As you may have already read, I wrote up a beginner’s guide to modding Fallout 3 last week and am just now getting around to writing the second in the series. This week I tested out a whole bunch of user interface modifications and came up with 4 mods that I now find essential to playing the game. Before I get into the details of the different mods I am just going to rehash a couple of main points on modding.

At this I assume you already have FOMM installed and have clicked that nice little button labeled “Toggle invalidation” in order to enable that feature. If you haven’t done it, do it now. The second thing I want to mention is that all the files you will be downloading will need to go in the Data folder located in your Fallout 3 directory. If you have done those two thing everything should be good to go so let’s take a look at some mods.

MTUI:

As you should be able to tell this mod will make it much easier to scroll through the different dialogue choices. Aside from talking, it also makes similar changes to pretty much everything that involves text: item trading, leveling up, system setting, you name it. If any of you have played this game then I don’t need to tell you how annoying it is when you can only see a few lines of text at a time. Head on over to Fallout 3 Nexus and download it.

Color Hi Detailed map and icons:

Don’t worry, this mod won’t change the language, it just adds a map that is much easier to see. The main Fallout 3 isn’t all that bad but this is just so much easier to read. Not only is the map colored the icons are as well which makes this mod that much better. One thing to note with this mod, you will want to go into your display settings and change the pip-boy color to white otherwise you won’t be able to see jack shit. Download.

Item Descriptions:

For whatever reason I really didn’t want to use this mod when I first saw it but it really is a must-have. This mod only adds to the amazing world of Fallout 3 by adding more details about all the items that you may come across in your journey across the wasteland. To install this mod you will, of course, copy the content into the Data fold but there is one extra step. First you need to make sure the file “Item Descriptions Img.esp” is inside the Data folder then when you launch FOMM you will need to check the box next to file name. Download.

Interface Mod – Revelation:

This mod changes quite a bit more than the previously mentioned mods. I know that this mod will not be for everybody which is why I recommended MTUI first. This mod brings back a look much more familiar to those that have played any of the original Fallout titles. I actually use this mod in conjunction with MTUI because that mod makes a few changes to the pip-boy interface that this mod does not. If you want to use both you will want to copy the MTUI files into the data folder first, and then copy the files for Revelation into the data folder and overwrite all of the other files. One thing I need to point out with this mod as well is that every now and then you will notice a stutter when a menu pops up because it essentially makes the game load an image when it wasn’t expecting to so it won’t be in RAM ready to go. This stutter doesn’t bother me but others may not like it. Download.

Mouse Acceleration Fix:

This mod doesn’t require you to download anything but you will need to make a modification to your .ini file. If you didn’t know, the in game menus have a strange mouse acceleration property that not everybody likes, myself included. The first step here is to locate the FALLOUT.ini file. It will be located in you “My Documents/My Games/Fallout 3″ directory. You will want to open that file in notepad and scroll down a little ways until you find the section labeled [Controls]. All you need to do is add these four lines of text to that section and then save the file:

fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0
fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0
fForegroundMouseBase=0
fForegroundMouseMult=0

So that concludes this week of Fallout 3 modding goodness. I always recommend you checkout Fallout 3 Nexus to see if you find some other mods that you like. I will be doing more of these article and take on a different category each week. I have already been playing around with a handful of model and texture mods as well as some mods that are significant gameplay changers. And what fun would traveling the wasteland for the third time be without some cheats and god items?