The best Fallout 4 mods – so far
The best Fallout 4 mods – so far
Fallout 4, like other Bethesda games before it, is like catnip for modders. And this is a good thing, because the creative and clever minds of modders everywhere are already hard at work providing add-ons for the RPG epic.
Although it's too early in the day for major content packs with stories and new locations, the modding scene has already turned up a number of useful customisation tools, some lovely visual enhancements, pre-made characters that don't look like they were put together by a decomposing ostrich, and much more. Let's run down the best ones we've found so far.
There's a cap on how many objects you can place in a settlement – and that's fine, for general gameplay. It encourages you to think carefully about what your settlers really need, to invest in upgrades on existing objects, and to provide thoughtful solutions instead of band-aids.
But for creative building, it's just a pain. If you want to build an enormous wall of animated billboards around your camp, or an arena big enough for an epic NPC battle, or just the wasteland's largest dong, you need more toys to play with. Thanks, modders!
Lowered Weapons – First Person Animation
A simple change that feels a bit like the breaking of a storm; suddenly the nagging tension of the past few hours is explained and soothed away. The way your gun is constantly poking ahead of you in Fallout 4 just looks silly, and this mod changes that: when you run, your character lets their weapon drop to one side, holding it more naturally for effective movement.
I'd love to see a follow-up for third-person. And some third-person animation packs in general, to be honest.
This clever mod gives you the opportunity to recruit one of a variety of enemy units to follow you around and aid you in combat. Choose from the likes of Deathclaws, Radscorpions, Synths and even a pacifist cat. Best of all, it leaves your companion slot open, so you can bring someone else along, too. Two pals? Yes please.
You need to fiddle with console commands to get this mod working, but it's worth it. You should also check out Pre-CK – Venison, which this one was based on, if you'd like a Radstag friend, and search around for other creature mods if you want something more … unusual.
So it turns out there was a harpoon gun in the game at some point but it didn't make it to the final build. Not to worry, because that's exactly what mods are for. It might turn up in DLC in the future but you can play with it now.
Get this underwater weapon with a simple download. It leaves trails of bubbles in its wake, and replaces the Railgun. Which means it pins enemies limbs to surfaces and is pretty darn lethal. Let's go fishin'!
My nickname for this one is “Red Sox Jocks”. Similarly to the Boston Red Sox uniform mod, this one allows players to show their hometown pride as they wander around the former state of Massachusetts. Unlike the uniform mod, this one replace the default nude skin, so that any time you take off your clothes (to climb into your power armour without lugging around your regular armour, for example), you'll see a little flash of patriotic pride over your buttocks.
Obviously this is very silly, but given how often heavy power armour players will see their buttocks, it's pretty cute. As well as the Red Sox logo, you can opt for Vault 111 underoos, or any texture you care to create yourself.
Okay, so tweaking one particular graphics effect is not exactly essential, but in a game like Fallout 4 where the red sauce is sprayed around so liberally, it makes sense that said sauce is as good-looking as possible, right?
You may need side-by-side comparisons to really see the difference, but trust me – you'll enjoy leaving your mark on the world even more with this one. You can even tweak on-HUD blood effects, setting them to subtle or – by default – egregiously speckled.
Like this? Check out similar mods for the stars, moon, rain and water effects. There's even a (very popular) texture pack for eyes.
Texture Optimisation – improve the frame rate
Fallout 4 is a great game but it suffers from some pretty glaring technical problems. One of those is the frame rate, which stumbles throughout the game as you explore large areas and take on multiple enemies.
Part of the problem is that the normal textures for walls, planets etc are massive. This mod sacrifices some of those high texture files and replaces them with simpler, smaller files. In return it allows the frame rate to increase, making for a smoother experience. Very nice.
Value per Weight indicator for Container UI
There's a fine line between using mods and cheating. Giving yourself endless caps? Cheating. Setting your carry weight to infinite? Cheating. Taking some of the CPU load off your brain? Perfectly acceptable mod usage.
This mod just gives you a quick show of the value of loot in containers, so you can stop doing napkin maths at the bottom of a dungeon when you need to drop something. Chuck everything extra in the nearest container, open the transfer interface, and take out only the most valuable items. Nice.
This doesn't account for rarity, unfortunately, and the crafting system means anything classified as junk is part of an economy that has very little to do with dollar (cap?) worth. But still: super handy.
AKA the Fat Man baby launcher. This mod does exactly what you'd expect. It turns your long-lost son into an explosive missile, allowing you to launch the little bastard at enemies for explosive results.
There's nothing else to say. See it in action here.
The problem with the conversations in Fallout 4 is you're not always sure what you're going to say until you open you mouth. Sure, a “sarcastic” option is an indication, but sometimes you character can really put his or her foot in his or her mouth and spoil your attempts at persuasion.
Well, not any more. The Full Dialogue Interface changes those one word paraphrases into the full script of what you're about to say. It's almost as if you think it through before opening your mouth rather than having to guess your own mind. Get it, it's essential.
Improved map
Fallout 4's Pip-boy map screen is murky, blurry and at times over-saturated. Sure, it's meant to look that way – it's a primitive computer designed in the 50s. But it's hard to define particular locations, especially as the map gets more and more crowded as you explore and uncover new spots.
This mod increases the contrast, helping to define the topography, water line and roads. You'll now find it much easier to pinpoint undiscovered locations and work your way around massive obstacles. Hooray for clarity.
Swing for the fences with the Red Sox
Fallout 4 is set in Boston. Diamond City is built within a baseball stadium. It makes perfect sense then that there is a Boston Red Sox uniform mod.
Now you can dress up as your favourite Red Sox slugger. Get on over to Moe's place and buy one of his modified bats to really knock those heads clean off. See it in action here.
This mod adds every type of ammunition as a craftable object at Chemistry Stations.
Some ammo is locked behind Perks, but otherwise you can get busy with 5mm, 10mm, 308 rounds, railroad spikes, cryo cells and more. Be creative!
Obviously. This nude mod adds female skin to the mix, so you can wander around the wasteland and catch a chill.
Or if you're more a fan of clothing, why not check this pyjamas mod out. It's a little more tasteful.
Fallout 4 Configuration Tool – By Bilago
The most popular mod among hardcore master race adherents, the Configuration Tool unlocks all sorts of tweaks and options not easily accessible through Fallout 4's launcher and in-game settings menu.
You thought changing the colour of your UI was cool, huh? Well how about broadening your field of view, unlocking the frame rate (or locking it, if necessary), adjusting mouse sensitivity and acceleration, custom-fit the resolution, lock yourself out of the console (no cheating on this run!), skipping the intro movie automatically, toning down the gore, tweaking shadows, and oh – much more. A must have for graphics and performance hounds, to be honest.
This was one of the earliest Fallout 4 mods to do the rounds, and it still holds up against other visual tweak suites. The preset fiddles with ambient light, depth of field, FXAA, curves, vibrance and other visual effects all in the name of creating a more vibrant, less washed-out Wasteland.
It might not match Bethesda's original vision but hey – it's what the people want, if the popularity of the mod among YouTubers is any indication. If you're looking for an alternative, the VOGUE ENB – Realism package is also pretty popular.
Have you noticed that it never really gets dark in the Commonwealth? even at one in the morning with no visible moon, you can disco dance your way across the terrain with little impact on visibility.
This is all very accessible and fair to players, of course, but for that real survival experience you can inject a little more terror into the coming of twilight with the Darker Nights mod. It doesn't make things pitch black – you can still get around without too much difficulty – but you definitely notice the difference between early evening and midnight, that's for sure. There are three settings, in case things get a bit too shadowy for your liking.
Okay, yes, this is getting a bit meta, but until the Steam Workshop fires up, keeping track of your mods isn't super easy – especially if you're a newcomer to the scene. This simple-to-use tool takes a lot of the fuss out of it.
It won't solve all your problems, because not every mod is tidily packaged up, but in terms of simplicity you can't beat it. “If you have errors let me know and I will fix them. But when it comes to functionality I'm not gonna add anything. This is intended as the most minimalistic mod manager that still has enough to offer to be usable,” creator Grasmann wrote. Bless.
