Guide/FAQ

Last updated for version `1.8.0-BETA-7`

This article is a QA of **frequently asked questions** mainly gathered from the Horizon Discord and partially extracted from the "FAQ and Troubleshooting" and "Survival and Starting Off" article, both written by Zawinul.

## Help

It is recommended to read this and the Troubleshooting article. Horizon @ Discord is recommended for unanswered questions.

Specific question can be asked in either one of these;

* #mod-compatibility for mod specific questions, such as load order, modding etc.
* #help-and-strategy for gameplay specific questions, such as early game start, etc.

## Combat

1. There is no real damage resistance, only a damage reduction both in Vanilla FO4 and Horizon.
2. Difficulty can influence both, incoming and outgoing damage.

* have mod conflicts, a mod overwriting either weapon damages or NPC stats, or Installation problems,
* try to snipe them with a gun from way outside the weapon's range (Range Finder), Weapon damage drops outside of range below 50% base damage,
* can't aim properly, miss a lot (be aware of VATS and/or Hip-Fire Accuracy). Aim for the head. Most enemies should die instantly. Body hits take more depending on type. Some enemies are supposed to be very strong!

The video by *SeriousCreeper* is a very good demonstration of how Horizon should work at level 1. There is a chance that occasionally specific NPCs in Horizon aren't setup properly or bugged, but usually this isn't the problem. Horizon introduces "resistance", which you might call *spongy*, a fixed damage reduction. The resistance of certain enemies count against "small arms", weapons with low damage output, so you're forced to use powerful weapons.

## Surviving

It's supposed to be hard to obtain especially in Desolation Mode.
* Drink Dirty Water but face the consequence, which is provoking a Disease roll.
* Craft Sanitized Water in the Cooking Station. Its still irradiated, but has no chance of disease.

Search, trade or even craft Purified Water.
* Exploring will net you a fair amount of purified water too.
* Purchase purified water from certain vendors.
* Build your own Water Purification Units in settlements (requirements differ based on Default or Desolation Mode) and produce purified water.

Note, production in Horizon is in real-time, so you can't cheat and sit in a chair and pass time! Play the game normally, and your settlements will work in the background while you play.

* First Aid Supplies, Combat Stimpak and Ultra Combat Stimpak

If these run out, there is still the option to visit a Doctor who can also be activated in a settlement via a Vendor Stall if you have at least one Vendor Contract and the appropriate resources of course. If you already have a doctor in a settlement, you can select it directly with a Medical Service (Wheelchair). For more details about healing and debuffs, read the Health and Survival Mode article.

## Settlements

In the future, more settlements may have expanded borders (within reason), but some may not.1.7.0:38

* don't install the Enhanced Settlements plugin or
* disable the Enhanced Settlements plugin.

Mods which try to fix the *vanilla* problem:
* **Boston FPS Fix - aka BostonDT PreVis-PreCombine** – follow the instructions from Greb
* **Previsibines Repair Pack** – a patch is pending, use at your own risk
* **Bunker Hill FPS Fix for Enhanced Settlements** – should work

## Items

```
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=

```

* **Weapons** – Build a ZX-1 Experimentation Lab and craft a weapon of your choice. There you can choose between various untypical properties.
* **Armor** – Build a Armor Workbench and choose between armor mods depending on resources and skills.

* **Pipe Launcher** – considered an entry level "stepping stone" weapon that you might use before you get a China Lake.
* **Grenade Launcher** – An alternate version of the Pipe Launcher using Missile Launcher parts.

## Modding

* Mod conflicts: Horizon files didn't get overwritten properly.
* Load Order: mods aren't sorted correctly.

When upgrading a Mod Manager, make sure you fully uninstall the mod first (clean the FO4 main folder), before trying to install it again. Or the mod manager might see the files there and not allow the new version to overwrite them. NMM/Vortex sometimes has problems too.

* PANPC: Pack Attack NPC Edition
* Random Encounter Manager by SKK
* Random Encounters Cooldown

* Fallout 4 Hidden and Deleted Nexus Mods
* https://www.loverslab.com/ (Discord Chat: https://discord.com/invite/6xvdWFda4X)
* https://damanding.xyz/
* ModSanctum (should have launch in October 2021, doesn't seem to have)

* Texture section: Fallout 4 Mod List and Load Order Guide (BiRaitBec Modlist)
* Boston Natural Surroundings

## Performance

* With many mods using Buffout 4 can help for a better, flawless gaming experience.
* To check script lag, you can use the diagnostic tool SKK Script Lag latency detector from SKK50.
* Maybe even try to change the `📁.../Documents/My Games/Fallout4/Fallout4Custom.ini` and add:

```
[Papyrus]
fUpdateBudgetMS          = 2.4
fExtraTaskletBudgetMS    = 2.4
iMinMemoryPageSize       = 256
iMaxMemoryPageSize       = 1024
iMaxAllocatedMemoryBytes = 307200

```

* The Texture Pack has a variety of sizes. The memory increase is slightly higher than vanilla (on average 4-5 GB). If you have a 6 GB card or higher it'll be fine.

* Nvidia control panel, inside the 3D settings, 60 FPS or below.
* PlayStation is capped at 30FPS. Xbox One and Xbox Series X, however, can be modded to hit 60FPS.

You can run into problems if your FPS are above 60 due to synchronization errors due to how the creation engine is setup. These can overload your monitor and can cause it to malfunction.
* Papyrus VM scripts are tied to FPS also, so changing values can have a big impact.
* The more FPS the less computing time per frame.

Which is why game speed should be locked at 60 FPS on PC and 30 FPS on console.

* Go to folder: `📁...\Documents\My Games\Fallout4`
* Open: `Fallout4Prefs.ini`
* Set: `iPresentInterval=0`

VSync essentially caps your FPS at your monitor refresh rate to reduce screen tearing but it gives significant input lag, which makes aiming or generally controlling games feel sluggish, delayed.

* Something is wrong with your files or system.
* High Resolution Texture Pack add-on active?
* Mod conflict? Try to use a test profile/save to compare on load times from interior to exterior.
* Try: Buffout 4
* Try: High FPS Physics Fix. Can cut minutes to seconds. Cap FPS to 60 and experiment with the FPS on load screen because loading screens are directly tied to FPS. It does the same as Load Accelerator while being a F4SE plugin and doesn't modify the `d3d11.dll`.

* CPU
* GPU
* RAM
* Display (60 vs 120 vs 144 Hz)
* PSU (uneven power supply on peak loads due to broken, weak PSU)

## Bugs

To fix this issue go into `Fallout4Prefs.ini` and set `fBlockLevel0Distance=40000.0000` or more.

1. ToggleCollision and seek for a ghoul by flying around with `tcl` on.
2. using the console command: `setstage 0005ddab 40`, which will skip to the next stage of the quest, then Danse should correctly respond.
3. skip the quest and come back later after a few days. The game clears the cell itself at some point and the quest should properly skip by itself then. Works 100%.

## See Also

* Troubleshooting
* Guide/Installation
* Guide/INI Settings
* Guide/Modding Horizon
* Guide/Launcher Options Menu
* Guide/Settlement Building Limitations

## References

1. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/FalloutMods/comments/hbyufp/fo4\_what\_are\_precombines/
2. ↑ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/articles/2407
3. ↑ https://bethesda.net/community/topic/86381/understanding-precombines-previs-and-why-mods-that-disable-them-can-cripple-game-performance?language%5B%5D=en
4. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/436824471295361025/436840996517707777/990959917491974175
5. ↑ https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/4757870-horizon/page-3249#entry110068923
6. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/436824471295361025/436824471295361027/975843961673506837
7. ↑ https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10283
8. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/436824471295361025/436824471295361027/908829529584312380
9. ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/377160/discussions/0/1471967615869887375/#c1471967615870157383
10. ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/377160/discussions/0/496881136911866170/#c458605613405476193
11. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/g3ocal/walk\_speed\_bug\_very\_slow\_on\_1\_of\_my\_4\_characters/
12. ↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/377160/discussions/0/496881136910811514/?ctp=3#c154645299386767791
13. ↑ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/164592-fallout-4/76604940
14. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/436824471295361025/436824471295361027/957799760708894750