Testing relies largely on the use of the in-game console. This console can be opened by pressing the tilde key ~ on your keyboard. Note that the console is typically not available in Survival difficulty, so you will either need to change your game difficulty or use a mod like Unlimited Survival Mode that allows you to turn this feature back on.

Sections of this page will call out commands that are useful for each testing task, but familiarizing yourself with the available console commands may serve you well in your testing and development.

One important thing to remember about most of the commands used on this page is that they target the player by default, but if you have selected an object with your mouse while the console is open, it will instead target that object. So, if you use a command like placeatme but nothing shows up near you, try clicking empty space with the console open to clear any selected objects.

Make sure you have installed the requirements for Power Armor to the People so that you are able to test all of its features, such as the configuration menu and legendary items that are worn by power armored enemies. Also, it is recommended that you install all supported mods so that you can work with all of the patches at once.

You can also copy over all of the ESPs from the Content directory of this repository into your Data directory following installation, but it is not recommended that you activate all of them at once since some do not work properly with one another (e.g. when both activated, the order of Raider Overhaul and Raider Chop-Shop mods and patches can result in Raider paint jobs not showing up). This can be useful for editing in xEdit, however, as you can enable them all and see conflicts / places where it is necessary to copy a change into multiple patches.

These mods make testing easier:

• Better Console - Shows additional information when you select an object with the console open, making it easier to tell if your mod made changes to that object, the level of its associated encounter zone (which is very important to know, as you will see), etc
• Console Name Fix - Shows the proper name of each selected object when the console is open
• Fallout 4 Vanilla 99-Percent Completed Savegame - A high-level saved game without any mods that is far into the story
• Unlimited Survival Mode - If you want to test in Survival Mode, this can be used to enable use of the console, enable fast travel, etc

The easiest way to test standard legendary drops is to spawn the debug legendary chest. This chest adds a random legendary item every few seconds using the same method that adds them to legendary enemies, and can be spawned using this console command: placeatme 1f8545

It is important to note that the chest will spawn legendaries based on the level of the encounter zone, not the player. This means that you must physically move to a different location if you want to see legendary drops at a certain level. See Dealing With Encounter Zones for more information.

There is a configuration value in Mod Configuration Menu for changing the power armor legendary drop rate, which can be very useful if you are doing testing that requires you to see as much legendary power armor as possible (e.g. adding a new legendary effect or power armor set).

With F4SE, power armored enemies are able to wear legendary power armor. For testing, it is recommended that you set the Power Armored Enemy Legendary Equipment Chance to 100% in Mod Configuration Menu and follow the instructions in Testing Enemy Spawns to get enemies wearing legendary power armor.

It is recommended that you use the commands tai and tdetect before spawning enemies to disable AI and detection for the enemies. This will prevent them from moving around and attacking you or each other.

First, determine the type of enemy you want to spawn. If you are trying to check the power armor variations for an enemy, you can spawn the power armored version directly by searching for its name in the console (e.g. for raiders, help juggernaut 4 npc_), and then note down the Form ID. If you are trying to test the spawn rate of power armored enemies vs standard enemies, look in xEdit for the Form ID of the particular Actor (NPC) or Leveled NPC that you want to test the spawn rate of (e.g. for standard Raiders, look for LCharRaider, which has a Form ID of 22E48).

With the Form ID, you can now spawn enemies using this console command: placeatme form_id, replacing form_id with the real form ID discovered above. A number can also be placed at the end to spawn multiple enemies at once. For example, placeatme 22e48 10 would spawn 10 raiders that may or may not be wearing power armor.

It is important to note that enemies will spawn based on the level of the encounter zone, not the player. This means that you must physically move to a different location if you want to see enemies spawned for a particular level. Some NPCs can still match or exceed the player level even if the encounter zone is of a lower level, so the NPC levels cannot be used as an indicator of what level is being used when enemies are spawned based on the leveled lists. See Dealing With Encounter Zones for more information.

Encounter zones dictate the level of enemies and items within an area. They can have minimum and maximum levels, and they typically stick to the first level they have (though some refresh if you come back later). As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to figure out the best places to go to test spawning enemies and items.

The easiest way to check the level of an encounter zone is using the Better Console mod. Select an enemy or item in the console, press the Ctrl key, and look into the encounter zone level to figure out the current level.

The following locations have been useful in my own testing:

Location	Level Range	Level in 99-Percent Complete Savegame
Settlements	1	1
National Guard Training Yard	25-34	25
Gunner Plaza	35-99	35
Big John's Salvage	30-99	99

Legendary effects are provided by object mods whose names match the name of the effect as noted on the legendary power armor page. Likewise, unique effects match the name of the unique piece on the unique power armor page, omitting the word "Power Armor" if it's present. In both cases, the easiest way to get an item with the effect is to placeatme or drop a piece of power armor on the ground and then select it in the console. Enter the command help "effect name" 4 omod, replacing effect name with the name for the specific effect. Note the form ID provided in the console, and enter the command amod form_id, replacing form_id with the form ID found when using the help command. The power armor on the ground should now have the legendary or unique effect.

If you are at the physical location where a piece of unique power armor is supposed to spawn, you can also force it to spawn again by entering the console command cqf PAttP_UniqueItemManager ForceSpawn "effect name", replacing effect name with the name from the unique power armor page. Note that this will ignore all conditions, including whether the unique item has already been spawned. If the item is not just for sale at a vendor and it has already spawned, it's best to remove the old item before using this command.