Best Graphics Mods?

[NukemDukem]

Whats the best Graphics improvement mod that isn't broken? I don't want to use the official HD texture pack since I've read its pretty bad.

[Edgemoor]

It's a good question, but one I am afraid I cannot answer, and I suspect it's not an easy one to answer at the moment.

I would guess a lot of players that use mods are awaiting a bunch of mods to be updated so they can even play the game.

I know luxors HD overhaul is currently broken for example. This is due to changes to file names and paths, which was included in the update. So texture updates could include a whole lot of broken mods.

Things should settle down over the next few months .... although this update seems to change a lot of stuff. Far more than the Skyrim update and that took several months.

[Mavkiel]

Would any of them work? If the pathing breaks for one of them, it'd likely break for all of them.

[Wolf]

official HD texture pack is not useless, texture mods don't cover absolute everything so having the HD texture pack loading before any texture pack make sure any texture that don't get replace look a bit better...

HD texture pack run bad on slower PC but on a Today fast PC run fine and look a bit better so no reason no to use it...

[Dr.Abscondus]

Official texture pack works just fine for me. RTX 3060 12Gb, I7-11700K and I'm running the game from an external SSD. If you have an old PC, really slow internet or lack storage space then it could be a problem so act accordingly.

[Tryyton]

Originally posted by NukemDukem:

Whats the best Graphics improvement mod that isn't broken? I don't want to use the official HD texture pack since I've read its pretty bad.

to use with this update? if not... i can tell/show you. i just modded it lately, and it looks pretty good (check my screenshots). no ENB used for it (not sure i will...).

i have appr 20 gb for texture mods. it runs with up to 165 fps @ 3440x1440.

[Xype]

I use this one for textures https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/25714

I use ENG for better processing http://enbdev.com/download_mod_fallout4.html version 0.496, 5+ is for the next gen update and some things dont work yet, but if you have next gen youll be using 5+

I personally use this for my ENB settings. https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17344

Combined with the weather effects pack, https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4472 it looks amazin.

[R3dAlert93]

Vivid textures

[Longhaul]

Originally posted by SoloPlayahSnc93:

Vivid textures

This.
Vivid all in one.

[matt]

See this comment where I ran through some of them

[Moccasin Bill]

This is how my game currently looks graphically
https://i.imgur.com/kd7jbVG.jpg

I personally have been going for a more darker gritty look thats very atmospheric and actually has trees/forests.

1. I do not recommend Vivid Series of Textures - a lot of them are not optimized, and the creation of a lot of those replacement textures lead to severe artifacts, noise, and makes every rock texture look like coral.

2. Do not get 4-8k textures for things tables, chairs, or smaller assets as that is extremely expensive despite having plenty of VRAM, it impacts performance especially in downtown boston significantly and you can expect to see significant drop in framerates.

3. Do not install the DLC high res texture pack by Bethesda. They were LAZY when developing this DLC and blasted every single asset to higher resolutions without major visual changes. Opt for vanilla and cherry pick your texture mods instead which are significantly cheaper and look way better.

For the most part you'll want 2k textures, they're way cheaper, look better than vanilla in most regards and depending on who created them, more efficient.

Here's my recommendations
-------------------------------
FalconOil's Complete Retexture Project - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3747
Lucids Texture Upgrades - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/37799
NMC's Texture Bundle - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31814
Valius Hi Res Texture Pack - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/318

These are all fantastic hand customized textures - and not force fed through some generic actions like Vivid - and the 2k variations are optimized and elevate textures a lot.

Natural Landscapes - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/38841

For Landscapes, Natural Landscapes is my favorite landscape retexture and i've tried most. Again, these textures come in form of 2k and 4k are very appealing, and look great.

True Grass - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/23469

If you want some green grass to add to the drab vanilla environment - I can vouch for True Grass - it adds some greens without completely making the Commonwealth look like baseball turf.

Another Pine Forest - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/54027

If you want the Commonwealth to be surrounded by trees - I recommend Another Pine Forest - complete with LOD's and does not hit performance significantly and really changes the look of Fallout 4. It's pretty immersive and I personally love it.

Psycho LUT - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/80995?tab=files

This mod isn't an ENB preset, but instead modifies the games LUT tables - the Author is renown for LUT adjustments in both Fallout and Starfield. I can personally recommend and they have zero performance impact.

NAC-X Legacy ENB - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/46722
Combined with
Ghost ENB Preset - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/31108

These two are pretty performance heavy - but they completely bring the games visuals to another level. It is pretty impressive, and a complete weather overhaul package. I highly recommend if you have the hardware.

Ultra Interior Lighting - https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/22101

I recommend this over ELFX (which is the most popular interior lighting mod) primarily due to the fact that it does not break precombines and isn't buggy. ELFX is pretty dated, and can cause significant amount of crashes.

-----------------------------------------

So overall i'd say its super easy to get carried away with "downloading all the mods" and a lot of collections are popular, but I personally would avoid. You need to scrub through each individual mod, when it was last updated, check recent comments for mentions of patches, stability, or issues with other mods. You want to cherry pick, take the time to do so and your game will be way more stable.

Just be wary of sorting mods by "most endoresed and recommended" more than likely they haven't been updated since 2016 and if thats the case, especially if it requires F4SE you'll be in for a bad time.

Good luck, and hope this info helps.

[The Positivity Man!]

Originally posted by Xype:

I use this one for textures https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/25714

I use ENG for better processing http://enbdev.com/download_mod_fallout4.html version 0.496, 5+ is for the next gen update and some things dont work yet, but if you have next gen youll be using 5+

I personally use this for my ENB settings. https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/17344

Combined with the weather effects pack, https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4472 it looks amazin.

sorry for the necro but NAC wants 0.317 while your ENB wants 0.307, will this be an issue?

[Zekiran]

Does NAC even work right now? Make sure that your game and mods are running the correct corresponding versions. I know NAC X is often super broken.