SPECIAL – Let’s mod Fallout 3 with over 100 mods

Fallout 3. Who hasn’t played this masterpiece of a RPG? The Capital Wastelands always had and always will have a certain magical atmosphere for me. Just walking around the destruction of mankind, seeing the daily struggles of the survivors, feeling all the attention to the details. It’s a golden match. You will get sucked into a wonderful universe and it will never let you go. It’s one of those game that I regular visit, each time with over 150 hours of playtime.

If you haven’t played it yet and love RPG’s, get it here. Because even through the vanilla game is excellent, it’s a Bethesda game. That means, the game has an enormous modding community. There are still mods coming out and more are still in development for Fallout 3, a game from 2008! The Nexus section for Fallout 3 contains around 14.000 mods. In this article I will give you my latest assembly of mods, ranging from mods that add content and mechanics, to mods for new animations, unofficial patches and so on. Fallout 3 is an old game, there are some compatibility issues with Windows 7 and Windows 8. For some, everything will work fine, for others, it’s a massive issue. If you are experiencing difficulties, leave a comment and I’ll try to help. When you are downloading the texture mods, don’t always choose the highest version if your computer can’t handle it.

Fallout 3 isn’t that easy to mod (especially compared with Skyrim), so let’s start with the necessary mods:

IMPORTANT NOTE: This guide requires you to have Fallout 3 (duh!) installed with all the DLC’s: Operation Anchorage, Broken Steel, The Pitt, Mothership Zeta, Point Lookout, and the latest patch (it’s automatically patched if you use the steam version)

IMPORTANT NOTE II: The last section will contain the correct installation order

Note (not the important kind): Here you can find the modguide for Fallout New Vegas and for the weekly Fallout 4 serie.

Necessary

Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM): This handy program allows you to fail-save install mods, update them and reactivate them with a few clicks. If you want to try out different versions if a mod, you need a mod manager to simplify swapping mods. The most recent version of this mod is for Fallout New Vegas, it also works with Fallout 3. Just install the .exe

Fallout Script Extender: A.k.a. FOSE, this mod expands the scripting capabilities of Fallout 3. FOSE is required by many many mods to work. Simply extract FOSE to your Fallout 3 directory (where Fallout3.exe is located) to install

Fallout Stutter Remover: If you are running Fallout 3 with mods, perhaps you will notice random frame stutters with the occasionally crash. This mod reduces/eliminates stutter and stutter-related crashes

FO3edit: A small program that you’ll need to run Fallout 3 with mods smoothly. Simply extract the two files from the archive into your Fallout 3 folder (where the Fallout3.exe is located)

Large Address Aware Enabler: Fallout 3 was released in a time where having more than 2GB RAM was crazy, so it has a memory limit of 2GB. But the more mods you have, the more RAM you’ll need. This mod allows Fallout 3 to use more than 2GB memory (if you have more than 2GB installed)

Blackenend: Blackened is a compilation of patches meant to improve compatibility between many of the bigger and/or more popular overhaul mods available for Fallout 3. We’ll use the FWE + MMM + EVE + Project Beauty version. See further

Paradox Ignition: Fallout 3 has problems when loading a lot of mods, especially when that amount is closer to 100. To reduce the amount of mods, people have created merged mods. So, instead of loading 10 different configurations for a mod, you just load a single merged mod. For example, Blackened uses the Paradox Ignition merged version of Marts Mutant Mod while EVE uses this mod by default

BOSS: Better Oblivion Sorting Software a.k.a. BOSS. For those who had Fallout 3 modded before, remember the nightmare with the loading order? Certain mods had to be loaded before other mods, or you would have incompatibility issues. This is now completely automated thanks to BOSS. While sorting, BOSS checks for load order errors, such as incompatibilities and missing requirements, and notifies you of any issues that it detects. It also provides thousands of plugin-specific messages, such as usage notes and bug warnings, to help keep your game healthy

CALIBR: The Community Ammunition Library (CALIBR) is an attempt to standardise the ammunition used by different weapon add ons and modifications. Two mods that add weapons in the same caliber will otherwise not be able to use each others ammunition (assuming they do not use existing Fallout 3 ammunition), leading to conflicts or duplicated but incompatible ammunition

CRAFT: CRAFT has the same idea as CALIBR. This mod reworks the way workbenches works in the game, so you can add your own custom schematics without having to worry about conflicts

Graphics Overhaul

Weapons

EVE: or Energy Visuals Enhanced. EVE gives Fallout 3 impressive effects for energy weapons, some amazing deaths and new weapons. EVE is easily considered one of the most impressive Fallout 3 mods available and thus is just a must-have. Combined with EIP (see further) gives this a perfect fusion of both mods

Hi-Res Weapons: Even when Fallout 3 was released, weapons weren’t much to look at. Hi-Res Weapons fixes that by introducing new textures for some common weapons. I use this mod in combination with F03-WRP. The last one is more recent, so I chose to overwrite the Hi-Res Weapons with the newest textures, but that’s a personal choice

UWWUT – Unique Weapons With Unique Textures: Gives the unique weapons some unique textures, so they don’t look the same as their normal counterparts

Fallout 3 Hirezd: Again a weapon texture mod, but now you can choose between variants. Here I chose to overwrite Hi-Res Weapons v3 again with the textures from Hirezd, because they just look amazing!

Graphics Overhaul

Nature

NMCs Texture Pack: NMC is one of the biggest texture packs available. This mod gives a new texture for almost everything, from doors to cars and even clutter and landscapes. You’ll be able to use your modern hardware to play Fallout 3 with higher quality textures

C93 – Distant LOD Rock Fix for NMC’s Texture Pack: Use this mod together with NMC’s to get better LOD. Check out the screenshots from the author, and you will see why

UHQ Terrain Overhaul: While NMC’s greatly improves the textures for the terrain (and much more) UHQ goes that extra step. If you install this mod after NMC’s, you’ll get best of both mods!

Flora Overhaul: Why stop with just new textures? Flora overhaul does what it says and gives a complete overhaul to the flora. You can choose between 4 versions: Forested, Dead, Total Devastation and Lite, so you can tweak your Fallout 3 world the way you want it. I suggest that if you use Forested or Lite, you combine it with My Grass V2 for an improvement of the grass

Fellout: It has been 200 years since the bombs fell in the Fallout universe and, aside from almost wiping out humanity, it seems to have turned the world green-ish. Fellout corrects this and also neutralises indoor lighting and adds darker nights (which makes the next mod much more interesting). Some hate it, I don’t play Fallout 3 without it

Fallout Street Lights: Away with the boring nights, welcome Fellout Street Lights. This mod adds functioning streetlights in Fallout 3. Combine this with the darker nights from Fellout, and you’ll fear the nights more than a nest of super mutants. For a full immersion, follow the author’s advice and tweak the light distance in the .ini file

Enhanced Night Sky: Why stop now with the dark nights, if we can turn them into real horror moments? This mod replaces the default night sky with a high-resolution replacement, creating an eerie-but-stunning place at night

Dynamic Weather: Fallout 3 has only one type of weather. Dynamic Weather adds a more realistic, natural weather system while remaining true to Bethesda’s vision of a polluted post-apocalyptic world. Now you can have rainstorms, lightning, fog sandstorms, and much more. This mod needs Enhanced Weather – Rain and Snow to work

HD Smoky Fire and Explosions: Updated textures for fire and explosions. Feels good to change those 2008 texture with some 2014 textures!

Graphics Overhaul

Other

Retextured Clutter Collection: Where NMC’s main focus lies on nature and big elements, Retextured Clutter Collection has a strong focus on some smaller items, like a coffee maker, clock or blue print

Precision Collision – Clutter: Ok, this mod doesn’t really belong under the texture chapter, but while we’re talking about clutter, I wanted to show you Precision Collision – Clutter. If you have played Fallout 3 (or any Bethesda game for that matter), you will have noticed that most small items don’t really touch their surroundings. They always seem to float in the air. The author of this mod has remade the collision models for the most common items, so that they finally stack nice together

Better HiRes Skill Books: Ok, back to the textures. This mod replaces all textures of the skill books with higher detailed textures

Chems and Meds Re-Texture Pack: New, higher detailed and sharper textures for chems and meds. If you want to have an addiction in Fallout 3, at least, let the drugs look sharp

Enhanced Blood Textures: The default blood textures in Fallout 3 can use an upgrade. This mod adds in high-quality blood textures, not to enhance blood and gore, but to change blood texture from an ugly strange red jello to the more immersive and real blood

Robot Revolution HD – Protectron: No more dull Protectron thanks to their new updated textures. The author wanted to make new textures for every robot, but sadly has stopped making them. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy this one

HD Terminals: Nice shinning terminals! Says enough I think

Retex Gorycorpseparts: Super mutants are an abomination in Fallout 3. Their camps are filled with body parts, and this texture pack makes sure you won’t enjoy looking at them, let alone look in them for loot

Pipboy Custom 3002: Your pipboy is one of your main assets in the game, but it might feel a bit dull. This mod updates the texture of the pipboy, so it looks sharp again

Color Hi-Detailed map and icons: A nice update for the new pipboy! A coloured map with coloured symbols

Dogmeat Leather Armor: Gives Dogmeat some armor and let him survive a bit longer. Also adds a lot of useful tools (like a dog whistle and a backpack) and makes Dogmeat unkillable. If you love to play with Dogmeat, his mod is very welcome

PureWater: This one changes the sea and river water texture to blue and transparent instead of the ugly default textures. I suggest installing this mod after main quest, so you won’t jump into the radiated water all the time

Mothership Zeta DLC Retextured: Replaces the textures of the Mothership Zeta DLC with some freaky spacey looking textures. Goes great together with Earth from Space texture for Mothership Zeta

MTUI: The UI in Fallout 3 is just bad. It’s even more terrible when you have a bigger screen. MTUI greatly improves Fallout 3’s UI, I strongly suggest using it if you have a wide-screen monitor (which you probably have)

Graphics Overhaul

Cloths & Armors

Hall Of Equipment: Improved textures for almost all armor and clothing. It stays true to the Fallout 3 atmosphere because it doesn’t change the textures, it just gives them more depth, relief. Install this mod first if you want to use other clothing mods (like I did)

Knightmares Prewar Clothing mod: This mod, together with Knightmares Prewar clothing mod 2, not only gives new textures to almost all Prewar clothing but adds a lot more variation to them

Raider Combat Armors: This has the same idea as the mod above. Together with More Combat Raider Armors, they add more variation, new textures and different models to the raider armors

Beards of Fallout: A mod that adds 12 new facial hairs to the game, for those who always wanted to have a nice beard in-game

A Good Hair Day: A huge mod that offers you a big collection of hairs to personalise your character even more

LiL – An Eye Improvement Mod: This mod focusses on the eyes. It’s a must have if you use any facial mods, because the eyes can look dull without this

Fallout 3 Redesigned: Perhaps you know this mod under the name ‘Project Beauty’. This mod aims to remake all NPC’s by redesigning their facial structure to give them a more natural appearance, as well as to preserve their character. It removes most of the awkward skin tones and facial structures

Hall of Face: This mod is fully compatible with Project Beauty because it changes the textures for faces and hair. Install this one after Project Beauty

Sounds

Nature

Ambient Wasteland 2: This mod adds more than 200 random ambient noises into the universe of Fallout 3. You’ll hear dogs barking, far off gun battles, mosquitos spinning around your head, owls hooting, etc. It may look like a small addition, but in reality, it’s the subtle things you take for granted that make a game immersive

Fallout 3 – HD Audio Overhaul: If you don’t like the radio’s in Fallout 3, and prefer the ambient sounds, you might want to try HD Audio Overhaul. This is an overhaul for Fallout 3 with + 4 hours of new music. Going from roaming and exploring tracks to battle and military music. It even has songs from Fallout 1 & 2 for some old-school feelings

Quiet Molerat Footsteps: Give those poor Molerats some chance of survival and let them sneak up to you a bit closer before you shoot them in the head

Sounds

Radio

Existence 2_0: This mod adds one of the best radio stations in Fallout 3. Existence 2.0 is hosted by a robot that broadcasts “experimental ambient terror” music and sound design across the wasteland to echo “humanity’s new existence 2.0”. He also shares his views on survival and what is ‘being’. The station contains over 180 minutes of original music across 64 tracks

GNR Enhanced: If Existence 2.0 scares the crap out of you (ghouls in a pitch black night with the soundtrack from Existence 2.0 might do that), you might want to switch back to GNR. With this mod, GNR has a bit more to offer than just 20 songs. GNR Enhanced doesn’t only add 100 songs, but also fixes some bugs. Shortly, it really enhanced GNR to a worthy radio station

Content

Underwater Home: If you really want to feel save, what’s better than hiding under water? Now you can do that! Note that Spongebob and his friends aren’t around anymore, may they rest in peace.

Alton, IL: Alton, IL is a mod that adds an entirely new world and questline to Fallout 3. In it, you get to choose between two warring factions, the Plague, a group of vault-dwellers, or the Underground Railroad, the largest city in Alton

DCInteriors Project: The ruins of DC contain a lot of buildings that were boarded up, limiting your hunger for exploration. This mod feeds that hunger by adding an interior to many buildings. You’ll never know what you’ll find inside!

Busworld: Germans… They are some crazy people. Someone found the buses in Fallout 3 dull and decided to give them all an interior. Although there are some bugs with this mod, it’s nice to be able to visit the interior of a bus and find out that it is actually a shop, or a house, or just a bus. I strongly suggest combining it with Busworld – Better English Translation and Busworld and DCInteriors compatibility patch to be able to play without problems

FireFly Ranch: In Fallout 3 Vanilla, you just get your house as a reward for being good or evil. You don’t get FireFly Ranch, but have to earn it by testing your character. Because this is one scary house to have…

Quests

Vault 101 Revisited: I can’t say much about this mod without spoiling it. It’s a vision of how Vault 101 might have been after the last vanilla quest, when they opened their doors to the outside

A Quest for Heaven Secrets from the past: Discover the traces of ‘Project Heaven’ and its secrets. Due to spoilers, I won’t go into it much further

Cube Experimental: This mod is one of the best mods out there. I’ll just leave the teaser here for you and let you enjoy the rest

A Note Easily Missed: If you love reading notes, terminal quizzes and love to explore just for the sake of exploring new area’s, then this mod is a must. It adds an adventure quest together with the sequels, An Evening With Mr. Manchester and To Sleep, perchance to dream

In the Shadow of the Swamp: This mod, made by the same author as ‘A Note Easily Missed’, but is set in Point Lookout

The Institute: You can’t have enough conspiracy in Fallout 3. This, fully voiced quest, allows you to uncover those conspiracies, but you will be faced with the outcome of your actions. It even has different paths and endings

Mechanics

HERK – Multiple Rifle Holsters: YEAH. The title says enough. This is something I personally missed in the vanilla game, the possibility to holster more than one weapon. Thanks to this mods, we can do that now

Leather backpack: This mod adds a brand new leather backpack to the vendors in Fallout 3, allowing you to carry an additional 50 units. This might cause some problems with the H.E.R.K. mod, so you will have to choose

Marts Mutant Mod: MMM adds the much-deserved diversity of enemies. It brings new textures, new variants and new monsters (not all aggressive) to Fallout 3. Since I’ve discovered MMM, I have never played Fallout 3 without it

Raiders Redone: This mod adds classes to raiders with distinct names, weapons, and armor. It’s one of those mods that adds to the details

NPC Height Randomizer: Ever found it strange that all the NPC’s have the same height? Not anymore, thanks to NPC Height Randomizer. Now you have some variations with NPC heights. Again, it’s in the details

Fallout 3 Re-Animated: The animations in Fallout 3 just look awkward. Lucky for us, I found this mod which aims to improve the animations by adding 35 new ones for attacking and idle states

MERC 2: MERC 2 adds a new player faction, new quests and new decisions. Those aren’t simply good vs. evil, but are set in the grey area between. They can be interpreted as “good” depending on perspective. Decisions can aid one faction and harm another. Just like the older Fallout games

Enclave Improvement Project: This mod allows players to join The Enclave, making them more realistic, alongside the addition of three new side-quests. They aren’t default hostile to you anymore

Fallout Wanders Edition: Fallout Wanderers Edition (FWE) is one of those must-haves for Fallout 3. FWE is a major overhaul mod that leaves nothing unchanged. It changes underlying game mechanics and adds new features to the game, giving you a harder challenge, a sense of immersion, more depth in gameplay, and a range of extra options compared to the vanilla game. Generally, you’ll find the wasteland to be a more dynamic but far less forgiving place

Slavery Overhaul: Fallout 3’s slavery system is limited. This mod adds a complete new slavery system where almost every NPC can be enslaved, follow the player, be placed anywhere (also DLC spaces) and lots more. They even added new places to sell slaves, and new collars to pimp your slave. The wastelands aren’t complete without pimped slaves

Wasteland Guards: The Capital Wasteland is a hard place. It was common to find a small town with only dead bodies, especially when you’ve installed some aggressive mods. Wasteland Guards adds new guards to protect towns and settlements from raiders and wildlife

Ultimate Perk Pack: Fallout 3 has good and funny perks, but if you have played it quite often, you want something new. UPP adds around +50 new perks, offering new possibilities!

WMK: There are a lot of in-game modifications that can be added to weapons. This mod allows for many more modifications to be used on weapons, allowing characters to be more specialized

Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch: Fallout 3, while a good game, is not without its fair share of bugs. This large patch fixes numerous bugs with Fallout 3

Rivet City Merchants: Rivet City is supposed to be the biggest in the DC wasteland, yet when you get there, the market is pretty sparse. This mod adds a few new merchants to the Rivet City Hangar

Megaton Lighting Overhaul: This mod, together with Expanded Megaton House V3 and Megaton Walkway gives an overhaul to Megaton with new (and better) walkways, a new floor on your house and atmospheric lights

Auto Gates: I always regretted that the gates stayed open, even if you haven’t been in town for a couple of ingame days. This mod automatically closes and reopens the gates for you

The Dukov Project: Remember Dukov, the women-crazy bachelor? This mod gives his house and surroundings the crazy level that matches his personality

How to Install Mods

Fallout 3 is not the easiest game to mod, but we have troubleshooted the process and done our best to provide a bug-free mod list.

1. Install Fallout 3 and all the DLC’s.
2. Download and install the 1.7 patch
3. Install Fallout Mod Manager and direct it to your Fallout 3 folder if it does not detect it automatically.
   • Optional: Install BOSS (FMM has BOSS integrated, but I prefer to use a separate program)
4. Install FOSE.
5. Install FO3edit 
6. Download the mods and patches listed below, the links will lead you to the mod pages. Try using the latest versions
7. Install the mods. When installing updates to mods (or multi-part mods) and FOMM asks if you would like upgrade to the new mod, select no and afterwards select “Yes to all” to have the update overwrite the original mod files, if there are any conflicting files.
8. Follow this mod install order and when asked to overwrite something, say “yes to all”.
9. After you have installed everything, run BOSS. It will improve the loading order automatically for you.
10. Once BOSSis finished, you have to do amasterupdate:
    1. Right click the FO3Edit.exe, hit copy and then paste it again to the Fallout 3 folder. Do this two times.
    2. You should now have three copies of the FO3Edit.exe in your Fallout 3 directory (probably named FO3edit.exe, FO3edit(1).exe and FO3edit(2).exe )
    3. Rename one of them to FO3MasterUpdate.exe and one of them to FO3MasterRestore.exe (so you end up with FO3Edit.exe, FO3MasterUpdate.exe and FO3MasterRestore.exe)
    4. Make sure you don’t have Fallout3, FOMM, FO3Edit or the GECK open!
    5. Now simply double-click the FO3MasterUpdate.exe. You will see a window appear with text running down in it, don’t do anything, just let the program doit’s thing. Wait until you see the following message appear at the bottom:
       • [00:06] Done saving.
         [00:06] –= All Done =–
         [00:06] You have to close this program to finalize renaming of the .save files.
         [00:06] It is still possible for the renaming to fail if any of your original module files is still open by another process.
         [00:06] [00:06] !!! Remember to run this program again any time you make changes to your active mods. !!!.
    6. Now close the window and you’re done.
    7. If for some reason you wish to revert the MasterUpdate, simply start FO3MasterRestore.exe
    8. IMPORTANT: You need to run MasterUpdate every time you add a new mod! And recheck your load order after MasterUpdating and MasterRestoring
11. The second-to-last thing you’ll need to do, is to make a merged patch. This is to merge content across various mods, so you don’t have any conflicts like conflicting ammo or armor. 
    
    1. Start FO3Edit.exe, you will see a list appear with all your mods in it, just click OK
    2. It will take a little while until all your mods are loaded. If all mods are successfully loaded, you will see the message “Background Loader: finished”, at the bottom of the message tab. If you instead get an error message, you are missing a master!
    3. Assuming everything loaded correctly, all you need to do is right-click anywhere on the left panel and select ‘Create Merged Patch’ from the context menu.
    4. A window will appear asking for a filename. Enter anything you like, for example “My Merged Patch”. Hit OK. At the bottom of all your mods you should see a new bold mod named ‘My Merged Patch.esp’
    5. Now close FO3Edit and you will be asked to ‘Save changed files:’. Simply hit OK.
    6. Now open Fallout Mod Manager and look for your ‘My Merged Patch.esp’. Make sure it’s activated and loaded at the very bottom of your load order
    7. IMPORTANT: Every time you add or remove a mod, you should delete your old merged patch and create a new one, following the steps above!
12. The last thing you need to do, is to play the game and enjoy it!

Mods installation order

1. Fallout Stutter Remover – FSR 4.1.36
2. Large Address Aware Enabler – FO3_3GB_ENABLER
3. A Note Easily Missed – V107
4. A Quest For Heaven 1 – Secrets from the past
5. A Quest For Heaven 1 – Patch 01 – overwrite when asked
6. CALIBR – CALIBR1.4
7. CRAFT – CRAFT 125
8. Cube Experimental – Download manually and use the .exe to install this mod
9. Cube Experimental – EN Chakys Fix Version 1_0_4. Use FOMM to install this patch or manually overwrite the original CubeExperimental.esm
10. DCInteriors – Project – DCInteriors_combo Edition Total Merge
11. Busworld – Busworld Base
12. Busworld – Better English Translation – Here you have to choose between the ability to explode busses or not. I chose the non-exploding version
13. Busworld and DCInteriors compatibility patch
14. Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch – Use the .exe to install this patch, make sure you have Archive Invalidation activated. If you don’t see it, or have missed it, you can still activate this in FOMM
15. Enclave Improvement Project – EIP 2_5 and new Textures
16. Enclave Improvement Project – EIP 2_6
17. Fellout – Fellout 1_21R2
18. Fellout – DLC Support
19. Fellout – Fellout 1_23
20. Paradox Ignition – Fellout Merged
    • This mod replaces all these files.
      • Fellout-Full.esp
      • Fellout-Anchorage.esp
      • Fellout-BrokenSteel.esp
      • Fellout-PointLookout.esp
      • Fellout-Zeta.esp
    • Only activate the Paradox Ignition file, disable the ones mentioned above
21. Firefly Ranch – Firefly Ranch v1_3
22. Underwater Home – Version 4-1-1
23. Underwater Home – navmesh_fix
24. Underwater Home – NUKA-COLA FIX
25. The Dukov Project – Dukov 3
26. The Dukov Project – Hotfix
27. Rivet City Merchants – FO3 Only
28. Rivet City Merchants – Point Lookout Version
29. Megaton Lighting Overhaul
30. Megaton Walkway – Version 1.1
31. Expanded Megaton House V3
32. FWE – FWE Master Release 6-0 – Part 1 – It will open a FWE setup where you can enable what optional plugins you want, but leave the core components and DLC compatibility patches as they are
33. FWE – FWE Master Release 6-0 – Part 2 – if you are unsure how to install this mod, read their helpful install instructions
34. FWE – FWE 6-03a HOTFIX PATCH (if this throws an error, either don’t install the hotfix, or uninstall the original mod and part two, then go into your mod directory and manually merge the mods by extracting them and putting them together along with the patch, then put them in a .zip archive, and finally add them in FOMM).
35. Existence 2_0 – v1-3 Full install
36. GNR Enhanced – Main file
37. In the Shadow of the Swamp – v108
38. The Institute – a fully voiced quest mod 1_0_1
39. To sleep – perchance to dream v106
40. To sleep – perchance to dream v1061
41. Vault 101 Revisited – Main 104
42. Alton, IL – Version 2-0-1
43. Ultimate Perk Pack – Beverage Perks (on UPP mods click no to install normally)
44. Ultimate Perk Pack – Experience Perks
45. Ultimate Perk Pack – Original Perks
46. Ultimate Perk Pack – Pack 1
47. Ultimate Perk Pack – Pack 2
48. Ultimate Perk Pack – Quest Perks
49. Wasteland Guards aka DC Defence – Main file
50. MERC 2 – Merc 2 1-42 Full
51. MERC 2 – Merc 2 1.42c Update ESP only
52. MERC 2 – Broken Steel Strike Team Version 1-1
53. MERC 2 – Point Lookout Camp V2-3
54. MERC 2 – The Pitt Strike Team V2
55. Weapon Mod Kits – Weapon Mod Kits Version 1.1.9
56. Weapon Mod Kits – WMK Broken Steel Compatibility Patch
57. Weapon Mod Kits – WMK Operation Anchorage Compatibility Patch
58. Weapon Mod Kits – WMK Point Lookout Compatibility Patch
59. Weapon Mod Kits – WMK The Pitt Compatibility Patch
60. Weapon Mod Kits – WMK Mothership Zeta Compatibility Patch
61. Ambient Wasteland 2 – WAV edition
62. Ambient Wasteland 2 – WAV Patch
63. Fallout 3 – HD Audio Overhaul – v1.21
64. Quiet Molerat Footsteps – Main file
65. NPC Height Randomizer – Main file
66. Fallout 3 Re-Animated – Release v0_22
67. Fallout 3 Re-Animated – Idle Revisions2 – Fixed
68. FNNCQ a fallout 3 slavery overhaul – FNNCQ V096b
69. Marts Mutant Mod – RC 62 – Marts Mutant Mod 1-RC61
70. Marts Mutant Mod – RC 62 – MMM-6_2-update
71. HERK or Leather backpack – Here you have to choose, or you can have both of them, if you don’t mind glitching models
72. Raiders Redone – Raiders Redone Modular
73. Auto Gates – V13
74. Hi-Res Weapons v3 – Hires Weapons 3_1
75. FO3-WRP – Weapon Retexture Project
76. UWWUT – Unique Weapons With Unique Textures – V1.5
77. UWWUT – Unique Weapons With Unique Textures – UWWUT_WT – WMK Addon Update
78. UWWUT – Unique Weapons With Unique Textures – UWWUT – Broken Steel Addon Update
79. Fallout 3 Hirezd – BB Gun
80. Fallout 3 Hirezd – Bullet Casings – Deluxe – 1k
81. Fallout 3 Hirezd – Flamer – Deluxe
82. Fallout 3 Hirezd – Grenades
83. Fallout 3 Hirezd – Knuckles
84. Fallout 3 Hirezd – Lincolns Repeater
85. Fallout 3 Hirezd – Mines
86. Fallout 3 Hirezd – Minigun – Deluxe V2
87. Fallout 3 Hirezd – Supermutants – 4k Fawkes
88. MTUI – Main file
89. EVE – Energy Visuals Enhanced – EVE 099
90. NMCs Texture Pack – (Maximum if you can run it).
91. Paradox Ignition – Marts Mutant Mod Merged
    • This mod replaces all these files.
      • Mart’s Mutant Mod.esm
      • Mart’s Mutant Mod.esp
      • Mart’s Mutant Mod – DLC Anchorage.esp
      • Mart’s Mutant Mod – DLC The Pitt.esp
      • Mart’s Mutant Mod – DLC Broken Steel.esp
      • Mart’s Mutant Mod – DLC Point Lookout.esp
      • Mart’s Mutant Mod – DLC Zeta.esp
      • Mart’s Mutant Mod – Master Menu Module.esp
    • Only activate the Paradox Ignition file, disable the ones mentioned above
92. C93 – Distant LOD Rock Fix for NMCs Texture Pack – Main file
93. UHQ Terrain Overhaul – Choose a version, read the description to see which version is best for you
94. Fallout 3 Redesigned – Main file
95. Beards of Fallout – Main file
96. A Good Hair Day – working Beta
97. LiL – An Eye Improvement Mod – Main file
98. Hall of Face – Hall of Face Complete
99. Blackenend – Blackened FWE – MMM – EVE – Project Beauty
100. Fallout Street Lights – Version 2
101. Enhanced Night Sky – Version 0.1b
102. Enhanced Weather – Rain and Snow – Enhanced Weather – Rain and Snow v2 Full zip – Only activate Enhanced Weather – Rain and Snow.esm
103. Dynamic Weather – Main file
104. HD Smoky Fire and Explosions – Main file
105. Flora Overhaul – Choose a version, read the description to see which version is best for you
106. My Grass V2 – Choose a version, read the description to see which version is best for you, but make sure it matches the look you’ll get from Flora Overhaul
107. Enhanced Blood Textures – Main file
108. Retextured Clutter Collection – Main file
109. Precision Collision – Clutter – V0_80
110. Better HiRes Skill Books – HiResSkillBooks 
111. Better HiRes Skill Books – Junktown Typo Fix
112. Better HiRes Skill Books – WastelandSurvivalGuideRedone 
113. Chems and Meds Re-Texture Pack – Main file
114. Robot Revolution HD – Protectron – Main file
115. HD Terminals – Main file
116. Retex Gorycorpseparts – Main file
117. Pipboy Custom 3002 – Main file
118. Color Hi-Detailed map and icons – Main file
119. Dogmeat Leather Armor – Dogmeat Leather Armor 1-8-3 CRAFT
120. PureWater – Main file – I suggest to install this one after you’ve completed the main quest
121. Mothership Zeta DLC Retextured – Main file
122. Earth from Space texture for Mothership Zeta – Main file
123. Hall Of Equipment – Hall Of Equipment V2 All In One
124. Knightmares Prewar Clothing mod – Knightmares Pre-War Clothing Mod
125. Knightmares Prewar clothing mod 2 – Main file
126. Raider Combat Armors – RCA Armor Files
127. Raider Combat Armors – RCA ESP v02A or v02B – Read their description for details
128. More Combat Raider Armors – Main file

Troubleshooting Fallout 3 Mod Bugs

* Freezing or crashing randomly This is due to Fallout only being able to properly use two threads at most. Follow these steps (this is done automatic by the ‘Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch’:

1. Open the folder My documents / My Games / Fallout3
2. Edit the file FALLOUT.ini
3. Inside FALLOUT.ini look for a group called [general]
4. Inside the general group, after all the configuration parameters, just copy and paste the following 2 lines:
   • bUseThreadedAI=1
   • iNumHWThreads=2
5. Now save and close the .ini file and try playing.

* Crashing at start of game- Follow these steps to solve:

1. Click Start
2. Click All Programs or Programs,
3. Go to the ffdshow folder.
4. Click Audio decoder configuration.
5. In the left hand pane, click Info & debug or DirectShow control (This is the second entry in the list).
6. In the right hand pane, near the bottom, find a check box labelled Don’t use ffdshow in
7. Check that box, and in the text box underneath (it lights up when you check the check box), add fallout3.exe. Do NOT use spaces, since ffdshow will think that’s part of the filename. A valid entry would be explorer.exe;fallout3.exe.
8. Finally, click OK and start Fallout 3.

Or run Fallout 3 XP compatibility mode.

Or try using the Windows 7 basic toolbar.

 * Fallout 3 crashing after loading save/autosave-

 Turn off auto saving in Fallout 3’s settings

* There are big red boxes with explanationmarks- this is due to missing textures. Follow these steps to solve:

1. Disable all mods and run Fallout 3 with the DLCs, if there are still red boxes reinstall Fallout 3.
2. If disabling mods fixed the boxes. Enable half of the mods and see if the boxes persist.
3. Keep halving the mods activated until you learn which mod is causing the problem.
4. Reinstall that mod.
5. If that does not solve the boxes issue either ensure you have installed compatibility mods needed for that mod, or uninstall that mod.

* “Error: the ordinal 5359 could not be located”- This is due Fallout 3 using Games For Windows Live, and it not being present on your computer. Follow one of these steps to fix this:

Use Games For Windows Live Disabler to disable GFWL.

Or Install Games For Windows Live.

* There are borders around it even though it is fullscreen-

Alt-Tab. It will expand Fallout 3 to fullscreen but not actually bring you to another window.

ENB

I want to give a special attention to ENB. An ENBoost is useful for the improved memory management en performance optimizer. If you use an ENB Preset with an ENBoost, you’ll get a huge improvement in the game’s visual, but at the cost of 10-20 FPS. I strongly suggest trying out the game with the ENBoost and see if you can spare the extra 20 FPS before you install an ENB Preset.

• ENBoost installation guide
  As mentioned above, there is no harm in installing the ENBoost, because it can help reduce memory-related CTDs, stutters and in-game lag.

1. Download the latest version of ENBoost binaries (must be at least v0.203 or later).
2. Open the .zip file, and from the WrapperVersion folder export the “d3d9.dll” and “enbhost.exe” to your main Fallout 3 folder (the one that contains Fallout3.exe), NOT your data folder
3. Download the ENBoost file. This file contains enblocal.ini files specially made for 32-bit or 64-bit Windows OS and for specific video card manufacturers with select video memory allocation.
4. Extract the enblocal.ini file that matches your computer configuration into your main Fallout 3 folder, overwrite when asked.

You’ve now installed ENBoost without the visuals effects.

• ENB Preset installation guide
  I’ll explain how to install Super-Fly Performance ENB. I chose this one, so that those with an older pc might want to try an ENB Preset and enjoy the wonders of Fallout 3. There are other presets available on Nexus (like Realism ENB and Midhrastic ENB), use their search function to find an ENB Preset that matches your taste. Don’t worry , the process of installation is almost always provided by the author. Read and follow these carefull because there are presets that require a specific ENBoost files, which must be downloaded separately.

1. Download the latest version of ENBoost binaries (must be at least v0.203 or later).
2. Export all the files from the WrapperVersion folder to your main Fallout 3 folder (the one that contains Fallout3.exe), NOT your data folder
3. Download the ENBoost file. (see step 3 & 4 from the ENBoost installation guide)
4. Download Super-Fly Performance ENB.
5. Extract all the files from the zip in your Fallout 3 Main Directory. NOT your data folder, but the folder with the Fallout3.exe file.
6. Using Fallout 3 options, turn OFF Anti-Aliasing, HDR is turned ON. You can set Anisotropic Filtering to what you want as it’s turned off in this ENB preset

You’ll see if the preset works when you load the game. On the upper left-hand corner of the screen as the game loads, you’ll notice information about the ENB.

You can always change basic effects from the preset to personalize it to your performance needs or taste. You do this by opening the “enbseries.ini” from your main Fallout 3 folder. There, under “[EFFECT]” you can change effects on or off.

Edit: If you use an ENB, you have to disable some settings. Therefor you have to run the FalloutLauncher. In the options, change your Game Graphics and Detail to Ultra, also disable the Anti-Alias and anistrophic. Last, under the Advanced Settings, uncheck Water Displacement (it’s located under Water). To finish, just hit OK and it’s done.

Conclusion

This is just a small gasp of the mods and ENB’s that Fallout 3 has to offer us. And it is nowhere near to what’s the absolute best of all the mods out there. This is a collection of mods which will give a huge improvement in gameplay, mechanics and immersiveness for the game. This guide might still need some tweaking and tuning, so feel free to share your experiences with us and the rest of the world.