Skyrim and Oblivion are good games at the core, but what really makes them special is their modability. Our complete Skyrim overhaul changes Bethesda’s landscape into an entirely new, fresh world with 4K resolution textures, new quest content, cities, graphics, and more. And like the others, Bethesda’s open world RPG, Fallout 3, does not disappoint in this area. Despite being released in 2008, Fallout 3 is still one of the best post-apocalyptic games out there, but with mods -- many still being developed -- can renovate FO3 entirely.
And today we are going to show you how to do just that. In this total Fallout 3 2014 graphics & content overhaul, we’ll compile the best Fallout 3 graphics mods, content / quest mods, mechanics overhauls, and more.
Some of these mods improve graphics, add content, change animations, and change mechanics to help create a more balanced, fun, and immersive game. Because Fallout 3 is an older game, it has compatibility issues with Windows 7 and Windows 8. It’ll work fine for some users, but for others, it is a massive issue. If you experience crashes on startup or CTDs during play, please post in the comments and we will do our best to help out!
Fallout 3 isn’t incredibly easy to mod, so this article will be split into six sections: required mods, graphics, content/quests & mechanics, misc. mods, how to install mods, troubleshooting, and tips/conclusion.
Note: Many of these mods require DLC, like Mothership Zeta, Point Lookout, The Pitt, Broken Steel, and Operation: Anchorage.
Required Fallout 3 Mods
FOSE - FOSE, or Fallout Script Extender, expands the scripting capabilities of Fallout 3 and is needed by many mods. It has basically become a requirement to modding. Simply extract FOSE to your Fallout 3 directory (where Fallout3.exe is) to install.
Fallout Stutter Remover - As users mod Fallout 3, they will begin to notice random frame stutters and sometimes crashes due to stutters. This mod reduces/eliminates stutter and stutter-related crashes.
Large Address Aware Enabler - This mod enables Fallout 3 to utilize more memory, which is needed for mods such as texture packs. Fallout 3 has a native memory limit closer to 2GB, similar to Skyrim and Oblivion, and making the game Large Address Aware will resolve this.
CALIBR - CALIBR is a community ammunition library, which attempts to standardize ammo used by different mods.
CRAFT - CRAFT is similar to CALIBR and reworks the way workbenches (used in game to modify and create both weapons and armor) function in order to increase compatibility with mods.
FOIP WMK and FWE - The Fallout 3 interoperability program is a community effort to create patches so popular mods can be compatible; this patch also allows for WMK and another mod (called Fallout Wanders Edition) to be compatible.
Continue on to page 2 (hit ‘next’) for the Fallout 3 graphics realism overhaul!
Fallout 3 Graphics Overhaul Mod - 2014
Enhanced Blood Textures - The default blood textures in Fallout 3 are, um, bad. This mod adds in high-quality blood textures. The point of this mod is not to enhance blood and gore, but to change blood texture from being ugly and looking like strange red jello to being more immersive and real.
EVE - EVE, or Energy Visuals Enhanced, greatly improves Fallout 3’s default effects for energy weapons (plasma and laser rifles). In my opinion, EVE is one of the most impressive Fallout 3 mods available and is simply a must-have. Combine this with EIP (in the content/quests section) for perfect fusion, due to how many of the Enclave use energy weapons -- this lets EVE show off what its additions.
Fellout - Even 200 years after the nuclear war, there is a green tint to everything. Fellout corrects this so colors are normalized (but still a little washed-out and apocalyptic). A simple change that some purists may hate, but that many will love simply for ease on the eyes. Another change Fellout makes is darker nights, since default Fallout 3 nights looking more akin to a cloudy day than night in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Fallout Street Lights - The streetlights in Fallout 3 are always dark, and while that is realistic, it is fairly boring. With the combination of darker nights from Fellout and some lights from this mod, the night truly becomes eerie. I do suggest following the author’s advice and tweaking light distance via the .ini file.
A screenshot taken of a building and parking lot with Fallout and Street Lights enabled
Hi-Res Weapons - Weapons in Fallout 3 may be unique and interesting, but they certainly aren’t much to look at. This mod fixes that by greatly improving the texture resolution of some common weapons. Another notable mod which improves weapon textures is F03-WRP; these mods can be used together, although some textures will conflict, requiring you to choose one texture for a weapon.
Fallout 3 Re-Animated - Some of the animations in Fallout 3 just look awkward, and this mod aims to improve that by adding in new animations for attacking and idle. This mod includes 35 new animations, although most are for rifles.
MTUI - The UI in Fallout 3 is fairly bad. It doesn’t scale well with larger screens, fill up all the space it should, or even look good. This mod greatly improves Fallout 3’s UI, and while it is not needed, I do strongly suggest it.
Enhanced Night Sky - This simple mod really creates presence in Fallout 3 by adding a high-resolution replacement for the default night sky. Along with darker nights, this mod makes the wasteland an eerie-but-pretty place at night.
NMCs Texture Pack - You can’t have a mod overhaul without texture packs. This texture pack is a godsend for a game like Fallout 3; the default textures for things like doors and stop signs are simply atrocious, leftovers of an era when optimization concerns ran rampant. Modern hardware lets us get away with a lot higher-quality textures. This mod brings new textures, some of which are impressively lifelike. One of the textures this improves greatly is ground clutter, which is fairly blurry in Fallout 3 without mods.
Notable mention: Midhrastid ENB is a fairly good ENB mod for lighting and shadows. I unfortunately couldn’t get it to work on Windows 8.1. Also consider Fallout 3 Redesigned, which improves the faces and hair of NPCs, although it has texture compatibility issues with some of these other mods.
Continue on to page 3 for our Fallout 3 content & quest overhaul mods!
Fallout 3 Overhaul: Content/Quests & Mechanics
Enhanced Weather - 200 years after a nuclear war and you’d surely expect some bizarre weather, but in Fallout 3 there are hardly small dust storms. And while the weather this mod adds may seem more appropriate in the graphical change section, it actually does affect your gameplay due to decreased visibility and radiation from rain. Greatly adds to immersion.
Fallout Wanders Edition - FWE is a major overall that changes the game mechanics heavily and adds new features to Fallout 3. FWE creates more of an FPS feeling in the game with faster paced combat and more skill-based characters. FWE makes it so that you aren’t a god compared to NPCs, instead putting you more on their level to require more strategy and skill. The handy thing about FWE is that many of its features can be toggled on or off via items in your inventory.
Alton, IL - Alton, IL is a mod that adds an entirely new world and questline to Fallout 3, allowing for even more exploration. 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.
A Note Easily Missed - A mod for those who enjoy reading notes, doing terminal quizzes, and exploring for the sake of exploring, this mod adds an adventure quest with the sequels, An Evening With Mr. Manchester and To Sleep, perchance to dream.
In the Shadow of the Swamp - If you aren’t satisfied by A Note Easily Missed and its sequels, this mod is done by the same author and is set in Point Lookout. This mod features similar gameplay as A Note Easily Missed and its sequels.
A Quest for Heaven Secrets from the past - A quest line designed for a solo experience, wherein characters discover traces of something called “Project Heaven” and then uncover its vast secrets. One notable feature of this mod is the inclusion of custom music, which is quite rare for mods in any game. But this is just the first part of a story -- it’s also got a sequel named Like a diamond in the sky and a third episode that is not yet released.
Cube Experimental - This mod adds a new quest in a forgotten cube complex. It is even available in German, English, Russian, French, Italian, and Spanish, something that is not common for mods. The Nexus page is surprisingly blank, but this teaser and its status as one of the most popular quest mods make it fairly compelling.
DCInteriors Project - While exploring the ruins of DC, it’s somewhat disappointing to discover that every building is boarded up, leaving nowhere interesting to explore. This mod adds interiors to many buildings, primarily in the downtown ruins of DC.
FireFly Ranch - One of the best parts of Fallout 3 is its scary moments that make you jump at every shadow, and so to make a proper mod overhaul, we’ve got to include at least one scary quest. This mod adds a player house outside of Germantown, but this house is not given to the player character, instead it is earned by testing the character…
The Institute - A fully-voiced quest mod in which players uncover a layered conspiracy and are faced with the decision of how to act. As with Fallout 3, there are multiple endings and paths players can follow.
Slavery Overhaul - The slavery system in Fallout 3 is acceptable, but far from optimal. And this mod greatly improves it by allowing most NPCs to be enslaved, follow the player, and be placed anywhere. This mod also adds new places to sell your slaves.
Marts Mutant Mod - While Fallout 3 may be huge, its little diversity of enemies is fairly dull. This mod brings Fallout 3 into the other end of the spectrum, with dozens of different enemies, some of which are quite strange. Overall, MMM adds the much-needed diversity of enemies that Fallout 3 deserves.
Raiders Redone - This mod adds classes to raiders with distinct names, weapons, and armor. Not a huge overhaul, but it does improve the default raiders a good amount.
MERC 2 - MERC 2 adds a new player faction. This mod isn’t simply good vs. evil -- decisions can aid one faction and harm another, but can be “good” depending on perspective. With this mod, decisions aren’t black and white like they usually are in Fallout 3.
Enclave Improvement Project - The Enclave is automatically hostile towards players, which is a bit cut-and-dry. This mod allows players to join The Enclave, making them more realistic, alongside the addition of three new side-quests.
Vault 101 Revisited - A vision of how Vault 101 might have developed in the aftermath of Trouble on the Homefront, when they opened their doors to the outside. I unfortunately can’t say much about this mod without spoiling major quests.
Wasteland Guards - In Fallout 3, it was not uncommon to come back to a small town and discover everyone dead, including those needed for quests. And with mods this becomes a larger problem due to improved enemies. This mod adds 50 new guards meant to protect towns and settlements from raiders and wildlife, primarily so quests aren’t broken.
MTC Wasteland Travellers - In Fallout 3, there are very few people other than yourself who are out in the wastes -- surely some others are hunters and scavengers. This mod creates a more engaging wasteland with more NPCs, both hostile and friendly.
Ultimate Perk Pack - Fallout 3 includes a good amount of balanced, fun perks, but they can get boring after a playthrough. This mod adds around 60 new perks, allowing players to specialize their characters even more.
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.
Notable mention: RTS: Real Time Settler is a city-building mod allowing for the creation of full cities in which can be populated by people.
Continue to page 4 for the complete mod list and correct installation order.
Fallout 3: How to Install Mods
Fallout 3 is not the easiest game to mod, but we have troubleshot and done our best to provide a bug-free mod list.
- Install Fallout 3.
- Install Nexus Mod Manager and direct it to your Fallout 3 folder if it does not detect it automatically.
- Instal FOSE.
- Download the mods and patches listed below, links will link to the mod pages (use “download with manager” button except for with Cube Experiment main file -- download that manually).
- Install the mods. When installing updates to mods (or multi-part mods) and NMM asks if you would like upgrade to the new mod, select no and then select “Yes to all” to have the update overwrite the original mod files, if there are any conflicting files.
- Follow this mod install order and if asked to overwrite something, say “yes to all”.
Mod Install order:
A Quest For Heaven 1 - Secrets from the past - AQFH1_Patch104
A Quest For Heaven 1 - Secrets from the past - AQFH1_Patch105
CRAFT - Community Resource to Allow Fanmade Tinkering - CRAFT 125
Cube Experimental main file (install via the .exe you download manually)
Cube Experimental EN Chakys Fix Version 1_0_4 (use nexus mod manager to install this patch)
FWE - FO3 Wanderers Edition (It will put up a message about archive invalidation not being activated, ignore that and press no, enable what optional plugins you want, but leave the core components and DLC compatibility patches as they are).
FWE - FO3 Wanderers Edition - Part 2 Assets
FWE - FO3 Wanderers Edition - 6.03 HOTFIX (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 NMM).
Ultimate Perk Pack - Beverage Perks (on UPP mods click no to install normally)
Weapon Mod Kits - WMK Operation Anchorage Compatibility Patch
Fallout Interoperability Program - FOIP - Weapon Mod Kits and FWE 6-03
EVE - Energy Visuals Enhanced - EVE 097 Unified Paradox Install
NMCs Texture Pack (Maximum is suggested).
Troubleshooting Fallout 3 Mod Bugs
Freezing or crashing randomly- This is due to Fallout only be able to properly use two threads at most. Follow these steps:
Open the folder My documents / My Games / Fallout3
Edit the file FALLOUT.ini.
Inside FALLOUT.ini look for a group called [general].
Inside the general group, after all the configuration parameters, just copy and paste the following 2 lines:
bUseThreadedAI=1
iNumHWThreads=2
Now save and close the .ini file and try playing.
Crashing at start of game- Follow these steps to solve:
Click Start
Click All Programs or Programs,
Go to the ffdshow folder.
Click Audio decoder configuration.
In the left hand pane, click Info & debug or DirectShow control (This is the second entry in the list).
In the right hand pane, near the bottom, find a check box labelled Don't use ffdshow in
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.
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 explanation marks- this is due to missing textures. Follow these steps to solve:
Disable all mods and run Fallout 3 with the DLCs, if there are still red boxes reinstall Fallout 3.
If disabling mods fixed the boxes. Enable half of the mods and see if the boxes persist.
Keep halving the mods activated until you learn which mod is causing the problem.
Reinstall that mod.
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.
If you have any issues put them in the comments and I will help you solve them.
Tips & Conclusion
- Press the ` key and type in “TCL” if you get stuck somewhere. That will disable collision and allow you to walk through anything. Typle “TCL” again to enable collision.
- For AMD GPUs you can use RadeonPro to force HBAO, SSAA, SweetFX, and more. Nvidia users can use Geforce Experience to do this.
- If a type of AA, tessellation, or anisotropic filtering is being forced through either of the programs above turn it off in game.
This mod collection is certainly not the end-all of modding Fallout 3, but they greatly improve gameplay and the immersiveness of the base game. There is no way we could have gotten all of the mods that deserve attention, so if you know of any good mods that we missed, please feel free to comment about them below! For those wondering why one would put this much effort into modding a game from 2008, the answer is simple: Fallout 3 is a wonderful game, despite being fairly old, and really just needs a facelift. The mods will imbue FO3 with life for those who have already played-through heavily.
- Michael “The Bear” Kerns.