Hi guys I played vanilla Fallout 3 but never finished it, but coming from Oblivion I knew modding community would take gaming experience up a notch if I waited so here I am looking for complication of immersion mods.

However unlike Oblivion forum which I just found one with many posts (and many iterations) Fallout 3 seems to have more then one, For example: FWE, Arwen's Realism Tweaks.

I'm getting confused on which mod to try out. Currently I'm leaning toward FWE. I'd like some recommendation from veterans of Fallout 3 forum :fallout:

For a more challenging setting both of those offer up the goods. Personally I play FWE, I played Arwin's too, but I prefer the mad overhaul that FWE offers and the alternate start really sold me. So far I've really been challenged by FWE, which btw, uses some of Arwin's AI tweaks too.

There is nothing stopping you from trying both out. Play one of them for awhile, then uninstall it and install the other one, and play that for awhile. Then just pick which one is your favorite. Everything about choosing mods is personal opinion, there is no 'best'.

Meh there are actually multiple good overhauls for Oblivion with different styles.

Anyhows as for best Fallout overhaul...
Well if you're gonna ask for popularity it's gonna be FWE around here. If you ask me, it's also gonna be FWE(I worked on that beast afterall). Overall though like Allstarn said, different playstyles different tastes.

FWE has the advantage that it's the most customizable overhaul, so anything you dont like you can just change via the ingame menu. Another advantage is that the mods we at some point included in FWE are more advanced than their standalone counterparts because we always continue developing them. For example FWE's integrated Primary Needs, Bullet time and sprint mods are better than their standalone counterparts.

FWE does a [censored]ton of stuff so you're best served with checking out the readme and/or the thread

Agreed for FWE. It adds the stuff I like from Arwen's as well. Also, I like turning the sneak back to it's vanilla settings; it's too hard to sneak in F3 even at higher skill levels that I can't comprehend why they raised the difficulty.

I'd say of the two, Arwen's is the more 'immersive', especially in conjunction with RH_Ironsights, which you can use with an easily made small patch in FO3edit. If you use Arwen's look at her supplementary mods list, there's some really good ones: http://amito.freehostia.com/Fallout/FO-mods.htm#Index.

It all depends what you want in your game. Personally I found FWE is a bit too FPS-like for me (when I first tried it many versions ago), and I could not find a mod that made the game more balanced, and the Wasteland harsher, while making the the role-playing aspects a greater factor in how your game played out. So I created my http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1088693-relz-arwens-realism-tweaks-thread-no7/, which does all three.

Unlike FWE, I designed my mod to work with many other mods . . . specifically the ones on my http://amito.freehostia.com/Fallout/FO-mods.htm, so it tends to be more compatible (I'm currently using about 100 mods in my own game).

This is why I don't need a game menu, as you just activate the esps that you want . . . depending on how hard-core you want your game to be. This allowed me to keep things more balanced for both styles of gameplay. And then you further customize your game by adding other mods to use with my overhaul (as long as they are compatible . . . and a LOT are).

My Overhaul is also extremely easy to install (and uninstall), since it only contains 3 esps . . . there are no textures, meshes, esms, or any other files involved. My goal was to focus ONLY on gameplay, and to make the game as balanced as possible (which also makes the game much more hard-core . . . and survival will now require much more strategy). Even though my overhaul may look small, it also changes a TON of stuff (it alters over 1300 records).


The only thing that FWE adds from my Realism Tweaks is an old version of my old Smarter AI module, which included my old sneak changes. My Smarter AI module has undergone a LOT of changes since then, and it is now integrated into my Realism Core module, which also includes my dynamic stealth script, which alters detection distance, based on time of day, weather conditions, and whether your character is inside or outside. My mod does not make sneaking more difficult . . . it makes it more realistic. If you actually use stealth tactics, you will be much harder to detect than in the default game.

Yeah saying we use your old version isn't really true either. We overhauled everything AI and stealth related in 5.x, so it's very different from your old module(and probably from your current one). Like I said earlier, everything we integrate in FWE is constantly evolved.
No offense taken or ment.

I use FWE, because it is customizable for any sort of character you wish to be and friendly towards any combat style you wish to be.

I really like how realistic things with just the default FWE settings. I haven't changed anything yet cause so far I am happy with things. Sure I am scared as heck (no companion yet), but it is perfect cause I can still get enough loot on my own. At level 2, you will have no problem killing a few raiders 1 by 1 without being shot at with only your 10mm weapon (ok fine, I did this from the 2nd floor of a barn...but it worked ) . I have a lot of patience, so I don't mind spending a good half an hour to an hour picking off raiders lol.

The point is, even a scardy cat like me can do ok with FWE. I can't tell you how many times I jumped cause I heard my character clear her throat cause she was a bit thirsty, or her stomach growled cause she was a bit hungry lol.

[edit to add] oh and watch out for the raiders with the shovels One got away from me and when I was searching for it, all of a sudden my vision blurred after hearing a sound, and turn around to see the raider smiling at me with the shovel he hit me in the back of the head with lol.

No offense taken on this end. I probably didn't word that as well as I should have, but it is true that the only part of my Realism Tweaks that has been added / integrated into FWE, was an older version of my Smarter AI module.

What I was trying to clarify is the fact that my entire Realism Tweaks (or even all my current AI changes) were not actually integrated into FWE, which is something that many seem to believe. This is partially due to the way credit is given in the mod's description, when it says that FWE "is built on a platform that successfully integrates over 70 individual mods into a coherent package."

And then my Realism Tweaks is on the list, making it appear that my entire mod was integrated into FWE, which is not true. All I ever gave Mez permission to use (which I'm sure is all that was ever used) was my Smarter AI changes, which is actually a small part of my Realism Tweaks.

All I'm trying to do was explain that the two overhauls are very different . . . which I personally feel is a good thing, since it gives people choices in what changes they can add to their game, which will result in very different gameplay. As you know, I have never viewed modding as a competition, or as a popularity contest, and we have always been extremely open about sharing our ideas and helping with solutions (which, as a new modder, I really appreciate). And we share the same basic goal . . . which is to improve Fallout 3, by changing it to be closer to our own visions of what the Wasteland should have been.

Hey all,

I do not use FWE or Arwen's as of yet but have been thinking of adding it to my game. Right now the way I try to add game balance is by using T3T weapon tweaks and Enhanced Combat Tactics. I read the description of both mods and it seems that both of them affect weapon balance and enemy AI, two things I always felt were lacking from vanilla FO3. How do the overhaul mods compare to the two I am using right now?

Enhanced combat tactics is outdated, both FWE and Arwen's mod overhaul AI in their own ways that is more advanced than that mod.
FWE and Arwen also both overhaul weapon balance.

FWE actually integrated T3Ts Weapon tweaks back in the heyday in the first version. Though by now FWE's weapon balance is much more evolved, we've put hundreds of hours into finetuning the weapons, but what we did keep from T3Ts mod are the new models and textures for all unique weapons.

And to put it bluntly, there is very little that hasn't been tweaked and rebalanced in FWE, be it creatures, NPCs, armor, weapons, drugs, skills, experience, AI, loot rarity, accuracy, movement, down to the most banol things like making cars less prone to instant combustion after being glanced by a stray rock.

That sounds great, I was just thinking for a moment that I was going to lose T3T's awesome version of the Kneecapper. I'm also glad to hear that the AI tweaks in the two mods are better than enhanced combat tactics, because although I liked its overall changes I noticed a lot of strange behavior from companions with it running.

So you would say that FWE and Arwen's has better weapon balance than T3T? As in, guns like the mauser and .32 are somewhat useful? And do weapon reskins conflict with the mod's weapon changes?

T3T is on the FWE team afterall. But yeah FWE's balance is definitly better.
Our goal in FWE was to make every weapon viable in some way. While there are still certain "tiers" of weaponry(the .32 normally doesn't compare favouribly to a Desert Eagle or .223 for example), our goal was to give most all weapons very specific strengths and weaknesses.

And a .32 or 10mm pistol works well enough in taking down your average raider or other lightly armored critter/humanoid. If you're a good shot you'll only need one headshot. Of course if you're going up against a super mutant you might want something that packs more punch. But any firearm is pretty lethal to an average human (that can include yourself of course if you aren't good at dodging/taking cover or don't have some good perks or armor).

My approach with weapons is different, as my mod doesn't add or reskin any weapons. And I made very few changes to individual weapons (mostly just adding my weapon effects to some default weapons, and by adjusting spread and DAM for a few of the default weapons that were unbalanced). What I did mostly was alter weapon DAM globally, which is based much more on your weapon skills (as FO3 is a RPG), which is not an approach that is very popular with gamers who want FO3 to be more FPS-like. But, even with a Small Guns skill of just 10, most guns will do 1.5 times more DAM than default for humans and some smaller creatures (and even more with head shots). But armor is also 50% more protective, and NPCs have armor and weapons that are in much better condition than with default, and the weapon's condition is a greater factor. And Super Mutants are much harder to kill. So there is no simple answer, as there are a lot of factors involved. But many users of my mod seem to really like my weapon balance.

My mod also now includes weapon skill requirements if you use my Less-Is-More module (that are gender based).

I prefer It's Bubbly to both! Mwhahahaha I just blew some minds right there.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1068261-relz-its-bubbly/

Good, lightweight, made by that insane burgerking dude.

Has any body tried the new Fallout Tactics overhaul? Seems awesome.

Also, you might be interested in my Skill Cap based on SPECIALs mod which id compatible with both FWE and Arwen's.

Harmy thanks for mentioning that. I didn't even know it existed. Link: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8834

The images and modules look amazing. I'm very stumped right now as to whether I'll be using FWE, Arwen's, or trying that one out for the next playthrough.

Personally, I would try out that one. It just looks awesome.

Does Arwen's or FWE changes to limb damage conflict with Advanced Cripple Effects (ACE v2.1)? Do people usually have ACE enabled with those overhaul mods?

FWE uses it's own limb damage and enhanced crippling system, plus it's integrated triage system. Haven't seen many people use ACE with FWE, I personally wouldn't recommend it, you'd be worse off.

My Realism Tweaks are not compatible with ACE, as I alter many of the same settings. But in a way that is balanced with my other changes; and my mod goes way beyond what ACE does:
- Modified Crippled Speed Penalties: now 40% slower walking/running with one crippled leg and 60% slower with both legs crippled [default values were messed up, giving less penalty with two crippled legs than with just one].
- Adjusted Combat Knockdowns so that characters will now be knocked down when they sustain less damage to their health.
- Increased Crippled Torso Stagger Chance to 90% . . . so bullets will now appear to hurt you (and be a bit disabling).
- Pain now has greater effect on player - you will now feel like you're actually in pain.
- Increased Head Cripple Penalty: perception is reduced a lot more when you are suffering from a concussion . . . you'll actually now black out for a few seconds.
- Decreased shooting accuracy when arms are crippled (this now also affects NPCs as well as the player; doubled the NPC maximum gun wobble, when their arms are crippled).
- Crippled Arms now have a much greater combat penalty. Two-handed, non-melee weapons are disabled when arms are crippled. You can still use Melee Weapons, but they will now do much less damage. (This will also make unarmed combat when your arms are crippled result in not being able to inflict any damage at all.)