Fallout Fallout 4 Thread

[CthuluIsSpy]

I dunno what happened to Bethesda. Ever since Skyrim they seem to just phone in everything.
I just completed the main quest for Oblivion and it feels so much more satisfying than what Skyrim did. You get an actual cutscene and you can see the ravages of the Oblivion Crisis, and every NPC is like "You did it, well done!". As opposed to Skyrim where you go to not-Valhalla, slap Alduin a few times and that's it, nothing. No real cutscene, no real consequences, no real feedback from the world. It seemed really lifeless in comparison.
Fallout 4 did the same; no matter what you do, it won't be recognized and the end game quests and factions are pretty lame.

People used to joke that Fallout 3 was just Oblivion with guns. Well, Fallout 4 is just Skyrim with guns, and it shows. Except worse because it's supposed to be a Fallout game and supposed to follow certain conventions.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I'm not even sure if they explained what the whole point of synth infiltration is. It's not like anybody can touch The Institute, they bring all that trouble on themselves just by fucking with everyone.

They have to kidnap and steal from the surface and the more humanlike synths make that easier because they aren't creepy mannequins that get shot on sight.

According to his family, the original, human Roger Warwick was an unpleasant man who spent his time drinking and neglecting the farm. He had lived in the Commonwealth his entire life, and previously lived in Danvers before moving to start the homestead with his wife June around 2275. The Institute, desiring to use Warwick homestead as a test site for an agricultural experiment, had him kidnapped, tortured for information on his life, and replaced with a synth double.

Despite being a synth infiltrator, Roger has genuinely come to care for the Warwick family as though they were his own.

Roger is a key component of the BioScience division's Warwick Homestead Initiative, a plan to test genetically modified seeds on the surface. The Institute intends to retrieve Roger and the crops following the end of their testing, and all evidence of their presence would be purged alongside the retrieval.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

The Institute is weird. You can tell Beth didn't actually know what to do with them so they went for that lame arsed "The Institute is whatever you want it to be, because you're the Director! (you're still a gopher though)" shit.
They couldn't seem to decide whether to make them yet another rehash of the Enclave or budget Big Mountain Think Tank, so they mashed the two together and threw it at the player without actually telling the player what their end goal is other than "save humanity" which is pretty bloody vague.

Funnily enough, Synedrion from Phoenix Point are actually a lot like the Institute, except not as confusingly written. They are a lot more straight-foward and consistent and you have a better idea of what they actually stand for. They even use covert ops and give their troops sensible weapons (which are also lasers) instead of that ergonomic nightmare known as the institute laser rifle.

 

[Bradylama]

I'm not even sure if they explained what the whole point of synth infiltration is. It's not like anybody can touch The Institute, they bring all that trouble on themselves just by fucking with everyone.

They have to kidnap and steal from the surface and the more humanlike synths make that easier because they aren't creepy mannequins that get shot on sight.

According to his family, the original, human Roger Warwick was an unpleasant man who spent his time drinking and neglecting the farm. He had lived in the Commonwealth his entire life, and previously lived in Danvers before moving to start the homestead with his wife June around 2275. The Institute, desiring to use Warwick homestead as a test site for an agricultural experiment, had him kidnapped, tortured for information on his life, and replaced with a synth double.

Despite being a synth infiltrator, Roger has genuinely come to care for the Warwick family as though they were his own.

Roger is a key component of the BioScience division's Warwick Homestead Initiative, a plan to test genetically modified seeds on the surface. The Institute intends to retrieve Roger and the crops following the end of their testing, and all evidence of their presence would be purged alongside the retrieval.

Alright so there's an explanation it just doesn't make any sense. The Institute could've exploited their monopoly on super science to play gods to the commonwealth, rather than doing everything on the sneak. It's not that hard to perform controlled experiments with fanatics, they just don't know they're being lied to. If they wanted to tell a kind of artificial Butlerian story, it should've had more explicit political dimensions instead of being a half baked "neat" idea.

To their credit, this was why the Brotherhood of Steel was the most interesting faction in the game. The Brotherhood turning into a crusading fascist military band is a logical conclusion of their lived history.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Fallout 4 Brotherhood is just a knock-off of Fallout Tactics brotherhood. They even stole the Midwestern Brotherhood's blimps.

 

[Stella Brando]

Why doesn't Beth make Fallout: N'wahlins? They could get both the Elder Scrolls crowd and the nuFallout crowd.

...and Red Dead Redemption's?

 

[Stella Brando]

I have finished Automatron, the final part is you versus Mechanist, a comic-book grotesque character put in post-apo universe.



What's next Todd? Will I fight a Coca-Cola Megazord at the end of Nuka World? How low have this game series fallen...

Did the game stop spawning stupid Rust Devils and their robot buddies everywhere?

 

[typical user]

No, what did you expect from Beth?

Also, did you just quote shit I posted 6 years back?

 

[Stella Brando]

Yes (<-)

 

[Late Bloomer]

I have finished Automatron, the final part is you versus Mechanist, a comic-book grotesque character put in post-apo universe.



What's next Todd? Will I fight a Coca-Cola Megazord at the end of Nuka World? How low have this game series fallen...

Did the game stop spawning stupid Rust Devils and their robot buddies everywhere?

I believe I have more hours than anyone here (admits) and can say once you complete the automatron questline (the entire thing) they begin to decress in spawn rate. It's still a bit much though. The Unoffical Patch (which I don't ever use unless a mod I really want to use requires it) also address this issue in some manner. Here are two mods that you may want to look at. Although you most likely would only want to select one on a playthrough.

Automatron RE and LS rate

Decreased Automatron Bullshit Encounters and Minor Rust Devil Tweaks

If you have any experience in FO4edit, then the 1st one requires a minor tweak to work correctly. You need to change Automatron random encounter frequency from unknown to float. I have never used the second one as the mod author seems unstable (which in many ways translates to an unstable mod) and jammed in a bunch of other personal tweaks. Some people seem to like those changes though.

I orginally came here to do this image post. So I might as well still post it. Hope everyone who enjoys Fallout 4 is having fun playing. If anyone hasn't complete Automatron you should really give it a chance. It's quite fun.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Fallout 4 Brotherhood is just a knock-off of Fallout Tactics brotherhood. They even stole the Midwestern Brotherhood's blimps.

Bethesda's Brotherhood has always picked up more from Tactics' Brotherhood to be fair. In 3, the Outcasts were the only ones who followed the original BOS code.
Factions in FO4 feel meaningless. At first the independent path in New Vegas felt like a failsafe for people who didn't knew what they were doing, but in retrospective it feels like a valid choice to give to the player.

 

[ArchAngel]

This anyone try the Lost World mod pack for F4? Apparently it turns F4 into a real game.

 

[Gargaune]

that ergonomic nightmare known as the institute laser rifle

Thanks for reminding me, I wanted to bitch about this last week but I forgot. So I actually went full

on this, check it out:

So what we've got here is an Institute Rifle with a reflex sight and a couple of rectangles to approximate the screen realestate. The image resolution is 1680x1050, giving us a total of 1,764,000 pixels, whereas the blue and green rectangles are 481x456 and 783x494 respectively for a combined 606,138 pixels. That means that the weapon is taking up 34.36156462585034% of the screen or, if we're not gonna get anal about decimals... A COOL FUCKING THIRD OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING SCREEN.

I kept wondering why that was, why anyone would design... that for a measly fucking laser rifle. I mean, if it were the Fat Man, I'd get it, but just a little dime-a-dozen pew-pew gun? And then it hit me... Todd's giving us incline! Not right away, but slowly working us up to it. Starfield's weapons will take up half the screen, and then finally, when Elder Scrolls VI comes along, it'll look like...

THIS!

But with raytracing.

The Unoffical Patch (which I don't ever use unless a mod I really want to use requires it)

I've heard this before, what's the deal with UFOP? I don't use it myself and got it in my head that it's best I continue not using it. I recently installed the Desperados overhaul and had to go for the older version because the latest required a thing that required UFOP.

Automatron RE and LS rate

Decreased Automatron Bullshit Encounters and Minor Rust Devil Tweaks

If you have any experience in FO4edit, then the 1st one requires a minor tweak to work correctly. You need to change Automatron random encounter frequency from unknown to float. I have never used the second one as the mod author seems unstable (which in many ways translates to an unstable mod) and jammed in a bunch of other personal tweaks. Some people seem to like those changes though.

I use Decreased Automatron Bullshit Encounters and had no problems with it.

Speaking of, you got any experience with tweaking Legendary enemy spawn rates? There's a couple of mods out there but they're quite old and Bethesda's apparently changed Survival Mode's innards, supposed to be tied to a TSV value now instead of SV, so I was thinking of making my own.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

You know, I am not against laser guns being big and unwieldy. It fits in the retrofuturistic theme. Everything futuristic being fridge sized. And it's clearly meant for military use, most likely combined with Power Armor. If anything, Laser guns in previous Fallouts weren't big enough. It's also part of adjacent media:

 

[Gargaune]

And it's clearly meant for military use, most likely combined with Power Armor.

Ironically, you're kinda proving my point about "if it were the Fat Man, I'd get it, but just a little dime-a-dozen pew-pew gun?" We're talking about the Institute Rifle here, it's just a reskin of the Laser Rifle that shoots blue beams instead of red, it's not a Heavy Weapon and it's never coupled with Power Armor in the wild, it's only carried by Synths. The Laser Rifle was already obnoxiously obtrusive, this is just ridiculous.

Ultimately, you can make the thing as big as you like in 3rd person, but if I'm in FPP I expect to see in front of me. Just scale it down and lower it a bit, I don't understand how they shipped with that.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Furthermore, remember that the Institute are supposed to be about infiltration and covert ops as opposed to direct assault like the BoS.
How the fuck are you going to conceal a laser weapon the size of a microwave? Do synths have a built in pocket dimension in their arses?

The AER9 was shit to begin with anyway. Wattz 2000 or GTFO

 

[Late Bloomer]

I've heard this before, what's the deal with UFOP? I don't use it myself and got it in my head that it's best I continue not using it. I recently installed the Desperados overhaul and had to go for the older version because the latest required a thing that required UFOP.

It's a wildy touchy subject for fans of Fallout 4 (and Skyrim). Particularly people who are into modding and making mods. Its a long and sordid affair. I can get into it but I doubt its worth the time. Besides the undocumented changes, taking great liberty with things that are "broken", just within the last couple of years coming to realize as a team (arthmoor being the main culprit) to NOT clean dirty edits from the base games and DLC after having told everyone for years it was a necessary, amongnst a whole host of issues including more bugs and crashes and not taking responsibility. Instead of going into it ad infinitum, I will say this. I have thousands of hours in both Skyrim and Fallout 4. Most of my playthroughs are with the intention of having an adventure that spans over 200 hours. Both games, especially Fallout 4 as its far more sensitive to modding, I have less crashes, less bugs, and more stability if I do not use the unofficial patches. I only use them if a mod I really want to try out insists on requiring it. Even then I am prone to check in FO4edit if its tweaks I can take care of myself. Anyhow, that most likely is more info that anyone really needs. But there it is.

Speaking of, you got any experience with tweaking Legendary enemy spawn rates? There's a couple of mods out there but they're quite old and Bethesda's apparently changed Survival Mode's innards, supposed to be tied to a TSV value now instead of SV, so I was thinking of making my own.

It sounds as if you have done your research. Sometimes its honestly best to do it yourself. You can always take apart a mod and make adjustments. In this case I would do the settings myself as you have stated. The Fallout 4 modding scene is pretty dry overall. A lot of crap to wade through. Worse yet, a lot of old broken mods that need repairing. So it takes time. If you just want guns, power armor, and titties though, then you are in luck.


Have you take a gander at this? I know legendary enemy spawn rates is quite a complicated matter overall.

Game Configuration Menu



If you need any help with using the Creation Kit or FO4edit just let me know.

 

[Gargaune]

It's a wildy touchy subject for fans of Fallout 4 (and Skyrim). Particularly people who are into modding and making mods. Its a long and sordid affair. I can get into it but I doubt its worth the time. Besides the undocumented changes, taking great liberty with things that are "broken", just within the last couple of years coming to realize as a team (arthmoor being the main culprit) to NOT clean dirty edits from the base games and DLC after having told everyone for years it was a necessary, amongnst a whole host of issues including more bugs and crashes and not taking responsibility. Instead of going into it ad infinitum, I will say this. I have thousands of hours in both Skyrim and Fallout 4. Most of my playthroughs are with the intention of having an adventure that spans over 200 hours. Both games, especially Fallout 4 as its far more sensitive to modding, I have less crashes, less bugs, and more stability if I do not use the unofficial patches. I only use them if a mod I really want to try out insists on requiring it. Even then I am prone to check in FO4edit if its tweaks I can take care of myself. Anyhow, that most likely is more info that anyone really needs. But there it is.

Yeah, sounds like I'd better carry on avoiding it. It smarts with Desperados 'cause the 0.2 version's a whopping 12GB compared to 0.3's 4GB (including PRP), but eh, it seems like the lesser evil than loading UFOP to end up with who knows what problems further down the line.

It sounds as if you have done your research. Sometimes its honestly best to do it yourself. You can always take apart a mod and make adjustments. In this case I would do the settings myself as you have stated. The Fallout 4 modding scene is pretty dry overall. A lot of crap to wade through. Worse yet, a lot of old broken mods that need repairing. So it takes time. If you just want guns, power armor, and titties though, then you are in luck.


Have you take a gander at this? I know legendary enemy spawn rates is quite a complicated matter overall.

Game Configuration Menu

Thanks, I did look at GCM but I've already got some survival and difficulty mods in there and my install is held together with duct tape and fabulous optimism, so I'd rather avoid throwing more bundle packs at it just to get the one change.

As far as I can tell, all I need to do is overwrite fDiffMultLegendaryChance_TSV relative to whatever the value is now, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I did read some comments on one of the old mods that it broke some quest stuff, but replies seemed to categorically reject the idea, that it was probably just too much scripted stuff at startup. It does seem unlikely that changing a value that itself varies with difficulty should break quests even in a Bethesda title.

If you need any help with using the Creation Kit or FO4edit just let me know.

Appreciate it, cheers, I can sorta find my way around the tools, but I'll give you a shout if I run into anything I can't suss out with Google Bing.

 

[Gargaune]

Yo, anyone here know how to use ReShade and the McFly RTGI shader for Fallout 4? I'd be willing to cough up the five bucks to try this "raytraced global illumination" gimmick, but I've never used ReShade and it seems like a deep rabbit hole of presets and configs.



So I already have ENB in there, can I just slap ReShade on top of it? Do I need a specific ReShade preset for RTGI, or can I just add RTGI to a vanilla ReShade setup? And then are there any RTGI presets for Fallout 4, or do I have to sit there and configure variable by variable myself?


Alternatively, there's this guide to enabling SSRTGI using GeForce Experience, but I think I'd rather give a modder five buckaroos than install nVidia's malware on my bloody PC. And the effects seem smaller anyway.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Hmmm I know in the past that ENB & Reshade wouldnt play nice. But you will most likely need to rename the reshade dll anyhow.

Reshade dll to dxgi.dll

Then you should have that and the ENB dll files.

d3d11.dll
d3dcompiler_46e.dll

enblocal.ini changes =

EnableProxyLibrary=true
InitProxyFunctions=true
ProxyLibrary=dxgi.dll

Judging just from a brief bit of reading about getting them to work together, it would appear to be as you noted, a possible rabbit hole of epic proportions of settings and config. I will look around a bit more too when the time allows as I would like to give this a try as well.

Nvidia has some pretty outrageous telemetry going on behind the scenes without Geforce Experience. I totally understand not wanting Geforce Experience on your computer (you need an account to sign in). One my one computer with Geforce Experience I just turn it on/off as needed and make sure that it isnt party of the boot up process.


Both of those videos looks very nice.

 

[Falksi]

I dunno what happened to Bethesda. Ever since Skyrim they seem to just phone in everything.
I just completed the main quest for Oblivion and it feels so much more satisfying than what Skyrim did. You get an actual cutscene and you can see the ravages of the Oblivion Crisis, and every NPC is like "You did it, well done!". As opposed to Skyrim where you go to not-Valhalla, slap Alduin a few times and that's it, nothing. No real cutscene, no real consequences, no real feedback from the world. It seemed really lifeless in comparison.
Fallout 4 did the same; no matter what you do, it won't be recognized and the end game quests and factions are pretty lame.

People used to joke that Fallout 3 was just Oblivion with guns. Well, Fallout 4 is just Skyrim with guns, and it shows. Except worse because it's supposed to be a Fallout game and supposed to follow certain conventions.

I mean it's been going to shit for years, but year I agree that Fallout 4 reaches a new level of lazyness. Very few of the quests held any real interest for me at all. It's a pretty shite game really.

 

[Gargaune]

Hmmm I know in the past that ENB & Reshade wouldnt play nice. But you will most likely need to rename the reshade dll anyhow.

Reshade dll to dxgi.dll

Then you should have that and the ENB dll files.

d3d11.dll
d3dcompiler_46e.dll

enblocal.ini changes =

EnableProxyLibrary=true
InitProxyFunctions=true
ProxyLibrary=dxgi.dll

Judging just from a brief bit of reading about getting them to work together, it would appear to be as you noted, a possible rabbit hole of epic proportions of settings and config. I will look around a bit more too when the time allows as I would like to give this a try as well.

Thanks for this. I wouldn't necessarily object to giving up on ENB, I imagine ReShade will do similar things for improving the picture quality, but I seem to recall ENB had some memory optimisations in there as well. I'm running High FPS Physics Fix as well, so I'm wary about stability if various pieces don't get along. Make a change now, seems fine on a quick test, then bam, you find the one bit where it all goes nuts next month and you don't know what caused it anymore.

Do let me know if you have a stab at it. I'm tempted to try it in baby steps, but I'll probably have to back up my clusterfuck of an install first.

Both of those videos looks very nice.

From what I've read, they're both the same SSRTGI tech (which is really supposed to be a fancier form of Ambient Occlusion rather than raytracing proper) and nVidia's implementation was also made in partnership with ReShade. Both are subtle improvements, but I just felt like the McFly one had a bit more shading oomph and some reflections on speculars, I particularly like that bit at 0:54 where you can see how it affects the shadows inside the shacks.

I mean, Fo4 ain't a bad looking game even today, it's not like Skyrim which needs ENB to make it pop, but a lighting upgrade wouldn't hurt it. And since I'm only using 30-40% of my GPU even with some texture mods, it's tempting...

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Is there a mod that introduces special ammo types and removes the vanilla system?
Seeing a weapon suddenly shoot armour piercing rounds because you change its receiver but not its ammunition gives me conniptions.
I'd understand it for energy weapons, but ballistic weapons? Fuck off Beth, you're American how do you not know about basic gun design?

 

[Gargaune]

Is there a mod that introduces special ammo types and removes the vanilla system?
Seeing a weapon suddenly shoot armour piercing rounds because you change it's receiver but not it's ammunition gives me conniptions.
I'd understand it for energy weapons, but ballistic weapons? Fuck off Beth, you're American how do you not know about basic gun design?

Not that I'm aware of. The F4NV crew got it working, if I recall correctly, but that didn't get released for vanilla Fo4. I can't imagine the core mechanic being too complicated, you could do a stealth swap of hidden receivers on a hotkey, but you'd also have to populate all leveled lists with the new ammo types and possibly rebalance enemies to make the mechanic meaningful.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Even Ron Pearlman got removed.



For those unaware, this is from American Krogans upcoming mod.