THIS LIST HAS BEEN RETIRED
- FO4ME
- Preamble
- Installation
- Post Installation
- How do I include my favorite weapon and armor mods cleanly?
- What if I don't see the weapon or armor mod I want to include in the FOMOD?
- Running M8r's Complex Sorter
- Noteworthy Mods
- FAQ
- Credits and Thanks
- Contact
FO4ME (Fallout 4 Modding Essentials) is a Fallout 4 modlist that ideally should serve as a jumping off point for anyone wanting to make their own customized list. It includes various bug fixes, stability improvements, and prerequisites for some popular mods. I tried to use mods that wouldn’t conflict with whatever you might add. This is a list for those that want to start making their own list without the hassle of manually downloading prerequisite mods on their own.
Please read the FAQ again before reporting an issue or asking me a question.
You need a legal copy of Fallout 4 through Steam, with all DLCs EXCEPT the High Definition DLC. This is garbage and should not be used in any case ever.
These steps are only needed if you install this Modlist for the first time. If you update the Modlist, jump straight to Updating.
These packages are required for MO2 and you can download them from Microsoft.
Download the x64 version under Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022.
Direct Link if you can't find it.
Download the x64 version under Visual Studio 2012 (VC++ 11.0) Update 4.
Direct Link if you can't find it.
Fallout 4 is still being updated by Bethesda (they only add Creation Club content). Whenever the game updates, the entire modding community goes silent for the next one or two weeks because some mods need to be updated to the latest game runtime version.
To ensure that Steam does not automatically updates the game for you, head over to the Properties window, navigate to the Updates tab and change Automatic updates to Only update this game when I launch it. You should also disable the Steam Cloud while you're at it.
Just do it. This entire Modlist is in English and 99% of all mods you will find are also in English. I highly recommend playing the game in English and I will not give support to people with a non-English game. I really wish I could, but at this time, it simply isn't feasible.
Open the Steam Properties window, navigate to the Language tab and select English from the dropdown menu.
I highly recommend uninstalling the game through Steam, deleting the game folder and reinstalling it. You should also clean up the Fallout 4 folder in Documents/My Games/. Make sure you run the game once to establish your registry path - otherwise, Wabbajack will be unable to locate the game directory, and thus cannot install the modlist.
Let's get to the actual installation..
Grab the latest release of Wabbajack from here (just click the big blue Download button). Place the Wabbajack.exe file in a blank folder at the root of a drive, such as C:/Wabbajack. Please do not put it in a Windows Protected Directory, such as Program Files or your Desktop.
Launch Wabbajack. The exe will download the rest of the program from Github and extract itself wherever you placed the exe. When it is finished extracting and installing itself, select the Browse Modlists option. Click the Download arrow for FO4ME, and you will be forwarded to the next screen when it is finished setting up the download.
Set the Installation Location to a blank folder at the root of a drive, such as D:\FO4ME. The Download Location will update automatically. Again, please avoid using Windows Protected Directories.
Click the Play arrow. If you have a Nexus Premium account, all of your downloads will be automated. Without Premium, you will need to manually click the Download button for each mod. Installation will be automated regardless of your account status.
There are a lot of different scenarios where Wabbajack will produce an error. I recommend re-running Wabbajack before posting anything. Wabbajack will continue where it left off so you lose no progress.
- Wabbajack could not find my game folder:
Wabbajack will not work with a pirated version of the game. If you own the game on Steam, go back to the Pre-Installation step.
If this Modlist receives an update, please check the Changelog before doing anything. Always backup your saves or start a new game after updating.
FO4ME updates based on a Semantic Versioning system.
Generally speaking:
- Full x.0 (2.0, 3.0, etc) updates requires a new game.
- Major x.x (2.1, 2.2 etc) updates requires a new game.
- Minor x.x.x (2.1.1, 2.1.2) updates can be applied to an ongoing playthrough.
Wabbajack will delete all files that are not part of the Modlist when updating!
This means that any additional mods you have installed on top of the Modlist will be deleted. Your downloads folder will not be touched!
If you wish for Wabbajack to ignore any additional mods you've installed, rename them to say [NoDelete] at the beginning of the name.
Updating is like installing. You only have to make sure that you select the same path and tick the overwrite existing Modlist button.
After Wabbajack turns green and says Installation Complete, you can close it. Go to your installation folder (I will refer to this folder as the MO2 folder from now on) and you'll see a folder named Game Folder Files.
Copy all of the files from the MO2/Game Folder Files directory into your game folder. To further clarify this, you are copying the contents of this folder, not the entire folder itself.
After you copied the Game Folder Files, launch ModOrganizer.exe from inside your installation folder you chose for Wabbajack. Make sure the bar on the right side says F4SE and click Run. You need to launch the game in this exact way every time in order to play with the installed mods.
LivelyDismay was nice enough to make a guide on how to patch items into his mod list "Magnum Opus"! This guide will work for patching modded items into FO4ME, as they use a similar sorting structure.
Use this guide here!
After patching any mods that add items, you should use the complex sorter to have them be sorted correctly in game. it's very simple.
First, open FO4Edit, and make sure all of your plugins are selected, excluding ones that are grayed out. Wait for the background loader to finish.
Next, right click in the left pane, and select Apply Script
In the filter bar, type in "M8r" and find M8r_ComplexSorter. Run this script.
You should be greeted with a window like this. Make sure it matches the picture, then simply click Generate Patch.
Wait for the sorter to finish, then close out of it. You may now close FO4Edit. Be sure to save the new plugin.
The equivalent of SSE Engine Fixes, Buffout basically makes lists like this possible. Memory patches, achievements enabler, memory leak warnings, and so much more. This is likely the single most important mod in the entire list.
Read more about it here!
A comprehensive bugfixing mod for Fallout 4. The goal of the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch (aka UFO4P) is to eventually fix every bug with Fallout 4 not officially resolved by the developers to the limits of the Creation Kit and community-developed tools, in one easy-to-install package.
Read more about it here
Alongside many other active mods
I don’t have any specific options, all of the settings are left to personal preference.
My characters have black/brown/tan faces.
- Disable the High Definition DLC in Steam's Manage DLC section. As per the beginning of this readme, the HD DLC is absolute garbage and WILL break a ton of facegen.
I am having random crashes.
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A reason this could be happening is due to your Nvidia driver. Roll back to version 442.xx and the crashes will be gone.
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And yet another reason is due to BitDefender. You can temporarily disable BitDefender to alleviate this issue.
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To Halgari, for creating Wabbajack, the wonderful program that makes this possible.
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To LivelyDismay, creator of Magnum Opus, whose work i have been silently studying and the person who I copied most of the writing in this README from. He’s a really good mod list author, and you should check Magnum Opus out.
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To YOU, for reading this guide and following it.