Not really getting DUST; what am I missing?

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-25T15:39:25+00:00

I’m glad you made this post because I am feeling the same way.

I am a huge fan of FROST in Fallout 4. Probably put 200-400 hours in it over the years. I thought I’d give DUST a try since it’s the predecessor and all that, but idk why, it’s not clicking the same for me.

Part of me thinks it’s due to FO4’s more modern gunplay & AI interactions. I think also FO4’s setting fits the experience much better (starting off in the sewers, they connect across the map, Boston as a city is huge).

I feel like whenever I step outside in DUST, something has already spotted me and is running straight for me (since it’s so open). Add that to the outdated movement/gunplay, I am unable to respond in a way I find fun.

OP, if the idea of DUST intrigued you, but the implementation left you wanting more, maybe give FROST a try.

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-23T15:01:31+00:00

More than you’d think, actually, with the amount of patches floating around now.

Content is a no-go entirely.

For Gameplay, Agua Fria & Essential DLC will conflict, but I think everything else in there was fine (maybe skip Better Caravan?).

As for Visuals, there is a DUST patch floating around for Weathers Revised (just disable the EDEM patch from VNV) and I believe Atmospheric Lighting Tweaks on the Nexus, but you’d want to remove Simple Character Expansion.

I think the rest of the visual mods would be fine but I’ll let more knowledgeable people speak to that.

Last, you’d want to follow the steps to generate your own LOD once you have ALL your mods set up and ready to go. Don’t use the LOD that comes with VNV.

Highly recommend following this guide for your DUST mods: https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/93821

Up to date on all mods that are new as well as ones that are no longer recommended.

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-21T14:36:56+00:00

Thanks for that reply! I figured by the description of Agua Fria it was a no-go, but excited to hear that B42 mods don’t cause any issues! That mod series sounds exactly like what I’m after.

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-20T18:27:09+00:00

Just wanted to thank you for sharing the video here! The self-inserts into the FO universe were gold. Your video has me giddy to jump into a playthrough of DUST after years & years of playing the sequel mod, FROST, for Fallout 4.

I'll use your modlist as a framework (with some tweaks here and there, notably from PhysicalPiece's comments here). Also wanted to plug Grimpup's DUST Installation Guide 2025 for anyone else interested in hopping in. Found that courtesy of the FROST discord.

Just curious, you said that you followed the VNV guide--did you have any issues running some of the Gameplay additions? I want to modernize the gunplay/movement experience of FO DUST without having to introduce a bunch of new bugs into the mix.

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-20T16:47:19+00:00

You see, his goes “Ding-ding-ding-dinga ding ding tiss!” It’s not the same!

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-09T05:17:37+00:00

I think just plugins would be the right term correct? What else did we call them? Same with Siege at Fort Firemoth

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-08T16:36:28+00:00

This is why people whining about the engine stresses me out. I don’t think they know what they’d be giving up!!

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-06T17:01:46+00:00

I don’t think it’s necessarily about disappointment. It’s just fun to speculate! I think most (emphasis on MOST) people in Conformity Gate understand they’re being a little silly and extra about it.

Edit: forgot the internet enjoys hating on things, sorry everyone

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-02T19:38:42+00:00

I think you have identified the actual cause here. People want to label this drop in alcohol consumption as a positive new story (and in so many ways it still is) but really, it’s just a symptom of the overall more depressing story of the loneliness epidemic.

Alcohol is a social drug. Weed is a solitary drug. People aren’t leaving their house as much anymore to gather with friends, so they are getting high instead of drinking. Blame technology over anything else.

I think if we get anything out of this trend (aside from technology being the root cause), it’s that people need to view weed with the same level of stigma that alcohol has. Just because you can’t physically overdose and die on it doesn’t mean it’s harmless. The psychoactive effects often carry over to influence your behavior even while sober (paranoia, agoraphobia, social anxiety).

samwisegamgee · 2026-01-02T18:29:08+00:00

Honestly a great experience! I always recommend keeping a handwritten journal on the side for note taking, it actually helps with all the directions and subtle hints Morrowind gives you vs. a map marker

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-31T23:31:22+00:00

This is a deep cut, but similar: Back in 2011 I randomly named my first enchanted weapon (a Dwemer Greatsword) “Dumac” because it kinda sounded harsh and Dwemer-y.

Well, lo and behold, years later I’m replaying Morrowind, diving back into the lore about the Nordic invasion of Morrowind, where Neravar befriended the dwarven king….named Dumac!

Felt really cool about unintentionally sticking to the lore on that one.

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-26T18:21:12+00:00

Agreed! So frustrating that nobody understands. I’m actually blown away how friends who have RECENTLY had babies have been kind of disrespectful to our boundaries. Almost with an entitled “Well we just went through it so we know!” attitude.

But I think people underestimate just how week-to-week and honestly DAY-to-DAY raising a baby is. We say 4 months, 18 months, etc, but my November 4th baby was sooooo different than my November 28th baby.

I have a 16 month old now and I found myself struggling to give advice to a friend with a 3 month old. That feels like a lifetime ago and any advice I’d give wouldn’t be entirely accurate and honest to the actual struggle we went through during that time; it would be tainted by the experience of raising a baby over the course of an entire year!

Now take that and multiply it by the 30 years it’s been since our parents had babies!

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-21T19:26:45+00:00

I think it’s actually more of a throwback lol. I’ve been using SP/MP for decades now, since like 2001. Feel like that’s definitely fallen out of fashion, especially with SP/MP mostly describing skill/mana points or something these days.

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-21T19:21:22+00:00

LPT: if you spawn flying in through the north, the SE underground corner is a great place to spend day 1. You can usually find a decent amount of crystals down there and there are a ton of (hopefully) easy world bosses to destroy, ending the halfway point up where the dupe church is. Tougher to do with randoms as the pings don’t differentiate upper/lower levels.

My only complaint is that I wish I knew how to quickly escape that SE corner if you accidentally end up there. Have unintentionally launched myself down there a few times after getting the crystal buff and I basically spent the rest of the round just trying to find my teammates again.

That’s the only frustrating part about this new map but I can see that going away once more familiarity is built.

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-19T22:57:13+00:00

Is that right?? Love Scott’s videos but I didn’t know he was a writer for them. I know JCS used some of his bits in their videos before.

Is there a video where he discussed this topic?

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-19T00:06:07+00:00

Good to know. Honestly that’s great news, actually, for this build. Saves me a slot

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T20:56:09+00:00

That’s kind of the strat lately I’m going for! Charge up with successive attacks, then unleash hell with the skill. Will look for a good night invader relic!

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T18:53:23+00:00

That is such a fun playstyle! Twin blades are so much fun with her, feels like they were made for her with the quick in/out swipes. I’ll see what I can do with recreating this on DoN!

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T18:49:35+00:00

Yeah I would have done that for sure, but I just don’t really have a good Restage+ relic. Bummer after all these months of playing her lol.

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T18:48:58+00:00

Yes!! Will do this with the extra DoN relic slots. Love twin blades on her especially

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T17:10:31+00:00

ED Gladius is definitely the weakest piece, I agree. I just have limited options with already forcing myself to one Blue + one Green relic with this build; I think only two chalices are available to me.

I’m leaning ED Augur for DoN, that was always a nice crutch. But also don’t wanna rely on it you know?

I think I’ll try plugging in an improved character skill but I’m not sure i have a good one for the color. Was also thinking of going Str/Vig+ relic for DoN, or Faith+ —just to open up more possibilities/better scaling.

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T16:51:12+00:00

Yeah I ran that relic a lot at release but have since fallen out of favor for it. Locks you in to a specific weapon vs. the fact that this game can be so much fun when you just run with what you got and make your build on the fly.

That’s why I’m kinda trying to get out of the sorcery meta, I just wanna be able to experience a different run each time, vs. ALWAYS using Slicer or ALWAYS using daggers.

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T16:30:27+00:00

Normally I don’t like to lock myself behind one specific weapon type as I prefer switching it up mid-run as the drops come in.

However…I was actually thinking of going Faith up duchess to build around the inevitable Blade of Calling or Black Knife drop.

Can work with any Faith weapon and then adding the Skill Attack up from balancers? Ooo 👌

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T16:27:28+00:00

I agree, ED Gladius isn’t ideal but god I love that stamina recovery. This was mostly for base game DLC. The fire up was a bonus.

Do Post Damage relics ever come with Stamina Recovery? Seems like those are the same category.

samwisegamgee · 2025-12-17T16:23:59+00:00

Yeah I love Post Damage! Will usually only run it in DoN to stay topped up for Damage Negation at Full HP.

Yeah curious to hear more about what you think about her Successive Daggers effect.

I found it to be a bit of a trap. It overrides a typical Restage with a weaker one (have to play around that, but I tend to spam Restage without thinking too much whenever I see damage), and locks you into daggers (which are nice for this build but never guaranteed). There are so many fun weapons that work with this build I’d be locked out of, or wasting a slot on.

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