There was a time when the Fallout series was nothing more than a once-celebrated CRPG series that had slowly lost most of its popularity, with the latest game in the series — Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel — being reviled by the franchise for being a sub-par entry in a series that had consistently held itself to an extremely high standard… well, for the most part.
So, when Bethesda took over the series, fans were more than hyped for the next game in the series that would bring it back to its former glory. Fallout 3 managed to accomplish exactly that, featuring a brilliant open-world and a new chapter in the series that definitely ended up being memorable in its own right… especially for PC gamers, who had modded the game to oblivion with some interesting results.
RELATED: Story-Heavy Open-World Games To Play If You Loved Fallout 3
For players who want to experience Fallout 3 to its fullest on PC, here are ten of the most popular and necessary mods for this title.
Updated on July 26th, 2021 by Ritwik Mitra: The Fallout series was restricted to a 2D plane for the longest time before Bethesda took over the IP and delivered the first 3D Fallout game that was pretty much an instant hit from the get-go. Gamers found it extremely exhilarating to place themselves in the shoes of The Lone Wanderer and explored the vast area of the Capital Wasteland. To make this experience even better, here are some of the best mods for Fallout 3 that significantly improve the overall experience.
15 Enhanced Blood Textures
There's no point in mincing words here — the Fallout series is known for being really gory. After all, there's a mechanic in the game that allows players to target and dismember different parts of their enemies!
So, one can't really be judged for wanting the gore in their game to look as high quality as possible. This is where the Enhanced Blood Textures mod comes into the picture, allowing players to enjoy the stylized gore in high definition.
14 Hair Pack
Character customization is an integral part of any RPG. Fallout 3 is no exception… although one has to admit that its customization options are woefully inadequate, especially when it comes to hairstyles.
To alleviate this issue, players can opt for the Hair Pack mod. The new hairstyles that this mod adds to the game do wonders when it comes to improving the overall level of immersion in the game itself.
13 Ultimate Perk Pack
The Perks present in Fallout 3 are certainly quite interesting to experiment around with. However, after a point, players will certainly get bored of the perks present in the base Fallout experience.
Related: The Best Side Quests In Fallout 3, Ranked
To ensure that this issue doesn't end up hampering a player's experience, they can opt for the Ultimate Perk Pack. It adds over 70 new and unique perks into the game to make one's experience in the Capital Wasteland all the more enjoyable.
12 Weapon Mod Kits
Modding weapons is pretty interesting in Fallout 4, which makes it a downright shame when people come back to Fallout 3… only to realize that this mechanic is absent from these games.
Thankfully, with the Weapon Mod Kits mod, players can now finally mod weapons to their heart's content. This makes the gunplay in Fallout all that more engaging and unique — something that is very much required in a game that has been showing its age for quite some time now.
11 Fellout
The green tint present in Fallout 3 can be somewhat unique to look at initially, but one has to admit that this tint becomes awfully overbearing — and somewhat ugly as well — over time.
So, to remove this tint, Fellout is an absolute must-have mod. It certainly helps that this mod tweaks and overhauls the weather and lighting of the game in several other ways as well — both subtle and otherwise — making for a highly immersive and memorable experience.
10 EVE — Energy Visuals Enhanced
Most of the energy weapons in Fallout may be a ton of fun to use, but there's no denying the fact that the effects accompanying these energy weapons — along with a bunch of other heavy-duty artillery — can be somewhat lacking.
RELATED: Fallout 3: Pieces Of Cut Content (That It's So Unfair We Never Got)
The EVE mod aims to change that, allowing for these energy and heavy weapons to be kitted out with a whole host of unique critical kill animations, along with a whole host of effects — such as better muzzle flashes and projectile animations — to make these weapons all the more fun to use.
9 Martigen's Mutant Mod
The creatures of Fallout 3 may be unique in their own right, but there's no denying the fact that the variety present in most of these enemies scattered throughout the map can be somewhat limited.
This changes once players install Martigen's Mutant mod, which adds a ton of diversity to existing creators while simultaneously adding new lore-friendly enemies in Fallout 3 as well! All of a sudden, exploring through the Commonwealth and engaging in combat feels all the more fresh and satisfying.
8 Fallout 3 Hirezd
There's no denying the fact that Fallout 3 is an extremely dated title. This shows in the game's presentation, which can feel rather muddy and uninspired at times due to the dated nature of these textures.
Thankfully, with the Fallout 3 Hirezd mod, this issue will become a thing of the past. Now, players will be able to experience the magic of Fallout 3 coupled with high-resolution textures for both creatures and weapons.
7 Fallout 3 Re-Animated
While the Fallout 3 Re-animated mod might be discontinued, the work that has already gone into this mod easily makes it one of the easiest mods to recommend due to the subtle manner in which it makes the world of Fallout 3 feel more alive.
This work is mainly done for the human animations that play out during action sequences, meaning that shootouts will definitely feel more varied and entertaining.
6 The D.C. Interiors Project
The Downtown D.C. Waste is certainly one of the most interesting areas to explore in Fallout 3. That being said, there's one major source of disappoint in this area — a lot of the buildings in this area are boarded up for no reason whatsoever.
With the D.C. Interiors Project mod, players can now easily explore the innards of the Downtown D.C. Waste and explore the various buildings and their inhabitants. It's a great way to heighten the sense of discovery and immersion in this particular area.
5 Fallout 3 Redesigned
However, while improving the animations present in the game is a neat touch in itself, one has to admit that all this work will be for naught if the NPCs still look outdated and ugly.
This is what Fallout 3 Redesigned aims to mitigate, featuring various small touches and full-blown redesigns that add more variety to the NPCs and make the act of talking to them less taxing for the player.
4 NMCs Texture Pack For FO3
NPCs aren't the only part of Fallout 3 that has aged poorly — the graphics present in the world itself aren't really great by any stretch of the imagination either.
Thankfully, people whose eyes are paining from looking at these dated visuals can download NMCs Texture Pack for this game, which goes a long way when it comes to updating and beautifying the look of Fallout 3.
3 Rogue Hallow's Iron Sights
The combat of Fallout 3 is easily one of its most weaker aspects. The gunplay is as basic as can be, and the fact that none of the weapons in the game have Iron Sights makes this all the more egregious as well.
RELATED: Fallout 3: Ridiculous Rumors & Theories (That Everyone Believed)
Thankfully, a mod exists that adds iron sights to all the weapons in the game — well, the vanilla weapons, that is — turning combat into more of a bearable affair. For people who want to install mods that make combat in this game bearable, having iron sights is the first priority.
2 Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch
The Unofficial Patch is a term that any fan of Bethesda games is familiar with. These fan-made patches exist for pretty much every Bethesda game on PC — games that are notorious for featuring a whole host of bugs that are never fixed for a myriad of reasons.
So, if a player wishes to avoid any of these bugs and glitches from hampering the overall experience, look no further than the updated version of the Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch, which improves upon the original version to a great extent and helps in guaranteeing the most optimized experience possible with Fallout 3 — something that is very much required, given the fact that the game can be an absolute pain to run on PC at times.
1 Fallout 3 Wanderers Edition
There are a number of gameplay overhauls for Fallout 3 that end up streamlining the experience substantially, but one has to admit that Fallout 3 Wanderers Edition is perhaps the best one of the lot.
Featuring a total of 50 mods that end up improving the overall first-person gunplay while simultaneously ensuring a greater level of challenge and immersion as well, Wanderers Edition is a great way to expand upon the core gameplay of Fallout 3 without compromising on the overall feel of the game.
NEXT: Fallout 3 Vs. Fallout 4: Which Game Is Better?
