Just Started Another Playthru

[Ricamundo]

I almost feel a little guilty at the start of my heavily modded game, as right out of the Vault( I load an old save kept from a  Vault exit to avoid the whole tedious growing up phase).

2 of the mods involve making life when new to the wastes much easier to get started. one is a crashed Army convoy of 2 trucks, with some dead soldiers lying nearby. The trucks are both loaded with pristine Assault rifles, Combat armor, and hundreds of rounds of 5.56 ammo and grenades. Even a few packs of smokes. ;D

The other is the personal Vault home near Vault 101, and just a few yards from the trucks, where i can store my stuff, sleep, and even talk to the 3 or 4 young ladies who live there. :-X

So, as you can imagine, my first hour or so is raiding the trucks for all i can carry, and stashing the loot until i can sell it off in Expanded Megaton (another mod) which gives me a great gun merchant who always has more caps than anyone else, including the irritating Myra. ;D

The downside to playing FO3, especially one thats modded like mine( yes i have that patch thingy) is the dreaded CTD, which of course happened just after i had raided the trucks and stashed everything in my vault home. I hadnt saved often enuf, so i guess ill have to redo a bit of it.

Sigh.... FC2 just doesnt crash...ever...nor does FEAR, so i had sort of forgotten the save save save mantra. Silly me. :-[

[Art Blade]

I remember the discussion about how to mod FO3 and that making a specialised and personalised single mod with help of some tool may eliminate the cause of CTD. Not really simple to do, and if I remember correctly, you couldn't solve your problem with it. That's the downside of modding, it may render a game unstable. But if I remember correctly, even unmodded it tended to crash occasionally. Gah.. However, I hope that it won't happen too often, and.. keep saving! ;)

[Ricamundo]

You're right Art. FO3 even unmodded tended to freeze, stutter and CTD fairly often.

Thing is, i dont think i could go back to playing it out of the box again, even if it were more stable, as it's original greenish tinged graphics were dated, and the mods i have offer up a lot of new worlds, and missions that enhance the original game a lot. Of course one of my favouite mods is a certain "Artmod". ;)

[Art Blade]

Hehe, thanks ;D :-X Without that mod, the game wouldn't have been half as funny as it was using it. I created that mod because I was a little impatient and wanted to go through a lot faster and with a lot more firepower. When I added Charon, the game turned into real big fun  :)

Like you, I think that those mods that change the environment and light/colours add a lot to the feeling, and there are so many mods that make the game more fun. Quite boring without mods, when you think of it :)

[Ricamundo]

Out of the box, it wasnt even an FPS, although they did aloow for first person, which is the only way they would have gotten my $$$. One key mod was the one which disables VATS, a gimmick that i grew tired of rather quickly on my first playthru.

[Dweller_Benthos]

One of these days I'll get my copy installed, but just looking at that giant phone book of a strat guide makes me not even want to get involved in something that complex.

[Art Blade]

 ;D You're right, it's a strategy guide. And not the manual. If FC2's prima guide had been filled with everything we know, it would have been about as big. The guys who wrote that FO3 strat guide were enthusiasts and had help from the devs, so.. they went on about every possible detail of the game except mods.  :)

[Ricamundo]

OK, its been a while since i've updated this thread, and believe me, it isn't because ive been playing something else. ;) I've been out wandering the wastes, mostly in DC with my bud Charon offing muties, and other undesirables, and selling stuff to merchants for caps. i think im up to arounf 65,000 atm.

Today, whilst perusing a cheat/hint site for FO3, they had a list of the enhanced weapons that are hidden in the gameworld. Now i hadnt really bothered much looking for these weapons, as thx to brother Art, ive got the 2 deadliest weapons already from the "Artmod". However, this time, ive avoided using them as much as i could as the poor baddies just dont stand a chance. ;D

So, ive been plugging away with the standard weapons that I like, such as the flamer, gatling laser, and Chinese assault rifle. Seeing the list of enhanced weapons this time, i've started a weapon hunt, instead of just picking some of them up here and there as i progess. Yesterday, i found the "Burnmaster", an enhanced flamer that i had never been able to find, and today, after a little online reasearch, i found out how to get the Xaulong assault rifle, an enhanced Chinese assault rifle that can only be found by doing a rather cleverly hidden side quest that ive never done before. Its so cool when you can discover new things in an otherwise familiar game!

I got the rifle, and once i had it repaired(you can repair it using the standard chinese assault rifles)it has a damage rating of 400, compared to the standard 153. 8)

[Art Blade]

Hehe, thanks, "brother Ricamundo"  ;D
I have got that phone book (strat guide) and in it there is everything there is to know about FO3, including those special weapons. I once went on a search mission to find all weapons so I could fill every slot on the weapons walls in my underground hideout (mod).
[smg id=1655 type=link width=400]

[PZ]

Nice update, Ric - it's been a long while since I've been in the FO3 world, and your story (plus Art's side tip) makes me want to go back into the game.  :-X

[Ricamundo]

Great! I'd be nice to have some company on this page, but you guys are all over those other games JC2 and AC2 or whatever it is. So much third person stuff these days, bloody console influence. :'( ;)

[Art Blade]

lol, I'll be doing a couple of new games soon.. already sitting on my desk awaiting installation. Wings of Prey, ALPHA protocol, Borderlands, Split/Second.. but I recently (while visiting London) bought another copy of FO3 plus a seperate DVD with add-ons (former DLCs) so that is on my list as well ;)

[PZ]

I'll be in the FO3 board with you, Ric - even though I'm mostly on the console right now, and am playing a few other things, FO3 is still of great interest to me.  :-X

[PZ]

I just fired up FO3 and experienced nostalgia at returning to the waste land.  I like the music in FO3, and although the graphics are a bit dated, I just love the story line, which the music perfectly accompanies.

Although I have the ultimate version (with all the add-ins), I'd have been perfectly OK with just having the basic version, so if you get a chance to get the game on the discount shelf, I don't think that you'll be disappointed.  If you enjoy modding, this game is still thriving in the modders world at Nexus.