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There are a few mods that I feel deserve special mention because they have changed my Fallout 3 experience from a so-so game into an eye-pleasing experience.

For basic eye candy, I have the following:

• Terrain Pack
• Rocks Add-on Pack
• Megaton Texture Pack
• Rivet City Texture Pack
• Fellout
• Green World
• Clear Skies

The only caution is that the texture packs come in several resolutions due to potential performance problems.

Changing my PIPBoy into a more pleasing in-game map is something that I've wanted to do ever since I was horrified by it's appearance when I first opened it up.  After my FC2 map experience, I couldn't believe that the FO3 version appeared so bad, and I almost put the game away.

I found a "Hi-Detailed" color map replacement for the in-game ugly green one. I installed it, but at first was disappointed because it looked so green in comparison to the images I'd seen online so I investigated further and discovered that all I needed to do was change my HUD to white from green and the map appeared in all it's splendor.

I've always been perplexed as to why you'd want to see those ugly scan lines (the kind you used to see when computer monitors were first developed), and was delighted to find another mod that did away with the scan lines altogether.

With the combination of the two mods, I now have an eye-pleasing PIPBoy map that suits my gaming style  ;)

The Underground Hideout is my favorite of the functional mods, and I was really excited to explore it's potential.  I've still yet to discover everything it is capable of, especially because the author just came out with an update for the new DLC on 11-10-09!

One of my favorite features is the ability to teleport to and from the hideout even during battle.  If you ever enjoyed playing in a "fort" when you were a kid, you'll love this mod.

I've installed several mods to increase the spawn rate and increase the number of NPCs in the game.   Those NPCs include both hostile and friendly varieties, and it is lots of fun now to be wandering through the wasteland that is much more alive with people (and creatures) to interact with.  Just the other day a "friendly" picked my pocket of 125 bottle caps - what a cheeky chap!  Naturally I donned the fists and taught him a lesson.  ;D

I mentioned in the other long thread about the wasteland revisited mod. if you install it, you must check out the names of the burned books you find all over the place, and some of the gore bags in Mute areas are hilarious! also look for new and valuable chems like Vitamin c, d, military grade morphine, and others. on and caps, and ammo are drastically increased.

PZ, I've read through all the stuff you managed to post about. And knowing the source, I dare say you did an extremely good job leaving the crap and diging up good stuff.  :-X

However, I think I might use only very very few, like the underground hideout (useful) and I'm going to check on the Free Play after MQ (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1150.msg17432#msg17432) mod that allows you to play on after the main quest (or, the vanilla game) is over. Additionally, I think I'll use one more mod that populates the world a little.

But in the end, all I really need is my own mod  ;D (because most of the stuff other mods do can be achieved with cheat codes)

Thanks Art - and some of the mods I posted and have not had the chance to investigate yet are probably going to be junk too, but they are there in the mean time for anyone that is willing to take the plunge.

Some of the issues I've had with FO3 are the textures, and the replacement/additional textures are what make the game play more interesting to me.  I'll keep posting and trying the interesting mods and report the results here so anyone having a cursory interest in the game might benefit from a few good mods.

What I can say in all honesty is that this is the first game that I've purchased since FC2 that has held my interest for more than a relatively short while - in fact, I'm almost as excited to get back to FO3 as I originally was with FC2!  (I just love experimenting with mods and the exploring the outcome  ;D )

You're doing a bang-up job trying out and reporting on the various mods for FO3, PZ :-X

I'm following these posts because as soon as I'm finished with Modern Warfare 2 (which shouldn't be too long now) I'm gonna stretch the finances a little and get this one. It sounds like a ripper of a game, once it's been modded up some.

Thanks for the wealth of info, from you and all the other members who are contributing :)

I agree PZ, about FO3 being such a great game, really in many ways its FC2's equal, but with more depth of storyline, and mission variety. 8)

I wouldnt have said that the original pipboy or game look would have made me put this game down tho. it's just too much fun to play, even in its vanilla form. ;) The mods do add to the interest, although i decided to turn off the wasteland revisited mod temporarily, as it did add a lot of value to scrounging around(good) but seemed to mess with stimpack value(really high) and render radaways virtually useless, so i had to find a Doc to cure a mild case of rad poisoning. :-\

My pipboy screen does look more colourful now, but doesnt look as good as yours. I suspect it may be because i have my in game textures set to large because i dont have enough of a  powerhouse system.

@ Fragger, i HIGHLY recommend FO3, its really really a blast, with or without mods. 8)

I think it's just great the devs of Bethesda allowed the players to change the game to their heart's content. The GECK (modder kit) was already part of the game engine that was used for Oblivion, which is equally cool.

I like to do my own modding, and that usually only meets basic needs: Planet Killer Weapons, Nuke-Proof Armour. And perhaps some fun stuff, like changing the looks of particular NPCs. That's why my own mod is so small, two monstrous weapons, dogmeat immortal, Charon makes me laugh whenever I see and hear him, and Fawkes immortality was just in case I wanted to swap buddies. Fawkes is quite fun to walk around with, too :)

The rest... I like what Bethesda created. I don't need to change anything, I didn't even patch the game, because the few bugs addressed in the patch never really happened to me, apart from a crash or three, but well, those are rare cases and a crash might still happen even after the patch.

The only thing I didn't like much about FO3, compared to Oblivion, was the lack of choice of own homes. Either Megaton or Tenpenny's. In Oblivion, you had several cities and you could purchase a home in every one of them. I had like 8 houses I think, and they all had different aspects. That was cool :) And that's why I think I'll stick with that UHO mod.

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I just "survived" the MainQuest with that Free Play after MQ (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1150.msg17432#msg17432) mod :)

I've just installed the MTC Wasteland Travelers (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1150.msg17253#msg17253) mod now, and hahaha, I was quite amused to see that Prime robot was still alive and furthermore, started killing those settlers  :-X ;D ;D ;D

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On a sidenote, for some reason now Charon and dogmeat entered the UHO on their own. Right after installing that traveller mod. :) Oh, and Wadsworth left the UHO, saw him float away on the streets, probably headed back to my Megaton house.  ;D

I've been wandering around DC with my bud Charon the indestructable. ;) To my ears Charon's voice sounds just like Krusty the Klown from The Simpson's, so its weird hearing him grunt away behind me, "grrr eerrr grrrm  there is danger here" ;D We finally completed the mish to help the ex slaves re unite Lincoln's body with his lost head, and then wandered into the Museum Of Technology and met up with a rather good looking female scientist who i swear was suicidal, as she kept running on ahead of us to take on Mutes with her "special" 10mm smg(nothing compared to yours Art) i had to re load quicksaves several times after she kept getting killed, as i was trying to get her thru the mish, but finally i got fed up, and let her die, and took her gun. >:(

The buddies i've had seem to like to run on ahead of me, while i wander around scavenging every cap, or bit of ammo, and loot i can from each room, but at least Charon is pretty much undamagable. :-X While i had the "Wasteland Revisited" mod activated i made a ton of caps. I think im up to 43,000 right now, but i didnt like the negative effects on rad healing, so i deactivated it for now.

Beware the Statesman Hotel building. it's difficult to find your way around there, but a word to the wise, before you head up to the roof level, make sure you have a fission battery with you. ;) I've been trying to navigate my way around DC, but im finding it a bit frustrating to get from here to there with seemingly every street blocked by rubble. >:(

Mods currently in use...

Megaton Lighting
Megaton expansion
Wasteland settlers
pipboy anti scan lines and better colours
Underground Hideout
.50 cal sniper
12 extra weapons
Art mod
Vault 101 sealed wing
Fellout SOTD
Starry sky
Vault 101 army convoy wreck
Combat Overhaul
Better Crosshair ( i cant get that 1 to w@&k for some reason)

I don't like those debris road blocks either. Every time I see something I'd like to check out, I find myself being blocked. Then again, after a while you find your way around. It is useful to switch on your pipboy and change from world map to local map. Then you can identify dead ends, given you had been there already. Else, it's all greyed out until you walk along those streets.

I use those few mods:

Art mod
MTC wasteland travellers
Underground Hideout
Free Play after MQ.

I have to admit, with all those mods (see my edit in the previous post) the game is a lot more fun. Thanks guys, especially PZ, who got me into all that  ;D :-X

Oh, JRD... FO3 has a lunar phase! Not allways full moon  :-X

Quote from: PZ on November 13, 2009, 10:12:34 AM

• Fellout
• Green World
• Clear Skies

PZ, the readme of Fellout states it works well with green world yet cannot w@&k with clear skies. Are you using both at the same time?

If so, I guess one mod dominates, rendering the other one useless, at best.

The green world combined with fellout's sky and light/night... great and major changes.  :-X

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I've just recovered... from laughing so hard... the human catapult is ACE  ;D ;D ;D I've sent some monsters, mutants, raiders flying away, hilarious! Just need to remember to remove the killer shades first lol  :) :) :)

The Underground HideOut is fantastic. Now I can see all weapons (just found the last one hehe)  :-X

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I think this pic shows how different a modded FallOut3 can be, and I admit I do like it :)

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Wow! That green world mod looks quite dramatic! Im using fellout sotd and clear skies atm. Art you said that greenworld and clear skies dont w@&k together, but that last pic looks pretty much like all three working to me. :-X BTW do you think that greenworld would slow down the frame rates a lot?  I already have some stuttering outside here and there. >:(

That night vision is cool - can't wait to try that one out.  Seems like there is lots of experimenting with the mods - good to see because it really is quite a bit of fun.  The added benefit is that we're testing things that will make it easier for each of us to decide which mods we want to use. 

To modify Fiach's excellent phrase a little bit:

OWG gamers - testing FO3 mods so you don't have to

Quote from: Ricamundo on November 16, 2009, 02:42:06 AMdo you think that greenworld would slow down the frame rates a lot?  I already have some stuttering outside here and there

Well, green world adds trees. Probably. Stutters can be caused by loads of different factors, so the best advice would be: Just do it, Rica  :) Maybe it doesn't cause stutters :) If it does, check your vid setup in the game options, reduce quality if possible (like texture size), and if nothing helps, remove the mod.

---

Ricamundo,
and PZ,

The readme of Fellout (Rica: Fellout's readme, not green world's) states that Fellout works great with green world.
The readme of Fellout states it can never w@&k with clear skies.

---

PZ, I still don't know if you are using them together.
Rica, I know you do (and PZ, if you do), I recommend you use the same savegame (ie quicksave) to test this:

1) Use all mods as you did, then check the environment. I'd prefer a save at half day/night, like dusk or dawn.

2) Disable clear sky, enable Fellout. Reload that savegame, and check again. Differences?

3) Enable clear sky, disable Fellout. Reload that savegame, and check again. Differences?

4) change the load order in FOMM. (clear sky before Fellout, or if that is the current order, change to Fellout before clear sky)

5) now repeat 1), 2) and 3)

That should show if it works together or not.

Please let me know, both of you chaps :)

Ill have to try that Fellout/Clear sky test tomorrow. I did try Greenworld, but i had even more stuttering so i switched it off. :-\ More importantly, i installed FOSE, but after i started the game with FOSE, as u must, even with the FOMM launcher, i had a very unstable game. In the space of a few minutes, i had 2 CTD's and a freeze up that forced me to turn off the power bar and reboot everything. >:(

Once i deleted all the FOSE files from my FO3 folder, i restarted (Greenworld still off) and played several hours with no problems.(I am doing the Pitt mod atm).

Hmm... I don't think it's got to do with FOSE, I reckon it was something else. As far as I am aware, there are no issues with FOSE (haven't seen any complaints). Maybe try it again? Don't start FO3 with FOSE, but with FOMM, which indeed will launch FOSE for you, and that will launch the game.

Just on a sidenote, when I first got FOSE and FOMM, I had uncountable CTDs. I had to try it the hard way: Disable all mods, then enable them one by one, until the CTD happened again. Loads of trial and error runs, and in the end I found out it was the optional MTC wasteland travellers for cities. It never worked again, no matter the load order. It used to w@&k before that, however.

Here's a bit of information that might be useful regarding mods, etc.

• Adjust the order in which the mods are loaded - I recall some of them saying that if not loaded properly, the game will crash.
• As Art said, turn off the mods one at a time to find the offending mod, but with this twist (I learned the hard way) - disable the mod, load a saved game that you can sacrifice, save the game, and then reload it again.  One time I'd installed a mod that caused game crashes and after removing all of them, the crashes still occurred!  Loading and then immediately saving a game fixed the problem, and in fact allowed me to reactivate all of the mods (even the newest one) with success.  Evidently, something had occurred to corrupt my saved game file.
• Also as Art recommended, always start your game with FOMM (I seriously doubt that FOSE causes any problems) and ensure that you play with the load order of the mods.  Be sure to do the load/save technique above.
  

Quote from: Art Blade on November 15, 2009, 04:01:51 PM
The green world combined with fellout's sky and light/night... great and major changes.  :-X

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Who is the chap that looks like George Washington?

"my" Charon (Art Mod)  ;D - using Tenpenny's suit and the wig you get off of a protectron robot called Button Gwinett, to be found in the National Archives (a quest leads you there)

I thought he'd look great in front of "Rebuilding America's Future"  ;D

 :-X :-X

Quote from: PZ on November 16, 2009, 01:17:01 PM
(I learned the hard way) - disable the mod, load a saved game that you can sacrifice, save the game, and then reload it again.  One time I'd installed a mod that caused game crashes and after removing all of them, the crashes still occurred!  Loading and then immediately saving a game fixed the problem, [...] Evidently, something had occurred to corrupt my saved game file.

FANTASTIC! Just did that. Now the cities are again populated by the optional mod.  :-X :-X :-X

Glad to be of service  ;)

it was so helpful, you get another applaud from me, and I added that quote to the first post of FO3 mods topic.  :-X

And to deadman, the man who started that mod topic  ;D ;D ;D :-X

Quote from: Art Blade on November 15, 2009, 05:34:18 PM
The Underground HideOut is fantastic. Now I can see all weapons (just found the last one hehe)  :-X

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You're too kind!  :)

I agree completely - the hideout is one of my favorites, but then I still like small cockpit-style spaces, and I love all the weapons you have on the wall.  There is an updated version of the hideout mod by the way. 

I just managed to kill a super mutant this last week which game me a laser Gatling gun - that one is really cool.

Cheers. :)

I wonder, if we have an old version of UHO, does changing to a newer one crash the savegame or will we lose stuff in the lockers? Argh :)

I guess it's all in the readme again. Going to check, I'm not sure which version I've got, and what the modder says about upgrading :)

/Edit: I started with 3.3, so no update. And yes, the author tells you if you need to take care of something, like DLC or non-DLC version (I've got the latter)

Yes, thanks for the reminder - I recall some sort of caution where you are instructed to take all of your weapons off the wall, but I don't recall the specifics at the moment. I didn't take the weapons off, but did a new install.  (However, it did not affect my meager collection of weapons.)  Maybe it is best that you just don't care about saved games - once I had that attitude, I've rarely had problems!  ;D

lol, you posted 10 seconds earlier than me!!

read up, I was editing, again :) lol

Quote from: PZ on November 16, 2009, 01:17:01 PM
Here's a bit of information that might be useful regarding mods, etc.

• Adjust the order in which the mods are loaded - I recall some of them saying that if not loaded properly, the game will crash.
• As Art said, turn off the mods one at a time to find the offending mod, but with this twist (I learned the hard way) - disable the mod, load a saved game that you can sacrifice, save the game, and then reload it again.  One time I'd installed a mod that caused game crashes and after removing all of them, the crashes still occurred!  Loading and then immediately saving a game fixed the problem, and in fact allowed me to reactivate all of the mods (even the newest one) with success.  Evidently, something had occurred to corrupt my saved game file.
• Also as Art recommended, always start your game with FOMM (I seriously doubt that FOSE causes any problems) and ensure that you play with the load order of the mods.  Be sure to do the load/save technique above.
  

Thx for the tips, but i cant stand an unstable system. :D As far as starting the game, when FOSE was installed, i did bring up the FOMM window, which i use, and the start button in FOMM said Launch FOSE. Now it says Launch Fallout, like before.

As for lauch order, Fallout is listed as 00 with other mods starting as 01, 02, etc, but they are not in order from top to bottom. Is this ok, or do they have to be in order from top to bottom or does it matter?

I really dont want to bother with all that testing tbh. My game runs ok, with about 20 mode running, including a couple of settlements/bases out in the wasteland that Charon and I havent even found yet. 8) Oh, and btw, Fellout and Clear Sky seem to w@&k ok together, but unfortunately Greenworld is too much for my system, i think.

The clear sky... I heard/read about it, and I think it is at least abundant and thus obsolete if you use fellout. Fellout produces very blue skies and clear nights with stars... also cloudy and windy weathers... So, I don't see why you should want to use it together with Fellout :) Maybe THAT causes your problems, combining those two mods that should not be combined ;)

I've not really sorted it all out yet myself - but the ones that significantly change the game (like sounds, graphics, etc), I load lower in the list (later in the loading order) so that they take priority over anything loaded earlier.  For example, if you loaded the main fallout graphics after a mod that loaded it's own textures, the original fallout textures might be the ones used rather than the modded ones.

The mods that are simple settings changes or make use of existing resources can probably be placed anywhere in the order.

Good to know about the clear sky mod - although I've it loaded with fellout and it is not causing problems, it sounds like it is a waste based on your report.

yeah, even if they can co-exist, they may still have bits and pieces that mix oddly. How well the Fellout mod works, regarding skies, can be observed in my screenshots above. :)

I have now added those hi-res environment textures, the scan lines remover, the hi-res colour map. None of which uses an .esp (mod file) but adds stuff to the data folder.

I say! Nice one, PZ  :-X

I want to add that using the program -- what a mouthful -- "ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated"  really makes life much easier. Now all the textures w@&k, no more flickering images etc. And no manually messing around with editing some kine of ini files. Just great, especially noticeable with the UHO mod, the teleporter device and the aquarium in your quarters. What a difference :) Just add a mod, and ignore all the readme stuff about how to edit the invalidationblahblah file entries  :-X

Something else, I think the lights in Megaton look good. I didn't test the mod that enhances the lights there, so here you can see Megaton at night (clear nightsky with stars... using Fellout, not clear skies).

I'd like to compare that with the lights mod. So I just downloaded it.

Not a huge difference, but clearly, there are some parts that do have more light. :)


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Good w@&k Art - I was wondering if the lights mod would make that much difference. I really like the scan lines removed and the color map, particularly with the amber PIPBoy (makes the colors stand out).  The mod writer did a good job with the colored icons too.

By the way, what graphics card settings are you using when playing FO3?

In-game setting "Texture size =Large". Gfx settings all maxed out. Both game and driver side. Plus, "my specialty," always V-Sync ON, AA OFF, AF OFF.

edit, sorry. I force V-Sync to be ON. :)

Thanks, I was experiencing lag which I should not be considering that Bethesda recommends the graphics card I'm using.

the lag may be caused by those large texture packs you downloaded, like the environment, rocks, roots, streets stuff kind of thing. The bigger the textures (the higher the resolution of textures), the more likely it is to experience lags. However, FO3 tends to lag a little once and then, but usually not constantly. Easiest way to get rid of lag is to change from inside locations to outside locations, or vice versa, which clears the buffers.

Or, type "pcb" (purge cell buffers) into the console and hit enter :)

Quote from: Art Blade on November 16, 2009, 06:03:15 PM
I want to add that using the program -- what a mouthful -- "ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated"  really makes life much easier. ...

Yes, this is an excellent application that you mostly use only once and negates the need to edit an ArchiveInvalidation.txt file.  The only thing I would add is that one of the mods I recently installed recommend toggling ArchiveInvalidation off and then back on to complete the installation.  If you installed a mod that requires that applet or are having problems getting it to w@&k, you might try this technique.

Quote from: Art Blade on November 17, 2009, 11:33:06 AM
the lag may be caused by those large texture packs you downloaded, like the environment, rocks, roots, streets stuff kind of thing. The bigger the textures (the higher the resolution of textures), the more likely it is to experience lags. However, FO3 tends to lag a little once and then, but usually not constantly. Easiest way to get rid of lag is to change from inside locations to outside locations, or vice versa, which clears the buffers.

It is strange but the game has had the lag ever since I first installed it, even without mods of any kind.  I'll try your settings to see if that makes a difference with my rig.

again, we posted too quickly, I edited that post: Type PCB into the console :) And I too have lags, sometimes

Thanks, we also have a mod that is supposed to clear the buffers, but I didn't notice anything significant in the way of improvement.  However, I changed the game settings to default through the FO3 vanilla launcher (the application checked my hardware) and it did away with all of the lag (or so it seems) - have not had a chance to really play enough for a definitive opinion though.

I usually find the defaults are a little too conservative. Like, they'd suggest to set up a game to a mixture of mid and high values. I don't check the games anymore, I just switch almost every time everything to something like ultra high and neither the game nor the rig seem to suffer. But my eyes, when I stick to "default"  ;D I do accept a few lags in exchange of a great ultra high setup. The only exception would have been online shooters, where speed is the key, and lag is equal to suicide. But I don't play online shooters any more :)

cheers, will keep that in mind :)

edit, oops -- forgot to quote ;) it is related to:

Quote from: PZ on November 17, 2009, 11:34:45 AM
The only thing I would add is that one of the mods I recently installed recommend toggling ArchiveInvalidation off and then back on to complete the installation.  If you installed a mod that requires that applet or are having problems getting it to w@&k, you might try this technique.

Quote from: Art Blade on November 17, 2009, 10:40:25 AM
In-game setting "Texture size =Large". Gfx settings all maxed out. Both game and driver side. Plus, "my specialty," always V-Sync OFF, AA OFF, AF OFF.

So Large textures use less resources? I think mine were set to medium, so ill try large. I am experienceing a fair amount of stuttering when walking around in the wasteland, and not so much in city environments and none inside. It does tend to get annoying tho, as i dont think my settings are particularly high. I have a couple of questions for you guys.

In the main video setting window i have V-sync off now, as per Art's post. it was on. Will that help and will it be noticed?

There's something called HDR which is on. What is it, and if i turn it off, will it help with the stuttering?

One aspect of the graphics which i would like to tweak, is that out in the open, people, and objects, like building arent visible until i get quite close to them. Then they suddenly appear. I looked at the advanced tab and it has several setting for view distance. Have you guys adjusted these setings and did it slow down frame rates or what?

I'm not sure about the large textures thing - nor really much about any of the graphics tweaks (except for the AA and AF that is often mentioned as killing performance).  Also, the farther away you want to be able to see, the more difficult it is for your graphics card to do the w@&k.

On my machine, which is relatively peppy, I was experiencing significant performance problems which were fixed by clicking the Default button in the FO3 (vanilla) launcher.  This caused an applet to start which examined my hardware and chose the best settings for my machine automatically.  Then I went in and manually played with different settings each time starting the game to see how things were affected.  Interestingly, I was able to achieve outstanding performance plus stunning graphics detail even though my settings at the end were not much different that the settings I was using when experiencing the problems.  I have no idea why the performance improved, but clicking that default button did the trick for me.

I guess the large textures option reserves more memory for large textures which should prevent your pc from using the HD too often. But I don't know that for sure.

HDR is responsible for fancy and drastic light effects, using quite a bit of graphics power but of course adds a lot to the look & feel of the game. So it is a good idea to uncheck HDR if you've got a low spec vid card. Same goes for "bloom" wich for example causes windows or water to reflect light.

V-Sync Off? Really? I was mistaken LOL, sorry, going to edit that away, it's always forced ON  ;D

V-Sync means the vid card waits until the screen is filled with a picture (frame) until it loads the next frame. This is important only during movements, especially quick movements. Imagine you look at a tree, then quickly turn to the right to see what's there. If you turn V-Sync off, you might experience effects like the upper half of your screen already shows the area you intended to see after your turning, while the lower half still shows the tree you have been looking at just an instance before. Turning V-Sync ON means you might experience a not so quick turn (a little lag perhaps) but you will see a "clean" turn, no half trees. :)

The drawing distance, as PZ mentioned, will affect your performance, the farther you see, the more memory for textures and objects will be used and the vid card will start sweating a little :) If you've got a low spec vid card, you should prefer a not so far viewing distance. The game has lots of sliders for the gfx, try experimenting with those "fade" sliders. Supposedly the more fading, the less "pop ups" of characters and objects. Fade = smooth :)

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I enjoy travelling around the wastelands with my companions. There's Washington DC in the background, and a silly looking dogmeat up front ;D

lol, he looks like a hairy pig!

LOL

Yeah, he doesn't look too clever, does he  ;D I though that it was so funny, how he looks, I had to capture and upload that beast  ;D

I guess you wonder, how the heck did he do that. Well, I waited until the good dog barked (sometimes he does that, it's one of a couple of idle animations) and hit the screenshot button while he was right at it  :) Got him in a rather unfavourable moment, which made me laugh  ;D

Hehe ;D ;D

It looks like you're dangling a chew-toy in front of him... or someone's arm... ;D

hehe yeah :) or, as if he was about to sneeze his brains out any second now  ;D

Quote from: Ricamundo on November 18, 2009, 03:47:50 AM

Quote from: Art Blade on November 17, 2009, 10:40:25 AM
In-game setting "Texture size =Large". Gfx settings all maxed out. Both game and driver side. Plus, "my specialty," always V-Sync ON, AA OFF, AF OFF.

So Large textures use less resources? [...]

One aspect [...] i would like to tweak, is that [...] objects, [...] arent visible until i get quite close to them. Then they suddenly appear.[...]

Sorry for cutting the quote, but that is the essence:

- Again, V-Sync ON, see my previous post dealing with that.

- Large textures: The settings of FO3 offer low, mid and large texture options. Low means, you get a LOT less of details. That should speed up the game a lot. Large = maximum detailed textures and more resources (may cause lag)

- visibility of objects: I tested those "fade" sliders in the settings of FO3. I had them all maxed out, using the right arrow to fill the slider, as in no fading at all. That caused the game to draw far objects and light and everything. Also, this causes some objects to "pop up" in the distance. Now, I did the extreme opposite. All sliders to the left, as in maximum fading. Everything seems to slowly filter through a wall of mist and darkness, that wall being rather close to me. That caused even a door not 20yds away to be invisible until I approached it. It's like you're inside a bubble of light and clearness, and beyond that, everything is in the mists. So, if you want to reduce stutter and GPU usage, you should try and test setting your game towards the left end of the fading sliders.

Hope that helps, Ricamundo :)

Thx Art, that does explain it nicely. I'll definately be tweaking a few things when i start the next playthru.

great :)

you know, should you still suffer lags, it may be a good idea to switch V-Sync to "off" (yes, this time I mean "off" ;) ) because the v-sync (on) will sometimes make the game "wait" for the frame to fill, so that may be a stutter, whereas no v-sync will allow the game to show everything "on the fly" meaning no stutter, because the game won't wait to build a complete frame. Yet then you may see those shifted half screens :) I tend to buy complete frames with a possible stutter.

Regarding mod experiences.

Just now I fast-tavelled to the carrier, Rivet City, and looked at a door reading "Door to mercato di Rivet city" and I was close to fainting.

First I suspected it might have been yet another new mod I was testing, I disabled some in FOMM, to no avail, Still Italian infos on doors  :D Then I though heck, let's check every bloody esm first (I've got a prog that allows to open any file as if it was a text file, even if it isn't, and most of the "text" you get to see looks scrambled anyway, but sometimes there is real intelligible language in there. And I found it, in the optional wasteland travellers crowded cities .esp -- the exact file that gave me headaches once before. Disabled it, and woo-hoo, the Italian bits were gone and the good ol' English was back :)

Bloody hell.  ;D

Wow - that's a new one to me - need to check that because I'm using the same mod.

it's the text you get on your mouse cursor when aiming at the straight forward entrance of the carrier.

Hmm, i was using all 3 wasteland travellers mods and i never saw Italian on any door. Weird.

it's only in the "crowded cities" mod that comes alongside of MTC Wasteland Travellers (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1150.msg17253#msg17253)

Quote[V2.1]

    * "Wasteland" not localized Again (I've forget to translate it in the optional files)

OK, i visited Rivet City to re unite the boy in Graveditch with his Aunt who runs the Hotel. I have all the wastland mods running, and I too now have Italian on the doors to the main mall area, and the staircase up and down. Strange. I like the extra people wandering around tho. Rivet City is actually quite crowded. :-X

Yeah, I like the extra people too, and it is kind of funny to see a prompt appear in Italian when everywhere else they are in English  ;D

good to know it's not everywhere. Maybe I'll put it back in :)

It's a pity that the maps don't show all locations. I've just emerged from a sewer expedition, and the exit/entrance is not on the world map (you can see the "door" symbols on the local map though). The world map shows locations no matter where you are, but local maps only in your immediate surroundings.

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[smg id=1695 align=center width=400]

Eee-yewwww... :o

The aircon in my car conked out, I have to have it retro-fitted as the gas it was using is now illegal, and it's gonna cost me a pretty penny to fix (and I really need it at the present time). All this means that I can't afford to blow any dough on new games for a bit, so I won't be able to join you guys in FO3 land for the forseeable future. Especially with Xmas coming on, gotta watch the bucks :D

I'll just have to be content to read about your exploits here. Have fun for me!

Damn, damn, damn... >:(

Sorry to hear that fragger - best of luck with your car!  :-X

Quote from: Art Blade on November 23, 2009, 03:15:40 PM
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I just love the way that the mods have changed the appearance of the ugly original PIPBoy  :-X

There is a perk that allows you to see all the locations on the map, even if you haven't discovered them. I think it's alled "Explorer". Mind tho that DC will be uber crowded with various symbols. :o

Quote from: PZ on November 23, 2009, 10:42:32 PM
Sorry to hear that fragger - best of luck with your car!  :-X

:) Thanks PZ. I'd prevail upon one of my relatives to make me a Christmas present of FO3, but we all decided to keep the gifts modest this year, and as PC game prices are extortionate here, I wouldn't want anyone to spend that sort of dough on me - then I'd feel obligated to do the same! ;D

But I've still got FC2 and some other good games to play with. I really shouldn't be complaining at all - I've got a PC to play games on, a good job, a car, a motorcycle, a wonderful woman, my health, and a lovely house in a sweet corner of the world. All of which is a lot more than a great many people in the world have.

Just another day in paradise, really.

A great atitude to have frag. :-X On an upside about FO3 is that if and when you DO get around to buying it, it'll more than likely be cheaper.

...or sold out.


;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Ricamundo,
   the perk I know, it only allows you to see the stuff you can see on my map (I already have discovered all of the locations. You can also cheat "TMM" which will toggle all map markers -- careful though, it's easy to toggle them all on, but toggle off means ALL off (even Megaton). No, I was referring to sewer exits that look like a huge cut-off pipe with a fence inside, usually they're close to the water. You can't map those, unfortunately, unless someone went through the effort of manually creating map markers for them.

Quote from: Art Blade on November 24, 2009, 11:42:13 AM
...or sold out.


;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Ricamundo,
   the perk I know, it only allows you to see the stuff you can see on my map (I already have discovered all of the locations. You can also cheat "TMM" which will toggle all map markers -- careful though, it's easy to toggle them all on, but toggle off means ALL off (even Megaton). No, I was referring to sewer exits that look like a huge cut-off pipe with a fence inside, usually they're close to the water. You can't map those, unfortunately, unless someone went through the effort of manually creating map markers for them.

Oh i see. You mean they dont get marked? Damn, i found a couple yesterday in DC, but i decided to leave them for later as i wanted to complete a mish. I hope i can find them again. I know there's one near Willem's Wharf.

you can only see those sewer entrances once you've been there, but you can only see them on the local map. That means, only if you are near them, anyway, but you can't see DC's sewer entrances when you are in Megaton, because the world map doesn't mark them and the local map only extends a couple of yards. So, the main downside is, there is no way to fast-travel to them.

Quote from: Art Blade on November 25, 2009, 11:09:19 AM
you can only see those sewer entrances once you've been there, but you can only see them on the local map. That means, only if you are near them, anyway, but you can't see DC's sewer entrances when you are in Megaton, because the world map doesn't mark them and the local map only extends a couple of yards. So, the main downside is, there is no way to fast-travel to them.

Do you suppose that someone might have made a mod to mark new icons on the map?

Should be do-able, I'd think

I hope so, and I think so, but I haven't come across such a modded map.

An interesting thing happened today. charon and i were exploring Old Olny, on a Nuka Cola Quantum hunt, where Dogmeat appeared, still showing as an enemy. >:( Again, we couldnt kill him, so we hi-tailed it outta there. ;)

I picked up a mish to let the Ghouls take over Tenpenny Tower. I was going to let the residents just stay there, but they get on my tits after a while, so i found a way to get the Ghouls in there, without having to kill any of the residents myself.

>>>>SPOILER>>>

I let in the Ghoul who had a pack of ferals in to do all the killin. 8) I then killed the ferals, and looted all the goodies from the safes, and all the hardware from the armory, with small hits on Karma, buut nobody's perfect. ;D

I built my first weapon on a workbench today. The Railway Rifle. I have to say, it took ages to find a pressure cooker, which was the last of 4 or 5 parts you need, plus the scematic, of course. I haven't actually tried it yet, but a 68 damage rating is a bit of a let down.

you can collect up to three schematics of the same gun, each improving the gun.

Good story Ricamundo - goes to show you that the ability to experiment in FO3 is quite similar to what you get in FC2.  In fact, I think there is even more flexibility in FO3.  I recall when in a prior game play that Lucas Simms had been killed by that greasy looking guy, and you remarking that it was a shame because I missed out on a good quest line.  The death of such an important character would greatly change the game - sort of what might happen if Prosper Kouassi died in FC2 - lots different outcome possible.

Quote from: Art Blade on December 01, 2009, 12:07:44 PM
you can collect up to three schematics of the same gun, each improving the gun.

Thx for the tip, Art. I didnt know that. :-X I've always liked megaton for a base of operations, so i've never had the courage to blow it up,even tho your reward from that shady character is a penthouse suite @ Tenpenny Towers. On my 2nd playthru, i disarmed the Megaton bomb as soon as i had enough Ex pts. I think it was Science, and 25 pts is all you needed, then Simms gave me the key to the Megaton house. 8)

Doing that, the shady character never even appeared this time. I have been getting a pile of caps, so i splurged a bit and bought the Pre-war deco pkge for the Meg house from Moira. it's actually pretty nice, plus there were several packs of different foods left on a shelf, including lots of Sugar Bombs, so i'll sell those to the Ghoul in Northwest Seneca Metro, who is making some superchem with it.

I have to recommend the Megaton Expansion mod, which gives you George, a Ghoul gun dealer who runs the Phoenix Arms, just outside the Megaton main gate. He usually has more caps to buy your junk than anyone else. A bonus is he is a gun smith, so there's quite a few modded weapons you can buy. You can also bring him certain weapons from the field that he will upgrade, and give you to use, if you wish. There's an Apothecary around the corner from George, where you can sell booze, Nuka, and several different kinds of critter meat, for caps, although they dont seem to sell any of their concoctions, they never run out of caps. 8) You also get a house, so i have 3 houses in that immediate
area.
 
SPOILER>>>

Has anyone done the mish where you deliver a letter from the girl in Megaton(forget her name) to her family in Arefu? I took it and travelled there, spoke to the old guy who's kind of the leader, met the residents, who were living in

fear of "The Family". A bunch of seemingly peaceful mercs who i found liv

ing in a Metro station nearby. The girl's brother was hanging out with them, but was being kept a virtual prisoner. perhaps i should have left this one till my Speech skill was higher, because when i convinced him that his Sister was alive and wanted to get him back, he decided to leave the Family, but when i retuned to Arefu, they were hostile to me. This has happened both playthru's. Also i cant get the girl in Megaton to acnowledge that I found her Brother and delivered her letter, she only says Hi to me now. Weird.

Thanks for the tips Ricamundo - helpful to make the decision on the expansion pack.

I've never completed the mission you mentioned - I believe her character name is Lucy West.

Quote from: PZ on December 03, 2009, 09:16:21 AM
Thanks for the tips Ricamundo - helpful to make the decision on the expansion pack.

I've never completed the mission you mentioned - I believe her character name is Lucy West.

That's the girl. One other thing about tht Megaton Expansion, is that ever since, i installed it, or perhaps one of the other Meg mods, there's always a dangerous critter outside the main gate. That poor Robot greeter outside Wal-aton is always getting destroyed by a radscorpion or something. ;D

I decided to re try the Greenworld mod today, so we'll see if it makes the stutter noticeably worse or not.

I've played that mish. I spoke to the clan leader of those wannabe-vampires, living in one of the underground stations, and convinced him to let the boy go, and to leave the folks living on the bridge in peace in exchange for blood packs. Everyone was happy with that solution.

I'm trying something new - I have dozens of mods installed, and while the machine is working fine most of the time, I do get crashes on occasion.  I've uninstalled FO3 and have done a fresh install with the main mods such as green world and fellout, plus a few companion mods, sprinting, lighting, etc.  Using FO3Edit, I plan to make the mods w@&k together as a unit.  Evidently FO3Edit is capable of detecting all kinds of conflicts, and even allows you to create your own patch to alleviate those issues.  Then once that part is complete, I should have a stable game which I can then back up just in case something goes wrong.  You can just copy the backed up data over the corrupt data without having to do an install/uninstall.

The only thing I can think of are the various config files. I keep copies and modified versions of them in a different folder. And I make backups of my savegames, occasionally. The game itself shouldn't break, I think it's either a corrupted savegame or a bugged config causing troubles. Apart from the mod files, of course.

I guess that I'm a bit compulsive when it comes to  making the software w@&k correctly - no doubt a legacy from my old programming days.  Clean and tidy!  ;)

I can see a (fictitious) quote by PZ:

Quote"Yes, and if a program is even the slightest bit recalcitrant, I burn the PC case down to the ground."

;D

lol, my wife would say that it is exactly the type of statement I would utter  ;D

lol - don't we know each other quite well here at OWG  :)

We sure do - and in fact, we can often predict which person will be quick to answer based on the game we are discussing - a fine kind of brotherhood  :-X

Art, you managed to convince that head vampire to let the kid go?? I had to kill em all, then i mangaed to convince the kid that his Sister wanted him to come home. But since the peeps over in Arefu hated and feared the Family, why would they hate me for killing the Family vampires?? Next time thru, ill have to wait till my Speech is stronger than it was when i did that mish early on, i guess.

PZ you were still having crashes after using FO3edit? I mean, an uninstall/reinstall is pretty radical treatment. I dont want to jinx myself, but FO3 has been running pretty well since i patched it. I did install Greenworld again after the patch, and it's still running well. Finger's x;ed for both of us. ;)

Only on occasion, and I am probably a bit to compulsive when it comes to how the software runs - I like it to be just perfect.  I did have a couple of crashes, but nothing regular.  The motivation to reinstall was just to tidy up the game folder, which it did.  It was also good to place just my favorite mods, because it starts significantly faster now.

Additionally, I am reading the FO3Edit manual, and it gives instructions on how to simply create patches so that even those mods that don't w@&k well together can be made to behave.

Quote from: Ricamundo on December 04, 2009, 03:20:34 AM
Art, you managed to convince that head vampire to let the kid go??

yes, it's been a while though. I don't know what skill sets you need to handle the situation that way, but I wanted to play "all in" -- so I maxed out every skill set and got every perk I liked and I also switched from angel to devil and neutral, regarding my karma, whenever I thought it might help my decisions. So I cheated my character to be omnipotent, opening up dialogue options of all kinds that depended on various skills, which I all had. :)

ahhhh.... the benefits of entering cheat codes....  ;D

That for me, is the best part of playing on PC  ;)

Indeed :) In this case it saved me from developing various game characters with different sets of skills. All-in-one, I say  ;D

Quote from: Art Blade on November 15, 2009, 05:34:18 PM
The Underground HideOut is fantastic. Now I can see all weapons (just found the last one hehe)  :-X

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You sure do get around finding all those guns  ;)

Underground hideout is one of the best mods I've used, and is also available for FNV.

The only disadvantage of that exposition is that sometimes your weapons fall off the wall if you move around there too closely..  ???? ^-^