Birds really aren’t real in this Fallout 4 mod

You’ve likely heard the joke conspiracy theory that birds aren’t real and/or are government drones (if you haven’t, please treat yourself). Well, one Fallout 4 modder wondered what it would be like if that was a reality in the dystopian RPG.

Perhaps more out of general annoyance for the flying critters rather than confirming to an online joke, Nexus Mods user Capra has turned Fallout 4 into a birdless paradise. Specifically, the mod takes aim at crows and “seagulls” (though they’re likely referring to radgulls).

After getting frustrated with them, Capra decided to take action, removing them from the game. It doesn’t affect gameplay or lore in any way, and chances are many of us who play can easily ignore any and all birds, but it’s there if you want it.

Birdemic, or lack thereof

Technically, the modder hasn’t actually deleted the birds from Fallout 4. What they’ve actually done is replace both the crows and gulls with “empty textures,” made them unkillable, and basically muted their sounds. In summary: they’re there but not there at the same time.

Now, I’m wondering whether the concept of irradiated birds that are invisible, indestructible, and silent is actually more of an issue than them just not being in the game at all. I’ll leave you to ponder that.

I looked into it, and apparently, Fallout 4 only has these two types of birds throughout the whole game (with a brief mention of sparrows during some dialogue). This means you can wander the wastelands of Boston City assuredly confident that birds do not, in fact, exist.*

^{*as good as.}