So an amazing person bought Fallout 4 for me. I hadn’t purchased it as I didn’t play the previous Fallout games therefore I wasn’t SUPER excited like everyone around me.
Wow.
It gripped me from the very beginning! As soon as I needed to run to the vault I was gripped and wanted to play more. Exploring the vault was amazing. I need more Fallout 4 in my life!
In true PC gamer fashion, I also need to mod it! Although I am trying to hold back – more than I did with Skyrim. Here’s the mods you will see me using when I play Fallout 4 on Twitch! I’m also very fortunate that Fallout 4 runs pretty awesome on my PC with it auto setting my settings to high/ultra! All the mods are listed in order of my mod manager, meaning the ones near the top may have some files overwritten.
Texture Mods
Jester’s Better Destroyed Vehicles
Keep in mind with my Fallout 4 playthrough – better usually means more destroyed, rusted and broken! This mod helps those vehicles really look like they went through a nuclear explosion and sat for years!
Fallout Texture Overhaul PipBoy (Pip-Boy) UHD 4K
Once again, another texture mod to make something look “better”! This mod really helps the pip-boy look like it’s metal instead of plastic and much more worn! I do use the vanilla color (not dark version) and the 2k textures.
This mod helps out a lot of items in Fallout 4! This is my only mod that currently gets overwritten at all. I love this mod because it retextures things like the trash cans and cola machines! The items that are overwritten are desks (by Valius texture mod) and the north bridge wood (Vivid landscapes) and a few other wood textures (sharp shacks). I’m using the Vanilla res version.
Improved Map with Visible Roads
The first time I looked at my map on the pip-boy.. I was appalled. I couldn’t really see anything! I chose the “Darker” variation as it seemed most immersion fitting to me.. (old rusted up pip-boy… thinking the map wouldn’t be SUPER bright).
This really helps me feel less aggressive and hostile whenever I forget to put my weapon on! This just lowers your weapon (like you see in a ton of other games) while you have your gun out but are not actively shooting. Nice immersion addition!
exShinra’s Better Road Textures
I love textures! This mod is aimed at road textures and the author was inspired by Vivid Fallout! I also went with the 2K textures on this mod and positioned it so Vivid Fallout will overwrite any files if there is any conflict (although none do yet). I think this is a great mod. If you check it out on Nexus and the pavement looks a bit “colourful” to you in those screenshots (it looked that way for me) don’t worry it doesn’t look like that in game! I also have the normal maps installed.
Sharp shacks aims at improving wood and various types of metal! I love the woodgrain, as well I love how the rust is darker and less “orange”.
High Resolution Texture Pack – Valius – 2k and 4k
Another great mod aimed at textures on the “not so important” items! This mod touches desks, tool racks, fans and more! I installed the 2k version.
Vivid Fallout – Landscapes, Trees and Rocks.
I saw a video by Gopher that showed off a couple texture mods for Fallout 4. He showed comparisons for Commonwealth HQ Landscape Overhaul WIP and Vivid Fallout. I instantly fell in love with the look of Vivid Fallout compared to the vanilla textures. It blew my mind away! Vivid Fallout is actually broken into 3 separate mods and I have installed them all! I chose to go with “Best Choice” pack which look (to me) like 2k variations but meant to be a bit more performance friendly.
Yup, a mod aimed at changing the texture on one item! It is so worth it though! I installed the heavily weathered version of the first aid kit and wow, it sure looks better!
Wasteland Salon – Hair Texture Improvement Mod
Of course, a hair mod! I didn’t add any clothes, eyes, hair etc. BUT I really liked how this made the hair colour. Yup, it just changes the textures of vanilla hair, it doesn’t change the hair styles! It’s pretty awesome!
By now you’re probably thinking “BIZZ! Did you install ANYTHING but textures?”. Well yes, I did!
Weather Mods
True Storms – Wasteland Edition (Thunder-Rain-Weather Redone)
Okay, this is SUPER cool. The weather is way more crazy intense! Usually I don’t care for weather mods as they make me feel like it’s always bad weather – but this one has options! Everyone loves options. These are the options and what I chose:
- Extra glowing sea radiation (No – did not use this)
- Weather chances slightly modified (No – this is apparently the option that gives a lower chance of sunny weather)
- I use Vanilla night brightness. (Renders much better for videos)
- Weather will stick around a bit longer (chose this as it seems to be more realistic)
You will notice that I really tried to stay away from everything but texture mods as I wanted to ensure my playthrough was as bug-filled free as a vanilla game!
I also did some running round to ensure I’m still getting 60 FPS – even in a heavy rain storm!