Sim Settlements 2 - how to install from inside FO4

[JMO]

I saw a post in another thread about mods where "Dawnstar" posted the trailer for "Sim Settlements 2" (the original and "Chapter 2"). The trailer looked seriously awesome. Enough to make me try it and I normally avoid mods like the plague. But I have questions

1. First of all it is "Sim Settlements 2" or "Sim Settlers 2".? I want to make sure there aren't two different mods here

2. I tried to add "Sim Settlements 2" it from inside the game. It downloaded just fine but then it said, "This mod cannot be installed because it depends upon files that are not present". But it never told me what was not present. Assuming I have the right mod, what am I missing?

I'm currently playing the vanilla game with all the DLCs but only one mod -- Tales from the Commonwealth -- which I added from inside the game. I'd like to keep things that way if possible but if I must I'll take the time to do all the reading about the ins-and-outs of external mod installation.

[JonExx]

I can't anwser your questions without the risk of giving wrong information (except for the one about the name: It is in deed "Sim Settlements 2")

However, the guys that created the mod have a homepage that might help you getting your installation fixed:
https://simsettlements2.com/

[JMO]

Thanks for the link. That basically answers my questions. Given their list of pre-requisites (which includes the Unofficial Patch), it appears I have no choice but to go either the Vortex or Mod Organizer 2 route.

I was hoping I could just click and add it like I did with Tales from the Commonwealth.

I don't understand why this appears as an in-game installable mod when you have to first add things you cannot get from inside the game. I know nothing about modding though so maybe I am missing something obvious.

[Ommamar]

Originally posted by JMO:

Thanks for the link. That basically answers my questions. Given their list of pre-requisites (which includes the Unofficial Patch), it appears I have no choice but to go either the Vortex or Mod Organizer 2 route.

I was hoping I could just click and add it like I did with Tales from the Commonwealth.

I don't understand why this appears as an in-game installable mod when you have to first add things you cannot get from inside the game. I know nothing about modding though so maybe I am missing something obvious.

I am guessing when you say within the game you are referring to using the mod option that takes you to Bethesda's site. If that is the case you can find everything you need on that site. When you open the download page for Sim Settlement 2 there is a list of the needed mods to support that mod. They can all be found on Bethesda's site, it does take a little bit of searching. You can either write down the list on a piece of scratch paper or just go back to the download/enable page for that mod to see what you need.

[JMO]

By "within the game", I mean I fired up FO4, chose the "Mods" menu and saw the mod listed right there -- all without ever leaving FO4. There was no external browser. Nor was I using Mod Organizer 2 or or Vortex. That approach worked for the Tales from the Commonwealth mod I saw there. It did not work for the SS2 mod.

Anyway, this afternoon, I bit the bullet, downloaded Mod Organizer 2, took the tutorial and it was pretty straightforward. I managed to get all the pre-requisites downloaded and resolved all Missing Masters issues. It looks to run now.

Just one last question I guess: Am I correct in understanding that Sim Settlements 2 is supposed to be a complete replacement for the original Sim Settlements? I'm not supposed to have them both installed at the same time, am I?

[Rezznor7]

Originally posted by JMO:

Just one last question I guess: Am I correct in understanding that Sim Settlements 2 is supposed to be a complete replacement for the original Sim Settlements? I'm not supposed to have them both installed at the same time, am I?

Yep, it is the replacement. 1 & 2 cannot coexist.

[Ommamar]

Originally posted by JMO:

By "within the game", I mean I fired up FO4, chose the "Mods" menu and saw the mod listed right there -- all without ever leaving FO4. There was no external browser. Nor was I using Mod Organizer 2 or or Vortex. That approach worked for the Tales from the Commonwealth mod I saw there. It did not work for the SS2 mod.

Anyway, this afternoon, I bit the bullet, downloaded Mod Organizer 2, took the tutorial and it was pretty straightforward. I managed to get all the pre-requisites downloaded and resolved all Missing Masters issues. It looks to run now.

Just one last question I guess: Am I correct in understanding that Sim Settlements 2 is supposed to be a complete replacement for the original Sim Settlements? I'm not supposed to have them both installed at the same time, am I?

There is nothing wrong with using MO2 or Vortex if you choose to use nexus.

I am simply stating that all the required supporting mods for Sim Settlement 2 (and for SS1 as well) are downloadable from Bethesda's site. You might of not realized it the mod selection in the game takes you to Bethesda's site where you can download mods without any third party program.

I guarantee it works fine as it is the current path I am using to run Sim Settlement 2. By your tone you seem to be indicating I was trying to insult or mislead you instead of trying to assist you in getting the mod you wanted to play utilizing the site Bethesda has setup to access from the menu you can bring up from within the game.

Using your terminology, anyway it looks like you found a solution have fun SS2 is a good mod although it can get glitchy at times. Luckily there is an option that allows you to advance the story if things hang for some reason.

[JMO]

I was not insulted or offended in the slightest. It never even occurred to me that anything you wrote was an insult. I was just trying to be really pedantically clear. I think sometimes tone of voice gets lost in text

I opened up my vanilla game, tried to add SS2, (Just as I had already added "Tales from the Commonwealth") and after it downloaded, it told me it could not run because it needed other files which were not installed.

Now I *think* might have gotten around that while staying purely on the Bethesda site ("in game", as I put it). It looks like the 3 mods it requires are , in fact, available on the Bethesda site. But SS2's own website (that "JonExx" sent me to) said I should also have the "Unofficial Patch" too, and that was definitely *not* available on the Bethesda website.

Could I have gotten by without that? Probably. Sounds like you did. But I have read So. Many. Crash. Reports here that I decided I would actually do what they recommended. That meant the only approach available to me was the external mod manager. That's why I did what what I did.

[Zekiran]

Be warned that Tales from the Commonwealth has a LOT of bugs and conflicts. A LOT of them. Mostly with settlements. So be aware that if there's a weird thing going on it may be directly due to that mod conflicting with another.

[JMO]

Thank you for the warning. I figured that it probably was not a good idea to mix in-game mods with external mods. So once I realized I was going to have to learn how to do mods the real way, the very first thing I did -- before installing my first MO2 Mod -- was to uninstall Tales.

So basically I started off with Vanilla, I think

[Zekiran]

Well it's not really a difference between where you get them - it's that the Tales creator *does not fix the bugs* that have been repeatedly reported. A lot of newer settlement mods and stuff that I've seen in planning on my next character's run have had comments about 'oh that bug was pretty much just Tales and when I removed it it went away'. It's a bummer.

[Ommamar]

The unofficial patch is in fact available utilizing Bethesda's site. If you searched sometimes that won't work well no idea why. If you look at the most popular category it has always been in the first row of mods you see.

I have mixed using the Bethesda mod option with Vortex with little to any problems. if there it is usually due to mod conflicts which will happen regardless of the source of where you got the mod. I do think that mods on Nexus are more likely to be updated first, if the mod author(s) are still updating the mods at least.

[Löthar Storm]

I found the secret compartment folder where the mods that you get from the main menu go, take those files and package 'em in a zip file, unsubscribe from the mod then run 'em offline without issue through Mod Organizer 2.

[JMO]

I used their search function from within the game and could not find the thing. It's not very good search. Anyway MO2 seems to be doing the trick.