So, you are a budding modder. You have an idea and a basic understanding of how the tools you will be using work. That’s great, but before you begin upon what you will consider your magnum opus, why don’t we step back a bit and focus upon a few of the mistakes we, at UserCreated , don’t want to see.
Skip on past the break to read part three of my little series.
Say What? (a.k.a: Immersion is good)
I’m actually impressed: you have an idea and it is actually pretty awesome. Unfortunately for you there are still a variety of ways that you can balls this up.
The first, almost rookie, mistake is to forget that you don’t have access to high calibre voice actors. As an RPG gamer, with access to games like Dragon Age and Fallout 3 which both have a semi-decent and celebrity studded voice cast, bad voice acting can really get to me. Once again my self-imposed policy for this column comes into effect: I won’t be naming and shaming those who have decided to go down the path of a decidedly mediocre audio experience, instead I’ll rely upon putting up an example of the kind of mod where having voice acting actually seems like it might work. Black Mesa Source is probably the mod I most want to play, the complete reconstruction of Half Life in Source is such a task that it has taken the team years (looking at the trailer on the website I can see why). Hype aside, it takes a project of this magnitude to convince me that they might actually be able to pull off their own voice work.
The other major problem with most mods is pacing. Forgive me if this sounds mildly preachy, but for the love of all that you hold good and holy don’t write a story which takes half an hour to take off the ground. The problem with mods, as opposed to full games, is that you aren’t making someone pay for it. It is somewhat ironic that people are more likely to forgive your poor pacing if your game cost £30, probably because you rationalise a slow start with high budgets and the promise that there will be action later on (not to mention the fact that you paid money so you are going to push through it no matter how dull it starts). If I, or indeed most people, have just installed your mod for free we are much more likely to have an attention span which is comparable to a gnat’s. Deviating slightly from the subject I’ll use the example of the Wheel of Time series. It is probably one of my top fantasy series’, but my god does it start slowly. It took something like five attempts before I could get into the first book, annoyed as I was at the thirty pages that preceded any real action.
Anyway, enough is enough for this week. I’ll no doubt be de retour next week with all new comments and criticism. Hate mail to the usual address?
P.S: I’ve just got Fallout 3. Anyone know any good mods? Preferably one with a whole new radio station because I’m kinda getting sick of the in game music.
Haven’t played Fallout 3 myself, but I’ve seen trailers of FO3 Wanderer’s Edition, which seems to be a complete re-jigging of vanilla gameplay. There’s also DC interiors and countless other mods at Fallout Nexus. Oh, and look for DarN’s Fallout 3 UI, it looks amazing.
…yeah, I love mods so much I even look at mods for games I haven’t played.
Tell me about it. Long term sufferer also of Oblivion Mod Addiction. It seems I play it for 2 weeks of the year then spend every other waking hour of my life installing, testing, tweaking and reading up on all the mods.
It’s a curse I tells ya a curse.
I’ve no mod recommendations, but I do have one rather odd suggestion..
The game lacks the depth of Morrowind, so there’s not much use in keeping a notebook nearby – the quests are rather shallow and nothing demands any real intelligence, here.
However, it does provide a massive world full of secrets, and a horribly useless ingame map.
.. So I drew my own, and facehug me if it wasn’t probably the most fun I got out of Fallout 3. Creating and maintaining a detailed map of the Capital Wasteland with a selection of keyed notes to keep in mind all the places I notice but don’t go because I’m doing something specific, or all the loot I left behind because I was overloaded, or that place where I heard a roaring sound and ran, swearing I’d return oneday with a bigger gun..
.. Handy, and enriches the experience.
Oh, ONE IMPORTANT MOD.
I cannot recall the name, but I assure you this is vital to your enjoyment of the game.
It’ll be easy to find; mod-that-removes-the-perception-indicator.
Perception as a stat in F3 allows you to ‘sense’ enemies through any surface at significant distances. If you want any kind of fear or intensity in your explorations of ruined bunkers or as you wander desert canyons, you need this mod to disable the damn indicators and remove your inexplicable psychic abilities.
If you play vanilla, without this, you will never, ever be surprised by an enemy, never get scared – never need to be careful. Every nearby enemy will be indicated by a big red triangle on your compass.
You want More Where That Came From which adds 100 new songs to GNR.
Fallout 3 mods! I thought no one would ever ask. Most of the mods only exist to correct flaws that the game was released with, meaning that if one wants to enjoy Fallout 3, one has no choice but to compile a laundry list of mods.
-Fallout Mod Manager, because life is too short to keep them all organized by hand.
-Fallout Wanderer’s Edition, which totally rebalances the game and adds all sorts of original Fallout weapons. Even better, every aspect of the mod can be tweaked in-game to your personal preference, making the game exactly as difficult or as immersive as you like.
-DC Interiors Project, which makes exploring the urban ruins actually worth your time.
-Mart’s Mutant Mod, which adds variety and better AI to the rather stale vanilla baddies.
-Energy Visuals Enhanced, which makes energy weapons eye candy and throws in a dancing plethora of sound effects.
-DarN’s UI mod makes life easier for PC players who think the clunky Xbox UI looks like rubbish.
-Fellout removes the nasty green filter over everything. I wouldn’t have been able to keep playing without this.
-GreenWorld, which tastefully adds trees to the outdoor environment. You may have your doubts about this one, but it really does make a difference for the better.
-GNR: More Where That Came From, which does a beautiful job of expanding the radio playlist.
-Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch will prevent (most) of the crashes you may be or may not be plagued with.
Every item on this painfully long-winded list can be conveniently found on the Fallout Nexus, with the exception of DarN’s UI, which you’ll have to hunt down on the Bethsoft forums.
Thanks for the suggestions guys! Keep ‘em coming!
Fallout3 mods, eh? Well, I got a list of bookmarks here that I haven’t touched in a while, they’re not complete; and unfortunately for all of us, they’re not all compatible:
All listed below can be found at http://www.fallout3nexus.com
-BASIC TOOLS
– Fallout mod manager
– Fallout Script Extender (FOSE): mind the version# when looking at mod requirements
- AESTHETIC
-PC/NPCs
– Tailor Maid: splits gear into pieces, so you can customize the look of your character better. Downside is that those bits are hidden in random parts of the world
– Fallout 3 Re-Animated: fixes some of the awkward/broken animation for NPCs. Massive improvement for me.
– RH_IronSights: adds ironsights, add according to taste. Downside: only works for vanilla weapons, methinks.
– nude skins: don’t do it myself, as it only changes NPCs from unbelievable to gorgeously unbelievable. Plus, they’re a pain in the ass to install.
-World
– Destruction V6-1 – A Destroyable Environments Mod by SP: self-explanatory, and fucking awesome!
– Terrain pack: adds hi-res textures.
– Fellout: changes the colour tone and weather to be less apocalyptic and more everyday. Slightly too un-dusty for me, but a good change if you’re sick of the vanilla one.
– The Road Warrior Weather: changes the colour tone and weather to be more apocalyptic. Comes in 5(?) different flavours!
– GreenWorld: add trees and the colour green. Good for second playthrough, I’d say.
– MTC Wasteland Travellers V2: add travellers on the road. Looks better and takes aggro from you, the poor sods.
– GNR — More Where That Came From: Radio mod. Must get.
– GNR Radio Fixed Extended
– MTUI: downsizes vanilla’s retardedly large font. (Probably superseded by the DarNified UI as mentioned above, though. Stolen!)
– Realistic Gunshot Sounds
– EVE – Energy Visuals Enhanced: make energy weapons exponentially prettier.
– Wastelands Interiors Project – WIP: aims to add interiors to all/most buildings in the world. Not quite there yet, though. Come back in 6 months.
– DCInteriors Project: aims to add landmarks to some buildings in the DC area. Less ambitious, but more finished.
– Yevics Urban Apartment: adds player house in downtown.
– Yevics Urban Apartment_DCInteriors Project Compatible: compatability patch
– Mini Hideout – Player Home – Katanas
– Underground Hideout v4-4
-GAMEPLAY
-PC
– Explosive Entry: allows using explosives to break locks.
– RobCo Certified: adds skill that allow you to repair robots for own use.
– Real Injuries: changes the injuries/healing system to be more challenging
– RI – Primary Needs: necessitates eating and sleeping
– BuildableBotsV0-3a: adds machine in the RobCo factory that allows robot construction
– Slower Backpedaling
– Weapon Mod Kits: let you put add-ons to weapons. Must get.
-NPCs
– Sharing and Caring Companions: allows recruitment of almost any NPC.
– Seducing Women: yeah….
– All Phalanx Modules: adds companions.
– Amy Wong Companion: pretty useful, as she can to trade runs for you. Just remember to hire a bodyguard.
– Zombie Apocalypse
– Marts Mutant Mod – RC 5: Adds creatures, change spawnpoints, add skin variety, realistic looting behaviour, realistic NPC injuries, improved inter-NPC interaction, etc. Just go get it.
-Others
– Owned: allows you to purchase, manage, and tax real estate properties. Alternatively, you could also inherit them thanks to tragic accidents involving gunshot wounds in the skull.
– FWE – FO3 Wanderers Edition: overhaul mod that aims to make the world a more interesting but less forgiving place. See readme for the massive list of changes. Pretty much mandatory, as it partially “fixes” Fallout 3 as a comprehensive role-playing and FPS experience.
– Arwen_Realism_Tweaks: mostly your typical “add zeros to make harder” kind of mod, but it does some nice stuff, too. Good thing it’s modular, then.
– RTS – Real Time Settler: not recommended for first playthrough, but it allows the building and management of your own village(s)/base(s). Absolutely mad and 100% fun.
– Enclave Commander 090: allows the summoning and commanding of gunships, soldiers, and assault bots. Completely breaks vanilla, but great for making DC your turf.
– Wasteland Player: allows you to seduce NPCs and make them your bitch.
– A Quest for Heaven-Part 1: quest mod. Looks fun enough.
– Cube Experimental: the now-famous quest mod. Haven’t tried it.
-OTHERS
– Fallout Interoperability Program – FOIP: adds compatibility to the largest mods in the scene
– FOOK2 RC v1-0: overhaul mod that mostly add variety to armour and guns, but does some rebalancing and reskins, as well.
– Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch: fixes some random bugs from vanilla. Not sure if it’s even needed anymore, but just in case…