Renamed thread to match the new Fallout collection being released by Bethesda.
This thread is for discussion and resource links for playing all of the Fallout games before Fallout 4. This top post will be kept as up to date as possible with resources for running these games on modern PCs, and other info that is buried across many threads.
Special note about Fallout original trilogy on Steam
In June 2014, Bethesda updated the original Fallout titles to include new launchers and executables with high-resolution patches already applied. GOG's versions did not get the same update treatment. EDIT: GOG now sells the same patched titles as Steam, but they are treated as new, separate titles. The un-patched versions, which are no longer for sale, appear in GOG collections with "Classic" appended to the title (eg. "Fallout 2 Classic").
Fallout
The Fallout FIXT patch is a collection of official patches, unofficial patches, and mods to fix the game for modern machines, as well as make some minor enhancements. The installer gives you the choice of whether you want a vanilla experience with fixes only, or if you want some of the new/modded content as well. FIXT is pretty much a one-stop shop for patching Fallout for current OSs.
FIXT includes the high resolution patch, for those with non-Steam versions.
High-res note: This game was originally played in 640x480. You may find playing it at eg. 1080p makes things far too small. I found 1280x720 to be a workable compromise, but depending on screen size, you may want to experiment a little. Just expect to be setting the resolution to something less than your screen's native resolution.
Fallout 2
The Fallout 2 Restoration Project serves a double purpose: patches Fallout 2 for modern machines, and restores game content that was removed or left incomplete and incorporates some new content. It is referred to as an "unofficial expansion". For those who simply want a patched version of the vanilla game, the Restoration Project developer also makes available the Unofficial Patch, which are the fixes from Restoration Project as a separate install.
Restoration Project includes the high-resolution patch, for those with non-Steam versions.
High-res note: This game was originally played in 640x480. You may find playing it at eg. 1080p makes things far too small. I found 1280x720 to be a workable compromise, but depending on screen size, you may want to experiment a little. Just expect to be setting the resolution to something less than your screen's native resolution.
Fallout Tactics
Fallout Tactics has a fix/update mod called Fallout Tactics Redux.
If you don't have the Steam version, you can manually install the high-resolution patch which apparently is a bit of a pain.
Fallout 3
The first and most important step to take is a minor edit to the fallout.ini file. This is called the "multicore fix".
Edit thefallout.ini
file in: My Documents\My Games\Fallout3
Change the line:bUseThreadedAI=0
to:bUseThreadedAI=1
Also, add a brand new line to the file which reads:iNumHWThreads=2
Fallout 3 has been patched to remove the requirement to activate on Games For Windows Live, but GFWL code remains in and can be the source of some problems. The Games For Windows Live Disabler utility will prevent GFWL and its DLLs from loading. For most users, the multicore fix + GFWL Disabler should be sufficient to solve problems with F3 not running in a Win7+ environment.
Some players may find it necessary to mod Fallout 3 to be "large address aware" using this mod. This is particularly true of players who make use of many other mods, which will increase F3's memory usage and cause users to run afoul of the unpatched F3's memory limitations.
If these three steps aren't sufficient to get Fallout 3 working on your computer, consult the Reddit FalloutMods guide linked below in Additional Resources for additional specific case fixes.
Mod Management:
For a more exhaustive guide on using mods, see Reddit's FalloutMods guide. We'll shoot for something a little more streamlined here.
You will want to download and install the Nexus Mod Manager. You will also need to register an account at nexusmods.com.
Install NMM and login to it with your nexusmods account. Then, on individual mod pages on nexusmods.com, you'll click the "Download (NMM)" link, and Nexus Mod Manager will download and install the mod.
A few mods (like FOSE) are not hosted on nexusmods.com and will require manual download and install, but these are relatively few.
GWJ Approved Fallout 3 Mods:
Fallout Script Extender (FOSE) - expands scripting capabilities of Fallout 3. You'll find this to be a prerequisite for many other mods. For installation instructions, see this post.
Fallout 3 Unofficial Patch - collection of fix mods.
Fallout 3 Stutter Remover - removes stutters and hitches from gameplay (be sure to configure your min/max FPS settings in the .ini file - mine are 60/30).
CASM - autosave manager, maintains a running cycle of autosaves instead of just a single one. Very good especially when dealing with instability.
Project Reality - weather and lighting updates, no more perpetual green tint. Similar mods include DC Moods and Fellout (use only one of these three!)
NMC's Texture Pack - high res texture pack
Fallout Wanderer's Edition (FWE) - an overhaul mod for experienced players. A tougher, deeper experience[/url]
TODO: list more mods (readers, suggest some!)
Fallout: New Vegas
Same as with Fallout 3, the first and most important step to take is a minor edit to the fallout.ini file. This is called the "multicore fix".
Edit thefallout.ini
file in: My Documents\My Games\Fallout New Vegas
Change the line:bUseThreadedAI=0
to:bUseThreadedAI=1
Also, add a brand new line to the file which reads:iNumHWThreads=2
Some players may find it necessary to mod New Vegas to be "large address aware" using this mod. This is particularly true of players who make use of many other mods, which will increase NV's memory usage and cause users to run afoul of the unpatched NV's memory limitations.
If these steps aren't sufficient to get Fallout: New Vegas working on your computer, consult the Reddit FalloutMods guide linked below in Additional Resources for additional specific case fixes.
Mod Management:
For a more exhaustive guide on using mods, see Reddit's FalloutMods guide. We'll shoot for something a little more streamlined here.
You will want to download and install the Nexus Mod Manager. You will also need to register an account at nexusmods.com.
Install NMM and login to it with your nexusmods account. Then, on individual mod pages on nexusmods.com, you'll click the "Download (NMM)" link, and Nexus Mod Manager will download and install the mod.
GWJ Approved Fallout: New Vegas Mods:
New Vegas Script Extender (NVSE) - expands scripting capabilities of NV. You'll find this to be a prerequisite for many other mods.
Nevada Skies - weather effects
Tale of Two Wastelands - merge Fallout 3 into Fallout: New Vegas
TODO: list more up-to-date mods (readers, suggest some!)
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (PS2/Xbox)
For best results, use the recycling mod.
Previous Fallout Collection Threads and Articles:
Fallout: New Vegas - Fall 2010
Official Fallout 3 Catch-All
Fallout 3 [SPOILERS] Thread
Help! Fallout 3 GOTY won't work on Windows 7!
Fallout 3 (Perspectives)
Fallout / Fallout 2 (Classic GOTW)
Fallout or Fallout 2?
Fallout 2 Unofficial patch/expansion!
Fallout (1) why do you hate me?
Additional Resources:
Reddit /r/FalloutMods Fix Guide
Nexus Mods: Fallout 3
Nexus Mods: Fallout: New Vegas
Nukapedia: Fallout wiki
Fallout modding wiki
Ultimate Fallout 3 Setup & Mod Guide for Windows 8 & 7
Ooh, what is the mod scene like? I have the pack of 1, 2 and Tactics. The original Fallout is actually my favourite and I was always disappointed F3 never quite captured the mood and style of the original. Was pondering over replaying it the other day, some good fresh content might seal the deal.
Thank you for this. This is very concise information. Just the way I like it. Very structured and on point and just in the nick of time. I have it bookmarked for future reference.
Our own Puce Moose's excellent mods for Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
Awesome thread! Some excellent info there!
Has the existence of this one been redacted?
Isn't there a playable van buren tech demo?
Good thread idea. I just installed Fallout on a new ultra book, and was just about to go hunting for widescreen mods.
Thanks for all the work putting this in the one thread. I'll be back in here when I figure out which one of these to get stuck into first.
The thread title for a moment made me wonder if they were bundling all the old games.
I've been playing Fallout 1 after buying 1, 2, and tactics on the sale. I had beaten this one before, but I remember very little about it. It's been a nice trip down memory lane.
Thinking about starting New Vegas again via my Steam pile, will it run smoothly on PC without any alterations? I've tried to read up on some things and I've heard lots about performance issues. A few people talking about anyone with over 4gb of RAM having issues!
My first favorited thread.
Legion, I love the Fallout 2 screenshots you've posted! It's been quite a long while since I've played Fallout 2, but I'll never forget my first sighting of New Reno along with those super huge bouncers standing outside the door, and your screenie brought that back.
My first sighting of New Vegas didn't seem to have quite the same impact that I remember having for New Reno. I think it's because it was introduced so gradually by the areas just before the Strip that it didn't seem as bedazzling as I'd expected.
Clusks wrote:Thinking about starting New Vegas again via my Steam pile, will it run smoothly on PC without any alterations? I've tried to read up on some things and I've heard lots about performance issues. A few people talking about anyone with over 4gb of RAM having issues!
I would be certain to at least do the multicore fix described above, but I did not have any real problems in my last play-through (a couple of months ago) on a Win7 PC with 12GB RAM.
Cheers. Decided to load it up and play through the first hour. Hoping I can get more into it this time, I loved Fallout 3 and just didn't take as much of an interest in NV, although have since heard many say NV is the better of the 2!
It took me a while to get into Fallout New Vegas when I first started playing. In fact, I bought it, started it, and then was just going to play Mass Effect for a bit. Ended up playing Mass Effect for days, and then Dragon Age Origins for days, and then it was time to get back to FNV since I completed both ME and DAO including all achievements and had no excuse.
When I started playing again, I was kind of missing the DC ruins and the Mojave just wasn't the same. Instead of super mutants and enclave, there were these guys dressed up like the old roman empire. Yet I persisted and finally began to get into the game and now I'm having a lot of fun with it.
I doubt that I'll end up one of those people who end up liking it much better than Fallout 3. They'll likely end up about equal in my book, both having their positives and negatives. I do feel a lot more pressured in FNV and feel it is kind of pointless to do some of the things I enjoy doing in Fallout 3 (such as decorating and making collection displays) since the game ends at the end and you can't keep playing forever. I am pressured to try to finish up *everything* by then, no matter how little sense it makes to persist in doing all those sidequests when there is urgent world saving to be done. I've been really spoiled by the Bethesda sandbox in which you can do everything in your own time.
Since deciding to treat it more like a Bioware game than a Bethesda game, I am at least more relaxed about it, and it does have tons of quests which I also like.
New Vegas is good and all, but it doesn't have the same sense of scrappy survival that Fallout 3 did. And the radio is way worse. And the main quest line doesn't feel nearly as cool or epic.
The map is much more open, but so much of it is filled with wildly irritating animals that are a real hassle to deal with until you're level 15ish. In Fallout 3, I'd just pick a direction and see how far I could get, and I found so many interesting things that way. In New Vegas, every time you start getting creative in your wanderings you run into packs of Cazadores or Deathclaws, making exploration unfun until you're much stronger, after which point you've been sent to so many places on side quests that the map looks pretty filled in and the sense of wonder is gone.
Anyhow, runs fine with large memory, unpatched Steam version. It still crashes every so often, but nothing sufficient to make it unplayable. Quicksave regularly and don't disable autosaves, and it'll just be a moment of irritation every couple hours.
When I started playing again, I was kind of missing the DC ruins and the Mojave just wasn't the same. Instead of super mutants and enclave, there were these guys dressed up like the old roman empire. Yet I persisted and finally began to get into the game and now I'm having a lot of fun with it.
I'd have liked a better group of bad guys than the Legion. They were never as big a threat as the Enclave or Super Mutants were. Sure, they were a threat to NCR footsoldiers, but that was about it.
I never finished Fallout 2. I liked it on the first attempt but the bugs made it unplayable. I tried it again a few years later with the fan patches and was just bored. I tried a third time a few years later with the added stuff and fan patches and it still didn't grab me. I might try one last time with a balanced character. I think the last time I tried to be a stealth ninja that didn't kill anybody. If I recall correctly I caused a gang war, got married, found a robot dog, found some lady that thought she was ghost, found a guy from fallout 1, and I might have destroyed a slave ring. I think that was just a hour or two into the game but I could be wrong.
I'll probably wait until I finish jade empire before I decide if I want to got back to FO2. I finished FO1 over 12 times.
I'm playing FNV vanilla (and on console, so no temptation for otherwise) so whatever the game offers is what I get. Though I do have a modded Fallout 3 on PC, I did also play it strictly vanilla on console as well.
While I do understand your point about being able to tra-la-la (LOL) through the DC wasteland, the non-intimidation factor of these two games is entirely opposite for me. The ambiance and feeling of being nearly utterly alone in Fallout 3 was a whole lot scarier than the relatively "happier" feeling I get in FNV. Despite the possibility of running into areas with harder monsters for low-level characters in FNV (which are easier to avoid once you know the areas you aren't supposed to be), I end up having many more "creeped out" moments in the DC wasteland, and I'll never forget how a group of Talon company chased me nearly back to Megaton because I couldn't kill them with my starter pistol and nearly no ammo.
And once Broken Steel came along, it took me *weeks* to get brave enough to go back into a certain metro station where I knew a bunch of feral ghoul reavers were going to be and I am *terrified* of those things. I did every other quest I could to procrastinate going in there and even played Daggerfall and Skyrim for a bit.
In some ways, Fallout 3 can be *too* scary compared to the other Fallout games.
I never finished Fallout 2. I liked it on the first attempt but the bugs made it unplayable. I tried it again a few years later with the fan patches and was just bored. I tried a third time a few years later with the added stuff and fan patches and it still didn't grab me. I might try one last time with a balanced character. I think the last time I tried to be a stealth ninja that didn't kill anybody. If I recall correctly I caused a gang war, got married, found a robot dog, found some lady that thought she was ghost, found a guy from fallout 1, and I might have destroyed a slave ring. I think that was just a hour or two into the game but I could be wrong.
I'll probably wait until I finish jade empire before I decide if I want to got back to FO2. I finished FO1 over 12 times.
Wow, that is real commitment to trying to like a game. I could only really give a game 2 goes and if I wasn't into it after that I'd just never go back to it.
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