Over the weekend I thought that I would download an alternative start mod for Fallout 4 and start up a new gameplay story! However, last time I tried to do this with Fallout 4, my game kept crashing. Unfortunately, over the weekend I had the same issue. Despite it being a fresh install on a newly formatted laptop.
It couldn't have anything to do with mods; I was very careful with my very minimal selection and even when I deactivated those very few I was still having problems. But then!! I discovered, after extensive googling, that other people with the 20 series RTX cards had a common issue with weapon debris. So I turned off that particular setting. And my game hasn't had a single crash since.
💃
So, if by some chance yooouuuu have a constantly crashing Fallout 4, try turning off weapon debris. Might be the thing that saves your sanity. 🤷♀
Anywho.
Onwards!
Caelyra looked in the mirror, turning her head from side to side as she examined her appearance. It was all wrong. Everything. The bathroom was clean, pristine, white. The unknown man at her back kept staring at her with a lovestruck gaze. What were these clothes? Where was the bandana she used to cover her scars?
She blinked. Her brown eyes turned blue. She blinked again. They reverted to brown, but now she was wearing purple lipstick.
"You look beautiful, honey," said the unknown man.
"Thanks hon," she automatically replied then turned to exit the bathroom, crinkling her nose as distant voices stirred around her.
The air wiggled and trembled, like the air above scorching cement on an unseasonably hot day, and the soft, unintelligible voices grew louder, coming closer.
She clenched her eyes shut, allowing the voices to scream across her mind, then snapped awake and leapt to her feet.
Where the hell was she? How long had she been asleep? Why were so many people shouting? Did she still have her bandana?
She raised her hands to her face, feeling for her bandana. Whew. There it was. Tightening it around her nose and mouth, she stepped out of the old cargo container. Those people, whoever they were, had the audacity to disturb her sleep -- she would give them something to shout about.
"Oi!" she yelled, whipping out the hastily crafted pipe-gun she had taken from the last unfortunate soul who crossed her path. "What's all this about, aye?"
Two idiots appeared before her, raising their own weapons.
"This don't concern you," one of them hissed. "This lady owes us money, and we've come to collect."
Money? Caelyra lowered her gun.
"How much money?" she asked.
"Actually..." The male idiot paused, then smiled. "Enough to compensate you if you help us take her out."
Money? Compensation? She had been wrong; this was very much a pleasant way to wake up!
"Guess this does concern me then." She cocked an eyebrow. "Let's go."
The two idiots ran towards the diner, arms and weapons flailing. A shower of bullets rained from every which way as they closed the distance. Caelyra calmly ducked behind a tree, grabbed a frag grenade from her pocket, and lobbed it into the diner.
"Grenade!" a woman screamed.
Caelyra closed her eyes and waited.
An explosion rang out and all the yelling and shouting ceased.
"Ah, well, thank you... friend." The male idiot turned from the scene and made his way towards her, carefully depositing 150 caps into her hand. "Need any chems, you know where to find me. This shop is now mine."
"Chems won't be necessary," Caelyra mumbled, rifling through the dead people's pockets. "Cheers."
Placing the deceased's worldly goods into her backpack, she waltzed out of the diner without a goodbye or a backward glance. Despite her weird dream it had been a decent start to the day. She should wake up like this more often!
Moving out of sight behind the diner, Caelyra checked her map and plotted the course for the rest of the day. There was an old drive-in nearby and she had overheard mention of an old military outpost on the bridge. More salvage. By the time she made it to Goodneighbour, she'd be loaded.
Making sure her bandana was tight across her face, she set forth.
Plunder and wealth awaited!
The sun rose high then began to lower, signifying the passing day and warning that dusk would soon approach.
Caelyra kicked at a rock and kept shuffling down the old broken road.
The drive-in and military bridge had been worthless. Not to mention she had wasted several stimpaks due to the booby-traps littered all over the place. Her old man would be laughing at her if she hadn't killed him several mooncycles ago.
She fingered her gun and kept walking.
Buildings in the distance. Houses. Cars. A factory... she paled. Lexington. Not even she was foolhardy enough to waltz into that hell-hole. She would be quiet -- very quiet -- as she side-skirted this ghoulish place.
With one foot in front of the other she crept down the streets, barely breathing lest the exhale of her breath stirred any lurking inhabitants.
Crunch!
"Fuck," she hissed, whipping her eyes to her feet. Of course she had stepped on broken glass.
An unholy shriek pierced the silence, followed by a dozen thumping footsteps.
"Fuck!" she screeched, as a decaying body leapt in front of her, followed by another, then another.
The lurking inhabitants had found her.
She didn't have enough ammo for this and she had thrown her last grenade at that damned diner. She had to run. To flee. Now!
Feet pounded across hot bitumen and broken glass and debris as she raced past old buildings, burnt out police stations, an old college and shopping centre, towards the water. Shrieking cries and the slap of slobbering mouths were all that could be heard over her feet and racing heart.
She was so close. The sweet scent of rotten fish touched her nostrils. She was so very close. She could taste the salted decay -- she only had to stretch her legs a bit further.
A gnarled hand grabbed at her shoulder, digging clawed nails into her flesh, awfully close to her bandana.
"No!" she yelped, then leapt into the murky water, swimming as fast as her arms allowed.
The angry gurgles of the ghouls rode alongside the sea breeze, touching her ears every time her head bobbed above the surface, then they quietened, evidently happy to give up the chase now that she was drenched and on the other side of the bridge.
Stopping for a moment to catch her breath, she glanced down at the map and rolled her eyes upward. She was no-where near Goodneighbour! This was just fantastic. She was out of ammo, out of grenades, there had been hardly any salvage, and her bandana, weighted by water, kept creeping down her face!
Tightening it yet again, she sullenly trekked towards Diamond City. A place where her kind was usually not welcomed.
Maybe she could trick them long enough to sell what little she had, acquire some more ammo, and get the hell out of there. If she ditched the leather she wore and put on the clothes that had belonged to the lady who owned the diner before the idiots took over, maybe no-one would even know who she was -- what she was.
Ducking down an empty alleyway, she whipped out the old lady's clothes and crinkled her nose at the streaks of semi-dried blood that ran down the blouse. Quickly swapping her gear out for the soiled garments, she grabbed some handfuls of dirt and slathered it across the cotton, discolouring the blood.
There. Now she looked like any other filthy wastelander, and not a raider -- definitely not a raider... or a recently wounded woman.
Shoving the leather into her backpack, she calmly strode down the road, winked at a bored guard who waved her through the entrance, and stood before the greatest city in the region.
A small smile danced about her lips as she took in the crowds and storefronts. This wasn't so bad. It looked rather plentiful here, actually. Perhaps she would make a killing before entering Goodneighbour after all!
Until next time,
Thanks for stopping by! ✨
Love the format for this post! Really living the character. I played Skyrim with the same mod and I can see it working out for Fallout 4 as well. The original start really isn't that interesting and you would want to stay away from Preston as possible.
The Skyrim version of the mod was fantastic! It added so much more replayability and roleplay to the game. So far the Fallout 4 one isn't the greatest -- when I waltzed into Diamond City, Piper was out the front as usual, and you don't mention anything about a missing child, but the moment the mayor comes out they start talking about helping you and the missing people cases security ignores, and direct you to Valentine's office as per normal.
I can understand that though -- it would've been a bit difficult modding the actual companion encounters in a voiced game. So I'm just choosing to ignore it, haha.
Preston! No, I don't fancy helping yet another settlement 5 seconds after I helped the last one. 😅
In Skyrim it was really great because you had the choice to stay completely disconnected from the main story. With characters only hinting towards something happening in Helgen. It was great just crawling out of that ship wreck and making my own life.
It's easy to understand. I would think they would be able to just disable the interactions though. Rather make them pretend like you're a nobody, but oh well. Things can be ignored.
Please make a part 2 :)
will be looking forward to it :)
😄 Will definitely be making a part 2 as time allows. Thanks! 🙂
What a fantastic story! I'm definitely interested in reading more. The screenshots included are such a nice touch.
Cheers! 🙂 I used to write these types of things up a lot, with all the screenshots... but it's been a lonnngg while. Lost my creative mojo, haha. Must get it back!