The modding scene for Fallout 4, while not as active as Skyrim's, is vibrant. There are tons of mods that expand the game's world, adding features Bethesda simply doesn't have time for. Bethesda's older titles can be a headache when it comes to modding, but over the years, their games have become more stable. Skyrim can run dozens of mods without too much trouble, and Fallout 4 is no different.
The main issue with Bethesda mods is that there are too many of them. Obviously one can't install every mod unless they're looking to crash their game. Instead, players have to pick, choose, and curate a collection that best suits their gameplay. This list can help players who don't know where to start looking. Fire up your mod manager, take a deep breath, and try installing some of these awesome mods for Fallout 4!
10/10 Homemaker - Expanded Settlements
Quite simply, Homemaker adds hundreds of new objects and pieces of furniture to the base building in Fallout 4. The vanilla base building experience can feel lacking, with limited options to choose from. Plus, everything in the base game looks dirty — we want to feel like we're rebuilding the wasteland, not just moving garbage around. Homemaker gives that feeling.
The only real drawback is that the sheer number of new objects can be tough to navigate. Fallout 4's base-building system was made with consoles in mind. The UI is large and lacks features like drop-down menus. The developers clearly never anticipated having several hundreds of objects to sort through.
9/10 Start Me Up Redux
New Vegas and Morrowind get through their intros in about five minutes. In Skyrim and Fallout 4 however, the introductory sequences go on for what feels like an hour. For games about player freedom that encourage multiple playthroughs, it's just too much. It's no wonder alternate start mods are so popular.
Start Me Up Redux is the revived, updated version of Start Me Up. Not only does it let the player skip the long intro, it lets them take on a new backstory if they want, meaning they'll no longer be a parent looking for their son. The mod even alters the game's dialogue to reflect this. It's a welcome change that really frees up new roleplaying opportunities.
8/10 Armorsmith Extended
Armorsmith Extended is a great mod that adds a ton of new features. It lets players combine any piece of armor with just about any outfit. Obviously, this really opens up the character customization options. The mod also adds in some new armor pieces and improves customization for existing armors. New colors and mods make it feel almost as fully featured as weapon customization.
Armorsmith Extended adds a ton of new features, far too many to list here, all of which just generally make armor a more fun experience. The changes are all small on their own, but they come together to make the mod a vital part of any load order.
7/10 Better Settlers
Better Settlers does exactly what it says; it improves the game's generic settlers. It may seem like a small change, but it adds a welcome level of variety. With the mod, settlers actually look unique and interesting. They no longer all wear the same boring rags and brahmin-skin outfits; instead, they can spawn with things like suits, fun hats, or even armor, weapons, and Stimpaks.
Better Settlers comes with some great optional patches, too. The Community Clothing Patch adds in armors from Eli's Armor Compendium. An optional mortality patch makes it so settlers can be killed (by other NPCs, and not just the player), which gives a lot more depth to settlement raids.
6/10 Maxwell's World
There aren't a ton of good quest mods available for Fallout 4, but there are a few, and Maxwell's World is one of them. It's a very large, lovingly crafted mod that takes place in a haunted amusement park. The mod contains new weapons, new music, and sound effects, the awesome new amusement park area, pretty decent voice acting, and more.
Maxwell's World is not a mod for people who enjoy serious, lore-friendly stories. But it is entertaining, and very much worth playing. The care that went into making it is obvious, and it should last most players a couple of hours, making it almost like a mini-DLC.
5/10 True Storms
True Storms is the premier weather mod for Fallout 4. As the name implies, it completely revamps storms but also has a number of effects on other weather. For example, fog effects and radiation clouds no longer pass through walls. Also, with this mod, rad storms sometimes bring hordes of ghouls with them. This is a pretty intense feature, but like every other part of the mod, it can be toggled on and off.
True Storms has awesome particle effects for rain, gorgeous lightning strikes, and immersive sounds. It actually began as a sound overhaul mod, and it shows. The storm and rain effects all sound fantastic.
4/10 Eli's Armor Compendium
Eli's Armor Compendium adds a host of new armors and clothing items to Fallout 4. Almost all of the new items look great, and many of them can be modded or recolored at the armor workbench. In addition to adding a new shop that sells Eli's armors, the mod also adds them to loot lists so they blend in with the rest of the game.
Eli's Armor Compendium is probably the best mod for new lore-friendly armor in Fallout 4. There's not much more to say about it; it just makes the game better. The modder who made it even went on to get a job in game development, which is a testament to her 3D modeling skills.
3/10 The Beantown Interiors Project
This is the perfect mod for anyone who's ever been disappointed by the number of closed doors in Fallout. The Beantown Interiors Project opens several previously sealed-off or boarded-up houses, letting the player go inside them, explore, and loot. The number of boarded-up houses in the base game is pretty disappointing, so this mod is a natural fix.
The Interiors Project lends the game a ton of depth in a way that's not awkward or forced. Places like Concord, which previously felt empty, come to life with opportunities. Buildings that were previously just obstacles to move around suddenly provide ample cover and other unique surprises!
2/10 Tales From the Commonwealth
Tales of the Commonwealth is a massive mod that adds new quests, new companions, dozens of new characters, and thousands of lines of dialogue to Fallout 4. Because the characters and quests of the mod are so spread out, and there are so many of them, the mod even has a wiki-style page to walk players through some of its content. It's a great mod for ongoing playthroughs, adding a lot of depth to the game's world.
Tales From the Commonwealth adds something that Fallout 4 is desperately in need of — interesting characters to talk to. It's a nice change of pace for a game most of the really interesting characters are companions, and there is only a handful of them.
1/10 Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch
If we could only install one Fallout 4 mod, it would be this one. Nearly every Bethesda game has an unofficial bugfix mod. And for nearly every Bethesda game, it's practically a necessity. From bugged-out merchants to texture glitches to game-breaking issues, the list of features fixed by this patch has thousands of entries, and it's consistently updated with more. Players may not even notice most of the mod's functionality, but they would definitely notice if they didn't have it.
The Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch, or UFO4P, earns its spot as one of the most popular mods of all time. It was created by the same dedicated team who created the Unofficial Skyrim Patch. It's amazing to see such dedicated fans committed to fixing these games, and they deserve as much support as they can get.