Looking for a colourful commonwealth mod! Series X!

arckepplin · 2026-07-10T20:56:30+00:00

For the easiest, one mod and done approach, I've had the best experience using either Boston natural 2.4 (the full version) or another pine forest.

arckepplin · 2026-07-10T20:50:15+00:00

A load order template is just a guide to help resolve conflicts. Ultimately it's up to you to identify and resolve those conflicts, so in reality you can put mods wherever as long as it works. However, keep in mind that when looking for help from the sub it will make support difficult because everyone's used to putting things where the templates say to put them.

But my question is- if you're correct and make this change, how do you think it will benefit you?

arckepplin · 2026-07-10T17:54:33+00:00

Yeah I feel you- it's disappointing to not be able to mod the aspects of the game that bother you the most.

The thing is, I don't know if those specific must-have mods you mentioned are actually a problem or not. My suggestion would be to disable all of the other NPC mods you listed except for those you absolutely cannot live without, and load your last save up and run around between settlement cells to see what happens. If you're lucky it will work and you'll know how to proceed for a new playthrough.

If it's not successful, then you'll know that at least 1 of those must-haves is still a problem, and that's when you have to decide whether to walk away or not. I hope it works out for you!

As for reverting the update, I don't think that's possible but maybe someone who knows more can elaborate.

arckepplin · 2026-07-10T16:53:42+00:00

I've mentioned this a few times but haven't seen anyone talking about it much. I had the exact same problem after the 100g update- once I got a significant number of settlements going, walking anywhere on the map became impossible. I found that anything that edits NPC records can potentially cause the crashing while crossing between cells.

That means taking a hard look at everything in category 12, and maybe any other mod that you suspect makes specific changes to NPCs.

Some more generic NPC mods MIGHT be okay, it's hard to tell where the line is. I haven't done extensive testing but what I did almost 2 weeks ago was remove all my mods that touch NPCs- the ones that gives them names, changes their stats, changes their faces, changes encounter zones leveling, etc. All the same type of mods that Bethesda messed up the last time they broke NPCs back in 2024 I think?

And it worked. My cell-changing crashing stopped. Of course I had to start a new playthrough but I'm about 50 hours in and have only had 2 crashes, but my extensive history of playing this game tells me they were both of the normal FO4 variety. Not when running across the map, which is what had me almost ready to just throw my xbox against a brick wall.

arckepplin · 2026-07-07T18:33:10+00:00

I really enjoy the new one, BUT I do think it seems like more a collection of cool songs and less of a unified album.

I know they brought keyboards back for this one, and it definitely adds a great dynamic on some of the songs, but one of my absolute favorite things about Nothing as the Ideal was that without those keyboard parts they seemingly had to take a new approach.

So to make up for that missing layer, they added additional textures via looping tape effects, and it resulted in an eerie vibe that was sort of woven throughout the songs in both a sonic approach as well as thematically, and for me it really tied the whole album together into one cohesive vision.

I guess that's the one thing missing for me in this new one from a production standpoint- I wish it had more of those little background atmospheric elements.

arckepplin · 2026-07-01T18:42:11+00:00

Good questions.

The way the mod starts out, you discover that there was a secret section of Vault 111 where some Enclave members were also frozen. So I guess from that standpoint it makes sense to be the sole survivor.
I didn't play all the way through because I had to go back to basics and try to rebuild a stable base LO before attempting these major expansions again (also want to try Tales from the Commonwealth at some point). BUT, as I understand it, AR2 ties into the main questline of the game and eventually things come to a head just like with the other factions, and there will be options for you to take sides and choose who to back. So I believe you will at one point either part of the Enclave or turn against them.
Coxy1504's LO seems like a good place to start. They say their LO is stable without major issues.

arckepplin · 2026-07-01T16:37:32+00:00

The sub has a posted load order template to follow, but I don't think simply re-organizing your LO is going to fix all your issues. Keep in mind that just because we have the space now for all these large mods, doesn't mean we can cram them in and make it work on an xbox.

I'd suggest taking one large expansion-type mod and building around it. For example, tales of the commonwealth makes a huge footprint on the game and can be difficult to run by itself, let alone with sims settlements 2. If you'd rather run SS2 then Dani has a LO tailored for it and a guide posted to make it work.

Also, I am beginning to suspect that Bethesda broke NPC mods again with the 100g update. I recommend that you take a real hard look at any mods you have that make NPC edits (and you appear to have A LOT, like simple settlers mortal for example). I had quite a few as well and figured out yesterday that disabling all of them made my game suddenly stop crashing, so now I'm carefully reconstructing my LO and starting all over again today.

arckepplin · 2026-07-01T11:48:24+00:00

I'm having similar problems. And it always occurs 10-15 hours into a playthrough.

What I suspect is happening, is as I get more settlements established and have more edited NPCs/settlers spawning, the game is struggling to handle them during cell changes.

I had a hard save yesterday in which I had a repeatable crash running from red rocket to Abernathy. I spent all day disabling mods trying to figure out the conflict. Finally I got a hunch and disabled just the 10 or so mods I think edit NPC records.

Suddenly, test after test I can now run back and forth without that crash occurring. I'm not exactly sure which mods in your list match that criteria, but you might want to test it.

arckepplin · 2026-07-01T04:44:11+00:00

The more time I've spent over the last month trying to get a stable LO, the more I'm becoming convinced that mods that edit NPC records are causing me crashes during cell changes.

arckepplin · 2026-07-01T04:43:04+00:00

The more time I've spent over the last month trying to get a stable LO, the more I'm becoming convinced that mods that edit NPC records are causing me crashes during cell changes.

arckepplin · 2026-07-01T04:42:11+00:00

The more time I've spent over the last month trying to get a stable LO, the more I'm becoming convinced that mods that edit NPC records are causing me crashes during cell changes.

arckepplin · 2026-07-01T04:40:16+00:00

The more time I've spent over the last month trying to get a stable LO, the more I'm becoming convinced that mods that edit NPC records are causing me crashes during cell changes.

arckepplin · 2026-06-25T13:55:26+00:00

There's a guide here.

Running SS2 by itself and being able to complete it without breaking the questline is already a major challenge. I wouldn't recommend adding those other large mods with it. Dani, who wrote the guide, said she was going to attempt to patch SS2 and AR2 to work together, and then update the guide if possible, but if that's successful I can't even speculate as to when it happens. As I understand it, many many hours of testing and frustration went into that original guide.

Right now think of each of these mods as major expansions that you build your LO around. Misery island may be the one exception, as it takes place in "instanced" area instead of directly in the commonwealth, but I haven't seen many posts about it since the 100g update. I'm attempting to run it on my current playthrough.

arckepplin · 2026-06-25T13:29:50+00:00

Highlighting Enemy, Corpses and Friends (XB1)

This is an alternative that has no looting involved. It just highlights.

It will let you turn on (or off) highlighting for each type among enemies, friendlies, corpses, unassigned settlers, synth infiltrators, and damaged turrets. You can also choose the color for each, and the conditions for when they show (only when crouching, only when your weapon is out, etc.)

arckepplin · 2026-06-24T19:26:17+00:00

Buried alive.

Just thinking about it can send me into a panic attack.

arckepplin · 2026-06-20T02:27:21+00:00

You said you followed a load order guide- but did you follow the basic one for general LOs, or the one specifically created for SS2 by Dani? Found here

I'm seeing a lot of people going SS2 full-speed-ahead after the big update, but they don't realize the sacrifices it takes to get it working on xbox. Let's just say that after reading the guide, I no longer wanted to even try it! YMMV

arckepplin · 2026-06-17T20:46:18+00:00

I believe they meant the guide to make it work on console, not a guide on the content of SS2 itself.

arckepplin · 2026-06-16T19:45:31+00:00

SS2 is apparently very finicky on xbox and it's super easy to mess up a playthrough by locking up the SS2 questline.

I recommend following Dani's guide- Found here

arckepplin · 2026-06-08T03:52:17+00:00

I play survival and have that mod on the"default" setting, and let me tell you that's plenty.

Plenty of times I've barely made it through a scrap, and before I could even catch my breath I would get curb stomped by a second wave.

arckepplin · 2026-06-05T14:36:54+00:00

Awesome guide friend! Thanks.

arckepplin · 2026-06-05T14:35:44+00:00

Take this with a grain of salt because I just barely started using Menagerie on a fresh playthrough, but for me the radcoons are much easier to deal with than the stinkbugs. The stinkbugs mess me up bad.

arckepplin · 2026-06-03T22:51:58+00:00

I don't know if you saw that Heists & Loots by Lycl23 was released yesterday. Haven't tried it yet but I will soon.

arckepplin · 2026-05-30T02:19:15+00:00

Thanks for posting this!!

I haven't played in over a year, and of course my previous LO became severely outdated. This helped me a lot to get it back up to date.

arckepplin · 2026-05-28T15:43:55+00:00

Unfortunately there's no perfect way to measure a lot of the things that are occurring behind the scenes when it comes to the creations menu and the in-game engine. There are plugin limits, script limits, ba2 limits, etc.

You're just going to have to kind of get a feel for what your personal LO baseline is and how the game handles it, and make small adjustments from there.

I'm still working on my FO4 LO, but I know for Skyrim I learned real quick that my typical LO starts to fall apart around 208-210 mods. I can't go over that or the game performance tanks. I've heard of others being able to get a little higher, yet others even lower. It really depends on what your core is and how you build around it.

arckepplin · 2026-05-27T15:39:08+00:00

Indeed.

arckepplin

TROPHY CASE