How to Create Fantastic Builds in Fallout 4.

I've seen this question come up often and the answers usually involve using this or that mod. While there are some great mods available, that doesn't really explain how you can use them to create great builds. So, I wanted to try and offer a few tips that I've learned to address that.

Introduction

I'm not really a settlement builder, but I do enjoy building in Fallout 4. So, I won't be discussing settlement building, though there are other guides that offer great tips on the subject.

Practice

In a word: Practice (and more practice). Honestly, without practice you won't gain the experience to create fantastic builds. There are numerous groups on Facebook that deal specifically with building settlements, bases, player homes, etc... in Fallout 4. Join several that are focused on building. 'Fallout 4 Settlement Building' and 'Fallout 4: Commonwealth Creators' are good examples and include some of the best builders in the Fallout 4 building community.

Learn from Top Builders

Study builds from top builders and ask questions about materials, techniques, or mods. Take notes if you need to (always a good idea). Most builders are happy to explain what they did and how they did it, but there really isn't any substitute for practice. With more experience you're better able to understand what they're trying to teach you.

If you don't have it yet, get the mod Place Everywhere (nexus) and learn how to use it. If you feel that mods aren't for you, there are glitches such as the pillar glitch or rug glitch that can be used instead of a 'place' mod and to be fair, I've seen some great builds that were produced without using mods.

Personally though, Place Everywhere offers so much more than just placing items (with precision from .01-100), but can also rotate pieces 360 degrees on all axes (x,y,z), resize parts (1050%), and a whole lot more. Also with mods I feel they can add so much more to your creativity than just the base game and dlc's. War of the Worlds anyone.

Discovering New Ideas

The quickest way to find what others have built in fallout 4 is to do an internet search for images of 'Fallout 4 builds' or maybe 'Fallout 4 Artwork'. This will include video's as well. I do this periodically when I'm challenged for ideas, but don't stop at just Fallout 4 ideas, anything can be built and I've filled tons of folders with the different ideas I've researched from post apocalyptic shacks, to castles, to spacecraft.

While looking for new ideas I try visualizing my available workshop pieces that could be used to build parts or portions of these ideas. Keep in mind that if using Place Everywhere, any part can be resized or tilted to resemble whatever you would like it to be. Usually I'll have something, but if not I'll search on Nexus for something appropriate. While we're talking parts, this might be a good time to offer a great building tip to make you a much better builder and unlock your imagination. 'Don't look at your parts for what they are, but what you can imagine them to be'. All parts aren't available in mods, but you can create them with other parts. Use your imagination to create something unique. This applies to buildings, vehicles, aircraft, weapons, furniture, and pretty much anything and everything. Learning to use Place Everywhere can really unleash your creativity.

You can also check the albums folder (under media) in your Facebook building groups for previous builds by other members. You may be surprised at what others have built. Maybe even an Oil Platform built in the Commonwealth bay.

Developing an Idea

To develop an idea, after each session I'll take a series of screenshots. This also helps to find the best angles and perspectives for the presentation. While not in game I'll go over those screenshots and my question is always 'what can I add to make this build more interesting?'. For me it's a constant process of experimenting with different aspects of the build while trying to maintain the general theme. Above all, I always try to keep it interesting. So that every time someone looks at it, they discover details that had previously gone unnoticed.

Making it a Fantastic Build

As far as making it a fantastic build, it all comes down to the details. After creating the main areas of the build, adding substance to those areas with smaller items such as chairs, tables, desks, and lights will create the atmosphere. Then adding clutter like books, weapons, kitchenware (plates, glasses), posters, rugs, and anything that will add more depth to the area. Also consider the overall ambiance of each area and the entire build.

Creating fantastic builds will take time and as your building experience grows, you'll improve with each new build as will your ideas for other builds. There's a lot to learn about building in fallout 4 and it takes time, patience, and a good eye for detail. Also, don't be afraid to experiment, that's how you learn. Ask questions frequently and practice. And more practice. How about a build I called Divided City. I couldn't find an appropriate place in Fallout 4, so had to create one. Found this idea through post apocalyptic concept art.

Structure and Detail

As you've probably noticed, many of these builds are quite large. Due to the Fallout game engine there are limits to what can be built. This is technically based on the amount of polygons and triangles that are present in any given cell of the game. What that means is that the more objects you add to any given area, the more objects the game engine needs to render which produces a lag in performance and generally referred to as framerate. The FPS (frames per second) is also effected by any animations(settlers, weather, shadows, trees, grass, etc..). Hardware can help with this to some extent, but you're still faced with the restraints of the game engine and what it can render.

With that said, you can still create some amazing builds in fallout 4. A build doesn't need to be large to be great, but considering the restraints, you'll need to find a balance between structure (floors/walls) and detail (landscaping/lighting/clutter). I've found it's always easy to create this huge structure of a build and when the FPS starts to drop not have enough room to properly add detail to it. That's why finding a balance between structure and detail is the key. An interesting structure is important, but the details are what make it a fantastic build.

Presentation

Presentation is always an important part in posting a build. I always want to present my creation in it's best light, so this is where having a good eye for detail comes in. Speaking of lighting, SOE (settlement objects expansion pack) Light Sources are great, and after some practice can produce any mood you're looking for. I have them in power/soe/light sources. SOE also has ton's of other parts like the animated fog condensers that are great for creating atmosphere and they come with blue swirling fog. I have them in decorations/soe/miscellaneous.

I also take advantage of console commands for changing the time of day (set gamehour to 18.5)(6:30pm), for best lighting. Or for changing the weather I use Force Weather, (fw 2b52a)(clear weather), or maybe (fw 1ca7e4)(commonwealth rain). There are some great guides here on Steam that include console commands and a complete list of weather ID's. I also find the use of TFC (toggle free cam), TM (toggle menu), and SUCSM (sucsm 20)(speed control for tfc and can be 1-100+)(20 is default), invaluable for getting any angle I want (even upside down or underground) and essential for great video's. How about a Lunar Space Station or Q-Ship from Marvel's Avengers.

In Conclusion

There's a lot to learn about building in fallout 4 and my experience has taught me much about building techniques, lighting, mods, materials and what is actually possible to build in fallout 4. This guide really just scratches the surface of the building possibilities, but I hope it's given some perspective and maybe even a few new ideas. There are some constraints associated with the game engine, but I've also found that the constraints that matter, are mostly limited to your imagination (no limit to that). If you'd like to see what I've imagined so far, just take a look at the screenshots in my profile. And don't forget to have fun too, it is a game after all.

On a side note, everything I've built up to this point has been built in game (with mods of course), but not with the Creation Kit (just in case you were wondering).

(and did I mention practice?)

[GSVoyager]

Definitely Place Everywhere, but there are also several other mods that will help too. Faster Workshop, plus several ini tweaks, increases your productivity. Workshop Plus (another good one), allows you to fly in build mode, copy parts, and build in layers. Just to name a few.

You don't need 500 mods in your workshop to create great builds, just a few like I've already mentioned that will include 1000's of parts to work with. Then learning to navigate your workshop and knowing what parts you have available will allow you much greater freedom to be creative. Like I said in the guide, don't look at your parts for what they are, but what you can imagine them to be.

[Singularity]

i definitely need the Place Everywhere mod

[GSVoyager]

With just the base game and DLC there are many parts to work with, but with mods there are very few limits to what can be built. There are limits concerning the game engine, but as you can see from these screenshots, much more can be built. My baseline for mods is Place Everywhere, Snappy Housekit, and SOE (settlement objects expansion pack). Snappy Housekit has a huge selection of parts to choose from and includes around a dozen different kits. SOE is another huge mod that includes lots of institute parts, plus much more. Place Everywhere is one of the most important for building though and learning how to use it will unlock your imagination to build pretty much anything. There's also CVC Dead Wasteland, The Kuro Tab, and Homemaker that add ton's of other parts and textures.

[Singularity]

you can build things like??? what command do i need to use or what?? HOW?
i tought all there is making cube houses

[GSVoyager]

There's a lot of information here that I'm hoping will give everyone a better appreciation of building in Fallout 4, but I'm also hoping it will lead to more questions that I'll be happy to answer.

[GSVoyager]

Thanks Titus. It's all in the guide. Read the guide and if you have any specific questions after, I'd be happy to answer them. These are just a few examples. I post some builds in my profile, but I post all my builds in the Fallout 4 Settlement Building Group.

[Titus]

How?! Those builds are insane!

[GSVoyager]

Thank you. It's good to get an opinion from someone who also knows how to build.

[Rockin Robin]

wow thanks for taking the time to write this very informative guide
I also build a lot, but what you're building is just mega
i was able to learn and apply a lot through your guide
what makes fallout 4 even more interesting
thank you for your guide my friend