Fallout 4

[dbt1949]

Accidentally shoot one BOS soldier (before I met Danse) and the entire BOS (including Danse) turns against me. Surprisingly Danse can be killed. That's one way I won't be winning with.
Still playing with the WOTC mod. Numerous bugs. Had to reset three times now. Finally hav e Curie getting the hots for me.

[dbt1949]

Finally reach level 100.
Still running across enemies higher level than me. When not wearing power armor I find the best for me is Hvy Railroad armor IX. I also have access to ballistic weave armor and improvements.
The rifle found in Vault 81 (With all improvements) is still my go to weapon. Other weapons have higher damage but not the rate of fire.

[DarkOverLord]

I love Sinatra but that song does not fit at all as a Fallout game theme.

same feeling

[dbt1949]

I'm watching a FO4 youtube video by some guy who has never played it.
He has no clue about anything. He doesn't store anything, just holds on to it. He has to read every computer entry. Has a strength of 1 and an endurance of 1.
He has specialize in Total War videos before this. I think he should stick to that.
I played another mod where everybody and everything is Legendary. The really good stuff doesn't spawn till like level 15-20. Then you can pick up a-one weapons that are wounding or explosive.
I'm playing hard mode and it's just like always except for the Legendary gear. But getting these weapons makes the fighting a cake walk.

[Blackhawk]

He's probably having a blast figuring it out as he goes. Probably more than I would on another replay already knowing everywhere to go, how to handle every threat, and how every character decision should be made.

[dbt1949]

He does seem to be enjoying himself and in the end that's what's important.
Makes for boring videos tho.
Me, I really enjoy the WOTC mod. Nothing like 15-20 ghouls in your way and nothing moves faster then ghouls charging. I have seen 10-12 deathclaws in my way too. How about 15-20 Forged and most have flamethrowers and Moltovs? Sometimes you get 2-3 groups all converging and all fighting each other and you.
I love those kind of challenges. Even if it's running away and sniping at them.

[Sudy]

How is this game seven years old?! It flew under my radar when it came out, but that's much longer ago than it seems. Of course, I still think of Fallout 3 (2008) as if it's just last gen.

Anyway, I figured I should finally try it out and have spent a few hours setting up The Midnight Ride mod configuration.

Did anyone find survival difficulty not fun? Some folks online say it's the only way to play, but they're probably the hardcore ones. Having to manage sleep/food/water seems immersive, but I'm not sure if it's fun... I don't want a lot of added stress or time spent managing inventory. Someone said they didn't like survival mode because they had to "spend half an hour in town filling up water bottles". Yeah, I'm sure that was an exaggeration... but that makes it sound very much like an MMOG that doesn't have the social aspect to make it worthwhile.

If I play on one of the normal difficulties it doesn't matter what I choose, as you can change them at any time. If I do try survival, I'll be using a "quicksaving re-enabled" mod.

[dbt1949]

I've watched videos of guys playing survival modes. It just doesn't appeal to me. It is pretty challenging so you might want to learn the game a little bit more before trying it. Or not.

[Chraolic]

Personally I think of survival in the nuclear wasteland as being more a matter of not being eviscerated by deathclaws and less about monitoring my nutritional intake, but I suppose there are all kinds of people.

[Sudy]

That's a good point, I think most recommendations said you don't want to try survival on your first run. Though the same people said VATS and crippling limbs wasn't really "necessary" before Very Hard/Survival. On the other hand, they said Survival was better than Very Hard even though it's a "higher" difficulty because the enemies are too bullet-spongy on VH.

I'm not a masochist, though I do like being challenged. I figured I'd probably start on Normal and then punch it up to Hard as soon as I'm comfortable. Just didn't want to waste my time if Survival was the "one true mode" or something.

[TheMix]

I don't find the food/drink to be much of an issue. But you definitely want the ability to save anywhere.

The biggest annoyance that I have run into (my VR game is running in Survival mode) is the diseases. They can be really a pain. You have to be careful what you eat and where you sleep. Or quick save before every sleep. (As an FYI, what I read said that there is a "disease check" every time you sleep - and that's when I generally seem to catch them.)

[Fardaza]

Been playing this <again> for a few days. Having a lot of fun as an Infiltrator. You can easily find this build on the web. It's a sneaky pistol guy.

I also decided to try Sim Settlements. I went with 1 instead of 2 for no real reason. In retrospect, maybe I should've used SS2. This is not up my alley. They keep using all my scrap while building a bunch of stuff I can't even interact with!

I'd already played a few hours when I added SS. It immediately destroyed my armor and weapon benches in Sanctuary. They didn't reappear until the town upgraded to level 1. Then there still wasn't an armor bench for several hours later. Initially I had to pick Local Leader just to have access to supply lines. I connected Sanctuary to Red Rocket so that I could use the workbenches there.

Then when Sanctuary became level 2 the armor bench disappeared again! But, the final straw was when I went to upgrade a new weapon and all the adhesive and other scrap had been used. I had to go into the city planner's desk and shut off all future development. Now Sanctuary is just a trashy neighborhood that I use only to stash my extra stuff. Not quite sure why I even go back there now.

Sim Settlements is definitely OFF my mod list whenever I start a new hero!

[Fardaza]

Here's the link to the Infiltrator build if you're interested.

https://www.vg247.com/fallout-4-build-g ... filitrator

[TheMix]

That seems odd. I suspect that you have a setting turned on/off.

My experience doesn't match. Though maybe I was using SS2?

Anyway, I've found that while they move crafting stations, they don't delete them. At least not standard ones that were there to begin with. But if you build anything, it's going to get removed. It basically wipes everything out and resets the cell/area. I always break down anything I've build before I let it upgrade. (Well... I do now. After the first time I turned it on in Sanctuary and watched it delete all the walls and turrets I'd made...)

As for supplies, I've never had it use any of the resources in my workbench. You can manually transfer supplies to the SS desk, should you choose. I think that will make it upgrade faster. But if you don't, I think that the settlements have some invisible gathering going on. i.e. people are scrounging in the area for the supplies that the settlement needs.

For my latest run, I use Red Rocket as my base. I don't turn SS on there. That allows me to control it. Then I use SS everywhere else so I don't have to worry about them.

[dbt1949]

I seem to always build a "Hulk smash!" while also being a sneaky sniper. Don't like using power armor but like modding them to be the best I can. I still love the WOTC so I'm usually level way over 100 before I get done. Been experimenting with the Legendary workbench. Major cheating but major fun too. For instance I use level 5 ballistic armor on military fatigues and ad Legendary combat armor. I get close to power armor levels with that. And ad a newsboy hat that levels up to 110 hps.
I've beat the game must be 100 times so now I just play for fun without any goals except killing and getting my companions affinity to max.

[TheMix]

I did read up on that Infiltrator build. Interesting. And I bet it can be a blast.

Completely worthless for me. I'm currently playing FO4 VR, which doesn't really support VATS. And that build 100% relies on VATS.

Maybe someday down the road...

[Fardaza]

I did read up on that Infiltrator build. Interesting. And I bet it can be a blast.

Completely worthless for me. I'm currently playing FO4 VR, which doesn't really support VATS. And that build 100% relies on VATS.

Maybe someday down the road...

Yep. VATS is a must!

[Daehawk]

Not used VATS in 3 or 4. Tried just didn't like. I used it seldomly in 1 & 2 though also.

[Fardaza]

My Infiltrator is up to level 31 now. Just finished the new (for me) Automatron DLC. I liked it! The final battle was a nightmare though. I kept running into the looping bug that never allows the fight to end. I restarted that fight about 5 times before it somehow...worked. Now I have this cool base that I don't know what to do with.

Just started Nuka World last night!

[Hyena]

My Infiltrator is up to level 31 now. Just finished the new (for me) Automatron DLC. I liked it! The final battle was a nightmare though. I kept running into the looping bug that never allows the fight to end. I restarted that fight about 5 times before it somehow...worked. Now I have this cool base that I don't know what to do with.

Just started Nuka World last night!

Yeah, that infiltrator build is INSANE, especially once you get that certain...pistol with a silencer. I've mowed down entire groups of mutants in a single VATS setting. Made me feel like a full-on assassin.

[dbt1949]

You want to dominate a game get a Legendary "explosives" gun if you can.The larger caliber the better but any will do. You have to be careful tho. You can kill yourself at close range. Followed by the Legendary "wounding" effect type gun. Ammo is your only weakness.

[Blackhawk]

FWIW, I'm about 23 hours into a playthrough myself. I'll post some thoughts later. Sleep now.

[dbt1949]

Did you ever look closely at the groups of wooden blocks you find ? Most of the spell Gary like from the crazy vault in FO 3.

[Daehawk]

The mods are really flowing now and supposedly great mods. Theres a really nice space and voice overhaul mod and graphics of course.

But here is Atomic Warfare. It turns Fallout 4 into a STALKER / Tarkov like experience.

[Blackhawk]

The problem is that it's getting another 'next gen' update sometime this year. It'll be free, and if it's like other Bethesda games, it'll be forced. Once it relases, it will likely break most big mods. Afterward, the modders will have to wait for the tools (like FO4Edit) an integrations (like F4SE) to be updated. Then players will have to wait until modders update the mods. Then Bethesda will patch it and the process begins again. Once that's done, there's a fair chance that a significant number of current mods won't get updated (the authors have moved on from the game over the years.)

What that means in practice is that any modded playthrough that's in-progress will likely break for a period of months, and if any of a significant number of mods are never updated, that playthrough has a high likelihood of being dead in the water (IE - you won't be able use the mods you started the game with, causing your save file will become corrupted, resulting in potentially massive bugs and instability.)

I personally won't be touching Fallout 4 with a ten-foot pole any time between now and, oh, six months after the update, by which time most mods will have been updated, the unusable ones identified (or replaced), and it will be safe to play again.

Of course, Bethesda could always be really, really considerate and release it as a separate entry on Steam rather than as a forced update to the current version, negating the whole issue (like Skyrim Special Edition.)

[Max Peck]

Of course, Bethesda could always be really, really considerate and release it as a separate entry on Steam rather than as a forced update to the current version, negating the whole issue (like Skyrim Special Edition.)

A more flexible option would be to support rollbacks to older versions via Steam's "betas" mechanism. Paradox does this for their games, specifically to allow people to run old versions for mod compatability iirc.

[Blackhawk]

Of course, Bethesda could always be really, really considerate and release it as a separate entry on Steam rather than as a forced update to the current version, negating the whole issue (like Skyrim Special Edition.)

A more flexible option would be to support rollbacks to older versions via Steam's "betas" mechanism. Paradox does this for their games, specifically to allow people to run old versions for mod compatability iirc.

That would be an option, too (and I've seen it done before.) But Bethesda has never really gone out of their way to help the modding community beyond the minimum required for them to exist (as it drives sales), and, to the best of my knowledge, has never given the option for old versions. For the last twenty years they have consistently done what they have felt is best for them, then left it to the modding community to figure out how to work with it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this has been suggested to them in the past, and they've outright refused, stating that they're not interested in providing support for people running multiple versions of their games (in fact, if you contact them for support for any ES/FO game, their first instruction is to remove any and all mods before proceeding (never mind that doing so would fatally corrupt your save nearly every time.) But gosh darn it, if you strip it down to a clean install, they'll help you (maybe) so that you can start over from scratch.

[Max Peck]

That's a little harsh. They do include a built-in modding toolkit. That's more than most developers bother to do, even if it's less than you'd like them to do.

[Blackhawk]

That's a little harsh. They do include a built-in modding toolkit. That's more than most developers bother to do, even if it's less than you'd like them to do.

Which I addressed:

But Bethesda has never really gone out of their way to help the modding community beyond the minimum required for them to exist (as it drives sales)

Bethesda includes a modding tool because it is what drives after-launch sales. After decades of being part of the 'modding community' for their games, I've seen that they pay zero attention to the impact that their decisions have on said community.

Let's say that they're updating something, years after release, and the base game has filename.bet. The update adds filename2.bet and filename3.bet, so they want to go back and change filename.bet to filename1.bet just for consistency, but doing so will break tens of thousands of mods. There's no real need to change it, it doesn't solve any problems, and yet they'll change the filename and not think twice. And they've tried to turn modding into its own revenue stream over and over, usually resulting in disaster. They absolutely hate the fact that people are adding so much content to their games, and are playing their games so much after release without them getting paid for it. They know that if they don't include the tools they'll lose sales, though, so they include them. Eventually. And even then, FWIW, 80% of the mods out there, including practically all of the 'big' mods, involve elaborate hacks to get around the limits that Bethesda coded into their mod framework, despite the fact that small changes would open up all of those options.

And I would be absolutely shocked if Starfield, Fallout 5, and Elder Scrolls 6 didn't include some new approach to trying to limit unofficial modding

I love Bethesda games. I'm doing a hybrid Fallout 3/New Vegas playthrough right now. But Bethesda is not a very consumer-considerate company. They haven't been since Morrowind.

[dbt1949]

Can you say Creation Club? I knew you could.

[dbt1949]

I watch a lot of F4 videos and I notice a lot of them are able to sort things out on their pipboy. Like guns, apparel, junk etc. How in the hell do they do that?

[Blackhawk]

I watch a lot of F4 videos and I notice a lot of them are able to sort things out on their pipboy. Like guns, apparel, junk etc. How in the hell do they do that?

Any of a number of sorting mods. Most do it by renaming the items with a category at the beginning ("tin can" becomes "junk - tin can". )

[Grifman]

I watch a lot of F4 videos and I notice a lot of them are able to sort things out on their pipboy. Like guns, apparel, junk etc. How in the hell do they do that?

Use the “Complex Sorter” mod. Get all your mods set up, the run that .exe and it will sort and tag most everything.

[Kasey Chang]

There's a rumor around that someone spotted "NewVegas2" in the Fallout 4 SteamDB?

[Blackhawk]

The timing would make sense with the TV show coming out in the next year or so.

Spoiler:

The show seems to be set in the Mojave/New Vegas area.

[Daehawk]

Mods if you're still playing or thinking of....

[Grifman]

The lost ending of Fallout 4:

[Fardaza]

Been playing a little Fallout 4 myself lately!
I think it's a part of some game mod through Wabbajack, but I was able to modify my .308 rifle to do ~150 damage per shot! Makes the game a lot less intense. Now I have to take scrapper just to be able to break other ammo down and keep my .308 firing.

[Max Peck]

F4 is scheduled to get a new patch on 25 April 2024.

Fallout 4 is Getting Free Updates

Bethesda Game Studios is releasing a free Fallout 4 update for download on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

This free update includes native applications for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, Performance mode and Quality mode settings, as well as stability improvements and fixes. Experience up to 60 FPS and increased resolutions!

Fallout 4 players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will also receive a free update with stability improvements, login and quest fixes .

We are also releasing a free Fallout 4 update for PC players! Experience Fallout 4 on your next-generation PC with widescreen and ultra-widescreen support, as well as fixes to Creation Kit and a variety of quest updates.

Players with PC versions of Fallout 4 on Steam, Microsoft Store and GOG will receive stability, mods and bug fixes. For Japanese and Chinese language players on PC, Bethesda.net login issues have been resolved, fixing access to mods.

Alongside this exciting update, Fallout 4 will be available to purchase on the Epic Games Store.

Fallout 4 will also be Steam Deck verified.

[Smoove_B]

Awesome. I can delay my revisit for a few more weeks then.