Category Archives: fallout 4

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Fallout 4 Mods Are Coming This Week So What Should You Download for PS4?

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Settlement ‘clean up’ mods are a must have for Fallout 4 camp builders.

Mods are finally coming for Fallout 4 on PS4!  Bethesda confirmed today (17/11) that an update patch for consoles that is due ‘later this week’ will contain the mods for PS4 consoles to go live.

 

Creative modders have been busy building mods for PS4 in the last two weeks since mods began appearing on Bethesda’s official website.  Even with the massive limitations imposed by Sony that specifically strip any form of real modding customization by not allowing anything that uses external assets or scripts, there are currently 151 mods (and that number is building daily) ready to go for users when mods finally go live this week.

So what mods should you download?  Check out my list of recommended ones below!

CLOTHING/PLAYER MODS

UCO: Unified Clothing Overhaul by AndrewCX. |  With the lack of external assets allowed in the game it means custom outfit pieces will never be available to PS4 users.  With this UCO mod, users will be able to  upgrade all armor/clothes/hats/helmets/bandanna’s and glasses, layer more armor pieces over more clothes and color swap the appearance of clothing/armor & raider power armor among other options.

UCO Pipboy Color Swap Enabler by AndrewCX. |  This mod enables users to change the color of their players pipboy by offering 59 different colors and patterns to use.  There are some special instructions to follow to ensure this mod works.

Ultimate Vault Attire by Guidion | This mod allows users to craft and mod vault jumpsuits, vault tech armor and scientist outfits.  Ballistic weave, vault numbers, legendary effects and suit linings can also be altered when crafting.

Waste Anchorage Hairstyle by TheRealElianora |  This will probably be the only ‘hair mod’ PS4 users will ever get.  This new hairstyle combines the “Waste Maiden” with the “Anchorage” hairstyle and is available for both genders.

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Elianora’s Companion Overhaul Mod is a must get mod!

The Companions Enhanced by The RealElianora | Players using this mod will see companions (Piper, Curie and Cait) enhanced with a new look and added buffs for their weapons.  An update for Mama Murphy is also included.

NPC Pipboys for PS4 by Batta0909 | Small mod that makes pipboys usable by companions and settlers.  They have no actual use and cannot be used by the player but adds to the overall effect if building settlements within a bunker/vault.

 SETTLEMENT MODS

Clean and Smooth Settlements by Okie1682| For those like me who have completed the game and are focusing on settlement building, Okie1682 is releasing his ‘clean and smooth’ settlement mods that basically strip the settlement of all debris and junk, tress and foliage, rebuilds broken benches and some buildings – basically, it leaves a blank canvas ready for building and the best bit, this mod should work on pre-existing game saves though Okie1682 has noted that buildings and items may appear to be floating in areas where the ground has been smoothed out on your game save but a it’s easy enough to scrap and rebuild.  So far, the following settlements cleaned up include:

Starlight Drive-in | Egret Tours Marina | Sanctuary Hills | Somerville Place | with more to come!

Settlement Resource Alignment by Race4it2 | This little mod improves resources for selected water pumps  (Water Purifier now 100 water units) , small generator (300 power) and tato plant (6 food) and increases the length of copper wiring from 500 to 5000.

GoodNeighbour Player Home by Tony1912 | This mod introduces a multi-level player home within the walls of GoodNeighbour.  Located Next to the Third Rail this ex apartment offers a workshop with all build functions plus power. There’s fast travel too and from this location. 4 Balconies,  no clutter – just move in and build!

Settlement Build Budget x10 by AndrewCX | A great mod that increases the build budget of all settlements to 10 times their default values.  The only downside is this mod will not work on save games and will only work on a new play through – which AndrewCX notes is down to modding restrictions placed by Sony.

Prisoner Shackles by mlucke | This fun mod takes the shackles used by the disciples in Nuka World and makes them available to your settlements.  Includes a prisoner mat that come with various poses, a craftable shock collar and cages.

Wild Plants and Alcohol for Settlements by 3lric | This mod brings in a massive selection of wild plants found in the commonwealth and make them available to transport into your settlements.  Includes plants like Wild Melon, Wild Mutfruit, Wild Tarberry and HubFlower along with a range of planters and a massive selection of craftable alcohol via the cooking stations.

CHEATS

Cheat Container by Vicyorus | A must for any player, the cheat container is a small tool box located outside each and every settlement and contains 60,000 units of each building component.  This, at the moment, does not re-spawn but there are load instructions on how to get these to refill.

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ArougueModder’s Oil Rig Player Home Mod

Workbench Anywhere by AndrewCX | This mod allows users the create a “Spawn Beacon – Workshop Workbench” that can be used like a grenade to spawn a workshop workbench anywhere in the game world.  This mod is heavily restricted though and only seems to work on locations that have been ‘cleared’ but will not form part of

Get All Perks by mttprc11 | As it states, unlocks all perks within the game and also includes a standard riffle with 9999 ammo, 9999 stimpacks and 99999 caps.  As it’s untested, author notes this may not work on existing game saves.

MISC

Oil Rig Player Home by ArogueModder | This massive structure will appear on your pipboy after installing as ‘oil rig’ and is a playable home with Workshop, Navmesh, Map Markers and a Vertibird Landing Pad.  ArogueModder notes that this will disable map boarders on your game.

Limited Minutemen Quests by Chucksteel | This much needed mod reduces the number of quests Preston can give you at once from three to one.  No new quest will be offered until the current one has been completed!

As noted above, mods are coming thick and fast and will change the way you play Fallout 4.  Are there any specific mods you are looking forward to?  Something that should be on this list?  Sound off in the comments section!

fallout 4, FRONT, Gaming

Fallout 4 Mods for PS4 have Began to Appear on Bethesda Website

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Unlock Ballistic Weave Mod by AndrewCX is live on the PS4 Mods page

The latest patch update to Fallout 4 (released today on PC and coming soon to consoles) includes an update to Bethesda’s Creation Kit which now offers mod support for PS4 mods.  The expectation is that the next scheduled update will finally include mods to be opened for PS4 users playing Fallout 4.

The previously stated restrictions involving no external assets and minimal mod storage space are still in effect though as of this post there are currently 29 mods available for the PS4 (that number raised by 5 in the 10 minutes since I began writing this post) that will be available for when mods go live.

The small mod storage space on PS4 consoles shouldn’t be too worrisome for players as the current “no external assets” restrictions currently in place mean available mods shouldn’t be much larger than a few MB each.

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Mods for PS4 Fallout and coming quick and fast

The current listed mods include the hugely popular “cheat container” that offers players a small toolbox in Sanctuary full of 10,000 units of each building component (plants not included), an “unlock ballistic weave” mod for those (myself included) who encountered a bug with Tinker Tom not offering ballistic weave for clothing items after completing Railroad tasks or for those who did not side with the Railroad.

The “Beantown Interiors Project” has been ported to PS4 as well which opens up 30 buildings in Concord, Jamaica Plains and Hyde Park, among others, that have been boarded up and inaccessible to players and Elianora’s “Waste Anchorage” hairstyle mod along with her “Tweaks and Fixes all-in-one” mod and “Companion Appearance Overhaul” mods are live too.

Those worried about the lack of external assets affecting the amount of mods coming to Fallout 4 need only take a look at the current list of Skyrim mods for PS4 which is currently sitting at over 750 listed mods.  Granted these mods will never reach the same customization offered to Xbox One and PC users.

Mods for PS4 users playing Fallout 4 are due later this month.

fallout 4, FRONT, Gaming

Fallout 4 + Skyrim Mods coming to PS4 in Limited Capacity

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It’s a sucky time to be a PS4 console owner, even more so if you’re one who was expecting mod support for Fallout 4 and Skyrim.  The battle of mod support between Bethesda Studios and Sony had become such an epic pile of shit that neither side were offering reasonable answers as to why mods were cancelled for PS4 users in the first place.  Sony literally kept tight lipped on the topic, Bethesda placed the target sign on Sonys back while PC and Xbox users reveled in the mass amount of mods available for Fallout 4 and the soon to be released Skyrim Special Edition.

Now it seems the two sides have found a ‘reasonable’ common ground that will actually see mod support come to PS4 users for Skyrim when the game releases October 28th and then later on for Fallout 4 players – but – it’s not going to be in the same capacity that PC and Xbox One users have been graced with.

“Mod support will come to Skyrim first,” Bethesda explained today in a blog post. “We and Sony have worked hard to make this possible. Mods on PlayStation 4 will allow you to modify and create your own content by using our Creation Kit available here. You will not be able to upload external assets with your PlayStation 4 mods, but you will be able to use any assets that come with the game, as most mods do. By creating a Bethesda.net account, you’ll be able to browse and try mods right from within the game.”

“You will not be able to upload external assets” is the bad words in the above statement that heaps another pile of crap onto an already big pile of crap for PS4 owners.  What this means is that unless the mod comes from a vanilla base that already exists within Skyrim and Fallout 4, it can’t be ported to the PS4 which ultimately kills a large bulk of mods from settlement additions, outfits, hair options and power armor mods that currently exist and use custom created content.  It will be interesting to see if anyone creates anything decent and worthwhile porting into the game with the vanilla bases available.

Oh and lastly, word has it, unlike Xbox’s 2gb mod storage limit, PS4 users are being awarded 900mb of mod space.

So one now has to wonder – what’s the point of allowing mods at this late stage if it is going to be so greatly limited? Is it so Bethesda remains true to their word that Skyrim Special Edition and Fallout 4 got their mods?

How much is an Xbox One these days?

Update 21/10/16

Bethesda finally went about and released some further notes about mod space for Skyrim Special Edition on ps4 and Xbox One consoles when the game drops on October 28th.  Once again, Xbox One is coming up on top with a whopping 5GB limit compared to PS4’s 1GB.  This compares to the previously announced 900MB cap for PS4 consoles for fallout 4 mods.

Why the space difference?  All comes down to external assets.  As Sony is refusing mods that require them, the range of mods will be much smaller and will not require much space within the PS4 console while Microsoft’s Xbox One has been more than open to allowing mods that use them.

There is still no official word on when mods will hit for PS4 users playing Fallout 4.

fallout 4, FRONT, Gaming

Fallout 4 Mods for PS4 Officially Scrapped…..For Now.

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“Zella’s Dyed Wigs” are just one of many mods currently available for Fallout 4 on PC and XBox 1

PS4 owners currently playing Bethesda’s Fallout 4 (including myself) have been patiently waiting since its release back in November 2015 for any news of mod support coming to fruition for their console versions of the game.  The official word from Bethesda was that June 2016 will see, for the first time ever, official mods coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox 1 users playing Fallout 4.

It was exciting news for console users as the range of mods that had been available for PC versions of most Fallout games, that included everything from texture improvements, new settlement build items, body modifications, new hair textures, outfits, weapons – even changing seasons….were finally coming to consoles and would virtually make the experience of Fallout a brand new one that would look as however we determined it to.

June came and passed and it’s now early September and Xbox 1 users are now reveling in mods for the game while it seems PS4 users have been left out in the rain and may never actually see mods at all and according to Bethesda, it’s not on their behalf.

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Mods can drastically alter the way the original game of Fallout 4 looked and felt.

On their official site, Bethesda announced they are halting their fight to get mods out for PS4 users because Sony won’t come to the game.  The statement reads:

“After months of discussion with Sony, we regret to say that while we have long been ready to offer mod support on PlayStation 4, Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim Special Edition.

Like you, we are disappointed by Sony’s decision given the considerable time and effort we have put into this project, and the amount of time our fans have waited for mod support to arrive. We consider this an important initiative and we hope to find other ways user mods can be available for our PlayStation audience. However, until Sony will allow us to offer proper mod support for PS4, that content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim on PlayStation 4 will not be available.

We will provide an update if and when this situation changes.”

As it reads, this news will also affect the hugely anticipated Skyrim Special Edition release that is also being flogged as offering mods to PS4 users.  It appears the breakdown between Bethesda and Sony comes in the form of not enough mod storage space (900mb for PS4 to 2GB for XBox 1), sound file support and texture issues with PC to console modding.  It also seems Bethesda’s approach to mods “where users can do anything they want” isn’t sitting too well with Sony either.

And to kick us PS4 Fallout players while we’re down, The development team on Farming Simulator 17 have confirmed that mods will be playable on the PS4 version of the game from the day of release.  Don’t ask me why this is happening but not for Fallout 4!

I wonder how much an XBox 1 costs these days?

 

fallout 4, FRONT, Gaming

Fallout 4 DLC Content Calendar Revealed

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Fallout 4 DLC has been announced

News on Fallout 4 DLC has been pretty scarce since the games release late last year and while we knew it was coming, just how much was coming and what we would get was being kept a surprise but yesterday, Bethesda let the cat out of the bag and let us all in on what’s to come.

In an update on their blog, Bethesda revealed the first wave of DLC content, announced a price hike for season passes and confirmed that mods were in fact on their way.

The first of the three announced DLC packs titled Automatron (March 2016 release) will see players hunting the wasteland for evil robots that have been released by the mysterious Mechanist. As players go about finding and destroying these robots, we’ll be able to harvest parts and build and mod our own custom robots that we can assign as companions. From Bethesda: “Choose from hundreds of mods; mixing limbs, armor, abilities, and weapons like the all-new lightning chain gun. Even customize their paint schemes and choose their voices!“

The second DLC titled Wasteland Workshop (April 2016 release) will see players literally hunting and taming their own wasteland creatures. Raiders to Mirelurks to Deathclaws, players will be able to tame them or set them off in battle against each other. The second part of this DLC looks to address one of the games biggest and most interactive features of settlement building (which I have come to love) and will include a stack of new settlement design options including additional lighting, letter kits and more.

The third and final DLC release is the biggest and most promising of the lot, titled Far Harbor (May 2016 release) is a full game add-on that will see players taking on a new case from Valentine’s Detective Agency to find a missing woman that will see you travel to the coast of Maine to the mysterious island of Far Harbor, where higher levels of radiation have created a more feral world. An unrest has evolved between the townspeople, the synths and the children of the Atom and it’s your responsibility to find this missing woman while trying to evoke peace between the factions.

Bethesda is promising this third DLC will be the biggest landmass add-on they’ve ever created, filled with “new faction quests, settlements, lethal creatures and dungeons. Become more powerful with new, higher-level armor and weapons. The choices are all yours.”

While only three DLC announcements have been made, Bethesda are promising much much more is on it’s way and have therefore upped the season pass plan from US$29.99 to $49.99 (£24.99 to £39.99 GBP; $49.95 to $79.95 AUD). For users who have already bought the season pass, you guys are set and no further charges will be given. Those not yet with the season pass will still be able to nab the cheaper pass up until Feb 29th when the price increases on March 1st 2016.

Beyond this announcement, Bethesda have also announced beta testing for these new DLC packs will be open to players who have joined their Bethesda.net website (registration is still open) and those lucky enough to be given the option of playing the beta’s will also be able to level up and keep their stats as they progress.

Bethesda are still working on the highly anticipated ‘creation kit’ modding tool for PC and console users.

For all the info on the upcoming DLC packs click here

fallout 4, FRONT, Video Games

Fallout 4 Feels and Review for PS4

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Red sequin dress with leather armor, this is Fallout 4

The Fallout series never fails to exercise my rage quit limitations and with Fallout 4, the latest in the line of post-apocalyptic scavenger games, that limitation is being pushed to it’s utmost limits.  That said, i’m guessing it’s a good thing to say that 10 hours in and I am yet to actually quit in a fit of rage.

The best way for me to describe the game is comparing it to say…a shit sandwich.  A compliment topped with shit topped with another compliment.

So far, Fallout 4, for the most part, has encouraged me to develop a rather nasty hoarding disorder worse than anything seen on one of those reality hoarder shows but unlike those shows where the crazy woman keeps empty cans of beans from 1985 because she has an emotional attachment to them, i’m hoarding for the fact that everything within Fallout 4, from plates to hairbrushes, cars to trees, can all be turned to scrap and reused for modding weapons, armor and camp building purposes.

Now…camp building….we all remember that feeling we got when Bethesda released the trailer for Fallout 4 that showed how we can rebuild settlements from the ground up?  Us Fallout fans squeed with delight at this new element to the series and it seemed the possibilities were endless for what we could do with settlements…I tell you though, this is one of the most frustrating features of the game.

Aside from trying to ration your pack between broken cups, cigar boxes, sniper rifles and ammo, the first attempt at rebuilding a settlement felt a bit tedious and yawn inducing.  Here we have a massive, massive land we’re yearning to discover but right off the bat, the game requires me to run around town demolishing everything in it just so it can be rebuilt again.

The second attempt at building, I found myself in an old drive-in unable to build more than a handful of shabby shacks and plant some corn because the ground was so uneven and hilly that whatever I placed down was floating in the air making it unusable, thus a waste of resources.  Add into that the inability to remove dead bodies of slaughtered raiders, creatures, skeletons or general ground rubble and suddenly you become incredibly restricted to what you can build and where it can be built.

That said, once far enough into the game, maintaining these settlements does become a feature and I find myself, in between missions and side quests, travelling from camp to camp trying to make sure there is enough power, water, food and beds to keep wasteland survivors happy.

One of the main things I have found myself liking are the companions available to follow you throughout the wasteland.  Characters like Diamond City reporter Piper, Dogmeat the dog and private eye synthetic Nick Valentine have much better and engaging personalities and are much more fleshed out than those featured in previous outings though your will to put a bullet in these companions will be tested when they all but ruin any chance you had of making a stealthy kill as they burst in shooting and bashing any enemy in sight or block you from leaving or entering a room as they choose to stand in a doorway reluctant to move no matter where you direct them to go.

The downside to these companions is how easily they get lost in the sprawling wasteland.  While you can determine where your companions are sent to when you trade one for another, trying to remember who is where can be nightmarish, especially when it comes to Dogmeat who seems to wander about.  While i’m sure I sent him to Sanctuary, he’s now presumably roaming about aimlessly in bumfuck nowhere.  An ability to contact these companions without having to physically grab them would have been a much wiser choice.

One word of advice however is NOT to play this game with your own fluffy companion in the same room.  My girl found it necessary to react any time Dogmeat barked or growled aggressively or yelped in pain.

Interactions with NPC’s have vastly improved to a point where travelers within your camps can be assigned tasks from gardening to patrolling the grounds or used as storage bins to hold more of your junk you find.  Don’t like what someone is wearing?  You can even swap out their current outfit for something that you’ve picked up along the way meaning you can fit out an entire town – men and women – in nothing but purple sequin off the shoulder dresses (something I haven’t done but am tempted to do)

As for bugs and glitches, I’ve read there’s more issues on consoles versus the PC release, but for me, playing on the PS4, the only ‘odd’ thing I’ve come across so far is a massive brahmin stuck in my bedroom (how on earth did it get there?!) which I later shot dead and pillaged.  Now the damn thing is just laying dead on my bed rotting away.

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I may have to re-arrange some furniture…

Overall, Fallout 4 achieves its main goals of feeling true to the Fallout series and offering an immense game that will gobble up hours upon hours of your life as you try to complete everything that pops up across your travels.  Even as I write this, I’m only 10 or so hours into game play and I have barely scratched the surface of what Fallout 4 has to offer.

It’s brutal, it’s crazy, it’s full of distractions and it’s immense fun.  It is Fallout after all!

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Fallout 4 Officially Coming this year Plus a Reddit User Spills All!

A screen from Fallout 4 Trailer
A screen from Fallout 4 Trailer

The countdown clock on the Fallout 4 website has officially ended, revealing the official announcement of the Fallout 4 game, with a trailer, heading to PC, Xbox One and PS4 later this year.

Bethesda are keeping information very very close to their chest with no official information released on story-line, how Fallout 4 fits into the Fallout timeline or customization options, though that’s not to say there’s no information floating around the web.  Eleven months ago, a disgruntled, former Bethesda employee (who was fired for dishing out confidential game information) took to reddit to spill all the beans about having played the game and what users can expect.

“In Fallout 4, you are in Boston, and it takes place in the year 2287, exactly 10 years after Fallout 3. In Fallout 4, mixing things up, we are making the game more “Story Based” and the player character will finally talk, and narrate his story line” – reddit user SandraReed begins.  “At the beginning of the game, you create your character (You can only be a male in the main story), and afterward, you start the game with a blast. After the blast, you awake to see the building you are standing inside blown apart and your wife, Lydia, dead. Robots and Androids are storming the place, killing and kidnapping the people inside. You, known as “The Officer”, must escape and get revenge.”

Other notable claims include the map of Fallout 4 being three times the size of that in Skyrim, Fallout 4 takes place in Boston, you can import your Fallout 3 data and that could have an impact on the story depending on your previous choices and 5 DLC expansion packs have been scheduled.

Obviously, all this information is speculation until Bethesda play their hand at E3 next week, and here’s hoping the company haven’t taken a step backwards by removing the ability to play as a female character (SandraReed does note female character can be played…once you have finished the main story line).  Users like myself who have followed and played the game from dot one as a female character may feel a bit hard done by that they won’t be able to continue on.

What are your thoughts about the trailer and the revelations released by SandraReed on Reddit?