I've decided to stop my current play through of TTW to make a mod that resolves some mod issues I've been having. Since I'm going to be restarting eventually, I'm hoping to get input on how to solve some of the other problems I've had which are likely to be mods conflicting with other mods. I don't want to post in the mod thread until I've narrowed down the actual cause. No point in complaining if it's not their fault. Here are my observations so far, any useful tips/insight would be appreciated:
TTW related:
Dogmeat is a terrible companion. Every other companion has two follow distances: default (330) and long (500). Dogmeat only has default at 250. As a result he constantly blocks my path. I don't know how big the distance 250 is in game but when I enter a bathroom stall to pick-up loot and Dogmeat is so close he tries to enter the stall with me, that's too close. I manually changed his follow distance in the GECK to 500 which has improved the situation somewhat, but in combat it reverts back to too close. Combat becomes frustrating when I can't move because Dogmeat is suddenly blocking my path just standing there growling. Melee and unarmed combat are nearly impossible since most of the time I'm hitting Dogmeat and not the enemy. At level 39 his HP is 19500, so I'm barely even scratching him.
Also Dogmeat can't be set to be aggressive. Changing him from passive to aggressive in the companion wheel doesn't work and reverts back to passive.
When I originally played FO3, Dogmeat was the best companion, but this time around he is almost useless. Originally, Dogmeat would detect a threat and charge off to attack it. In TTW, he growls a lot but won't attack anything until it's attacking me. Other companions seem to improve his behavior, when they attack he becomes more aggressive but not without them.
Companions don't get dismissed/removed properly. I had the plan of using each of the companions until they died but after Jericho died (surprise attack by a Deathclaw outside Arlington Library), I couldn't hire Clover. Resurrecting and firing Jericho didn't work. I had to install an unlimited companions mod to work around it. I had no karma DC followers installed but replaced it with Unlimited Companions with No Karma included. I had to fire Dogmeat before I could rehire Sargent RL-3, but the ability to hire seems to be working fine now.
The companion wheel for any companion is barely functional. Passive/aggressive doesn't work for anyone, Follow distance works for some, and Dogmeat only responds to Talk ,Wait, Use Stimpak, and rarely Back Up works.
Companions don't attack radroaches and radroaches don't attack unless I shoot them or bump into them. Is that normal?
The volume of radio music is really loud but Three Dog's voice is really low. Completing 3D's quest has no effect. It requires twice as much volume to hear him than the music. The volume is so loud for the music it is too painful too listen to. Enclave radio doesn't have that problem. Also, the volume of radios in the world is barely audible. Installing GNR Enhanced had no effect on the issue.
Problems with add-ons:
Outcast Trading. Protector Casdin only recognizes vanilla weapons and armor, doesn't recognize other energy weapons or power armor as being valuable. He'll accept Enclave Hellfire and Tesla armor but not Enclave Advanced Power Armor. After gaining access to Fort Independence, he still offers to trade but has no inventory. Reinstalling Outcast Trading had no effect. Normally, Protector Casdin will confiscate any Outcast power armor the player is carrying, unfortunately, he also confiscates other things he shouldn't like The Backpack. I'm pretty sure he confiscated some other items, but the improper confiscation meant reloading an earlier save, so I'm not completely sure what else he took, if anything.
Anchorage Customization was a disaster. The weapons/ammo provided are too weak/too expensive and don't replenish at ammo stations. It took all the ammo I had to kill just three enemies and then I had no weapons. Why does it take 20 direct shotgun blasts to kill one NPC?
Supermutant Rebalance. I didn't have this installed until after the GNR battle, but decided to use it after spending more than an hour trying to survive that fight. After eight direct hits from a Fat Man, the SM Behemoth was only down to 30% health. I used up all the other ammo I had, and I had to rely on Dogmeat to finish him off. Activating SR did make SMs easier to kill but after level 30, most are like tissue paper. I can kill a SM with just five bare-fisted punches. That doesn't seem right.
XP Reduction is too weak. I just completed Waters of Life, and I'm already level 39. With a level cap of 50, I'll be maxed-out before getting to New Vegas. While I have been doing non-vanilla activities, I seem to be leveling way too fast.
Problems with other mods:
My game regularly crashes at 12:01 a.m., I think it is a conflict between Mod Configuration Menu and weather mods but I've uninstalled both and it still crashes. If I switch the clock display in MCM from 12 to 24 hour or from 24 to 12 it usually prevents the crash. Waiting until a time after 12:01 a.m. prevents the crash, and sometimes it doesn't crash, but crashing is much more common.
Advanced Recon is supposed to highlight containers when zoomed but rarely does.
Nevada Skies mostly works (rain and storms), but only one of the weather moods (Nuclear Memories) works consistently in the Capital Wasteland, The End of Time works as a stand alone and worked once as part of the weather circle but wouldn't turn off. The other moods don't work at all in the CW. Moods seem to trigger fine in The Pitt but because TP has its own dark setting, the moods made it impossible to see during the day and had to be turned off. Other than rain/snow, I didn't notice any effect with Operation Anchorage. The problem of the Citadel interior disappearing gets fixed using the citadel fix.esp, but Nevada Skies re-breaks it. If Nevada Skies is installed after the fix, the problem returns. Any settings seem to occasionally reset/turn off after a few days by itself.
Marts Mutant Mod works fine for a few days and then starts crashing when changing cells. Uninstalling, waiting a few days and reinstalling fixes it for a while.
Dunwich Expansion is way better than vanilla Dunwich but The Pariah companion behaves worse than Dogmeat, can't be killed, companion wheel doesn't work, I had to disable The Pariah, but it still shows up on the map and in the companion list while using JIP Companion Command & Control, not sure how to get rid of it beyond uninstalling the mod.
JIP Companion Command & Control actually works better than the companion wheel but doesn't remove disabled companions (see Dunwich Expansion). Placing the avatar icons at the bottom of the screen blocks important text.
Portable Tent works fine for a while but then suddenly becomes inaccessible. Everything in the tent moves to the center of the tent cell interior, the player can't move, and the frame rate drops to one frame every five seconds and the only solution is to reload an earlier save. The tent remains inaccessible for a few days and then goes back to normal. Worked fine in regular FNV but not TTW.
Load order (all mods were installed after leaving Vault 101, some were only installed recently).
FalloutNV.esm
DeadMoney.esm
HonestHearts.esm
OldWorldBlues.esm
LonesomeRoad.esm
GunRunnersArsenal.esm
CaravanPack.esm
ClassicPack.esm
MercenaryPack.esm
TribalPack.esm
Fallout3.esm
Anchorage.esm
ThePitt.esm
BrokenSteel.esm
PointLookout.esm
Zeta.esm
TaleOfTwoWastelands.esm
oHUD.esm
TTWInteriors_Core.esm
Advanced Recon Tech.esm
Detect Traps.esm
streetlights.esm
CFWNV.esm
TTWInteriorsProject.esm
NevadaSkies.esm
AWorldOfPainFO3_TTW_2.2a.esm
Mart's Mutant Mod.esm
TTW_XPReduction.esp
TTW_OutcastTrading.esp
TTW_MoreCookingItems.esp
Anchorage.Armory_TTW.esp
Advanced Recon Range Finder.esp
Advanced Recon Tech.esp
Advanced Recon Tech - Detect Traps.esp
Advanced Recon Gear.esp
Detect Traps - Perk.esp
Detect Traps - DLC.esp
The Mod Configuration Menu.esp
DarNifiedUINV.esp
NoPipboy.esp
EmptyBottles.esp
Solar's Bottled Water.esp
Trenton.Towers-TTW.esp
Enhanced_Towns_TTW.esp
TheBackpack.esp
NecronomiconExMortis 5.6.esp
Treasure Maps_Secrets of the Wasteland.esp
Treasure Maps_A Fist Full of Caps.esp
Treasure Maps_Underground.esp
Centered 3rd Person Camera.esp
TTWLoadScreenText.esp
TTW_BaileysCrossingMetro.esp
CFW-DLC.esp
Realistic Ammo Weight - TTW.esp
Realistic Foods Weight - TTW.esp
Regulators.esp
TTW_ImprovedNtlGuardArmory.esp
TTW_ImprovedWheatonArmory.esp
UpgradedCaravanMerchants.esp
NevadaSkies - TTW Edition.esp
NevadaSkies - URLIFIED Interiors.esp
citadel_fix-for_v2-4a.esp
The Weapon Mod Menu.esp
Portable Tent.esp
megaton_walkway_1.01.esp
XFO_Two Perks Per Level.esp
BOSPatrols_TTW.esp
Rivet City Merchants With Point Lookout.esp
UHNV.esp
UHNV-Dead Money.esp
UHNV-Honest Hearts.esp
UHNV-OWB.esp
UHNV-Lonesome Road.esp
UHNV-Brighter Lighting.esp
UHNV-More Mannequins.esp
TTW_NoKarmaDCFollowers.esp
JIP Companions Command & Control.esp
Zapaway NV ALT.esp
TTW_CompanionWheelFixesForReal.esp
TTWAWOP4DC.esp
CASM.esp
GNR Enhanced.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - Master Menu Module.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod - Zones Respawn.esp
Mart's Mutant Mod.esp
MMM_Increased_Spawns_TTW.esp
TTWMergePatch.esp
Thanks in advance for any help!