[RS.com] Fallout 3 Atomic Edition

DESCRIPTION and USES
Welcome to the Fallout 3 Atomic Disc. This is a 2 disc edition of Fallout 3. Disc 1 is the untouched ISO for an unmarred gaming experience - nothing is ripped, it's all there. Disc 2 (the Atomic Disc) is a collection of DLCs, patches, utilities and mods for Fallout 3.
With so much Fallout material strewn over (geddit?) the internet, I compiled this collection to help myself out. Hopefully it helps you out as well.

Download links at the bottom of the post. But you'll miss out on all the cool previews

OFFICIAL DOWNLOAD *******
Clicking the "Install DLCs" link will take you to a new menu page:



Clicking "Bal's DLC Installer" will launch Bal's DLC Installer. Bal made the installer to save him some time when he was installing the Fallout 3 DLCs. It's a handy thing, I'm taking it. Credit to Bal, and I hope it's useful in it's new home.
Bal's DLC installer will install the following DLCs in one go:

• Operation Anchorage
• The Pitt
• Broken Steel
• Point Lookout
• Mothership Zeta

The installer lets you install into the directory of your choice. It's pre-programmed with the default Fallout 3 ********, but you can change it to where you installed the game.

Because some people have had problems with Bal's installer, I made my own. It does much the same thing as Bal's installer, just in a different way.

PATCHES
Clicking the "Patches" link will open new page containing links for launching the US and UK versions of the 1.7 patch. Sorry, but you'll have to go elsewhere for the French, Italian, etc. versions. And yes I know that these patches are freely available, I just thought that it would be useful to have everything in the same package.



Handily, the 1.7 patch removes the CD-check - so no crack is required.

This page also contains the Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch v1.1.3. Fan-made, this patch actually fixes more bugs than the official patches! Technically, this is a mod, but I've included it here because of its function.

Finally, you will see zip file called MADFilter 1.0.0.3. This is a codec that fixes a problem unique to Windows Vista. For some reason, Fallout 3 on Vista doesn't process the game's mp3s very well. I'm not quite sure how it fixes the problem (MADFilter is for decoding mp3s to WAV format, so maybe something to do with that) but it does. I consider it an essential fix for Vista users: without it, your radio will stutter to the extent of being unlistenable.

USEFUL TOOLS
Clicking the "Utilities" link will launch a Windows Explorer folder containing several useful items:

• FO3Edit 2.5.2 - useful for fixing script problems in mods
• FOMM 0.9.9 - FallOut Mod Manager, highly recommended
• FOMS 0.6.6.1 - FallOut Mod Sorter, very useful
• FOSE 1.1 - FallOut Script Extender, required for some mods
• Games For Windows LIVE redistributable - in case yours didn't install with the game
• Purge Cell Buffers - technically a mod, purges unused cell buffers to maintain stable performance

FOMS is okay, but I've included a recommended load order as a .txt file. It accounts for most of the mods included here, and you should be able to just import it into FOMM.

A quick note about FOSE and GFWL - Games For Windows Live is required for Fallout 3 to even start up. FOSE, however allows it to start and then suppresses it. This is required for FOSE to do its work (as it's a hack of a kind, which GFWL is designed to prevent). So if you're worried about privacy issues with Games For Windows Live, FOSE is what you need.

MODS
Clicking the "Mods" link will launch a Windows Explorer folder containing several sub-folders of mods. The mods don't actually change gameplay all that much. They are more to supplement and enhance the Fallout experience, rather than replace it. Here is a very brief description of what they do (scroll down to see a more detailed breakdown):

• Cheat Items - some things to make the game easier, less fun though
• Companion Mods - various tweaks to make companions more useful
• Gameplay - mods that add or change gameplay, balance, levelling, and so on
• Gear - cool weapons and equipment
• HiRes Textures - improve the game textures, a good graphics card recommended
• Immersion - series of small mods to improve... err... immersion
• Radio Stations - extends and adds radio stations for variety
• Sountrack - extra music
• Weather - wide-ranging weather, atmosphere and lighting changes

The mods in RAR archives are installed manually, by extracting the RAR files to:

~1\Fallout 3\Data
e.g.
C:\Program Files\Fallout 3\Data

For the larger mods, such as the Hi-Res textures, I have created installers for you. These will install the textures to the correct place, and also include uninstallers as well. I felt it prudent to include uninstallers for these mods, as the hi-res textures can be a drain on system resources and you might change your mind on them. Don't get me wrong, the textures are excellent, but I've give you the option of flexibility. Some example screenshots follow:








The mod collection is useful for 2 reasons. First of all, mods can be a confusing experience for most gamers. All mods in this collection are used and have been vetted by me personally: I know that these mods work and I know that they are worth having. Secondly, the original distributions of many of these mods were lacking clear instructions (or indeed, any instructions at all!), were packed incorrectly (e.g. placing the .esp file outside of the data folder), had generically named files (so they overwrote each other) or left a lot of clutter in the game folder (I've moved most of the readme files and other fluff into a single folder). By installing these mods, you will have a nice, tidy Data folder with clear instructions.

MOD DETAILS
Here is a more detailed (although still brief) breakdown of the mods included. For more details, see the readme's of the individual mods.

Cheat Items
Extra Ghoul Mask - if you don't want to do the quest to get the original
Hacking terminals is easier - if you're fed up being locked out of terminals
Skeleton Key - open any lock
Weight Limit Up - increases how much you can carry

Companion Mods
Companion Behaviour Overhaul - new orders system
Essential Followers - your companions only fall unconscious, never dead
Followers Hire by Charisma - can recruit multiple companions
Followers relax - natural behaviour patterns when told to wait

Gameplay
Fallout Wanderer's Edition - substantial changes to balance, levelling and other aspects
Marts Mutant Mod - adds many new monsters, changes spawn rates
FWE-MMM Compatibility Patch - allows the 2 above mods to work together
Return to Shady Sands - new settlement with quests + NPCs
Stealth Kills Enabled - now you can make silent kills without the whole damn town magically knowing about it

Gear
Advanced Combat Armour - cool combat armour, love the helmets
Alexscorpion_Sniper_Gear - new toys to play with
Blackwolf Backpack - wearable backpack
Black Stormchaser Hat - simple retexure of the vanilla stormchaser hat
Gas Mask - hi-res gas mask, covers whole head
Guy Fawkes Mask - V for Vendetta mask
Reinforced Chinese Stealth Suit - adds new variants of the chinese stealth suit
Rorshach - like the character from Watchmen
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mod - adds S.T.A.L.K.E.R. themed outfits and monsters
Sunglasses Collection 1.6 - collection of shades, gotta look cool in the desert
Tactical Weapons - bring some Heckler & Koch to the party
TUPAM - enhanced stats for power armour, actually makes the suits worth having
Wander Gear and Mufflers - looks cool, trust me

HiRes Textures
DX HiRes Power Armour textures - custom installer, hi-res power armour textures, uninstaller included
DX Mothership Zeta DLC Retextured - substantial retexture of the space ship and its occupatns
DX Gauss Rifle - hi-res textures + animated effects for the microfusion gauss rifle, req. Operation Anchorage
Enhanced Night Sky + HiRes Moon - hi-res night sky textures
Hi-Res Chinese Stealth Armour Japanese Edition - hi-res armour textures + new Japanese power armour
Hi-Res Environment Textures - hi-res textures + bump mapping for small-scale clutter, bins, shelves, etc.
Hi-Res Equipment Textures - hi-res textures + bump mapping for original fallout 3 game items
Hi-Res Monster Textures - hi-res textures + bump mapping for ghouls + super mutants
NeilMc Hi-Res Megaton Pack - custom installer, hi-res Megaton texures, uninstaller included
NeilMc Hi-Res Rivet City Pack - custom installer, hi-res Rivet City texures, uninstaller included
NeilMc Hi-Res Terrain Pack - custom installer, hi-res terrain texures, uninstaller included
Unique Weapons With Unique Textures - makes the unique weapons more... unique

Immersion
Auto Save Utility - an "install & forget" mod, automates the save process so you don't have to think about it
Burnification - flame weapons create charred corpses
Darnified UI - smoother, tighter, more efficient user interface
Fallout 3 Reanimated - replaces many character animations with superior ones
Flesh Burning Plasma - plasma weapons strip flesh from bone, as in-game characters say that they should
FPS-style Grenade Hotkey 2.0 - throw frag grenades like in a FPS, now with support for multiple grenade types
Generator Noises - generators actually sound like they're running now
Killable Children - if you're fed up with the Little Lamplight kids calling you names, now you can slaughter them
MCT Wasteland Travellers - aim to create a more credible wasteland, adding NPCs which travel between cities, engage battles, living an dying in the wasteland - removing the feel that the wastes are there only for the player.
Megaton Gate Closes 3.0 - Megaton, Paradise Falls + Rivet City entrances now open & close
MTUI - alternative to Darnified's UI
Overhead 3rd Person Camera - replaces 3P camera with more effective one, mandatory IMO
Real Frag Grenade Physics - grenades roll instead of bouncing, other realistic exlosive effects
Rivet City Realignment - realigns the internal layout to match the external shape, so your compass makes sense
Shells Rain - bullet casings fall to the floor and stay there (configurable)
The Pitt - glowing ingots - makes finding the steel ingots a whole lot easier
The Pitt - No Fire Followers - prevents followers being fired and leaving when you travel to the Pitt
Zomebie Walking v3 - changes the walk animation of ghouls to be more zombie-like

Radio Stations
GNR More Where That Came From - tired of the same old songs repeated over and over? add up to 100 pre-war songs
Civil Defense Broadcast System - Cold War-style info broadcasts by the Government
CONELRAD - plays 55 music tracks from the era of the Atomic Threat + 29 authentic public service announcements
Existence 2.0 - radio station run by a robot who fancies himself quite the philosopher
iPip Player - new station, add your own mp3s (read the readme!)

Soundtrack
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernoblyl Soundtrack - ripped from the game, one of the few soundtrack mods that fit with the Fallout 'theme' (I suppose that it naturally would)

Weather
Enhanced Weather - experience rain and snow
Fellout 1.1.17BETA - changes game from green to more natural, dusty tones, now includes patches
PipBoy Lighting Pack - Fellout features v. dark nights, so this should help

Some YouTube previews of some of the mods:
Some image previews of some of the other mods:


















Some more (too big fit in-line):
Previews of the Hi-Res power armour textures (by DX):










Okay, that's enough showing off - here are the download links!


Fallout 3 game disc - 5.52 GB
Fallout 3 Atomic Disc - 8.96 GB (including 10% recovery record)
NO PASS

Join the Fallout 3 files together using HJSplit:
Just use WinRAR to extract the Atomic Disc





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Now, just to prove that it's all working, here are some screen shots from my own games (note, these screen shots are without NeilMc's Hi-Res Terrain packs, I installed them and they do look great, but my 8800GT 512MB just can't cope with it!)

A Beautiful Sunset (Atmospheric Sun Glare)



View of the Wastland (shows off the Fellout 'look')



The Last Thing You'll Ever See (gun included with Tactical Weapons)



Vultures Circling (shows off the Fellout sky)



Sniper! Up on the Cliff!



Booyah



More Sniping



Shell Casings Are In Effect



Advanced Combat Armour + Shells Rain = Carnage!



Close-up of the H&K G3A3 SD Scoped (included with Tactical Weapons)



Rorshach Test Cell



Swattin' Some Bugs



The City Never Sleeps, So Neither Do I



Black Stormchaser Hat + Wanderer Gear & Muffflers



S.T.A.L.K.E.R. outfit + Wanderer Gear & Mufflers



Flesh Burning Plasma



Another S.T.A.L.K.E.R. outfit



Showing off the roads from NeilMc Hi-Res Terrain



The Hi-Res textures really are quite special.
Lots of graphics cards advertise themselves as being able to deliver "HD gaming",
but the delivery is only as good as the *******. This is genuine HD gaming *******.[/quote]