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Balmas

2013-03-15, 05:46 AM

http://fontmeme.com/create.php?text=War...%20War%20Never%20Changes...&name=Overseer%20Oblique.ttf&size=40&style_color=07541B

But boy is it fun.

It was bound to happen. I've spent hundreds of hours and read--quite literally--millions of words of fanfiction about a strange world of magical ponies and nuclear devastation.

It was only a matter of time before I cracked and decided to see what all the fuss was about. Two weeks ago, that moment came when I cracked and purchased Fallout 3. Since then, I've logged what is perhaps an unhealthy amount of time in running around the Capitol Wasteland, blasting away anything and everything that isn't amenable to talking civilly.

Actually, no matter how you look at it, eighty-six hours in two weeks is probably a bit overzealous. However, to me it's just a testament of how addicting and overwhelmingly expansive this game is. No matter what level you are, no matter where you begin, there's always more to do, more to see, more to explore.

And, of course, more things to shoot in the face.

Gentlemen, grab your killing device of choice, whether it be a flaming sword, a scoped revolver, or a bloody nuke-launcher, and let's go. Ante up, my friends; the Wasteland awaits.

factotum

2013-03-15, 07:29 AM

If you get that addicted to Fallout 3, wait until you try New Vegas. :smalltongue:

Chen

2013-03-15, 07:39 AM

If you get that addicted to Fallout 3, wait until you try New Vegas. :smalltongue:

Yeah I really expected to like New Vegas less but damn I was surprised how much better it was.

Essence_of_War

2013-03-15, 07:44 AM

Especially since the ultimate-all-dlc-rolled-together-edition patched most of the bugs! I had a very nearly bug-free NV experience.

FO3 is awesome, but the main plotline isn't very good.

FONV takes all of the things I liked about FO3, and married it to a fantastic story.

IthilanorStPete

2013-03-15, 09:20 AM

Yay New Vegas! SO much fun.

One question: I've been using Cass as my companion, and she's been ridiculously strong, even with just a Caravan Shotgun. Like, killing multiple Nightkin and only taking 5 damage strong. Is that normal?

thethird

2013-03-15, 09:40 AM

Fallout = Good

New Vegas = Awesome

New Vegas + DLCs = OMGBBQ

Yeah, those are really good games, on Cass she is a monster with a shotgun. She has Shotgun Surgeon (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Shotgun_Surgeon) as a hidden perk and you can get both her quest related perks one increases damage and the other increases her health, so yeah, she can take a beating and give back two. Also Nightkin tend to melee, and being close to a shotgun is normally a bad idea.

IthilanorStPete

2013-03-15, 11:06 AM

Maxios

2013-03-15, 12:04 PM

I liked how many solutions there were for quests in New Vegas (especially Beyond the Beef) but I loved the atmosphere in Fallout 3.

Also, assuming you're playing on the PC, I have a large list of mods you may be interested in. Quest mods, companion mods, perk mods...nudity mods...

Balmas

2013-03-15, 01:20 PM

So, if I understand what y'all are saying, New Vegas is pretty good, then? :smalltongue:

So, story time! When traveling across country, I've gotten into the habit of crouching every few seconds to see if anything has spotted me. It helps to cover the tunnel vision I get when seeing that little arrow in the eyes forward...

Heh. I have difficulty of thinking of it as anything but an Eyes-Forward Sparkle.

Anyway, I crouch to see what's spotted me. So yesterday, near the Republic of Dave, I crouched and found that there was something angry at me. A quick scan showed a Bloatfly over off to the left. VATS and Ol' Painless takes care of that quickly.

But... the little [DANGER] icon hadn't gone away. Switch to VATS to see what it is... and I'm treated to a lovely freeze-frame of the Deathclaw about to strike right behind me.

Farix

2013-03-15, 02:59 PM

Alright a Fallout thread, been needing one of these.

So I know I'm in the minority here but I preferred Fallout 3 to New Vegas.

Now don't get me wrong, New Vegas is a tremendous game, one which surpasses 3 in most every area. Mechanically it plays better, has better characters (though no Moira), better DLC (although 3 has its moments, poor Canada), and a better feel of an interconnected world. But my issue with it is one of setting. There was never a moment in New Vegas where I felt as though I was in a post-nuclear world. Sure Freeside and the various towns are kinda run down, sure there's some radiation (ugh, Vault 34), sure there are a handful of mutants, but none of this feels like its anything serious. Compare this to the Capitol Wasteland with the ruins of DC and the Mojave seems like its just a bit run down.

I recognize that this is a bit of a necessity, you're not going to have a world as lived in as the Mojave which looks like DC. There's just too many people living in the space to have something as rundown as the Capitol was. But with that in mind, at least have some sort of ruins, say an old city nearby that wasn't under House's missile shield, something to remind the player that yeah, the world did get nuked and you're not just in some wacky futuristic desert setting.

Favorite moment in the series discussion? Mine probably goes to the Giddyup Buttercup room, no explanation why its there, it just is.

But... the little [DANGER] icon hadn't gone away. Switch to VATS to see what it is... and I'm treated to a lovely freeze-frame of the Deathclaw about to strike right behind me.

Welcome to Old Olney, home of the Fighting Deathclaws! Go Team!

Ante up, my friends; the Wasteland awaits.

I see someones found Project Horizons.

So speculation on Fallout 4? We've gotten some hints, rumours that its gonna be in the US Northeast and might somehow involve everyone's favorite Jockey of Discs. What would you like to see from it, have added in/removed, etc.?

Gamerlord

2013-03-15, 03:35 PM

Going to worth my hat in with the New Vegas Love Bandwangon, I think it's probably one of the best RPGs I have ever played. Although number 3 was still pretty good.

Now don't get me wrong, New Vegas is a tremendous game, one which surpasses 3 in most every area. Mechanically it plays better, has better characters (though no Moira), better DLC (although 3 has its moments, poor Canada), and a better feel of an interconnected world. But my issue with it is one of setting. There was never a moment in New Vegas where I felt as though I was in a post-nuclear world. Sure Freeside and the various towns are kinda run down, sure there's some radiation (ugh, Vault 34), sure there are a handful of mutants, but none of this feels like its anything serious. Compare this to the Capitol Wasteland with the ruins of DC and the Mojave seems like its just a bit run down.

I recognize that this is a bit of a necessity, you're not going to have a world as lived in as the Mojave which looks like DC. There's just too many people living in the space to have something as rundown as the Capitol was. But with that in mind, at least have some sort of ruins, say an old city nearby that wasn't under House's missile shield, something to remind the player that yeah, the world did get nuked and you're not just in some wacky futuristic desert setting.

Personally, I preferred it like that. Fallout 3 made it look like the bombs dropped just a few days ago, it's pretty odd for the world to still be an irradiated wasteland after all those years. And there was The Divide in one of the DLCs (At least, from the pictures I have seen of it it looks like a radioactive wasteland, haven't gotten around to doing Lonesome Road yet.)

So speculation on Fallout 4? We've gotten some hints, rumors that its gonna be in the US Northeast and might somehow involve everyone's favorite Jockey of Discs. What would you like to see from it, have added in/removed, etc.?
Get rid of or fix the crappy Pip Boy interface (Or at the very least, add a few keyboard shortcuts for each section), and use an engine that isn't Gamebyro. I have a lot of other various wishes and wants, but those are my two big ones. Oh, and Bethesda needs to get new writers.
Favorite series moment? Far too many to possibly decide between for me. :smalltongue:

EDIT 2: Oh, and the ability to hold down the Use button when I'm drinking out of the toilets, sinks, and lakes would be nice.

Eldonauran

2013-03-15, 04:18 PM

I have both FO3 and FONV. They are both amazing games. Have all DLC? Yes, please.

Are you playing on a PC? If you aren't, you are missing out on all of the fan-made mods out there. For FO3, there is a mod called Ironsights that gives it Vega's aim down the barrell view. This was out BEFORE FONV was even annouced.

48 hours in two weeks? Reminds me of when I hesitantly rented the game (I hate first person games) and played it. I think that was the first time I played a game for 10 hours straight. I've gotten close before but after 10 hours, my brain couldnt automatically ignore my stomach anymore.

Kesnit

2013-03-15, 06:37 PM

I really don't know if I like FO3 or NV better. Both are amazing!

In terms of story, I have to go with FO3. The story was more personal. Sure, in NV, it starts personal, but after meeting with Mr. House, it gets more world-based, as opposed to person-based. In 3, you have the entire Capital Wasteland, but it's all about finding your father and continuing his mission.

With respect to setting, FO3. I lived in the DC area when 3 came out, which added something to the game. I worked out where my apartment would be. I worked out where the in-game cities were in real life. (Some are obvious, like Germantown and Bethesda. Others took some time.)

For companions, NV, hands down. In FO3, I only used a companion at end-game. I could have picked one up earlier, but just didn't see the need. Even once I got them, they were as much mule and "extra target" as "character." In NV, the companions feel like real people. (And ED-E is AMAZING!!!)

I can't really compare the DLC, since I have only done 1 DLC for NV. (Dead Money, which I did not like very much since I was not statted for melee or energy weapons. I also wasn't very fond of the story.)

I didn't think I would like HC mode in NV, but had to try it since I want 100% achievements. It isn't as bad as I thought it would be, although I admit to playing on the easiest difficulty! It actually gives a nice extra kick to the game. I doubt I will play with it again, but it does add a little something.

In terms of replayability, NV all the way. There's so many different options, not just in which ending to go for, but in ways to build and skills to use.

The Extinguisher

2013-03-15, 07:22 PM

I prefer New Vegas but I agree the setting was weaker. Ive think we've run the course with the West. Im glad Fallout 4 will be exploring new areas.

Logic

2013-03-15, 09:47 PM

I loved New Vegas and FO3, but characterizations win the day for me, thus NV takes the crown as the better Fallout.

As for the next Fallout, I want to see another West Coast game, probably far north of anything we have seen in the previous titles. Perhaps the greater Seattle or Portland area, or even as far north as the border of Canada. I really liked the inclusion of Nellis AFB in NV, so I'd even be willing to do a game based around a nuked former military outpost, especially one where a portion of America's nuclear arsenal would have been kept.

Sharoth

2013-03-15, 10:08 PM

I love, love, love, love FO NV. I really enjoyed FO3, but NV was so much better. ~grins~ Yes, I was playing on my X-Box 360, so no mods, but the DLCs were awesome. Dead Money takes some getting used to, but once you have it down, it is a good DLC. Especially if you can get out with the loot without a certain person seeing you. ~WEG~ I think Lonesome Road was the weakest of the DLCs.

As for FO 4, I know I will get it, but I worry that they will just repeat FO3 and make the same mistakes.

Balmas

2013-03-16, 12:36 AM

I see someone's found Project Horizons.

And Heroes, and the Ditzy Doo Chronicles, and Pink Eyes, and Murky Number Seven, and Taking Life By The Horns, and...

Anyway. Yes. I've read Project Horizons, and am going through a rereading of the original. If it weren't for FO:E, I wouldn't be in this thread.

So speculation on Fallout 4? We've gotten some hints, rumours that its gonna be in the US Northeast and might somehow involve everyone's favorite Jockey of Discs. What would you like to see from it, have added in/removed, etc.?

Hmm. I'd like to see something done about the movement. All too often, I'm skirting around rocks and getting caught on the edges of them. I can back up and then jump over them, but can't do it right on the edge of the item. It's just a little thing that breaks immersion.

Get rid of or fix the crappy Pip Boy interface (Or at the very least, add a few keyboard shortcuts for each section), and use an engine that isn't Gamebyro. I have a lot of other various wishes and wants, but those are my two big ones. Oh, and Bethesda needs to get new writers.

What's wrong with the Pipboy interface?

Mind you, some key shortcuts would be nice.

On a random note: I really wish I had the technological skills to make something like this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCEXEuICWs)

Triaxx

2013-03-16, 01:46 AM

Does Fallout three have Bounties? No? New Vegas wins. :D

Alright, I've had the argument before that New Vegas doesn't feel particularly post-apocalyptic and the concensus generally comes down that it's in a desert, it's already a wasteland, so all the bombs did was introduce a little background radiation.

That said, there's something about the Fallout series. If you started with the first couple, there's a special attachment to the west as a setting. The wild west feeling, that combines with the 'one person alone against the hostile wilderness' feeling that makes you all the more inclined to think of it as a western with laser guns.

On the other hand, I far more enjoyed Fallout 2 than I did one so I admit genre bias.

Gamerlord

2013-03-16, 07:52 AM

What's wrong with the Pipboy interface?

Mind you, some key shortcuts would be nice.

A: It is very fond of lagging at the worst possible moments. Seeing as how this happens in both games, I'm not sure it's a bug when it takes 10 seconds for the Pip Boy to load up and a bunch of Deathclaws are charging towards me. :smallannoyed:
B: The lack of key shortcuts can get very annoying very quickly when I have to constantly click through everything to get to anything.
C: For some reason, they decided to stash the Hunger/Sleep/Drink meters for Hardcore Mode in New Vegas in the Pip Boy, which means you have to be constantly checking it over and over again to make sure you aren't about to start starving. Thankfully, there are mods to fix this one.

Triaxx

2013-03-16, 08:40 AM

Strangely, while there are no keyboard commands, there are maps for the 360 controller, to navigate the pipboy.

Craft (Cheese)

2013-03-17, 07:48 AM

A: It is very fond of lagging at the worst possible moments. Seeing as how this happens in both games, I'm not sure it's a bug when it takes 10 seconds for the Pip Boy to load up and a bunch of Deathclaws are charging towards me. :smallannoyed:
B: The lack of key shortcuts can get very annoying very quickly when I have to constantly click through everything to get to anything.
C: For some reason, they decided to stash the Hunger/Sleep/Drink meters for Hardcore Mode in New Vegas in the Pip Boy, which means you have to be constantly checking it over and over again to make sure you aren't about to start starving. Thankfully, there are mods to fix this one.

D. Very poor economy of space: Almost all of it is wasted on cosmetic areas, and the giant fonts waste what precious little space is left for actual information or navigation bits.

E. All the clickable areas on the pip-boy are so frickin tiny! The buttons to switch between stats/items/data and the tabs to switch between the sub-menus are much smaller than they probably should be, which leads to extra time aiming the mouse so you click on the right spot, about 1-2 extra seconds for every tab you switch. This doesn't sound so bad but when combined with D, you have to switch through tabs a dozen times to actually get anything done, this can add up to several extra minutes spent ******* around in the menu every time you bring it up. Time that could have been spent doing actually fun stuff like, I dunno, playing the game?

F. Furthermore the menu is very confusing and opaque. It's not usually apparent where something might be and where the best place to look for it is unless you already have the menu layout memorized. This leads to a lot of players (like me) struggling with certain aspects of the game unnecessarily just because they never figured out what certain parts of the menu were for: For example, it wasn't until long after I had beaten the game that I found out you could check your current radiation level with the pip-boy. While I was actually playing and I wanted to see how many rads I had, I would intentionally give myself a dose of radiation to bring the indicator up in the top right corner. This is indefensible.

Overall, the pip-boy is a crime against sensible UI design.

Anyway, in my view New Vegas is superior to Fallout 3 in just about every way: The only thing FO3 has going for it are the area designs. FNV is loaded with mysterious invisible walls and confusing mazes where it's very easily to accidentally get spun around.

FNV just takes its characters and setting... seriously. The only justification I can come up with for FO3's stupidity (or at least the only one that doesn't make me start to contemplate suicide) is that it was one big practical joke, like Bethesda seriously thought that nobody would care about any of this stuff but they have to add it in anyway, so they might as well have some fun at the player's expense. The only way I can imagine a functioning human being designing Little Lamplight is they were handed down the news that children in the game would be invulnerable and decided to express their frustration with sadism.

Triaxx

2013-03-17, 10:10 AM

The first two games had killable children. Had Lamplight been there, the massacre would have been immediate.

Ailurus

2013-03-17, 11:04 AM

The first two games had killable children. Had Lamplight been there, the massacre would have been immediate.

Of all the plot issues with FO3 (and while I did like it there were several fairly large plotholes) Lamplight was easily the worst one. I can think of no way that such a town could exist. The formation of it makes sense. Still existing that long after the bombs fell, yeah, not so much.

factotum

2013-03-17, 12:01 PM

The first two games had killable children. Had Lamplight been there, the massacre would have been immediate.

Not in the European and UK versions, they didn't...although they removed the children by just removing the sprite and the hitbox, so you could still hear them and they could still steal stuff from you!

Balmas

2013-03-17, 10:47 PM

If there's one criticism of Fallout I'd make, it's the things you find. One time I just paused the game so I could try to wrap my head around the idea of there being a baseball bat and a vacuum cleaner in the same mailbox.

Seriously, why are these things here? What kind of crazy pre-war existence was it when nothing was stored in a locked safe but shotgun shells? Why is there a pistol inside the desk in an elementary school?

And, to paraphrase Littlepip, why are there so many locked boxes? Am I the only person in two hundred years to figure out how to pick a lock?

Jayngfet

2013-03-18, 01:13 AM

Am I the only person in two hundred years to figure out how to pick a lock?

That's what really gets me. According to the timeline the war ended two hundred years ago and yet it feels like it's been less than a generation in Fallout 3, in some places. Everything isn't just charred even though it'd have grown back, but so much else hasn't changed. The grocery stores are explicitly still full of food and medicine, even if they've been occupied. Heck, preservatives be damned you'd expect SOMETHING to go bad in that time. Or perhaps the people who've evidently been living outside the vaults for so long would learn to build things that didn't look like hobo-gadgets.

Don't get me wrong, Fallout is a great series I've wasted over a hundred hours on, but this kind of thing just gets under my skin.

Balmas

2013-03-18, 04:03 AM

In other news, I just got the Chinese Stealth Suit, and thus can't be bothered to care about realism since I'm having too much fun. Sure, I could suit up in Tesla armor and duke it out with lasers, but why bother when I can just sneak behind them and show them my new flaming sword?

(The best part is when--if the shishkebab is in low repair--the enemy walks away, announcing that it was nothing, as he merrily burns to death.)

Enclave? Meet sword.

Deathclaw? Meet sword.

Super Mutant Behemoth? Meet Nuka-Grenades, thank ye very much.

Also: Death Angel Sprint + Action Girl + 100% VATS crit rate on sniper rifle makes for some very amusing gameplay, especially when playing a part of the game with infinite ammo and a gun that doesn't degrade.

mangosta71

2013-03-18, 09:55 AM

But my issue with it is one of setting. There was never a moment in New Vegas where I felt as though I was in a post-nuclear world. Sure Freeside and the various towns are kinda run down, sure there's some radiation (ugh, Vault 34), sure there are a handful of mutants, but none of this feels like its anything serious. Compare this to the Capitol Wasteland with the ruins of DC and the Mojave seems like its just a bit run down.

I recognize that this is a bit of a necessity, you're not going to have a world as lived in as the Mojave which looks like DC. There's just too many people living in the space to have something as rundown as the Capitol was. But with that in mind, at least have some sort of ruins, say an old city nearby that wasn't under House's missile shield, something to remind the player that yeah, the world did get nuked and you're not just in some wacky futuristic desert setting.
Aside from what's already been said, you have to consider that in a nuclear war the bombs would be falling on population centers. DC would get hit HARD (even more so because it's also a target of major political importance), while the Mojave would be pretty much untouched because nobody lives there.

For FO4, "US northeast" is an area of high population density. Lots of economical infrastructure, too, so it should have been hit almost as hard as DC. I'm thinking the game proper will likely be around NYC, with possible DLCs for traveling to Philly and Boston.

The first two games had killable children. Had Lamplight been there, the massacre would have been immediate.
My favorite moment in the FO series: driving into The Den, shoving everything I own into the trunk of my car except for one block of C4, heading into town, save the game, start the timer on the C4, walk up to a child and wait for him to pick my pocket, follow from a safe distance until the BOOM. Possibly that should be "favorite moments" because I did it over and over and over...I'm pretty sure I wiped out an entire generation in that town, and I'm fairly confident that the fact that I think it's hilarious makes me a terrible person...

Bryn

2013-03-18, 10:27 AM

My understanding was that Fallout 3 was intended to be set 20 years after the war, and changed to 200 during development (I guess so they could include the Enclave and Brotherhood of Steel in a way that's vaguely consistent with the first two games, or maybe to set up the idea of Vault 101 being sealed long-term). This is why a lot of elements of the game (Little Lamplight especially) do not remotely seem to make sense 200 years after the war.

New Vegas shouldn't feel so immediately post-apocalyptic, because it's set after Fallout 1 and 2. Over the course of the three games you see the NCR (for example) grow from a tiny town to the enormous faction it is in New Vegas. Also, Mr House destroyed almost all the nuclear missiles aimed at Vegas, and would have got them all if they'd come a day later giving him time to use the Platinum Chip.

I prefer New Vegas to 3 for its great characterisation and attention to detail (what do they eat?), giving most of the factions plausible motivations and histories (for example, contrast 3's raiders to NV's Great Khans), a plot with fewer holes that (to me) is a lot more interesting than 3's, and its connections to the old Fallouts. But I think 3 deserves lots of credit for successfully bringing Fallout to a 3D open-world and it has fantastic sound design (the 'you got a quest' noise...) and atmosphere.

I still need to play Broken Steel and most of Point Lookout. Maybe it's time to reinstall 3 and have another go...

Would anyone like mod recommendations? :smallsmile: I've probably spent almost as much time modding these games as playing them...

Toastkart

2013-03-18, 11:04 AM

I've been thinking of playing New Vegas again since I only played through it the once on my old computer that couldn't run it very well. I'd appreciate some mod suggestions.

nhbdy

2013-03-18, 11:10 AM

Just wanted to pop in and thank this thread for talking about FO:NV. Back when it first came out I had 300+ hours on FO3 and was still enjoying it, but wanted more justification to drop $60 than it's FO3 with a new map.

Obviously now I know it's much different than that and my initial assumption was unfounded, and I'm glad this thread came along and got me to buy it, having a blast, and echoing the above in mod suggestions, but preferably those geared for a first playthrough of NV

Triaxx

2013-03-18, 11:18 AM

I have to say, that while I love Fallout 3, Point Lookout is my least favorite DLC. If it's not the long, boring walks through the swamp, where half of everything is irradiated, the other half is identical, and the third half is all mutant hicks trying to kill me, I really didn't enjoy it. I actually had more fun playing with the weapons from it back in the 'real world'.

I mean, the 10mm pistol is pretty cool, but after a while it's not as useful as it could be once enemies are farther away, and up close it's not as strong as necessary. The Lever-action Rifle is a good balance and it's a great weapon for those hundreds of 10mm rounds you'll collect once you quit using the Pistol.

I have been playing lately with FWE, which changes damage and ammo drop rates pretty significantly, but that fits my style to the point where I still have huge excesses of ammo. (I tend towards Stealthy Snipers.)

I much prefer Anchorage for the CSS, and/or Gauss Rifle, though it's pretty hard for an energy weapon user to get to the top of the line energy weapon, which is pretty silly.

On the other hand, an energy user running through Zeta is pretty hilariously fun.

Eldan

2013-03-18, 11:57 AM

Start with Project Nevada. It has a lot of the basics. Then, well, go through the Top 100 list on Nexus.

Triaxx

2013-03-18, 12:03 PM

First time New Vegas Mods?

Project Reality, Advanced Recon Night Vision. (You'll want the latter if you have the former.)

Darnified UI because the default one is huge. If you like immersion, I highly recommend Immersive Hud, which lets you turn bits on and off or the entire thing if you want. Along with that goes Adjustable Hud, which lets you move stuff around, and Unified Hud Project which will deal with all the conflicts those three will generate.

Also, the Weapon Mod Menu. Unlike Vanilla where you can only add modds, WMM lets you add then later remove them. I used to carry multiple Varmint Rifles with different mods, but now I just have one and add/remove them as I need different things.

I totally disagree with Project Nevada for a first playthrough. It adds a lot of cool stuff, true, but it's different enough from default to be worthy of a second play through so you know what you do and don't like from the 'default' game.

I do recommend trying out New Vegas Bounties 1/2, but also on a second playthrough since there's enough there for a second main storyline.

Mando Knight

2013-03-18, 12:08 PM

I have to say, that while I love Fallout 3, Point Lookout is my least favorite DLC. If it's not the long, boring walks through the swamp, where half of everything is irradiated, the other half is identical, and the third half is all mutant hicks trying to kill me, I really didn't enjoy it. I actually had more fun playing with the weapons from it back in the 'real world'.

Even worse: Point Lookout has horrible, nonsensical fake difficulty. Those mutant hicks have a special ability that adds significant armor-ignoring damage to each hit they deal. Their double-barrel shotguns will leave a player at max DR hiding in a corner trying to pace their remaining stimpaks. That's right, they use shotguns to defeat T-51b power armor. Even the glitched Winterized version (which, while it has slightly less DR, is notable for never losing enough item health to degrade its condition). Thankfully, that's what mods are for...

CreganTur

2013-03-18, 12:14 PM

It's funny that this thread popped up now, since I bought FO3 GOTY pack for the XBOX last week and have been absolutely loving it. Setting, atmosphere... I am loving everything about this game so far.

I ran through the main plot as fast as I could so I could get the Power Armor training and am now running around with my Enclave armor and Shady Hat and having a wonderful time killing everything that tags a red.

I do wish the BOS armor had better stats than Enclave, but for me it is always 1 to 2 points less on DR, so I'll stick with the armor of the people *who did bad thing I want to kill them all for* as a constant reminder of my vengance waiting to be unleashed.

Mando Knight

2013-03-18, 01:03 PM

I do wish the BOS armor had better stats than Enclave, but for me it is always 1 to 2 points less on DR, so I'll stick with the armor of the people *who did bad thing I want to kill them all for* as a constant reminder of my vengance waiting to be unleashed.
Brotherhood armor is supposed to be weaker than Enclave armor. BoS maintains armor from before the Great War, the Enclave developed successors to it, having 200 years of R&D (as well as the designs and the continuity for the engineering education) to do so.

Several perks make the difference nearly negligible, though, so the main reason to wear Enclave armor is because the Hellfire armor is crazy good and easy to repair (once you start seeing Hellfire armor, you'll start seeing it EVERYWHERE).

Bryn

2013-03-18, 01:16 PM

I've been thinking of playing New Vegas again since I only played through it the once on my old computer that couldn't run it very well. I'd appreciate some mod suggestions.

Alright then!
This is going to get quite long. Starting with New Vegas, since 3 has moved on since I was there (ENBs are a thing now! Lots of New Vegas mods have migrated! etc.)

I'll split it up by category, and try to recommend only the best and most comprehensive in each case. There are tons of small mods which give neat little additions which might not be worth the time to seek out and install.

Only spend as much time modding as is rewarding - there are always more mods!

For a really good guide of how to mod NV, Nexus user Gopher has made a fantastic series of videos (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0E5E8CA384409B11) covering everything in detail, and another series introducing more mods (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF6F122CB27A4C085). Don't necessarily watch them all through (they're long!), but if you're trying something or considering a popular mod, it's worth having a look at the corresponding video.

Vital tools
If you're going to use more than a few mods, or you ever want to change your mods, you need a mod manager to unpack/remove textures and control load order. There are two main choices:

FOMM (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/36901) (FallOut Mod Manager) has a lot of powerful features for editing scripts for installing your mods, swapping individual files out, and so on. Unfortunately it hasn't received support for a while, and some features (like checking against the Nexus for new versions) don't work anymore. FOMM allows to use 'Premade FOMod Packs' to add an install script to a mod which doesn't have one. It works on both Fallout 3 and New Vegas simultaneously (you choose which game to modify on launch).
The Nexus Mod Manager (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/modmanager/) has fewer features than FOMM, but allows you to install properly-configured mods directly from the Nexus websites in one click. However, files have to come from the Nexus, not anywhere else, and it does not have support for PFPs or files which aren't correctly configured to go into your Data folder.

NMM is easier for a lot of mods, but FOMM is better for certain installation scripts and general flexibility and is still quite easy for any mod which is easy in NMM.

Load order is very important - if you don't set up your load order correctly, one mod can undo the changes caused by another, or crash if you load a mod before its master. Load order can be handled automatically by BOSS (http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1313081-rel-boss-for-fallout-new-vegas/). That thread may get closed when it reaches too many replies, so check the first few pages of the Bethsoft mods forum for the latest thread.

If you have a large load order, you will start to get the sort of conflict which can be most easily solved by a merged patch from FNVEdit (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/34703). FNVEdit is a much more lightweight editor than the GECK, and allows you to directly edit records to tweak your mods, in addition to the merged patch feature. Sometimes, merged patches may not be enough and it will become necessary to get Wrye Flash (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/35003) to create a 'bashed patch'.

The New Vegas Script Extender (http://nvse.silverlock.org/) is required for many features of the mods below. It gives mod authors the ability to use a lot of scripting functions unavailable in the vanilla GECK. Many NVSE mods still work without it, but are missing their best features. FOMM and NMM will automatically detect and launch the NVSE launcher if you've installed it.

Essential
If you get very few mods, get these...

Project Nevada (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/40040) + patches (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42363) + extra options (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/47285) is an amazingly powerful overhaul mod, tweaking gameplay and adding a lot of well-scripted gameplay features such as sprinting, dynamic crosshair, a scripted inventory sorter, tweaks to stealth and interface. The whole mod is put together extremely professionally, from installation to the functioning within the game - it fits perfectly as if it was there all along. The added equipment is well-balanced and effectively integrated into vendors and levelled lists. It has a built-in version of the Mod Configuration Menu to enable or disable all features individually.

A full install of the Mod Configuration Menu (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42507) is extremely valuable - lots of mods use it to give you controls built into the game's interface in a very natural way.

DarNified UI (http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1143482-wipzbeta-darnified-ui-nv/) is a necessary and excellent overhaul of the interface.

CASM (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/45652) is a fantastic saves mod, giving you periodic and conditional autosaves for multiple characters ('profiles' of saves which will be overwritten), greatly reducing the likelihood that you'll die suddenly after crossing the wasteland and be forced to retrace your steps. But it's also very important: NV's autosaves and quicksaves don't properly save everything, and you can eventually end up with crashes if you load from them; CASM always uses the proper menu-based save function and does not introduce this problem.

Even after all the patches, there are quite a lot of bugs remaining in New Vegas. Currently there are two popular bugfix mods undergoing active updates: Mission Mojave Ultimate Edition (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/45104) and New Vegas Enhanced Content (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/44204). There is a large amount of overlap between Mission Mojave and NVEC Bugfixes, but my understanding is that NVEC goes a bit further than the MM authors feel is appropriate. (There seems to be some acrimony between these two teams. I don't know the history so I'll avoid making accusations). NVEC includes MM's fixes to terrain but not the other parts of MM. These replace older mods like Operation Fixed Terrain and the Community Bugfix Compilation Patch.

Both NVEC and MM have add-ons containing compilations of small tweak mods: NVEC Enhancements is on the NVEC page, and MM has Mission Mojave Ultimate Edition Plus (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/47014). MMUE+ is very strict about including only unambiguous improvements, whereas NVEC includes a lot of more arguable mods such as several large quest mods and some item mods which personally I would not want to have in my game.

HUD mods
Gopher is the person to go to for HUD mods. He makes the Unified HUD Project (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/38961) which is required to use more than one HUD mod, and One HUD (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/44757) which combines his other HUD mods. The nicest feature here is iHUD, which makes your HUD elements fade out when they're not needed and come back when required (e.g. in combat). The others allow you to add more information to the HUD (the time, character information such as primary needs) and move elements of the HUD around in game. Extensive control is given in MCM.

Gameplay overhauls
These usually focus on making the game harder and (in some sense) more 'realistic', in terms of AI, the effect of injuries, weapon lethality and so on. They generally go further than Project Nevada Rebalance. Some good choices:
Arwen's Realism Tweaks (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/34759) is modular, but the modules are designed to work with each other, rather than other mods. It goes quite a long way to make a lot of parts of the game harder, and can optionally introduce some rather tough injury and encumbrance mechanics. I've never actually run ART, as I remember it not being very interoperable with other mods, but it looks good and challenging.
Cirosan's Classic Overhaul (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/44027) makes a number of changes to the internal formulae inspired by the old Fallout games. The most impressive module is the Follower Tweaks module, which is the only still-functioning mod I know of to change the follower limit - but it also keeps it balanced while doing this, unlike older follower-limit mods. It's well-made throughout, highly modular, interoperable with PN and other mods, and deserved to be more popular. The only potential problem is the large number of compatibility patch .esps for DLC and other mods (it's great that it has so much compatibility, but it can push you towards the file limit). The latest version gives you the option of using 'All-DLC' variants to reduce this if you have all DLCs.

Weapon modification mods
NV added the ability to modify weapons, inspired by a Fallout 3 mod. Two mods add more weapon mods to the game (so that every weapon has the maximum three options). They are WMX (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/39651) and WME (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/37576). WMX was created by the author of the original Weapon Mod Kits for Fallout 3, but I ran WME due to its compatibility with ApocalypticGirl's Supplementary Uniques (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/40000). Both WME and WMX have compatibility patches available for most mods.

If you choose WME, you can use my FOMOD install script (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/43418) to configure it and see images as you install if you use FOMM.

A great addition to the actual mechanics of modifying weapons is the Weapon Mod Menu (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/44515), allowing you to remove weapon mods from a weapon and giving fine control over modifications.

Large texture mods
The textures in both Fallout games are fairly low-res, designed to run well on an XBox 360 or PS3. Also, many of them don't look so great. There are two large texture overhauls which replace most of the textures: NMC's texture pack (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/43135) and Ojo Bueno (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/39755)/Poco Bueno (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42028) (a smaller Ojo Bueno). They mostly overlap, so choose whichever one you prefer - look at the screenshots. NMC is more popular. If you have the time and bandwidth, you can install one and then the other over the top in order to make sure everything is covered. (It's also possible to mix them, but it would take ages!)

Other remodel/retex mods
Millenia's Weapon Retexture Project (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/38285) gives extremely well made textures to nearly every non-energy gun and grenade. (EVE covers energy weapons).

ADAM (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/43192) (A Definitive Armor Overhaul) dramatically improves the visuals for the iconic NCR Ranger Armour. I have written a FOMOD script to assist with configuration and installation here (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/43192).

Weather mods
Fallout New Vegas's weather settings generally don't look great, so it's worth getting a weather mod to change the feel of the game and add more variation to the weather. Best to choose either Nevada Skies (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/35998) (URWLified or not) or Project Reality (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42180). To give a very rough description, NSkies URWLified feels like a desert, PR feels like a bleak wasteland. It's somewhat hard to judge which is most appealing on screenshots, so have a look at Gopher's videos: NSkies URWLified (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyDA7sib8yI&list=SPF6F122CB27A4C085&index=3) (and some others) and Project Reality (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCKdfHQ4IGI&list=SPF6F122CB27A4C085&index=9) which additionally cover details of installation.

NPC appearances
Lots of F:NV NPCs have oddly-coloured bits, or look like clones of others. Two mods attempt to address this: New Vegas Character Expansions (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/39325) and New Vegas Redesigned (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/39218). Redesigned goes further than NVCE, substantially overhauling a lot of characters' appearances. NVCE has more compatibility options available, including for Mission Mojave and NVEC. Pick whichever one you prefer based on screenshots.

Visual effects
Use EVE (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42666) for added animations on static meshes and new, flashy effects, mostly affecting energy weapons, explosions and crit kills.

ENB series
Skyrim has made ENB presets pretty famous. These use Boris Vorontsov's ENB series (http://www.enbdev.com/) to add new features to the game engine, such as various forms of colour correction, dynamic depth of field, HDR, bloom, and so on. When I played NV, the only ENB mod around was tapioks' Enhanced Shaders (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/34868), but there seems to have been some expansion into a whole category (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/49572) on the Nexus now. These can't be handled by a mod manager, but most include detailed installation instructions.

You might not want these - they require quite a powerful computer to maintain a good framerate with the more intensive effects, such as depth of field, and often I felt the colour-corrected version actually looks worse than before. I kept switching Enhanced Shaders on and off, changing presets and so on.

Non-ENB graphics tweaks
There is a little group of graphics tweaks by Tapioks, MGE and Gopher designed to work well together, including a very lightweight dynamic depth of field and fine-grained Mod Configuration Menu control over the image. These are Dynavision (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/40077), Imaginator (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/39619) and Cinematech (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/39947) and, for the MCM control, the Director's Chair (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/43002).

Animation
Weapon Animation Replacers (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/38527) + FOMOD installer (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/43240) gives you some alternative animations to the default for weapons. If you want some of these, to configure your installation with images for each option, use Gopher's FOMOD installer in FOMM.

Another animation mod to consider is New Vegas - Reanimated (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/35028).

Plants
There's a pretty cool mod called Vurt's Wasteland Flora Overhaul (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/39856) which adds a lot of variation to the plant life in the wasteland. (You may know of Vurt's similar mod for Skyrim).

Quest mods
The best quest mods, as for Fallout 3, are those created by Puce Moose. This is Tales from the Burning Sands (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/37172). Puce Moose is best known for his great writing. These mods are generally puzzle-based, with lots of in-game text - very similar to an adventure game. As I remember, the puzzles were generally fairly reasonable if a bit fiddly to get the details right - but, mostly, you play for the writing.

A very popular quest mod, which I admit I didn't enjoy very much, is New Vegas Bounties (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/37310) and its sequel, New Vegas Bounties II (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/41184). The story starts when you join a bounty organisation, and you're sent to kill various people. Production values are impressive for a mod, with lots of voice acting. I remember that it once had a warning about enemies spawning out of thin air for people who don't like that, which put me off the sequel, but that seems to have gone and I'm not sure if that remains. There's also a newer mod by the same author, The Inheritance (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/49012), which looks quite promising.

The New Bison Steve Hotel and Lucky Casino (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/40433) allows you to rebuild the eponymous ruin by completing a series of fetch quests. Voice acting is decent for a mod, and it's reasonably fun to play, though as said the actual quests largely consist of 'go here, collect item, return to Steve for dialogue'. I also remember that some conversation options were quite restricted.

Beyond Boulder Dome (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/46907) post-dates my playthrough, but it looks quite impressive. According to Triaxx, nope.

For other quest mods, sort the 'Quests and Adventures' category by endorsements in descending order (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/searchresults/?cat=77&order=DESC&orderby=OLD_endorsements&page=1). Not all of them are necessarily good - a lot of them have a premise which is kind of 'what, no' - but you should be able to find the good ones that way.

That's enough for now, I might come back to add to this post later as I remember more mods.

SlyGuyMcFly

2013-03-18, 02:51 PM

That post of yours, Bryn? That post is awesome and exactly what I needed.

Triaxx

2013-03-18, 03:37 PM

Mission Mojave is actually deprecated, it's been absorbed into NVEC.

Now that I think of it, watch all of Gopher's NV videos. They're all worth it.

Bryn

2013-03-18, 04:00 PM

Mission Mojave is actually deprecated, it's been absorbed into NVEC.

Now that I think of it, watch all of Gopher's NV videos. They're all worth it.

Oops, sorry for that misunderstanding! The post has been corrected.

IthilanorStPete

2013-03-18, 04:14 PM

Thanks for the highly informative post, Bryn!

Bryn

2013-03-18, 04:24 PM

That post of yours, Bryn? That post is awesome and exactly what I needed.

Thanks for the highly informative post, Bryn!
I'm glad it could be useful! I've added another short section on quest mods, although a few more have cropped up since I played which I can't really comment on.

Toastkart

2013-03-18, 05:48 PM

Bryn

2013-03-18, 06:28 PM

That is an excellent and very comprehensive list, Bryn. Thank you. I actually had found a couple of those, but wasn't sure if they were really worth it, as I don't remember having any trouble with the HUD, autosaving, or weapon mods on my first playthrough (admittedly, I found a mod back then that added weapon mods to vendor lists so that they weren't freakishly scarce as they are in the vanilla game, but still).
A lot of them are definitely in the 'nice addition, game is good without' category, but iHUD is a really nice feature - it adds a lot to exploration to wander without interface elements, particularly the compass. I'm not sure if they've fixed the autosave bug, and it never affected everyone - CASM is still useful for the additional save conditions and periodic save, as well as if you're running multiple characters.

On the texture, graphics, weather mods, any thoughts/advice for how they affect the performance of the game?
Sure! With performance it's best to start by fiddling with the .ini files. The effects of the different options are explained comprehensively in this tweak guide (http://www.geforce.com/optimize/guides/new-vegas-tweak-guide#1). A useful program to give you a GUI and some screenshots when editing the .ini settings is the New Vegas Configator (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/40442).

The main problem that texture packs can cause is using up the VRAM on your video card - the framerate drops dramatically if you use up too much.

The largest framerate drops I've experienced in Fallout 3 have been due to using big texture overhauls, and were fixable by dropping to lower-res versions. My computer has a not-great-several-years-ago ATI Radeon HD 5700, and did reasonably well with the NMC Medium pack (though the framerate you consider acceptable might be higher than it is for me - I generally choose more detailed textures over extremely smooth framerates).

Unfortunately, I don't have hard numbers. NMC has some recommendations for hardware to run the three different versions of his texture pack on his page (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/43135) (scroll quite far down). Often, the low-res versions look better than the vanilla game even if they're not as detailed as the highest-res available.

I've generally not had problems with textures on individual items like armour or guns compared to big texture overhauls.

If you do want to use a lot of things in memory, such as large texture packs, it's important to use one of several methods to set the 'Large Address Aware' flag on the Fallout New Vegas executable (one way to do it (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/35262)). If this is not done, the game can only use 2GB of RAM, which can cause crashes.

With an ENB, the framerate hit greatly depends on which options you enable. My game became unplayable with depth of field enabled, and screen-space ambient occlusion completely kills framerates. The other features in an ENB generally cause much less impact on framerate.

Dynavision has never caused me a noticeable framerate hit, and in some ways it looks better than ENB depth-of-field (it doesn't blur the interface elements) though overall I think ENB has a more natural-looking effect. Of course, you might not want depth of field - you're not supposed to be a camera in game! The Imaginator and Cinematech cause no framerate harm.

I've had very few problems with weather mods. Nevada Skies has almost no impact on performance except for its rain, which causes a surprising framerate hit (it can be disabled, but the storm effects are quite cool). By contrast, Project Reality's rain is apparently quite performance-friendly, but I've heard some of PR's other weathers are less performance-friendly than NSkies - I think this is discussed somewhere in Gopher's video on Project Reality.

Also, I'll add a link to NVSE in the guide above. That is quite important, though hopefully you'll have found it when installing one of the other mentioned mods which require it.

Scarch

2013-03-18, 10:57 PM

Cool thread, I'll have to check out some of those mods. I'll admit I didn't really like Fallout 3 that much. I'm not sure exactly why, but I just got bored. New Vegas was a totally different story, I loved it. I still play it.

The power gamer in me keeps trying to break the game. Usually what I do is max out Int for optimized skill points, put a few points into Str, just enough to equip some of the heavier sniper rifles. I need 4 Str by the time I'm done. I start with stealth and do the first town pretty much 100%. By then I'm lvl 2 or 3 and I have 50 Sneak, and I go straight to New Vegas using a couple of stealth boys to bypass the Deathclaws.

I haven't actually finished the game yet though, I was right about to kill Caesar, but I was playing on my brother's PC and didn't own it myself so I didn't get to finish. Recently I bought the full package with all of the expansions off Steam. So I've had to restart.

I play on the hardest difficulty and I don't use V.A.T.S. I snipe everything, but I wear light armor and have no health.

Any tips on how to maximize a Dex/Int/Luck stealth/crit build?

Have any of you "broken" either game?

What builds do you guys like to go with?

Partof1

2013-03-18, 11:29 PM

I played both 3 and NV on console, though I personally preferred the former a great deal.

NV adds features such as the faction system and craftable ammo, though I found these things to be more of a nuisance. It is quite possible that I played t wrong, but where I cautiously explored everything in FO3, NV had me terrified to stray far from the main path, or a few limited routes, due to unfriendly factions constantly forcing me to carry multiple sets of armour and those thrice darned cazadores.

I sided with the Legion, which I expected to have some repercussions, but resulted in poor standing with nearly everyone, as they seemed incredibly touchy about my loyalty, and I ended up being neutral with them due to a faction armour mishap.

I liked the freedom in 3 that you eventually earned, but in New Vegas, even after completing the main mission and a few of the sides, I was still terrified of most NPC's because of how miserable good gear was to find and how crippled I felt with half the perks.

I may have to try it again on pc, with dlc and perhaps mods, as the map did seem fantastic, much like other Bethesda titles, and the story seemed interesting in theory. However, my experience was just okay.

Scarch

2013-03-18, 11:58 PM

... but where I cautiously explored everything in FO3, NV had me terrified to stray far from the main path, or a few limited routes, due to unfriendly factions constantly forcing me to carry multiple sets of armour and those thrice darned cazadores.

...

in New Vegas, even after completing the main mission and a few of the sides, I was still terrified of most NPC's because of how miserable good gear was to find and how crippled I felt with half the perks.

I may have to try it again on pc, with dlc and perhaps mods, as the map did seem fantastic, much like other Bethesda titles, and the story seemed interesting in theory. However, my experience was just okay.Hmm, I never experienced needing much armor, I used heavy armor at first, but now I just use light armor.

You can get power armor, which is beastly. Maybe everyone hating you made the shops not sell you good stuff? Still, you could always kill the high-tech guys and take their power armor.

The expansion packs add a lot of more powerful weapons and armor too.

SlyGuyMcFly

2013-03-19, 06:29 AM

Any tips on how to maximize a Dex/Int/Luck stealth/crit build?

Have any of you "broken" either game?

What builds do you guys like to go with?

The sniper build is one of the stronger ones in NV. The 1st_Recon_beret (http://www.falloutwiki.com/1st_Recon_beret) is a fantastic piece of gear for it. It doesn't need much to maximise, level guns and get yourself up to 6 strength to wield the Anti-Materiel rifle (you'll need the Weapon Handling perk for this) and you're set.

Make sure you're handy with a shotgun or pistol for those times you absolutely need to go indoors, though :smallwink:

thethird

2013-03-19, 07:10 AM

I also did a high crit low str character, although I was more of a mid range kind of girl and I'm partial to energy weapons :smallbiggrin: (laser commander is awesome and increases crit by 10%, set lasers for fun is an extra 4%)

First of all, Compliance Regulator (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Compliance_Regulator) can be SOOOOO broken (with a high crit). Arm yourself with a lot of bulk ammo (it is really cheap) and hunt those legendary creatures or any boss you want. Fire it till it drops paralyzed then keep firing until it dies (without it doing nothing) or alternate to a more damaging weapon and keep changing weapons whenever it moves.

My weapon of choice thought was a fully modified Advanced LAER (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Elijah%27s_advanced_LAER) switching to the YCS/186 (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/YCS/186) for long range kills (it requires less strength than the antimateriel rifle and deals more damage).

On equipment hunt for the few pieces that increase crit chance or increase luck, if possible keep everything light (in order to benefit from Light touch (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Light_Touch)). Then get all the perks that increase it further.

Avilan the Grey

2013-03-19, 07:23 AM

Speaking of breaking the game; In New Vegas, if you push your luck up to 8 or higher, you will break the game simply because you will be able to break the bank on all casinos (including Vicki and Vance), giving you ar /¤&)#= load of money.

Triaxx

2013-03-19, 09:19 AM

I have to say, I absolutely hate Beyond Boulder Dome. It is so, mind-numbingly BORING. When they say level 25, they mean it. It's doable at level 20, but you'd better have a considerable amount of firepower. I was using RobCo Certified, so I had a Sentry Bot, Protectron, and two Hoverbots (floating missile launchers).

But it's worse than the DC wasteland for finding your way around. Eventually, I just stopped. It was so boring. And don't play with Project Nevada. I had to crank the radiation all the way down to below vanilla levels because I couldn't fight it off. It's just... terrible. And at least two places I couldn't find my way around because the night vision only worked barely on it's highest setting. (game brightness maxed).

This is after spending a week trying to get a non-corrupt download of it.

Scarch

2013-03-19, 11:01 AM

Bryn

2013-03-19, 12:32 PM

I have to say, I absolutely hate Beyond Boulder Dome. It is so, mind-numbingly BORING.
Wow! That's going off the list.

Also...

Mission Mojave is actually deprecated, it's been absorbed into NVEC.
Are you sure about this? MM seems to still be undergoing active updates, and NVEC Bugfixes only seems to include (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5194280/NVECPages/BugfixModInclusions.html) the MM x93 terrain fixes. Looking in old comment threads, there appears to be a bit of acrimony between the authors of NVEC and those of MM, to the point that the MM authors were refusing to talk about NVEC in their thread. Have things changed since then?

Foeofthelance

2013-03-19, 01:19 PM

You know, I have over 300 hours logged in New Vegas, and I still have not finished the game. Haven`t even finished a DLC yet...

Triaxx

2013-03-19, 05:45 PM

Hmm.. further inspection shows you're right. Things might have changed since I looked, but I didn't look that far in. I try to stay out of that sort of politics.

You might try Dog City Denver. Same guys as BBD, but it's an earlier mod and looks a little better fleshed and a little less 'DARK AND SCARY'.

If you want more places to go, and people to kill in the Mojave, try out A World of Pain. It's awesome. Hundreds of locations and more enemies than you can shake a stick at. There's also a less massive F3 edition.

Bryn

2013-03-19, 08:02 PM

I tried Dog City Denver a long time ago, but I found the opening scene (where, if I remember it right, you are unavoidably knocked out by a gas attack and lectured at by an NPC for falling into his totally-not-obvious trap (did I confabulate that bit?)) too contrived to want to continue.

All this talk of mods has made me start bringing my load order up to date. CCO should gain a new FOMOD installation script quite soon :smallsmile:

Foeofthelance

2013-03-19, 08:05 PM

What is the general suggestion for load order, again?

Mando Knight

2013-03-19, 08:14 PM

What is the general suggestion for load order, again?

In general, load masters first, and load whatever you want overwritten the least last.

Bryn

2013-03-19, 08:49 PM

The easiest solution is to download and run BOSS (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/35999), which will sort your mods according to a standard load order. Tweak it from there if you want to (and you can use this tool (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/44745) to add user lists to BOSS to use your tweaks every time).

Edit to add: BOSS's master list is a bit outdated, missing some CCO plugins and the PN Extra Options. You'll need to add these in the userlist manager - consult the relevant mods' readmes/descriptions to see where they need to go.

Gopher has a video on load order and BOSS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MxLBcSgkc&list=SP0E5E8CA384409B11&index=5) if you need more information.

If you get conflicts
Use FNVEdit to generate a merged patch (combining changes to form lists) and then check for conflicts - the records are highlighted different colours depending on whether the change is applied or being overwritten by another mod.

If you have a mod conflict, then you need copy the changes from both mods using FNVEdit into a new .esp file and load it after the conflicting mods. (e.g. suppose two mods, 1 and 2, both change the same item. Unfortunately, both mods must include all the stats of the item, not just the ones they intend to change. If you load mod 1 and then mod 2, mod 1's changes will be overwritten by the 'identical to master' entries in mod 2.)

To do this, right-click on the relevant record in one of the two conflicting mods and select 'copy as override into' (IIRC), then select the new mod option at the bottom of the list. This will copy the entire item from that mod into a new file. Then, click and drag the desired changes from the conflicting mod into the new file in the right-hand part of the screen. If you're successful, both mods will show up as green, meaning their changes are being applied successfully.

From Gopher's videos: using FNVEdit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVKe51dRm2M&list=SP0E5E8CA384409B11&index=6), troubleshooting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOOYuptvA0o&list=SP0E5E8CA384409B11&index=9).

There's also the very good FNVEdit Training Manual (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/38413) which describes the procedure above in enough detail to follow.

Scarch

2013-03-19, 10:13 PM

This is why PC gaming is superior to consol gaming: mods.

Balmas

2013-03-20, 12:23 AM

Sooo... with all these mods for New Vegas, are there any for Fallout 3?

Avilan the Grey

2013-03-20, 03:32 AM

Sooo... with all these mods for New Vegas, are there any for Fallout 3?

Yes, www.falloutnexus.com.

Also... BOSS is not really neccesary if you use the Nexus own Mod Manager. It is fairly intellegent with it's load order and it makes installing mods very easy. (The same mod manager is used for FO3, NV and Skyrim).

Bryn

2013-03-20, 10:43 AM

Sooo... with all these mods for New Vegas, are there any for Fallout 3?
There certainly are. I don't have time to try to write a similar guide right now, but tomorrow I hopefully will. However, it's been a lot longer since I modded Fallout 3.

The main ones to get are FWE (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/2761) (the predecessor to Project Nevada), Mart's Mutant Mod (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/3211) and NMC's texture pack (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/12056). Use FOIP (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/4968) to get them to work nicely together, along with several other great mods.

SlyGuyMcFly

2013-03-21, 03:35 PM

So I started a new game and thought "What the hell. Let's try Hardcore mode this time. I'm going to play a lone cowgirl-themed character and I might as well make Survival actually useful". And I'm loving it so far. The needs thing really does increase immersion!

Just one itty-bitty problem. Crippled Limbs. Good gods above is this annoying. Doctor's Bags are rare, expensive, and heal for almost nothing. Doctors, I only know of Mitchell in Goodsprings. Owned beds are not a thing I've ever had to pay attention to, but also seem rare as heck and BLUH BLUH RANT RANT.

*sigh*

Feel much better now! :smallbiggrin: I'm only level 5 so far, and not even past Nipton so I guess I'll learn to deal with it eventually but daaaamn. Anyway. Anyone have some tips for dealing with limb damage in Hardcore?

thethird

2013-03-21, 03:55 PM

Honest Hearts is great for that, you can use Daturana (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Daturana) or healing poultice (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Healing_poultice), they are your best bet easy to craft and relatively light.

You can also craft doctor's bag, try to collect forceps, medical brace, scalpel and surgical tubing. If you have a companion that lets you craft stuff (ED-E is great) you can always create them in the fly.

Mando Knight

2013-03-21, 04:04 PM

There's more doctors up by New Vegas and around major faction areas.

The Novac motel bed is yours (once you buy it, anyway), as is the Lucky 38 suite. The bed in the Big MT is also yours.

Using Hydra is another way to keep your limbs in shape, though it has an addiction rate. I think in Hardcore it might actually be more effective than the Doctor's Bag if you stay out of combat while it heals you.

SlyGuyMcFly

2013-03-21, 08:09 PM

Thanks for the tips folks, will keep them in mind! Currently have a slightly more pressing issue, though. I'm trapped in a small shack with a rather irate and persistent Deathclaw on the other side of the door. Waiting just makes it hungrier, shooting just makes it angrier and running makes me die in ten seconds instead of three. :smalleek:

Might have to load an earlier save. :smallfrown:

Foeofthelance

2013-03-21, 09:14 PM

Try waiting three days of in game time. That resets cells, and should send the deathclaw back home.

Scarch

2013-03-21, 09:45 PM

Using a stealth boy will de-agro it while it's chasing you. Although, it might take two to get it completely off of you.

Triaxx

2013-03-22, 04:21 AM

Then I guess I'll not bother with DCD either, because Boulder starts with that same stupid 'totally not a trap'.

If you like absurdly well done guns, look at Millenia. He's almost always got something on the hotfiles lately and they're all fabulous. (Well, except for the M-14 which is a little too high guns for the early game point he passes it out. Better to wait for one from an enemy where you'll be closer to the required minimum.) AK-47, and the MP412-Rex are incredible though.

@SlyGuy: There are two guaranteed Hydra on the desk in the Police station south of Primm. Rad child will become your best friend.

Are you on the PC? If so, NVEC let's you pick up bedrolls. They're annoyingly heavy, but it's easier to carry 20 pounds of that than find 20 doctor's bags.

thethird

2013-03-22, 06:43 AM

You can also find bed rolls at the divide (with the lonesome road dlc)

Ailurus

2013-03-22, 04:18 PM

Just one itty-bitty problem. Crippled Limbs. Good gods above is this annoying. Doctor's Bags are rare, expensive, and heal for almost nothing.

Other thing about doctor's bags is, don't go to the aid section of your pipboy and select them. That will heal a tiny bit of damage on all limbs. Instead, if you go to the screen where you can see limb damage, click on the limb that's crippled. Only that limb will get healed, but it will be a noticeable amount.

But, yeah, they're still not a great choice. Never really tried the Daturana much, but healing poultices are good. And Hydra is freakin amazing, as it will functionally heal all limbs beyond full, and over time - so you can get crippled, pop it right away, and if another limb gets crippled in the fight that one will heal too. (plus, with high enough survival, you can teach the Khans how to make it and they'll start selling it).

Foeofthelance

2013-03-22, 05:13 PM

So, started a new play through last night. I've so far acquired three companions, (ED-E and two mod companions, Ness and Willow) blown up about a hundred geckos, raided a vault, and freed Primm by reprogramming Primm Slimm to play sheriff.

And the Powder Gangers are still looking for Ringo back in Good Springs.

Now I remember why I have never finished this game. Damn you, World of Pain, damn you!

Triaxx

2013-03-22, 07:44 PM

HA HA HA!!

Willow is awesome, but I've never heard of Ness. What kind of companion is it?

Foeofthelance

2013-03-22, 09:09 PM

No idea, she was listed in a costume mod I downloaded, so I went and picked her up as well. She's focused entirely on melee and apparently gives me bad luck. At least one of those explains why she keeps getting shot in the back by the rest of us...

So far she has...

-Been gunned down by raiders and falling off a cliff as a result.
-Poisoned by Giant Radscorpions.
-Caught the grenade I lobbed at said Radscorpions, treating me to a lovely scene of her flying backwards out of the room and smashing into the wall behind me
-Getting lit on fire by ED-E
-Getting lit on fire by Geckos
-Blown up by Powder Gangers
-Devoured by giant rats
-Shot in the head by Willow

And I've only been playing for about six hours of game time. She spends a lot of time KO'd.

Farix

2013-03-23, 07:25 PM

Some of the best parts of the 3d Fallout games are the bugs you get. Loaded New Vegas up a few days ago after all the talk of mods and such here and I've had a couple interesting ones. First off are the occasional clipping bugs where you shoot a guy and his ragdoll freaks out, folding and stretching him into all sorts of weird shapes before shooting him off across the sky.

But had one happen today which caught me off guard. I had just made it to Novac for the first time when I saw a guy running up to me. Turns out it was Pacer talking about how he'd heard I'd been asking about the King and wanting to know why. Thing is I haven't been further north than Novac yet, haven't even had the King mentioned in converstions at all. So poor Pacer footed it from Freeside down to Novac, probabily running since I was at the Mojave Outpost, on an impossible rumor.

So what's your best bug, glitch, or horror story of game breaking events?

Scarch

2013-03-23, 08:15 PM

A Deathclaw and a Super Mutant were on either side of me while I was cloaked with a Stealth Boy. They were both walking about five feet before turning 180 walking another five feet turning 180 and repeat indefinitely. I was flashing from Danger to Caution. And I was able to walk right through them without getting attacked. The gap between them was like fifteen feet at the most.

Foeofthelance

2013-03-24, 07:16 AM

Best glitch I ran into was one where for some reason every time I saved my game, my character got an increase to carry weight. By the time it went away, I could haul half a ton of junk with me.

Avilan the Grey

2013-03-24, 08:40 AM

Anybody tried Monster Loves You?

SlyGuyMcFly

2013-03-24, 11:52 AM

Anybody tried Monster Loves You?

Wrong thread, or is that also the name of a mod?

Mando Knight

2013-03-24, 12:00 PM

But had one happen today which caught me off guard. I had just made it to Novac for the first time when I saw a guy running up to me. Turns out it was Pacer talking about how he'd heard I'd been asking about the King and wanting to know why. Thing is I haven't been further north than Novac yet, haven't even had the King mentioned in converstions at all. So poor Pacer footed it from Freeside down to Novac, probabily running since I was at the Mojave Outpost, on an impossible rumor.

Emily Ortal (http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/939254794959048472/919D0B9382E830A1815469899529F19079C58089/) is another one who shows up at inopportune times. Stupid girl followed me to the Hoover Dam, then began cowering in fear because there was a war going on. She wanted to know if I'd bugged the Lucky 38 yet. Obviously, I was busy.

hayabusa

2013-03-24, 12:17 PM

After just getting fast internet, I have just learned the joys of New Vegas after owning it for two years. Seems very much like what Fallout 3 (Van Buren) could have been. After hearing of the Powder Gangers, I had to think "Now that concept sounds familiar..."

Bryn

2013-03-24, 12:45 PM

Obsidian has a lot of overlap with the team at Black Isle who were working on Van Buren, and they used a lot of their ideas for Van Buren (Caesar's Legion in particular) to make New Vegas. A lot of characters and places (e.g. Hoover Dam (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Hoover_Dam_%28Van_Buren%29) and New Canaan (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/New_Canaan)) in New Vegas were going to appear in Van Buren. Sometimes they appear in NV in a way that's consistent with VB (e.g Alice McLafferty (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Alice_McLafferty)), other times the same names and some plot points are used for a different NV history (e.g. (NV spoilers for Arcade's quest) VB's Arcade (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Arcade_Gannon_%28Van_Buren%29) vs NV's Arcade).

Triaxx

2013-03-24, 01:54 PM

Not forgetting the Legion and Joshua Graham.

Avilan the Grey

2013-03-24, 04:15 PM

Wrong thread, or is that also the name of a mod?

Definitely wrong thread. Sorry.

Balmas

2013-03-25, 04:25 AM

You know that you've arrived when your first reaction on seeing a super mutant behemoth is to pull out your shishkebab, say, "Oh goodie!" and start swinging away.

hayabusa

2013-03-25, 02:59 PM

Not forgetting the Legion and Joshua Graham.

How many times are they going to try and kill him?

Triaxx

2013-03-25, 06:27 PM

As many as they can get away with.

I just played through, and had considerable fun no-scoping the guards at the NCR Correctional Facility.

Balmas

2013-03-28, 10:40 PM

I'm pretty sure that I must be the opposite of what you ideally want in a business partner. In the last three quests in a row, I played one NPC against the other in order to get more money from both. Then, at the last moment, I killed both and looted their stuff.

Also, I am a horrible person. I have gone on a murderous rampage through Megaton no fewer than three times, and Rivet City is due a visit. I remember thinking, "It's a good thing that these people are all stoned out of their minds, or they'd probably be really mad that I'm robbing them blind." BUT I GIVE WATER TO HOBOES. So it's alright.

Foeofthelance

2013-03-29, 06:31 AM

I'm now about thirty hours in on New Vegas. My party now includes Raul, ED-E, Veronica, Willow, Wendy, and Tess. This probably seems like it should unbalance the game some, but I've been running into ambushes upwards of 15 bad guys. Ammo has actually become a bit of an issue. I'll hit all the merchants I can fast travel to and buy as much 5.56 as I can get my hands on for the Bozar. Walk in with about 450 rounds, walk out at the end with about 24.

On the other hand, I have a ridiculous amount of money from killing and turning in bounties. I think I'm going to go get some implants to max out a couple more abilities, then go and tackle Dead Money.

Comet

2013-03-29, 06:45 AM

On the other hand, I have a ridiculous amount of money -- think I'm going to go get some implants to max out a couple more abilities, then go and tackle Dead Money.

And after Dead Money you'll have even more ridiculous amounts of money.

That's one of the few problems I have with the game. Even without winning big at the Sierra Madre you still end up swimming in bottlecaps and the vendors ultimately have a very small amount of worthwhile stuff to sell.

On less Vegas related stuff, I've been thinking about going through Fallout 3 again. I just fear there won't be much replay value in that game as I basically remember your choices boiling down to good and evil, with evil being the boring moustache twirling variety. I really liked how I could build characters in New Vegas that each had a radically different way of going about things and how that was reflected in the quests I chose to complete with each character and how I chose to complete them.

Am I remembering this wrong, is there more replay value to Fallout 3 than I remember? I went through it once as a cyborg ninja that was convinced he was the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln and I don't think I'll be able to replicate that kind of thematic success with an evil character.

Triaxx

2013-03-29, 07:51 AM

If you play with FWE, you get the option to play with a Ghoul race character, so you could play through as one trying to 'help' all these smoothskins 'evolve' into the new dominant race. There's the reason for blowing up Megaton, and it gives you a reason to ravage through Tenpenny tower. And ultimately help Eden.

Personally I play F3 for the chance to run around sniping everything. I absolutely love Evergreen Mills. The game is spectacularly fun with ZealotLee's ACR. One gun to turn them all into greasy red paste. A sniper fix is a must however.

I play NV with Project Nevada, so I have boosted buying prices, and massively cut selling prices. So the gun that costs me 10k, sells straight away for a little more than 1k.

hayabusa

2013-03-29, 10:35 AM

Triaxx

2013-03-29, 04:18 PM

I never found it so, but I always played the sort of character who just dumps huge piles of stuff out of his or her bag and can walk away without anything I want. Plus it was a lot easier to farm random encounters. I know I used to run a triangle between the Den Redding and Modoc. M60's and FN FAL's sell really well.

nhbdy

2013-03-29, 07:55 PM

Personally running NV with project nevada (not big into FPS games, but if I'm gonna play an action RPG with guns, might as well add proven shooter elements that people like, and sprint is a godsend) and gotta say, have yet to run into the I HAZ INFINITEH MONEYZ LAWL problem, and it seems to keep it's difficulty with the balance mod, so I can vouch for at least a successful first impressions of the mod, yet to really beat the game (was around level 10-12 iirc)

dramatic flare

2013-03-30, 05:31 AM

Wow, that really is on par with Fallout 1 & 2. Man, their ammo and guns were insanely expensive.

Not that it would stop you in Fallout 2 from glitching out with too much ammo in the trunk of you car.

Okay, so I know Fallout 4 has been announced and we're pretty certain it's going to be Boston (Which I'm sure I'll be fine with, around 300 hours per character fine with) but I still really, really want a Fallout: Manhattan.

I could post the write up I've got of the idea, but I suspect it would fall into TL;DR territory for most people.

Triaxx

2013-03-30, 07:06 AM

Ammo is what did it? That explains a lot.

factotum

2013-03-30, 03:27 PM

Okay, so I know Fallout 4 has been announced and we're pretty certain it's going to be Boston (Which I'm sure I'll be fine with, around 300 hours per character fine with) but I still really, really want a Fallout: Manhattan.

I wonder if 4 will follow NV more than 3? Hope so. Also hope they don't decide to mess around with the mechanics like they did with Skyrim. (Don't get me wrong, I actually liked the levelling system in Skyrim, I just think the SPECIAL system is such an integral part of Fallout that it wouldn't be the same game without it).

Triaxx

2013-03-31, 08:35 AM

I wouldn't count on that, since NV was actually done by Obsidian. Unless Bethesda contracts the next game out (which I doubt), we'll have more Fallout 3. Which isn't necessarily a bad things, since it does the bombed out wasteland pretty well. On the other hand, it's also due to be set in Boston, which doesn't sound too appealing to me.

I mean, yes, Fallout 3 was set in and around Washington, DC, and it was good because it was the seat of the government, so it was only right we end up fighting the remnants of a corrupt superpower.

What exactly is our bad guy in Fallout 4? The evil, robot enslaving Institute? Okay, fine, but you'll note that we've been using robot servants for years. All those Mister Handies, and Mister Gutsies and Sentry Bots, and most of all Robobrains, who are for all intents and purposes if not sentient than at least intelligent enough to keep doing their jobs after the world has gone all the way to hell and then crawled back.

So the androids are all super intelligent and humanoid and they have 'feelings'. So what? They're just more Bethesda characters. You know why that quest to find the Android was so hard? Because he acted like all the other robots. Errr... characters.

And yes, it was fun to walk into Paradise Falls with power armor and a minigun and rip apart the slavers with vengeance and a smile. But I played NV. I already had a chance to fight/join an entire faction of puppy-kickingly evil slavers. At least the Legion was interesting.

I have no interest whatsoever in yet another group of mad scientists who want to save the world but are actually destroying it through their poorly thought out plans. I've done that. Four TIMES. (Fallout 2, and the Enclave. Fallout 3, and the Enclave. (And the two idiots in Point Lookout.) and in New Vegas at Big MT.) ENOUGH. We get it. Science in Fallout doesn't go well. Try a new plan.

Nerd-o-rama

2013-03-31, 11:57 AM

I dunno, between the Brotherhood of Steel (half the time), the relatively nice supercomputers, Project Purity's practical use, New Vegas as a technological paradise, and the Legion's whole insane Luddism, I always gathered that "science" wasn't so much the problem in Fallout as people clinging to selfish Old World values.

Also, you forgot the Master and his attempts to "evolve" everyone into super mutants.

Triaxx

2013-03-31, 02:49 PM

Mando Knight

2013-03-31, 04:37 PM

Fallout confession: I've never actually finished Fallout 1. I try and then get bored around the time I get the water chip.

"You must go back into the wastes and stop the mutants!"

"Uh-huh. I just escaped with my life back here and you want me to go BACK out?"

"Yes."

*shotgun* "This is the new Overseer speaking."

I just set the self-destruct and ran. Yes, that took savescumming. Somehow managed to keep Dogmeat alive then. Still lost the dumb mutt assaulting the Cathedral, though.

Logic

2013-04-01, 01:28 PM

To anyone that is unsure of Fallout 3 (and doesn't already have the DLC) Xbox Live is having a today only sale on all of Fallout 3's add-ons.

Balmas

2013-04-01, 02:08 PM

I have to be honest; I never expected Fallout, of all games, to challenge my moral standards. Then, I got to the Pitt.

To me, that's the mark of a good game. It makes you think about what is truly important to you. Is a cruel, dictatorial tyranny with a good end better or worse than free anarchy? Is the loss of one of the great hopes of the wasteland worth the slavery and death of hundreds? Would you sacrifice an innocent child, not even out of the crib yet, for freedom?

Dangit, it's only a video game! I shouldn't be losing time wondering whether I made the right choice!

(Spoilers: I sided with Ashur.)

Mando Knight

2013-04-01, 02:17 PM

'nother spoiler: Siding with Wernher changes nothing except that the baby doesn't get to be with her parents...

Paramilitary dictatorship built on slave labor, or the tyranny of anarchy? Your choice.

Triaxx

2013-04-01, 05:13 PM

I never even had any of the ultra evil characters who could side with Werner. Mostly because he's such a jerk. I mean, these were guys who'd side with the Legion in New Vegas, but Werner is a perfect example of 'Even Evil has Standards'.

What really annoyed me though, is that there weren't any other options. I could be the most intelligent scientist and greatest doctor the world had ever seen, but my options are identical to someone with 1 intelligence. No option to examine the research, and synthesize a treatment, or some sort of an inoculation. Or accelerate a cure. Heck, I can talk down a super computer intent on killing every living thing in the wasteland, but I can't convince two idiots to work together for a better future.

Nope, because that would have interfered with the plot railroad.

Well forget you Pitt. I'll take my Man-Opener and carve my way out.

Nerd-o-rama

2013-04-01, 05:28 PM

Fallout confession: I've never actually finished Fallout 1. I try and then get bored around the time I get the water chip.

"You must go back into the wastes and stop the mutants!"

"Uh-huh. I just escaped with my life back here and you want me to go BACK out?"

"Yes."

*shotgun* "This is the new Overseer speaking."

I think you'd find the ending quite satisfying if you turn gore all the way up.

Foeofthelance

2013-04-04, 07:02 AM

I've hit level 20 and headed into Dead Money. Predictably, Veronica and ED-E got fired and sent home by the transition. So I showed up at the Sierra Madre with Tess, Willow, Wendy...and Raul. Well, I had intended to do this solo, so I tried to send the rest of the squad home.

"Wendy, go home."
"Sure, thing, I'll go wait in Boulder City."
*Wendy just stands there.*
"You're not leaving, are you?"
"Nope!"

"Willow, go home."
"What? After we've been through so much together? How could you do this to me? I thought we were friends! Fine, see if I ever want to adventure with you again!"
"Wait, no! Stop, I didn't mean it like that! You can stay, you can stay!"

"Tess, go- Wait, what do you mean I can't send you home?"
"Well, my grandmother, mother, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews were all brutally slaughtered by slavers, so you're stuck with me."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"Damn."

"Raul, go home."
"Sure thing, Boss! I mean, uh, really? Are you sure? I'd really feel terrible if something horrible were to happen to you!"
"Yes, I am sure."
"Sweet! Try not to die!" *Raul immediately takes off for the front gate like there's an army of Super Mutants chasing after him*

Yup. Out of my entire squad, the only one who didn't want to try braving the haunted village/casino littered with death traps, inhabited by undying nightmares, and smothered by a flesh melting, lung dissolving cloud of doom, was the guy who was already dead.

Turns out he was the smart one...

Triaxx

2013-04-04, 10:05 AM

When the Ghoul runs. LISTEN.

Mando Knight

2013-04-04, 10:11 AM

That's something that can only happen when you're using a companion mod...

...Also, once you have the suite in the Lucky 38, you can send your companions there, and their guilt-trips become a lot weaker.

Foeofthelance

2013-04-04, 10:49 AM

That's alright, I just told them to wait by the fountain until I was ready to come get them.

In other news, I really hate Dean Domino. Never mind the attitude, paranoid nut laid down way too many traps. I'm sitting there trying to disable a tripwire, next thing I know I'm flying across a courtyard because a Ghost tried to gut me while I was working. Or I'm creeping through the dark and all of a sudden... CLANK. Ow. Try a different route. CLANK. Damnit! Ok, go this- CLANK. @&$@! Where did he even get all those bear traps, anyways? I mean, the things are everywhere. Was Sinclair stocking up in preparation for a migration of grizzlies? Did Vera have a fetish for them? Or was Mr. Yesterday just getting ready for the inevitable OSHA raid?

PhallicWarrior

2013-04-04, 11:15 AM

What's great is that God/Dog's companion perk is the one that protects you from traps. (One of the two, anyway. It changes based on which personality is dominant)

Triaxx

2013-04-04, 12:00 PM

One of the reasons I like the Advanced Recon Gear mods so well is that I can use the detect traps perk which makes them glow green. Extremely helpful.

nhbdy

2013-04-04, 12:19 PM

One of the reasons I like the Advanced Recon Gear mods so well is that I can use the detect traps perk which makes them glow green. Extremely helpful.

or you could... you know.. take light step?

Triaxx

2013-04-04, 01:47 PM

No good against tripwires. I also play with mods to darken the world, so things are harder to see. The mod also changes Light Step to only work on things you've already detected.

Gamerlord

2013-04-04, 01:50 PM

No good against tripwires. I also play with mods to darken the world, so things are harder to see. The mod also changes Light Step to only work on things you've already detected.
...Are you sure it doesn't work against tripwires? :smallconfused: I took Light Step on my second character in New Vegas, and I distinctly recall the frustration of companions triggering tripwires that I just walked through without noticing.

Mando Knight

2013-04-04, 02:07 PM

I also play with mods to darken the world, so things are harder to see.

Yeah, uh, turn those off in Dead Money. It's dark enough in there already.

Triaxx

2013-04-04, 02:13 PM

I've been tripping them. Of course I might have a problem with my game. It's not unheard of.

Tychris1

2013-04-04, 02:26 PM

Hmmm, thinking of picking up Fallout 3 agian but this time on the PC so I can utilize the myriad of mods available. I always liked the Brotherhood Outcasts (Narcissistic Superiority Complex Tech Horders that dress in black and red power armor? Sign me up!) and found it rather fun that I could atleast be on decent terms with them. But now, with the power of mods I'm hoping to actually integrate with them.

Apparently FWE (Fallout 3 Wanderer Edition Link (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/2761)) is a pretty good and indepth mod, but i'm wondering if anyone knows if it supports joining multiple factions like the Outcasts (Or the Enclave atleast, America hell yeah!)? I'm also open to other mods, my Minigun toting bastard is going to need all the help (Or challenge for when I get back into the feel of things) he can get.

Bryn

2013-04-04, 03:16 PM

FWE implements Khet's Alternate Starts, which includes an Outcast origin which places in you in the Outcasts faction:

Outcast

You were once part of the mighty Brotherhood of Steel but defected with your comrades. Due to the training you received you gain the ability to wear power armor and a bonus to your Big Gun Skill (+5). The Brotherhood was never known for stealthy approaches and you are no exception (-10 to Sneak).
Other Bonuses: Can use Power Armor. In the Outcast Faction (their enemies are your enemies). Access to Fort Independence.

However, beyond those changes, Alternate Start doesn't substantially alter the quests (Operation Anchorage, for example, wouldn't acknowledge that you are a fellow Outcast and not a convenient PipBoy-owner). FWE generally doesn't fiddle with the faction system.

If you want to join the Outcasts without using FWE's alternate start, a quick Nexus search finds this mod (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/17111) which also changes some of the text strings (but presumably not voice acting). Slightly less limited interaction!

If you don't use that mod, this mod (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/16554) reimplements some dialogue that the outcasts were supposed to use when they trust you.

There are a few mods which streamline the tech-collecting quest and add new items. For example, this one (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/4930)/FWE version (http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/12175) allows you to place all the items in a container in exchange for 'credits' to redeem for rewards..

There are a few other mods which retexture or remodel the Outcast armour in various ways, and give the Outcasts better equipment. Search for something like 'outcast' and sort by Endorsements in descending order.

matt321miller

2013-04-04, 06:01 PM

thethird

2013-04-04, 06:15 PM

Go slowly. Let the follower/followers who don't need ammo engage. Go slowly. Keep a melee weapon close at all times. Go slowly. Double check everything. Hack any dead body. Go slowly. Seriously though, go slowly, there are traps. Also... talk with dog he likes to bite the enemies and will teach you how to overkill them.

And... Bloody mess (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Bloody_Mess_(perk)) is surprisingly useful. Also I was specialized on energy weapons, and the Holorifle was a great weapon, really efficient.

nhbdy

2013-04-04, 06:18 PM

So I'm mid way through a Hardcore/Hard/Veryhard run of NV and I've started Dead Money. Am I just really bad or am I missing something to stop me needing some serious healing after 4 Ghost enemies. Yes you can avoid them by just running but the 3 followers like to stay engaged, never running and besides that's just not in the spirit of killing ALL THE ENEMIES!!!

Any tips for Dead Money?

well, they're very bulletspongy and only seem to go down fast if you cripple limbs, kinda obvious, but not sure how you're approaching them, many of the weapons there also have bonus to limb damage too...

Foeofthelance

2013-04-04, 06:34 PM

1) Raid the Police Station first. You can pick up the Assault Rifle, .308 ammo, and Weapon Repair Kit recipes there, which means you don't need anything else, except maybe the Holorifle and a Knife Spear to hack up the fallen.

2) Clinic next, for the Stimpak Recipe and Assassin Armor. Then you have improved sneak, and everything you need can be purchased from the Vending Machines for Sierra Madre Chips.

3) Make sure to explore the dialogue options with Dean and Christine. Dean will teach you how to make Sierra Martinis, which can really help boost stats in an emergency. Christine can teach you to make dummy chips for the Vending Machine.

4) Traps are everywhere, but your Pipboy light will get you killed.

5) Walk, don't run, or you will attract Ghosts. Sneaking is your friend, as it lets you get the drop on them.

Re: Tripwires. Tripwires are weird. Some of them tend to have a delayed reaction, especially where the Grenade Bouquets are concerned. You can trip one and not realize it until the big boom.

Mando Knight

2013-04-04, 06:48 PM

So I'm mid way through a Hardcore/Hard/Veryhard run of NV and I've started Dead Money. Am I just really bad or am I missing something to stop me needing some serious healing after 4 Ghost enemies. Yes you can avoid them by just running but the 3 followers like to stay engaged, never running and besides that's just not in the spirit of killing ALL THE ENEMIES!!!

Any tips for Dead Money?

On Hardcore, the air eats you more than it normally does. Them's Good Eatin' gives you Blood Sausage and Thin Red Paste on kills, which helps a bit by giving you an easily spammed heal over time effect.

nhbdy

2013-04-04, 08:05 PM

On Hardcore, the air eats you more than it normally does. Them's Good Eatin' gives you Blood Sausage and Thin Red Paste on kills, which helps a bit by giving you an easily spammed heal over time effect.

overall dead money had a good atmosphere (imo) and I enjoyed the story (only DLC I've played thus far) but after looking over the changes w/ hardcore mode... it looks like it takes the least fun areas of it and makes them worse... not sure it seems like it'd be for me, may have to turn off HC mode on my HC char if/when I get there.

Triaxx

2013-04-04, 11:54 PM

Are there any particularly Rad Heavy area's? If so, you might want to adjust Project Nevada's Radiation absorption rate, since it boosts to 150% of normal.

If you're playing FWE and don't have a solid plan to be in a Tin Can by level 3, I find it absolutely vital to see Moira, and get radiated to 600+, then stay at 400 or better for the remainder of the game. That way you'll immediately heal crippled limbs, letting you keep fighting longer than you would without that perk. I also take Rad Child, so I can heal with the rads, though you have to take care, since Rad Child actually eats the radiation to work, where Moira's perk doesn't. So Rad Child will push you down to 399, negating both perks. Which is annoying.

Mando Knight

2013-04-05, 12:00 AM

Not in Dead Money.

In fact, compared to Fallout 3, there's not a lot of heavily irradiated areas in New Vegas, aside from parts of Lonesome Road and the dirty bombed town in the south east.

Triaxx

2013-04-05, 12:23 AM

Sadly I don't have the DLC, but I can think of a few in the Mojave. The summit of Black Mountain is one, as well as the crater at the bottom. Also, the Devil's Gullet, with the CZ Avenger.

Plus the wonderous joy all players feel as they walk to the actual door of Vault 34.

matt321miller

2013-04-05, 04:03 AM

I'm trying to go slowly, but Dog/God charges in at the first sign of enemies and slowly agroes them all in ones and twos so he's always on 1/4 hp and dying it seems.

@Foeofthelance: I've already got all of that, bar the assault rifle I think and fake chips from Christine. I have been running a Cowboy build so I have points in both Melee and Guns but I either let companions die or try and tangle with the ghosts up close and personal.

I know you can run past them or sneak pretty well, but do they actually ignore you if you go slow....

Foeofthelance

2013-04-06, 02:36 PM

I would definitely pick up the rifle, then. I can normally put one down in 5-10 shots of blind fire, and it normally takes off a limb in the process. As for sneaking up on them, I've never had a problem with it. I've also got my sneak maxed out, though, and I'm wearing the assassin's suit. The only time they get the drop on me is when they come out on the roofs and I lose them in the shadows. One trick I use, if I know one in the area, is to rip off a burst and call them to me. That gives me the advantage, and sometimes I get lucky and they'll trip a trap in the process.

Triaxx

2013-04-06, 10:22 PM

So, I've been playing Fallout 2, and I'd forgotten about that slightly boring part in the middle where you don't have the skill to one shot enemies so you take a while to get the rounds into them to kill them.

Then die to a flame thrower because you haven't saved. *sigh*

Ailurus

2013-04-08, 04:54 PM

I usually just end up spamming explosives at the ghost people - tin grenades, MFC clusters and grenades (Mad Bomber perk ftw), throwing their own gas bombs back at them, demo charges from the vending machines, or scavenging regular explosives from Dean's incessant traps. They're just too agile for me to consistently shoot them outside of VATS, so just hurling splash damage at them until an arm or leg gets crippled is the best way for me.

gooddragon1

2013-04-11, 12:00 AM

Might as well post this here too:

Stats of weapon. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHK58hATOj0)
Sound of weapon. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZIt3tbO4sw)

Nerd-o-rama

2013-04-11, 09:12 AM

Wookieetank

2013-04-11, 10:11 AM

Every Fallout becomes massively more entertaining when you can consistently eye-shot people.

This plus energy weapons. Piles of goo and electrified ash piles ahoy!:smallbiggrin:

Foeofthelance

2013-04-11, 01:42 PM

Playing Dead Money can be unsettling.

Playing Dead Money in the dark can be nerve wracking.

Playing Dead Money in the dark, in the middle of a thunderstorm? Baaad idea.

I'm heading through the Vault for the final confrontation, running for my life from the beeping noise coming from my collar when- KRAAAKTHOOMBoom-and the next thing I know there are chunks of Courier splattered all over the power generator below. Naturally, my fiancee thought that was hilarious.

I also discovered that having companions along screws up the pathing for locking Elijah in the vault. He would walk up to the door, it would trigger the (Optional: Complete) message, and then he would turn around and attack Willow and Wendy instead of actually getting into the vault. This, in turn, bugged the elevator if I tried to run for it, which meant the bomb collar would go off. Cue more Courier giblets. Finally just walked up to him and shot him before running for it.

So yeah, Dead Money is done. I'm going to aim for level 30 before tackling Honest Hearts, that way I can max out my Unarmed skills and toss a few more in Survival. Right now this means abusing the Explorer perk to track down bounties.

Mando Knight

2013-04-11, 02:05 PM

Do them out of order, play Old World Blues next. Trust me, there's easy access to poison immunity there, and you'll want it for Honest Hearts.

factotum

2013-04-11, 03:50 PM

This plus energy weapons. Piles of goo and electrified ash piles ahoy!:smallbiggrin:

Sniper rifles are much better--shooting a super mutant from the other side of the map and blowing most of their chest away never gets old.

That was the biggest problem with Fallout 3 (and NV, although maybe to a lesser extent)--because all the enemies scale in level to you, there comes a point where you're no longer able to one-shot them no matter how powerful you are and how wimpy *they* are.

Wookieetank

2013-04-12, 07:52 AM

Sniper rifles are much better--shooting a super mutant from the other side of the map and blowing most of their chest away never gets old.

That was the biggest problem with Fallout 3 (and NV, although maybe to a lesser extent)--because all the enemies scale in level to you, there comes a point where you're no longer able to one-shot them no matter how powerful you are and how wimpy *they* are.

For me in FO3 other than deathclaws and super mutant behemoths, I found that the Lincoln Repeater made short work of most everything in the game. Although thinking on it, the maxed stealth skill and silent running perk mighta factored into that a bit... :smallredface:

Balmas

2013-04-12, 12:10 PM

For me in FO3 other than deathclaws and super mutant behemoths, I found that the Lincoln Repeater made short work of most everything in the game. Although thinking on it, the maxed stealth skill and silent running perk mighta factored into that a bit... :smallredface:

I used to shoot people with guns, until I found the chinese stealth suit and the mauler.

Never look back.

Witch with a chainsaw, coming through!

Triaxx

2013-04-13, 07:14 AM

Wookieetank

2013-04-15, 10:16 AM

Fah. It's much more fun to no-scope muties with a Hunting Rifle.

Except Behemoths and Reavers, the easiest way to kill the big nasties is a Double-Barrel from Point Lookout, right under the chin. Of course getting that close is another story.

And surviving. I've had no issues getting that close to big nasties, just surviving being that close is tricky.

Triaxx

2013-04-15, 08:53 PM

I find that if I can move into their path as they patrol, it's a lot easier.

matt321miller

2013-04-17, 02:57 AM

Ailurus

2013-04-17, 06:17 AM

I have CASM installed and even though I made sure my main character had it's own hard save, not CASM auto save, it still got saved over when i made a secondary character for melee shenanigans. CASM, you are so useful but you invalidated 30 hours of my life.

What order would people suggest playing the DLC in anyway? For optimal fun, not necessarily the path that gives imunities and advantages towards the next in line.

For FO3:
-I like to do Anchorage early, since you can get to it without too much difficulty and it should give you several early levels.
-Point Lookout and the Pitt second and third. Pitt is more once I wander up to that point, and Lookout I generally want to wait until I've got a very large supply of mines and stimpacks.
-Zeta, I guess you could do at any point, but I usually end up not getting around to it until late.

For NV:
-Honest hearts is the easiest to do first - I've heard of people going in and finishing it at level 2 or 3 even.
-Old World Blues second, but do it as early as possible because the bonus perks are very handy to have for the rest of the game. The one caveat here is there's a good number of non-combat skill checks in OWB, so having speech, science, repair, etc. high before you go will help.
-Lonesome Road, for story reasons I like doing it after OWB, but just before the Dam. Plus, higher level and good gear helps there as well.
-Dead money...... I quite like the story aspects of it, but sometimes flat-out skip it if I'm playing on hardcore, just due to the blasted radios/speakers. If I do do it, between OWB and Lonesome Road.

dramatic flare

2013-04-17, 07:00 AM

So, unfortunately I play NV on a PS3 (my computer's... weak) and have run into a glitch just after completing OWB. Seems all the money I've paid to the blasted shop is unretrievable. This wouldn't be a problem, except all of my armor is fracked (weapon repair kits are a god send) and I need to back to repair them. So I go get the gold bars I have stored in the suite (I got out with all of them via clever sneaking shenanigans) and try to sell them...
But don't get any money back. It just eats my equipment.

I WANT TO FINISH THIS GAME. GIVE ME MY DAMN MONEY.
*sigh* I guess I'll go back to what I have from gamefly. hmm? WET? Alright, let's bloody this stuff up.

Triaxx

2013-04-17, 07:17 AM

Actually, if you're going to do Zeta, do it as an Energy Weapons user. The guns and ammo are EVERYWHERE, and you'll be dealing huge amounts of damage. It's hilariously fun. Actually it's more fun with energy weapons, than Anchorage is with a good gun skill.

For CASM, you'll either want to use it's built in profile system, or use the trick of saving the latest two saves from the Fallout3 save folder into a sub folder. Use the configuration item for CASM in the aid section of the Pipboy>General Settings.

Logic

2013-04-17, 09:29 PM

matt321miller

2013-04-18, 07:16 AM

For CASM, you'll either want to use it's built in profile system, or use the trick of saving the latest two saves from the Fallout3 save folder into a sub folder. Use the configuration item for CASM in the aid section of the Pipboy>General Settings.

So do I set each character to a different profile once and it remembers? Or if I were to switch characters, would I have to manually switch profiles?

Also I've downloaded the Willow companion and believe to have installed it successfully, all the folders are apparently in the right place but she doesn't appear where she's meant to (between Primm and the Mojave Outpost.) I specifically installed it when my save was in Primm, as to hit a new cell to force her to load when I neared her apparent position just in case but she isn't there. Am I missing something?

Foeofthelance

2013-04-18, 07:02 PM

I tend to run into her further south, near where the abandoned police stop is. I think the trigger is actually farther north than she is, considering the guys who mug her are even further south from there.

matt321miller

2013-04-19, 04:40 AM

I must have installed Willow wrong, because I have no note added to my Pipboy about her existence or anything. I did do it manually instead of via FOMM though....hmmm.

Foeofthelance

2013-04-19, 05:47 AM

Shouldn't matter, since I did the same thing. The trigger, if I remember, is just below Primm near one of the billboards. Willow herself is south of the police station, since she is moving north from where she was attacked along the highway running West to East in the south.

Triaxx

2013-04-19, 11:37 AM

Twilightwyrm

2013-04-19, 12:15 PM

I wonder, did anyone else that played Fallout 3 first freak out a little bit with joy when they wandered up into the mountains in New Vegas and found ALL OF THE TREES?

Wookieetank

2013-04-19, 01:49 PM

I wonder, did anyone else that played Fallout 3 first freak out a little bit with joy when they wandered up into the mountains in New Vegas and found ALL OF THE TREES?

It was quite the pleasant surprise. I did play with one mod on FO3 at one point that added trees to the capital wasteland. Made it feel like a completely different game (harder to snipe in though ><).

Triaxx

2013-04-19, 09:51 PM

Yes, I got giddy, but not because of the trees. Rather it was the snow that did it for me. I'd never been able to run any weather mods, and so I had the depressingly weatherless default DC wasteland.d So having it snow on me was quite the experience.

matt321miller

2013-04-20, 04:08 PM

Willow has a separate trigger in Primm. It happens just as you cross where the trash cans are near the NCR outpost on the west side. It triggers the quest She loves me... or something along those lines. Try heading back to Primm, and wandering back in from the north.

Will give it a try, thanks!

I love the trees in north west NV, I always forget they're there and I've only been through there for the Camp Golf ranger stations quest, I haven't explored any of the mines around there or done a whole sweep of the area.

matt321miller

2013-04-21, 06:02 AM

Ailurus

2013-04-21, 09:33 AM

So I've ran around all of Primm trying to find this trigger but nothing. Maybe it's my load order? I didn't do it with the FOMM, but manually instead. I thought load order could just make your game unstable, not cause Willow to not appear, yet I have no instability. I guess I'll try and remember how FOMM works and do it through there.

Not run into it with NV, but with Oblivion I had plenty of times where load orders would cause one mod to stop another from working, if they modify the same thing. Wouldn't hurt to just run BOSS (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/35999) (or similar software) to just check on things.

Also, at the risk of stating the obvious: since you said you did a manual install, did you remember to pull your mod manager and activate the plugin as well?

Foeofthelance

2013-04-21, 12:40 PM

So I've ran around all of Primm trying to find this trigger but nothing. Maybe it's my load order? I didn't do it with the FOMM, but manually instead. I thought load order could just make your game unstable, not cause Willow to not appear, yet I have no instability. I guess I'll try and remember how FOMM works and do it through there.

When you say it isnt working, do you mean you do not get the quest, or that Willow is not appearing? Because Willow does not appear at the same time as the quest. You have to go find her farther to the south, near the Police Stop/Fire Ant Lake.

Triaxx

2013-04-21, 02:45 PM

The quest should trigger in Primm, then crossing the line just south of the police station should see her run up to you.

matt321miller

2013-04-22, 05:26 AM

So when originally downloading the mod I tried twice with FOMM to seemingly unsuccessful results. However since going back into it, it has loaded it into the order and needed me to just tick and enable it. Annoyingly i never got the chance to do that or even see that this was available as FOMM would crash as soon as I loaded Willow into it. Oh well it works now, Willow is great :smallbiggrin:

Balmas

2013-04-29, 10:38 AM

Out of curiosity, would any of you be interested in a written Let's Play?

Tychris1

2013-04-29, 10:39 AM

Yes I would, as a matter of fact I was thinking of starting one in the next week or so. I've always wanted to do a Let's Play.

Balmas

2013-04-29, 10:41 AM

So was I! A simple, permadeath LP of Fallout 3. Does anyone know of some good mods to install hardcore mode in Fallout 3?

Ailurus

2013-04-29, 03:01 PM

So was I! A simple, permadeath LP of Fallout 3. Does anyone know of some good mods to install hardcore mode in Fallout 3?

New Vegas, with Tale of Two Wastelands (http://www.taleoftwowastelands.com/) running? There were still a couple bugs in it (mostly Mothership Zeta constantly crashing) when I last played it (back in December/January), but outside of a very annoying glitch involving the activation of Liberty Prime that took a while to get past there wasn't anything that made it unplayable.

Triaxx

2013-04-29, 04:11 PM

FWE does, but I found it to be incessantly annoying, rather than smoothly integrated. Even with adjusted values, it was still too much.

That said, Permadeath might not get you out of the vault if you're not careful.

Balmas

2013-04-29, 10:07 PM

Mentlegen? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=281526)

Sharoth

2013-04-30, 12:50 PM

~sighs~ I wonder when we are going to hear some more news about Fallout 4?

Triaxx

2013-04-30, 04:25 PM

No, idea, but I'm not really looking forward to it. I mean, another large, destroyed city? More high-tech lunatics? one group trying to escape, while another takes control of them? I'm not that excited. Of course, new guns and more gratuitous violence is always soothing to my soul.

Balmas

2013-05-06, 08:14 PM

Dear Anti-Material Rifle:

I'm sorry. I love you. I love your power. I love how you can one-shot deathclaws easily.

But I've found another. She's young, a skinny silenced sniper rifle named Christine. She can one-shot deathclaws too, and she's half your weight. Plus, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to keep her fed.

Please understand.

Sincerely,
Puck.

Triaxx

2013-05-06, 09:22 PM

Dear Puck,

If you're a hand loader, you could keep me fed, and we could continue ravaging through the wastes, but you're a perk cheater, spending it on Pony perks. Yes, I've seen those mutant pink equines you hang out with.

So enjoy your time with your new friend. Just remember, you never hear the one that gets you, no matter how loud it is.

Sincerely,

Anti-MaterialPuck Rifle

Balmas

2013-05-06, 09:35 PM

I love the hand-loader perk. It's why I keep buying 5mm rounds: they have all that precious rifle powder. :smallbiggrin:

Has somebody actually modded pony perks? I'm not sure whether that's brilliant or absurd.

Tychris1

2013-05-06, 09:38 PM

Dear Anti-Material Rifle

I'M SORRY, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SPEAK UP, I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF HOW AWESOME I AM.

Sincerely,

Gatling Laser

Triaxx

2013-05-06, 09:56 PM

I know there are pony companions, so I'm willing to bet there are pony perks.

I actually had to use Project Nevada to bump the perk rate to 1 every level because of the sheer number of them that I have.

---

Dear Gatling Laser,

Compensating for something?

Sincerely,
Anti-Ego Rifle

Balmas

2013-05-06, 10:27 PM

Great, now I have to go looking for all these mods.

I'm pretty close to 50, and now I get to start over. Thanks.

Also:

Dear Anti-Rifle:

Please forgive my younger brother. He's still learning.

Also, that's rich, coming from the rifle so long it clips into the floor if you look down...

Sprtel-Wood 9700

Triaxx

2013-05-07, 07:00 AM

Just search for pony, you'll find them.

---

Dear Sprtl-Wood,

Not my fault I was born this way. Of course, we can't all put on a light show because we can't hit anything.

Sincerely, Anti-Material Rifle

Tychris1

2013-05-07, 02:14 PM

Dear Anti Material Rifle

All guns have limits. They learn what they are and learn not to exceed them. I ignore mine. Because I am the night..... I am the dark crusader.... I AM VENGEANCE!

Sincerely,

Batman Vengeance

Ailurus

2013-05-07, 02:46 PM

Dear Vengeance -

Unfortunately, not all weaknesses can be overcome, and if you ever leave the DC area you will unfortunately find yourself facing a fierce foe named Damage Threshold. A foe I can easily overcome, and in a very glorious manner.

But don't feel bad. All of us have our weaknesses. In my case, its desiring a steady diet of weapon repair kits.

Sincerely,
The Tesla-Beaton Prototype

Triaxx

2013-05-08, 09:17 PM

Dear TBP,

A pretty light show doesn't equate to brilliance. I've seen you take an hour to zap one bug. I can do it without the bug ever knowing it's anything but a splatter on the windshield of life.

Sincerely, AMR.

---

Dear Everyone,

Once a day, I'm partial to a scorched earth Policy.

Sincerely, C-Finder.

Sharoth

2013-05-08, 11:12 PM

Dear AMR,

Size isn't everything.

Sincerely,
A Light In Shining Darkness

Balmas

2013-05-09, 01:43 AM

Dear AMR:

Remember how those lovely people at the Gun Runner's sold you on that suppressor thing? Said it made you look so nice and slim?

They're lying to you.

I thought it would be nice to go hunting with you one last time, for old time's sake. There's a nice warren of deathclaws; you know the one, just a bit north of Cottonwood Cove?

Well, I tucked the suppressor in your muzzle; after all, no use making a bit of noise that would get us all killed, right?

I lined up a bead on the first deathclaw I saw: a nice big fellow, standing next to a buddy.

I swear, you're louder than some miniguns I know, even with the suppressor! Now I have to figure out a way to get away from six pissed deathclaws, plus two momma deathclaws and an alpha male.

Thanks.
Puck.

PS: the answer was ~ coc Novac.

Triaxx

2013-05-09, 05:11 AM

Dear Puck,

That'll teach you to try and trade me in.

Sincerely, AMR.

---

Dear Light Shining in Darkness,

Size isn't everything, but it still counts downrange.

Sincerely, AMR.

Nerd-o-rama

2013-05-09, 09:25 AM

In this thread: what Nightkin hear all the time.

Balmas

2013-05-09, 10:41 AM

In this thread: what Nightkin hear all the time.

He wins.

In all seriousness, though, why use the AMR? The suppressor makes it so that it's only as loud as a regular rifle--still enough to get me noticed.

Plus, it's not even the best weapon for burst damage. The unique Gauss rifle, the YCS/186, does more base damage, has just over seven times the DPS, a greater critical chance multiplier, and has the added benefit, with the Meltdown perk, of acting like a rocket launcher to those in the immediate area of your victim.

Let's not forget that in order to get an Anti-machine rifle lighter than the Gauss rifle, you'll need to spend a couple thousand caps on carbon fiber parts, and have the heavyweight perk.

(Or you could cheat, use console commands to get The Faderator, and just go to town on anything and everything with your scoped, fully automatic, MFC generating Gauss shotgun...)

Triaxx

2013-05-09, 07:59 PM

I play with WMX, so I can make my own Carbon Fiber Parts, plus an improved recoil dampener, and something else.

Also, it's a sniper weapon, I don't shoot close enough for them to hear me. And if I'm that close, I'm using a Minigun.

Scopes? What's the cheat in that? I TGM, and use my custom made 12ga Minigun.

Really, if you're going to use Console Commands, go balls out.

Balmas

2013-05-09, 11:00 PM

The cheat isn't really in the scope; it's more the fact that it's a fully automatic Gauss-shotgun. Each shot fires three pellets, each of which do 120 damage. It does this 198 times per second. It's DPS is somewhere past 25k.

You need no ammo, since it generates ammo faster than you fire it. If you have even one cell of a special ammo type, it will fill itself with that type. In fact, it's possible, by shooting it into the air, to collect more drained energy cells than you use.

It's not that I don't like it, or because it's cheating. It's because I feel bad when I use it. At least they have a fighting chance the other way around.

Also, 12g minigun? Want.

Triaxx

2013-05-10, 07:02 AM

Yeah, I made it originally to fire large numbers of Illuminating Flares from the Light My Flare mod. So I can create my own minature sun. Of course, using it to chew through a Deathclaw is pretty awesome. It's got no original model though. I keep meaning to upload it.

matt321miller

2013-05-14, 09:52 AM

Mando Knight

2013-05-14, 10:36 AM

Uh... you start by uninstalling all your mods to see if that was the problem, then adding them back on one by one until you find the one that messed up your game. If it doesn't work even after uninstalling your mods, you'll need to verify the integrity of the game cache.

Bryn

2013-05-14, 01:24 PM

So in trying to install WME/WMX and also make it work with Project Nevada, I've screwed up my game. I can't fast travel and when I boot up NV via NVSE or steam it crashes if I have Project Nevada and it's modules active in FOMM. What is the best way to go about cleaning up my game without uninstalling all mods or deleting all the files and downloading it again? HOW DO I PROCEED BELOVED PLAYGROUND.
Just to make sure, you're only running one of WME and WMX, and you have the right patch (http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/42363/?tab=2&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D42363&pUp=1) for that one, right?

Could you post your load order?

You might have more success posting on the Nexus troubleshooting forum.

Triaxx

2013-05-14, 05:24 PM

Step one: Ensure that your Project Nevada files are all active. This is a glitch of some kind and caused me no end of problem.

Step two: Use FNVEdit to check your load order. This will tell you if a master isn't loaded before a file that relies on it.

Step three: Download and install Unified Hud Project to ensure there's not a HUD issue. That's a common cause of crash on start up.

Step four: Go to GophersVids channel on Youtube and watch his New Vegas Tutorials, and see if you missed something.

Step five: Redownload and Reinstall to ensure you didn't get a corrupt download.

matt321miller

2013-05-15, 02:46 AM

When you say uninstall the mods, do I just uncheck them in FOMM or do I have to manually find all the files for them in the Data directory?

Triaxx

2013-05-15, 06:33 AM

Did you install them using the package manager? If not, you'll have to hunt through the Data folder and remove them all. It might be flat out faster to just uninstall NV, then reinstall it from Steam.

matt321miller

2013-05-15, 07:16 AM

Yeah I think I will just make a fresh install of NV. Thanks for the help anyway.

Balmas

2013-05-16, 02:09 PM

You know you might be playing too much Fallout when:

You see two bottlecaps sitting on an abandoned table, and pocket them without thinking why.
playing D&D, you investigate whether any body has loot, down to and including dogs and centipedes.
You play Skyrim, and can't help thinking that shotguns would make the game a lot better.

Wookieetank

2013-05-16, 03:37 PM

Mando Knight

2013-05-16, 03:53 PM

When ever you drink ouf of bottles in real life you add the cap to your growing collection

Remember kids, the economy of post-apocalyptia starts with you!

thorgrim29

2013-05-16, 06:57 PM

So, looks like I can't mod weapons. I installed the weapons mod menu, so that may have something to do with it, but even if I deactivate it it doesn't work

Bryn

2013-05-16, 07:07 PM

Hmm. The WMM also includes XML files to integrate the menu. Have you tried uninstalling the WMM completely, by deactivating the FOMOD in the Package Manager or deleting the files if you installed it manually? You could also try deactivating and reactivating the FOMOD, overwriting everything, to make sure you have the changes from the WMM.

I'm sure you do, but just to check, do you have up-to-date NVSE?

You may have better luck asking over at the Nexus website than here.

matt321miller

2013-05-17, 06:10 AM

What is the Playgrounds opinion on the Nexus Mod Manager vs FOMM?

Bryn

2013-05-17, 06:46 AM

I prefer to use FOMM, since it makes it easier to add my own installation scripts to mods and it supports Premade FOMod Packs. I have heard some mods with installation scripts don't work correctly in NMM. I found FOMM's what-overwrites-what/installation order control to be better than NMM when I tried NMM, but that was ages ago.

In the guide I wrote a while ago (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14918466&postcount=38), I wrongly said NMM can only install files from the Nexus. I just checked Gopher's video, and apparently it can also add a mod from a file.

You'll probably be fine with NMM if you're not adding scripts to mods. However, I'm not sure exactly which mods can't be installed with NMM, just that it's been causing some acrimony in comments sections of NMM-related news posts on the Nexus.

Balmas

2013-05-17, 09:13 AM

Both work, from what I can see; I've got both installed. FOMM loads more quickly, uses mods from more sources more easily, and supports more features.

NMM, on the other hand, has ease of use going for it. Plus, it supports things like Skyrim, etc.

Bryn

2013-05-17, 09:22 AM

That said, you're better off using Wrye Bash or Mod Organizer for Skyrim if you're trying to do something complicated like the STEP, as it allows you to re-order your installations to control overwriting - you can update without reinstalling everything in order.

I haven't tried using Mod Organizer for NV, but it looks quite promising.

Triaxx

2013-05-17, 10:02 AM

I really like FOMM, because I can use the package manager to add FOMOD packages to them without having to repackage the entire mod, and thus break connection to the Nexus.

On the other hand, I can one click download mods, and then don't have to pay attention until it's finished.

@thorgrim:If you're having trouble installing weapon mods, run FNVEdit to see if there's any conflicts. I had one occur where WMX was in the wrong place in the load order. IE it was coming after one of it's patch files. I couldn't see it, but FNVEdit will stop when it comes to the error and throw up a message, instead of NV's solution of just plain crashing.

Vknight

2013-05-17, 02:20 PM

Fallout love my friends who wants another game
I do

What we need is
The love given to Farcry3 & Skyrim to the next Fallout without pushing it out the door and without all the pointless textures that eat memory

Triaxx

2013-05-17, 03:21 PM

I don't know. I kind of like the holes in the world. Gives the modders something to do.

Alaris

2013-05-21, 01:32 AM

So I just installed (After about an hour-long install process) the mod "Tale of Two Wastelands." It combines New Vegas and Fallout 3 into one "Super-Game" more or less.

I'll be trying it out starting tonight, and I'll let you guys know how it turns out. ^_^

factotum

2013-05-21, 01:45 AM

So I just installed (After about an hour-long install process) the mod "Tale of Two Wastelands." It combines New Vegas and Fallout 3 into one "Super-Game" more or less.

How on earth does that work? They're on opposite sides of the continent! :smallconfused:

Ailurus

2013-05-21, 04:59 AM

How on earth does that work? They're on opposite sides of the continent! :smallconfused:

You start in Vault 101, and begin Fallout 3 as normal. However, there's a train station in DC you can go to that will take you to the Mojave. When you do that, you get a fade-to-white, a "several years later" message and then wake up in Doc Mitchell's house. Then, once you get to Freeside, you can take a train back to DC.

There's some story-based sillyness here, of course. The dev team said that the time when FO3 begins was moved a few years earlier (to give you some time to actually live in the Divide and work as a courier in between the two games), and there's really no changes in the wastelands after you go back and forth (everyone just hangs around waiting until you come back). But, overall I like it.

Using TTW requires FO3 and NV with all expansions, but unless there's some FO3 mods you really really love I honestly see no reason to play 'regular' FO3 anymore.

(note - many, but not all, NV mods will still work)

Triaxx

2013-05-21, 08:40 AM

One thing you do need is to check on your weather mods. Some of them will work across both wastelands, while others will require two separate versions. I believe Fellout needs NV and Fo3 versions. I'm only remembering Gopher's video on the mod, but it's something to check.

Alaris

2013-05-21, 01:31 PM

Well, I've played through Vault 101 without any issues, with the following mods installed:

Project Nevada (Core & Cyberware)
Tale of Two Wastelands (+Interiors)
Perk Every Level
XP Rate Reduction (Combined with the Skilled Perk means I'll level really slow)

I ran around a bit, scavenged and fought through the nearby school. I eventually made my way to Megaton itself, and saved right in front of it before logging off for the night. It was very fun.

One thing you do need is to check on your weather mods. Some of them will work across both wastelands, while others will require two separate versions. I believe Fellout needs NV and Fo3 versions. I'm only remembering Gopher's video on the mod, but it's something to check.

Eh... I've had bad experience with Weather Mods before. They tend to kill people, make them hostile or make them run away from their posts, making quests more difficult for no reason.

Triaxx

2013-05-21, 03:13 PM

If you use the Project Nevada Extra Options, you can set the perk rate to 1 per level. That'll eliminate a mod from your order, expand PN's function and customization, plus let you adjust the rate of increase for tag skills if you want.

I've had that happen with mods like Nevada Skies, and I really liked that one, but it caused too much instability. I went to Project Reality because the only 'effect' it adds are Rad Storms, and Rad Rains, which only do anything of note to the player. Or ghouls. Don't fight ghouls under a rad rain or rad storm sky. It won't go well.

Alaris

2013-05-21, 07:39 PM

Balmas

2013-05-21, 08:02 PM

Sadly, I don't know how stable Project Nevada Extra Options will be with TTW.

I'm running both TTW and Project Nevada. Though I've yet to arrive at any DLC areas, I find it to be relatively stable. It still crashes out after around 3 hours of playing, but that's just a bug common to the NV script extender.

Alaris

2013-05-21, 08:33 PM

I'm running both TTW and Project Nevada. Though I've yet to arrive at any DLC areas, I find it to be relatively stable. It still crashes out after around 3 hours of playing, but that's just a bug common to the NV script extender.

I've been trying (and failing) to get Cyberware Options to appear in the Mod Configuration menu when I have it installed. So I have no clue if Cyberware is even working. >.<

I had to turn PN: Equipment off because of duplicates. I've got Extra Options working somewhat... so I guess that's progress... eventually I'll actually walk into Megaton, when all of this is working. :P

Just have to determine if my character is going to be an evil sumbish or something else...

EDIT: Well, I've figurd out what kind of character I'll be now, more or less.

101 grew up to be a relatively strong, enduring kid. But the events in his vault did shake him pretty badly; his father leaving, and then being hunted by security guards, and even shot at! But the trusty baseball bat his father gave him served him well, as he beat down the guards and made his way out of the vault.

101 wandered into a small, destroyed town, trying to get his bearings. Upon hearing a voice in one of the houses, he entered, and engaged in quite the misunderstanding with a woman there. She pulled a gun on him, and once again, he had to beat someone down with his bat. Were all people crazy out here?

Well, that theory continued to prove true as he encountered several raiders on his way to Megaton, the city in the logs of 101, where 'friendly' people were.

All in all, 101 tries to be a good kid, but his baseball bat is never far from his hands, and he has quite the itchy trigger finger on it, as it were.

Balmas

2013-05-21, 11:14 PM

I've been trying (and failing) to get Cyberware Options to appear in the Mod Configuration menu when I have it installed. So I have no clue if Cyberware is even working. >.<

I had to turn PN: Equipment off because of duplicates. I've got Extra Options working somewhat... so I guess that's progress... eventually I'll actually walk into Megaton, when all of this is working. :P

Just have to determine if my character is going to be an evil sumbish or something else...

Cyberware doesn't show up in the configuration menu. It should be enabled, though. You only access cyberware when you have an actual doctor capable of doing the necessary surgery, like the doctors with the Followers of the Apocalypse, or Doctor Henry in Jamestown.

Since there aren't any cybernetic implants in Fallout 3, you don't really have to worry about them at this point. Just enable the Cyberware portion in FOMM, and it should be fine.

As for characters:

As a child, Ishmael always despised his name, thinking that it was a stupid reference to a book that nobody knew about. He rebelled against it, doing anything he could to get his way. He bribed his way into becoming a Vault loyalty inspector; he was somewhat disappointed when he found that the job was mainly opening doors for security, as opposed to getting into areas he shouldn't have been to get blackmail material.

Once he left the vault, things began to make sense. Calling himself Ferguson, he realized a simple truth.

He didn't really like people.

As he's tracked a bloody swath of destruction through the wasteland, he's rapidly developed a list of people that he wants to kill, maim, or otherwise inconvenience.

Raiders. For doing it wrong.
Moira Brown: Reason; perkiness, general foolishness.
Lucas Simms: Ferguson wants his hat.
Merchants: He wants their stuff.
Doctor in megaton: Botched a surgery after rescuing him from raiders. Ferguson now has only one hand, the other being replaced with an iron prosthetic.

Evil Sombish indeed. Rapidly regretting disarming the megaton bomb.

Nerd-o-rama

2013-05-31, 11:58 AM

So I've been trying to start up on NV again and I realized I have a problem:

I can't pick a build. Every damn skill is useful in this game - many of them are useful to max - so I can't pick and choose or concentrate like I ought to. I can at least decide that gun combat is the most fun but I can't pick what I should focus on besides that. Sneak? Lockpick? Science? Speech is a given, as is Repair for a guns user, but everything else looks so good too...I backburnered my original save because I didn't know where to go with him (and also I want to try other ways of dealing with Benny, House, and Caesar)

Damn my lack of decisiveness intersecting with Obsidian's actual ability to design an open-ended game.

Also, I have a problem playing non-goody-two-shoes characters, although I've at least learned to start plumbing the depths of my kleptomania in this engine.

Triaxx

2013-05-31, 03:24 PM

Are you playing with mods? If so Science+Repair with RobCo Certified is indescribably more fun than it has any right to be.

Vanilla, you do NOT need repair. There are only a couple of checks against it, and they removed the necessity to have it high to fully repair guns. Unless you're doing a lot of crafting, it's actually less useful than it was in F3.

I'd suggest Guns, Sneak and Science. (lots of computers and things which use science.)

Balmas

2013-06-09, 03:20 AM

So, I've been playing Tale of Two Wastelands of late, and between the combination of Project Nevada and the crafting system, I've come to the conclusion that there's almost no reason to ever play Vanilla F3 ever again.

Except for bugs. Bugs are the creation of the devil, made to torture us for enjoying video games.

Specifically, today I discovered that there's a well known bug towards the end of Operation Anchorage. You go in, shoot General Jingwei in the face--in my case, nearly dying because missiles do a crap-ton of damage, have a wide area of effect, and Project Nevada drops your health to around 160 at level 20--and go to talk to General Chase. Except... Okay, I'll stand down. Can you come back now? I'd like to go home. Yes, I'm aware the simulation is done; I've played this before! Where's the white screen of end-simulation-ness? No, stop running away, dangit!

Twenty minutes of Google and a mod install later on, and I've gotten the wonderful wizard of Chase to send me home.

Except... why is my inventory empty? Where're my guns, my caps? Gimme my Lincoln's Repeater; that thing's hard to replace, you know.

After another half-hour of frustration, I just reloaded to the save before entering the simulation, gave myself the perks and level I'd earned, used console commands to enter the special armory, and then went on a roaring rampage of thievery with my new stealth suit.

Triaxx

2013-06-09, 06:16 AM

thethird

2013-06-09, 07:23 AM

Ailurus

2013-06-09, 07:44 AM

\Except... Okay, I'll stand down. Can you come back now? I'd like to go home. Yes, I'm aware the simulation is done; I've played this before! Where's the white screen of end-simulation-ness? No, stop running away, dangit!

Twenty minutes of Google and a mod install later on, and I've gotten the wonderful wizard of Chase to send me home.

Except... why is my inventory empty? Where're my guns, my caps? Gimme my Lincoln's Repeater; that thing's hard to replace, you know.

Chase not responding is an issue in TTW's latest version. There's a fix up on their bugtracker that (at least for me) fixed it with no inventory issues.

post number 6 here (http://www.taleoftwowastelands.com/content/anchorage-glitches)

Nerd-o-rama

2013-06-09, 09:29 AM

I've never understood stealing in the Fallout 3/NV games. The loot is almost all garbage, so there's no reason to actually take any of it. Of course, there are a few things I steal here and there, either because mods make it stealing, or because it's something I need for one of the mods, otherwise it's just sort of a waste of time and effort. If I really want something, I just kill whoever has it and loot the corpse.

Entirely different from Skyrim or Oblivion, where slipping in, and taking the valuable loot was fun because it was under the eye of the watching guards.

There are a few things to steal that are worthwhile, mostly skill books.

Also hey I'm back after not posting for a weak and I discovered how I wanted to play this game: like Metal Gear Solid. Just sniping everyone.

And I took a high Repair for Hand Loader and Jury-rigging more than actually repairing things. It also makes some fetch quests a lot shorter.

Balmas

2013-06-09, 09:48 AM

That tale of two wastelands sounds really interesting. I have both games for xbox but the idea of having both at the same time... is awesome...

Basically can you have perks items and stuff from both games?

On maxing skills... I maxed all skills without mods, so it is possible to be good at everything.

Tale of Two Wastelands has a lot to love about it. Basically, what they've done is taken Fallout 3, with all of its DLC, perks, weapons, armor, etc, and patched it into the New Vegas engine. So at level 30, you can take any of the New Vegas perks... or you can be Almost Perfect. Oh, and the level cap is the New Vegas max of 50, so you can take the nuclear explosion ability at the next level!

Your weapon choice actually matters, as well. Since the New Vegas engine has Damage Threshold instead of Damage resistance, how you kill something depends more on how much damage it does in one shot, as opposed to how many bullets it can pump into the target. For example, super mutants all have around 15 DT. You can plink away at that with a 9mm pistol, and eventually it will die, but not very quickly and certainly not before it punches you to death.

Lincoln's Repeater, by the way, continues to be awesome since it has better damage than the brush gun, almost as much DPS as a chinese assault rifle, and less VATS cost than a hunting rifle. Then you load it with .44 SWC and go to town.

Reilly's Ranger combat armor... not so much. For 27 pounds, I want more than 17 DT.

Best thing about TTW, though, is that it gives you access to Project Nevada. This lets you tinker around with enemy health multipliers, your own endurance multiplier, gun damage, etc. It gives you a sprint button, grenade hotkeys, a bullet-time button, helmet overlays, etc.

And now the part you're waiting for: with all this to like, what's the catch?

Bugs.

Since Tale of Two Wastelands is ultimately a fan effort, it's still a work in progress. Sometimes things just stop working, or cause your game to freeze, or slooooww doooowwn. Probably the most noticable is how occasionally, your game just slows to a crawl; it takes around five seconds for a command to register with the game. I'm not sure how much of this is TTW and how much is the computer's RAM being taken up by a background process and thus unavailable for a game.

Install is also a long and somewhat complicated process, but I think it's worth it in the end.

http://www.taleoftwowastelands.com/

Triaxx

2013-06-09, 10:18 PM

At the end of the day, there's excatly one reason to play through Tale of Two Wastelands.

Hello Legate Lanius. Meet my special friend, MIRV.

Balmas

2013-06-10, 01:39 AM

It would never work, due to GRA nukes usually not working with non-GRA Fat Man launchers, but now I want to bring the MIRV just so I can load it with Tiny Tot's mini-nukes and laugh maniacally as I carpet-bomb Caesar's legion.

Avilan the Grey

2013-06-10, 02:11 AM

Also hey I'm back after not posting for a weak and I discovered how I wanted to play this game: like Metal Gear Solid. Just sniping everyone.

FO3 / NV is made for that. I LOVE playing sneaky sniper characters with high PER and high LCK.

And in NV LCK is so damn good it's almost a game breaker.

factotum

2013-06-10, 06:27 AM

FO3 / NV is made for that. I LOVE playing sneaky sniper characters with high PER and high LCK.

It's not as fun as it used to be in FO1 and FO2, though, where (with a high enough Perception and gun skill) you could blow a super-mutant's head off with a single shot to the eye from so far away that his friend standing next to him couldn't tell where you were... :smallwink:

Nerd-o-rama

2013-06-10, 02:11 PM

Sniper, a Gauss Rifle, and called shots to the eye are the solution to literally every problem in Fallout 2. They're the same in Fallout 1, with the exception of the problem of "how do I grind to a high enough level to get Sniper?"

And "Gauss Rifles don't exist in this game", but that's solved by the existence of the Turbo Plasma Rifle.

Triaxx

2013-06-10, 05:10 PM

I never actually finished the first one. It just wasn't my sort of game. I keep trying every so often, but I'm just... not good at it. I've beaten F2 a couple of times.

Nerd-o-rama

2013-06-10, 08:21 PM

Ailurus

2013-06-10, 11:24 PM

I'll be the first one to admit that FO1 aged poorly. But it's got Richard Dean Anderson in it, and once you figure out its Adventure Game-style logic (how do I shot rope?) it goes by pretty quickly and in a well-paced fashion.

Well, on the subject of fallout aging poorly, I'll just leave this here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtPQpoV6IV0) No idea on a release date for the mod, but from what's been posted it looks promising.

Triaxx

2013-06-11, 06:21 AM

It's not an age thing, and I understand the interface. It's just that I tend to play the game a little more combat heavy than it seems designed for. It does NOT end well to try and take on the Jackals with just an SMG and a dog.

Wookieetank

2013-06-11, 08:53 AM

It does NOT end well to try and take on the Jackals with just an SMG and a dog.

I've done it without the dog, but it takes an extrodinary ammount of effort to make it end well.

Nerd-o-rama

2013-06-11, 08:53 AM

Balmas

2013-06-18, 10:02 PM

I have to say, I may have found a new favorite mod. It's called Project Brazil.

It's the first time where I actually felt afraid in game. Coming out of Vault 18, I had two companions in full Enclave armor, each with miniguns loaded with armor piercing bullets.

And then we met the Survivalists, a gang of raiders equipped with hunting rifles, brush guns, .44 magnums, missile launchers, etc. I burned through my supply of stimpaks in minutes.

EDIT: On second thought, perhaps not. If I had to describe the Wasteland of Project Brazil in one word, it would be "Deadly." The opponents you face have high-powered guns. Towns and ruins to scavenge are scarce and far between. As you travel, having the radio on is practically mandatory, because otherwise, the silence will drive you mad. The only sound is that of your feet pounding the sand, with the occasional wry, helmet-mangled comment from your companions. Despite having wandered for an hour, following the road, I have found no signs of friendly human life.

This gives a very different feel to this game. In both F3 and New Vegas, you know that there are vendors, there are people, there are safe places where you can go and feel human. Out in the PB Wasteland, you're alone. It gets to you.

Triaxx

2013-06-19, 05:43 AM

Sounds like fun. How does it compare to something like Beyond Boulder Dome for enemy difficulty? If it's the same, I think I'll be bringing along a couple of RobCo Certified Sentry Bots.

Balmas

2013-06-19, 08:12 AM

Never having played Beyond Boulder Dome, I couldn't really answer that question.

I'll note that you may have a hard time finding the parts necessary to build your robots; after all, I believe it requires having found dead robots, first. From what I've seen, robots are pretty scarce. I think I've found 2 so far: a freshly-mauled Robobrain and a destroyed Protectron.

Also, when you're level six, it's a good idea to just walk away from the Super Mutant-infested air force base. My sniper rifle showed buildings, so I walked that way, and was promptly mauled by the super mutants in power armor.

Nerd-o-rama

2013-06-19, 08:17 AM

Beat New Vegas last night with my cowboy sniper Courier, who is now in possession of a robot army, a shiny new city-state, and a big damn dam.

One day I'll trade up for the Ultimate Edition and replay this. There was plenty of stuff I didn't do either because I didn't want to piss off the NCR (before I threw their commander off my dam, that is) or I was bored and at the level cap.

Ailurus

2013-06-19, 09:35 AM

Also, when you're level six, it's a good idea to just walk away from the Super Mutant-infested air force base. My sniper rifle showed buildings, so I walked that way, and was promptly mauled by the super mutants in power armor.

You're giving me mixed feelings about Brazil. Super-mutant infested air base sounds great.

The solitude ould be interesting. But are there abandoned/destroyed places to poke through, or is it pretty much just a big empty desert? Just the shattered remains of civilization could be nice, but miles of nothing not so much.

As for the survivalists? That one doesn't sound so good to me. 2-3 heavily armed, power-armored equipped soldiers getting rapidly gunned down by the equivalent of raiders just breaks the setting too much for me. I'm fine with stuff beating power armor, but it should be super-scary stuff like the Super Mutants and Deathclaws. If you're average bum has enough firepower to threaten it, then it just sounds like universal power-creep. Is there something else to it, or is it just functionally Point Lookout again?

Mando Knight

2013-06-19, 10:10 AM

As for the survivalists? That one doesn't sound so good to me. 2-3 heavily armed, power-armored equipped soldiers getting rapidly gunned down by the equivalent of raiders just breaks the setting too much for me. I'm fine with stuff beating power armor, but it should be super-scary stuff like the Super Mutants and Deathclaws. If you're average bum has enough firepower to threaten it, then it just sounds like universal power-creep. Is there something else to it, or is it just functionally Point Lookout again?

This. Point Lookout's magically dangerous inbreds and lobotomites should have been nothing dangerous for someone armed and armored with the best the Enclave had to offer.

Balmas

2013-06-19, 10:55 AM

Universal power creep is a good way to put it. When you run out of the Vault (highly irradiated from all the crap you've been through), you're most likely carrying a small fortune in assault carbines, hunting shotguns, laser rifles, and assorted crap. That's with your companions wearing the power armor and carrying the miniguns and even more assorted crap.

Most of the weapons you get are in perfect condition--which makes sense, considering you get them from Vault security. It makes slightly less sense to walk up to a safehouse in the middle of the wastes and find fourteen boxes of ammo, three weapons in pristine condition, and a house with a chem set where you can hole up and make stimpaks for your journey.

Your only clue as to where to go when heading out is a location marker programmed in by your benevolent father surrogate as he dies. "I have friends there, and they'll help you out." Brilliant, scoutmaster, I'll just run off then, traipse through the wasteland, get to the bloody house, and find NOBODY there. Some friends.

I'll keep trying, but if I don't get some companionship within an hour or so, I'll go bonkers, unplug it, and just switch back to Tale of Two Wastelands.

EDIT: In defense of the survivalists, they're one of the major factions in the waste. You have the NCR, the Survivalists, the Enclave, and the super mutants, all fighting it out in the San Bernardino valley.

It still doesn't make sense for them to have all the big guns, but it's slightly more tolerable than getting sodomized by raiders.

Alabenson

2013-06-19, 11:50 AM

This. Point Lookout's magically dangerous inbreds and lobotomites should have been nothing dangerous for someone armed and armored with the best the Enclave had to offer.

Honestly, I don't really remember Point Lookout being as difficult as everyone says. The only part I recall being particularly dangerous was the feral reaver-infested internment camp.

Balmas

2013-06-19, 06:29 PM

Okay, you know what? We're going back to Fallout 3. ShowAllMapMarkers 1 and an hour of jumping from one location to another has shown... three marched cities, two of which were raider camps.

Maybe I should have just pushed on, but I'm tired and discouraged, especially since the third town was the NCR stronghold. It had exactly four NPCs, none of which had anything to say besides "What do you need?" in the exact same tone of voice. I grunted, blew away the general with an SMG, went into the next room over, did the same for the other three NPCs--they didn't seem to care--and then quit, to return only when there are friendly NPCs with whom I can interact.

Mind you, it's not all bad. Project brazil starts in a Vault, and it's absolutely beautiful. You have developed characters, important personal choices, and a very surreal dream sequence. (Tip: let the football team take care of the Burning Ones. Invisible Glowing Ones at level 4 with a limited number of stimpaks? No thanks.) It's just that with a wasteland 2/3 the size of Fallout 3's, it's very much still WIP.

(Personally, my preference would be to wait for the finished product rather than look everywhere for quests or something to do, instead of just mobs of raiders and survivalists.)

Triaxx

2013-06-19, 06:49 PM

So it's a separate campaign to regular NV? That might make it more difficult to acquire the bots then. BBD wanted level 25 before you went in, so I had time to fix up Cerulean Robotics so I could make an Assemblotron to bring along for construction on sight.

If it's a separate world, that'd make it harder.

Farix

2013-06-19, 07:32 PM

You do need to bear in mind that Project Brazil is incomplete. As of now its only at part 1 of 3, so once you get out of the Vault the story stops, and while there is a large wasteland to explore there is really no point in doing so. I gave it a try back when it first came out and while I did quite enjoy it, expecially its heavy emphasis on the SPECIAL skills you have I'm holding off until at least part 2 is released before giving it a serious go.

And yes it is a separate world, you just start a new game and it'll prompt you to pick either Brazil or the main game.

Kesnit

2013-07-14, 02:30 PM

I just picked up FO:NV Ultimate Edition on the Steam sale. I've played it on the 360, but playing on PC gives the advantage of using mods. Which is where this post is going...

What are some good mods that people use?

What I like/don't mind in a mod (not a comprehensive list)

New quests
New companions
New weapons/armor
Easy to install and use

I DO NOT want a mod that makes the game harder. I play games to relax. I do not need something that raises my frustration levels. (If an awesome mod has an effect that increases difficulty, but that effect can be turned off, that's fine. I just don't want something like "creates random thunderstorms that reduce visibility to 0 and risk The Courier being struck by lightening." :smallbiggrin:)

Edit: Just noticed that FO3 with all the DLC is also $5 on Steam. However, there is a comment on the page about it that says "Notice: Fallout 3 is not optimized for Windows 7." I run Win7. Can anyone tell me how well the Steam version runs on Win7? If it's OK, I'll pick it up as well.