Here I am! Fresh from the World of Wow. How to begin? Where to begin? As I have not dipped even a pinky toe into modding Fallout 3, right now you know more than I do. [Image Can Not Be Found]

The Nexus is the place I go for both Morrowind & Oblivion mods. And I've paid for monthly subscriptions too cause I have downloaded way lots from his server. But there's no obligation.

With both MW & Oblivion there is such a thing as a "mod manager" to help one organize & install/uninstall mods. Everything scout said is true. Think of it this way: a mod either adds to or changes original game files. Install mod1, your game is now not as it used to be. Install mod2 & ooops, maybe the files mod2 was expecting are now gone or altered. Then what if you change your mind (game crashing, mods conflicts, want back your vanilla game)….how do you go back? That's what mod managers do: they help you by assisting with load order (even then not automatic by any stretch) & saving copies of original files so that you can effectively "go back." Except to do that the mods must be in a certain format & not all mod makers are kind enough to do that for you – then in those cases, you must take their mod & convert it. I'm betting for Fallout 3, most every mod is ready for the mod manager.

Whew!  Now what? Here are a couple of suggestions.

First, I went to Fallout3Nexus & looked at the top 100 list – #2 is Timeslip's Mod Manager. Yup, he's the guy who made the mod managers for MW & Oblivion. Study up on that even if it makes no sense. Eventually you'll want to know what it means.

Look around the site – I went to browse categories/quests. Notice how many downloads & how high users rate the mod. Oftimes a quest mod is plopped into the game without changing anything. That would be a good start – add a quest line (237 listed). After looking at rating & reading some comments, look at the description – does the quest interest you? How difficult is installation & have users had any problems (in comments)?

For example on first page of quests: A Note Easily Missed. 14,516 downloads….that tells me it's pretty good. In fact, it seems to be a 3 part series, even better! In his description he also talks about putting a check next to the .esp (main file of the mod content, same as most all mods unless they are purely textures) & using the FOMM (I'll give you a hint: Fall Out Mod Manager [Image Can Not Be Found]). It may be possible to load a mod like this without any manager (do it from Data Files Menu ingame) – just remember, very few players who use mods can limit themselves to just one, that's why he mentions using a manager.

Another place to start: I dredged up from the depths of my memory (yay me!) a name….years ago a young woman (Arwen) wrote a journal about playing MW. As this was also my first rpg I found her site while searching for answers. Then she discovered mods & wrote about that. She has done the same with Oblivion: journal & modding. I expected she'd do the same with Fallout 3 and so she has. A very user friendly way to watch the process of modding.     http://amito.freehostia.com/Fa.....out/FO.htm

Alls else I can advise you is read, read, read. It won't come at once or easily but once you slide down the slippery slope, mods open whole new worlds. [Image Can Not Be Found]

P.S. You just might consider Oblivion GOTY - install & fiddle as nuh-uh, you don't like fantasy & don't want to actually play it. But it would give you something to do while you wait. And as modding works the same , you could learn without mucking up your FO:3 files. 🙂