Fallout 76 has been one of the most controversial releases in Bethesda’s history. We’d seen buggy launches in the past with both Skyrim and Fallout 4, but nothing quite as half-baked as this online action RPG on launch day.
Still, they’ve kept fixing bugs and releasing updates to make the game the best it can be.
While not perfect, it’s definitely more enjoyable – but it could still use some mods for even more stuff.
So let’s check out some excellent Fallout 76 mods that only a feral ghoul would overlook.
Wouldn’t you like to make Appalachia a bit more festive?
I mean, you’re supposed to be reclaiming the land. Isn’t that worth celebrating?
Creator TTMighty found the perfect way to do just that, while also making life easier for collectible hunters.
This mod replaces stuff like magazines and bobbleheads for helium-filled balloons that really stand out among the rubble, in a way no booklet or old-timey decoration ever could.
Finding still-inflated helium balloons 25 years after the last balloon factory was obliterated by nuclear weapons is a bit bizarre. Still, so is becoming smarter or stronger by finding a Vault Boy collectible.
Charred feral ghouls are some of the most dangerous enemies in the Appalachian Wasteland.
These creatures have received so much radiation, tumors have piled up one on top of another, making them almost comically bloated.
Creator CatsWithMachineGuns thought this bulbous look made them look less menacing than they actually are, so they decided to replace this large model for that of a Withered ghoul.
There’s just something eerie about these old feral ghouls.
They look like something is profoundly wrong with them, and the sight of ‘em is sure to send a chill down your spine.
The Pioneer Scouts of America are a respected organization even in the post-apocalypse. And it’s understandable they want to test any new aspiring members before handing out badges.
That said, after going through high school, college, and writing countless gaming articles, I really don’t have that much space left on my limited human brain for the often obscure survival information needed to advance in the Pioneer Scout ranks.
This mod by Ulithium_Dragon doesn’t remove the quizzes.
But it does mark all the answers with an X, so you can just click through them and get your badges.
Isn’t finding unusual solutions also a survival skill?
Life often feels like an eternal pursuit of wealth. And things haven’t changed much 25 years after the bombs dropped – except for the fact that people use bottle caps rather than coins or dollar bills.
If you want to make your journey toward riches a bit easier, the Glowing Caps Stash Tin mod by RatMonkey is the perfect tool.
Now these little pockets of currency will stand out among the washed-out dirty surfaces of the post-apocalypse.
Since more customization is never a bad thing, you get to choose whether these tins will glow green, blue, red, orange, or purple.
We all have different ways of keeping our inventory sorted. And some people prefer visual cues rather than text-based tags.
Here’s a great mod by McGuffin that adds cute little icons next to your items, which look professional and appealing, and still match the game’s aesthetic.
It’s like adding emoji to your game, in a way.
And it’s very appealing, even if it isn’t all that useful.
The Scorchbeast Queen is one hell of a bad-ass boss, except for the fact that the textures on it are only barely better than those on regular Scorchbeasts.
They’re blurry, and unbecoming of irradiated bat royalty.
Creator Vivec-God brings us this Ultracite Scorchbeast Queen texture replacement to give this apex predator more of a visual punch.
Not only does this provide a high-quality 4K texture, but it adds several glowing highlights that make the SB Queen even more menacing.
The color of Ultracite is pretty inconsistent in Fallout 76. So it’s only fair you get to choose what color emanates from your Ultracite-infused SBQ. The options include several shades of blue and green.
If you’re serious about modding and customizing your Fallout 76 for the best experience, you’re going to need a tool to tweak your INI files.
Even better if it doubles as a mod manager.
Quick Configuration by DataSnake does just that.
It’s a single simple tool that’ll let you change your Field of View, the color of your Pip-Boy, your mouse sensitivity, and even disable V-Sync, among other tweaks.
It’ll also keep your mods organized and updated automatically so you can focus on reclaiming the Appalachia.
One of the most common mistakes we all can make when playing Bethesda games (and all sorts of RPGs) is selling essential items and materials accidentally.
It’s hard to keep track of whether you need all that aluminum or not!
Save Everything by Keretus is a Quality-of-Life mod that helps you keep the important things in your bag, rather than having to repurchase them at a premium or re-load a save from God knows how far behind in your play-through.
It also allows you to type in quantities and prices in container transfer menus, which is always more efficient than the alternative.
If there’s one thing I’ve always resented in shooters, it’s weapons with over-the-top first draw animations.
I mean sure, flicking the switches on a laser rifle or spinning the chamber of your revolver may look cool – but it’s strategically unwise to do it in the middle of a shootout.
Not only does it take longer, but in the case of Fallout 76, it changes where your character is aiming by moving the camera around.
This mod by LolzMan1325 simply removes these flashy animations on several weapons.
It’s less appealing, but it might save you some bullets and a lot of time.
A fantastic visual enhancement comes in the form of the Optimum ReShade by Yaddok, aiming to make the game much more apocalyptic.
You’ll notice less saturated colors, more light, and less blur.
I’m always a fan of mods that make colors more vivid, but this isn’t The Elder Scrolls! It’s not supposed to be vivid and colorful but washed-out and gritty.
Events are some of the most important aspects of gameplay in an open-world online game.
And Fallout 76 is no exception.
I have a tendency to miss world events unless I’m reminded explicitly by some kind of visual cue, and I’m not the only one.
The Event Notification mod by Keretus will display a new world event pop-up right in the middle of your HUD when one becomes available, making them near-impossible to miss as long as you’re looking at the screen.
The Nuka-Cola Girl is one of the most prominent symbols in the Wasteland.
And the Nuka-Girl Rocketsuit is a treat for the eyes.
That said, I’ve always found the basic red/white color palette a bit boring for my taste.
Modder Rigell will help you get the most out of this interstellar outfit by introducing a wealth of different color combinations. These include the black/red Nuka Cherry, the black/gold Royal Black, the pink/red Hot Cranberry, and many more.
I’ve always found it pretty challenging to use perks that work with health percentages, such as Dead Man Sprinting or Nerd Rage – both of which become active under a certain health threshold.
Creator Keretus decided to give people like me a hand with Improved Health Bar, which simply adds 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% markers to your survivor’s health bar.
This makes it remarkably easy to keep track of when certain boons will go into effect, allowing you to plan accordingly.
In addition to giving you more control over health-dependent mutations, perks, and armor effects, this segmentation of the health bar also looks pretty damn cool.
One thing that’s always bothered me in (almost) every first-person shooter I’ve ever played is how your character never stops pointing their gun forward.
It’s absurd!
Even if you had biceps of steel, why would you walk miles with your weapon raised at all times?
Modder Lesma666 helps us protect our precious immersion with Lowered Weapons 76, which makes your character carry their gun more comfortably whenever you’re not shooting or aiming down sights.
Here’s another fantastic way to keep your inventory tidy:
WIth RatMonkey’s Easy Sorting and Tagging add-on.
This simple mod adds over 20 unique tags to your items – from [Junk] to [Chems] to [Food].
It also allows you to sort them for easy use.
If you’re hungry, look for [Food]. And if you get hurt, you can find [Aid] in your inventory.
It even contains component tags that tell you what you’ll get from breaking down an item in advance.
One of my favorite features is how it divides food into sub-groups depending on whether they can rot or carry disease when spoiled. Of course, there’s a [Spoiled] tag as well.
Don’t you just hate it when you have a gorgeous map like the one in Fallout 76, but it becomes a blurry mess of pixels if you zoom in just a little?
Modder Ultimist probably hated it quite a bit, so they created the High Detailed Map PLUS – an improvement on the base game’s map that changes its 4K texture for an 8K one that you can actually zoom into without losing fidelity.
They also re-made all of the markers and signs found on the original and added some more.
The new tags include all vendors and all 440 resource deposits – ranging from iron and copper to gold and black titanium.
Just don’t try this if you’re barely running the game.
Even mid-range rigs can take a bit of a performance hit with this map.
And you shouldn’t have to settle for a map enhancement you don’t love.
So here’s another great map replacement from creator TZTZT, offering 8K resolution and high detail when zoomed in.
This map is a little bit closer to vanilla in terms of its looks.
But still, it offers several improvements, including marked bodies of water, previously unmarked fissure sites, and slight lightning changes depending on whether it’s morning, afternoon, or nighttime.
Several outstanding features remain optional, so you choose how far away from vanilla you want to venture. These include marking pretty much every vendor, daily quest locations, and random encounters, among others.
I’ve always been a bit maniacal about keeping my inventory tidy in Bethesda games.
For me, that meant going minimal and carrying only the basics – but it doesn’t have to be that way.
If you’re the kind of Wastelander who needs to be prepared for any situation, Reg2K’s Better Inventory will help you sort through your dozens of foodstuffs, medical supplies, weapons, and plenty more.
This UI improvement lets you apply filters to your tabs so you can find specific items easily.
For example, you can filter your Apparel tab for Outfits or Armor and be shown only those items.
It also lets you see the combined weight of item stacks and individual inventory weight for each tab, so you can quickly figure out what’s taking up all your space.
One of Fallout 4’s most downloaded and beloved mods is Commonwealth Warfare, which replaced the vanilla sound effects of weapons and explosives for more realistic ones.
Modder Quazzimodo619 brings the same glorious sounds of armed combat to Fallout 76 with Appalachia Warfare, featuring more lifelike gun sounds, bullet cracks, detonations, and more.
And another great sound replacement mod compatible with Appalachia Warfare is the Intense Realistic Gun Sounds Overhaul. Be sure to give it a try – or rather – a listen.
The Wasteland of Appalachia is a rapidly changing environment full of diverse challenges you’d need a whole team of specialists to overcome.
If you’re used to staying by your lonesome as if you were the Lone Survivor, then the Perk Loadout Manager by Keretus is the way to go.
It lets you create up to 12 different Perk Card loadouts for those times when a different skill set can make the difference between life and death – or just so you can hack into high-level terminals without looking like a nerd on the way there.
Now you can always be the smartest, strongest, or fastest in the room – as long as your SPECIAL allows it.
This is more of a tool than a mod per-se, but worth checking out.
F76VA Synth is an excellent example of cutting-edge technology applied to improving our favorite games.
This app by DanRuta allows users to record voice lines in the voice of characters from several Bethesda games and other properties, and run them in-game.
You want Geralt of Rivia’s voice for your custom follower? Sure!
Todd Howard as an NPC in your latest custom adventure? You got it!
It works by feeding a machine learning algorithm enough voice lines to create a model, then applying neural speech synthesis to create new ones.
It’s confusing for the uninitiated, but you don’t really need to know the details to use this fantastic tool on your next project.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
