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Introduction
The last few months have been a whirlwind. The beginning of June saw a revamp of the Parent Server with the change of bots managing our moderation, which required all members to re-verify, a change of themes, and with the server owner stepping down, I've stepped into the Captain's shoes for Fallout 4 load order advice. (I've always been the lead admin for FO4 load orders on the Parent Server; I just have a fancier title now.) Due to how permissions were originally set up, we had to go through all members and fix a lot of things.
Website Updates
I updated the Discord page on the website when we updated the Discord server, but I totally forgot to update the Code of Conduct with the new information from the Parent Server and that has now been fixed. These are minor edits to wording because we use updated our theme, our moderation bot, and added new support members. We're really looking forward to Starfield and wanted the server to reflect a space opera theme. Other changes to all legal pages include the removal of the direct email. Spam bots were picking it up and spamming me with wonderful ads about things I care nothing about. Please use the contact page or Twitter if you have any questions about the website. If you have to contact a moderator on Discord, please DM ModMail.
oddlittleturtle
Survival Guide Updates
A note for newsletter subscribers: Because of the length of the document, many of the articles on the Survival Guide will be seeing a migration to my website where they can be added to search engines for new players to find.
Framework Sections revamped
Several of the Framework sections have had subsections added to them to help players determine the best spot for mods. The website has been updated to reflect the changes. Because the spreadsheet template is a general template for all load orders, it remains unchanged, but that may change in the future.
New mods have been added, however, I, unfortunately, had a hiccup with Notepad ++ and lost several documents when Windows updated on my PC. The changelog as I was updating is one such document.
Vanilla Quest has vanilla systems overhauls added to it, such as those that re-write Followers.pex, WorkshopParent.pex, and HC_Manager.pex. If you have any questions about vanilla quest overhauls, email me or come join us on Discord.
New Useful Links
While I'm not able to actively help due to time constraints, I'm on the support team at Collective Modding. This server is a PC modding server that assists with several PC modding guides. I've added the server link to the Survival Guide for those who play on PC. If you have Buffout 4 crash reports, you'll need to go there to have them analyzed. Please read all documentation and the rules prior to joining. Be considerate of other players and the support team. The server got very large, very fast, and the support team is very small for the number of players there and how many modding guides they support. If you have questions about the Survival Guide, it is still handled on my website and ARM.
I've also added console technical/support info links for those who need a quick reference or those who are brand new to the console community (welcome, new players!).
Updated Sections
What is Framerate? has been updated to include more information. There are two different definitions of framerate, and one is the display refresh rate – which is what determines how smooth your game is displayed. Framerate is actually a complex thing. There is confusion and misinformation being promoted – my assumption is YouTube, but I don't watch TV, I play video games. Hopefully, it clears up any confusion. If you have any questions, feel free to drop a line via the contact form or join us on Discord.
New sections added
"Use due diligence prior to making an external harddrive purchase" added to Best Modding Practices. I'm in the process of writing a new technical article for the Xbox Appendix and not all players realize that the speed of the drive and the cable can adversely affect gameplay. I saw a Reddit post that advocated not using an external, and I assume they bought either an off-brand or cheap drive or are not using the right kind of USB cable. A good drive with speeds capable of keeping up with the speed of a Series X is not going to be cheap. Anyway, the point is: before making a purchase, take the time and do research for everything. That's a lot of money to spend on a peripheral on an already expensive gaming device. If that peripheral doesn't work it will be very frustrating on your end and make it look like the game isn't working correctly.
"What is a Gameplay Overhaul and how does it affect my load order?" added to the Frequently Asked Questions section. Hopefully, I've resolved any possible questions. If you still have questions about gameplay overhauls, please join us on Discord. It is an election year in the USA and my time on Twitter is limited. I have no interest in politics or celebrities squawking about politics. It definitely has no place in gaming.
Minor spelling and grammar fixed throughout.
Donations
Because it's come up in chats for some weird reason: This is a fansite and all information on it is available to the public except posts that I do not want Google to add to its search engine. Those require a subscription to the site to access – but subscribing is free. It bothered me greatly that my Wasteland Imports posts got more exposure on search engines than the original mod page. The original mod authors put in a lot of time and work. (I've since taken those posts down as my fork of it has changed from what was originally posted back in 2020.)
The website uses professional independent publishing software called Ghost, and the pop-up you see on the subscribe button is not editable on the version of software this site uses. If I update to the next version of the software, I'll be able to edit it, but updating will break the website template/theme. I'm awaiting the full stack developer who created the template/theme to see if they are going to update, but don't expect it will be any time soon. The website template is complex.
As far as load order assistance, I give of my time freely. Any donations go toward keeping the website and newsletter ad-free and other website costs, paying for the Discord bots, and to charities. I am a patron of the arts. Anything left over I put towards attempting to get a fund together to purchase a license for forum software and pay my website admin to install it so you can chat on my site, use to pay artists for assets for use in mods, or go towards other bills. I have not made enough donations to add forum software to the site, and it doesn't look like anyone is interested in such things. So we're chatting on Discord about load orders and modding. It takes money to keep up with everything, and I am currently retired/unemployed. I really miss the Bethesda.net forums.
So hopefully that clears things up.