The Fallout series has become popular with the current generation of gamers thanks to Bethesda’s Fallout 3 and Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas. If Fallout 3 was your first trip into the post-apocalyptic wasteland, you might want to take a look at where the series started. Of course, you’ll want to mod it a bit first to make it looks less like a pixilated drug trip.
Fallout has a very simple main quest, but there are tons of side quests. If your are familiar with the newer Fallout games, you’ll be able to pick up the gameplay of Fallout pretty quickly. The biggest difference is the isometric view and the turned-based combat. It’s like playing all the combat using VATS in Fallout 3. The story, weapons, skills, and open world are almost identical to the newer games.
Fallout 3 is actually a very faithful modern adaptation of the series. At first, I was a little sad that it was going to be a first/third-person game and not isometric. After playing Fallout 3, I got over it and learned to like quite a lot. A Dragon Age-style RPG set in the Fallout world would be pretty cool, but Bethesda did an excellent job with the newer games. And of course having them resemble modern shooters definitely helped them connect with modern gamers. It was definitely the right decision to make the games reach a broader audience.
Trivia
- Fallout was originally going to be a sequel to Wasteland, but Interplay was unable to acquire the rights to the franchise from EA. Still, all of the areas of the Fallout universe are generally refered to as “wasteland.” It is entirely possible that both games take place in the same universe.
- Fallout was meant to use the GURPS pen-and-paper RPG system, but Fallout had too much violence for the GURPS folks to be willing to let them use their license.
- You can hold down “shift” and click on the “credits” button in the main menu to see some funny quotes from the dev team.
- If you set your character’s intelligence below four, you can’t talk to anyone in the game. You can only grunt at them.
- The UK and German releases have had all the children removed, and access to the highest gore settings are blocked.
Before modding:
After modding:
What you need: Fallout (get it from GOG.com)
Difficulty: Easy
Time: Less than an hour
1. Download and extract Fallout v.1.3 patch (eng). If you don’t have the GOG version of Fallout, you’ll have to install Fallout v.1.2 patch (eng) first. Just copy the “data” folder into your Fallout install folder. Go ahead and replace existing files with the new ones. This patch just fixes issues and bugs in the game.
2. Download and extract Fallout NPC Mod (eng). Once again copy the “data” folder into your Fallout install folder. This mod allows you to change the armor of party members and change their combat tactics. Ian, Katja, and Tycho can all gain levels, and Dogmeat can be ordered to wait.
3. Download and extract Fallout Update Mod (eng). Copy the “data” folder into your Fallout install folder (you should be a pro at that by now). This brings back content that was cut from the original release. This cut content is partially intact in existing character dialog, and in the game’s files. This won’t drastically change the game; it just finishes up some loose ends.
4. Download the Fallout High Resolution Patch. Extract the files and run “Fallout1_High_Resolution_Patch_3.06.exe.” This will extract the files needed to install the patch. Point it to your Fallout install folder when it asks you where to extract the files. Run “f1_res_patcher.exe” which is now in your Fallout install folder. Open up “f1_res.ini” in your Fallout install folder with Notepad. Edit the part where it says “set the screen resolution here” to match the resolution you want. I suggest going with something like 1280×720, instead of 1920×1080. The higher the resolution, the smaller everything will be. There are other setting you can tweak if you want, though they are pretty well explained in the file. Fallout will now run in widescreen, allowing you to see more of the game world. While this doesn’t actually enhance the graphics, they will look better because the resolution is better. It’s like magic!
If you like modding games be sure to check out the rest of The Weekend Modder’s Guide. If you need help getting these mods to work, just make a post in the comments and I’ll try to help you out. Also feel free to suggest mods or games that you would like to see covered in the future. Happy modding!
