Salt Lake Stories takes place in the area around the Great Salt Lake. On a unique designed travel map you can discover 15 mini-worldspaces, 100 interiors and 38 quests. This mod also holds over 50,000 voiced words of dialogue lines.

These locations, quests and dialogues tell you the Story of the area around the Great Salt Lake. It was partly inspired by Van Buren Design Documents and was made as a homage to the old Fallout titles. The playing experience is supposed to reflect this and action sequences are scarce. You will be able to complete most of the quests without fire your gun once, but violence will fulfill your goals also in most cases.

One of my design decisions was, that there aren’t quest markers and no obvious information, what you’re supposed to do next. There're entire locations and many content, that could stay hidden to you, if you take the wrong decisions. If you want to explore the full scale of the mod, you’ll have to take your time and listen to the characters and look very carefully. If you want to rush through content and grab a few new weapons, this mod most likely is not the right one for you.

If you want to get some impression of the mod or looking for quest solutions, please check out my full Playthrough. Playtime is at around 10 hours.

Part 1 (0:53): Storybegin at Mickey's Motors
Part 2 (1:55): From Stansbury Bay to Bowietown
Part 3 (2:05): Getting Around
Part 4 (2:17): Salt Lake Trading Union
Part 5 (1:20): Claw Peak
Part 6 (1:44): Rum Rock and the Epilog



Special thanks,

goes to Sascha Brandstätter aka Radioactivman. With him I’ve started to create this mod back in 2010 and he is responsible for major parts of it. The areas Claw Peak, Arid Creek and Bowietown were mainly designed by him, but he influenced many other areas as well. He retired a while ago, but this mod wouldn’t have happened without him. If you’re interested to know more about how this project evolved, read the story behind the mod article.

Installation and Download:

1. Download Mainfile
2. Download Various Meshes Resources
3. Delete the file "VariousMeshesResources.esp"
4. Rename the file "VariousMeshesResources.bsa" to "SaltLakeStories - VMS.bsa"
5. Copy all files into your Fallout: New Vegas data folder.
6. Please search your fallout.ini for the line:
    bForceFullLOD=0 and set it to bForceFullLOD=1
    This is important to display the used speedtrees in this mod correctly.

FAQ:

Q: What are the update plans for the mod?
A: I’ve tried my best to create a mod, that is free of bugs and without unfinished content. There haven't been any bug reports since a while, so, it's considered final in current state. There is of course always room for improvements. But if you ever want to release a mod, you have to draw a line and say, OK that’s it. I know it’s not perfect, but that’s all I could do with my spare time. I’ve still plenty of ideas in mind to extend this mod, but currently modding is not my focus, so there are no update plans right now. But never say never.

Q: I have strange graphical issues, missing meshes/textures or similar. What’s wrong?
A: Follow the installation description and make sure you haven’t reached the mod limit and that your PC fullfills some basic hardware requirements. I think at least 4 gb ram are mandatory to play the mod.

Q: Should I start a new game to play this mod?
A: Definitely not. You can install this mod without any issues at any time during your playthrough and it will not cause any side-effects.

Q: Is this compatible with Tale of Two Wastelands?
A: Sure it is. I’m using it too.

Q: Are there any compatibility issues with other mods or DLCs?
A: No, this mod was created without any record change to the game, so it's nearly impossible it could conflict with something. However, it could conflict with some camera angle mods such as "Enhanced camera".

Q: Does this mod have impact on my game performance?
A: No, there is zero impact on the game performance. I’ve added no new effects or large textures and my scripts are very clean. There are no permanently running background scripts. Every script is only played when needed and all quests are only started and ended when required.

Q: How long will it take to finish this mod?
A: I’ve developed this mod without a main-story and the different quests depend on your choices. Also it depends on how much you like to explore new areas. So, it’s difficult to give a general statement here. I expect, that you’ll need around 15-25 hours to complete it. My Gameplay Walkthrough has a playtime of 10 hours. But there I didn't explore the areas much and also optimized all my routes. So, normally you would take much more.

Q: What is the best load order?
A: It doesn’t matter at all.

Q: Can I help to develop this mod?
A: This mod is actually completed, but if you’re interested to improve certain areas, add content to them or even add entire new regions, feel free to do so. If you need help to add a location to the travel map, please contact me.

Q: What are the requirements to play this mod?
A: You need a legal copy of Fallout: New Vegas and the official DLCs Honest Hearts and Lonesome Road.

Q: There are too many language issues for my taste.
A: Please note, that English is not my native language, so pardon grammar errors or if some words will sound strange to your ears. I’ve done my best to provide a good language.

Q: Why my vehicle don’t drive diagonal?
A: Your vehicle can only show in 4 directions due to engine limitations, so this looks a bit odd, if you’re sloping. Also, it could look like your car is floating above objects sometimes.


For any questions, that haven't been answered here, write a comment.