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I stopped playing Fallout 4 for a while after mods came out for the Xbox because they made the game too easy, thus boring.
When I finally decided to play the game again, having already learned my lesson, I did not use any cheat mods (mostly). However, there are still quite a few mods which I do use because they fix flaws or annoyances or poor desgn or outright bugs, or they add features which otherwise make the game better, not easier. Regarding "annoyances": Fallout is not the only game series in which the developers apparently added features solely for the purpose of annoying the player. Someone must have done a study that showed that this makes the game more interesting on a subconscious level. It clearly does not make the game more fun, and I am certain that the reason I play games like F4 is not because of these annoyances but in spite of them. Fortunately, mods remove some of the annoyances. Below are the mods I used a while back. Click here for a more up-to-date (Dec. 2025) list. Unofficial F4 Patch: (Flaws) No surprise here. It is the prime example of mods which fix flaws in F4. This may be a good spot to note that in 2025, Bethesda changed how mods are managed by calling then Creations. Most of the mods listed below still work, although about half the time the Creations tabs on the main menu don't work. The F4 Patch doesn't seem to work. Move (Get Out Of The Way): (Annoyances) The prime example of dealing with annoyances. All companions (and Dogmeat) play hard to get when you want to exchange gear with them, but in a big gunfight - or just when you want to get through a door or up/down stairs - they think the best place to position themselves is at your feet. Constantly. This mod helps by making it easier to push them out of your way, though they still provide some resistance. I would be happier if I could just walk through them. I don't use this because the problem itself seems to have been fixed. Unrestrained Power Armor: (Design) A prime example of fixing a poor design in the game. If like me you use your PA most of the time, you may also get annoyed at trying to use a work bench or a computer terminal or take a nap, only to be told that you can't do that in Power Armor. Well, now you can, usually. Out in the wild, you may be told to take off your power armor first. Get Unstuck: (Bug) Sometimes you get stuck and F4 won't let you move. Your only choices used to be to fast travel somewhere or exit and reload the game. This provides a better choice - it unsticks you. As with Move, above, I've quit using this because I rarely get stuck any more. Change Dumb Things: (Design) Example: Removes 3 tables from inside Red Rocket which can't be scrapped. (I took another long break and started playing again in August 2022. This mod appears when I click on Mods while in the game, but it is not checked. If I click on it, it still does not load. Dynamic Interior Fog Removal: (Annoyance) Fast Travel From Anywhere: (Design) Saves time in the game. Instead of having to (often times) find your way back out of a building, then go through one long transition to exit a building and then a second long transition to fast travel, you can fast travel from anywhere inside (still not around enemies though). You could already do this in a couple of places in the stock game. Probably the reason for not having it everywhere is that nobody wants to pay a big price for a short game, so developers do things to make games last longer even though they add no challenge or fun to the game. . Faster Terminal Display: (Design) What the name says. Why does stock F4 drag it out? (Oh yeah. Makes it a "longer" game.) Improved Power Switch: (Design) This is a bit of a cheat, but not a game breaker. It just makes setting up a settlement less of an annoyance. Invulnerable Turrets: (Flaw) See F4 Cheats: F4 Doesn't Play Fair. Key Nuker & Key Ring: (Design) You don't really need to see in your inventory every key you've ever picked up. Mo Betta Scrap: (Design) Scrap a radio and get 1 Rubber? Does this make any kind of sense? I'm pretty sure that radios are made of circuits, screws, etc. This mod gives you more realistic scraps. Only Clear Weather: (Design) Some people might argue that it is just part of the game you should have to deal with when getting drenched with radioactive rain from which you cannot escape. Why? There is no skill involved, just F4 giving you a dose of radiation poisoning for no reason. If you like that, fine. But I use this mod. That being said, we have a different definition of "clear weather" than the author of this mod. It is not uncommon to be caught out in the rain while using this mod. Worse yet, it sometimes rain with rads. Portable Junk Recycler ("PJR"): (Feature) This is designed primarily for reducing the weight of junk you pick up while travelling. If you just need some screws, break down scissors, for example, and throw out the steel. One thing to be careful of is that some things actually weigh more after being scrapped. Bones are one example. Rib Cage & Pelvis is 5 pounds but breaks down to 11 Bones of 1 pound each. So just don't scrap them. Same for Pencils which weigh 0. Some types of Junk should not be scrapped. Examples: Cigar boxes and other smokes break down into Paper which you usually don't need, but they can be sold for fairly good prices. In fact, pre-war money only breaks down into paper and is worth much more when traded. Some gold and silver items, such as knives and forks, aren't worth much and can be scrapped for their gold and silver, but gold and silver watches, lockets, etc., are worth enough that they should be saved for trading and not be scrapped. Leather is a component you will never need in crafting if you are a Power Armor user, so animal hides should be traded, not scrapped. Also, Abraxo, itself, is needed to craft Mentats which are needed for making Grape Mentats for getting better prices from merchants, so be careful not to put Abraxo into the PJR. In fact, Abraxo breaks down into Acid, Antiseptic, and Fiberglass, the first two of which are relatively scarce. If the Chemistry Station needs Acid or Antiseptic and those components are already broken down in the Workshop, it will use them first; otherwise, it will break down some item which contain those components and it may break down Abraxo rather than some other source. You do not HAVE to break down junk - the workbenches will break down junk for you when you try to craft/build with it - but having it broken down makes it easier to see exactly how much of each component you have and to get out components that you need if you want to carry them somewhere. See Settlement Building Kit for a list of components needed to build up a new settlement with beds, turrets, food, water, beacon, generator, etc. You can easily carry this to the new site without needing trade routes. Power Armor Quick Enter/Exit: (Design) Does what the name says. Quaz Craftables: (Feature) Just some furniture I like having. If you have this mod loaded, that's all there is to it. When you go into the build mode, you will see the Quaz items in the furniture lists. Settlement Management Software: (Feature) Lets you view stats on any of your settlements, assign tasks, etc. It has some bugs, but they seem to be the same ones as in the settlement display you get in Pip Boy. Targeting HUD and Berry Mentats: (Design) Greatly improves the way these two things work. It lets you see if enemies are hidden behind walls or, the case of ghouls, underground. Weightless Bodies: (Design) Makes it easier/possible to get rid of dead bodies when cleaning up settlement sites. Do you have the huge carcass of a queen mirelurk in the middle of the Castle grounds? Sorry, but this mod didn't help, but I stood back a far piece and fired on it with my Spray n' Pray which uses explosive ammo and managed to blow the thing off to the side. Locksmith: (Flaw) Lets you lock any door so that nobody walks in on you. It does not work 100% of the time, but pretty close. Skeleton Key: (Cheat) In the early part of the game, such as in Concord, why are you faced with so many above-novice locks which you cannot possibly crack yet? Even if you make a note and go back later, what was locked up is rarley worth the effort. Even if a lock is Novice level, I've mentioned elsewhere how screwed up lock picking is in F4, so my procedure now is to try to pick the lock and if the bobb pin breaks, I use the Skeleton Key. Home/Index
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