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I'm going to pick up Fallout 3 GOTY from this weekend's Steam sale, but before I start playing it I wanted to see if there were any good mods for it... however a quick Googling only brings massive repositories of mods which are probably 98% skin replacement rubbish. Can anyone suggest any specific good ones? I'm interested in any types really.

Also my first playthrough of F3 (back when it was released) was as an energy weapons and explosives oriented techy character; any suggestions for interesting character styles to try this time? I was considering one that uses stealth, combined with sniping and melee weapons - but I'm a bit wary as I seem to remember people having trouble with sniping in the game as it shipped, have patches improved this?

One other question is the DLC - am I going to have any problems with doing any of the added missions too early/late in the storyline? The balance for these kind of add ons isn't always the best.

I've found http://www.fallout3nexus.com/ a pretty good source for mods, but most of the ones I've tried are just skins. It's a very easy to navigate repository though.

As far as addons, Point Lookout might be problematic to do early on, but Mothership Zeta is a piece of cake. I'm not really sure about the Pitt but I don't remember it being overly difficult; and you can't do the Broken Steel addon until after completing the main quest anyway. (Operation Anchorage wasn't that difficult but it's a bit different from the other addons in feel.)

Recently just got the GOTY for myself as well but I have the original as well.

Regardless, FOOK is a pretty good mod as is Mutant Mod which basically jacks up the monsters and spawn amounts. If you know how to mod / customise yourself you can make you own easily enough. I do it myself.

RR Companion Mod adds a very nice personal 'home' complete with NPCs, storage space and the like. Of course it comes with lots of weapons and companions so it can make the game extremely easy if you take everything and sell it. Havent tried the DLC's yet but I only just got done slamming in as many mods as the game will allow without becoming an unplayable mess.

Fallout Wanderer Edition is the bog-standard mod, but really, you should do the first playthrough unmodded and then try it with extra content. About the only things I can think of that you'd want for a first time would be Weapon Mod Kits, but even that's a 'meh' for a first play.

SomethingAwful has a pretty good mod thread too, so here's a link to it - broken, since I recall that being the policy. forums.some+ thingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3186281

If you ever want to go with an unarmed combat build, I'm only aware of one mod for that: Hokuto Shinken.

Oh, and the Hokuto Shinken mod in action, set to an Animetal Marathon cover of Ai wo Torimodose.

Wanderers Edition is what I'd recommend too, but it is harder than the vanilla game, especially in the beginning. That being said, here's the combination of mods I'm using at the moment:

Fallout Wanderers Edition - Changes just about everything from equipment to enemies to healing mechanics. Ammo and stimpaks are more scarce, combat is way deadlier, food and drink don't heal you anymore, etc. Most of this stuff can be configured to at least some extent from the in-game config tool. There's also a good load order recommendation on FWE's nexus page.

Mart's Mutant Mod - Adds a bunch of new monsters and tweaks old ones.

Weapon Mod Kits - As the name says, adds weapon mod kits to the game. You can now pimp your gun with laser sights, scopes, silencers and whatnot.

Energy Visuals Enhanced - Improves the visual effects of energy weapons, and adds some new weapons.

Project Beauty - Makes the people of the wastelands somewhat less horse-faced. Not one of those "everyone looks like a supermodel" mods, this just fixes some odd facial structures, skin tones and such.

NMC Texture Pack - Better quality textures. The highest quality version is for really high-end video cards, I'm using the "performance" version.

DCInteriors - Adds interiors to many of the previously closed buildings in DC.

Enhanced Weather - Adds proper weather to the wastelands.

Fellout - Removes the greenish tint from the graphics.

Fallout Interoperability Program - A collection of patches for making various mods play nice with each other.

Also, a few utilities that you either need or will greatly appreciate if you start fiddling with mods:

Fallout Mod Manager - Makes installing and removing mods, as well as altering mod load order (which is important when you're using lots of mods) easy. Even if you're just getting one or two mods, I'd recommend this. If you're going to get more, FOMM is a necessity.

Fallout Script Extender - Needed by some mods (FWE and WMK at least).

FO3Edit - An utility for detecting conflicts between mods and resolving them. FO3Edit isn't strictly necessary, but it can be helpful when using lots of mods (it can be used to create a merged patch, which sometimes improves the game's stability).

What luck, I was just thinking of starting a new Fallout game soon. Should I go for the new version of FOOK, or go with this FWE mod that's been mentioned? Are there any substantial differences between them?

I haven't tried FOOK myself, but from what I gather, it focuses more on changing/adding equipment than fiddling with gameplay. FWE focuses on changing gameplay, though it also adds some new stuff (just not as much as FOOK) and rebalances the existing equipment.

Really, your best bet would be to read the documentation of both mods and see what works best for you.

Fook is about adding a fuckton of equipment for more variety. Everything from Silence guns to M82 Sniper Rifles. They have a few 'special' items in there too like the Peacekeeper Pulse Pistol from Farscape but sadly it sucks balls. They used to have the Aliens Pulse Rifle but that got removed as well. Plenty of armors with various gimicks and npcs that use it across the lot of the DLCs. The EVE thing is also part of the FOOK mod so it allows for improved effects from lasers and the like.
I think Phalanx is mixed in as well which adds more companion functionality, sadly my mix of mods fucked that up completely in my game.

It's possible that FWE and FOOK might work together but it depends on how good the compatability patches are at being up-to-date. If your looking for difficulty though the Mutant Mod is fairly good for adding tons of new spawns. Not good if you dont have a decent computer though.

Another interesting mod is 'ARNOLD', it's basically a Terminator coming after the player that has insanely large health and a miningun. At the early levels you basically cant sleep or stay still for long cause the NPC 'hunts' you down and you have no chance of being able to fight back. Kinda fun and if you kill him more keep coming.
Sadly I havent encounter any other mods that tried this kind of thing.

Once you finish the game and have nothing more to do, try Real Time Settler.

It's kind of glitchy, but you can build and manage your own town with it

Thanks for the suggestions, as mentioned I have played through the game once already... it became pretty easy after the first few levels, so something like FWE sounds good. I am less tempted by FOOK as from the sound of it it has too many SoD-breaking nerd pandering weapons. Also that weapons mod kits addon looks cool too, will give it a try.

...also, lol at all the nudie/prostition mods being in the top 25 on F3Nexus.

FOOK's problem is that it has vast incompatibilities with absolutely everything and it's team have often been accused of being elitist jackholes (they apparently refused to consider making FOOK compatible with FWE until it was revealed that New Vegas is copying many elements of FWE, so now they're all over it).
Mod drama aside FWE offers better (and very adjustable) balance over vanilla which is, frankly, completely broken so I prefer it over FOOK.

I played through with Fellout (so I could stand to look at the screen; that sepia filter was awful) and a mod that decreased player and monster health across the board so that bullets could actually kill people. The second mod would probably run you into trouble if it doesn't modify all the expansion packs, since the new enemies would have their full health.

Just started a new game with FWE, with Mart's Mutants and Project Beauty, and thinking of putting Fellout back in (had used it with FOOK). Overall I'm actually pretty impressed by it. Combat is pretty difficult once again (got jumped by a group of about 8 raiders on the way to Arefu and got out of it with maybe 1 hp and a crippled head, chest, and arms). Money is actually a bit too easy to stumble upon; in the two times I went out, I've run across 2 random traders who proceeded to get killed by raiders (see above for the first, the other being in front of that grocery store, fortunately his pet yau guai finished them off), allowing me to loot their wares with impunity. Though that usually balances out by having to spend so god damn much on stimpaks. I was also pleasently surprised to see the inclusion of several new weapons, all of which I've come to rely on to bail my ass out of a fight (desert eagle, jackhammer), though the tommy gun's straining my SOB... which is odd, all things considered. Looks like they've rearranged the perks too. No more SPECIAL points for me, it seems Oh yeah, and all those weird Japanime hairstyles were.... well, they're stupid. A "Sephiroth" hairdo? Seriously?

By the way, isn't Fellout the one that makes nights pitch black? Combined with FWE, that's gotta be painful.

TC Pilot wrote:though the tommy gun's straining my SOB... which is odd, all things considered.

From what I gather from glancing over the mod, it looks like they've put in quite a bit of the Tactics flavor (which I quite like, personally, even if most Fallout fans hate it). Tactics had a wide variety of run-down 20th century weapons, including an M1 Thompson IIRC, so it's not too surprising to see it in this mod.

Ironically New Vegas is following on that too, with many weapons that appeared in Tactics and Fallout 2 that are considered "too modern", sending the lore nazis into a fury.
Whatever. I'll take my P-90 and love it, thank you. Mind you FWE (and FOOK) provide a lot of lore-friendly weapons that Bethesda left out for some reason, including the awesome Wattz lasers and Winchester P-94 plasma guns.

On the other hand, FOOK (and FWE, for all I know) introduced some pretty ridiculous weapons, the FG-42 standing out in my mind. It's like if I were playing a WW2 shooter and stumbling across a flintlock musket.

FWE keeps it more grounded, I believe. It integrates Classic Fallout Weapons, a mod that brought weapons found in Fallout 2 and Tactics.
FOOK does that too but adds on a bunch of new, sillier weapons.

Gramzamber wrote:FWE keeps it more grounded, I believe. It integrates Classic Fallout Weapons, a mod that brought weapons found in Fallout 2 and Tactics.

Actually, just weapons from Fallout 2. Don't know if CFW had Tactics stuff too, but FWE definitely doesn't. Tommy gun, P90 etc. did exist in Fallout 2, it's just that few people ever used them because either the guns, their ammo or both were scarce.

TC Pilot wrote:By the way, isn't Fellout the one that makes nights pitch black? Combined with FWE, that's gotta be painful.

I think so. And as for painful, well, depends where you are during the night. In the urban areas it does get so dark you really can't see shit. Outside the urban areas it's not quite so bad. FWE adds a nightvision system to power, recon and stealth helmets though. Get one of those and you're golden . Just keep in mind the feature consumes energy cells unless you're wearing power armor.

By the way, I really recommend Enhanced Weather. Pitch-black night + thunderstorm = good times.

TC Pilot wrote:On the other hand, FOOK (and FWE, for all I know) introduced some pretty ridiculous weapons, the FG-42 standing out in my mind. It's like if I were playing a WW2 shooter and stumbling across a flintlock musket.

I'd actually like to see them have scratch-built weapons in NV. It would make sense for communities to make weapons, similar to the F2 pipe rifle, but making black powder would be easier than modern ammo. It would allow starting characters to have a slow, inaccurate, but decently powerful gun.

Cube Experimental: A rather lengthy side-quest sort of thing that sends you through an eloborate testing complex/death course. I'd recommend saving before you enter the building it take place in, not because its glitchy or anything but because it can get really hard and weird in there and once you go in you won't be coming back out for several hours. Its alot like the movie Cube or Hypercube, or the Portal game in that you're stuck in a weird deathtrap and trying to get out. I had to find a walkthrough made by the creators to properly figure out how to get past some of the puzzles.

RobCo Certified: Gives you access to a three-rank perk which lets you repair destroyed robots if you have scrap metal and fission batteries on hand. The robots follow you around, help you out, and you get XP for their kills. Other mods add onto them to give them storage capacity or let you make more scrap metal or batteries by scavenging materials for them.

Bottle that Water: There are a few mods that let you fill up empty bottles to get bottled water (either dirty or purified depending on the source). They are good in an immersion sort of way and can provide extra healing (though water does have weight so you can't carry a whole mess of them like you can do with stimpaks).

Bobblehead quest: don't remember the name of the mod but it gives you a quest and shows you on the map where all the bobbleheads are. Makes it easier to track them all down without consulting a guide.

And some radio mods. I think the CONELRAD radio is my favorite since it has authentic songs and such.

Yep. Don't dismiss the scene because it's big and fragmented, the fun (and frustrating) part FO3 is playing with the mods piecemeal. Project D tops my to-do list, it's adult but you know, it's just not realistic for all the females in the waste to have the same bodies. Quite boring, really. This mod adds so much realism and character to the game.

Obviously, the biggest problem with realism in Fallout is cup size of the human females, rather than, say, gigantic super mutants made with supplies of a 200-year-old viral agent.

PeZook wrote:Obviously, the biggest problem with realism in Fallout is cup size of the human females, rather than, say, gigantic super mutants made with supplies of a 200-year-old viral agent.

Wow, not even a smiley at the end of that, you hid your sarcasm well.