Menu
What's new
By:
Filters
the Sim Settlements forums!

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Old Post The New Commonwealth: Four Settlement Blueprints ready for testing (Update: 26 June)

C B Wright

C B Wright

Active Member
Messages
246
(UPDATE, 26 JUNE 2018: SANCTUARY BLUEPRINT)
(UPDATE, 26 APRIL 2018: CASTLE BLUEPRINT)

After posting my Sanctuary blueprint and running into all kinds of problems I decided I was approaching this wrong. That is: I'm just not familiar enough with how things work to start with a leveled plan. What I need to do is create a bunch of L3 blueprints, see what problems they all have in common, and try to figure out how to address those. THEN I can figure out how to level them properly.

So, without further ado, I have L3 only blueprints for:

  • Sanctuary
  • Tenpines Bluff
  • Starlight Drive-In
  • The Castle
The Sanctuary plot is the L3 version of my previous Sanctuary blueprint, with fixes.

Required Mods:

These are what you'll need to have installed if you want to use the Designer's Choice setting. I sort of recommend doing that, since I had very definite ideas of what kinds of things needed to go where, and the settlements might wind up looking a bit off if other random plots got put in their place. Obviously this doesn't apply to everything -- most of the interior and exterior housing plots are fine, though if you randomly get the duct interior settlement you'll find that one unusable in almost every situation it appears in.

  • Fallout 4 - Obviously
  • Wasteland Workshop - lots of concrete pieces. Especially in Sanctuary's wall.
  • Contraptions Workshop - warehouse walls, windows, catwalks, steel girders, and roofs
  • Vault-Tec Workshop - mostly furniture, a few lights
  • Far Harbor - The Castle uses a lot of barn floor pieces
  • Sim Settlements - Obviously
  • Do It Yourshelf - for the Castle only. I didn't have the patience to handcraft the display racks for the Exchange
  • Sim Settlements Industrial Revolution - Access to advanced plots are important if you want to follow Designer's Choice for Sanctuary and Starlight. Not as important for the Castle.
  • Sim Settlements Rise of the Commonwealth - Blueprints won't work without this one!
  • IDEK's Logistics Station - You'll want this if you use the Designer's Choice setting. I build all my blueprints assuming this is present.
  • Industrial City - You'll want this if you use the Designer's Choice setting. Sanctuary and Starlight Drive-In are built specifically with these these plots in mind.
  • Vault 88 - More Vault Rooms - I assumed the food and drink dispensers that actually generated food and drink were part of the Vault-Tec Workshop DLC. I was wrong! oops. I use this in every blueprint. If you don't have it, it'll probably just be skipped. Also, your settlers will starve.
  • Sim Settlements MegaPack (Year One) - Recommended, since it contains 3 or 4 packs bundled into one and I use bits and pieces from each. It comes with one-square residential, commercial, and industrial plots that I use in the Castle blueprint.
  • Another Brick in the Wall
  • Altairp's Animal Farm
  • SimHomestead
  • Ruined Homes and Gardens
  • Sim Settlements Scrappers
  • JTBryant's Utilities - Advanced Industrial and Defense plots are featured rather heavily in my blueprints.
  • JTBryant's SimTowers - for the Castle's Boardwalk, specifically. Not sure if it shows up anywhere else
  • Wasteland Venturers
  • RS Buildings
Not Required, but Strongly Recommended:
  • Settler Sandbox Expansion
  • Multiple Floors Sandboxing
These mods make your settlers actually go places in your settlement and do things in your settlement. Multiple Floors Sandboxing will get your settlers to acknowledge the existence of multiple levels in a settlement and actually use them. Using both together is goes a long way to making it look like there are people in your settlement doing things.

You don't need these mods, but if you don't have them your settlers will probably just stand around all day looking off blankly into the middle distance.

Specific settlement descriptions, fixes, and potential issues (as well as the files) will be linked in subsequent posts.
 
Last edited:
Sanctuary (UPDATED 26 JUNE 2018)

Some of you have pretty much seen this one before, in my previous Sanctuary blueprint threads. This is just the L3 version, though. I did that to fix a few bugs:
  • Fixed some of the missing support columns on the North border
  • Fixed some missing catwalk planks along the wall
  • Fixed the garage door on the north border (it kept disappearing into the building and was uncloseable after that. Should be closeable now.)
  • NEW: Designer's Choice actually works!
Random Notes:
  • Population is around 58 (I think), based on available work plots. There are beds for 68.
  • If you are using Designer's Choice and my blueprint does what it's supposed to, the exterior agricultural plots (the one to the left of Nate and Nora's house, and the two on platforms) shouldn't give you any problems. However, if it decides to ignore all my frantic handwaving and randomly select them instead, you're 90% likely to have huge mounds of dirt blocking most of the house. The left agriculture plot is supposed to be "Hydroponics Research" and the two platform plots are supposed to be "babylonian roof garden (no base)"
  • The very first house across the bridge is supposed to have the first Scavenger Support external plot sitting on top of the garage roof. The IDEK logistics station is Inside that house, where the living room should be. They probably won't show up at first (plots are not present until a Settler decides to settle there).
  • Because the first Scav Support plot doesn't show up initially, you'll have to build a settler beacon until a settler decides to build it. This should be fixed in the leveled version, but I'm not there quite yet.
https://www.eviscerati.org/files/images/Sanctuary/TNCSanctuaryV3.esp
 
Last edited:
Starlight Drive-In
  • I put every factory I could get my hands on in this blueprint.
  • Except for the toy factory. Dammit Jun...
  • IDEK's Logistics station is immediately to the right of the drive in cafe.
  • First scav support building should be facing the logistics station.
  • Workshop/desk/player home on the non-broken wing.
  • Sniper tower on the very top of the drive in screen (lookout tower)
https://www.eviscerati.org/files/images/Sanctuary/TNCStarlight.esp
 
The Castle (UPDATED 21 APRIL 2018)
  • NEW (21 April). The Exchange and Commissary plots have been replaced with "static" leveled blue people markers for General Store and Bar respectively. This is to make sure they are available from the outset, since having large signs saying EXCHANGE and COMMISSARY placed over empty plots is admittedly a little awkward.
  • NEW (21 April). The boardwalk settlement has been redone so there aren't gaping holes over the water before settlers decide to build something.
  • NEW (21 April). A brahmin milk pen and some brahmin troughs have been set just outside the side entrance, to try to keep mutated cows out of the building interior.
  • NEW (21 April). Two more residences added to the Castle, pumping the theoretical population up to 51.
  • NEW (21 April). The Castle blueprint no longer requires the Invisible Marker Pack.
  • Overall, the appearance is roughly similar to what I did in the "Castle, despite it's best attempts to thwart me" thread.
  • Radio station has been enclosed, also has interior plots for IDEK's Logistics Station and Scavenger Support. Player home on second floor, generators on 3rd floor.
  • Interior of the castle has a barracks, commissary, exchange, and caffeteria.
  • The settlement in the back extends a healthy amount beyond the borders, and I have no idea what will happen there.
  • I use a one-square plot for a guard's house at the side entrance, and a one-square plot for a scrap station just inside the armory.
  • I used Do It Yourshelf to spruce up the display tables for the exchange and commissary because I do not have the patience you need to do it by hand. I tried that for Sanctuary and I still hate myself for doing that. :)
https://www.eviscerati.org/files/images/Sanctuary/TNCCastleV2.esp
 
Last edited:
A SHORT FAQ (UPDATED 26 JUNE 2018)

Q. OK, but what mods do I absolutely need?

A. Well, OK. You need all of the DLCs except for Nuka World and Automatron. You need Sim Settlements and Rise of the Commonwealth. After that... well, I strongly suggest you have the megapack, IDEKs, and Industrial Cities, but they aren't strictly necessary. If you don't have JDBryant's utilities, you'll wonder why the Castle has no artillery. If you don't have Vault 88 - More Vault Rooms, your settlers will starve to death and die thirst (that was a miscalculation on my part though).

Q. What happens if I turn on the feature that requires you to pay city upkeep?

A. ...um, I suspect you'll be forced to become raiders in order to support your lavish, unsustainable lifestyle.

... it's really not balanced for that. I mean, I know there are people who are into that level of resource management, and who prefer to have that turned on, but if you're one of those people all I can say is you probably shouldn't be using blueprints created by a theater major.

"Balance sheet? What's that? Is that anything like a callback list?"

Q. How does this interact with the build limit?

A. It interacts very poorly with the build limit. When you first build SanctuaryV3 you'll get a solid yellow bar and will be unable to build anything until you use the in-game tools to increase the max build limit to +25%. I should note, it does this even if you have the "Respect Build Limit" setting set to "OFF."

Q. So what's the deal with the parts of the blueprint that go outside the build areas?

A. I've never really been good at coloring inside the lines. Ask my kindergarten teacher. The problem is I'll try to build something and I'll run out of room and think "I only need a little more space!" and then I'll remember that Place Everywhere has the F5 toggle, which lets you go outside of the build area without leaving workshop mode, so I'll do that, and problem solves.

With the Castle, I just got pissed and said "NO, I'M BUILDING OVER THERE ANYWAY" which is probably not a very disciplined approach to building.

I graduated from the Sheogorath School of Design in six years from now.

Q. Why did you use Do It Yourshelf for the Castle?

A. I believe Do It Yourshelf and Creative Clutter should be mandatory preloads on every game. Integrated into the game, if at all possible. I tried very hard NOT to use it, to give people as close to vanilla an experience as possible... and I failed with a vengeance. I've tried creating a well-stocked general store without using DIY and CC. I really have. I gave it my best shot. I... will never do that again.
 
Last edited:
Please tell me you didn't scrap 1/2 of the Castle Walls?
Oh, and putting settlement resources outside the borders.. is never good. Settlers wont "actually" work anything outside the sandbox borders.
 
If you didn't scrap the walls... then that CP went south real fast! LOL
 
Question:
Did you at any time during the build accidentally select the castle walls?
Even if you tab (cancel) the selection TS will export it. (Good way to export power armor and lootable clutter)
 
I have to start a new run.. new patch to test, but I'll run it again in a bit.
 
Yeah 1/2 the castle went poof about 15 seconds in.
If it does it again, I'll disable my scrap mod. If that works then KG will need to take a peek.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top