What settlements are actually safe to use?

[NecroMaster]

Last time I attempted to dedicated a playthrough to the settlement system everything got screwed up all because I was unaware of the complications that would ensue from using Abernathy farm all because this games developers were too incompetent to spread them out a bit.

My question basically how many settlements have this problem and which ones should I avoid or is Abernathy farm the only one.

[steventirey]

The Triangle of Doom (Abernathy, Red Rocket, and Sanctuary) are the worst. Though there is the possibility of any settlement having issues, particularly with the stats shown in the pipboy.

Spectacle Island is said to also have issues. In this cane its not because of close settlements, but its just so big. From the wiki:

If one places a structure that affects settlement stats (such as a turret, bed, or water purifier) on one side of the island and then moves to the other side, the stats given may go away, even if the structure is fully operational. This can affect the happiness of the settlement in a negative way, and can be (only temporarily) fixed if you return to the side of the island with the structure.

This is due to the game engine being set to load only 5 world grids, causing the engine to therefore unload resources after traveling to the other side of the large island.

[syn3rg1lya]

why isnt abernathy farm 'safe' to use?

[steventirey]

Originally posted by reginald:

why isnt abernathy farm 'safe' to use?

Its safe to use. There are just more issues with settlement stats not being shown or applied properly than usual for other settlements. In addition, there are some problems with the three beds in the back room not counting as covered, and also being unscrappable so you can't fix the problem without using the console. As well as some issues with the pre-existing crops (Storing them and replacing them fixes that, however.)

[danconnors]

Abernathy farm is very frequently attacked. I don't mind my settlements being attacked, so it doesn't bother me that much. If I wanted to pick a safe settlement it would be Sanctuary.

[tazman1]

honestly I set up sanctuary for the minute men then that little drive in place because that place has nothing but space to build. I leave red rocket as a small settlement just enough for my companions I am not using so they are in an easy to find location in case I need them (STFU Preston)

but after that really just the castle then I stop doing Settlements alltogether because no point.

Granted take what I say with a grain of salt because I never got past having to get to the Glow game just didn't feel enough like Fallout and wasn't engaging enough considering the last 4 games in the series.

[red255]

yeah occasionally some farms double the population and get somewhat unhappy because of it, but when you visit it the numbers tend to settle back down.

the settlement system is a bit of 'it just works' and mostly does work but yes its got issues.

[hawkeye]

All settlements are safe.

It's not Abernathy Farm specifically but settlements within close ugrids range of each other. Ugrids is the number of landscape cells that the game processes to determine if there is any relevant action. AF, Sanctuary and RR is known as the Triangle of Death. When the settlements are too close the game can process all 3 which creates a heavy load on the cpu causing the game to crash.

I have built in all 3 many times and never had the problem. However Echo Lake Lumber and the nearby Drive-In (via mod) always gives me crashes. I wouldn't worry about it unless you have a really slow pc.

Explanation -

https://simsettlements.com/site/index.php?threads/understanding-ctds-in-the-triangle-of-death-sanctuary-abernathy-farm-and-red-rocket.6964/

The afkmods link is still there but the afkmods site referred to is now afkmods.com
https://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/topic/4462-fo4-unlimited-settlementssettlers-a-caveat-for-mod-users/&

A lot of it is programming stuff but worth a read if planning to go heavy on settlement building.

The ufo patch and workshop framework have some code patches that might help.

If you do get frequent crashes, I always run with the mods, script and memory ini edits mentioned in the post linked and very rarely get crashes.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by steventirey:

Spectacle Island is said to also have issues. In this cane its not because of close settlements, but its just so big.

Spectacle Island is also close enough to the Castle and Warwick that the outer cells load.

Originally posted by hawkeye:

It's not Abernathy Farm specifically but settlements within close ugrids range of each other. Ugrids is the number of landscape cells that the game processes to determine if there is any relevant action. AF, Sanctuary and RR is known as the Triangle of Death. When the settlements are too close the game can process all 3 which creates a heavy load on the cpu causing the game to crash.

That is ONLY if you are using the UOF4P or Workshop framework. If you are not using them then you get the partial settlement loads corrupting the pipboy data. That is because those mods force all cells of all settlements to load if any cell in it loads.

I find having to build smaller or in one 1-2 of the three an acceptable trade off for removing the partial loading issue of a settlement.

[Fumo Bnnuy n Frends]

the 3 starting settlements sanctuary hills red rocket and abernthany farm are must avoid

spectacle island is also one

the hangman's alley mostly b/c it's located close enough inside the city along with bunker hill they usually cause issues if not lagg.


everything else including most modded settlements should be fine

[wtiger27]

They all are "safe" to use. Some have some quirks you need to address, but even in the Triangle of Doom, I have had all 3 of them at over 80 happiness and they stayed there.

I do use the console however to correct the issue with Abernathy. Namely the 3 beds there which are the issue. I disable them and then make new ones to replace them. One does need to know how to safely use the console.

Not come across any settlement which I had issues I was not able to correct or contend with.

[SuperSledgeNY]

Here's how I handle the Triangle:

I build a small player base at Red Rocket that I use when I first start out. For the most part, I'll leave Abernathy's alone with the exception of putting a generator on the top floor of the house along with some turrets for defense. At Sanctuary, I do the bare minimum in order to satisfy the Minuteman questline but once that's done, I move everybody to another settlement and basically abandon the place.

With the exception of Finch Farm, the Airport and Spectacle Island, I've developed every other settlement in the game, including Far Harbor and Nuka World. As I discussed in another thread, the only issues I've had were with shopkeepers not bartering but I solved that problem just by moving the stores closer to the settlement workshop.

In most places, my settlement happiness ranges from 87% to 100% with a few exceptions such as Graygarden and Warwick.

It just works.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by steventirey:

Its safe to use. There are just more issues with settlement stats not being shown or applied properly than usual for other settlements. In addition, there are some problems with the three beds in the back room not counting as covered, and also being unscrappable so you can't fix the problem without using the console.

It's not that the Abernathy Farm beds don't counted as covered they're covered, as can be checked with the console), but that the settlers don't properly assign themselves to them. If you get them assigned to the beds, and it doesn't drop off after a minute or two, they're perfectly happy with it. You see the same problem with Tenpines Bluff (if I recall that one correctly) where the settlers don't always properly assign themselves to the unscrappable beds.

But the solution of removing them works either way, since they don't have any assignment issues with placed beds.

Removal can also be done with a selection glitch if someone can't, or doesn't want to, use a console command. You quickly spam the store and confirm buttons a couple of times after starting with a selected item in front of the bed (it stores the front item and grabs the bed before the game realizes what it's targeting), and then place the bed onto a floor piece to remove. Getting the quick timing of the buttons right is a bit tricky, though.

Originally posted by wtiger27:

I do use the console however to correct the issue with Abernathy. Namely the 3 beds there which are the issue. I disable them and then make new ones to replace them. One does need to know how to safely use the console.

I think I'd still want to fully remove them rather than just disabling them, since disabled things still exist as far as the game is concerned, and I'd rather make sure that they're gone.

Originally posted by wtiger27:

They all are "safe" to use. Some have some quirks you need to address, but even in the Triangle of Doom, I have had all 3 of them at over 80 happiness and they stayed there.

I don't really have much trouble with them either, though I dislike Sanctuary anyway, since the houses get in the way without presenting much fun as a building challenge.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

Originally posted by steventirey:

Spectacle Island is said to also have issues. In this cane its not because of close settlements, but its just so big.

Spectacle Island is also close enough to the Castle and Warwick that the outer cells load..

For those interested, the load distance is about a grid-square and a half, using the grid on the Pipboy map, so you can see when comparing on the map why those places are in range.

With a scope and a good line of sight, you can even see the loading boundary as the game updates from distant low-resolution terrain to properly-loaded high-resolution. If you've cleared Spectacle Island of trees, it's especially obvious because they'll still be present in the low-resolution version.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by SuperSledgeNY:

As I discussed in another thread, the only issues I've had were with shopkeepers not bartering but I solved that problem just by moving the stores closer to the settlement workshop.

The only time I ever had that issue was when I tried placing a store on a pier at Taffington.

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

It's not that the Abernathy Farm beds don't counted as covered they're covered, as can be checked with the console), but that the settlers don't properly assign themselves to them.

The beds are not considered sheltered once they are owned by the player. Settlers and NPC will not assign themselves to unsheltered beds. I told you this the last time after you checked without owning the workshop. Yet you insisted your test while not owning the workshop was a valid test.

On top of that the target happiness is capped at 60 happiness because of the unsheltered beds. So it is very clear those beds are the issue since after you remove them the target goes to 80 where it belongs.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

The beds are not considered sheltered once they are owned by the player. Settlers and NPC will not assign themselves to unsheltered beds. I told you this the last time after you checked without owning the workshop. Yet you insisted your test while not owning the workshop was a valid test.

Your assumption that I only checked without owning the workshop is and was incorrect.

As you were told at the time, I checked both before and after taking ownership and the beds always counted as sheltered. I don't know what you've read to make you think otherwise, but testing confirms their sheltered state.

Originally posted by Bored Peon:

On top of that the target happiness is capped at 60 happiness because of the unsheltered beds. So it is very clear those beds are the issue since after you remove them the target goes to 80 where it belongs.

The happiness is being capped because the settlers don't have their need for beds met That can be either because the beds they're using are unsheltered, or (as in the case of Abernathy Farm) because they don't have an assignment to a bed at all.

I also tested this in regard to bed assignments, and target happiness will go to 80 as long as the people get correctly assigned to the unscrappable beds, even if you don't move the beds a single inch.