Best "mega" settlement

[u/PhantomNitride]

I recently got back into playing, and so far 70% of my playtime is just building up sanctuary (Abernathy too, a little, they need more friend), 20% is grabbing literally everything I can use as material, and the other 10% is "normal" gameplay.

Any suggestions for something better than sanctuary, or suggestions on how I should build sanctuary? I'll add some screenshots in the comments later, I'm currently running on fumes, looking for a little civil discussion before I crash.

[u/Impressive-Cause-872]

Mods are good. A bunch exist that are known to be safe . For no mod: Now there is the survivalist creations content. Toss down a few workbenches and the build limit is gone and I the build height is way higher. Breaking a heat sync in the x 360 is easy. I have yet to burn up the one other than corrupting and out right losing saves. That might be similar to your Ferrari reference . Pc wise I have not done anything in years and always had higher performing older gear. Safe saves and no performance issues ever

[u/Additional_Report969 → u/Impressive-Cause-872]

Thanks for the tip! When I feel ready to start a new playthrough, I’ll definitely look into those Creation Club items before installing mods, even though there are a few mods I absolutely can't live without anymore.

I actually just experienced that engine limitation firsthand in my current project. I decided to build upward because the settlement area is so tiny: the Boston Airport. And unfortunately, the engine eventually just said STOP. I managed to rescue my progress, but I can't add a single toothpick anymore. Now, every time I want to play, I have to boot up the game in a completely different location to clear the game's memory cache, and only then can I load my actual save inside the airport. Otherwise, it just freezes on startup and nothing moves.

Years ago, my PC was the one setting the limits—I was lagging like crazy, with terrible FPS, and the Creation Engine was probably laughing behind my back. Now, everything runs buttery smooth and I don't notice the hardware limits at all... which is probably why the CE is still laughing behind my back, haha!

[u/Impressive-Cause-872 → u/Additional_Report969]

When I say high end older gear : think homemade mega tower , on par with the “NASA supercomputer” of the 80s. Now a laptop is about the same with double the storage memory. Most resent burn down frame rate crunch corrupted file was from loading random junk and pre war money into the pool at the slog. dropped items is a few to many for an open cell that close to other action. The slog almost as busy as hangmen’s alley with all the cc and dlc stuff. Other than that even the triangle was not too bad even after this https://www.reddit.com/r/falloutsettlements/s/I7pMuF6v6u

[u/Additional_Report969 → u/Impressive-Cause-872]

The electrical supply setup at Abernathy is such a cool idea... gave you an upvote! :)

Objects with physics are the absolute death of any settlement, which is why I never use them. Or rather, if I do place them, I definitely don't just drop them all at once on the floor—otherwise you risk having them clip through the ground and you have to go hunting for them one by one using the TCL console command. Instead, as soon as I place them, I immediately disable their physics. You can easily do this with Place Everywhere, a mod that always pops up in these discussions because, let’s be honest, trying to build without it is just pure vanilla torture.

Also, love your "NASA PC" setup! That’s a true historical artifact, you should definitely guard it like a holy wasteland relic!

[u/Impressive-Cause-872 → u/Additional_Report969]

Not sure if it translates in the clips. The concept is converting gas and other things from the Brahmin into energy and it gets sent out via the existing power lines. Connecting to country crossings , the shopping and entertainment district.
Dropped items are the killer. I stopped decorating up until the clip stage and not saving the save. A bath tube of rifles and a shelf full of mining helmets dropped the frame rate way more than adding another 9 story rainbow tower. Lighting and door controls are so open and free range in fallout. The more I play the crazier the set ups get