Introduction
The updates are currently ongoing, but I wanted to update any readers of the Survival Guide about the recent updates.
Hey. Did Turtle actually update the Load Order Survival Guide on the day of the month they said they would?
Wow. Confetti.
404
The Survival Guide has reached page 404. (Good job, Turtle. You broke it.)
I probably just jinxed the hell out of myself, but I got a good laugh out of the number of pages. It has been around since February of 2017 and it is still here. Being updated by little ol' me. I hope there are people who find it useful. Thank you to the readers who have helped along the way to make sure it is informative for everyone.
Section Updates
Quests and Collectibles section has seen a major revision. This is the New Quests Section within the Framework. Each of the mods listed is now fully fleshed out with where to install and alternative mods, if any. Several have been moved around. I've split the section into subsections (this is not yet reflected in the load order framework, just in the Google Doc Guide): New Quests, Collectibles/Exploration - Single Area, and Collectibles/Exploration - Multiple Area. This section is much larger than I originally thought, and I should have kept up and updated this section long before now. Thank you to the PlayStation player who pointed out on the Parent Server that the information regarding The Beantown Interiors Project was confusing. It got me rethinking this section entirely.
I added a number of new quests to Quests and Collectibles. As with all mods added to the guide, refer to the mod page for the most information and if you have questions and the mod author is still modding, ask them before asking me. Most enjoy interacting with their fanbase and will answer questions if they haven't already been asked before. If you have any questions about information added to the guide, come join us on Discord and ask there. I'm most active there these days.
New Player Homes section has a slew of mods added to it, but no information about them as of this writing just yet. Read their descriptions to find a good place in your load order. The Guide itself has changed the name of this section to Single Interiors/New Player Homes/New Dungeons and the section is under review to move to the Scrapping, Terrain, Precombines section or to remain where it is. It will stay on the Framework Google spreadsheet with its old name for the time being (New Player Homes); however, this may change in the future.
Added most of Glitchfinder's ported world edit mods to the Guide since they serve as excellent examples of mods that rebuild the precombines and add things to world/add new settlements. They are under Scrapping, Terrain, and Precombines just above Previsibines Repair Pack. Their position is relative to other mods in your load order.
While I was looking for more player homes to add to the Guide, I found the PlayStation Mercer Safehouse series and added it to Vanilla Settlement Changes. Still, these can also go in Vanilla Quests if your load order is relatively small and you don't have any other mod affecting the same thing.
Lexington Interiors rebuilt the precombines but was stuck in Single Area Edits. It has been moved to Quests and Collectibles where it would be in a load order in relation to the Beantown Interiors Project. If not using Beantown, it will go with other mods that edit the precombines and is not compatible with mods that affect Lexington. (You'll have visual flickers if using two mods that affect the precombines in the same cell.)
Where things are now in the Quests and Collectibles Section is mostly in relation to having Beantown Interiors installed but may change to move BI to Scrapping, Terrain, and Precombines, but for now will work with finagling your load order as needed. The bottom of the load order and these sections is a pain in the ass to manage so it is strongly suggested to choose a few mods that affect the areas as possible. The flickering issue with multiple mods that rebuild the precombines is problematic and annoying, but it is less annoying than having a save bottom out from under us because they were disabled and never rebuilt.
Precombines
If you're new to modding and are unfamiliar with "previsibines" and "precombines", this article about them and how they affect your load order and performance will bring you up to speed.
oddlittleturtle
Load Order Framework
Build Your Framework before you download and avoid Load Order Disorder.
oddlittleturtle
Join Us On Discord
Have questions about where to add a mod or have information about a conflict? Come chat with us on Discord.
Conclusion
Brain is fried. Send help.
The Guide will probably be jumping up and down tomorrow as I do more updates. I've been working on this since about 9-ish this morning and as of this writing, it is 6 pm. I hope the information is useful.