Fallout 4 is the king of RPG shooters. RPGs are all about you. How you want to play and who you want to be.
Here are 15 mods that are perfect for grabbing a brand-new feel or enhancing your vanilla game experience.
1. Vivid Weathers by Spiffyskytrooper
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Let's start with Vivid Weathers by Spiffyskytrooper. Vivid Weathers is a massive, lore-friendly, and very comprehensive weather overhaul for Fallout 4. This is one of the highest-quality Fallout 4 weather mods on the market. Vivid Weathers adds dozens of new weather types and sky textures. The colors and textures this mod adds are stunning, to say the least.
With Vivid Weathers installed, nighttime will be a little darker. However, this only adds to the effects of the breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. At the moment, Vivid Weathers has over 2 million downloads on Nexus and over 40 thousand endorsements. Vivid Weathers is a must-have for anyone who wants to improve their time in the Fallout 4 wasteland.
Desperado is the spiritual successor to the now-gone Dust Bowl Overhaul mod. Desperado completely overhauls the vanilla game's landscape and weather. With Desperado installed, the Commonwealth becomes a desert. This mod adds unique vegetation such as cacti, tumbleweeds, and even new kinds of trees.
This mod is perfect for players that want the wild west New Vegas type feel and aesthetic. Severe dust and lightning storms will now rage throughout the wasteland. These storms are very immersive and will greatly shorten your visibility range. This adds an extra dimension to exploration and combat.
This mod was posted in June 2020 and has been receiving regular updates ever since. Desperado is available for download from the Nexus website. It has been downloaded by over 89,000 Nexus users to date!
True Storms is a complete weather overhaul. It is very lore-friendly and even works with the Far Harbor DLC. This is very convenient, as many weather overhauls are not compatible with the DLC. This mod offers new textures and sounds, as well as all new particles and visual effects.
True Storms comes with two holotapes that allow you to adjust and change the weather and features. In addition to the vanilla weather we all know and love, players can now choose custom weather. From new weather types to the ability to adjust the sounds of rain and thunder, there are tons of customization options.
True Storms gives players a boost to their sneak skill while storms are active. With this addition to the sneak skill, your player character will be harder to detect by enemies while storms are active. Sniper and sneak builds will find themselves playing a game tailor-made for them. True Storms makes traveling the wasteland a brand-new experience.
Here we have Icepick Overhaul by Spiffyskytrooper. Icepick Overhaul adds realistic snow to the game's grounds and rooftops. The custom meshes and textures are gorgeous and very professional.
Icepick Overhaul is a great-looking mod that acts as a base for other winter mods. Hundreds of other compatible mods work flawlessly with Icepick Overhaul, giving you the choice to turn the Commonwealth into a true nuclear winter or a fantastic winter wonderland. However, while Icepick overhaul adds snow to the grounds and rooftops, it does not add falling snow. That is where our next mods come in.
5. Frozen Lakes and Rivers by El Ha and Polluted Climate by Mandragorasprouts
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We start with Frozen Lakes and Rivers by El Ha. True to its name, Frozen Lakes and Rivers adds blocks and ice to the rivers, lakes, and streams of Fallout 4. This is a simple yet very immersive winter mod. Swimming beside and jumping on these floating blocks of ice completes the winter feel of any winter mod you choose to pair with Frozen Lakes and Rivers.
Next, we have Polluted Climate by Mandragorasprouts. Polluted Climate by Mandragorasprouts is the best snow mod I have come across. First, it turns the sky an angry slate gray. Then, mimicking storms in the real world, storms from Polluted Climate will cause decreases in visibility as well as make the overall environment darker. On the whole, this brings the gritty feel of other post-apocalyptic games like the Metro series to Fallout 4.
6. Winter Commonwealth Pines by Flecked and Project Reality Footsteps by Hulkhod3n
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Here we have another double entry. These mods add just that much more immersion to a winterized Commonwealth. Winter Commonwealth Pines and Project Reality Footsteps are a great complement to any winter mods you already have installed.
Winter Commonwealth Pines adds beautiful pine trees to the Fallout 4 wasteland. These pine trees are well-textured and very immersive. Great for taking cover behind in a firefight, Flecked was very careful not to add too many new trees to the map. You will have just enough to get the proper winter feel.
Next comes Project Reality Footsteps. Project Reality Footsteps is a small mod that packs a huge punch. Now you will be able to hear footstep sounds while walking in snowy environments. Tracking and hunting will now be all the easier, and horror playthroughs will feel all the more suspenseful.
Continuing with the winter theme, we have Fallout 2287 - Nuclear Winter. However, (insert mod name) takes weather mods to a whole new level. Similar to some of the other mods on this list, Nuclear Winter will add plenty of new winter weather features such as snow storms, fog, and even visible misty breath. However, unlike the vast majority of weather mods and overhauls, Nuclear Winter is not purely aesthetic.
Nuclear Winter also adds unique gameplay features that fundamentally change how you play Fallout 4. Your player character will now have to worry about new status effects like core temperature, wetness, wind speed, and heat sources. These effects will have to be monitored to make sure your player character does not suffer or die from hypothermia.
D1e1ve122, on the other hand, does not stop there. Armor and apparel are now given an insulation value. This means you'll have to consider heat retention, material, and even how much of your player's body is covered by your clothing and armor. Food has been given a warming effect to aid players in keeping body temperatures at safe levels.
If you enjoyed vanilla survival mode, then this mod is perfect for you. From new consumables and items like hand warmers and blankets to new enemies like winter ghouls, this mod offers loads of content. It is impossible to miss the attention to detail that D1e1ve122 has put into this masterpiece.
There are a lot of great things about Fallout 4. However, I think we can all agree that the landscape is not always one of them. The grays and browns of the stones, trees, and shrubs start to feel monotonous and bland after a few hours of exploration.
That is where Touch of Green by Arisen comes in. Touch of Green retextures and recolors the vegetation of the wasteland. Touch of Green is unique from other greenery mods in that it does not add any new foliage. Foliage from the vanilla game is recolored and enhanced. That means that the game's performance will not suffer from the installation of this mod.
Touch of Green offers a middle ground for anyone who would like to liven up the wasteland scenery but wants to keep the overall feel of the base game intact. That means no extra trees to bump into or for enemies to hide behind. Of all the greenery mods, Touch of Green allows for the smoothest performance-to-gameplay ratio.
Nuclear Weather is a fun mod that is not very complicated. Like most of the mods on this list, it is a complete weather overhaul. Players will get all kinds of new and wacky weather with this mod installed. Over eight new storms and weather types are added. The new weathers include fire storms, acid rain, ion storms, snow, and even an Institute time warp, etc. The visuals are very good, and the variety is refreshing.
Unfortunately, I can't give this mod a perfect score. Although it brings some unique weather events, some are the same storms with a different color. That is, you will suffer no radiation or fire damage during a radiation or fire storm. Although it is possible to remove any unwanted storms from the mod, it would be better not to have to do this in the first place. One other issue is that the storms are purely aesthetic. That is, you will suffer no radiation or fire damage during a radiation or fire storm, respectively.
10. Fallout 4 Enhanced Color Correction by Chaoswww
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Enhanced Color Correction is a total color overhaul. That means that your entire game gets a much-needed makeover. All objects will now have more vivid and vibrant shades and tones. The difference between the base game graphics and Enhanced Color Correction is night and day. It's truly like playing a different game.
The visual quality of this mod is some of the best you will find on the Fallout 4 mod scene. The first thing that steals your attention is the contrast. Shaded areas are darker, while lights are brighter and more brilliant.
Enhanced Color Correction is a must-have for anyone looking to improve the quality of their Fallout 4 experience. Thanks to Chaoswww, we now have a mod that enhances both the base game and other weather mods as well. The only drawback to this mod is that the nights can be a bit too dark sometimes. However, our next mod can help with that.
Nighttime in Vanilla Fallout 4 can be quite bright. If you would like a darker, more realistic nighttime, then look no further. Darker Nights by Unforbidable is just the mod to customize your nighttime gameplay. This mod affects the ability of enemies to see your player in low-light conditions. For all you night owls out there, there is also a 24/7 darkness mode.
However, contrary to the name, Darker Nights does not just make nights darker. There are seven custom options to make the nighttime in-game as bright or as dark as you like. There is even a lore-friendly permanent night mode. With these unique customization options, Darker Nights works as both a unique custom mod and a useful companion mod.
Some weather changes, such as the aforementioned Enhanced Color Correction, and others tend to darken the nights. This can be a hassle for people looking to improve the look of the game without trying to make nighttime unplayable. Darker Nights is a quick and easy fix.
12. 50 Shades of Rust by Undernier and Water Enhanced by Jmane2009
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This will be the last of our double entries. These next two mods will improve the look and feel of the water and objects in the game. 50 Shades of Rust and Water Enhanced are great as standalone mods or as complements to larger overhaul mods.
Let's start with 50 Shades of Rust. Installing this mod adds realistic rust to the buildings, cars, and other metal objects in the game. This is in sharp contrast to the light colors these objects have in the vanilla game. This mod is certainly more immersive and lore-friendly, as, lorewise, most of the objects in the game are over 300 years old.
Next, we have Water Enhanced by Jmane2009. This overhauls the vanilla textures of all in-game water. If you spend a lot of time swimming or diving in Fallout 4, you know that vanilla water textures can leave much to be desired. Water Enhanced brings new textures and clearer water designs. This mod comes with 2K, 4K, and even 8K options!
There is a lot of nostalgia surrounding Fallout 3. For most Fallout players today, Fallout 3 was their first introduction to the Fallout series. Fallout 3 Lighting ENB is a fun mod for players looking to recapture the Capital Wasteland feel.
This mod adds all-new custom lighting that gives Fallout 4 the classic colors and undertones from Fallout 3. These colors can be customized to the player's liking. It is recommended to disable godrays for maximum performance.
It is no secret that Fallout 4 vanilla is filled will fog. Arguably, this is lore-friendly. However, the excess fog in buildings and outdoors can severely limit visibility. At times, giving the game a low-resolution grainy look.
Fogout stays lore-friendly by reducing outside fog in clear weather and removing fog completely indoors. This means you no longer have to worry about thick fog while the sun shines. The improved visibility makes exploration and combat easier and more enjoyable. All things considered, Fogout is a simple fix to a major gameplay issue.
We have gone over some great weather mods so far. From nuclear winters to deserts and acid rain, we have explored just about every kind of weather there is. But what if you just want clear weather while you explore the Commonwealth?
I have a mod just for you. Look no further than Clear Weather Only by Moraelin. This mod ensures that you will have clear and pleasant weather most of the time while playing Fallout 4. You will no longer have to worry about radiation storms, even in the glowing sea.
Take note that this mod will not get rid of storms and fog fully. However, it will drastically reduce the timing and frequency of these events. Also, some places like Far Harbor have certain weather coded in. These will remain unchanged as well.
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