There is a , but I just started playing around with mods, and wanted to start a thread to discuss good, and bad mods, as well as list the essentials.

I'll update the first post with useful links from others.

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WHERE TO FIND MODS


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ESSENTIAL
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Increases the radio tracks on GNR to 100, seamlessly, and increases the number of tunes between ThreeDog's chatter from 3 to 6.
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Needed in the background to enable a lot of mods to run.
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Uses a PC screen better, improving scrollbars, font size, and combining stats/rad screen info onto a single panel.

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GOOD
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Adds a very nice coat hat a shades set, purchasable at a high price, but with nice buffs. Might be overpowered for a first time playthrough.
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Modifies the mercenary armour, making mercs a bit tougher to fight, but also making their armour worth using. Better yet, it adds items to the repair list, so you finally have uses for a lot of the junk you find.

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BAD
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Intended to work around a bug where the quest "You Gotta Shoot'em in the Head." is auto completed when you complete Operation: Anchorage. Unfortunately, since the game doesn't know I have the expansion until I've signed in, which I can't do until I boot up the game, having this mod active causes a crash to desktop everytime for me.

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Anything you want to add or change in this list?

Arabin

The GNR More where that came from is a great mod. At least I think that is the one I have.

I searched and can not find the Mod on Nexus, but it is the Wonder Mole Rat meat machine. Just allows you to take the machine back to your place from the metro.

Other than that I have not picked any other mod as too many of them either don't fit in or are just too powerful and unbalance the game.

F.O.O.K. - increased lethality, more weapons, more armor - very modular.
F.O.M.M. - Fallout Mod Manager
MMM - Martigans Mutant Mod - more critters, more spawns, increased lethality.
CALIBR - The ability to scavenge ammo to make different ammos.
F.O.I.P. - A series of compatibility mods for integrating many of the above mods with each other.

One that is a bit of a cheat, but one that fits the scenarios - Power Rmor Training - adds alternate methods of learning how to use power armor, including Linden in Oasis - who gives you a suit in the vanilla game, but doesn't show you how to wear it. (Spoilers are hidden.)

Not so vital, but fun - KBAT, Radio Blues, Drama Radio, and Cruck Super Mutant Talk Radio Thing - a whole bunch of radio stations that have been added. Drama Radio has Space Patrol episodes, brought to you by Wheat Chex! Rice Chex! And Good Hot Ralston! back in the 1950s.

The Auld Grump

Whoops - I forgot Brahmin Bess. A pack Brahmin that carries camping equipment that includes such things as a portable tent, workbench, bed, chair, and campfire. A must for those who live a scavenger's life.

Once recruited she can be summoned to your current location with a cowbell. She is in no way a combat creature, so best to call her to a place once it is safe. And while she can carry a lot she does not have infinite capacity.

The Auld Grump

Having trouble finding links to some of the mods mentioned. Any chance you could include a link when suggesting a mod?

I am very interested in more radio stations. Even with 100 songs, GNR can get repetitive. I just helped an old lady out, and have been listening to her violin broadcast which is nice.

Added -
This mod modifies the mercenary armour, making mercs a bit tougher to fight, but also making their armour worth using. Better yet, it adds items to the repair list, so you finally have uses for a lot of the junk you find.

Arabin

Great mod - adds 120 weapons, and a lot more lethality.
Adds critters, increases spawns, and adds lethality.
Community Ammunition Library Beta Release[/url] Attempts to make ammo compatible between weapons modes.
. Adds ammunition schematics so you can make your own ammo.
Fallout Interoperability Program - an attempt to make many of the mods out there compatible.
Now with more cowbell! Brahmin Bess is a pack Brahmin, and carries a camp with her for when you need a place out of the wastes.
- one of the addons is the one I mentioned above for Linden.
- A utility to make it easier to use mods.
- if you want to play the bad guy, why not go all the way. Carpet bombing, vertibird troop drops, strafing runs, and fast travel. A great mod that I am never going to use.
Makes companions, and more importantly Caravans essential. With the increased lethality of FOOK and MMM merchants have a nasty tendency to die early in the game, which only gets worse as time passes.
Community Resources to Allow Fan Tinkering - still a work in progress.
Picking up too many rads can be bad for the complexion....

Two good companion mods-

- better programmed companions than the ones included in vanilla Fallout. (And with the increased lethality of FOOK and MMM you will appreciate having them around.)

For more radio stations search Radio on which also hosts all the above mentioned mods.

And for those who agree with Rule 37: There is no "overkill." There is only "open fire" and "time to reload." there comes the .

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* And because you asked for it - .


And, when you have had enough Patriotism - , so you can shoot the darned thing when President Eden starts speaking....

I wish some one would make a ridable motorbike!! And one for a companion as well. You need to be able to shoot from it

Very cool links there Grump. Combine the spinning wheels with this beta of a bike you can actually ride and the future looks bright indeed...



Incidentally, I wish I had the skills to make a Judge Dredd mod for the game. I would need help on the meshes for the Lawmaster (bike) model, and the uniform. I might try playing with the textures for the pistols though and see if I can get something to look like a Lawgiver.

Arabin

Heh - I was listening to my room mate cussing the sky blue while trying to put something together in GECK. I don't think that I have ever heard him swear that much at one time.

The Auld Grump, who did not help matters by laughing....

Not essential, but kind of cool, - a theater that actually plays old movies.

Two warnings - there is a corpse dangling in front of the screen - it can be dealt with by entering the console ( ~ ), selecting it, and typing in setscale 0.1, reducing it to a point where it is no longer in the way.

The other problem is that you are expected to go in and kill all the raiders. For some reason the raiders are all friendly, and talk to you as though you were one of their own. (So 'You! Yeah, you! What are you lookin at!' translates to 'Hi, nice day, isn't it?') You don't need to kill them to get the theater running, so I just assume that they are a bunch of raider wannabes, who, for whatever reason, have decided to renovate an old theater....

There are a couple of classic Betty Boop movies, some PSAs of what to do in the event of nuclear attack, and a few other things as well.

The Auld Grump

Ran across a topic on - J3X, responsible for the excellent Enclave Commander (best mod that I will never use) has released his bikes. Apparently you can mount miniguns on them....

The Auld Grump
*EDIT* And flamers, and Gatling Lasers....

That would be great if some of the raiders would start riding them. Wasteland Warriors motorcycle gang! Terror of the Wastes!

I like it and may try it without the mini-guns. Thanks for the heads up.

I would like to find some good quests. Most of what is in Nexus is just Meh.

I was interested in the Rileys Rangers mods, but they changed the armor to black, which I do not like. Is there any good Riley's Rangers Mods out there? I have the Riley's Rangers Power Armor mod.

It would be great to see some Mods for that group, random missions like caravan guard, search and destroy missions, retrieving missions and the like.

Broken Steel is out now, has been for a couple of weeks... but I haven't bought it yet. Have you guys tried it?

I don't use many mods, but the patch that needs to be applied for Broken Steel to work is reported to break little things like .ESP files... which breaks most mods.

I haven't heard any good news about another patch to fix that, so I'm holding off on Broken Steel for now.

Arabin

Reinstalling the game - again.

A choice I need to make, three good, but incompatible mods:
FOOK 1.7 - an older version of FOOK, that does not include the horrible Phalanx system. The downside is that it messes with everything. (This may end up being the one I run with, by default.)

20th Century Weapons - a wide assortment of weapons, and with Calibre it also has/requires a wide assortment of ammo. The downside is the existence of fully automatic Barret .50 sniper rifles.* (Too much of a good thing, a game breakingly good thing.)

Weapon Mod Kits - a mod of weapon mods, for the weapons from the vanilla game. Silencers, scopes, extended magazines.... The downside is that you are stuck with the weapons from the vanilla game. Something eerily similar is going to be integral to Fallout: New Vegas.

What would other folks run with, and why?

The Auld Grump
* I have fired a Barret.... Ow. A fully automatic Barret would be like using a jackhammer with your shoulder.

Well, it is a .50 cal....

Mind you, I have fired black powder guns that had more kick, but trust me, you feel it when the Barrett fires.

The things look like cheap pieces of crap - simple brake folds to much of the metal, never a curve when a straight line will do.

But they aren't cheap, what they are is brutally direct. I also like the Barrett REC7 - a nice dodge in regards to entering the design contest. Not the gun that you will eventually have, but a great mod to extend the field life of the guns you already have. (And one that can be done in the field, by the soldiers.)

As for the it fires what?! (Spycraft added a new weapon Quality for the gun - Punishing. The shells are an inch across... and explode.)

The Auld Grump

Not so much a mod as a

Kane...Thanks for the heads up...I was going to buy the GOTY edition anyway...this was a good price...However...

I cant get it to run under Windows 7 (64bit Home premium)

I have reinstalled it into both my C drive and my games drive..Updated drivers updated .net framework, made sure the game was up to date, tried compatibility modes in Vista and XP and tried to run it in Admin mode.
I can get to the launcher screen every time...click play and the message Fallout 3 has stopped working pops up after about 15 seconds .

I have also tried it with AV and Firewall off...no joy.
Is anyone successfully running the steam version under W7?

Thanks if you can help

Huh. I'm running Win7 64-bit and it runs beautifully. Have you updated your graphics driver?

First thing i did...

Still no joy, and I tried disabling sound as well...I am eliminating possibilities