Quick Start Guide - Sim Settlements 2

Looking to get started with Sim Settlements 2? This is your guide - the first 30 seconds will tell you how to start.
The rest of the video explains the different files and frameworks of SS2 and how you can quickly install them on PC and Xbox One.
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Xbox One Links
SS2: mods.bethesda....
Chapter 2: mods.bethesda....
Chapter 3: mods.bethesda....
Workshop Framework: mods.bethesda....
HUDFramework: mods.bethesda....
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Bethesda.net PC Links
SS2: mods.bethesda....
Chapter 2: mods.bethesda....
Chapter 3: mods.bethesda....
Extended: mods.bethesda....
Workshop Framework: mods.bethesda....
HUDFramework: mods.bethesda....
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Nexus Links
All Chapters Pack: www.nexusmods....
Workshop Framework: www.nexusmods....
HUDFramework: www.nexusmods....
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For more info on Sim Settlements 2, including a full Wiki, Forums, Download Links, and more: simsettlements...
T-shirts Now Available! simsettlements...
Join the cause on Patreon: / kinggath
Follow on social media for more news and extras:
Twitter: / simsettlements
Facebook: / simsettlements
Special Thanks
Sagittaurus for editing the video!
RuinedWorld for the animated kinggath (www.nexusmods...., and JebRWocky for the sound effects in that animation (www.themichell...!

[@kinggath]

Once you get started, be sure to check out our wiki for in-depth information on features, patch notes, and more! wiki.simsettlements2.com

[@Jhowy-wu3mr]

Hey Kinggath quick question do you know of any mods that work ok with SS2 that allow you to keep most if not all of the vanilla factions alive and allied with the Sole Survivor? That Sanctuary Hills battle scene in the chapter 3 trailer looked AWESOME😁! And I’d love to do that with this mod even if it’s just the BoS, Railroad, and Minuteman and the Institute still has to go😅. But from what I’ve heard in the forums that’s not included in SS2 so are you aware of any mods like that available on Xbox that typically doesn’t clash with SS2?

[@Kevinandrehp]

I cant seem to get the npc stranger to spawn.

[@Paydenbarlow]

he never spawned in my game

[@kinggath]

This means SS2 failed to start correctly - we've seen that happen for some load orders with lots of startup quests, for example, when someone has a bunch of CC things with quests. In today's patch, if you grab the holotape and load it into your pipboy, it will try and reboot the SS2 framework so that your next beacon should correctly trigger him.

[@Paydenbarlow]

@@kinggath well be for you said anything i trying Uninstalling the mod and reinstalling it from nexus and now its saying workshop frames isnt working and that i shouldn't play on this save

[@yourguysheppy]

Every Bethesda game has at least one centerpiece mod that you never leave out of your load order, and SS2 is 100% one of those. Can't wait to see what the future holds for the mod and the team

[@mikecap6027]

I wish so much I could use it with it's additional chapters but the filesize is just way too big for the Xbox unfortunately :(

[@lionclan4575]

@@mikecap6027 ngl i do hope that one day we can see the xbox version made to be more compact. then again it is broken up for that reason on the console versiom

[@siryeshe]

Chapters 1-3 are all downloadable on the Xbox and it comes under the 2GB mod limit. What's the difference with it on PC?

[@assassinzakral7023]

​@@mikecap6027 Got like 100 mb left after all 3.....somehow managed to add another 50 mods after that

[@r68saga31]

Except it dont work well with horizon

[@Yes-wp3ry]

The fact that this is a mod and not a Bethesda sponsored DLC is nuts. You guys blew it outta the water. I'm excited to do a full playthrough

[@dealerofic3cream1]

Ah yes fallout 5 is out

[@Eigene_Theorien]

No, it's just a DLC, but a good one.

[@Doktor_Etti]

​@@Eigene_Theorienmore like an very nice expension

[@Flynn_Stones]

​@@Doktor_Ettithe most expansive expansion of expanded expands

[@ARealFreeAgent]

Isn't there a mod that scraps all the missions in FO4?

[@Doktor_Etti]

@@GirolamoZanchi_is_cool huh

[@user-BadUsername]

Dude when I started this mod, I was not expecting side quests, amazing voice acting, new animations, a story, like dude this mod is insane. Thanks for the great mod man

[@qorpraltv5276]

Some of the Mod Quests are crazy well done. I was playing one where the raiders have you go kill other raiders, not sure what it's called, but the voice acting in it makes them feel like real raiders.

[@GhostFS]

This is dedication. I was thinking "I will wait Kinggath to finish with Sim Settlement to start a new game dedicated to that." I'm waiting years and you are still making it every time better :D

[@fb6ins1z1]

Here is the thing... Even though new games like Starfield are coming out, some games just feel like home. For MANY of us, Fallout 4 is one of those games. I still play Empire Total War and FIFA Manager 14 with mods, just like I will continue playing Fallout 4 for many more years. What I'm trying to say is that all your hard work will be appreciated by thousands of people like me for probably as long as we are alive. Thank you!

[@ElDuderinoh]

With the power of mods, I’ll never get tired of fallout 4 and Skyrim.

[@Ben-ek1fz]

Fallout 4 had an excellent vision; even if the execution was *somewhat* lackluster especially on the dialogue. But god i love settlements. Amazing concept

[@MinosML]

Welp, so much for Starfield lol Back to FO4 it is!

[@havoksaar7905]

Heck yeah! Kinggath you and your team are legends!!! Congratulations to all the voice actors, team members, and all their families for allowing them to achieve this!

[@MW-we6fy]

After seeing the trailer for SS2 chapter 3, I immediately wiped my mods and saves just to play SS2. You guys have done a phenomenal job. Thank you for all of your hard work, kinggath! Can't wait to see what you guys can do with Starfield.

[@XUM4N]

Seeing a voice acted mod done this well in any game is crazy, you all do an amazing job.

[@braddarkstar]

I just finished SIM settlement two and going to say this. This IS the cannon ending, this IS the minutemen ending. This, along with the vanilla story is what fallout 4 always should have been. I wish I could have been a part of this project and I wish I could offer more than just my gratitude. In fact I might just do that, you and the Dev team deserve something. I really enjoyed every second of this and I will be recommending it to any and all. Thank you again for such an amazing experience.

[@makthemaniac1]

just gotta say i literally only just met jake and hes already peaked my list of favourite fallout characters the entire introduction of the ASAMs just felt like i was in a commercial and it was the best experience ever

[@gogurt_st]

I just finished the tutorial quest, and I want to say one thing. Thank you. This mod is exactly what settlement building should be.

[@jamesonpeterman1191]

For those that were confused about the "Extended file" If you downloaded the main Nexus file, you already have this.

[@Danagis]

Yay! A complementary guide to this piece of art!

[@felipem7626]

What you guys did with this is incredibly impressive. The whole mod blew me away

[@mattiasfaust2746]

You’re a total bro. I couldn’t figure out how to download this and greatly appreciate this!

[@siryeshe]

Absolutely amazing! The coders and voice actors deserve oscars! How is this not part of the actual game?!

[@JohnPaulSein]

Thank you for making one of the easiest to install, easiest to use and by far the BEST mod ever for fallout 4...

[@th0msedk]

Best mod i've ever seen in a bethesda game, and voice acted to a professional level.. damn man..

[@kcounalan]

Great idea !! ... much has changed since the last getting started guide series. New players, returning SS1 players etc ....

[@harmon1013]

I literally said thanks for the TLDR and left BUT decided i needed to comeback and like and comment. I appreciate not making us waste 20 minutes to help, wish you the best!

[@pokquat1462]

Someone please help, I can’t find the starting dude 😭

[@Average_Stewarts_inspo]

Same the starting dude just won't come to my settlement I've waited 9 irl hours and tried 5 saves idk what I'm doing wrong

[@halilzsoy]

@@Average_Stewarts_inspo did u fix it

[@LIFEDEATH65]

I just finished getting my mods downloaded. Can’t wait to play this!

[@BenjiMeisterDK]

its fate. I havent played SS2 yet, and i just started a new playthrough of fallout 4, because my internet was down this weekend, its fixed now, but the bug bit me. time for an other 100h of goofing around. Thank you kinggath

[@jubei7259]

Oh wow, so this is your mod? Nice one. I had SS1 but I saw the sequel on Nexus so I decided to do another playthrough & installed it. I've only done the first couple of missions so far but I didn't realise it came with a whole load of quests & stuff. Gotta say, Jake's voice acting is top notch & if this is any indicator of the overall quality, I reckon it's gonna be a cool ride. Cheers!

[@nightjokerrz]

The opening dialogue to this mod is already better than the main game thank you

[@seraphuziel]

DUUUDE! thanks for the edit. I tried to watch the long cut (watched all of it) but I got lost in the conversations vs tutorial. Hope to see moderate & advanced tips in future. Hoping Life in the Ruins updates to it soon.

[@Average_Enclave_Soldier]

I built the beacon but the stranger won’t show up what do I do?

[@skty1]

thank you so much! finally did a playthrough where i finished the game and now im giving the famed sim settlements a try

[@madamantium5547]

Really cool mod - I was skeptical at first, since I never really bothered with settlements beyond aesthetics, but this mod is very well done. Thanks for the tutorials!

[@nexypvp9351]

Thank you for not wasting our time. Very much appreciated and straight to the point liked and subscribed

[@michaelmacdonell4834]

Your voice actors are top tier - to be fair the whole thing is way too good to be "a mod" - but they stand out so much.

[@jakebrown9833]

Thank you so much! Time to start building . You explain everything so well also by the way

[@hectormijailrosas4648]

I'm coming back for the X time to FO4 and I'm so excited to finally try this. I wanted it so bad before but I was playing it on Xbox 😢 but now I see no limits for my new gameplay + FO series are otw 😊 Thanks for the mod. I'll share my honest and humble thoughts here in a while

[@8vI]

God bless you! I just finished my first run of BG3. Haha now I lust after Preston's death. Thanks King and Team

[@jh9794]

Id recommend adding raze my settlement as a way to quickly clean up settlements before building.

[@kaine2557]

Wanna give a massive thank you for having that tldr at the start. Already had it installed and just wanted to know how to trigger the start up. ❤

[@dababydakiller1745]

Cant seem to start it. Got a recurit beacon in star-light drive in, powered and on. But he never seems to spawn, even after waiting 24 hrs.

[@GG69BLIN]

Me too..

[@stevenculbertson7934]

Thats crazy me to even at star light drive in

[@calebman114]

Stranger doesn't spawn for me either. Spent 3 hours trying to get him to appear. Nope. Guess I'm uninstalling fallout 4 and waiting for odyssey of the dragonborn instead. Don't have time to troubleshoot issues that are not my issues.

[@JayF2912]

@@calebman114 "i dont have time to try fix things if they dont work first time" is how to have a boring life 101 tbh

[@blindsight3690]

😂😂😂😂​@@JayF2912

[@Doktor_Etti]

Omg thank you and your team, i just started with this mod a day ago.... and Holy fck, i never had that much of fun in years playing fallout I love The stranger aka jake, he doasnt feel like some rendom companion, more like and actual friend of my character

[@devinverse152]

Just wanted to say big thank you im playing it on xbox and i love it

[@bigmu480]

so what if the stranger never showed

[@gzsprout]

Same

[@kenneth69]

lol I was just watching the original video back from 2018 or whatever the other day, then YT's feed updated and here is this one. I remember this coming out. Happened during my third longest played character. Good times.

[@gemjarv]

“Let me get to the point, nobody wants to hear me ramble” Proceeds to ramble.

[@getrekt4302]

gratitude and respect for the intro.

[@GinSoakedBoy]

Awesome! Can't wait to start a fresh playthrough.

[@ZeeJohansen]

I love the building aspect of FO4 but replaying it I feel like it's getting boring and clunky, so Imagine the happiness I felt, when a resent video mentioned this mod as a quick sidemode!

[@OniNoFro]

Followed your ructions as given and the Stranger just doesn't come. This is unfortunate as the work you guys put in looks amazing.

[@littlepickle8253]

So thats where he came from. For the longest time I had no idea why there was an arthur morgan clone in my game. This answers it all lol

[@MatthewOlney]

The stranger won't spawn. Playing on series X with a totally fresh install. Set up the recruitment beacon and inly random settlers show up in Sanctuary. Been to Concord and found the hardware store and took the devices but there was no holotape I could see.

[@nabun111]

In heaven there is a special cloude for the moders. Just mindblowing

[@BadCalibre88]

Fallout 4 is my favourite SimCity dlc

[@mbishop2050]

Now that the mod is working, outside of the Going Home and Freedom Calls quests not working correctly as I no longer have the Minutemen at this time, I have to say it is incredible and I wish Bethesda had put as much work into a game as much as was done with just this mod, then Bethesda would have been as good or better than the majority of other games. Everything is in, things I would have never even thought of are in it. It is terrific to say the least.

[@TheWikipedianCamera]

Hey, Xbox player here, I absolutely LOVE the mod so far, there's just two things I have to say- 1. Are you ever considering creating a framework version SS2? I really love the improvements over the original SS and I want to be able to use those it on more of my playthroughs without giving up over a third of my storage space and leaving the story on a permanent cliffhanger with Jake's Disappearance with chapter 1. 2. There's only one consistent issue I've had that I really haven't found a reason for, which is crashing when I enter hijacked cells. Like for example, when I tried to recruit the Nightingales & CPD for taking over Gunner HQ, I had to try for well over an hour to get into both Mass Bay and the SBPD. Thanks for (maybe) reading this, I do love your mods and honestly consider this the unofficial 7th DLC for Fo4, but well, you know how console modding is.

[@Shandael]

I'll have to read the forums, aye, but my main concern with reinstalling SS2 are the "zones of death" that plagued early SS2 play-thru's if you placed SS2 settlements next to each other, such as Sanctuary, Red Rocket, and Abernathy's Farm which could make the whole zone instant drop to desktop. I would love, love, love to continue the story, but not at the risk of making whole areas of the maps instant dead zones. Last SS2 play-thru I couldn't enter Sanctuary or Spectacle Island without instantly crashing the game. It's not my gaming rig. It's a 3 year old Alienware with SSI drive, 16gb RAM, and GeForce 1080 Ti video card, all up to date. Current F4 play-thru's are smooth as silk. Was just SS2 settlements that suddenly started causing zones of death issues.

[@interstellarpostman5430]

Yeah triangle of death killed my main Xbox game back when chapter 1 came out, still upset about that 😂

[@embershanerox7529]

First time playing your mod and it's awesome

[@Jesus_Wojak]

6 long years! Nice work!

[@ststephen]

is there a seperate mod for just city building part and not the story for people who just want the city building

[@tjshook7212]

Could you possibly make a video on the best mod set up for Sim settlements like how to organize them and what goes above the others

[@BuryTomorrow12]

If you're using a PC, the Nexus Mods client, Vortex, has an auto sort feature that does that with a simple click.

[@davidoblinger1241]

Literally just want a damn download order 😆

[@donjonson5340]

This mod is a deed. Thank you.

[@misguidedharmony760]

The stranger showed up days after i installed the mod(I installed the mod midgame, i only have the first chapter since i don't have any dlc) I can't start the quest though. The stranger won't speak to me, I've tried everything i can for xbox, I don't know what else to do

[@GAMBANJUJJJ]

man I am excited to play this mod by piecemeal, This mod and Fusion City is like oil and water. I don't know what I broke so Its sad that I will not be able to play it through my Storywealth Playthrough

[@jIZHO]

Hey King, even though I'm joining very late I wanted to say remarkable work you and the team have done, this is how Fallout 4 should have been released back then, maybe Bethesda will learn something from you. ^^ I wanted to know, since I don't understand English very well, if all expansions are also available in German, dialogs and such.

[@SkyBloopers]

I’m trying this mod for the first time with chapter 2. (For reference I’m using load order from Modswell video) So far I have enjoyed it immensely. I usually struggle with settlement building I either ignor it almost entirely outside bare minimums with no design in mind OR I waste so much time building that eventually I lose interest and move on. This has allowed me to still essentially do the “bare minimum” and the quest line implementation of mechanics of the A-Sams alongside missions coinciding with main story gives you a new perspective on the world of the commonwealth. I’m still very early in gameplay so I don’t want to criticize as I haven’t fully experienced yet. But I’m hoping that more building layouts become available. So far signs are pointing to yes as Lilly’s family just arrived.

[@kinggath]

To get more building art variety, you'll want to download community add-on packs. We have lots of building designs included in SS2, but outside of Residential, it's one building design per Class. So for example, there's one Building Materials Gathering design, one Basic Farm design, etc. Across all the add-on packs available you get literally thousands of different art designs for your plots!

[@SkyBloopers]

@@kinggath nice 👍 maybe on another playthrough. I only have about 100 mb left on Xbox one. I want to see what’s available with the basics so far plus I’ve noticed you made it fairly customizable even on the plots themselves. I.e. I’ve add sleeping bags under the stairs of an elevated shack and settlers use it. Doesn’t apply to “residents assigned” to said plot but it’s immersive enough for me and I can build add ons so far. I’m only doing this on a couple segregated plots to see the effects of that area vs strict place and forget plots. See where NPCs congregate to more and what looks most immersive (in my opinion). Excellent work though, this alone makes me more excited about working towards a pc. I love Bethesda games since Doom original on ‘95 & ’98 lol. It’s almost criminal how little mod space console has when mods like this exist.

[@SkyBloopers]

@@kinggathhey is there any reason why minutemen quest line would not continue (I.e. checkpoint in SS2) or is my game broken. Preston does not talk to me and won’t let me turn in quest. I’ve had this happen in vanilla before so I’m betting it’s Bethesda related, but wanted to check before reloading early save or restarting 😢

[@jimmygerano7163]

I'm of the opinion the SS2 quest is the canon main quest of FO4.

[@BoJangles42]

Awesome, thank you so much for this 🙏

[@gabrielconnolly9403]

The stranger is not spawning

[@craidz7193]

Did you fix it?

[@gabrielconnolly9403]

@@craidz7193 I didn’t have the framework and workshop thing downloaded

[@user-xg9rq1fi7h]

I try to start a new game too but no stranger 😢

[@kyliannduchemin8718]

Hey, please do something about the files being too big, its a real problem on console, you need to do something, even some mega byte could make the difference

[@TunaToona]

The stranger isn’t showing up for me

[@SentinelChris2077]

So I grabbed the book and did the beacon thing and I’ve been eating 20 minutes not a good first impression

[@nfiniti257]

This guy hasn't popped up yet and I haven't even met Preston yet just set up enough to get right past that sanctuary start up quest.

[@briancullen9171]

Absolutely love the mod. Although I get to martial law quest and it breaks with the radio. I think I may have found some required sub mods for ss2 xpac that I didn't download. I'll check it out this weekend. I like the mod more than the game.

[@fabiofacchetti8364]

"this is a quick pratical guide i wont ramble just demonstrate" *does well for 30 seconds then rambles for 3 minutes straight*

[@bastlover4620]

I actually never got that guy and I used it with a clean save

[@andreyk9012]

Pretty sick dlc. Crashes at "cutscenes" tho. Especially the vertibird one

[@tales4226]

I wish i had this video in 2018

[@JohnnyHughes1]

Just an FYI.. after I talked to 'The Stranger', I needed to save my game, exit and reload the game too get the Sim Management menu items to show up in the Workshop Mode Menu.

[@turmoil7825]

YOU ARE THE GOAT! THE GOAT!!!!!!!

[@MultiCrymetime]

Why isnt the settler showing up

[@kyliannduchemin8718]

There is a problem on the mission Scavver's Delight, where even if all the raider are killed, Jake stand on the pc typing and never stop it

[@dancahill2030]

The stranger won't show up

[@ConfidenceGold]

Hey King. Appreciate it a lot.

[@mastermeikle1]

Cannot for the life of me get the stranger to appear 🤷‍♂️ am i doing something wrong (XB1)

[@justinpaxton2728]

Started playing again because of this mod. Just starting out. Not sure if it’s in the mod or not based on what I’ve seen. If it’s not in there I’d love to see the settlements start to clean up. Get rid of junk and just make the settlements look really clean

[@retroboomer3197]

I just downloaded all the necessary files on my pc and built a radio beacon but nothing happened.

[@alexosborn8061]

Shortly I've been waiting an hour 😢

[@jordanrainone7174]

What do you do if the stranger never shows up

[@AllanScott28]

I searched how to stop diseases & this video came up ?

[@JenkoGaming4]

I have the radio beacon and he still hasn’t shown up, how many days is it supposed to take

[@ImmortalAbsol]

Are there any mods other than the three chapters that acknowledge characters or events in this? Or the other way around? I know some other mods kinda have a shared universe, just want those installed if they exist to get a comprehensive playthrough.

[@yawgmothhiryuu]

That one 'biker gang' mod by F4StoryExpansion Project - "CSEP Presents All Americans 2.0" - has a few lines that mention a character from SS2 if you have both mods active. That's the only cross-integration I've heard of so far.

[@ImmortalAbsol]

@@yawgmothhiryuu ooh thanks, that same mod mentions Brothers in Arms by the same author if installed.

[@Greenskeletonmane2113]

Restarted my save to install this cause I had sim 1 but it will be worth it lol

[@valiroime]

I just don’t understand why you had to start the mod with an easily missable book left lying on a workbench. To me, it would have made more sense for Jake to come running up to you as you approach Concord and implore you to lend assistance to repel the raiders attacking his store and Preston’s crew. As a reward for your assistance, Jake would then reveal the secrets of the gizmo he’s hawking. I’m sure it’s just me.

[@kinggath]

The book isn't involved at all. That's just there for convenience to get you resources to build a beacon. As soon as you build a beacon, he comes to your settlement.

[@garethdavies7488]

Hi Kinggath, I've been looking for advice on getting this amazing mod to start (im playing on Xbox) For some reason I can't get the Stranger to appear after I build the radio beacon! I've tried everything, checked mod orders, started new saves - I can't seem to find anything online about how to fix this. Do you have any advice? The mod looks incredible, I'm looking forward to playing it soon

[@ollicron7397]

I know this is minor, but at the start of the video he shows the magazine that you're supposed to pick up to build the tower to start. I didn't notice it at first and I ended up starting at starlight drive in, instead of sanctuary hills which was pretty frustrating.

[@anthonylancaster7667]

stranger never shows up. built beacons in two settlements and nothing

[@chrisdelara37]

The problem i keep having is in chapter two when the gunners attack my settlements it crashes on Xbox

[@bioskim1822]

I can confidently say that SS2 is the best mod in Fallout 4 as far as I know. However, the housing method in 'How to HQ' is so different from the existing method that it is tiring.

[@user-ru9bx5bj9q]

thx! that's really help me!

[@SOMETIMESCOOL]

Hey does anyone know why jake wont spawn for me when i place the radio beacon

[@craidz7193]

Have you figured it out?

[@RinVindor101]

I love your mods but alas SS2 has always been broken for me. Even on a clean install of the game and zero other mods whenever I summon the stranger he never initiates the quest. I just have to use cheats and ignore all that hard work you guys put into a story I'd love to explore. I've built 3 new rigs since SS2 first released and every time I try and its never worked its honestly perplexing.