User:Notpsion

In a vague attempt to make this page useful, I've created a categorized list of Fallout 3 mods I've used in the past or use now. Please note, I am listing both mods I like and ones I don't - the only criteria is that I've even used it at all. Consider it helpful in getting you pointed in the right direction, not as a checklist. Your tastes may differ, etc. Version numbers indicate which particular version of a mod I've used - mostly marked to indicate some mods may change significantly in newer revisions and may be worth a look to see if there's been an update. Mods that I consider highly useful will be denoted with a small icon, eventually, when I get around to uploading one and using one. Or something. Yes, at this point I'm just padding out this paragraph so the TOC doesn't encroach on the first category on my screen (because I don't care if it does it on yours, but I do if it does it on mine) aaaaaaaand okay I think that's enough.

Before you ask "but ... my immersion???" keep in mind I don't care about it. It's up to you to decide what to install.

That said, if you have any mods you like feel free to suggest them on my talk page - download links always appreciated, of course.

Global Effect
Global Effect mods will alter the entire Wasteland or the entirety of Fallout 3 - Major and Minor are my entirely subjective groupings indicating how much they change things. Don't sell the minor ones short -- consider 'major/minor' to be an indicator of amount of change, not quality.

Major Effect

 * DarNified UI (a10) - Changes the UI to be optimized for the PC, rather than the console/PC hybrid FO3 default UI. It's more readable and easier to use and play the game, from buy/barter screens to your Pip-Boy to a handy clock in the upper right corner of your view. Once you use it, you can't go back. It's that good. Did I mention the clock in the upper right corner? More useful than you might think!
 * Fellout - Fellout removes the greenish haze from the Wasteland, makes nights as dark as they ought to be, and generally improves the atmosphere of Fallout 3 immensely. It seems somewhat odd that 200 years after the bombs drop, it feels like they dropped the other week what with the haze and the dust. Fellout fixes that.
 * Marts Mutant Mod (RC4) - adds variety to pre-existing monster/enemy types in the Wasteland and adds new monsters, as well. Very highly reccomended even with Broken Steel's addition of several new enemy types. Read the readme carefully as it includes several ESPs to disable specific features you may or may not want, allowing you to customize MMM to your tastes.
 * Fallout 3 Wanderers Edition (FWE) - FWE is probably the biggest overhaul to Fallout 3. It modifies nearly every aspect of surviving in the Wasteland - and usually makes it harder. Things that may make no logical sense in FO3 are corrected here, places where FO3 gave the player a helping hand eliminated, the harsh Wasteland everyone in FO3 kept talking about actually exists. But be careful - especially at lower levels, FWE's difficulty curve is practically a sheer cliff, and even at higher levels it induces a lot of repetitive tasks that are unskippable (e.g. fast travel is disabled entirely) for the sake of 'realism.' A real love it or hate it mod, but if you've played FO3 enough and are desperate to be challenged by the game again, FWE will provide it. Although it has decent customization options, most likely FWE will do at least one thing you don't like for every thing it does that you do like, so knowledge of FO3Edit to tweak it for your particular tastes would be good.

Minor Effect

 * Auto Save Utility (ASU) - Quite possibly the most essential mod in all of Fallout 3. ASU will auto-save based on event triggers (finishing combat) or every X seconds (defaults to every 300, so every 5 minutes) with customization options and everything all for one goal which it accomplishes completely: No more lost progress due to FO3 crashing at the drop of a hat. Absolutely get this mod!
 * Green World - Green World makes your trees and grass green in the postapocalyptic Wasteland. The author suggests using it after the main FO3 quest or the Oasis quest and I have to agree. Green World is oftentimes too much of a good thing - more than once I had a massive number of trees obscuring important areas like the Purifier and a particular sequence in Point Lookout. It also completely obliterates any semblance of The Wasteland being The Wasteland, which may or may not be a problem to you. I also encountered some odd LOD/clipping on trees in Green World. I would suggest trying it and then disabling it if you dislike it.
 * Slower Item Degradation - Contains several ESPs which allow you to modify the Item Degradation rate. Does not affect VATS degradation rate.
 * VATS Normal Weapon Degradation - By default, items used in VATS degrade four times as fast as outside of VATS. This mod makes them degrade at the same 'normal' rate in and out of VATS. Will coexist with Slower Item Degradation.
 * Sprint Mod - Customizable with the "Pedometer" item, the Sprint Mod allows you to spend AP to sprint across the Wasteland. Great for people who don't like to fast travel everywhere, but would rather not spend twenty minutes going up and down hills to get to Girdershade. Included (or something similar to it is) in FWE.
 * Brotherhood of Steel - Diversification - Wondering why every BoS member wears the same armor? No longer. BoS Diversification changes the armor worn depending on the rank of the BoS member in question; Initiates wear a special Recon Armor, Knights wear T-45d, Paladins wear T-51b. Adds some variety to the Brotherhood and makes some degree of sense, to boot.
 * Brotherhood Outcasts - Diversification - As with BoS Diversification, the same rank-affects-armor hierarcy for the Outcasts.
 * GNR - More Where That Came From - Much as I don't want to leave the Congo, MWTCF adds a significant variety of thematically appropriate music to GNR, giving Three Dog a little more to play between talking about than whether or not the settlement of Greyditch has gone quiet.

Weapons and Armor
This section is self-explanatory: Adding new weapons and armor to Fallout 3. Several mods in this section require Operation Anchorage. I've split them into weapon-only, armor-only, and combined weapon/armor packs.

Weapons Only

 * Alexscorpion's Sniper Gear - Adds M82 sniper rifles and a PP2000 SMG to Fallout 3. The SMG fix is probably worth installing; by default it's incredibly powerful. Requires CALIBR.
 * Frederyck Tactical Weapons - For the tactical nerd inside you, Frederyck's Tactical adds a variety of weapons with scopes, ACOGs, suppressors, and combinations therein. Includes SMGs and rifles. You will also want this replacement ESP for CALIBR compatibility for better integration.
 * Wattz Laser Weapons - adds back the classic Wattz weapons to the Wasteland. It doesn't replace the Fallout 3 laser weapons, rather, it adds to them. The Enclave tends to use the Fallout 3 AER-series weapons, whereas the Brotherhood and Wastelanders will tend to have the Wattz models.
 * Dan Wesson PPC .357 - adds a scoped and unscoped version of the Dan Wesson PPC .357 revolver. What is a "PPC revolver?" Don't ask me. It's a nice small gun if you want to use a revolver but would rather save your .44 magnum ammunition for Lincoln's Repeater. Good model and is added to the NPC tables; you'll see raiders carrying it around from time to time, a touch I appreciate.

Armor Only

 * All Anchorage Armors Usable - Requires O:A, adds two footlockers of O:A armor and clothing to the Outpost Armory. Saves you the trouble of getting them through the console.
 * Coyote Reflex Power Armor - Requires FOSE, perhaps the most popular armor mod, Coyote Reflex armor grants several extra abilities while wearing it -- it lets you run faster, jump higher, see enemies sooner, and have limited nightvision.
 * Colossus Heavy Armor - Visually it reminds me of an odd combination of stealth armor and power armor (it uses what looks like a power armor mesh) but it has the goofiest damn helmet I've ever seen. I tend to use a different helmet in conjunction with it, but it's pretty good looking overall.
 * Nano Suit (v 1.1) - Campbell: By the way, Snake, we're changing your code name for all following communication . . . You are now designated "Raiden."
 * Advanced Combat Armor - Adds several types of combat armor to the game and to NPCs such as Rivet City Security and Tenpenny Tower Security. Important Note: As of July 20, 2009, the ESPs will overwrite the names of any NPC or even some doors where they spawn with Italian. Using FO3Edit, these can all be changed back to English (or your native tongue) but it will require hand editing. Simply deleting the sections which deal with NPC equipment in the ACA ESP will solve this problem, but will also prevent any ACA armor from spawning on any NPC - while still remaining available to the player of course. Has some typos in descriptions if that bothers you. Also, on some of the heavy combat armor, there is an odd texture stretching issue near the waist when viewed in third person.
 * HiRes Chinese Stealth Armor - Requires O:A, is not an armor itself, but a high-res retexture of the Chinese Stealth Suit. Compatible with (and definitely improves) the Reinforced Chinese Stealth Suit pack.
 * Reinforced Chinese Stealth Suit - Requires O:A, Adds four modified Stealth Suits to Fallout 3. Includes versions which have a stealth effect when crouched and ones which do not. Use this if you want your Chinese Stealth Suit to be a little more protective, or if you desperately want to be a ninja from GI Joe. Personally, I would suggest not reading the terminal with fluff text in the LOB Enterprises building next to the armor's container. Includes an optional small backpack and  nightvision visor.

Weapon/Armor Packs

 * FallOut Overhaul Kit (FOOK) - (1.6) In theory, FOOK sounds great. Adding a bunch of new guns! Rebalancing equipment across the board! New clothes! All that. The only problem is that it doesn't quite work yet. It is handicapped by the community source material being of wildly differing quality - some items are well-modeled, some are barely textured, some are good, some are horrible. Even its supposed balancing and distribution of items to loot tables and NPC spawns does not always follow logically - sometimes there will be 3 weapons with the same model but different names and stats - and routinely the player will encounter the most powerful of the three several levels before encountering the two weaker options. Use FWE, CFW, WMK, whatever acronym soup you want - just not FOOK. Anything it does, another mod does better.
 * Skree's BF2142 Pack (v0.181a) - At present, adds armor, helmets, backpacks, and most but not all personal weapons from Battlefield 2142 into Fallout 3. Theoretically, will eventually be expanded to add vehicles such as walkers and tanks. Very high quality textures and equipment models. Please note, you should install Echo's Glove mod before using this pack; future revisions may include it however.

Your Character
These are mods for the player character that don't fit neatly into the grouping of weapon and armor. Cosmetic mods, clothing mods, whatever. Also includes any mods which deal with player-owned housing.
 * Accessorized Helmets - Allows the player to equip glasses as well as open-faced helmets at the same time. Goes well with mods that add extra glasses/sunglasses to FO3.


 * Eyelashes Fallout 3 - Ever notice how nobody has eyelashes in Fallout 3? You can't unsee it once you notice. Use this to fix that. Has minor clipping conflicts with eyeglasses/sunglasses mods.
 * Pip-Boy Glove Mod - Gives the player a choice of three gloves to wear with your Pip-Boy 3000 instead of the default fingerless glove. Personally, I find it far inferior to Echo's glove mod as it is not limited to three pre-set glove choices.
 * Echo - Use Your Own Gloves - Instead of forcing a choice of one of three as the Pip-Boy Glove Mod does, Echo's mod allows the player to wear any gloves, and if a particular suit of armor or outfit has a glove for the right hand it will also be on the left. Required to fix an issue with Scientific Pursuits and Skree's Battlefield 2142 mod; very useful in general.
 * Fallout 3 Re-Animated - Changes your weapon animations in third-person view. Makes the carry and aim animation and stance for rifles a lot more 'natural' and will make you feel like a bad-ass holding a pistol or machine pistol like you were an action movie superstar. Does not affect first person view, nor does it have any effects in-game beyond visual.
 * Sunglasses Collection - Adds a new shop to the Rivet City Market, where you can buy a variety of sunglasses which, unlike the default FO3 ones, don't suck. Consider pairing it with Accessorized Helmets.

Player Housing

 * Tenpenny Suite After Saving Megaton - Lets the player gain ownership of the Tenpenny Suite even after disarming the bomb in Megaton. Works perfectly except some minor dialogue issues with Gustavo occasionally greeting you as if you'd let the ghouls into the tower even if you killed them. Only affects one "greeting" line with him, otherwise no problems.
 * Owned! - I'd put this in here just because of the name, the part where it lets you take over by force or by purchase pretty much any house in the Wasteland is just a bonus on top of that.

Prerequisites
Any mod listed in the Prerequisites category is something you will need if you want to use practically any other mod whatsoever, and as such this category is here more for completeness than anything else. This is the only category where I can safely say you should have everything in this list.


 * Fallout Script Extender (FOSE)
 * Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM)
 * Community Ammunition Library (CALIBR)
 * Fallout 3 Editor (FO3Edit) -- not required to run mods, per se, but VERY useful for troubleshooting and tweaking ESPs to your particular tastes.

By the way -- there's one mod that absolutely IS essential. For making it all the way down here to the bottom of this page (why did you read it anyway) here you go:

Stephen Colbert as Mysterious Stranger