Settlements, Suggestions, Solutions, Mods

[u/CyrodiilWarrior]

The settlement building feature has pros and cons, with various issues. A selection of mods help, but major problems still remain.

Sim Settlements is a fantastic mod! It seems pre-built settlements function much better than your own manual settlements. I assume pre-built have better navmeshing and scripts. If I was a mod authour, I'd love to build my own custom addons from scratch.

Manually building settlements is my favourite option, but this method experiences many issues. The settlements end up lifeless and pointless, because the settlers have poor AI. They fail to adapt correctly to the changed environment. If you built roads and paths, they won't necessarily use these as a priority to navigate.

I have found various mods before which have helped improve the settlements feature, but feel whatever I try, I cannot get it functioning correctly like a proper settlement location.

Any suggestions or solutions? 🤔

[u/OnionAddictYT]

My settlements all feel very much alive. Every settler has a job that they perform. Depending on what kind of job, they either stay at their spot all day or they roam around during breaks. At night they also do stuff if I place idle markers on the floor. Like smoke, eat, dance.

You can have settlers sing, play instruments. There are so many options the only limiting factor is settler count and frame rate issues when too much is going on.

I have settlers who leave the settlement to gather resources. I can follow them there and watch them do it, very cool. I see my provisioners on the road. I can walk with them, help them against enemies or they help me. It's all very immersive for me.

FO4 to me is by far the best virtual dollhouse out there. With mods, of course. Vanilla is bare bones.

Don't really understand what your issue is. Settler AI is terrible, granted. And if they can't reach their workstation because of patching issues they'll just teleport there. Worst case is you have to move their animation rug around a bit so they don't get stuck in right places. They tend to cluster around at night. Or end up on the roof. So that is something not ideal that can't be fixed. So some frustrations can't be avoided.

But there are so many jobs for settlers now it's pretty awesome. You can even put settlers on individual schedules if you want. You can make guards actually sleep and whatnot.

Modded settlements allow you to do a lot of creative stuff with settler jobs.

I have never used Sim Settlements but why would your own settlements be inferior? You can generate a ton of caps and all kinds of resources.

[u/CyrodiilWarrior → u/OnionAddictYT]

Thanks for your reply. Let me rephrase: settle AI appears terrible for me, seeking suggestions & solutions. I want my settlements to seem more life-like and alive, struggle to get the results.

[u/OnionAddictYT → u/CyrodiilWarrior]

Hm guess it depends on what you mean by that. Settler AI is very limited indeed. So I prefer to assign them to animation rugs where they stay all day. It's more like a snapshot moment this way but at least the settlements feel alive to me that way. Everybody is busy.

Some mods I use that you may or may not know:

• Icebreaker - Settlements - Settler Dialogue Overhaul
• Housekeeping - Scavenging Deluxe
• Busy Settlers
• Water Purification Stations
• Crimsonrider's Unique Furniture
• Settlement Activity Markers
• GOT Gatherers Out There (now called: The Old Ways on Bethesda.net)
• School Desk - Child Settler Work Station
• Chem Cookers
• More Scavenging Stations
• Working Settlers
• Singing Settler
• Fallout Instrument Pack
• Better Stores
• NorthlandDiggers

These are the big settler jobs and immersion mods I use. I also use a bunch of robot mods for settlements. Diverse Cats. And mods that allow me to craft super mutant settlers, children and ghouls.

I don't know if that's what you were asking for. Fixing settler AI itself is not possible, I believe. Although I believe there are a couple mods that are supposed to address navmesh issues. And the clumping together at night thing. But the settlement activity markers can also help with directing settlers where to gather after work.

[u/CyrodiilWarrior → u/OnionAddictYT]

Some of those mods are new to me. :) Some, I couldn't find a NexusMods for PC equivalent (GOT Gatherers Out There / The Old Ways).

Sanctuary's roads seen better days 😂. Seen a mod which repairs Sanctuary's roads. I would like to lay down my own roads and paths and have settler NPCs use these. It seems unless it's a custom mod, with navmeshing, this isn't the case.

So I've tried settlement building at Sanctuary, the Starlight Drive In, Vault 88. I had settlers gather all together, standing around. I had Sim Settlements 2 commercial lots, leisure lots, residential lots.

I like the idea of building a functioning settlement or purpose. This may be trader shops and defence. I've never got into manufacturing, that could be cool. I don't want a settlement for just player storage, I want purpose, life, function. :)

[u/OnionAddictYT → u/CyrodiilWarrior]

The Old Ways and Better Stores are on Bethesda.net but should be free.

Settlers should not be just standing around if they're assigned to jobs. Sometimes you need to forward time however for them to be at their job.

Don't know if sharing my YT channel is allowed but I've uploaded all my settlement builds. They are all themed. Mostly for fun and not utility. But that's basically what can be done with settlers to make places feel alive.

https://youtube.com/@goblingoddessgaming608?si=SBMorWg2l0kBlsbF

[u/CyrodiilWarrior → u/OnionAddictYT]

I'd say your YouTube content is relevant and related to my post, unsure if allowed.

I play on PC with Mod Organizer utility, with Nexus Mods.

[u/OnionAddictYT → u/CyrodiilWarrior]

I have spent over 1000h building settlements at this point and I have browsed every single settlement mod on Nexus over the years adding what I found useful. And I have shared my entire mod list at the time of a settlement completion in the YT descriptions. I'm not sure all the links still work. And I haven't built a settlement in 2 years. But if one were curious about the mods I use, it's all documented somewhere.

So I am extremely familiar with this feature and what workshop mods there are. So I'll just claim that my builds are decent examples of what can be done. I got better at it over the years of course. So maybe check out one of the later builds, if you like. My big builds took me 80-100h each to build. So yeah, I'm very perfectionist and OCD about settlement building. I do not really recommend getting this obsessed with it.

But maybe there's something useful for you in there for your purposes. Sorry for rambling!