(Last updated August 05 2010)
Because I get so many people who can't be bothered to read old comments, or readme files, I've decided to write out a Frequently Asked Questions file. From here on out, if your post or PM is covered by this FAQ, it will be ignored, unless you can demonstrate that the given answer is not valid in your case.
Q) Your mod doesn't work! How do I fix it?
A) Before you go posting stupidity such as this to the file comments, please take a moment and realize that for all my glorious traits and skills, I am not psychic. If I'm going to help you, I need details. Things like what doesn't work, exactly. What you were doing when it stopped working. Which mods you run that may conflict. What version of Fallout 3 you run.
If your answer to that last one is anything other than 1.7, you're on your own. I offer no support to people who refuse to update their games.
When you have collected some useful data, feel free to ask your question then. Realize, however, that Fallout 3 is one of the crashingest games in the history of PC gaming. Sometimes, it simply does, and there's not a damned thing one you can do about it.
Q) I get all these red diamonds with your mod installed! Fix it!
A) RTFM. Red diamonds with a white exclamation point in the center are how the game denotes a missing mesh. Read the readme, under the installation section. Install it correctly this time.
Q) I see these items are bright purple...
A) See last answer, except pay attention to the textures folder, instead of meshes.
Q) With your [insert name of plugin] mod active, my game crashes on startup. If I uncheck it, everything is fine.
A) You're missing a master file. RTFM. Pay attention to the Requirements section. Required mods are not listed just for kicks.
Q) So, I'm having this problem with Refurbished...
A) Whoa, there, Bucko. I are not Fry1969. Fry1969 are not me. You got problems with the RR Companions Vault master, come here to bitch at Nos. You got problems with RR_Refurbished, go ask Fry. However, before you annoy either one of us, please take a look and at least try to figure out which your problem is with - the plugin or the master. It saves us all quite a bit of time.
I also want to note that I am not: Herculine, Toadlet, NeilUK02, or Polarbearcub777. Thus, I will not likely be able to help you with issues regarding their companions.
Q) Could you rewrite your mod to be compatible with...
A) No.
Q) It'd be really great if you added this feature...
A) No. You want it? Learn the GECK, do it yourself. If you know of a better or more efficient way to do something the mod is already doing, I'll listen, but be aware most of the time I do things the way I do for a reason.
Q) Your companions are doing something weird.
A) Did you RTFM? Behavior and known, as-yet-unresolvable issues are both covered there. If you've got a new issue, go ahead and bring it to my attention, I'll see about getting it corrected.
Q) When is [insert name of removed plugin or feature] coming back?
A) It isn't. Removed things were removed for a reason. Some didn't work and were beyond my ability to repair. Some were beyond the ability of the game engine to realize properly. Some were simply things that I didn't care enough about to work on, and got tired of being pestered about.
Q) What's the jail for?/Didn't you use to be able to take prisoners?
A) This I thought was covered by the last snarky reply, but people are still asking. Still. The jail is in the Vault because originally, the mod included a system whereby one could take prisoners. This did not work. Plain and simple. I could delve into pages and pages of what exactly didn't work, and how we tried to fix it, but the end result is the same.
Because it didn't work, I removed it. Because I have no interest in enslaving people, I'm not putting it back and trying again.
If you're so hot on the idea of imprisoning people, I'll recommend to you the same thing I do to everyone else who asks: FNNCQ. Sesom got the whole thing working, so if you're into such things, I recommend his system.
That, and psychiatric care; 'cause if you want to enslave people you have some serious emotional issues that need working out. Just sayin'.
Q) You're an asshole!
A) You have no idea. And that wasn't a question.
Sorry but this made me laugh to no end and really made my day brighten up.
ReplyDeleteMost of it seems common sense and I do hope you don't get that "You're an asshole" Comment a lot of times.
Do people really fail to read basic things like the files that are needed and the read me guides? Also putting things in the right place is kinda important >.>
I was laughing so hard I was in tears, had to leave my desk for several minutes to regain my composure, and I agree its all common sense, if it don't work uninstall and try again but common sense is a scarce resource in todays world
DeleteYes, it is intentionally humorous and sarcastic.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah... I've answered what I like to call the 'pretty red diamond question' at LEAST two dozen times.
Most people don't even have the decency to say thanks after bothering me about it; I only know if it worked because I never hear from them again.
Also get requests (usually about one a month) from people who think tacking a "thanks" onto the end makes it okay to badger me to completely rewrite the mod to suit their whim.
One guy wanted me to completely rewrite it to be a "tie-in" to Real Time Settler.
A mod, I might add, that I don't even use. We won't go into how they're completely different projects in purpose and scope, and wouldn't play together well at all.
Despite having the big damned notice at the top of the file description, I've had people try to run my alternate guards plugin without my companions pack, causing the happy fun time crash to desktop event whenever you start the game.
It just boggles the mind. I don't think they're stupid - at least, not THAT stupid - I think they're just plain too arrogant to read the documentation.
And while no one's yet had the stones to call me asshole to my face (albeit the digital one), I know there's been more than one thought it when I thwarted their all-laid-out scheme for the mod(s).
Wow...so I guess people really are that stupid. Well Im new to your mod and Nexus, so let me be one of the few to thank you personally on this great mod. And I hope more people learn to read instructions as they can actually be quite helpful.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate all the work all you modders do to improve a game that was put out to market in shabby shape to begin with, I pride myself in the fact that I read every scrap of info concerning the mod I a trying to install and if it don't work I undo it, re-read the info and try again because computers and software will only do what you tell them to do any problems or conflicts are most likely my own doing.
DeleteI have been dinking around with FO3 for a few years now as obvious by the date of my post, but I love the game and to this day I have never completed it and I been following the franchise since the first fallout was on the market.
You have done some marvelous work here and I have tried to use the different mods and made sure that I wasn't using any that would conflict and everything installs fine, I experience no crashes but everything looks like crap, colors flicker or textures are as shiny as they should be and having been over it I know my hardware is just to powerful for what I am trying to do.
I know I may sound like I am bitching but I am not I just want to say I appreciate all your efforts but I am giving up on FO3 and going to try FO4
Thanks much for commenting, vietnoboy.
ReplyDeleteDespite my constant bitching, I know that most mod players aren't that stupid, and don't make inappropriate requests...
...It's just that the ones who ARE that stupid seem to insist on being very vocal about their lack of sense, and don't take 'no' for an answer terribly well.
There's apparently quite a few around, too. I'm noticing more and more mods adding blunt notices and disclaimers to the header of the file details.
Haha totally feel your pain there man! I would personally like to THANK YOU for this mod it is great! I DL'ed RTS but thought better of it. Seems like it would be too buggy and would likely conflict with other mods. I'm trying to get the basics of the GECK down, and hopefully I will contribute to the New Vegas modbase in the future. Thanks again man I admire your work.
ReplyDeleteSo some think your an Asshole.... Well Welcome to the club, and maybe you are....one. And Yes I have one of those little red diamons and only one. But am I on this page to bitch NO!...
ReplyDeleteI am here to say THANK YOU!!!!! to You and to all of the others who put in so much hard work in doing something that has given me and maybe many others a lot of pleasure and enjoyment in adding and contuning their Adventure..
@23e45:
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Hysterical man, absolutley hysterical... Yeah I want to make something work with your mod, but unfortunately I "R" 2 stupid to figure it out. lol :o) , Heck it took me an hour just to place to objects in one room and have it not look stupid. I would love to make Robco work with RR, but does not look like it will happen, conflicts in Who Commands Whom, seem unavoidable, Companion Core.esm to RRCompanionVault.esm...
ReplyDeleteActually, I've found that adding items to a room and making it look nice is deceptive. Yeah, it's easy to drop new statics into a cell... but getting it placed just right can take forever.
ReplyDeleteCan't speak for RobCo. I don't use it, and never have - as you might be able to tell, I'm more fond of humanoid companions than robot ones, so I never messed with it.
That said, the RR Companions Vault itself modifies very little in the way of default FO3 resources, so it shouldn't cause too many problems...
Take this for what it is, alright?
ReplyDeleteNot going to put anyone down but at least I tried it, got all the files on, including the master files and files needed. Went great, worked great, no problem. Then, just like that the hatches to Old Olney, TenPenny and Paradise Falls disappeared. All that was left was Rivet City. Still had the guards for Chloe, and then it happened. The game started crashing when I went through the Vault 1 door.
So I tried by looking for an update and there weren't any. Looked for a newer version, none.
So, I took it and all the Vault 1 files off my mod manager.
:) Lo and Behold! There was my answer! Crashes stopped!
Have a nice day!
By the sound of it, you have another mod running that changes parts of the wasteland and was overriding RR's hatches.
ReplyDeleteAs for the crashing, there's little telling without more info. We've uncovered many things that can cause the mod to crash the game over the years; from bad video drivers, to bad texture replacers, to too many companions being put in the cell, to people who insist on masterupdating the mod.
thank you for the mod really it works fine has everything i wanted for a home the pool, the guards, residents, but the greatest of all the training hall really maze,urban styles and also the dificult system trainig this for me is a top mod
ReplyDeletethank you for the mod really it works fine has everything i wanted for a home the pool, the guards, residents, but the greatest of all the training hall really maze,urban styles and also the dificult system trainig this for me is a top mod
ReplyDeletegreat mod, it is a "must have" to play Fallout 3 nowadays. I only have one question because i don't know if it is a bug or not but any of the companions i recruited were killable ... either by me or by creatures. there is any in game command i can do to change that?
ReplyDeleteNPCs being killable or not is determined by a flag on their NPC options, called "Essential". It can be changed by opening the relevant plugin(s) in the GECK.
DeleteThanks man.
DeleteSo....I just downloaded this mod.....ALMOST everything works.....I can get into the tunnels but not the vault itself...every time I try to go into the vault the game crashes....Did I do something wrong or, is this a missing file or what?
ReplyDeleteNever mind I figured it out......I feel dumb now....I had too many companions
Deletewhat is a safe amount of companions, I have 4 and I am a greedy bastard and I want them all but I know I can't... whimper
Delete"what is a safe amount of companions, I have 4 and I am a greedy bastard and I want them all but I know I can't... whimper"
DeleteDepends on what you mean by safe.
From a gameplay standpoint, anything more than two generally makes the game so easy you can just be a spectator.
Three is what will generally fit in most of the small rooms and narrow halls in many of the game areas -- remember that the game was made for a maximum of one companion at a time.
As for what will make your game crash? That depends on your system. I don't do FO3 anymore; but back during RR's development, I once took either eight or ten companions along on a combat adventure just to prove the system was stable enough to do it. The top out number will depend on complexity of scripting, custom high-poly meshes and textures in use on them (if any), and so on. A modern multi-core system with a gig-plus VRAM GPU should in theory be able to handle as many companions as you are willing to be annoyed by.