Ow to download fallout 3 mods

Fallout 3 GOTY: How to install, fix, tweak & mod (update 12/15)

This guide is aimed at people who want to get more out of their Fallout 3 experience. Either by turning it into a more stable and more enjoyable experience, and/or by discovering some of the awesome mods out there. This is no easy thing, so be prepared for some technical stuff along the road, but it is doable for anyone who is eager to learn.

Even though it is a classic, Fallout 3 does have its flaws: it is notoriously difficult to get it running (more or less) stable on Windows 7, 8 and Since I've been looking at a lot of guides and posts on how to install Fallout 3 properly, and on how to fix and tweak it, I've decided to write a Steam guide of my own on it. The first major part of the guide will be on the installation, fixing & tweaking. Keep in mind that I only did all this on a Windows 7 pc - I am afraid I am not familiar with Windows 8 or Windows 10 yet.

I know there are lots of guides on this subject already available, so why write another one? Well, first of all: I have already done this for myself. I always keep track of any mods installed, used, played or rejected, so I have the basic notes already here. Secondly: I like to share my knowledge, and the things I find out, with fellow gamers. Also, I noted several of my Steam friends thought the idea of a new guide on Fallout 3 to be a good one, and they told me it definitely would be useful. And thirdly: several of the guides, or even of the tutorials and series dedicated to modding Fallout 3 out there, date from a couple of years ago.

This is true for the great series of tutorials on "Modding Fallout 3" by Gopher on his YouTube channel. What he tells and explains is excellent, but some of the mods he mentions have been reworked, repatched, or even removed since then. Especially the way the mods interact with other and need to be configured properly in order to work together, has undergone major revisions and improvements the past years. I will be referring to several of Gophers video's, so be sure to check out his YouTube channel.

Another really well done series of tutorials - and very much up-to-date - are the video's made by Xuul on his YouTube channel. These are excellent as well and I do recommend these highly since they are very much to-the-point and accessible for anyone with an average pc knowledge.

At the current version (updated december ), the guide has reached its final state. This means that I've discussed the majority of the mods I have been using myself. Now that Fallout 4 has appeared on the scene, almost all of the modding activity has turned towards that game, an new mods for Fallout 3 are few, which is not to say there aren't any. But I do want to keep the adventure of modding the Capital Wasteland alive, since it is a lot of fun to do, and I plan to play through the game a third and final time next year, using a different set-up (switching to Mod Organizer) and a completely different character build. With my current build however, I've pretty much done everything I wished to, and I won't be adding any new mods/content to my game or to this guide.

II. Installation & basic fixes

For this guide, I will only be using the "Game of the Year" edition of Fallout 3 on Steam. If one opens the page on the Steam store, a big box warns: "Fallout 3 is not optimized for Windows 7 or later". This box is there with a reason: this game has a reputation of being exceptionally difficult to run stable under Windows 7 & 8.
In this section of this guide, I will look into a good way to install and fix the game using Windows 7 bit (I do think it's more or less the same under Windows 8 bit) and Steam. I will do this in several well-defined steps, so that it is as easy to follow as possible.


Make sure you don't have any version of Fallout 3 installed at the moment, and if so: uninstall it using a thorough uninstall program such as Advanced Uninstaller Pro. This to make sure there are no references present in your Windows registry to any previous version of Fallout 3.


Install using the "install" button in your Steam library, just as usual.
The installation should use appx 9GB of harddrive space. The download itself should be GB large.


Locate the folder Steam has installed the game to. Depending on the drive you have installed Steam to, this would be something like d:\steam\steamapps\common\fallout3goty. I recommend adding a shortcut to this folder (ie the folder with files like the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk in it) to your desktop, since this will make things easier later on.



Run the game to access the launcher once before doing anything else. This lets the game create its own folder in "my documents\my games\fallout3". There is a chance you can't even get the launcher working. This has to do with an older version of "Games for Windows Live" that is shipped with the Steam version. The easiest way to fix this is to update your GFWL using the dowload from this link: Update Games for Window Live[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]

Once in the launcher, you can as well set the options for graphics etc to your liking, there are several good guides on this topic available if needed. I especially recommend this extensive tweak guide:

Fallout 3 Tweak Guide[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]

After exiting the game, make sure you locate the "Fallout 3" folder in "My games", and add a shortcut to it on your desktop as well. This way the two main folders you'll have to access often, are easily within reach from the desktop.


You don't actually have to go in-game at this point, but it's a good idea to do so just to make sure everything works up till this point. However: chances are pretty great you won't be able to launch the game. This is due to a problem with the "Games For Windows Live" system & files the Steam version comes with, so the first step should be to disable this crappy system.


Fallout 3 comes with the infamous Games for Windows Live system. Since this only makes the game instable or even unplayable, it is best to get rid of this as the first step in fixing the game. The easiest way to do this is by using the "Games for Windows Live Disabler" found on the Nexus website.

Disable Games for Windows Live[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]

Since at this point you're maybe not familiar yet with the use of the Nexus Mod Manager, I suggest to download this "mod" manually. Do this by clicking on the "files" tab on the appropriate page of thesite, and then choose "download manually". This should download the small file to a location of your choice. Run the program, and remove GFWL. That gets rid of this first major problem.

Note: the two buttons at the bottom of the program are not essential. The "rebind the home key" button is only for those who play Fallout 3 with a controller and want to rebind the home button, and the "Move dlc's" button is useless, since the Steam GOTY edition already has moved the dlc's into the correct place.




Fallout 3 has an issue with its mouse input. First of all: it defaults to your controller if you have one plugged in, ignoring any input from the mouse. So either you can unplug the controller, or just navigate using the controller to "settings – controls" on the main screen and disable the controller. From then on, your mouse pointer will appear.
However, it will be immediately obvious that your mouse will be way too fast in its reactions to be of any use. This is not controlled by the "mouse speed" setting: that is for the in-game mouse. The problem lies with the way the game addresses the mouse in 2d screens. There is an easy fix for this by editing the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk file, found in the "fallout 3" map under "my documents\my games".

Since this is our first edit (or tweak) to an .ini file, it is good to adopt a sound habit: always make a backup of any game-related file you're going to edit. In that case, if anything goes wrong, just put the original file back in the place it came from and let it overwrite the altered file. And a second habit: when making tweaks or applying fixes, do so one at a time and check after every tweak or fix. That way, you always know what could have caused any problems.

You have to add these four lines to the [controls]section of the .ini file:

fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0
fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0
fForegroundMouseBase=0
fForegroundMouseMult=0

Copy and paste them there, since they have to be exactly the same. Another good habit: in order to edit an .ini file, right-click on it and choose "edit" from the drop-down menu. That's the smoothest and easiest way.




Fallout 3 has a very nasty habit of randomly crashing. It can happen at any moment, at any place. While crashes to desktop are not that bad (provided you have a recent save), they do get very annoying, and are rushbrookrathbone.co.uk whatever fix there is to at least minimize the number of crashes, is welcome.
These crashes are especially problematic when using a quad core processor. Fallout 3 was not designed for this sort of cpu – it only can handle up to 2 cores. There is a small tweak to the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk file that resolves a lot of these random crashes - not all of them, but still a lot.

Find the line

bUseThreadedAI=0

in the .ini file (you can use control+f in order to search) and replace it with

bUseThreadedAI=1

After that line, add this one:

iNumHWThreads=2

This will limit the game to 2 cores and prevent the engine bug from causing the game to crash or even freeze.
I recommend this video by Xuul where he explains this and yet another method (very useful for Intel HD Graphics) to fix the random crashes: Xuul tutorial on fix for random crashes


When all this is done, you should have a properly working version of Fallout 3, but still on a basic, non-modded level. You could start a new game at this point, when not intending to mod it, but I firmly recommend adding at least the patches & tweaks to have a more stable and more fluid gaming experience.

IIIa. Patches & tweaks: Updated Unofficial Fallout Patch

In this part I will concentrate on the essential patches & tweaks to apply, in order to get Fallout 3 run as stable as possible. Keep in mind that I tried all this out on my Windows 7 bit computer, so I don't know how well it goes with Windows 8 or I assume it is very much comparable, since these are both relatively recent bit operating systems.
As far as older operating systems are concerned, I pretty much assume that Fallout 3 has less problems running on those. Windows XP-users should be safe anyway, and I guess Windows Vista users as well, since the game was released back then with these operating systems in mind.


Since there are several excellent guides & videos just on this subject alone, I won't go into the process in detail here. The essential tutorial on installing & using Nexus Mod Manager (referred to as NMM) is the one by Gopher on his YouTube channel. But since this video is three years old, I will cover some things myself regarding the latest version of NMM.


The main steps are easy:

• Go to the Nexus website[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk] and choose the Fallout 3 page from the list of games on the homepage (by default, the games are listed by the number of mods available for them and as you can see, Fallout 3 is currently solidly on 4th place).
  
• Create your own account on the Nexus page by clicking on "create account" on the top right-hand corner of the page and just follow the step.
  
• Download the latest version of Nexus Mod Manager and install it. This is done like downloading and installing any piece of software (see screenshot above).
  
• Choose "Fallout 3" during the installation process when asked which game you want the mod manager to default to. I recommend to choose the default installation path as well.
  
• Run Nexus Mod Manager for the first time and get used to its lay-out, have a look at the settings. The mod manager offers a very convenient way to download, install, manage, activate and possibly de-activate or de-install your mods for Bethesda games (it's mostly used for Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout New Vegas & Fallout 3, expect it to fully support Fallout 4 once it comes out).
  
• As for now, your mod manager should be fairly empty, but do have a look at the "Plugins" tab (next to the default opened "Mods" tab). Since you are using the GOTY edition of Fallout 3, it should already have 6 plugins displayed and activated: fallout rushbrookrathbone.co.uk, operation rushbrookrathbone.co.uk, the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk, broken rushbrookrathbone.co.uk, point rushbrookrathbone.co.uk and mothership rushbrookrathbone.co.uk If for some reaoson, they are not in this order (i.e. the order in which the dlc's were released), I suggest to rearrange them by using the up/down arrow keys at the left. It's not strictly necessary, but it's sound practice to organise your plugins for the dlc's always in the same order.
  A word of explanation: .esm refers to "master" files, while .esp refers to "plugins". Master files are the essential game files or the main mod files, plugins are dependent on these and apply the fine-tuning, so to speak.
  
• Get used to the habit of launching Fallout 3 from the Nexus Mod Manager, instead of starting it through Steam. Mind: the Steam client still has to be open and and you have to be connected to your Steam account. You can (and should once any mod is installed) launch Fallout 3 by just clicking on the "Launch Fallout 3" button on the top left.
  There is one major disadvantage to this: when launching the game through NMM, Steam won't keep track of the in-game hours, and the Steam overlay won't be available.
  
• There are several different ways around this for sure, and if you don't intend to use the "Fake Fullscreen Windowed Mode" I am going to discuss later on, you might as well look into these right now – but within the context of this guide, I can't cover all of those. I am going to explain later how to organise your game setup so that you can run Fallout 3 using "MaximizedWindow" as well as the "Fallout Script Extender" and all the mods loaded into your Nexus Mod Manager, and still let Steam keep track of in-game hours with the overlay enables. This might seem like Chinese right now, and it took me some effort to figure it out, but it is definitely possible.

This is utterly essential, and although it is downloaded & installed using the Nexus Mod Manager, it cannot be considered a mod proper. It really is an essential patch, literally fixing a myriad of problems and bugs left unsolved after Bethesda decided not to support the game any further. Although you can do this in the conventional way too, installing the patch through Nexus Mod Manager has the advantage of learning to use the NMM and of getting a feel for its ease of use. The method downloading and installing the Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 patch is essentially the method by which you will be installing over 90% of all mods, so it's as good a way to learn this practice as any other.


Open the Fallout 3 page in the Nexus site in your browser, and go to the page for the Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 patch by BenWah and HairyLegs. This is the correct link:
Updated Unofficial Patch[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]

• Use the "download with manager" option on the "files" section on the mod page. You have to chose the second one of the files, the "mod manager version"! Don't let the warning that this version is for experienced moddes only, distract you. It really is very simple, and since we intend to add other mods later on, it is a good tutorial to download this major patch using the NMM.
  
• As soon as you've selected this option, your Nexus Mod Manager will open automatically, and it well send a "login token" to the Nexus webclient. This in order to check if you are logged in on the Nexus site, so make sure you are by now, or else your download won't continue. The mod manager will show you the progress of the download at the bottom, in its own download manager. It could take a minute or so to download, and it will then proceed to "building" the mod (to be seen in the "mod activation queue" tab at the bottom, next to the "download manager"). As soon as this is done, your first mod will appear in the "mods"' section/tab of the manager, under the category "miscellaneous".
  By default, NMM uses categories to organise the mods you download – I advise to keep these, since they are conveniently synched with the mod sections on the website. Once you feel confident enough, you can change the mods organiser's outlook or manually move the mods to different categories as you like.
  
• Select the Updated Unofficial Patch (the only mod in the list), and activate it by clicking on the appropriate puzzle piece icon ("activate the selected mod") on the left. Don't use the topmost puzzle piece, that's for adding mods manually – use the one below (it says so clearly when hovering your mouse pointer above it). It will take some time for the mod to activate, and when that's done, you have succesfully installed your first mod! Congratulations!
  
• After installing & activating a mod, always go to the "Plugins" tab, and check if the new plugin is activated correctly. For the most part, NMM does a decent job at placing these plugins in the correct order, but as I will show later, there is a tool ("LOOT") that can do this for you. As for now, you don't yet have to worry about this, just adopt the habit of checking the "Plugins" tab every time after installing a mod.

IIIb. Patches & tweaks: Part two

I know, the Steam launcher has a neat tick box to check or uncheck v-sync (the graphics option which keeps your framerate synched with the refresh rate of your monitor). If you like to keep v-sync on (as it is by default), there is no problem and you can skip this step.
However, if you want to disable it (which has some advantages, such as being able to get a framerate above the refresh rate (mostly 60) of your monitor, or smoother mouse movement in-game), there is a problem. Fallout keeps v-sync on, even when this box is unchecked. The only way to disable it properly, is by altering this line in the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk file (the file in the "documents\my games\fallout3" folder):

iPresentInterval=1

into

iPresentInterval=0

In addition, make sure v-sync is disabled in your graphics driver, either in the general 3d-settings, or in the specific settings for Fallout 3.

Personally, I tried out both options during my first playthrough of the game, and in the end I decided to stick with the default "v-sync on". It seems to provide smoother gameplay, with less of the "micro-stutters" the game has so often issues with (more on these later on). However, this probably is a personal matter of taste. The dreaded "screen tearing", which v-sync normally eliminates, kept creeping up from time to time though, no matter what I tried. Only restarting the game helped against that bug.

One thing to keep in mind though: if you decide to use the very popular mod (complete game overhaul) Fallout Wanderers Edition, it might be a good idea to keep v-sync on. This mod has issues whenever the framerate goes above 60 frames per second: it then tends to speed up the in-game time and player movement, which is very annoying indeed.


Believe it or not, Fallout 3 uses only 2GB of ram at the most. Since most computers nowadays have more ram, it's a shame that the game won't make use of that. By editing the .exe file of the game itself (which is surprisingly easy), you can make sure the game uses more than 2GB of ram memory.

You can do this by downloading the software CFF-Explorer Suite from a site like this:

CFF Explorer Suite[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]


Install it and right-click on your Fallout rushbrookrathbone.co.uk Choose "open with cff explorer" and go to the "File header" (under the "NT header"). Click where it says "click here" in the bottom right corner. You get a menu with the essential characteristics of the executable and you have to tick the box next to "App can handle more than 2 GB address space". Close and save the .exe file, and that's it! It may feel frightening to edite an .exe file, so make a back-up first, but there is not much to it.

NOTE: There is a small program called Large Address Aware Enabler available on the Nexus Site, which apparently does the same thing automatically. I have not used it myself, since I prefer to do tweaks like this manually using CFF, so I can't give any feedback on it. But I've read it's pretty ok. Large Address Awareness Enabler[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]

NOTE 2: Xuul has a good tutorial on both enabling Large Address Awareness and installing FOSE: Xuuls tutorial on FOSE & Large Address Awareness


The Fallout Script Extender (will be referring to it as FOSE) is an essential tool in order to set-up Fallout 3 for using the more advanced (and the most interesting) mods. It is not strictly needed in order to get to a still unmodded, but fixed and stable game. I do however include installation of this tool in this part of the guide, so that we have a game set up completely ready to start modding properly. In this way, when you want to install mods at any later point, your game and your NMM setup will be competely ready for it. As usual, there is an excellent video by Gopher on the installation process of FOSE on his YouTube channel: Gophers tutorial on FOSE


FOSE has to be downloaded from this site: Fallout Script Extender (FOSE)[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]

Choose the "latest stable version", download the archive file to any place you want, and extract it using 7Zip or WinRar. Select the extracted files and simply copy them into your game folder (that is: the folder with the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk file in it). Strictly speaking, you don't need to copy the folder "src" with the files, since this contains the open source used by fose's authors.
And that is it: you have installed the "Fallout Script Extender", which opens up a lot of modding possibilities. As for the "latest beta version" on the fose page: I haven't tried that out myself, I always choose the "latest stable version".

But how do you know you've done this correctly? Start up your game (through NMM!), and once in game open the console. The key for this usually is the "tilde" key, to the left of the "1" key (on the keyboard, not on the numpad). Type "GetFoseVersion" and you should see "FoseVersion1" as result. You then know all is ok, and from now on you don't need to worry anymore about this. Just don't forget to re-install fose whenever you re-install Fallout 3.

NOTE: There is apparently a problem with the German versions of the game with regard to FOSE. FOSE fails to recognise them a lot, even though they're supported. Removing the "ng" part from rushbrookrathbone.co.uk (and applying the 2gb fix again), rushbrookrathbone.co.uk and rushbrookrathbone.co.uk fixes the problem.
Thanks to AbiKagerou for pointing this out and providing the fix!

IIIc. Patches & tweaks: Part three

If you have downloaded the "mod manager" version of the Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch, you need to apply ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated.This is a small tool that can be found at the Nexus Page: ArchiveInvalidation[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]. It automatically takes care of something rather technical which you otherwise would have to do manually. It's very easy: download the file manually from the Nexus site (use the recommended program version and download manually!), save it to any place you want, and run the executable. That's it, another step done (and you only have to do this once).
However, if you have downloaded the "newb" version of the Unofficial Patch and downloaded it manually, you can skip this step since that version of the patch takes care of it for you.



This is the final step towards creating a still unmodded, yet stable version of Fallout 3. Why would one want to run a game like Fallout 3 in Windowed mode? Well, simply because that apparently reduces not only the number of crashes, it even improves performance, and by quite a margin - some claim a performance boost of 60%. I do notice a performance boost but not by that much (maybe fps). More importantly: windowed mode makes the game feel much smoother for me and it definitely helps in reducing the stutters.

Installing this "mod" – in reality yet another essential tweak, not a true mod – is simple. Setting it up so that in the end you are able to run Fallout 3 in a maximized window from within Steam, using FOSE and loading all the mods from the Nexus Mod Manager, sounds probably like wizardry, and this needs some fine tweaking indeed. So I guess this is for advanced users ;-).

a. Back-up all your .exe files in your Fallout 3 home directory
Yes! Whenever you alter something in an .exe or .ini file, make a back-up. Sound modding practice!

b. Set up your display and game setting. Open the "Steam launcher" of Fallout 3, easily done by clicking on Fallout 3 in Steam's game's library. It is important to get all of your settings right at this point, since by the end of this step, you'll not be using the Steam launcher anymore. Most important: set the correct resolution Fallout 3 should run at (for most people this will be the native resolution of their monitor, probably x pixels). And even more important: tick the "windowed mode" checkbox. Have a good look at all the other settings too. Some of them will be accessible in-game, but others aren't. As already mentioned, I consider this one the best guides on tweaking Fallout 3's settings: Fallout3 Tweak Guide[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk].
For those using nVidia graphics cards, there is always the option of using the nVidia GeForce Experience to access all the settings, just from inside that program. Very easy and I recommend it highly. It still gives access to all settings, even after the Steam launcher has been renamed.

c. Run FOSE through Steam: delete rushbrookrathbone.co.uk (this is why you should have set-up everything correctly in the launcher by now); rename fose_rushbrookrathbone.co.uk to rushbrookrathbone.co.uk (this tricks Steam to believe it just launches Fallout 3, while in reality it runs Fallout 3 through the Fallout Script Extender); try to launch Fallout 3 from inside Steam and check if FOSE is working correctly by typing "GetFoseVersion" into the console and getting "FoseVersion1" as a result.

d. Run the game in a borderless fullscreen window while in windowed mode. In order to do so: download the "MaximizedWindow" mod (in reality just one executable) from the Nexus site: MaximizedWindow[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk].
Download it manually.
I know it's a very early one, and there have been several others doing the same thing since, but this one works great for me together with FOSE and Steam. Extract the file to anywhere on your hard drive – just remember where. Inside the Fallout 3 game folder is perfect. One extracted, right-click on the "rushbrookrathbone.co.uk", and choose "create shortcut" from the menu. I suggest placing this shortcut on your desktop for ease of use.

Rename the shortcut to whatever you want, right-click on it, select "properties". In the "shortcut" tab, under "target", you have to add three parameters, as in this example: "10 ", without the parenthesis. These parameters refer to: number of seconds delay between clicking the shortcut and actually having to launch the game, horizontal number of pixels & vertical number of pixels (aka the screen resolution, as set in the Fallout Launcher in the previous step).

The final target the shortcut refers to should look something like this:

d:\steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 3 goty\rushbrookrathbone.co.uk" 10

but then with your own correct path to the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk, your own delay for launching in seconds and your own resolution. What I've showed in this step, is actually to insert a delay so that you have time to run Fallout 3 through Steam.

e. Get to run all this together: double click the MaximizedWindow shortcut you edited in the previous step; before 10 seconds (the delay set), navigate to Steam and launch Fallout 3 from there as you normally do; after a couple of seconds, the windowed view will change to a nice but false full-screen game; check "GetFoseVersion" if you want to be absolutely sure about Fallout 3 running through FOSE; enjoy a decent number of extra fps, and most important: a lot of extra, hard-won stability!!

Congratulations if you stayed with me during this last, and fairly complex, process. I know it's quite a hassle, but I found it completely worthwhile.
I do guess there are lots of other methods to achieve the same goals, some of them probably a lot easier, and I'd love to know more about those so feel free to comment!

IIId. Patches & tweak: Conclusion.

At this point, you've set up Fallout 3 as good as possible, and you have a good and stable base to go a step further and start modding it in earnest. There are a couple of extra tweaks and mods that are aimed at improving stability & performance, but for me those have given mixed results at best.

You can find extensive guides to tweaking the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk file to your heart's content, but those are out of the scope of this guide. There is the Fallout Stutter Remover mod at the Nexus Site: Fallout Stutter Remover[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk], and it has helped a lot of people to remove or at least reduce the micro-stutters in Fallout 3. But for me, this mod hasn't really solved the problem, in fact it seemed to make my game unstable, while only reducing the stuttering problem slightly. Using windowed mode fixed the stutters a lot better and provided a much smoother gameplay, with the added benefit of extra stability.
Feel free to experiment with the Fallout Stutter Remover mod as you feel fit, but be aware that it comes with a number of fairly advanced tweaks to the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk file, and it requires some in-depth attention.
The final part of Xuuls tutorial on making Fallout 3 run smoother (from onwards) is dedicated to using this mod: Xuuls tutorial on Fallout Stutter Remover. Just keep in mind that the tool has had an upgrade since, and that you only need to download the main file in its latest version ().

In the remaining parts of this guide, I will cover the actual modding of the game, using the setup with all the tweaks, the use of NMM and the windowed mode as decribed up till now. For me, this is the minimal basis to work upon if you want a modded game that is as stable as possible. If you want a patched vanilla gaming experience with a lot of extra stability but no alterations to the actual gaming experience, you can stop here, and have loads of fun. You should be fine, except for some rare and random crashes to desktop, so save often. Be aware that even with all these tweaks, fixes and patches, Fallout 3 can still be a difficult game to tame, with its occasional hiccups and even crashes, especially if you move further into the game and your save game becomes larger.

With regard to the use of the save games and the practice of quick- and auto-saving, I will dedicate more attention to this while covering the casm or auto-save mod. As for now just this advice: save very, very often, and make "hard saves" as much as possible. Hard saves are completely new save points, just hit "save" and choose "new save". Fallout 3 is almost allergical to quick-saves that have been overwritten a lot: these tend to get corrupted. This is just another obstacle to overcome.

Load Order in modded games

Managing your load order manually and/or with LOOT

IVb. Modding tools: FO3Edit

Once you've set up a properly working load order for your mods, you're almost done. Almost, since there is one tool left to discuss. It's called FO3Edit, and it's the most powerful tool out there with regard to modding Fallout 3. It's a tool you'll only be using once you've installed some mods, but since it's a proper modding tool, I prefer it to discuss it here and not at the end of the guide.
FO3Edit is mostly used by mod authors to fine-tune and clean their mods, but it's equally useful to mod users. Download and installation are simple: it's to be found at the Nexus Website (FO3Edit[rushbrookrathbone.co.uk]), download the main file manually (there has been a recent update to version ). Extract the archive to a location of choice, and keep the two files it generates together for it to work properly.


And that's it, there's not much to it. I always make a shortcut to the .exe file on my desktop, so that I have it within easy reach.


So I suggest you run the program, and see what happens.


It presents you with a list of .esm (master) files and .esp (plugin) files you currently have in your load order, as you've ordered these in Nexus Mod Manager (by yourself or with the help of LOOT). The masters/plugins that are actually loaded are neatly ticked in the box next to them, the ones you merely downloaded into NMM but did not yet activate, are included as well. Just leave everything as it is, and click ok: FO3Edit will start loading all of the masters/plugins, and shows a debug window while doing so. If after half a minute or so you get to the line "background loader: finished" in the window to the right (be sure to have the "messages" tab selected!!), you know you're ok. FO3Edit has just checked your load order, and it has found no errors in it. You can start working in it now – if something is wrong with the load order, FO3Edit won't even allow you to proceed any further.

When you do get an error warning, it is important to read what sort of error FO3edit gives. It will refer to the exact point where the error occurred during the load process, and what the error was. Most of the time, this information will point you to the solution as well, such as there being an .esm or .esp file missing from your load order. FO3Edit won't offer an easy solution: it will pinpoint the problem, but you have to solve it yourself. Logical thinking will almost always help you out, however.


By clicking on the plus icons next to the differend entries in the panel to the left, you can open any file you want, and view into the interior of all your files, be it the main game file (the rushbrookrathbone.co.uk file), the dlc's below it, and all the master files and plugins of all your installed & activated mods. Feel free to open up these and have a look: it is completely harmless, and gives you an idea on the complexity of the game and any installed mods. Don't change anything (yet), since that could cause problems!


So, now that we've installed FO3Edit and it has checked our load-order, what other use(s) does it have for a mod user? There are several, but most of these are fairly advanced, so I will concentrate on the one that is crucial: FO3Edit offers the possibility to make a "merged patch".

A merged patch is an extra plugin (.esp file), created specifically for your modded game, taking into account all the mods you have installed and activated. True: there are several large-scale patches available on the Nexus site to guarantee compatibility between most of the larger mods, so that they can happily be active at the same time, and it is essential to use these. More on those later, but consider these as the big, essential patches for any modded game.