First I highly suggest Primary Needs.
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/7274/?
" Surviving in the Commonwealth isn't just shoot, vats and repeat anymore. I've dynamically re-adjusted and changed all foods and drinks so that each and every one of them will aid your primary needs. NOT all food heal anymore, and some are deadly, all the values has been revamp from the previous version to ensure realism. Throughout your journey you must EAT and DRINK or consequences will be applied, sleep is kinda need to wait up some more. " - opariffazman
I have tested this mod and believe it should already be a part of Fallout 4. I have enjoyed it and by no means does it make the game easier.

(update - Survival mode pretty much negates this so far. Just depends on which one you like better).

Next is Realistic Survival Damage
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/333/?
" I really hate how spongy the enemies feel, and how many bullets it takes to kill them. I don't want to play Borderlands. This makes Survival Difficulty much more similar to game like Metro, where damage is increased for both the player and enemies, making the game much more fun in my opinion". -darthbdaman
I love this mod. As with the author I hated Borderlands because I just don't generally like RPG bullet games. When I first installed this mod and a raider pipe pistoled my face (yes I verbed pistol), I realized how much I was going to enjoy my playthrough.

Search and Destroy
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/5852/?
Because let's face it, the NPCs are lazy and terrible. Beef them up a bit and I hope this helps your game feel like you are facing real enemies.
"This mod only does two things: increases the length of time enemies will hunt for you, and increases the range over which they will detect and follow you. Designed for maximum compatibility - by only tweaking these two factors, and not touching skill buffs,light factors, sound, companions, traps, etc., it should work alongside any set of mods you want to use to tweak your stealth game. It was designed for stealth use, but affects all forms of combat, greatly increasing the number of unscripted events, especially outdoor". - mm137


Crafting Workbenches
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/2451/?
“This mod adds three workbenches you can place in your settlement from the settlement mode, with models and animations like the vanilla workbenches, that allows crafting instead of weapons or armor customization. At these workbenches you are able to craft melee and ranged weapons, ammo, armor and power armor of all kinds, clothing, outfits, helmets, glasses, masks as well as bobby pins and other miscellaneous items. Other than that they look and sound like they usual, with settlers interacting with them as well”. - drdanzel
I put this one in because I think it’s really important that people have options. In the end of the world, I know for a fact I would to my best to build what I could. Even though my limits are at legos.

This one I love. If survival mode is too much for you and you still want that immersion hit this up. Fill bottles on any difficulty. Makes sense. http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14367/?


The dream start mod. I love this because not everyone was in that vault.
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/14253/?
Even lets you pick your previous proffesion!

(my photo on left of re-growth mod. It is beautiful.)

A must since all travelers would not just fast travel home for the night. http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11111/?
This mod gives the player a personal sleeping bag that they can drop down anywhere and sleep at.
which of course must be used with

Wearable Backpacks and Pouches
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3258/? so that we can see our sleeping back being barried. Also where does the vaulter keep all those items? hmmm......

Re-Growth Overhaul
As proven by science. We would have green in our world again by this time. I love this mod. It really makes the game feel like 200 years went by and mother nature is coming back.
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/9656/? also along those lines....

Heavy Rain
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/3065/? Because I want to be immersed when being rained on. But not cold. I hate being cold.

Darker Nights
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/191/? It's scurry out there now. Trust me, this is not for the feint of heart.

I think it's important to me that my character never feels like a god. As in all Bethesda games our characters become these mega beings that swiftly kill anything in sight. Which is cool if you're in it for the story. But as time goes on I like to think my character is still human. So here i'm trying to add some realism to the game. There are other survivors who are just as dangerous.

Wasteland Grunts – Gunners Reimagined
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/8663/?
This replaces the Gunner Flannel, Gunner Guard Shirt, and Gunner Leathers. These are replaced by Army Combat Fatigues, Air Force Combat Fatigues, and Camouflage Combat Fatigues.
Along with


We are the Minutemen
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/6443/?
A minutemen update all round. Defiantly needed for the new army of the wasteland.

Another Minuteman overhaul, not as lorefriendly. But definatly makes them feel like a participant in the war.
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/13115/? Good work Karel2015

Diamond City SWAT
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10893/?
Awesome mod that makes Diamond city feel protected
"TACTICAL WEAPONS

Guards will appear with one firearm. They have a:

- 30% chance of carrying a random assault rifle.
- 30% chance of carrying a random combat rifle.
- 20% chance of carrying a random combat shotgun.
- 10% chance of carrying a submachine gun.
- 10% chance of carrying a rare weapon (currently a Flamer or Ripper)."

Finally the guards are buff. I mean come on, the wasteland is a crazy murderer filled place. And they use bats? Riiiiiiiiiiiiight. This mod fixes that. Props to ThoraldGM for making this.


Super Mutants buff? heck yes. Because those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ marshemellows Bethesda put in the game are too fluffy. Get ready to get rekt.
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/11853/?
^ has been updated! Check out those bastards!

The purpose of this guide is to help people avoid the bullet sponge game that Bethesda likes to make. Survival mode as of 13/4/16 is still a bullet sponge hell with 3x the ammo required to kill anything. Unless you have god tier mod weapons.

You will need to follow a special command path that is required to enable mods in survival mode.



step 0: activate and sort your plugins via nmm/your other vaforite mod manager. save the load order.
step 0.5: close your mod manager after that and do not open it again because it'll reset your plugins list otherwise.
step 1: open your Users\$user\Appdata\Local\Fallout4\plugins.txt (make sure it isn't read-only and maybe make a backup)
step 1.5: if you can't locate plugins.txt, check this: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hidden-files
step 2: add * before each _unofficial_ plugin's (.esp or .esm) name:
Fallout4.esm
*Lucky's Intresting Tips 1.2.esp
*wolf100.esp
*craftable cats.esp
you've got the idea. save and set to read-only again just in case and remember step 0.5. done.
it took a while to find, but this method is basically what game normally uses to load your plugins so you should probably stick with it.
also, if you've read that far, there's a .bat file to automate steps 1-2 in the files