Modding Fallout 4

War never changes, but Fallout has.

Game mods, especially for Bethesda games, have been around for a long time now. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in particular has been a great example of what can be done to a game after its release. For example, intrepid Skyrim mod creators have made all kinds of mods for the game that range from graphical improvements to colorful changes to the local fauna.

Beautiful graphics enhancements. Source: PCGamer

“Colorful” fauna. Source: Polygon

Well, Fallout 4 isn’t too far behind on the modding curve. The PC Creation Kit for Fallout 4 was released this past April and in a ground-breaking move, Bethesda has made good on their promise to allow mods on the console versions of the game.

Console Mods In A Nutshell

Upon launch of the game, you’ll find a new menu option: “MODS”. Selecting that option will bring you to a Bethesda.net login screen, where you can log into your account. If you don’t have one already, I’d recommend setting one up if you’re planning on using mods on the console version.

Once you’re logged in, you’ll be shown a screen with different categories of mods, with the most popular mods listed at the top, just below the section for your downloaded mods. Mods can be disabled at any time, though I’m not sure about how that might affect game saves that utilize mods, so beware.

At any rate, there are hundreds of mods to choose from, and searching for them is pretty easy. You’ll want to skim through the notes of each mod to make sure you don’t need any DLC that you don’t own considering that some mods require the Far Harbor and/or Automatron DLCs.

What I enjoy about modding Fallout 4 on Xbox One, compared to my experiences with modding computer games, is how painless it is. There are certainly chances for mods to conflict with each other but I haven’t run into many issues on the Xbox One yet. All of the mods that I’ve downloaded have installed properly on the system… Something that I can be very happy about

There are two caveats to modding Fallout 4 on consoles:

1. Achievements and Trophies are disabled once you activate a mod.
2. As of now, you only get 2GB of space for mods.

Luckily your saves that use mod content are marked with an [M] next to them, so it will make it much easier to identify which saves will not have Achievements/Trophies enabled. Mods also seem to not require much memory, so you’ll likely be able to install the ones you want. The limit also will likely help you avoid doing anything too crazy too. My experience with modding on the PC has been: the more mods you use, the more unstable the game is.

So Here Is What I Downloaded So Far

Weightless Junk (145.78KB)- What is does is in the name. It makes almost all of the junk you can pick up have a weight of zero. This is great for me, because I’m a hoarder in Fallout and Elder Scrolls games.

WET Water Enhancement Textures (3.02MB)- This is a small change that alters the look of some of the water effects, and adds some.

Full Dialogue Interface (5.47MB)- This gets rid of the original dialogue interface and replaces it with the actual text of the dialogue options. It isn’t 100% accurate all the time, but it’s a welcome return to the way things were.

Settlement Management Software (80.5KB) – This mod gives you a holotape that allows you to access a program that makes handling your settlements much easier, from any terminal! It doesn’t work completely (it doesn’t always mark unassigned settlers like it should) but it’s extremely handy.

M.D. Wolfe’s Shipping Services (12.59KB)- This little mod gives you the option of building a mailbox in your settlements that allows you to purchase the full array of materials shipment notes, as well as convert materials into shipment notes as well. No more running around to different vendors for badly needed Wood, Steel, or Copper!

Spring In The Commonwealth (83.43MB)- This mod basically makes the wasteland a little greener… prettier.

Snap ‘N Build (393.5MB)- CAUTION: This mod can cause some serious issues. Read the notes before using. Apparently you can end up screwing up your game if you aren’t careful.

This mod gives you more settlement building options. It adds the ability to create greenhouses, industrial style buildings, bunkers, capsule buildings (like the ones outside Vault 111), and normal houses. It takes some getting used to, but holy crap is it a great mod. I love being able to build things that don’t look like total junk.

Walther P99 (130.56MB)- Pretty self-explanatory. It adds Walther P99 pistols into the game, complete with some nice weapon modding options. You can find a P99 immediately in the game as soon as you exit Vault 111.

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch (681.57KB)- This one adds a myriad of bug fixes to the game.

A Happy Side-Effect

This is more or less unrelated to the mods themselves, but I feel that it’s worth mentioning. Since Achievements are disabled when using mods, I’ve found myself strangely more interested in the game. This highlights a problem that I have… Achievements have become so ingrained in my behavior that I can’t just play a game without having that nagging feeling that I should be collecting those imaginary points for some reason… Modding Fallout 4 has more or less removed that feeling.

That still hasn’t changed my opinion of it though.

The good news is that modding seems to have breathed new life into the game for me. The added bonus of the new experience is that it’s completely free as well. I’m still looking into buying the DLC for Fallout 4 at some point, but not until I can get it at a bit of a discount. In the meantime I’m just going to keep experimenting with modding.

Hopefully we see more developers and publishers adopt this idea.

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