Where I Hang My Hat IX: County Crossing · 6:53pm Feb 19th, 2017
“My Little Calamity” by Slushy
Today’s header image is one of the very first pieces of fanart ever made for Fallout: Equestria. 
This week, I’m finally bringing you my creation for the Fallout 4 settlement County Crossing. As you might recall from Angel’s Pip-Boy Diary, when the game gives you County Crossing, it is one of the sorriest little places in the Commonwealth, just down the road from both the ghoul-infested National Guard training yard and the Super Mutants fortified in the Revere satellite array (not to mention just across the street from a ruined nuclear power plant that spawns bloodbugs).
Here’s Angel’s first reaction to County Crossing back in Angel’s Pip-Boy Diary #22:
Day 41 – Early Morning
December 3, 2287
This is County Crossing? There’s nothing here. Am I too late?
Oh, hold on. There is a tiny shack that looks like it’s about to fall over. And some plants. This isn’t a settlement. It isn’t even a farm. But there are people here, and they want the Minutemen’s help. And, to my surprise, they aren’t asking me to help them move somewhere else.
Although they are asking me to help friends of theirs move somewhere else. Specifically, to a much better settlement location called the Taffington Boathouse. Because their friends are smart enough not to want to move to County Crossing.
County Crossing might be my biggest settlement project yet, possibly rivaling my build for Castle. For County Crossing, I wanted to keep that ramshackle wasteland aesthetic you get with the original wooden piece set, much like when I designed Hangman's Alley but on a much larger scale. This settlement took weeks of solid work, even with the tower already started. With such a project, I have a lot of pictures. I managed to narrow it down to just over two dozen, but this blog is going to be exceptionally picture-heavy after the break. Before then, I want to share some of the wonderful Fallout: Equestria fan community news that came out this week!
First, some major good news out of The Manehattan Project. This week, the first segment of their massive Fallout: Equestria-themed Fallout: New Vegas mod, Gardens of Equestria, is finally available for play. 
Here is the opening cinematic, which they released a month ago.
And here is a link to the mod itself, Gardens of Equestria: This Coming Storm! Check it out, an enjoy! 
Next, I am happy to introduce Powdered Milk, who is doing a fun new blind reaction series for Fallout: Equestria! It has only been a week, and he has already gotten up several videos in the series. Here is the first one.
Give him a listen. 
(Please note that he is using CrazedRambling’s awesome audiobook, and the first couple of segments in that audiobook have a softer volume than normal.) Here is a link to his playlist.
Meanwhile, the other ongoing Let’s Read by Strategic Jordan is in the middle of the chapter “Racing Apotheosis”, and his next video
(which I expect will be out later this week) is likely to include a certain big reveal. 
I’m excited. Are you excited?
Finally, I came across this really cool Fallout: Equestria-inspired original music by Lorris. Check it out!
Now, on to County Crossing. 
(And remember, you can click the images to see full-sized screenshots. 
)
Some of you may remember my original settlement design for County Crossing, from my first “Where I Hang My Hat” blog. My initial tower appealed perfectly to my desired “built one level at a time with no floor plan” aesthetic and just needed some rennovating. But I also had a second building just to play with a new brick set. The building was ugly and largely useless, so my first step in the new build was to tear it down.
No major new mods were used in the revitalization of County Crossing. However, I want to give shout-outs to a few. First, to CREAtive Clutter by damanding, a mod that was recommended to me by Scorch Mechanic. I was already using most of the individual mods that this one combined, but CREAtive Clutter compiled them into a very easy and convenient menu. Thank you, Scorch! 
Next, I want to applaud the following two mods for fixing really annoying bugs: WSB - Wire Spark Bug-fixer by ghzfba which fixes persistent spark effect glitches that can arise when building and removing wires and wire-connected objects, and ShelteredBeds by ferret which bypasses Fallout 4’s extremely buggy programming for determining if a bed is sheltered. Now your settlement happiness ratings can be what they should be.
Some people wonder how I manage to create these settlements. As mentioned before, I use console commands to facilitate settlement construction a lot (which is the primary reason why I chose against adopting Survival mode), especially the commands: getpos, getangle, setpos, setangle, modpos and modangle. Probably, the most useful of these is “modpos z”, which moves a placed object up or down.
Here is one of the many nice building tricks you can do using the command: putting two objects in the same place. In the picture set above (click for larger version), I have a ramshackle piece of wall that’s aesthetically cool, but too “breezy”. First, I create the wall. Then I select it in console and type “modpos z 400”. This moves the wall up high enough to be out of the way, but not too high that I cannot select it or even snap pieces to it. I leave console and build a second piece where I built the first. Then go back into console and type “modpos z -400”. (A quicksave and quickload will get rid of the “buzzing” effect.) Ta da! (Add appropriate Trixie emote here.)
So I wanted to again give a shout-out to Precise object moving and rotating by ad3d0, a mod that allows me to make a ton of very quick and easy micro-adjustments without having to type modpos and modangle commands, just using the arrow keys. I don’t think I could build a settlement without it anymore. 
Finally, some of the pictures below benefit from my addition of the weather enhancement mod True Storms - Wasteland Edition by fadingsignal.
County Crossing
”Pay for comfort. Pay for safety. Sleep well.”
Click images for larger versions.
Welcome to the County Crossing Hotel!
Built by good Commonwealth folks just like yourself, protected by the Minutemen, we offer the best respite from the wasteland money can buy, and at an affordable price.
Spend a night with us. Or just stop in to relax, get a hot meal and a cold drink, and shop at the renowned County Crossing Marketplace.”
As should any good hotel, County Crossing offers a refreshing pool. (Clothing optional.) It is situated between the hotel tower and the greenhouse,
with an adjacent patio on one side and shower facilities on the other. The plumbing that services the pool also provides a relaxing patio fountain.
The first floor of the hotel tower features the County Crossing Marketplace, as well as a check-in counter and the hotel manager’s desk.
The manager lives on the property in the penthouse of the tower.
The second floor of the hotel tower includes dining facilities, a bar and a guest lounge. As you can see, Curie makes her home here
when not traveling with Angel, interacting with and learning from those traveling through. She is wearing a bunny outfit because…
um… frankly, because Angel likes it and they are… (Lyra voice) best of friends.
Between the second floor and the penthouse are the guest floors – common sleeping rooms, nicely furnished and with the best and cleanest beds available.
Behind the hotel tower is an auxillary building which houses shower, laundry and bathroom facilities on the first floor, and the kitchen that serves the hotel dining room on the second. The building connects to the second floor of the hotel via a small bridge. On the outside, beneath the barbeque porch, you can see the minutemen artillery placement, positioned to best cover the National Guard training yard and the Revere satellite array. Angel wants to discourage ghouls and supermutants from reclaiming these areas. Bombardmant discourages nicely.
The smaller adjunct tower sits at the edge of the property and connects to the hotel tower via a covered bridge that spans out from the fourth floor.
The adjunct building includes utilities such as the power generator and water purifier, as well as the workshop and a secondary kitchen (mostly used by Angel and Curie).
The penthouse is Angel’s and Curie’s private suite.
County Crossing Hotel also offers a more pricey (and more private) VIP guest quarters.
The basic structure of the hotel tower remains the same as it was originally, but the renovations include scores of fine touches, including a separate conduit line for the noisier turrets with an activation switch, neon signs, hanging ivy and functioning smokestacks.
Beyond the pool, County Crossing’s greenhouse supplies all the fruits and vegetables that the hotel kitchens need, plus enough extra to sell to hunters for a variety of meats.
The far end of the greenhouse attaches to the storage warehouse and the guardhouse. Additionally, there is a small respite on top of the greenhouse from which our sniper can sit back and relax and pick off any bloodbugs that wander towards the property. (As a side note, that door above, originally a train boxcar door, took over an hour to get right – to angle it horizontally rather than vertically, set it to slide the right direction, and position it so that it could still be targeted and closed when open. But I’m quite pleased with it.)
The back alley leads to the clinic, which also connects to the greenhouse on the middle level via bridge.
The top floor of the clinic houses the pharmaceutical and medical supply storage. The floors are connected by a special glass spiral staircase (larger pic here).
The safety of the residents and guests from wasteland threats is a top priority. Due to the nearby hostile areas, County Crossing is heavily fortified, particularly on the north side, which boasts plenty of spotlights and defensive turrets. In addition, this sentry bot was salvaged from the nearby National Guard facility and is ready to engage anything foolish enough to attack.
Wow! You are like a settlement creation master! Hell, I can't even build a simple house in Fallout 4!
Finally got around to going through a bunch of your blogs. The amount of time and effort you put into these masterpieces is staggering. Well done.
Amazing my friend
That... Is beautiful. I think it's the best yet, and far better than my meagre attempts. Which usually use only whatever junk I find nearby and am carrying, so usually only a machine gun turret and a guard post for defence. Though I don't scrap the ruined houses, because I can't see how a group of refugees with a robot and minimal equipment can so thoroughly remove all the scrap steel and concrete to leave such fantastically clear and undamaged foundations. I also tend to keep the cars, because I like cars.
Wow, I'm even more impressed at this than your Castle settlement. How'd you get all this stuff to fit in the confines of the build space!?
4428970 I love cars too. I couldn't bear to scrap the white one that was originally on the lot. As you can see, it's still there.
4429085 Everything that you can see in the screenshots fits within the normal build space. The hotel tower is six stories because that's where I hit the build ceiling. At the far end, a few of my foundation pieces stick through the barrier, and I had to use the modpos commands to build the back walls. The same goes for a few of the chain-link fence pieces at the far back (which are not visible in the screenshots). Here is a view from the top floor with the build zone illuminated to illustrate.
I use the mod Higher Settlement Budget by GrimTech to effectively remove the limit on how many items you can build in a settlement.
This is incredible.
Somehow this post got buried deep within my feed!
I think this is my favorite location that you've redone. That sentry bot is a really cool addition!
4428970
There was a time I actually considered making a garage area and moving one of the ruined cars closer to it (inside if possible) to make it look like my character was working on it.
I think Forza Motorsport 6 has a Fallout 4 car available to use, which I would be using if I hadn't invested my money into Horizon 3 that sadly lacks that vehicle. 
4429188
I've got more than enough spare parts to fix that up for Angel!
hi hi
Steel beams are such an amazing building material. Sure they're expensive for people in today's economy, but in the post apocalyptic wasteland, I'm sure there are plenty of them lying around to be used. There's just something about cantilevered designs that are so cool.
This is like a tree fort dream come true, I just hope no one falls down that third floor staircase while they're playing pool drunk.
Hi Kkat, always a pleasure to read you ^^ So, I wanted to share some pics of this two settelments I’ve been working on (I’ve shared some on another post a while ago). I used to play with fallout settlements a lot last year, but after I started drawing I uninstalled F4… until I saw one of your last posts.... I was able to reinstall all pretty good, though I lost most of the decoration that belonged to the “do it yourself” mod. :/
So, the settlements aren't finished in the case of the older one, Spectacle Island I'd say, a 70% of the structures are completed, and 20% of the decoration and furniture and in the other, Fort Castle, something like a 90% and a 30% finished.
In Spectacle Island I wanted to make a big “capital” of my other settlements, taking advantage of the huge space, the city contains a complete TV Studio, a secret undergroind Vault, an heliport, a theater, a huge disco, a military base, a bank with a fortified vault and of course a big amount of stores, houses and public services like hospitals and so. This is kinda old so I still didn't had some mods that I later used.
I only gonna post a couple of screenshots of this and there is a couple more in this blog https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tiasa1927fallout
I kinda rushed to get them so the background wasn’t full rendered in some
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And then Fort Castle I think is my favourite work, I was inspired by reading an post-apocalyptic AU that included a city build in different levels for different social classes. So I build this city following this pattern, with spacious and elegant stores/buildings on the top, and then descending in quality to the bottom, where barracks, greenhouses and smelly taverns lay. Following the same idea, I made an specially effort to make the city a true labyrinth of elevators, stairs, hallways in which one can easily get lost several times, in parts of the settlement that I think actually feel like different and unique neighbors.
General view of the settlement: it’s build around a big empty space around the radio tower.
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The city can be accessed by the port, airport, by the main gate or by the market.
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Thoughe there is also a small fishering port
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Some interior views:
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The interior of the castle was reporpused with barracks, bathrooms, warehouses and a public dinner
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Three kind of houses: lower levels
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Middle level:
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High level
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All the apartments had their own bathroom, and my objetive is/was to make each one very personalized. I still have a lot of work to do on decorations, I specially think that it would look much prettier with poster and signs to help generate the crowded/active atmosphere.
I'm really on love with this one and their are a lot of cool corners and halls and there are some more pictures in the blog https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tiasa1927fallout but not so much more since I may be thinking on make actually a youtube video of the settlement.
Well, that’s all for all, thanks for your time everyone ^^.
I wanted to ask you, did you encounter the Unnasignable Settler's Bug, which came with 1.6 patch of the game? Not everyone is experiencing that but if you did and found a solution, I would be very grateful for any guidance. It broke the game and not even vanilla builds are exempt from it (it even caused the Don't Call me Settler mod to vanish in order for the bug to be fixed).
Basically what it does it prevents the scripts that govern the spawning and allocating of settlers to occur and you can't assign them to any ingame resource or trigger (the settler walks up to the place and then leaves, unnasigned). No new settlers arrive, and if you move settlers of Sanctuary hills, like Sturges, between the settlements, they can become horribly bugged and not even companions left in the settlement work correctly.
I only got a few words to describe my reaction to this settlement /HOLY CRAPBALLS BATMAN! (Those were my first words) then after that it was DAMN!
Most ambitious settlement planning and building I have ever seen
They are certainly living in comfort and I would definitely say they won't have to worry about mutants, ferals or bloodbugs.
I'd also like to add that you must have one hell of a beast of a computer to run all that
4431257 Those settlements look amazing! Which mod did you use to get the boats you have docked?
You might be interested in Clean Warehouses by dgulat. You can keep the rusty, post-war aesthetic, but have all the windows be functional, intact glass.
4431524 I did not. It may have been fixed by now though.
I participated in the beta, which may have allowed me to avoid it or get an experimental fix quickly. I know the beta was used to test other bug fixes.
4432118
Yeah, Sadly, it still broke some saves. I started a new playthrough so I will see if the bug happens again on the latest official build, but I already wasted 10 hours of gameplay while building a vault for my settlers and sadly, it goes uninhabited.
4432113 I'll gonna give it a try! Thanks! To be honest, I recognize that the warehouse get a little repetitive (I try to be original and use different angles and options tough), but besides using the full/metal and the wooden balcons for decoration,I just don't think there is any other kind of wall so versatile and easy to work with like the warehouse (combining it with the greenhouse is also a good option). Also, in this settlement, I think it was proper to make it look like all is part of the same big monstrous structure.
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About the mod, I try to use the small amount of mods possible since I hate compatiblity problems. Also, with the dlc, a lot of stuff I used became part of the vainilla menu. For settlement stuff I only use Homemaker (which I use almost only for the cloth washing machine XD), OCd decorator, Businness Settlements (For signs) Do It Yourself, Modular Kitchen, and Better Stores which is the on that add the boats. Better stores it adds different kind of furniture for stores, but also adds a lot of stuff for decoration and resources like the boats (that represent fishering and you can actually assign a settler to them to make it produce a ton of food, which is pretty nice if you want to represent a small settlement that lives of fishing and doesn't have too much crop space). They also add a butchery store (you also can see a scale that it's in their decoration list)
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also add musrhooms, different kind of cattle (including chickens) and lot of stuff
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Also, I agree that moving things around with the console it's a obligatory need. I use place everywhere which it's kinda a little more annyoing to install but let's you move and change the size of stuff to your will; and using hotkeys. Some stuff you can do with it is half roof/walls, using two (or more) shrunken walls, which is actually very good for making non-rectangular houses, since you can make, for example, a pentagon, and then srunk or increase the wall sice until it fits in the diagonal space.
Examples: diagonal wall by enlargin and shrunking other walls (this is an arena inside the same settlement):
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half wall made by two shrunken walls:
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this is specially useful: half walkways, ideal to combine with the half stairs that come on the vainilla menu, letting you have a stair AND a walkway in the space that you usually could only put a stair.
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Eventually when I do a PC run I need to attempt something a bit more than what i have done on the xbox, I think it will be fun