturally! - right in front of me. In the readme, even.

That specific FOIP pack I mentioned? Well, in the readme, it specifically says to use the ones in there, not the original. *And* - this is the doozy - a merged patch must also be made, using FO3Edit. Gah. I can't believe I missed that one. Honestly thought I'd read all the docs. I do try to!

Ah well. I'll see how it goes now.

Well, the game wasn't even released 1/1/2008 - much less the DLC's, FWE or the FOIP - so the dates are obviously arbitrary, caused by updating the load order or some such.




You don't need to make a merged patch for the WMK FOIP patches. Mez's Merged Patch takes care of them as well. In fact, you need them in order to run it.

Please don't look at the file date Adjusting your load order in FOMM changes the timestamp on your mods, so after we edit the mods, and then launch FOMM to test, it re-dates the files. Looking at the file description in FOMM will tell you what version the of mods the FOIP patches (or the alternative WMK DLC plugins in the FOIP archive) suuport.

Otherwise, if using FWE, MMM, WMK, and all DLC, then you can use Mez's merged patch, which is a merged patch plus some cleanup work (mostly minor stuff). The merged patch process unfortunetly isn't "fire and forget" . . . there are some entries where it merges things the wrong way, so Mez's patch fixes that. If you have other mods running that you need a merged patch for you, you could run that plus mez's patch (either before or after depending on which records are altered) and try to get the best of both. A little examining in FO3edit usually reveals what's the better approach.

Ha. I should've remembered when Fallout 3 actually came out. Oh well.

Thanks for the extra advice and info. Again, much appreciated.

I had a bit more of a muck around with FO3Edit, with (eventually) good results. And, whether it was due to that, adding the Unofficial Patch and/or Mez's Merged back in, or both, it's working perfectly at last! :gun: Looks great, guns are awesome, FWE is fantastic... Happy! :fallout:

Also using lots of retextures, a bunch of quests, Fellout, etc. - the game is really nothing like it used to be. In a good way...