The Fallout series, much like the Elder Scrolls series, is one that I easily find myself immersed in for hours at a time. In the case of Fallout 4, I’m at roughly 400 hours of immersion. And, while the game is enjoyable out of the box, I feel like there is always room for a bit of a personal touch. Luckily for me, there are hundreds, if not thousands of other people out there that share my sentiments and thus we have quite the collection of mods that can be found at the Nexus.
Presently, there are over 15k+ mods for Fallout 4 and even more for a number of other games. With so many to choose from, and over 60 mods currently in my Fallout 4 load order, I narrowed down the mods to the 7 mods I simply refuse to play the game without.
1. Armor and Weapons Keyword Community Resource
According to the mod page, AWKCR isn’t so much a mod as it is technically a framework to help standardize the way that modders make their content. Its features include the following:
- Creates a standardized framework for armor and cosmetics keywords for mod authors to prevent conflicts.
- Standardizes armor and cosmetics slot usage to prevent conflicts (contributed by all major cosmetics mod authors).
- Creates a standard armor and weapons workbench to be utilized for crafting items added by mods.
- Adds keyword standards for weapons mods & modded weapons.
- Adds sorting keywords for weapon calibers to make it easier for weapon modders to set up their gun mods for dynamic sorting.
This helps to not only keep things tidy behind the scenes but it also helps to put naming conventions in place that keep other mods from overwriting content and minimizes conflicts.
2. Armorsmith Extended
On my first play through of Fallout 4 I was not so happy that I wasn’t able to wear particular outfits and armor pieces together. That issue was promptly resolved when I found Armorsmith Extended, which allows you to wear any outfit with any armor. This does come with a price though, as this was not the intent of the vanilla game and there are sometimes issues with armor and clothing clipping and looking unsightly. Luckily, this issue is fixed (kind of) with this next mod.
3. Concealed Armors
This mod does exactly what the name implies; it conceals the armor that the player is wearing by toggling the visibility of the armor. Additionally, it can also toggle between what version of the armor is visible — so if you had a Heavy Combat Chestpiece for example, you could toggle it to look like a medium or even a light piece.
What I really love about this is that it allows me to wear a cool outfit, like The Silver Shroud outfit pictured above, but I can also wear armor that allows me to withstand more than a handful of attacks….all without looking unsightly, like the image on the left.
4. Handmade Revolver
This is a newer addition to my list but has become an instant favorite. The handmade revolver is, in my opinion, one of the best standalone weapons on the Nexus right now. Not only does it look amazing but it actually scales very well, so it’s still a viable weapon to use even in the mid-to-late game.
I personally like to put a rifle barrel on it but keep a pistol grip so I have a massive, .308 caliber revolver that does big boy damage. It’s a mix of comical & bad-ass to watch the V.A.T.S. critical with this hand cannon.
5. Raider Overhaul
After 400 hours of roaming the Commonwealth and seeing the same raiders all over the place becomes kind of a bore. This is where Raider Overhaul comes in and keeps things interesting.
Not only does this mod make the raiders tougher as you progress in your adventure, but it adds a ton of customized gear and armor to create more diversity among the raiders. It also adds in Raider Dreadnaughts, fearsome raider juggernauts in a custom heavy armor that are sure to prove a challenge even at higher levels.
6. Rain of Brass
Rain of Brass is a simple mod that extends the lifetime of spent shells and bullet casings so that you can truly appreciate the carnage and wanton post-shootout destruction. I know that to some it might not seem like such a big deal, but it’s one of those little details that I just really enjoy.
7. True Storms: Wasteland Edition
If there was only room for one more mod on your mod list then I’d have to recommend True Storms to fill that spot. This mod brings new life to the weather of the wastes in the form of more varied storms and levels of storms, new storm sound effects, and truly terrifying radiation storms that are as beautiful as they are deadly.
So there you have it, my top 7 must-have mods in my load order. If any of these amazing mods caught your eye be sure to click the links. Also, tell me about your favorite mod(s) in the comments below.
