Modding on the Spectrum

The title of the thread is a reference to Philip K. Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (which served as basis for the well-known movie Blade Runner). I loved the Blade Runner movies but haven't read the book yet (it's on my long list of the things that I want to do...).

So I really liked that the Fallout 4 developers centered the main quest around similar beings, the Synths.

My first Fallout 4 character, Sam, didn't started as a Synth. He was an ordinary human. This changed a lot later.


Before I show you the images of his current look, I summerize how Sam evolved in the last couple of years.

I will list the main phases and present a small selection of pictures only in this post:

2019

Human phase:


If you want to know what adventures I experieced with the human Sam, I wrote two articles on my website :
The beginning
Brotherhood of Steel and Institute

2020

In March 2020, I decided to turn him into Synth but not a normal one. I discovered iSynth on Nexus Mods.


iSynth/Synth Swap phase:

Then I played around with various styles and edited some of them in the course of time.

I modified the textures in Gimp/Photoshop


and recombined the body meshes of iSynth and the augmentations of Synth Swap in Outfit Studio/Blender).


IKAROS-Androids/Project Apollo Androids Playable Race phase:

2021

Nano Suit phase:
I replaced his body mesh with a Nano Suit with the help of Unique Player and Followers REDUX.


iSynth 1980 AIO Archive File phase:
(first file in the Updated Files section of the download section of the iSynth mod)


Robot phase aka Synth Swap/Revenge of Brain phase:



Institute Samurai phase:
(personal unreleased mashup using the breast plate and the coat from Look At Me – Institute Edition)

Katana: AE-86 Seiryuu Beam Katana
Third eye: Cyber Tattoo and Third Eye

2023

Robot phase - the second:





The mods I used for the mashup:

IW - Synaptic
Synth Regeneration: it's available on Kelcken's Discord (Section 3 Stumping Grounds, under "Releases")
Mark V(B) Armory

The skull thingies are part of the Synth Swap mod

You can find all pictures of the previous phases including the phases I left out here. Most of the mods I mentioned earlier are available on Nexus Mods.

"Project Apollo Androids Playable Race" got deleted from the Nexus. There still some traces left that the mod existed like a thread on a Russian site. The mod author of Project Apollo concentrated on the Fallout New Vegas version of the mod which he released in May 2022 (why I haven't downloaded this version yet?!... done).

"IKAROS-Androids" can be found on TrohpiHunter's website (no link due to adult content).


2024

Back to iSynth

I recombined different past changes.

Body

The look of Sam's head in these pictures was only temporary. It looks different now.

Head

I paused the game between November 2021 and May 2024 with a short interruption in January 2023 lasting only one day. A few days ago, I reinstalled Fallout 4 to play quest mods that I missed like Point Lookout or Tales from the Commonwealth and the new Creation Club content from the Next Gen update. But I stay on the previous version of the game for now. Normally, the previous version of the game would crash if the new CC content is loaded. But there's a workaround using the Backported Archive2 Support System which I described in this tutorial.

After making sure everything was running smoothly, I gave Sam new hair and eyes.

Sam: "Roger. Target confirmed."


Then MacCready got new hair and eyes as well.


I don't just want to talk about the changes to Sam's or MacCready's appearance in this thread, but also about their adventures and my adventures in modding Fallout 4 .

The quest of the Heavy incinerator Creation Club content leads to Saugus Ironworks

I turned Dogmeat into Dogmetal at some point by the way.

To get to the weapon, you need a Power Armor with a special modification. When my character got into the Power Armor and I switched to the third person view, I noticed that the camera went completely crazy (it just stayed on the ground no matter what I did). I was sure it was a mod conflict. To test it, I wanted to disable all mods and gradually re-enable them to find the guilty mod. After I disabled all mods, Fallout 4 crashed on loading. It took me a while to figure out that disabling Portable World Space causes the game to crash. The mod that made the camera unusable when using the Power Armor was For the Droids. I finally found the solution in the comments of the mod. The animation mod requires the Custom Camera mod.

I nearly forgot that I had the Jump Flight mod installed. Great aerial shots can be created in conjunction with Photo Mode.


This picture was taken while searching for the Tesla cannon


Sam took the cannon from a gunner who had "accidentally" dropped it

The look of Sam's head and body changed anew. I posted the images of his new look at the bottom of the first post.

I finally started to play the Point Lookout mod.


On the way to Point Lookout



Physics is playing tricks on me.



Revere Beach Boardwalk


Revere Beach station


The ship to Point Lookout



Point Lookout



Sam: " What will we do with a drunken sailor? ... "


Swampfolk


Blackhall Manor

Point Lookout - part 2 (of 3)



No entry


Kenny, a boy who knows how to defend himself


Kenny: Well, where are we going?
Sam: We're taking you to the Institute.
Kenny: What's the Institute?
Sam: A safe place where smart guys like you are needed.


In the Institute...

Two have come together


Back in Point Lookout...



Sam: "I am now ready to be enlightened."

Point Lookout - part 3 (of 3)

Entrance to the Sacred Bog


The Sacred Bog




MacCready: “Nice hairdo.”


Sam: “Thanks for the compliment. ...”

“... If you had eaten the seeds from the giant punga, too, you would also look like this. Tell me, did you see who did this to me?”
MacCready: “I only saw you fall unconscious. Shortly afterwards, I got hit on the back of the head and collapsed just like you.”

Sam: “I'm in.”


Just a hologram

(the real brain is somewhere else)

Finally, an exit


The Ferris wheel


The lighthouse


MacCready: “Somehow I'm going to miss this island.”
Sam: “Yeah, me too. It was a crazy trip.”


The new captain

Or the return of the lost daughter

- THE END -