DEF_UI
It's not quite SkyUI for Skyrim, but it's miles better than the UI vanilla Fallout 4 provides. Fully customizable, packed with additional on-screen information, and much more useful and readable than the standard UI, this mod is a must for anyone and everyone playing Fallout 4.
Diamond City Enhanced
Diamond City is, let's face it, a bit disappointing. It simply doesn't feel like the bustling hub of survivors it should. This mod adds lots of additional details like trees and grass, lighting along alleys, new pathways, and more to both provide a lived-in feel and the sense that the city is growing.
Cel-Shaded SweetFX/Reshade EMB
If you're a fan of Borderlands-style cel-shading, you can apply it to Fallout 4 for a pretty visual overhaul. Reddit user 'Reddit_is_wrong' started out using a SweetFX preset for Fallout 4 and adjusted the .ini file to give it those thick edges and comic page look. Here's the thread that gives you the .ini file and a list of other mods being used to bring that style to life in your own game.
Vivid Weathers
If every day feels a bit same-y, here are 75 new weather variations, plus over a hundred new cloud textures. You'll notice the difference with enhanced sunrays, prettier sunsets, and new sound effects when it rains. Who says the end of the world can't be lovely?
Dynavision
This mod provides a convincing dynamic depth of field that changes depending on what you're looking at. There's a documentary-length video above you can watch above to see how it works, and in an extremely clever touch you can edit the mod settings while in-game by inserting a holotape in your Pip-Boy and fiddling with the settings.
Valentine Reborn
Your favorite android detective gets an HD makeover, and doesn't he deserve it? He's just so cool. You can use this mod to give Nick Valentine upgraded teeth, eyes, facial textures, and it also comes with an option to upgrade his exposed synthetic hand.
True Storms
More intense rain, dust storms, sheet lightning, heavy fog, radioactive rain, new sounds both outdoors and indoors, and storms that last longer... this mod will enhance your game with more extreme weather. It even comes with a custom installer that lets you easily choose the options you want.
Improved Map with Visible Roads
Let's face it: Fallout 4's Pip-Boy map kinda sucks. This mod makes the map actually useful, with clearly visible roads, train tracks, topography, distinct waterlines, better placement of map markers, optional numbered gridlines, and even the option to number regions. It also has three brightness settings to fine-tune your map-gazing.
FPS Dynamic Shadows
Predefined shadow rendering in Fallout 4 can cause performance loss, even on high-end machines, especially in areas with a high number of objects. Modder extraordinaire Alexander Blade whipped up this plugin to allow players to dynamically control shadow draw distance based on their desired FPS.
Stars Texture Overhaul
Stars have been upgraded from 1K to 4K resolution, making them brighter, crisper, and even giving them a bit of a glimmer when you're moving around the wasteland. You can choose from a few different versions of the mod, one which adds a few bigger and brighter stars, making the sky a little more interesting in the evenings. The same modder has also re-textured the moon.
Stalker Lighting
On the other hand, maybe you don't think the post-apocalypse should be quite so vibrant and colorful. Stalker Lighting bleeds away the colors, making the world look more harsh, more unforgiving, more bleak. It is the end of the world, after all. Now it'll actually look like it.
Vivid Landscapes
Close up, many of the textures in Fallout 4 aren't exactly breathtaking, which you've probably noticed if, like me, you carefully creep through the game instead of racing across it at top speed. A modder is working hard on increasing the detail of the landscape textures to make your jaunt through the wilderness a little lovelier.
Darker Nights
If you want your Fallout 4 nights to feel more like real nights, you'll want this mod. Giving you a choice of seven different nighttime settings, it'll make your evenings either a bit darker or utterly pitch black. Interiors will also be darker at night if they're not well-illuminated by lights. Tread carefully.
Rain of Brass
This mod makes shell casings from firefights visible from greater distances (500 meters) and stay where they fall for longer (an hour). It's not a big change, but it adds a little realism to the game. After a big fight, the ground would be littered with shell casings, and now it will be. It might go nicely with this mod that makes bullet impact decals longer-lasting and visible at greater distances.
FO4 Rain
Speaking of rain, someone has retextured Betheda's somewhat wimpy and barely visible raindrops. Now the droplets are thicker and chunkier, making you feel much more like you're in a post-apocalyptic downpour. The ripples caused when the raindrops hit water have also been retextured. You can watch a comparison video here.
AnimeRace Nanakochan
If your beef with Fallout 4 was that it didn't look anime enough, here's a mod to fix that.
On the next page, some mods to enhance your gameplay.
Table of contents
OG Fallout lead Tim Cain explains just how much thought went into the timeline, and why canned beans were key: 'Post-apocalypse, but not so far post- that everything's collapsed and everyone's dead'
This mod puts Wordle on all the hacking terminals in Fallout: New Vegas, and even gives you XP for guessing the words right
