This week, Fallout 4 on consoles got quite a shot in the arm from the new mod storage increase update — a patch that significantly expanded the amount of space that players can use for downloading and installing mods on Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Originally, players only had 1GB they could allocate towards modding Bethesda's 2015 open-world RPG. After the patch, though, Xbox Series X|S users can now use a whopping 100GB of their storage for mods, while Xbox One, PS5, and PS4 players now have 15GB available (last-gen hardware and Sony-imposed restrictions are responsible for the smaller amounts here).

That 1GB limitation was pretty suffocating for fans trying to use advanced overhaul-style mods, as well as for mod authors that wanted to make their bigger projects available on consoles. Now, however, it's a thing of the past — and the creators of one of the best and biggest Fallout 4 mods in recent memory have taken advantage to bring it to Xbox.

That mod is none other than Misery Island, a massive DLC-sized project developed by Tenhats and shreddah4 that was originally released on PC in November last year. Thanks to the storage expansion patch, it's now available on Microsoft's consoles (though not on PlayStation, sadly, due to the aforementioned Sony restrictions that prevent installing custom non-vanilla content). Check out the trailer for it below:

Misery Island takes you to a huge new world space with two full Settlements to take control of and build, over 20 locations to explore, eight interior areas, and "and many small points of interest hidden across the map." It's set on the real-world Misery Islands in Massachusetts, and features a full lore-friendly questline with voice-acted characters.

As you adventure across the island, you'll find custom weapons, armors, and clothing, along with new types of food, junk items for crafting resources, and more. Skill checks from classic Fallout games are woven into the gameplay, too, while new random encounters and weather conditions keep the moment-to-moment experience feeling fresh. There's even a new radio station and a custom background music selection.

It's no exaggeration to say that Misery Island is effectively an expansion to Fallout 4, and offers players several hours of content to enjoy. Do note that it requires the official Far Harbor DLC to work, so pick that up if you don't already have it (you should do so anyway, as Far Harbor is excellent).

It's also the second chapter of the "Isles of New England" series, with the first being Boon Island — a much smaller piece of content that was able to come to consoles at release due to its limited scope.

Seeing a very large and ambitious mod like Misery Island come to Xbox is incredibly exciting, and I can't wait to see other advanced projects make their way to the platform as well now that size isn't an issue. The future for Fallout 4 modding on consoles — and Xbox especially — is a bright one.

Do you plan on checking out the Misery Island mod in Fallout 4? Are you going to take advantage of all the new storage space console players have for mods now? Let me know.

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One of the most biggest and most impactful updates in Fallout 4 history was scheduled to come to Bethesda's beloved classic 2015 post-apocalyptic RPG last year in November, but ended up getting delayed due to technical issues. For months, it's been relatively silent about it since then outside of a confirmation it's still being worked on — but thanks to a new announcement, we finally know when it's coming.

The update in question is a massive mod storage increase to the amount of space Xbox and PlayStation players can dedicate towards the player-made "Creations" mods you can download and install from Fallout 4's main menu. A new communication from Bethesda confirms it's coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4 on May 27, which is just a week from now.

"We're excited to share the Fallout 4 Creations storage expansion will arrive for consoles on May 27th. Console players will soon have more space to download content, including larger, more ambitious Creations," the developer wrote in its social media post.

Specifically, the amount of storage available to Xbox Series X|S users will skyrocket from 2GB to 100GB, while those on Xbox One, PS5, and PS4 will jump from 1-2GB to 15GB (last-gen and Sony-imposed limitations mean these systems won't get as much extra space as Xbox Series X|S systems will).

While this update ultimately won't mean anything for players that don't use mods, Fallout 4 is radically changing for those on console that do. Even having 15GB available for mods opens up a ton of possibilities for Xbox and PlayStation players, and Xbox Series X|S users with 100GB of space will be able to put together load orders comparable to what PC players have enjoyed for years.

With that much available storage, console users will be able to use high-quality graphics improvement mods without issue, and will still have plenty of room left over for countless other smaller mods that overhaul gameplay, add new weapons and armors, introduce new quests and storylines, and more. Advanced projects that rely on the PC-exclusive Fallout 4 Script Extender still won't be on the table, but that's it.

As someone who's enjoyed modding Fallout 4 extensively over the years, I'm stoked that my fellow Sole Survivors over on Xbox and PlayStation will finally be able to mod the RPG on a deeper level as I have. Something you need to be aware of, though, is that the update will wipe existing load orders. Thankfully, you can save yours and then restore it after the patch.

Bethesda published an article explaining how to do this, but I'll write out the process here too. In the Fallout 4 Creations menu, go into your Load Order and then select the Load Order Archive button. In the box that opens, select "Save Load Order to Bethesda.net" and let the process complete. Then, after the update, go to the same location and choose "Restore Load Order from Bethesda.net" instead.

It's unfortunate that this update is coming to Fallout 4 six months late, but ultimately, I'm just glad to see it's finally almost here and didn't end up getting scrapped. After the disaster of the Anniversary Edition, the popular Fallout game really needed a win.

Will you take advantage of the mod storage increase patch for Fallout 4? Let me know in the comments, and vote in our poll, too.

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The long-running, fan-favorite post-apocalyptic RPG franchise Fallout is now one year shy of its 30th anniversary, and it's gone through a lot of change and growth throughout its nearly three-decade long history. From humble beginnings at Interplay Entertainment and the 1997 release of the very first game to the blockbuster success of Fallout 4 and the Fallout TV show, the series has become an absolute megahit.

Alongside spinoffs like Fallout Tactics and Fallout Shelter, we've gotten six mainline Fallout RPGs over the years, including Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. Developer Bethesda is working on Fallout 5, too, though it's a long way off, as the studio's next game will be The Elder Scrolls 6.

The games have always been popular, but there's been a major resurgence in the last few months in particular thanks to Season 2 of the TV show driving player interest. That hype has brought plenty of interesting news and insight about the franchise, including our exclusive report that remasters for Fallout 3 and New Vegas are coming, and Game Informer's wonderful An Oral History of Fallout multi-part interview.

As I've covered the latest on the series these past few weeks, I've been running a poll across all my articles to see which of the main Fallout games you, our readers, think is the best of them all. As I write this, 1,501 of you have given your answer — and it's a clear one, with one RPG far above the rest.

That title, probably to the surprise of very few, is Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment's 2010 entry in the franchise that took players to the Mojave Wasteland. 869 of the folks who voted in the poll — 58% of the group — say New Vegas is their favorite game, with Fallout 4 and Fallout 3 neck and neck below it at roughly 17% with 259 and 248 votes, respectively.

In online discussions about the Fallout games, New Vegas is very often listed as a favorite due to its impressive RPG depth, complete with multiple major and minor factions, countless potential quest outcomes, advanced speech and dialogue systems, and a high degree of reactivity to the player's actions. The overall story and setting are top-notch, too, and allows you to do do pretty much anything you want without putting roadblocks in your way.

Thus, I was hardly surprised to see it take the win by a large margin here. I was surprised to see Fallout 3 so close to Fallout 4's position, though. Fallout 4 is the latest single player entry in the series with the smoothest, most modern gameplay and combat mechanics. On top of that, it's the most stable game for modding, and has gotten a ton of mod content — both free and sold as curated DLC in the Creations store — since its 2015 release.

But Fallout 4 is also often criticized for lacking the RPG "crunch" Interplay's original games and New Vegas had, while Bethesda retained much of it with Fallout 3. So even though Fallout 4 is easier to get into, more polished, and serves as a better foundation for user-generated content, Fallout 3 features a direction that players prefer more overall.

Another unexpected result was Fallout 76 coming in below even Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, both of which are old-school CRPGs from the '90s with rather archaic control schemes that make them difficult to smoothly engage with. The takeaway here seems to be that multiplayer is rarely anyone's favorite way to experience Fallout, even though Fallout 76 still has a healthy player base even eight years post-launch.

No matter which Fallout game is your favorite, it's a great time to be a Fallout fan — especially since every game in the series is available to play on Xbox and/or PC through Xbox Game Pass. Even Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics are on PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

What's your favorite Fallout game? Do you agree with everyone that thinks Fallout: New Vegas is the best, or do you feel differently? Share your thoughts in the comments, and make sure to vote in the poll yourself below.

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Bethesda's legendary post-apocalyptic sci-fi RPG franchise Fallout was propelled into the spotlight when the Fallout TV show debuted in Spring 2024, kicking off a renaissance for the fan-favorite games. Now, two years later, Season 2 of the show is sparking further renewed interest in the series — and if you're playing Fallout 4, Bethesda has released several pieces of free DLC content you can enjoy now.

These come in the form of community-made Creations mods paid for and curated by the developer. Typically, these cost money, but four that Bethesda has released for Fallout 4 recently are completely free to download and play across the Xbox, Windows PC, and PlayStation versions of the RPG shooter. None of them got any real marketing; that's a shame, because they're quite substantial and add many hours of content.

They include the following: The Varmint Rifle by Neeher, The Tale of the Beast Hunter by Hobgoblin Studios, Brotherhood of Steel T60 Pistol by Volodymyr Bondarchuk (Painter2099) and Armando Neto (NetoElite), and Revenge of the Van Graffs by the same creators. You'll find all of them in the Creations Store within Fallout 4.

Notably, the Varmint Rifle is a returning weapon from Fallout: New Vegas, and both The Tale of the Beast Hunter and Revenge of the Van Graffs feature or reference factions and gear that's either from or inspired by Obsidian's beloved entry in the franchise. The T60 Pistol add-on, meanwhile, brings the faction's powerful hand cannon from the TV show into Fallout 4.

That makes all four of these Creations especially worth checking out if you're a big fan of New Vegas and/or Amazon's TV series, which I'd wager most Fallout fans are. After all, the TV show is a record-breaking success, and New Vegas is widely regarded by many as the best Fallout game.

The Varmint Rifle features a bespoke, rather unique dungeon found by traveling west from Cambridge Polymer Labs along the nearby river, where you'll find a raider trying to enter a sewer through a manhole. Inside you'll find a variety of quest-markerless puzzles to work your way through, with the Varmint Rifle itself serving as your reward.

Tale of the Beast Hunter, meanwhile, sees you go through a "7-part holotape adventure" to "uncover the legend of the Beast Hunter." The Creation includes a unique outfit with two styles inspired by the iconic NCR Veteran Rangers and New Vegas' Lucky 38, along with a new Revolver Shotgun weapon called "Judge" and a "The Bar" player home fashioned after the look of The Strip in New Vegas.

The T60 Pistol is a smaller DLC that adds the weapon to Brotherhood of Steel inventories and to a few select locations like the Cambridge Police Station and Elder Maxson's room in the Prydwen. Revenge of the Van Graffs, though, is similar to Tale of the Beast Hunter in terms of scope.

Once you hit Level 15, you'll pick up an SOS signal on the radio that ropes you into a questline about mercenaries in dark black armor running amok in the Commonwealth, who New Vegas fans will recognize as the infamous gang of arms dealers in Freeside. By the end of it, you'll find yourself with both the Laser RCW and the Plasma Defender from New Vegas, with these weapons added to leveled lists as well.

I haven't played through these add-ons myself yet, but I have watched a few different walkthroughs and showcases, and overall, all the included quests and gear is great, with impressive voice acting, quality writing, and excellent visuals and animations. Thus, you should definitely check these free Creations out; after the disaster of the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, they're a nice win for the 2015 RPG.

Note that Fallout 4, along with every other Fallout game, is available to play on Xbox and PC through Xbox Game Pass.

What do you think of the four new Creations that Bethesda has given Fallout 4 players for free? Are you going to jump into the RPG to check them out soon? Let me know in the comments.

Will Bethesda's faraway upcoming post-apocalyptic RPG sequel Fallout 5 use the same Creation Engine that the studio's used for all of its other recent games? It's unclear right now, but Dean Carter — the project lead of the incredible game-sized Fallout: London mod for Fallout 4 from Team FOLON — really hopes that it won't, or that it will at least be substantially upgraded.

The DNA of the Creation Engine has been at the heart of Bethesda's games for over 20 years, with its predecessor, Gamebryo, used for The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and Fallout 3 (as well as Obsidian's New Vegas), with Creation utilized for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. It was then used for Starfield, too, with a creatively named Creation Engine 2 upgrade.

There's a lot to love about the Creation Engine — the physics-based interactivity it enables is particularly great — but it also has some major shortcomings that has Carter wishing Bethesda would either move on or significantly improve it.

"I’m really worried that they’re gonna keep going with the Creation Engine," he told Esports.net. "I understand that it is proprietary. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of pluses to it. I’m not just someone that’s going to sit there and lie and say it’s a terrible engine. It could be better, yes, but it’s not a bad engine but I do think it started to show its age. It needs to be overhauled somewhat."

"Load screens and optimization, without a doubt," he continued when asked what the biggest issues with the Creation Engine are. "That was our biggest complaint, rightly so from the public, that our game wasn’t optimized, and that’s because ... we as gamers did not want load screens. So we built things like the East Minster, which ... is notoriously one of the more unstable areas in the mod, and we were just trying to literally slap down walls on anything to optimize it by the end."

"If they have to upgrade it, that’s what they need to solve: get rid of the load screens and allow better optimization."

Indeed, Carter's comments echo a sentiment I frequently see from players of Bethesda's games, which is that they have far too many loading screens and have major performance problems in dense "cells" — AKA, the different zones Bethesda's maps are broken up into.

Games like Skyrim and Fallout feature large outdoor cells, along with numerous detailed interior cells that you have to load into and out of. Because of this, exploring the map requires dealing with frequent, arguably immersion-breaking loading screens.

Interior cells are used because without them, having lots of locations explorable as part of a larger outdoor cell causes framerate dips and stutters; Fallout 4's Boston area is infamous for these issues, and as Carter explains, Fallout: London's developers struggled to contend with them while sticking to its vision of having as few loading screens as possible.

With most open-world games now seamless and without any loading screens at all, Creation Engine titles and their reliance on them feel increasingly dated. It's something I've really come to hate about them, honestly, so I'm in full agreement with Carter that the engine needs an overhaul to address these limitations.

And hey, maybe some upgrades will bring fun stuff, too. "If they can overhaul it, then there’s no reason why they couldn’t push its limits and start adding things like drivable cars, maybe even metro systems like what we built in Fallout: London," Carter added. "Riders would be a great one. We have horses in Skyrim. I don’t see why they couldn’t get something like that in Fallout 5, too."

How do you feel about Bethesda games and the Creation Engine? Do their frequent loading screens bother you a lot, or do you ultimately not mind them much? Share your thoughts.

I hate to be a buzz kill, but cool your jets internet (and put down the jet). The long-rumored Fallout remakes aren't around the corner.

A couple of weeks ago I put out a report describing what Xbox's 2026 would look like, and I mentioned that Fallout 3 and New Vegas are getting remakes. We already knew about the Fallout 3 Remake from the Activision-Blizzard FTC documentation leaks, but New Vegas getting a remake was a relatively new piece of information I received from my sources recently.

Although, I can hardly claim to be sharing a revelation here. The Fallout TV show is a run away success story, and Season 2 is heavily based in and around New Vegas and the Mojave Wasteland. I've been told that Bethesda's other remake project, Oblivion Remastered, was a huge hit for the studio internally too, exceeding internal goals and expectations.

As such, Fallout 3 and New Vegas remakes are a no brainer, leaks or no. But, how soon are we getting them?

Recently, Fallout fans noticed that the Steam entries for Fallout 3 and New Vegas had seen some activity, with some users reporting errors as if game packages were missing. Speculation began to snowball about the possibilities of remakes or remasters being "shadow dropped" in similar fashion to the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remaster. We are getting an Xbox Developer_Direct this week too, which has precedent for announcing new games from the company's subsidiary teams.

In addition, Amazon's Fallout TV show website has mysterious countdown timers, which compounded the hopes and speculation for a mysterious Fallout 3, New Vegas shadow drop. I can confirm emphatically that this timer has nothing to do with any Fallout games, however.

On top of that, I'm told that the Steam listings for Fallout 3 and New Vegas are showing some "activity" due to updates for localized versions of the existing games, and aren't to do with any impending "shadow drop" for Fallout 3 and New Vegas remakes / remasters.

Indeed, I'm told Fallout 3 and New Vegas remakes aren't exactly "imminent," and you shouldn't expect them in the near term. I'm still trying to lock down more detailed timings on when we should see them appear, but the impression I'm getting is that we'll see Fallout 3 remastered before New Vegas.

Microsoft and Bethesda seem to have both been caught a little unawares with regards to Fallout's explosive renewed interest and popularity. The Fallout TV show, Fallout 76 updates, and the Fallout 4 anniversary edition, coupled with its Xbox Play Anywhere tag, has led to a surge in players across all versions of the game.

As we all know, Bethesda has been pretty stretched. The studio is working on Elder Scrolls VI, which has an absolutely immense amount of hype and anticipation behind it. The team is also working on major updates for Starfield, too.

After Starfield, which arguably failed to meet some of the astronomical expectations set by games like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I imagine Bethesda is keen to avoid similar criticisms. Fallout 4 itself also received a fair share of critique for its shift away from the franchise's gritty roleplaying roots, doubling down instead on its open world sandbox gameplay instead. And we all know what happened with Fallout 76's launch, even if it's rather awesome in its current state.

Bethesda lead Todd Howard noted that the studio is investing more than ever into the Fallout franchise in recent interviews, and also expressed support for the "shadow drop" marketing method for "smaller" projects like Oblivion. Parent subsidiary ZeniMax also shadow dropped Hi-Fi Rush and called it a success at the time too, although the studio and IP was eventually spun out to Krafton Inc. The gap between announcement and launch for Fallout 4 was quite short too, although the gap between announcement and launch for Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI has been notoriously long (and painful).

It's with that in mind that Fallout 5 is likely even further afield. I'm told that Starfield's big update this year represents a lot of technological upgrades for Bethesda's Creation Engine, many of which could also hint at capabilities we'll see in Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5.

In the short-term, though, Fallout fans will have to make do with the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, big ticket overhaul mods like Fallout London, ongoing updates to Fallout 76, and a bit later, remasters for Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Which to be fair, is quite a lot really.

If I had to guess (emphasis on guess), I think we could see the Fallout 3 remaster at least this year. I imagine it will be similar to Virtuous' Oblivion remaster, with an Unreal Engine coat of fresh paint on top of the classic Creation Engine experience, albeit with tweaks and combat modernizations, potentially.

I'm still digging into details regarding a lot of this, locking down exact timings and the scope of the remasters, but I'm told emphatically not to expect them to shadow drop imminently. Could we see them around Xbox's annual June games showcase this year? Time will tell.

Fallout Season 2 began airing in December 2025 and was met with a wave of positive reviews from critics. Alongside that reception, players have been returning to the Fallout games in large numbers.

This is the same pattern we saw during Season 1, reinforcing the idea that a strong video game adaptation can drive renewed interest in the games it is based on. Fallout has benefited from this before with season 01, while other franchises like Halo failed to see the same effect after a far weaker adaptation.

It highlights how important it is for TV adaptations to respect the source material rather than alienate the existing fanbase.

Which Fallout games saw player spikes on Steam

• Fallout: around 150 concurrent players to over 800
• Fallout 2: roughly 130 to more than 600
• Fallout 3: about 400 to over 1,200
• Fallout: New Vegas: approximately 7,000 to more than 19,000
• Fallout 4: around 16,000 to over 43,000
• Fallout 76: roughly 16,000 to a peak of more than 27,000

This comes alongside the recent Steam Winter Sale, which did put the Fallout games on sale and likely contributed to some of the player increase. However, the same pattern played out last year during Season 1, suggesting the TV series is once again the main driver. With Season 2 already proving popular, it seems many players are returning for another Fallout fix.

For those using Amazon’s Luna platform, Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 are currently available through Prime Gaming until January 26, 2026, to claim and redeem via GoG. If you run into issues getting those games to launch, I have already put together a guide that walks through how to get them working properly.

Has Fallout Season 2 pushed you to reinstall a Fallout game, or were you already playing before it aired? If so, let us know which Fallout and if not let us know why in the comments!

Leading up to Season 2 of Amazon's Fallout TV show, I decided to take a look at how well each of the games in the Fallout series played on handheld gaming PCs (like Xbox Ally X, Steam Deck, Legion Go 2, and more), and give tips on how to optimize them for these devices.

Now, I thought this would be fairly straightforward — load up each game in both Steam and the Xbox App, tweak settings, and see what kind of performance I can get on the lowest TDP possible to maximize battery life while maintaining a relatively comfortable 60FPS — but it really wasn't that easy.

But fear not, I took the time to find some workarounds for each of the Fallout games on both Steam and the Xbox App, and have detailed step-by-step instructions for them on this page.

Without further ado, here's how to get Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76 to run on handheld gaming PCs like Xbox Ally X.

Prerequisites: Handheld system settings

Before you attempt to play any of these Fallout games on handhelds, you're going to want to change your handheld's system settings. I highly recommend you manually adjust VRAM allocation and enable the HYPR-RX graphics suite to get the best game performance.

I've included instructions on how to change VRAM on ASUS ROG handhelds below. If you have one of Lenovo's handhelds, follow our Legion Go VRAM guide instead.

How to change VRAM allocation on Xbox Ally X (and other ASUS ROG handhelds)

1. Start by pressing the Armoury Crate button to open the Armory Crate Command Center. Select Open Armory Crate SE.
2. Once Armoury Crate opens, head to Settings using the cogwheel icon.
3. From there, select Performance.
4. Next, tap the GPU Settings tab.

5. Tap the dropdown box to the right of where it says "Memory Assigned to GPU."
6. Change VRAM to 6G.
7. Wait while the handheld automatically restarts.

For Fallout games, allocating 6GB to VRAM is generally okay. Some titles may struggle at the default 4GB, while 8GB is rarely necessary and can reduce available system memory.

If the VRAM option does not appear, make sure your device is fully updated and then reboot your handheld before trying again.

How to enable HYPR-RX on Xbox Ally X

Most handhelds with an AMD Z1 or Z2 series processor can enable HYPR-RX, a graphics suite that enhances game performance.

More specifically, AMD Software lets you apply a single graphics preset that affects all games system-wide, which is useful if you want consistent performance without tweaking each title individually.

1. To enable HYPR-RX, open the AMD Software app, by searching for it (this is easier in Windows Desktop mode).
2. Go to the Gaming tab.
3. Select Graphics.
4. From here, turn on HYPR-RX.

On the Xbox Ally X, ROG Ally, and Legion Go handhelds, HYPR-RX is the recommended option as it applies a balanced set of performance-focused features automatically. The base Xbox Ally does not support HYPR-RX, but it does offer a Performance preset instead.

This menu also gives you access to other features like Radeon Super Resolution, Anti-Lag, Fluid Motion Frames, and Radeon Boost. These apply across all games, so it is best to treat them as options you set and forget about, as opposed to changing them per game.

Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 handheld optimization

If you want to play Fallout 1 or Fallout 2 via the Xbox App or Steam, you'll either need to use the workaround I've detailed below or be willing to map the controls yourself, using this keyboard layout for Fallout 1 and this layout for Fallout 2.

Be warned, the fix for getting both Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 to work on handhelds is on the tedious side.

Whenever you try to launch these games on either the Xbox App or Steam, you're prompted with a terrible-looking launcher, and when you select Play, you're prompted with "Error initializing video mode: 1024x768."

To fix this, we have to do either of the following (I did both just in case):

1. Open the Xbox App and navigate to the Fallout game page.
2. Select the More Actions button that has the three dots on it.
3. Select Manage.
4. Once here, go to Files and select Browse.
5. When the File Explorer comes up, select Fallout (PC) or Fallout 2 (PC), depending on which you're fixing (also choose your language of choice).
6. Go to Content.
7. Select f1_res_Config or f2_res_config.
8. A new Window will open. In here, select "Manually Edit Config," or choose your target resolution and select Enable if available.
9. This should open in Notepad, but if prompted, select Notepad.
10. Next, you want to change SCR_WIDTH to 1920.
11. After that, change SCR_HEIGHT to 1080.
12. If you encounter other issues, try setting the options WINDOWED=1 and WINDOWED_FULLSCREEN=0 to match here.
13. Now, save and close the file.

If you're playing through Steam, you should be done and able to correctly launch the game. If you're playing via the Xbox App, however, like I was then, you may need to do one extra step.

This step is where things got tricky for me, as the earlier step didn't work for me via the Xbox App. Instead, I had to take it one step further and edit the files within the WindowsApps folder, which can be done like so:

Additional steps for Fallout 1 & 2 on the Xbox App

1. Within File Explorer, select View, then Show, and make sure Hidden items is enabled.
2. Next, open File Explorer and go to your C drive.
3. Open Program Files, and locate WindowsApps.
4. Right-click WindowsApps.
5. Select Properties.
6. Go to the Security tab, then select Advanced.
7. At the top, next to Owner, select Change.
8. Select Advanced.
9. Choose the option Find Now.
10. You'll want to select your user account and click OK.
11. Click on the box next to Replace owner on subcontainers and objects.
12. Select Apply, then select OK.
13. Return to the Security tab and select Edit.
14. Select your user account, then enable Full control.
15. Select Apply, then select OK.
16. Now open WindowsApps, and you should be able to browse it normally.

Now follow the first steps again and apply it to your language of choice, and that should mean you can launch the game through the Xbox App now.

This fix will also work on Steam; however, the location of the folder is different. You should simply be able to install the "Fallout1_High_Resolution_Patch_4.1.8." However, I will cover what to do if this does not work in the next section.

Additional steps for Fallout 1 & 2 on Steam

Here's how you get to the same folder but if you installed the game via Steam:

1. Within Steam, right-click Fallout 1 or Fallout 2 in your library and select Properties.
2. Select Installed Files from the menu on the left.
3. Click Browse to open the game’s install directory in File Explorer.
4. Now try to install the Fallout1_High_Resolution_Patch_4.1.8 or Fallout2_High_Resolution_Patch_4.1.8 patch.
5. You will be prompted to extract files. Select Yes and then select Yes to all.
6. If this doesn't work, follow the same guide as above and open up f1_res_Config or f2_res_config.
7. A new window will open. In here, Select "Manually Edit Config".
8. This should open in Notepad, but if prompted, select Notepad.
9. Next, you want to change SCR_WIDTH to 1920.
10. After that, change SCR_HEIGHT to 1080.
11. Make sure WINDOWED=1 and WINDOWED_FULLSCREEN=0 are like this.
12. Finally, save and close the file.

With all that done, you should be able to play Fallout 1 or Fallout 2 on your handheld gaming PC regardless of if you're playing through the Xbox App or Steam.

Fallout 3 handheld optimization

In my experience, Fallout 3 actually performs fairly well at 1080p using a mix of high and medium settings, maintaining a stable 60FPS at 17W TDP.

The performance issues I previously ran into turned out to be caused by the FPS overlay being enabled in Armory Crate, which had a significant negative impact on frame pacing and overall performance.

1. Launch Fallout 3. Note that the game opens its external launcher rather than booting straight into gameplay.
2. From here, select Config to access the video settings.
3. Change settings to your preferred options (we've included recommended settings below).
   1. Note that you must either use Desktop Mode or tap the screen to interact with the launcher. You can change to Desktop Mode by pressing the Armoury Crate button and then tapping the Control Mode button until it changes from Gamepad to Desktop.
4. Once your settings are configured, select Okay.
5. Double-press Play to launch the game.

RECOMMENDED FALLOUT 3 SETTINGS FOR HANDHELDS:

At 1080p, the launcher’s auto-detected settings were mostly usable, but I still recommend double-checking them manually. I settled on the medium preset as it still looks great to me. I also usually disable vertical sync here, although this is optional.

I initially attempted to cap the frame rate to 60FPS using Armory Crate, but this did not reliably limit FPS.

More importantly, enabling the Armory Crate FPS overlay introduced heavy performance issues, so I recommend leaving it disabled entirely when playing Fallout 3.

NOTE: Fallout 3 does not allow graphical changes once in-game, so all adjustments must be made through the launcher beforehand.

If you do run into performance drops in heavier areas, increasing TDP from a lower wattage to a higher wattage can help significantly, but it will drain the battery much faster. I found that 35W was ideal on my Xbox Ally X.

Fallout: New Vegas handheld optimization

Fallout: New Vegas behaves very similarly to Fallout 3, and once again, my initial performance issues were not entirely down to the game itself.

With the Armory Crate FPS overlay disabled, Fallout: New Vegas runs comfortably at 1080p using medium settings. With this, I am able to hold a steady 60FPS at 17W TDP and even higher than 60FPS in some instances.

Here's how to change Fallout: New Vegas settings for handhelds:

1. Launch Fallout: New Vegas, to bring up the game's external launcher.
2. Select Config to access the video settings.
3. Now it's time to change settings to your preferred options (we've included setting recommendations below).
   1. Note that you must either use Desktop Mode or tap the screen to interact with the launcher. You can change to Desktop Mode by pressing the Armoury Crate button and then tapping the Control Mode button until it changes from Gamepad to Desktop.
4. When you're done making changes, select OK.
5. Select Play to start the game.

RECOMMENDED FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS SETTINGS FOR HANDHELDS:

At 1080p, the launcher’s auto-detected settings are mostly okay, same as Fallout 3. However, they are still worth checking manually. I avoided Ultra settings and stuck to Medium. Disabling vertical sync here is optional, but like Fallout 3, I leave it off.

More importantly, enabling the FPS overlay caused noticeable performance and frame pacing issues, so it is best left disabled entirely.

NOTE: Like Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas does not allow graphical changes once in-game, so all adjustments must be done through the launcher before launching.

If performance still isn't the best here, increase your handheld's TDP. Just remember that your battery drains faster when TDP is set at a higher level.

Fallout 4 handheld optimization

Fallout 4 behaves very differently from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. The traditional launcher is disabled, and in-game Graphics menus can sometimes be missing entirely on handhelds.

If you booted up Fallout 4 and you can see the graphics settings options, then check out our guide on the best Fallout 4 settings for Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Legion Go gaming handhelds.

However, if you do not see the graphic settings, then continue reading. As a heads up, to fix this, you'll need to manually configure things via a config file. Here's what to do:

1. Before making any changes, make sure you have launched the game at least once so the necessary config files are generated on your handheld.
2. Locate the Fallout4Prefs.ini and Fallout4.ini graphics settings files for Fallout 4.
   1. Graphics settings for the Xbox App version of Fallout 4 are stored in Documents\My Games\Fallout4 MS.
   2. Graphic Settings for the Steam Version of Fallout 4 are stored in: Documents\My Games\Fallout4 MS.
3. Before editing anything, create a backup of these files and store them somewhere safe.
4. Once the backup is created, download the files from NexusMods.
5. Once downloaded, extract the contents of these new files.
6. Choose the Low options.
7. Once extracted, replace the Fallout4Prefs.ini and Fallout4.ini files that were in either Documents\My Games\Fallout4 MS or Documents\My Games\Fallout4 MS with the files from whichever preset you choose.

Note that I still experienced some hitches here and there with these low settings, likely as assets were loading in, but it was still an improvement over the base settings.

It is also important to note that the above is strictly for if you're having issues at all, and should help devices that aren't as powerful as an Xbox Ally X or other similar spec hardware.

RECOMMENDED FALLOUT 4 SETTINGS FOR HANDHELDS:

I ran into significant performance issues again whilst testing Fallout 4 that are similar to what I experienced with Fallout 3 and New Vegas. These issues were caused by the FPS indicator being enabled in Armoury Crate, so I recommend turning it off when playing Fallout 4.

Otherwise, Fallout 4 will autodetect your settings and should run fine for most users. If that doesn't seem to happen, then dive into the graphics settings and change everything to low.

Fallout 76 handheld optimization

When launching Fallout 76 for the first time, you will be prompted to log into your Bethesda account. In my case, the on-screen keyboard did not appear automatically. To fix this, do the following:

1. Press the Armory Crate button
2. Select the Keyboard option.

The on-screen keyboard does block what you are typing, so it is worth taking your time. The backspace option during this step also doesn't work, meaning any mistake requires closing the game and starting again.

Alternatively, you can connect a physical keyboard and enter your details normally, which is the smoother and less frustrating option overall.

By the way, we highly recommend the Artciety Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard for handheld users.

How to adjust Fallout 76 settings on handhelds

Fortunately, unlike Fallout 3, New Vegas and Fallout 4, you can change graphical settings in-game with Fallout 76.

1. Run Fallout 76.
2. Press the Start button whilst in-game.
3. Tap LB to move across the menu and select Settings.
4. Then go to Display.

Note that you can also access these options from the main menu before loading into the game by going to Settings and selecting Display.

By default, Fallout 76 sets most options to Ultra for me. The Xbox Ally X handles this better than expected, but I prefer to prioritise performance over visual fidelity to maximise frame rate and overall smoothness. I suggest putting the graphics down lower, but you can experiment and see what you prefer.

You should be ready to play Fallout on your handheld now

That is how you get every major Fallout title running on a Windows-based handheld, and hopefully this guide has been useful.

It is worth mentioning that while these settings worked best for me, your mileage may vary depending on the device you are using. You may be able to push higher settings or lower your TDP further, but my goal here was to prioritise battery life while still maintaining a smooth experience above 60FPS.

Each setup should give you a solid baseline, with room to tweak further if you want more performance or longer battery life.

Everything Fallout is exploding in popularity lately, and for good reason.

The new season of the Fallout TV show hit 100% on Rotten Tomatoes after a couple of dozen reviews, showing that the first season wasn't just a one-off. The Fallout TV show is arguably the best ever video game adaptation for TV. Instead of replacing the original Fallout video game lore, the TV show intersects with it, delivering new canonical stories for fans of the games, while offering something completely new for non-gamers.

It's a rare event in history that a TV show can appeal to both gamers and non-gamers alike, and games like Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Fallout Shelter on mobile have all seen huge boosts in users as a result of the show.

To celebrate, we decided to put together a quick quiz to test your general Fallout lore knowledge. This is focused primarily on the games, but if this one is too easy... let us know, and we'll loop back around with a truly hard mode version next time.

Every single Fallout game is available now on Xbox Game Pass.

Even more Fallout is yet to come

Fallout as a franchise is going from strength to strength, although it could be argued Xbox hasn't done enough with it since the acquisition. Bethesda has been very preoccupied with Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6, but studio lead Todd Howard recently suggested that most of its future resources are heading straight to the wasteland.

Fallout 4 just got an Xbox Play Anywhere edition for Xbox PC, Xbox Ally, and Xbox Series X|S. Fallout 76 just got a new season, complete with recent updates that lets you play as a ghoul.

And Fallout Shelter is also getting regular new content for the first time in years as well. There are strong and compelling rumors that Fallout 3 could also be getting an Oblivion-style remake as well, and perhaps even Fallout New Vegas if we're lucky too.

How well did you do in the quiz? Should we have made it harder? Hit the comments, let us know!

This week saw the arrival of Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, a new Fallout 4 re-release from developer Bethesda Game Studios across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation that bundles together the base game, all of the RPG's DLC, and a curated collection of 150 of its community-made, developer- reviewed Creations that add weapons, armors, quests, and more.

Like 2021's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition before it, this edition of Fallout 4 came out exactly one decade after the original 2015 launch, and was released in celebration of the game's 10-year anniversary. What was supposed to be a slam dunk with this new version of the game, though, has just been, well...slammed.

Since the launch of the Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition on Monday, Fallout 4 has been getting flooded with negative user reviews on Steam, with only 44% of its 4,225 recent reviews (at the time of writing) positive. The rest give Bethesda's open-world RPG a glaring crimson thumbs down — and it doesn't take much reading to figure out why.

Indeed, a quick perusal of the latest Fallout 4 Steam reviews highlight the community's three major problems with the Anniversary Edition: it doesn't include any new content that wasn't already available, it's caused some frustrating performance problems that didn't exist before, and it's forced a game update for everyone that breaks mods.

"Modders built the soul of this game. Bethesda keeps trying to sell it back to us. Fallout 4 was once a sandbox for creativity. Now it’s a treadmill for monetization," writes one frustrated player. "Bethesda’s latest update cycle feels less like support and more like sabotage—breaking mods, forcing updates, and re-selling the same game with a fresh coat of monetized paint."

"Please stop updating games that are 10 years old," grumbled another. "If you are this hard up for cash why not actually create some new content? I for one would love to see another decent DLC. This update is a pathetic joke."

In fairness, not everyone uses mods, so you can make the argument that Bethesda shouldn't avoid updating Fallout 4 just because a portion of its players (albeit a large one) plays with them. But since the Anniversary Edition doesn't include any content that wasn't already available through DLC purchases, the Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition, and/or the Creations Bundle, and doesn't offer it at a lower price, it's hard not to feel like its release was rather pointless.

There have also been widespread reports of bugs and performance issues on PC and gaming handhelds since the update that are affecting vanilla players that don't use any mods at all. One such player that posted a negative review was particularly unlucky, as their game saves were corrupted by the patch.

"The 10th anniversary edition update nonsense broke my old saves. No mods, just vanilla Fallout 4," they explained. "I didn't even purchase the crappy Anniversary Edition, but they still force it on you, just not the content. IT JUST WORKS. Do NOT recommend."

Reviews like the above — as well as harshly blunt ones like "Greed, greed never changes..." and "Bethesda has no fans; it has victims" — highlight that overall, the Fallout community seems to view the Anniversary Edition release as a superfluous, unnecessary update that only serves to break mods, frustrated players with technical issues, and make the developer more money.

Celebrating Fallout 4's anniversary is great and all, but it's hard not to agree with that sentiment. There's nothing in the Anniversary Edition that hasn't been available for Fallout 4 for years now, so what's the point of it? It would be one thing if all the content included was more affordable bundled in the new edition than it would be if you bought it standalone, but it's not. Either way, it adds up to $60.

There's a silver lining in that the update seems to be far more stable for players on Xbox and PlayStation, but ultimately, regardless of platform, there's not really a reason for the update to exist in the first place. Thus, it's frustrating that it came along, broke mod setups, and introduced performance problems. Hopefully affected mods get updated quickly and Bethesda addresses texture bugs and the like with patches soon.

Something worth noting is that even if you don't own any part of Fallout 4 already, the Anniversary Edition isn't worth it — at least on PC. That's because there are currently deals on the $39.99 Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition and the $19.99 Fallout 4 Creations Bundle that bring the former down to $11.19 at Loaded and the latter to $17.79 at Loaded, respectively.

If you get both, you get all the content the Anniversary Edition gives you but only for $28.98, which is far cheaper than the Anniversary Edition's $59.99 MSRP and less expensive than Loaded's $52.79 deal on it, too.

Developer Bethesda Game Studios celebrated the 10-year anniversary of one of its biggest and most beloved RPGs, Skyrim, in 2021 with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition — a version of the game that included all its DLC as well as hundreds of curated community-made Creation Club add-ons. Now, four years later, it's done the same with its popular 2015 shooter RPG Fallout 4.

A full decade after Fallout 4's initial release, Bethesda has released Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. First revealed late last month on Fallout Day, this $59.99 version of the title is similar to the aforementioned Skyrim re-release in that it includes all of Fallout 4's DLC as well as over 150 pieces of Creation Club content including quests, weapons, armors, and more.

There's also an Anniversary Edition Upgrade available for those that already own Fallout 4, and want to expand their copy of the RPG with its expansions and a suite of player-made, developer-curated mods from the Creation Club.

However, the Anniversary Edition — its upgrade, in particular — is a bit confusing at a glance, and if existing Fallout 4 owners aren't careful, they might accidentally purchase content they already have by buying it. If that's you, though, don't worry; I've explained everything you need to know below, including all of the content it features, whether or not you should get it based on what parts of Fallout 4 you currently own, and what you should buy instead if you want all of its content without overspending.

Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition Upgrade, explained

Ultimately, whether or not you should buy the Anniversary Edition Upgrade is dependent on what parts of Fallout 4 you have already. The upgrade is $39.99 — though thanks to a deal, it's just $34.29 at Loaded (CDKeys) for the Steam version of Fallout 4 — and includes all six of the game's expansions as well as 150 Creations, but not the base game as the full Anniversary Edition does.

Therefore, if you own the base $19.99 version of Fallout 4, getting the Anniversary Edition Upgrade is a good idea, as it will give you everything you don't yet own. Note that on PC, this basic edition is just $5.79 with this discount, so you can save big by buying it and then the upgrade instead of buying the full $59.99 Anniversary Edition if you don't already own the game.

However, if you have the $39.99 Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition that includes all the DLC, you should not get the Anniversary Edition Upgrade, as you'll be unnecessarily buying all the expansions if you do. Sadly, the upgrade's price doesn't get reduced if you already have Fallout 4's DLC, so it's entirely possible to accidentally spend $20 you don't have to here.

Instead, Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition owners should buy the $19.99 Fallout 4 Creations Bundle that only includes the suite of 150 Creation Club items. By doing so, you'll get the content from the Anniversary Edition that you don't have, without wasting money on DLCs you already own. Notably, it's also on sale for $17.79 at Loaded, so if you play on Steam, take advantage of that deal to save a few dollars.

FAQ

It'll soon be time to explore the Wasteland yet again. During Fallout Day 2025, Bethesda Game Studios shared the news that Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition is on the way, and is slated to launch across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation on Nov. 10, 2025, a decade after the game's original release.

This new version of the game naturally includes all the DLC and expansions that were released years ago, but also over 150 pieces of Creation Club content and, for the first time, a Creations menu like in Bethesda's Starfield and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This is meant to make it easier for players to find and install new community-crafted content.

While 2025 brings this re-release package to existing platforms, it's also headed to an entirely-new console.

Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, meaning players with Nintendo's latest console will be able to take their adventures on the go. There is no exact release date at this time, but Bethesda says this version will launch at some point in 2026.

This marks the second Bethesda Softworks-published game to be slated for arrival on Nintendo Switch 2, with MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle also planned for a 2026 launch on Nintendo's platform.

I'm curious if we'll see any others in the future. Another obvious choice would be id Software's DOOM: The Dark Ages, but we'll have to wait and see.

The developers recently optimized the game so that it runs better on gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck and Xbox Ally, so I have faith the team could get it working in decent shape on Nintendo Switch 2 as well.

Fallout is capping off 2025 in a big way

Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition may be launching next month, but it's hardly the only big Fallout news of the year.

The Fallout TV series is set to return with a December 17 premiere on Prime Video, and new episodes launching weekly. Season 2 has Lucy and The Ghoul drawn into the city of New Vegas, while clips from the teaser trailer indicate we'll see Caesar's Legion, Mr. House, and of course, a Deathclaw.

The first season was a smash hit, so much so that it rapidly became one of Amazon's biggest-ever series and was renewed for a third season well in advance of the second season's premiere.

For anyone that wants more to play, The Ghoul isn't bound to the TV series and will be arriving in Fallout 76 with the upcoming Burning Springs expansion in December. Actor Walton Goggins is reprising his role, so you can look forward to hearing the same seasoned tones when the expansion arrives.

This expansion has The Ghoul handing out bounty targets, with players able to complete contracts and turn them in for some hard-earned Caps.

FAQ

What you need to know

• Shattered Space is a DLC for Bethesda's space exploration RPG Starfield. Having first been announced when Starfield released, Shattered Space finally launched on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC earlier this week.
• However, all signs indicate Shattered Space hasn't generated significant player interest, with Starfield's concurrent player count only rising slightly in the wake of its release.
• Specifically, since the expansion launched, Starfield has been averaging 14-16,000 concurrent players on Steam — far fewer than other recent AAA games and their DLCs like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077. It's likely doing better on Xbox and the Microsoft Store (it's on Game Pass, but Shattered Space isn't), though it still isn't in the top 25 most-played Xbox games.
• This just barely pushes the game past 2015's Fallout 4 — Bethesda's previous single player RPG. At the moment, it has about 13-15,000 Steam players at any given time.

The Shattered Space DLC is the biggest addition Bethesda's made to its 2023 space exploration RPG Starfield yet, having released earlier this week on September 30 on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC. However, despite Bethesda's efforts to hype up the expansion and market it as a deep, enticing roleplaying experience, the game's player count suggests it's struggling to drive fans to actually check it out.

At the time of writing, SteamDB data indicates only 14-16,000 Steam users are playing Starfield at any given time, with the concurrent player count after Shattered Space's launch peaking at 21,792 on Monday night. This puts the game just slightly ahead of 2015's Fallout 4 — a game that's nine years old — which is averaging 13-15,000 players right now and had a recent spike up to 20,326 on Sunday evening. And yes, Fallout 4 benefited hugely from this year's wildly successful Fallout TV show, but even so, Starfield should be doing far better than it is.

• DEAL: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 3-month pre-paid cards are just $29.49 at CDKeys, giving you three months for the price of two even after the recent price increase to $19.99/month

It does seem to be faring a bit better on Xbox and the Microsoft Store — notably, Starfield is on Xbox Game Pass, even though Shattered Space itself is not — though it's still not in the top 25 most-played Xbox games. According to Microsoft's official list, it falls just short in 26th place, with Fallout 4 at the 35th position.

While I never expected the arrival of this story expansion to rival the numbers of Starfield's full launch last year, I certainly expected more for a game that peaked at 330,723 players on Steam at release. And compared to other recent AAA titles like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 that skyrocketed up to 781,261 and 274,526 concurrent players when their respective DLCs came out, it's clear that Shattered Space has failed to generate strong player interest.

The expansion's underwhelming performance comes as its reviews plummet to "Mostly Negative" on Steam, with only 35% of them giving it a Positive rating. By and large, most players cite a short runtime and an overall lack of content as the DLC's biggest issues, expressing disappointment in what it brought to the game. Going into Shattered Space's release, expectations were fairly high, as Bethesda advertised it as a meatier, more bespoke release compared to normal Starfield and its huge number of large, but arguably shallow worlds that were scarcely home to handcrafted locations.

I'm sure the DLC's poor reception hasn't done its attachment rate any favors, especially since it has an MSRP of $29.99 — nearly half of Starfield's full price (it's discounted to $26.79 on CDKeys, notably). Indeed, $30 for an expansion that's got just 5-15 hours of content is a tough ask when the similarly priced Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty deliver double or triple that, along with significant changes, additions, and improvements to their base games.

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At the end of the day, I'd argue Bethesda has made the right call opting to build deeper, more handcrafted Starfield experiences, but it needs to do more — deliver releases akin to Fallout 4's excellent Far Harbor DLC, instead of underwhelming ones that leave players wanting. We know there's at least one other expansion coming, so hopefully that one is far more substantial.

Beyond that, one has to wonder how long Xbox and Bethesda will continue investing in future Starfield releases with The Elder Scrolls 6 and the far-off Fallout 5 on the horizon, especially if they perform like Shattered Space has. I expect we might get more DLC-style updates if Starfield's next expansion is far more successful, but if it's not? It may be time for the developers to move on.

What you need to know

• Team FOLON and GOG have announced that Fallout London, a Fallout 4 conversion mod four years in the making has finally launched on GOG.com.
• Fallout London completely revamps the base game of Fallout 4 and all its DLC into an entirely new game set in a post-apocalyptic London with new quests, weapons, gameplay mechanics, and more.
• This mod is only available for the PC (Steam) version for Fallout 4.

For many years Fallout fans have dreamed of the possibility of a new Fallout game set in a country outside of America to see how the rest of the world fared in the franchise's post-apocalyptic setting. Well, British Fallout fans are about to have their fantasies come true thanks to the newly released, Fallout London.

Fallout London is a Fallout 4 conversion mod made by a team of passionate fans called Team FOLON in collaboration with GOG. After five long years of development, Team FOLON has announced that they have finally finished Fallout London and launched it for free on Gog.com.

For those wondering what Fallout London works is that it takes the base game of Fallout 4 and all its DLC content, and completely transforms them into an entirely new game. In this overhauled game, Fallout London takes in the ruined city of London, Britain where players will experience a new story set 160 after nuclear war ravaged the Earth and forty years before the events of Fallout 3.

This mod contains over 90 hours of new extensive gameplay content and quality-of-life improvements to the original Fallout 4's systems. These features include:

• An epic main questline with over 200 Quests with multiple story paths.
• An improved Dialogue System where player-choices will have monumental impact on the story's direction.
• Twenty Factions vying for control over London.
• Seven new companions to join your party.
• A massive open-world London with fifteen detailed Boroughs to explore.
• A new original soundtrack that brings the wastelands of London to life.
• Voice-acting for all the new major characters, gangs, and factions.
• Tons of new weapons, items collectibles, clothing, and more to collect.
• New crafting recipes.
• Improved dynamic character animations.
• Seven unique settlements to rebuild.

However, there are some things you need to be aware of with this mod. It's only available for the PC version of Fallout 4 on Steam, and not any of the console versions. Also, this mod has unique PC spec requirements for your rig to meet to run the mod:

Aside from that, all you need to do is follow the mod's installation instructions and you're good to go.

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Take a down the London Underground to explore a post-apocalyptic Britain

The Fallout has been enjoying a resurgence in popularity in recent months with a massive rise in concurrent players on all Fallout games thanks to the success of the Fallout TV series, which has been so well-received that it's now being nominated for 16 Emmy Awards. Our own Samuel Tolbert also praised it highly when he reviewed the first season of the Fallout TV Show, stating that, and I quote:

This rejuvenation in the Fallout brand has helped it reassert its place as one of Bethesda's most iconic Xbox and PC franchises. While Fallout fans will have to wait patiently before Fallout 5 sees the light of day, at least massive fan projects like Fallout London, ongoing updates for Fallout 76 (including an upcoming feature that will let players play as Ghouls), and a renewed second season of the Fallout TV Show will keep them entertained until for many years to come.

What you need to know

• Analytics firm Circana has published details on the best-selling games and hardware of April 2024 in the U.S.
• PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade was the best-selling game of the month, while six Xbox games were in the top 20 best-sellers, including Fallout 4 and Sea of Thieves.
• Hardware spending is down 43% overall, with PlayStation 5 being the best-selling console for the month. 

Six of the 20 best-selling games of April 2024 in the U.S. were Xbox titles.

That's according to Circana executive director and advisor Mat Piscatella, who shared the latest sales data for the U.S. gaming industry on Wednedsay. For the month of April, Shift Up's PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade topped the charts, followed quickly by February's top-seller Helldivers 2 and last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. 

Other games helping to round out the top 20 include Grounded, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Minecraft, and Sea of Thieves, all titles that (like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3) fall under the Xbox first-party portfolio. Outside of the surge of Xbox games, Dragon's Dogma 2, which was the best-seller for March 2024, also stayed in the top 20.

Overall, the gaming industry saw a 3% drop year-over-year, with increases in mobile spending unable to offset a colossal 43% drop in gaming hardware. The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console of the month, with Xbox Series consoles and Nintendo Switch second place in dollar sales and units sold, respectively. All three were down a minimum of 26% year-over-year, per Piscatella, with Nintendo Switch hardware down 69%.

You can see the best-selling games of the month (and the year so far) below. Bear in mind that like always, some companies don't share digital data, including Nintendo, while others like Larian Studios don't share any data at all. 

April 2024 Circana: Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.

1. Stellar Blade

2. Helldivers 2

3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)

4. Sea of Thieves 

5. Fallout 4

6. MLB The Show 24**

7. Dragon's Dogma 2

8. Fallout 76

9. Hogwarts Legacy

10. EA Sports FC 24

11. Rise of the Ronin

12. Grounded

13. Minecraft

14. Madden NFL 24

15. Princess Peach Showtime!*

16. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

17. Tekken 8

18. Mario Kart 8*

19. Elden Ring

20. Marvel's Spider-Man 2

*Denotes no digital sales data
**Denotes no digital sales data on Xbox or Nintendo Switch

April 2024 Circana: Here are the best-selling games of the year so far

1. Helldivers 2

2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)

3. Dragon's Dogma 2

4. MLB The Show 24**

5. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

6. Tekken 8

7. Madden NFL 24

8. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

9. Hogwarts Legacy

10. Persona 3 Reload

11. EA Sports FC 24

12. NBA 2K24*

13. Marvel's Spider-Man 2

14. Rise of the Ronin

15. Skull and Bones

16. Stellar Blade

17. Minecraft

18. Sea of Thieves

19. Elden Ring

20. Super Mario Bros. Wonder*

Analysis: Microsoft's multiplatform approach pays off for live service games

It's clear here that Microsoft's approach to porting some Xbox games to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch hardware is paying off. Specifically, choosing to move over co-op focused or live-service games like Grounded and Sea of Thieves is paying off extremely well, with both games charting nicely in April. 

Single-player games (especially smaller ones) might not really make sense to port moving forward after Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush didn't really make an impact, but I absolutely see Microsoft bringing over more multiplayer games in the future. 

It's also excellent to see the Fallout resurgence continuing, which is in no small part thanks to the absolutely excellent Fallout TV series that launched on Prime Video back in April. This strong performance raises serious questions about the need for studio closures under the Bethesda Softworks wing of Xbox, but at the very least, Bethesda Game Studios is on fire in the best possible way right now. 

Bethesda's open world RPGs have a reputation for being pretty buggy, and while I'd say vanilla Fallout 4 is considerably more stable than the likes of Skyrim, Fallout 3, or Fallout: New Vegas, it still has its fair share of glitches that range from "silly nonsense" to "annoying af." The one I'm about to warn you about in this article, though, is a bit of both.

The specific bug I'm referring to is the "Fallout 4 car death glitch," which has a small chance of happening whenever you touch one of the many pre-War vehicles scattered across the roads of the Commonwealth. By just bumping into one of these by walking or sprinting, a bizarre physics interaction that instantly kills your character can occur, causing you to keel over in a death ragdoll on the spot.

Bethesda has never fixed this glitch, so it's been a recurring — albeit fairly rare — problem for players since Fallout 4's original 2015 release. As a result, it's been cemented in history as one of the game's most infamous bugs, and it's one you should be aware of if you're one of the many people playing Fallout 4 for the first time after watching Amazon's critically acclaimed Fallout TV show. Here are some hilarious examples of it happening:

Uh uh...I think I got ran over by a car from r/fo4

I got killed by a parked car 💀 from r/fo4

Love how fallout hasn’t changed. from r/fo4

My new survival playtrough, death by high level car in the first hour. This is fun. from r/fo4

As funny as the car death glitch is, it's definitely something that Bethesda should have fixed by now. It may be little more than a chuckle-worthy inconvenience in regular playthroughs, but I'd probably have to resist the urge to smash my PC with a Super Sledge if it happened to me during a Survival Mode run that only lets you save your game when you sleep in a bed. Depending on where you are and what quests you're doing, you may not be able to get back to a friendly settlement for hours.

Therefore, to minimize the chances of this bug happening, most Fallout players have adopted a simple philosophy: don't touch the cars.

"Don't touch the cars, people. We've been over this," wrote u/elchsaaft in reply to a clip of the glitch posted yesterday. "Avoid cars like a plague!" added u/iCake1989. u/jkaoz, though, had the best comment: "Not a single car in this game has worked for 200 years, and yet car accidents are still the leading cause of death."

Steering clear of the abandoned vehicles is pretty much the only thing you can do to save yourself from these spontaneous "car accidents," though if you're playing on Steam or GOG and willing to do a little modding, you can install the Car Physics Death Bug Fix by opt33 on Nexus Mods. It doesn't patch the glitch out, though it does reduce the damage it causes to easily survivable levels. It doesn't affect how much the cars hurt when they explode from gunfire, though, so keep that in mind. 

Fallout 4 is benefitting greatly from the ongoing Fallout player count resurgence, as it's one of the best-selling games right now. It's arguably one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to play if you're checking out the legendary RPG series for the first time, and one of the best titles available on Xbox Game Pass.

What you need to know

• One of the Fallout 4 mods often considered "essential" for the game is the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch, or UFO4P. The mod fixes countless bugs with the vanilla game and is available on both Xbox and PC.
• Following the release of Fallout 4's next-gen update, though, several PC players have reported (one with video evidence) that UFO4P is causing hitching and stuttering issues in their game. One player on Xbox has reported the issue as well.
• A UFO4P team member has pointed to a recent Digital Foundry analysis of vanilla Fallout 4 on console that shows the base game has stuttering issues after the next-gen patch, but many players say the stuttering only occurs in their game when UFO4P is installed.
• I loaded Fallout 4 up with nothing but UFO4P installed to test it myself, and found there were fairly consistent, albeit rare, stutters in denser parts of Fallout 4's map like Lexington and the downtown Boston areas that went away when I disabled it. However, your mileage may vary.

Since its release in 2016, one of the most popular mods for Bethesda's post-apocalyptic 2015 RPG Fallout 4 has been the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch, or UFO4P. Frequently updated with countless fixes for the game's various bugs and glitches, it's widely considered to be one of the most essential mods for the game ever developed. At the time of writing, it's the fourth most popular mod of all time on the Fallout 4 Nexus Mods hub with over 8 million downloads, and it's also the second most downloaded Fallout 4 mod on Xbox. Without a doubt, it's one of the best Fallout 4 Xbox mods and best Fallout 4 mods on PC.

UFO4P is a staple in many players' load orders, including fans who prefer a vanilla experience, and several mods depend on it to function — after all, extensive bug fixes benefit everyone and help make Fallout 4 as stable of a foundation for mods to add onto as it can possibly be. However, following the release of the controversial Fallout 4 next-gen update (and a follow-up patch for it), UFO4P may be causing stutters and framerate drops for players that have it installed.

I first caught wind of this when browsing the Fallout modding subreddit and noticing a few recent trending posts about these issues (such as this one from a few days ago and another from May 14), in which several players have reported experiencing them on PC until disabling UFO4P. User u/flatfeet recorded video evidence of this (edited and unedited) that shows some specific spots in Sanctuary where the stutters occur, and said in a now-deleted exchange in the UFO4P comments (it begins at the bottom of page four) that they've "done many tests" with "just this mod." In busier areas of Fallout 4's Commonwealth, they also said that the stutters happen "walking 30 seconds in any direction" and that they "usually last two or three times longer" than the ones in their videos.

Arthmoor — member of the UFO4P team and the uploader of the mod itself — directed u/flatfleet and others to a recent Digital Foundry analysis of vanilla Fallout 4 posted after the "Next-Gen Update 2" patch that shows the game has some hitching and stuttering issues on Xbox Series X|S and PS5, saying that what's shown "likely applies equally to PC as well" and that "any issues with variance are NOT caused by the UFO4P" and are instead "inherent to the NG update."

However, many players still maintain that the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch is the source of the stuttering problems on PC, as they say they experience consistent hitching problems with it enabled and smooth performance whenever it's uninstalled. Reportedly, further comments about the issue on the UFO4P page were removed; the comments were then locked, with Arthmoor stating that "our team needs a break from all the BS associated with bad information about the patch and it's interaction with the NG Update."

For what it's worth, I loaded up a vanilla Fallout 4 save with nothing other than the UFO4P mod installed to run a few quick tests, and found that I did come across a handful of fairly consistent hitches in denser parts of the map like Lexington and the downtown Boston area. These went away completely when I disabled the mod, so there definitely seems to be something specific to UFO4P going on here. Notably, the stutters I encountered were rare and short, but your mileage may vary — it wouldn't surprise me if the problem is influenced by the combination of hardware in your system, especially since game performance issues tend to have inconsistent severity from player to player in general. I have an i5-12600K rig with an RTX 3070 and a Samsung 980 PRO SSD, while u/flatfleet (who seems to have a worse experience) said they play on a machine with an i9-13900K, an RTX 4090, and a Samsung 990 PRO SSD.

If you've noticed stuttering issues in Fallout 4 on PC recently and have UFO4P installed, try disabling it and seeing if that fixes your problem. You may want to disable it regardless until this situation gets figured out, though it's a great mod and one I'd keep installed if you aren't running into drastic hitching issues with it in your load order (disabling a mod this big mid-playthrough is risky, so if you aren't far along in one, you may want to start over). Note that I've only seen one report of the Xbox version of UFO4P causing stutters, so the problem may be less prevalent on console.

Some sort of problematic interaction between UFO4P and the Fallout 4 next-gen update is one of several reasons for players to be annoyed with the latter, with some others being its terrible ultrawide support and the fact it still hasn't fixed crashes for NVIDIA RTX GPU users caused by the Weapon Debris setting (modders took care of that, thankfully). At least you can downgrade Fallout 4 to roll the update back, and reportedly the version of UFO4P under "Old Files" on its files page does work with the pre-NG update Steam version of the game even though it's "for use on GOG versions of Fallout 4" that haven't gotten the new patches yet. It "will be removed once that version has been updated," however, as the UFO4P team doesn't keep older releases of the mod available to download.

Fallout 4 itself is benefitting greatly from the ongoing Fallout player count resurgence, as it's one of the best-selling games right now thanks to all the fanfare brought about by the excellent Fallout TV show. It's arguably one of the best Fallout games to play if you're checking out the legendary RPG series for the first time, and one of the best titles available on Xbox Game Pass.

What you need to know

• Fallout 4, the award-winning post-apocalyptic RPG created by Bethesda, has received a new patch.
• The new update adds options for 30/40/60 FPS modes.
• It also fixes an issue created by the original next-gen patch.

After the launch of the TV show, Fallout is the craze. Millions around the world are playing Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 76, and more. For those unfamiliar, Fallout is an RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world. The world is uniquely threaded with advanced technology mixed with a 1950s aesthetic. Created by Bethesda, the award-winning studio behind games like The Elder Scrolls and Starfield, they recently released a patch that found mixed results amongst its users.

The first patch launched across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation 5. While it did address some issues related to gameplay, the primary focus of the update was on the introduction of new performance and non-performance modes. Unfortunately, the non-performance mode on Xbox initially did not function as intended and didn't offer any distinctive features compared to the performance mode. However, the latest update seems to have resolved these issues, making the non-performance mode a viable option for players seeking a different gaming experience.

A Reddit user named JamesIV4 took to the platform with a rather interesting set of screenshots depicting the difference before and after the recent update. In them, he provided convenient sliders that quickly demonstrated the difference. It looks entirely different!

The world in Fallout 4 has been rightfully recreated with a massively increased draw distance. The level of detail is now on par with Ultra settings on PC. More trees, more buildings, and more intricate details are part of the landscape, both far and near.

The difference is staggering, almost draw-dropping. It amazes me that the initial version launched on Xbox consoles. Clearly, the original intent of the performance mode toggle didn't work at all, so how did it pass inspection? Either way, I'm glad it is working now, and it has added options as well!

As reported by Alexander Cope, the update has brought in new options, including 30/40/60 FPS, which can be used with either performance or non-performance mode settings. While this information is not official, the YouTube channel Fuzion Xbox Testing has already conducted a benchmark of the latest update. They reported a near-consistent 60 FPS throughout their gameplay in non-performance mode, with a target of 60 FPS.

One point of annoyance, users are still reporting an issue with V.A.T.S. As show here, by bjbgamer on Reddit, V.A.T.S. targets enemies through walls. At times, it'll drop to 0% when enemies are in plain sight. All in all, the system is completely broken and needs another patch to amend the issue.

Now that it's fixed, are you eager to jump back into the world of Fallout 4? Maybe you already are; if so, are you enjoying the latest fixes? Check out some of the best Xbox mods while you're at it. Let us know below or somewhere on social media what you like or what you wish was added! As always, happy gaming.

What you need to know

• A new update has gone live for Bethesda's critically acclaimed RPG, Fallout 4, across all platforms.
• This update contains new options to adjust the game's framerates, Dolby Vision HDR, bug fixes, and more.
• This update is a follow-up to the major next-gen update Fallout 4 received for all platforms on April 25, 2024.
• Bethesda's Fallout franchise has enjoyed a huge resurgence in popularity thanks to the Fallout TV series which debuted on Amazon on April 10, 2024.

Today on May 13, 2024, Bethesda Softworks has released a new patch for Fallout 4. It's a relatively small update about 654MB big and it contains various new options for players to adjust the game's framerate performances and fully-functional HDR.

Shared by @N3WiS on Twitter (X) and verified by us, they report that this patch will allow players to set Fallout 4's framerate cap to 30FPS, 40FPS, or 60FPS or toggle between automatically prioritizing visuals or framerate. However, note that these options can be only set while on the game's Main Menu at the title screen, not during gameplay.

In addition, this game now features Dolby Vision HDR support.

The journalist website, MP1ST also reports that this contains bug fixes and gameplay adjustments. So far the confirmed changes are HDR is now fully functional, makeshift weapons without exclamation marks, and many mods on the PC are now working again after they were broken by the next-gen update (via commenters on Steam).

There are still plenty of changes to discover within this patch but we will have to wait for Bethesda to release the official changelog so we can find what they are. We will update this post accordingly once they do.

Play Fallout 4 with modern framerate standards thanks to the new patch

There has never been a better time to be a Fallout fan than right now as the series is currently experiencing a renaissance thanks to the successful Fallout TV Show. 

While Fallout 4 may not be as regarded as its predecessors Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, it is still regarded as a beloved title in the Fallout series for its huge amounts of content, a large world rife with secrets to uncover, and fun gameplay with plenty of weapons to loot and enemies to gun down.

While this update for Fallout 4's graphical may be small, it contains big graphical improvements that allow one of the best PC games and best Xbox games of the last console generation to be played with higher framerates for a smoother and more fun experience.

What you need to know

• Fallout 4's long-awaited next-gen update came out last week, bringing performance and quality mode options as well as performance improvements to consoles and ultrawide support to PC, along with new free Creation Club content.
• However, the update has proven to be quite controversial on PC in particular, as its ultrawide support horribly stretches out Fallout 4's UI and doesn't really change much else. It's also broken the community-made Fallout 4 Script Extender tool and all the mods that rely on it.
• Thanks to a new mod called the Fallout 4 Downgrader, though, you can now easily and quickly roll back the update on Steam. There's also a mod that lets you trick Steam into thinking you got it already so you don't have to worry about accidentally updating Fallout 4 again.
• You'll find links to where you can download both mods below, along with some additional information about them and how they work.

The long-awaited next-gen patch for Fallout 4 released last week, and thanks to all the buzz from Amazon's critically acclaimed Fallout TV show, there was a ton of hype for it. However, once the update actually went live, it quickly became apparent that it was, well...not great, to say the least. Despite lacking graphical improvements of any kind, the patch was a sizable ~14GB, and largely didn't fix any of Fallout 4's worst bugs and limitations. It also added 21:9 and 32:9 "ultrawide support" so bad it made Windows Central's ultrawide gang representative — yours truly — shed some tears (at least you can fix it).

It wasn't all bad, as console players got a few nice performance enhancements and options for performance and quality modes, and everyone received some free Creation Club add-ons like an Enclave-focused questline and a collection of junk-themed weaponry. Still, the update feels especially pointless on PC since it broke the Fallout 4 Script Extender (F4SE) — a program that tons of popular community-made mods rely on to function properly. Ironically, some of those mods, such as the Weapon Debris Crash Fix, address Fallout 4 bugs that Bethesda still hasn't squashed officially after the update. The F4SE dev is working hard to make a new version, but says they "cannot currently offer a timeline for its availability."

Naturally, many players have been trying to roll back the patch for their game so they can play with F4SE and their mods. This is very easy to do for the GOG version of the game since rollbacks are a built-in feature of its "Galaxy" client, but the process is a huge headache on Steam since it forces you to open its hidden console and manually enter download codes for the previous version of Fallout 4 and its DLCs. Thanks to the hard work of the game's modding community, though, there's now a free program that takes care of the process for you: the Fallout 4 Downgrader by zerratar on Nexus Mods.

Similar to the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Downgrade Patcher that came out after Bethesda released the Skyrim Anniversary Edition, this tool will hook into Steam and download the last version of the game that was available before the next-gen patch to a folder. You can then paste the files into your Fallout 4 root directory, effectively overwriting the updated version of the game with the previous one and making it work with F4SE and the mods that depend on it.

One notable requirement of the program that'll likely give you pause is the fact it asks for your Steam login info, as Steam's servers won't be able to confirm you actually own Fallout 4 and its add-ons otherwise. Luckily, it also comes with an option to log in with a QR code you can scan with the official Steam app on mobile devices, so you don't have to enter in your data if you'd rather not. For what it's worth, the author says your information "will not be used for any other purpose than logging in to Steam when downloading depots" — and for those that don't feel comfortable using the tool, they've kindly provided a thorough explanation on downpatching Fallout 4 yourself on the mod's description page.

Haven't updated Fallout 4 yet, but want to make sure you don't accidentally do so in the future? First, right-click the game in your Steam Library and select Properties > Updates > "Only update this game when I launch it" to make sure it doesn't auto-update before the next step. Then, you can download the STEAM - Skip Next-Gen Update mod from bilago to get a file tweak that tricks Steam into thinking you've already patched Fallout 4, getting rid of the option altogether (the author explains how to make a backup of the original file so you can get the update later if you want to).

Both mods came out just a few days ago, yet nearly have 20,000 downloads apiece already, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how a large portion of the Fallout community on PC feels about the next-gen update. I figured the disdain for it would lead to the rapid development of tools like these ones, and sure enough, here they are. Make sure you read their descriptions carefully for installation instructions.

One mod project in particular that's been disrupted quite a bit by the update is Fallout London, a colossal game-sized project that's been in development since 2019. The next-gen patch brought many unintended consequences for Fallout London that've led to the mod's developer, Team FOLON, delaying its release to fix all the new issues and incompatibilities the update caused. Originally, it would have been available on April 23.

Despite the controversy surrounding the next-gen update, Fallout 4 itself is still a great game, and one of the best PC games as well as one of the best Xbox games to play if you're looking to get into Bethesda's post-apocalyptic RPG series. Though its main story and roleplaying systems disappoint compared to older releases like Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, it's got a huge content-rich map to explore, tons of enjoyable gameplay and combat variety, and strong worldbuilding.

What you need to know

• Interest in the Fallout franchise is at an all-time high following the release of the Fallout TV show.
• Bethesda has not released a new Fallout game in over five years, and there isn't one on the horizon.
• A creator made a Fallout-inspired RPG that lives entirely within a Microsoft Excel document.

The Fallout TV series has made fans have to check their calendars, and not just to see if canon lines up. In the aftermath of the popular television show's first season, Fallout titles sprinkle the top-seller charts. The nine-year-old Fallout 4 reached 160,000 concurrent players on Steam, and Fallout 76 hit a new all-time high concurrent player count on Steam. With Fallout fervor being higher than any time in recent memory, one person legend decided to step up in place of Bethesda.

It's been over five years since we saw a new Fallout game. That's far too long, said YouTuber Dynamic Pear. The creator decided to take things into their own hands and make a Fallout-inspired RPG game entirely within Microsoft Excel.

The game isn't exactly a Fallout 3 remaster or a new AAA title, but it's certainly entertaining. Dynamic Pearl's creation includes a map you can navigate using Excel. Despite living with a piece of spreadsheet software, the game includes quests, battling, and skilling.

"Battling is the meat and bones of this game and involves D&D style mechanics of initiative, AC, range, and movement," said Dynamic Pearl. "Battling is the only way to level up your character, get more skills and fight harder and progressively scale enemies."

The game is available now and can be downloaded through a link provided by Dynamic Pear.

We need more Fallout

The Fallout franchise has had a passionate fanbase for years, but that base is now larger than ever due to the popularity of the TV show. Bethesda failed to capitalize on this fact. There hasn't been a new Fallout game in over five years, and there aren't any new Fallout titles on the horizon. There are some rumors of a Fallout 3 remaster, but Bethesda has made it clear that it won't work on a new Fallout game until after Elder Scrolls 6 ships.

Our Managing Editor Richard Devine explained the mistakes of Bethesda well:

"I think Xbox, now the Overseer of the Fallout universe, and indeed Bethesda, has been a little short-sighted here. It never took a genius to see that the show would have some kind of impact on the games, after all, we've already seen it happen with The Last of Us. Fallout is bigger than that, it has a wider fan base and a much bigger world to explore. The show first became a reality back in 2020, four years ago. 

In those years since, how did nobody think about commissioning a new game, a remake, or another New Vegas style spinoff? Fallout 76 being a live service game at least gives it some legs to keep going, but even in the world of making video games, four years is a long time. Could the original games have been remade in that time? Could Fallout 3 and New Vegas have been given a modern overhaul? Surely something could have been planned?"

Without a new Fallout game, people have had to resort to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to get their fix. At least they can look at the game through a pair of GUNNAR Fallout Vault 33 glasses.

What you need to know

• Fallout 4's long-awaited next-gen update is finally here, and while it adds some great new graphics mode options to consoles as well as some fun (and free) Creation Club content, its one new PC feature leaves much to be desired.
• Specifically, that feature is official ultrawide support, which has been determined to be extremely lacking. The game doesn't even recognize your native ultrawide resolution unless your Windows display scaling is 100%, and the in-game HUD and other UI elements appear horribly stretched out.
• This, of course, makes Fallout 4 look terrible. Luckily, though, there's a mod you can use to properly scale the UI if you've got a 21:9 monitor and you're playing on Steam. Everything you need to know is in the text below.
• Unfortunately, there's not a good solution for the problem for Microsoft Store/PC Game Pass users right now, and the one that previously worked well for 32:9 "ultra ultrawide" players is not compatible with the new patch.

After two years since it was announced back in 2022, Fallout 4's next-gen update has finally arrived on the heels of the excellent Fallout TV show that debuted earlier in April. It brings some nifty new performance and quality mode options to Xbox Series X|S and PS5 consoles, adds a trio of free Creation Club add-ons (including an Enclave-themed questline with themed skins and some of the faction's gear) and fixes a number of different bugs and glitches — and on PC, it also implements official support for 21:9 and 32:9 "ultrawide" display resolutions such as 3440x1440 and 5120x1440.

As someone who's been a part of the ultrawide gang for a full three years now, I was very happy to see Bethesda's 2015 RPG shooter finally get this feature. After booting the game up to see how it looks, though, I was thoroughly disappointed with the end result. Not only does Fallout 4 fail to recognize and give you a display option for your native 21:9 resolution if you've got your display scale set to anything other than 100% in Windows (I use 125% to make text easier to read, and I suspect most people with a big monitor do, too), but it also stretches out the game's HUD and menu user interfaces instead of scaling them properly.

Basically, Bethesda's solution is functionally identical to the configuration file edit players have used since the game's release year to get ultrawide working, and it looks terrible out of the box. Luckily, you can fix it (for 21:9 displays, anyway) in the Steam version with a mod people have paired with the aforementioned INI tweak for years: TRUBY9 ULTRAWIDE. It converts every UI element in the game so it looks normal at 21:9, and it's still available to download even though its author has discontinued it — and I've personally verified that it still works after the patch.

To use TRUBY9 ULTRAWIDE, you'll first need to enable Fallout 4 modding by first pasting "bEnableFileSelection=1" (without quotes) under the [Launcher] section of the Fallout4Prefs.ini file found in C:\Users\[YourUsername]\OneDrive\DocumentsMyGames\Fallout4, saving the file, then pasting the below lines of text into the Fallout4Custom.ini in the same folder and saving it, too:

[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=

Once that's done, you can install the mod from the files tab of its page on Nexus Mods, which I strongly recommend doing with a good mod manager like Vortex or Mod Organizer 2. You can also install it manually if desired or if a mod manager isn't working for whatever reason; to do so, extract the mod archive's contents to a folder of your choosing, paste the TRUBY9.ini file into Fallout 4's root directory (right-click the game in Steam and select "Browse local files" to find it), and drag the TRUBY9.esp into Fallout 4's Data folder. Then, in the mod files, open either the Default UI Scaling or the TRUBY9 UI Scaling folder and copy the Data folder within over to the game's root directory as well.

The default scaling option maintains Fallout 4's vanilla HUD and UI size, while the TRUBY9 one reduces it considerably so it takes up less space. Personally, I prefer the more minimalist preset, though you should look at the comparison screenshots below before picking one yourself (I'd keep a backup of each so you can switch between them if desired).

It's frustrating that Fallout 4's new official ultrawide support is as lackluster as it is, though I'm glad the TRUBY9 mod fixes its shortcomings. Still, there's currently not a good solution available for 32:9 "ultra ultrawide" users (the mod that worked previously isn't compatible with the next-gen update), and frankly, this isn't something that players should have to mod into their game, anyway.

Ultimately, I'm pretty disappointed with the Fallout 4 next-gen update in general, as it doesn't fix some of the game's worst issues such as physics being tied to framerate, NPCs speaking too fast above 60 FPS, and crashes caused by the Weapon Debris setting for NVIDIA RTX GPU users, among others. It also doesn't feature graphical improvements of any kind (avoid the High Resolution Texture Pack, by the way, as it'll tank your performance for barely noticeable visual gains). At least the new Baseball Launcher weapon is funny.

Fallout 4's next-gen update certainly leaves a lot to be desired, but the game itself is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to play if you're looking to get into Fallout after watching the excellent Fallout TV show. I prefer Fallout 3 and New Vegas, personally, but Fallout 4 is still great for what it is: an action-packed RPG shooter brimming with content in its open world. Like all the Fallout games, it's on Xbox Game Pass.

What you need to know

• Fallout 4's current-generation upgrade is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation. 
• This update is free for anyone that already owns the game or is playing through Xbox Game Pass. 
• The update includes dedicated Visual and Performance modes on consoles, as well as bug fixes and Creation Club content on all platforms. 
• UPDATE: Bethesda confirmed there's a bug with the PS+ version of Fallout 4 not getting the update. It will be fixed. 

It's finally time to head back to the Boston Commonwealth. 

The long-awaited current-generation upgrade for Fallout 4 is now available, bringing an updated version of Bethesda Game Studios' 2015 first-person role-playing game to players across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. As previously outlined, this update is free for anyone that owns the game, as well as anyone who is playing through Xbox Game Pass.

The upgrade is now live on Steam, the Epic Games Store, the Xbox Store, and the PlayStation Store. It is not yet available on GOG, but should be soon. Players on all platforms can expect bug fixes and new Creation Club content, while Windows PC players get ultrawide monitor support. Meanwhile, console players are getting dedicated Visual and Performance modes, which include a range of resolutions and framerates depending on your TV setup. You can find the full patch notes below:

Creation Club additions

• Enclave Remnants
  • New quest titled "Echoes of the Past"
  • X-02 Power Armor
  • Hellfire Power Armor
  • Heavy Incinerator
  • Tesla Cannon
  • Enclave Weapon Skins
  • Enclave Armor Skins
• Makeshift Weapon Pack
  • Two grenade launchers, a Nail Gun, Baseball Launcher, Saw Blade launcher, and piggy bank based weaponry
• Halloween Workshop
  • Halloween-themed items

Xbox and PlayStation

• Native PS5 and Xbox Series applications. Includes performance and quality mode options.
• Performance mode: 60 FPS target, 4k resolution, standard settings, relying on dynamic resolution scaling.
• Quality mode: 30 FPS, 4k resolution, ultra settings, should not require dynamic resolution scaling.
• When connected to a 120Hz display, Quality mode will target 40 FPS.
• When connected to a 1440p display, the title will run at 1440p resolution at 60 FPS w/ ultra settings regardless of rendering mode

PC

• Now available on the Epic Games Store
• Ultrawide support now available
• Steam Deck verified

Bug fixes

• Resolved issues preventing Japanese and Chinese users from connecting to Bethesda.net (this restores access to Mods).
• Resolved issue preventing save data from properly loading during the prologue.
• Resolved issue that could prevent the Vault 111 Door from opening on new games.
• Resolved issue that could prevent the quest “Go Home” from advancing.
• Resolved issue that could result in Codsworth being broken on the ground after fast traveling.
• Resolved issue with mipmaps in DLC.
• Resolved issue that could result in a softlock when in dialogue with Prestson Garvey.
• Resolved issue preventing autosaves while fast traveling in Power Armor.
• Fixed issue where text would occasionally disappear in the Creation Club menu.
• Resolved issues with text formatting in the credits in Japanese and Chinese.
• Resolved issue causing the camera to fail when leaving furniture after an extended time.
• Fixed issue that could misplace quest markers while the VR Workshop Creation was installed alongside Automatron.
• Resolved issue with player movement in some underwater areas at Thicket Excavations.
• Resolved issue that could cause corruption within the Settlement system resulting in wrong resource counts and/or destroyed settlements.
• Resolved issue where the “Level Up” notification would display even if there was not a level up available.
• Fixed some flickering in Vault 111.
• Stability improvements.
• Resolved issue preventing saves being made under Windows Usernames with Cyrillic, Chinese, or Japanese characters. (PC only)
• Resolved issue where users would not always be returned to the main menu after signing out of their profile. (Xbox only)
• Resolved crash that could occur if the player had unlocked all perks. (Xbox only)
• Fixed lighting issue that could occur during Airship Down. (Xbox only)
• Encountering a BNET error will now return you to the main menu instead of asking you to log in again. (Xbox only)
• Resolved issue that could result in significant drop in frame rate when a Gas Canister is ignited by a Molotov Cocktail. (Xbox only)
• Addressed some visual artifacts that could occur when dynamic resolution was triggered. (Xbox only)
• Resolved issue that could keep the Pip-Boy light on when reading holotapes. (PlayStation only)
• Resolved issue that could prompt users to free up 0kb worth of space when attempting to save even if space was available. (PlayStation only)
• Fixed crash that could occur while loading a save that was made immediately before dying. (PlayStation only)
• Resolved issue that would prevent Codsworth from checking on Shaun in the intro. (PlayStation only)
• Removed non-functional “Hot Load” button. Removed non-functional “Material Editor” button. (Creation Kit)
• Editor IDs longer than 99 characters will no longer crash the editor. (Creation Kit)
• Resolved crash that could occur while viewing a quest’s Objectives tab. (Creation Kit)
• Resolved hang that could occur while adding a reference to a layer. (Creation Kit)

Analysis: Now that's an atom bomb baby

Well, I just installed Fallout 4 on gaming computer, and I'll be redownloading it on my Xbox Series X in a bit. With the Fallout TV series (which has been renewed for a second season) and now this update, I've got uranium fever, that's for sure. Based on the resurgence the series has seen across all games, I'm definitely not alone.

While it's taken a long time for this update to arrive, I'm glad it's finally here. A particular highlight for me is the 40 FPS mode for 120hz TVs. That's a great way of making a game smoother to play without sacrificing any visual fidelity. We've seen it across a number of PlayStation first-party games, but it hasn't been a focus for Xbox teams. Hopefully, this support means we can see that mode added to Starfield in a future update. 

What you need to know

• Fallout mania continues into a new week, with Fallout 4 continuing to rise in concurrent player count on Steam. 
• Over the weekend, Fallout 76 hit a new all-time high concurrent player count, over five years after it first launched. 
• The trouble is that there's nothing new on the horizon for a long time, so could Xbox have been a little more forward-thinking and got Bethesda (or maybe Obsidian?) working on something?

As I write this, it's been a mere 11 days since the Fallout Prime Video show debuted its first season, and it has been a whirlwind since. Many of us have now finished its eight episode run and been captivated by it, and the knock on effects are significant. 

Amazon has already confirmed Fallout Season 2, along with declaring it as one of the platform's top three watched shows of all time. The games, too, are experiencing a serious resurgence, with all titles on all platforms seeing crazy numbers given the age of the games. 

This hasn't slowed down into another weekend, either. Fallout 4 continues to rise in its concurrent player count on Steam, topping out at over 160,000, and coming only behind Helldivers 2 at that moment for a premium (aka, paid) game on the platform. Let's also not forget that last week, Fallout 4 was the best-selling game in Europe.  

Not only that, but Fallout 76 has, this past weekend, hit a new all-time high concurrent player count on Steam, with the always-online title topping 73,000 players. These would be numbers a brand-new title could be proud of, let alone ones released several years ago. Fallout 4 is almost nine-years-old.

This is great news for Xbox and Bethesda, it's great news for the wider Fallout franchise as a whole, including the show. The trouble is that if you look at the bigger picture, this all highlights one major, glaring issue that Xbox now has. 

Anything new from Fallout is a LONG way off

Fallout now has an entirely new legion of fans. Of those skyrocketing numbers, it's of no doubt there is a substantial number of folks going back into the games. I class myself in that, as I've played most of the Fallout games for a little while, but never really stuck with them. The show has ignited a fire inside, and I'm going back in. 

But, while the long-term fans might be happy, the fact there's nothing new on the horizon either for those people, or, more importantly, the new fans, well that's a problem. The Fallout franchise has a ton of content to play through, but let's be real, a new Fallout game is a long, long ways off. Bethesda has already said that it won't be working on it until after Elder Scrolls 6 ships, which means we'll be seeing season two of the show, maybe even three and four (if they get commissioned) before we'll see a new mainline Fallout game. 

I think Xbox, now the Overseer of the Fallout universe, and indeed Bethesda, has been a little short-sighted here. It never took a genius to see that the show would have some kind of impact on the games, after all, we've already seen it happen with The Last of Us. Fallout is bigger than that, it has a wider fan base and a much bigger world to explore. The show first became a reality back in 2020, four years ago. 

In those years since, how did nobody think about commissioning a new game, a remake, or another New Vegas style spinoff? Fallout 76 being a live service game at least gives it some legs to keep going, but even in the world of making video games, four years is a long time. Could the original games have been remade in that time? Could Fallout 3 and New Vegas have been given a modern overhaul? Surely something could have been planned? 

Of course, I'm just a gamer and reinvigorated Fallout fan thinking out loud here, not the head of a massive company like Microsoft. I just can't quite understand why there wasn't a little more forward-thinking here to capitalize on the inevitable success of the show for fans, both new and old. 

As it stands, the next thing we have to look forward to is indeed another season of the show, and hopefully further seasons after that. As it already looks like New Vegas will be a part of its return to the screen, it's hard to see anything other than another massive success. 

On the gaming side, though, the horizon is much like the Wasteland. Unpredictable, and at times, empty. We do, of course, have the Fallout 4 current-gen upgrade happening this week on April 25 on PC and console, so that'll be something to enjoy. There's also the massive Fallout: London mod in the works, too. Mods are fun and add plenty of replayability into the franchise, but really, it shouldn't be all on the community to keep folks hanging around. Definitely not when it comes to newer, perhaps more casual players. 

A big part of me hopes something has been secretly worked on and kept quiet until show season later this year, but I'm also not holding my breath. I really think Xbox and Bethesda have missed a trick here. 

What you need to know

• In a surprising (and yet not totally surprising) turn of events, Microsoft-owned Fallout 4 has become the best-selling game in Europe. 
• Since the release of the Fallout series on Amazon Prime Video, the whole series has seen a resurgence, with Fallout 4 leading the way. 
• The majority of sales were on PC, also helped by hefty discounts, but console sales have also been going well despite being on Game Pass and Sony's own subscription service. 
• The current-gen upgrade for Fallout 4 is due on April 25. 

Just how much has the Fallout mania taken hold? Well, we know that Fallout season one on Prime Video has been an absolute smash, and we know that player counts across the entire franchise have spiked since its release. 

But, in Europe, at least, we have some actual hard numbers on just how well Fallout has done this past week. The numbers from GSD, reported by GamesIndustry.biz, show that the almost nine-year-old Fallout 4, the latest "mainline" release in the series, is currently the best-selling game in Europe. 

With an insane 7,500% increase in the past week, Fallout 4 has outsold the current darling, Helldivers 2, EA FC 24, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and fellow elder statesman, GTA V. 

Simply incredible. 

The data covers digital and physical sales, and of that massive increase, 69% were recorded on PC. Despite being available in both Xbox Game Pass and Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription services, a 31% share for console is impressive.  

Fallout 4 isn't the only game from the beloved franchise seeing success, though. The lower reaches of the top 10 see three more titles making the list, with Fallout 76, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3 rounding out the last three spots, all seeing their own gains. Fallout 76 is more heavily skewed towards PC, with an 85% share of all sales. Don't forget, though, if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can get yourself a copy of Fallout 76 completely free right now.  

A well received show paired with hefty discounts = WIN

To say the Fallout TV show has been a success would be massively underselling it. Amazon has already renewed it for a second season (and we hope for many more beyond that), at the same time as confirming it as one of its top three most watched original shows. The reception has been simply extraordinary. 

Not without reason, too. I'm not a huge Fallout player, though I have dabbled in a few of them, but I'm one of the many that's diving back in. The lore and the world created in the games lends itself superbly well to creating a live-action TV show. That the series fits in with the canon of the games while telling an entirely new story is the icing on the cake. 

Heavy discounts on the entire franchise also doesn't hurt. All the Fallout games right now are incredibly cheap, and I guess it's easier to do when there hasn't been a new release in the franchise in some years. That's not forgetting that Game Pass subscribers on PC and Xbox already have access to every game. 

It's going to be a while before we get Fallout season two, and even longer before we get Fallout 5. But at least in the meantime, fans new and old have a ridiculous amount of content to play through. 

What you need to know

• Back in 2015, PDP released this controller that was an official collaboration with Fallout 4 for the Xbox One. 
• As Fallout mania hits following the Prime Video show, coupled with the likely scarcity of these things, prices on eBay are pretty high. 
• If you've got one stashed away, you could be sat on something worth a pile of caps. Or, you know, dollars. 

It's impossible not to have seen Fallout somewhere in the last couple of weeks. The success of season one of the Fallout Prime Video show has well and truly rejuvenated the franchise, drawing in a raft of new players on all platforms. 

Fallout also has a healthy merchandise scene, and there are folks out there that want to collect everything. Including this, the PDP Fallout 4 Vault Boy controller from almost nine years ago. 

Launched in the heyday of the Xbox One, this wired controller is adorned with a fetching Vault-Tec blue and yellow paint job, with an image of the beloved Fallout mascot in his trademark thumbs up pose. Naturally, you can't buy one from retail anymore, but prices on resale sites like eBay are CRAZY. If you have one, you might be able to fetch a hefty asking price for it. 

Take this eBay listing, for example. A brand-new, mint in box Vault Boy controller with an asking price of $200. Is it worth that? Maybe, maybe not. It's worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it, which could well end up being $200. That's not even the most expensive listing at the time of writing, a similar sealed controller is priced $100 higher. In contrast, this one looks like a bargain! 

But what about if it's not new and you don't have the box? Such an item is currently listed at $115, so it's still a hefty markup over both what this cost new, and what you could buy a new controller for. Even if you hit the Xbox Design Lab, you can get a brand sparkly new Fallout-themed controller for much less. 

It looks like a similar story for anyone who owns, or already owns the red, Nuka Cola-themed Fallout controller by PowerA. There's only one of these available right now, but again, it's listed at $200. Wishful thinking, or shrewd business? 

These aren't the only rare controllers we've seen in recent times fetching big bucks on the resale market. My colleague, Jennifer Young, recently covered an even more outrageously priced Halo Wars 2 Xbox controller that fetches up to $500. 

Of course, to collectors, this might not seem like a lot. But it's certainly an eye-opener. If I had one of these, I'd definitely be tossing it up on eBay right now. 

Like the prices of these controllers, the Fallout franchise has seen a surge in numbers since the debut of the show. Every Fallout game has seen an increase, with the most recent title, Fallout 76, even hitting a new all-time peak concurrent player count on Steam. If you haven't played it yet, it's on Xbox Game Pass, or if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can claim a free copy on PC and console until May 15. 

It looks like there's solid gold out there in the Wasteland. 

It's hard to escape the Fallout craze these days - it seems to be everywhere I turn. Whether I'm browsing X or scrolling through my Facebook feed, I can't help but notice that everyone is talking about Fallout. Even my Vizio TV is in on the action, with an ad for Fallout on Amazon greeting me every time I turn it on. But I have to admit, I'm loving all the attention the series is getting lately!

What's even more exciting is that people are rediscovering the joys of playing Fallout 4, a game beloved by many and has been seeing a surge in play counts across all platforms. And even Fallout 76, which had a rocky launch, is suddenly gaining traction after many years of steady increases. But I'm guessing that you're here because you want to take your Fallout 4 experience to the next level on your Steam Deck, ROG Ally, or Legion GO. Well, I've got you covered! In this article, we'll review eight mods (yes, I know the title says seven, but I couldn't resist adding one more) that will make your handheld Fallout 4 experience even better, no matter which device you're using!

If you're looking for mods to install, make sure to check out our guide on the best PC mods for Fallout 4. Keep in mind, these mods will decrease performance. If you're wondering how to install mods, don't worry! Our installation guide covers mods and various forms of installing mod packs, too.

All mods and mod packs use Steam, and assume all DLC has been purchased. You can modify Fallout 4 on the PC Xbox app, but support is limited.

Insignificant Object Remover

This mod safely removes insignificant objects to improve performance without visual degradation. By removing these objects, the mod can improve the game's visuals by reducing visual clutter, enhancing your handheld gaming experience.

Download here

Fog Remover - Performance Enhancer II

This mod does as it says! It improves the game's appearance and performance by removing interior fog, mist, steam, dust, smoke, airborne leaves, and debris.

Download here

Previsibines Repair Pack Stable Branch

This mod completely rebuilds pre-combined texture meshes and occlusion information for Fallout 4. 'Occlusion' refers to when an object blocks another object from being displayed. Fallout 4 has issues where objects, even when they're unable to be seen, are drawn. Fixing occlusion helps reduce draw calls, which, depending on location, should increase FPS.

Download here

Faster Workshop (Workshop Lag Fix)

As per the mod page, Faster Workshop is an F4SE plugin that optimizes workshop loading times by replacing some of the most expensive and inefficient regions of workshop loading code with far more efficient versions.

On top of this, it also does two more things:

• Faster Workshop provides a hotkey to enter workshop mode instantly.
• Faster Workshop fixes the issue with workshop icons not loading when navigating through them quickly.

Download here

Fallout 4 (For Low End PCs Tweaks and More FPS)

The Low End PC mod will boost every handheld far beyond what you ever thought it would, but will also reduce just about every setting in the game. Shadows are significantly reduced. The grass is completely disabled, with some plants still appearing. Depth of field, lens flare, SSAO, and god rays have all been completely disabled. Basically, this makes it so a potato can run it, almost literally.

Download here

Fallout Priority - CPU Performance FPS Optimizer

If you're someone who runs background processes on your handheld to the point you need to prioritize your CPU, then Fallout Priority is here to fix your dirty habit. This mod will automatically elevate Fallout 4 CPU priority to high, reducing stutters and increasing FPS overall.

Download here

BlurKiller - Visual Pollution Remover and Performance Enhancer

BlurKiller is a strong alternative for players who want more visual fidelity without resorting to the Low End mod. BlurKiller works wonders for combat when many of the game's default effects are increased. If players have a depth of field enabled, Fallout 4 will often increase this effect during combat, causing significant FPS spikes as a result. BlurKiller eliminates these changes and keeps the game at the default values in the player's settings.

Download here

Optimized Vanilla Textures - Full Version

As noted by the mod author, they noticed that some of the textures in vanilla Fallout 4 were not compressed properly, missing mipmaps, or other things. They fixed this by running them through a texture optimizer. While they can't promise results on every PC, it's worth a shot!

Download here

Hopefully this sorts out any issues you're having on your handheld, and if you weren't having issues, hopefully you're now experiencing maximum FPS. If you have any mods or tips you'd like us to add, mention it below in the comments or on social media. As always, happy gaming!

Fallout is experiencing a resurging hype, especially after the Fallout TV show dropped. Newsflash, it's really good. To go along with it, all the games are being played again. From Fallout 76 and Fallout 4, all the way to the original Fallout games before Bethesda even made them.

If you're looking for mods to install, make sure to check out our guide on the best PC mods for Fallout 4. We cover individual mods and mod packs! Or just wait for the next-gen overhaul coming soon.

All mods and mod packs use Steam and assume all DLC has been purchased. You can modify Fallout 4 on the PC Xbox app, but support is limited.

Individual mods

There are a few ways of downloading and installing your own mods. I'll cover each briefly, as well as give you the best methods 

Vortex

While this isn't the most sophisticated tool, it's best for the "Casual" audience of Fallout 4 modding. It's the easiest and simplest tool to use. To use Vortex, follow these steps:

• First, download Vortex from this link under the Files tab and install on your PC.
• Once installed, open Vortex to familiarize yourself with the interface. 
• Go to the Games tab and add Fallout 4.

You can now download mods by following these steps.

• Go to Nexus mods and download your favorite mods using the Vortex link on the Files tab.
• These mods will now download to Vortex, where you can install them. Click "Enable" and "Disable" to select the mods you want active at any given time.

Keep in mind that some mods override others. So, mod order is essential. If you wish to learn more about Vortex, visit their about page. 

If you want to get more into modding, where you start to merge mods, then let's jump over to Mod Organizer 2. 

Mod Organizer 2

Mod Organizer 2 is the king of modding, not in terms of usability but functionality. It has the steepest learning curve, but users willing to learn will get much more out of it. The main difference is that Vortex uses hard links, whereas MO2's virtual file system doesn't directly place mods in the game's directory. Instead, it creates a virtual space for mods to be used while keeping the game's directory clean, allowing for very easy mod enabling and disabling.

In all honesty, it works a lot like Vortex does regarding installation and how direct download links are handled. If you want to fully experience Mod Organizer 2, I suggest checking out the linked tutorials on their main page, as they go into a vast amount of detail that isn't easily covered in text.

Follow these steps to install Mod Organizer 2:

• First, Download here.
• Next, open the .exe and begin the installation process. 
• You'll be tasked with linking your Nexus account and picking between a Global and Portal instance.
• The main difference is where mods are stored. However, portable instances are generally better if you're downloading mod packs alongside it as it distinguishes between separate instances of Mod Organizer 2.

ENB Mods

ENBs completely change the look of a game. Not just in color but in visual effects as well. As such, these are a little harder to install than your regular old mods. Although, they're not difficult!

To install:

• First, head to http://enbdev.com/ to download the latest ENB version for Fallout 4.
• Move all .DLL files from the WrapperVersion folder into the Fallout 4 game directory.
• From there, take your desired ENB and dump the folder's contents into the Fallout 4 directory as well.
• Make sure to follow any special installation instructions on the ENB page!

Mod Packs

There are two forms of mod packs users can use. The main difference between these two is pretty similar to the difference between Mod Organizer 2 and Vortex. Whichever tool you prefer to use will dictate which mod pack downloader you use as well. 

Wabbajack

This is my favorite! Wabbajack is a tool for extensive and easy-to-use mod packs. These are curated by authors and offer a fantastic experience that's easy for gamers to consume!

Here's how to get setup:

• Head over to https://www.wabbajack.org/ to download the latest Wabbajack .exe file.
• Once downloaded, DO NOT CLICK RUN. Instead, head to the directory where you want to install it, like your C: Drive.
• Create a folder called "Wabbajack mods" and then another called "Wabbajack" inside of that first folder. 
• Place the Wabbajack.exe file inside "Wabbajack" and run it. This process will install and run Wabbajack solely in that folder.

• From here, you can select any number of Wabbajack lists by selecting "Browse Modlists."
• Click on the globe icon and follow the specific instructions for each modlist. Some require a few extra steps and items to install prior to Wabbajack taking over and installing another 700 mods on top of that.

Vortex Collection

Vortex works much the same.

• First, download and install Vortex as described in the steps above.
• Then, navigate to the collections tab on the Nexus site.
• From here, select the collection you wish to install. 
• It will open inside of Vortex and start the installation process. Make sure to follow any specific instructions on the collections page!

That's all for our modding guide. Let us know if you felt anything needed to be clarified a little further; I'll make sure I take care of it!

Fallout is all the craze right now after the Fallout TV show launched to rave reviews from critics and fans alike. As such, many of the games are being revisited. I'm here to provide a comprehensive guide for players looking to jump back into Fallout 4, but with a modified experience! This guide is designed to make your modding journey easy and enjoyable.

If you're wondering how to install these mods, don't worry. Our installation guide covers mods and various forms of installing mod packs, too. We've made sure to provide clear and easy-to-follow instructions so you can start enjoying your modified Fallout 4 experience in no time. Or just wait for the next-gen overhaul coming soon!

All mods and mod packs here use Steam and assume all DLC has been purchased. You can modify Fallout 4 on the PC Xbox app, but support is limited.

Item mods

This section is all about item mods, which can significantly enhance your gameplay. From new guns and armor to exciting additions like basic backpack mods, these mods open up a world of possibilities for your Fallout 4 adventure.

Armor and Weapon Keywords Community Resource (AWKCR)

My first three mod picks will all come from the same mod author, Gambit77. With over two and a half million downloads, it's safe to categorize AWKCR as essential. This mod creates a standardized framework for armor and weapon details that can, in turn, be used by other mod creators. 

• Its first standardization method is to create armor and weapon records for use by dynamically naming mods like crafting menus. 
• Secondly, it standardizes apparel slot usage to prevent conflicts between mod authors and allow for more sustainability between mods.
• New weapons, armor, ammunition, and explosive workbenches have been created for crafting items added by mods.
• Blade tempering has been recreated from Skyrim. This is the ability to increase blade weapon durability and damage through smithing.

Download here

Armorsmith Extended

That brings us to our next mod, Armorsmith Extended. AWKCR is mandatory for this mod, as it serves as the background to keep Armorsmith Extended compatible with other mods, like sorting menus.

According to the Armorsmith Extended page, it has sixteen different functions; I'll list about half of them:

• Every outfit in the game can now be worn under armor pieces.
• Every hat and helmet that doesn't cover your face can also be worn with bandanas and gas masks, removing the lock when wearing one or the other.
• The entire clothing modding system has been redone from scratch. Armorsmith Extended adds 11 different armor categories.
• New color swap mods have been added to gloves, helmets, hats, etc.
• All clothing items become moddable for other modders, as well as renameable.
• All followers, including Nick Valentine and Super Mutants, will now show armor and clothing items.
• Crafting recipes have been added for all Vanilla/DLC apparel items.
• All Vanilla/DLC apparel items can also be modified at workbenchs.
• All items scrapped at the workbench (unmodded) will give half of the components back instead of the default Vanilla amount, which was close to nothing.

Download here

Weaponsmith Extended

This mod adds hundreds of new weapons, rebalances vanilla weapons, and introduces tons of new ammo calibers. Even better, the mod allows for far more intricate weaponsmithing, like re-chambering weapons to fit different calibers.

Note that Weaponsmith Extended is the most complicated mod on this list to install and has quite a long list of requirements. But once installed, it's game-changing.

Instructions and download link

Wearable Backpacks and Pouches

These not only look cool, but are functional as well! This mod adds 6 different backpacks that also provide bonus carry capacity. A straightforward mod that really adds to the player experience.

Download here

Fix pack mods

These are a couple of mods that fix things that shouldn't be an issue to begin with. Fallout 4 was rather notorious for bugs, and still is. The Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch helps alleviate those issues. While the Achievement enabler enables achievements again, something that shouldn't even be disabled!

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch - UFO4P

If you want the most vanilla experience possible but bug fixes that even Bethesda still needs to fix, get UFO4P. Even if you're modding the game into something unrecognizable, you still need this mod for hundreds of others. The mod's description is as follows: 

"A comprehensive bug-fixing mod for Fallout 4. The goal of the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch (aka UFO4P) is to eventually fix every bug with Fallout 4 not officially resolved by the developers to the limits of the Creation Kit and community-developed tools in one easy-to-install package."

Download here

Achievements

This mod enables achievements to be obtainable once more. In a game where console commands can just straight up give you achievements, it really bothers me that achievements are even disabled by mods at all.

Download here

Gameplay mods

These mods may be more of an acquired taste for players, but the mods I chose are rather tame. From small changes that make a huge difference, to big changes that also make a big difference, there's something here for everyone. Some are far easier than others to install, but don't let something being difficult be a reason not to do it!

Full Dialogue Interface

Want the ability to see what the protagonist will say in full? Me too; that's why I recommend Full Dialogue Interface. Nothing beats knowing what you're about to say before you say it. I'm cringing, thinking of how the original dialogue works without this mod!

Download here

Place Everywhere

No longer will you be confined to the physics of reality. Concepts such as the need for ground are eliminated. Place Everywhere allows players to place structures in settlements everywhere; water, air, ground, you name it. 

Download here

Start Me Up - Alternate Start and Dialogue Overhaul

No longer are you bound to father or motherhood. Start Me Up allows players to role-play outside the confines of being a parent and gives access to different starting roles. For example, you can start as a Wastelander, not a Vault Dweller! To allow this, the mod makes around 1,000 dialogue edits to match your chosen path.

Download here

Everyone's Best Friend

Dogmeat deserves all the love he can get. Everyone's best friend makes sure Dogmeat never leaves your party, as it allows both Dogmeat and another companion to be part of your party simultaneously. No more leaving the dog at home!

Download here

Sim Settlements 2

New NPCS, new story, new buildings, and an entire overhaul of the settlement functionality. Check out the mod page for a full breakdown of everything this massive mod offers!

Download here

Cheat Terminal

You know what this is. You know why you want it. Just do it. No one is going to blame you for launching 300 mini-nukes.

Download here

Graphical mods

Who doesn't want their game to look pretty? If you raised your hand, first of all, I can't see it. Secondly, you're wrong and should install some of these anyways. They're all a sight for sore eyes!

Fallout 4 HD Overhaul 2k

Enhance your Fallout 4 experience with a total overhaul of the visual experience without killing your GPU. A sweet spot between 1080p and 4K textures, the 2K Overhaul replaces over 10,000 textures in the base game and DLCs.

Download here

LooksMenu

Do you wish you had more access to making your character genuinely unique? Then look no further than LooksMenu. This mod is an extensive overall of the character creator process, giving far greater entry to structuring the character best suited for you.

It features:

• Facial feature list is much more extensive, allowing you to see more items at once.
• Facial features can be selected from the list rather than clicking the actual face.
• Presets can now be saved and loaded.
• CBBE Bodyslide Sliders can be used in-game if adequately generated.
• BodyGen can generate body shapes randomly for NPCs.
• Allows for hair palette overrides (for more hair colors).
• Overlays can be applied over the existing body.
• Skin can be overridden with another set of textures or mesh.
• Skin and makeup can be colorized via HSV.

If you're wondering what CBBE is, go ahead and get that one yourself. For my own sake, we won't be listing it here. Keep in mind, it is very NSFW.

Download here

GRASSLANDS - A Fallout 4 Grass Overhaul

This one is not lore-friendly at all! However, it makes the game extremely pretty and adds lots of grass. So, if you're tired of the dreary, get this grasslands overhaul!

Download here

True Storms - Wasteland Edition

One of the highest-ranked Skyrim mods comes to Fallout 4 with even more features than ever! True Storms: Wasteland Edition is a complete overhaul of the storm systems in Fallout 4. Heavy rains, dust storms, radiation rains. New unique weathers, sound effects, particle effects, textures, and more, including configurable ghoul hordes during radstorms.

Download here

Decay Reshade

Decay is a reshade that focuses on visibility and aligns Fallout 4 with previous games in the series. It delivers a genuinely dark and atmospheric feel.

Download here

Aeonic 2021

Aeonic is a reshade that focuses on photorealism. Bringing a lot of life and color to the Wastelands. It's also one of my personal favorite reshades.

Download here

ENB: PRC X - PhotoRealistic Commonwealth 10

From the mod author's page:

"An all-in-one and sophisticated visual enhancer using custom shaders to offer the most natural and realistic visuals possible as a base to emulate photograph & movie pipeline. More than 5000 different looks are possible using accurate reproduction of films and cinematic colorgrades and postprocessing. Compatible with all weather and lighting mods."

Download here

Visceral ENB

This ENB is my personal pick. Initially highlighted by PC Gamer when I first saw it, it packs quite a lot of color in striving for a realistic and natural look.

Download here

Mod packs

First of all, what the heck are mod packs? Mod packs are collections of mods that come with minimal installation steps compared to the entire installation process. Whether a user uses a tool like Wabbajack or Vortex Collections, much of the process is automated and taken out of the hands of players. 

In the best of instances, these lists are also curated by the authors themselves for mod compatibility, updates, testing of bugs, and more. So when it gets in your hands, it won't be bug-free, but it will be a heck of a lot better than if you installed all the mods from scratch. 

I'll be recommending a few mod packs from various sources. Some are total overhauls, while others stick closer to home with simple updates to add quality-of-life features to an already terrific game. 

Fallout Anomaly

Our first mod is a complete and total overhaul of Fallout 4. It's also the one I'm currently playing through! The pack merges the worlds of Bethesda's creation with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in an effort to bring something far more brutal to the table. "Harsh survival mechanics, dangerous mutants, and a gritty atmosphere offer players a unique and unparalleled gaming experience." 

Instructions here

Magnum Opus

Magnum Opus is described as a "kitchen sink" list. The mod author doesn't focus on any particular theme, like some of the other packs I've listed. It contains a dream list of QoL updates, new quests, weapons, items, and graphical refreshes. If the mod author likes it, he puts it on the list. That's my kind of guy!

Instructions here

A StoryWealth

A StoryWealth is a total overhaul that brings you new quests, Settlement play, Companions, and Sim Settlements 2. The total list includes over 700 mods and will keep even the most seasoned gamer occupied for hundreds of hours if they even want a chance to see everything it has to offer.

Download here

FO4 Essentials

This mod pack is about as minimalist as it comes, as it only includes 10 "essential" mods. This list contains mods that are put in place to fix issues with the base game to have fun, and that's it!

Download here

That's it! I tried to keep the list short, but it just kept getting longer and longer. About 4 years ago, when I last did my own solo modding, I ended up with over 180 mods. All merged and installed by yours truly. You can do it, too! Otherwise, just get a mod pack. They're great.

Let us know in the comment section or social media if there was anything you thought we missed! I'll make sure to add it. Until then, as always, happy gaming!

What you need to know

• Fans of the Fallout TV show have spotted markings on the side of the Brotherhood of Steel's airship that seemingly identify it as the Prydwen, the same vessel the Brotherhood in Fallout 4 used. It was previously named the Caswennan in a Vanity Fair exclusive.
• If this is the Prydwen, it would make one of two Fallout 4 endings canon since the show takes place nine years after Fallout 4. The other two endings involve destroying the Prydwen.
• One possible canon ending is that the Brotherhood took control of the Commonwealth. Another is that the Minutemen defeated the Institute and remained on good terms with the Brotherhood.
• It's possible the inclusion of these markings on the ship was an error or that the Brotherhood refers to its airships as Prydwen-class craft, though there's no way to know for sure until Bethesda comments on the matter.

While the story that unfolds in Amazon's popular new Fallout TV show has been confirmed as canon in the Fallout universe, it doesn't have any obvious direct connections to games that took place before it like Fallout: New Vegas or Fallout 4. Upon scrutinizing the show closely, though, some eagle-eyed fans have spotted a detail that may confirm that one of two Fallout 4 endings is canon.

That detail is a series of markings on the side of the Brotherhood of Steel's airship that seemingly identify it as the Prydwen, the flagship used by the Brotherhood troops on the east coast of the US that travel to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Fallout 4. Though a caption about the sister ship in a Vanity Fair exclusive stated that the vessel is called the Caswennan — notably, in Arthurian legend, both names are used for King Arthur's ship interchangeably — this lettering suggests it's actually the same craft.

Since the Fallout TV show takes place nine years after Fallout 4 in 2296, this means two of the game's four major endings could be canon if this is indeed the Prydwen. The other two — endings where you side with either the Railroad or the Institute and eventually help these groups destroy the Brotherhood and the Prydwen in the Commonwealth — would be impossible.

The first possible ending is the Brotherhood one, in which you join the Brotherhood of Steel, eradicate both the Railroad and the Institute, and help the faction take control of the Commonwealth for the foreseeable future. Though this outcome is certainly plausible, it's not the one I would expect Bethesda to canonize, as it forces you to wipe out the Railroad faction the studio may wish to explore further in future titles.

The second conclusion that could be canon, and the one that I suspect is, is the Minutemen ending. It involves becoming the General of the Minutemen civilian defense militia and leading the group to victory against the Institute, and as long as you don't attack the Railroad or the Brotherhood, they'll remain neutral.

The possibility of both endings is supported by an Elder of the faction noting that the west coast Brotherhood has received reinforcements from the Commonwealth in the first episode of the show. This could have referred to survivors from a conflict the Brotherhood lost there, but if this airship is the Prydwen, it would mean the east coast Brotherhood either sent troops to aid their comrades or chose to travel to California after the Minutemen achieved victory.

Of course, it's entirely possible that the markings on the vessel are erroneous, or that the Brotherhood now calls all of these craft Prydwen-class airships. Ultimately, though, there's no way to know for sure if this is the Prydwen from Fallout 4 until Bethesda comments on the matter.

If you're interested in playing through Fallout 4 and seeing how the Commonwealth branch of the Brotherhood of Steel compares to the one in the TV show, there's never been a better time to do so thanks to the ongoing Fallout Franchise Sale and the fact every Fallout game is available with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. You should also check out Fallout 3 to get an idea of what the east coast Brotherhood used to be like before Fallout 4's Arthur Maxson took control of it.

In other news, it's been confirmed that the Fallout TV show doesn't make Fallout: New Vegas non-canon by both a director at Bethesda and Todd Howard himself. Fans were confused by a timeline found by main character Lucy in Episode 6 that stated "The Fall of Shady Sands" — a city from the original Fallout that went on to become the capital of the New California Republic (NCR) — began in 2277, four years before the events of Fallout: New Vegas. An arrow pointing to an explosion made people think Shady Sands was nuked in that year, but the truth is this is simply when issues like economic decline began to erode the NCR's strength, which is something that's actually mentioned in-game as the faction tries to fight Caesar's Legion. Whatever led to the destruction of Shady Sands happened after New Vegas' story.

Thanks to success so explosive it rivals the yield of an atom bomb, Amazon's Fallout TV show has kickstarted a player count resurgence across all the games in the post-apocalyptic RPG series. Of these, the one that's blowing up the most is Fallout 4, with Bethesda's 2015 open world title soaring up to an average of 60-80,000 players on Steam — quadruple its typical ~15,000 count. It's the latest single-player Fallout game from the studio, and the best one in terms of overall visual fidelity.

It is still nearly a decade old, though, and as a result, its graphics leave a lot to be desired compared to more modern releases. That often drives players to look for ways to improve the visuals, and one of the first things they're likely to notice is Fallout 4's High Resolution Texture Pack (often referred to as the HD Texture Pack). This DLC comes free with the Steam or Microsoft Store version of the game, and is described to enhance "every location" in the Commonwealth "with ultra-deluxe detail." However, I'm here to tell you that this pack is terrible, and that you should avoid installing it at all costs.

Despite adding a whopping 58GB to Fallout 4's file size, the HD Texture Pack barely even makes the game look better, yet nosedives its performance. This post from the DLC's "Mixed" to "Mostly Negative" Steam reviews says it all: "This thing adds 58 Gigabytes to the game, and there are mods that are only less than 5 that make it look better and perform more efficiently than this pack. It ruins installed texture mods too. Don't get it. It's not worth it." Note that if you've already installed it, you can remove it from your game by right-clicking on Fallout 4, then going to Properties > DLC > and unchecking the pack in that menu.

There's good news, though, which is that there are a few different comprehensive community-made retexture mods available that both look and run significantly better, and take up less space to boot. The Fallout 4 HD Overhaul 2K is the most impressive texture revamp you'll find on Nexus Mods (the most popular mod-hosting site on the web) right now, and comes in at 43GB; if you'd prefer something smaller that also still looks great, consider FlaconOil's Complete Retexture Project, the Valius High Resolution Texture Pack, and Langley's HD Textures Workshop.

These mods can (and should) be installed with mod managers like Vortex or Mod Organizer 2, though make sure you read each one's description for installation instructions — for some, you'll have to download multiple archives and activate each in your load order. There's some other good information on those pages, too, so don't skip over it.

What if you're on Xbox? Unfortunately, your options are limited since console players are limited to 2GB of space for mod installations. With that said, Vivid Fallout is only a little over half a gig and wonderfully overhauls Fallout 4's landscapes, while True Grass + Grass Reworked and Natural and Atmospheric Commonwealth beautify foliage, weather, and lighting. For some other mods to consider, check out my list of the best Fallout 4 Xbox mods.

For a limited time, you can get every Fallout game in the series for dirt cheap thanks to this ongoing Fallout Franchise Sale. That includes Fallout 4 and all of its DLC; notably, it and every other title are also on the console and PC versions of Xbox Game Pass.

Bethesda's post-apocalyptic RPG series Fallout is going through something of a renaissance right now, with the acclaimed new Fallout TV show leading to a player count resurgence across all the games. One title in particular that's blowing up quite a bit, though, is 2015's Fallout 4. It's the latest single-player entry in the franchise, and one that's widely enjoyed for its expansive open world, diverse set of combat skills, highly customizable weapons, and settlement base-building mechanic.

Though often criticized for lacking some of the writing depth you'll find in other Fallout games, it's nevertheless considered to be one of the best Xbox games and best PC games ever made — and like Skyrim before it, Fallout 4 has proven to be a fantastic foundation for modding. Talented community members have published thousands of ambitious mod projects for the open world RPG over the years, to the point where on the hosting site Nexus Mods, there are nearly as many mods for the PC version of Fallout 4 as there are for both Fallout 3 and New Vegas combined. Xbox players can get in on the fun, too, thanks to console mod support (check out the best Fallout 4 Xbox mods I recommend).

These days, you can find a Fallout 4 mod for pretty much everything, and there are several I consider to be staples in my load order, such as the legendary Place Everywhere for settlement building or the gorgeous texture overhaul Vivid Fallout. Of these, though, there's one I will never play the game without: Start Me Up Redux, a modernized version of a beloved mod that addresses the game's overly long intro sequence while simultaneously solving one of the biggest issues I have with its writing.

Fallout 4's opening in which you're whisked away to a Vault while nuclear war rages and put on ice to awaken nearly 200 years later was pretty gripping the first time I experienced it, and I didn't really mind sitting through it a few more times on my second and third playthroughs, either. On my fourth, though, I was sick of it, and by the time my fifth rolled around, I was already browsing the Nexus for some kind of a skip so I could bypass the 20-minute long intro and get to the fun stuff.

That's how I first found Start Me Up, which gives you the option to jump directly to your first steps taken in the Commonwealth the second you finish making your character and choose their S.P.E.C.I.A.L. character stats. No more Vault-Tec solicitors knocking on your door or unskippable scripted sequences to get through — just say it's time to "wake up," and you'll load right into the beginning of your post-apocalyptic adventure.

It was then that I also learned of Start Me Up's "alternate start" functionality, which adds the option to give your character a different backstory and choose how leveled and geared they'll be, along with where you'll first spawn in the wasteland. Want to start out as a wandering scavenger with nothing but a ramshackle Pipe Pistol to your name? You can. How about as a Brotherhood of Steel Scribe in Paladin Danse's squad? You've got the option. A mercenary, armored and armed to the teeth? Yup. Nearby NPCs that would normally be hostile will even be friendly, should you choose to begin the game as a Raider or a Gunner.

Though the mod's intro skip is what drew me to it, this is ultimately what's kept me in love with Start Me Up in the long term. I prefer when RPGs give you lots of room to roleplay creatively and come up with your own character, but between its fixed protagonist backgrounds and linear story about rescuing your kidnapped son, Fallout 4 does the opposite. With Start Me Up, though, you can experience the game free of these narrative constraints, with a backstory of your own choosing. It even tweaks quests and dialogue from the main questline so you can complete it without having to, as the project's original author TinyManticore said, "play as the 'concerned parent.'"

Start Me Up Redux can be downloaded here and is easily installed with a mod manager like Nexus Mods' Vortex or the community-made Mod Organizer 2, as is the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch its scripts rely on. Oh, and if you're on Xbox, don't worry — there's a console version of the mod available, too, as well as one that's compatible with the Full Dialogue Interface project. Make sure you read their descriptions and also install any mods listed as requirements.

If you'd prefer something simpler that doesn't touch the game's quests and simply gets you past that annoyingly long tutorial, check out SKK Fast Start New Game. It's very lightweight and works perfectly, and it, too, has an Xbox version. Another mod from author SKKmods I like to pair either Start Me Up Redux or SKK Fast Start is SKK Fast BoS (Xbox edition here), which, spoiler alert, makes the Brotherhood of Steel arrive in the Commonwealth one in-game week after you help Paladin Danse at ArcJet Systems regardless of your story progress.

If you're like me, then watching the Fallout TV series on Amazon Prime reignited your interest in what is arguably the best Fallout game of them all — Fallout 4. Or perhaps, you never played the game and are interested in finally checking it out. Speaking of, Fallout 4 on Steam is currently ridiculously discounted at CDKeys, so you might want to snag it while it's so cheap.

Thing is, there are a few new ways to play this classic game now that PC gaming handhelds are common. So, I've taken some time to figure out what the best graphics settings are for Fallout 4 on Steam Deck as well as ROG Ally and Legion Go so you can get the most optimized playing sessions. 

Fallout 4 on Steam Deck: Best settings

Steam Deck compatibility

Valve's testing indicates that Fallout 4 is Playable on Steam Deck. This game is functional on Steam Deck, but might require extra effort to interact with or configure. 

• ⚠️ This game's launcher/setup tool may require the touchscreen or virtual keyboard, or have difficult to read text.
• ⚠️ Entering some text requires manually invoking the on-screen keyboard.
• ✅ All functionality is accessible when using the default controller configuration.
• ✅ This game shows Steam Deck controller icons.
• ✅ In-game interface text is legible on Steam Deck.
• ✅ This game's default graphics configuration performs well on Steam Deck.

Best Fallout 4 settings for Steam Deck

Fallout 4 runs surprisingly well on Steam Deck with only a few small tweaks needed to get the best experience. Usually, I was easily able to keep the game within a 50 to 60 fps range, but sometimes it did dip down into the 40 fps range. You'll need to adjust game settings from the load menu before actually starting the game: 

Open Fallout 4 → Options

• Aspect Ratio: 16: 10 Widescreen
• Resolutions: 1280 x 800
• Antialiasing: TAA (Best quality)
• Anisoptiopic Filtering: 8 Samples
• Detail: Medium
  
  ADVANCED
• Texture Quality: High
• Shadow Quality: Medium
• Shadow Distance: Medium
• Decal Quantity: Medium
• Lighting Quality: High
• Godrays Quality: Off (Best performance)
• Depth of Field: Bokeh (Best Quality)
• Ambient Occlusion: SSAO (High)
• Screen Space Reflections: Off
• Wetness: ✔️
• Rain Occlusion: ✔️
• Motion Blur: Off
• Lens Flare: ✔️
  
  VIEW DISTANCE
• Object Fade: 2 (on slider)
• Actor Fade: 2 (on slider)
• Grass Fade: 2 (on slider)
• Item Fade: 2 (on slider)
• Distant Object Detail: Medium
• Object Detail Fade: Medium
  
  STEAM DECK SETTINGS
• TDP: 10W
• FSR: On (if plugged in or docked)

I found that mostly sticking to Medium graphics settings rather than the High or Ultra ones allowed Fallout 4 to run more smoothly on my Steam Deck. Additionally, turning off Godrays but upping Depth of Field to its best setting allows for good details. AMD Fidelity FX Super Resolution (FSR) is really helpful at making the graphics look better, but it pulls a lot of power, so I only suggest having it on if your Steam Deck is docked or otherwise plugged in while you play.

Once all of these settings have been put in place, you can back out of the Options menu and then click Play to start your game. Really, the game runs smoothly. The only semi-problematic part is when I manually have to pull up the on-screen keyboard to type in text, since the process feels clunky compared to a traditional PC. But, even that isn't horrible since you don't have to do that very much. 

Note: Some games like Dragon's Dogma 2 don't run well on Steam Deck unless I put the system in Proton Experimental (learn more at our Dragon's Dogma 2 gaming handheld guide). This was something I had to change before playing Capcom's latest game, but I didn't have to do that with Fallout 4.

Fallout 4 on ROG Ally and Legion Go: Best settings

Considering that this game hasn't specifically been optimized for gaming handhelds and that it's a relatively old title now, it's impressive how well it runs on ROG Ally and Legion Go. But to ensure the best performance, you'll need to make some changes in the Options menu before fully launching the game.

Open Fallout 4 → Options

• Aspect Ratio: 16: 10 Widescreen
• Resolutions: 1280 x 800
• Antialiasing: TAA (Best quality)
• Anisoptiopic Filtering: 16 Samples
• Detail: Medium
  
  ADVANCED
• Texture Quality: High
• Shadow Quality: Medium
• Shadow Distance: Medium
• Decal Quantity: High
• Lighting Quality: Medium
• Godrays Quality: Off (Best performance)
• Depth of Field: Bokeh (Best Quality)
• Ambient Occlusion: SSAO (High)
• Screen Space Reflections: Off
• Wetness: ✔️
• Rain Occlusion: ✔️
• Motion Blur: Off
• Lens Flare: ✔️
  
  VIEW DISTANCE
• Object Fade: 2 (on slider)
• Actor Fade: 2 (on slider)
• Grass Fade: 2 (on slider)
• Item Fade: 2 (on slider)
• Distant Object Detail: Low
• Object Detail Fade: Low
  
  ROG ALLY & LEGION GO SETTINGS
• TDP: 15W (can be higher if plugged in or docked)
• FSR: On (if plugged in or docked)
• FPS Limiter: Off
• VRAM: 6G (ROG Ally)
• Refresh Rate: 60Hz

I always recommend putting your ROG Ally VRAM at 6G, rather than the lower default. You can change this by going to Armoury Crate → Settings → Operating Mode → GPU Settings and then interacting with the Memory Assigned to GPU dropdown menu. Changing this allows the system to operate more smoothly overall. 

As for thermal design power (TDP), I got a decent amount of stuttering when playing Fallout 4 at 10W TDP, but going up to 15W TDP resolved this for the most part. Of course, 25W Turbo is even smoother, but it takes more power, so I only suggest doing it if you are playing the ROG Ally while it charges or is docked to a TV. Similarly, FSR drains battery, so you should turn it off unless the handheld is receiving a charge. 

Frame rate wise, I was able to get as high as 90 fps in some instances, but overall the Legion Go and ROG Ally usually tended to swing anywhere between 50 fps and 80 fps. Whenever more NPCs or more in-game effects were activated the frame rate tended to dip. 

Fallout 4 gaming handheld FAQ

Play one of the best Bethesda games on handheld

With the Fallout TV series fresh in my mind, I've found myself drawn once more to Fallout 4. Of course, some of you might not have played it yet and so now is the perfect time to jump into this classic for the first time. If you haven't bought the game yet, then you should take advantage of the Fallout 4 sale at CDKeys and get the game at an extremely low cost.

Now that I've spent time playing the game on Steam Deck as well as ROG Ally and Legion Go, I can say that even though Fallout 4  is a few years old now, it runs really well on Steam Deck, Legion Go, and ROG Ally. Plus, the core gameplay really holds up, especially since it's bolstered by a compelling plot, fun combat, and plenty of dark humor. 

So, you're firing up Fallout 4, preparing your first journey into the irradiated Boston wasteland. Maybe it's a game that's been in your backlog for a while, or maybe you're brand-new, having seen the most excellent Fallout show on Amazon Prime. Either way, you're in for a great time. 

Fallout 4 is set in Boston, a couple of hundred years after the bombs dropped. The opening portion of the game takes you down into Vault 111 as catastrophe strikes, and when you awaken and leave the vault, the world outside is very different. No story spoilers as to why you're leaving underground safety, but you're going on a very important mission.

Suddenly, you're asked to allocate your stats loadout, known in the Fallout universe as S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Just what does it all mean?

In this guide, I'll be explaining what each of the stats do for your character, as well as listing the perks you can obtain as a result of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. loadout.

What is Fallout 4?

For the uninitiated, Fallout 4, at its core, is an RPG. Fallout 4's shooting mechanics have been standardized to a degree, but your stats still determine your proficiency in combat. Whether you decide to be a melee fighter, a grenadier, sniper, or pistol wielding gunslinger is entirely up to you, but a smart S.P.E.C.I.A.L. loadout will only enhance your chosen role (or roles!).

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck, and each stat empowers different attributes. You're given 21 stat points to play with at the start of the game, and every time you level up, you're given a choice between adding an extra point of S.P.E.C.I.A.L., or spending a point on a perk. 

Each point in a particular stat gives you access to a new perk, each of which comes with powerful bonuses. There are items that can increase your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats, glasses you can find in the first area increase your Perception by 1 for example, and there are various chems (drugs) that can increase your stats temporarily.

Fallout 4 has no hard level cap, but as we saw with Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, progression after a certain point will begin to slow down considerably, particularly as you begin running out of enemies and quests. So, be sure to plan ahead!

The best way I've found so far when it comes to character building is to use Nukes & Dragons' excellent character sheet calculator, you can save builds for later and even share them with your friends.

To access the perks list in-game, you hit B to display your Pip-Boy, then press Y. The perks sheet looks like the below image, detailing each perk, its requirements, and rank.

Below is an explanation of each of Fallout's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes and an overview of the perks attached to each level of those stats. The higher ranks of each perk contain ever-increasing bonuses and modifiers.

Strength

As you might expect, strength determines your physical power. A high strength stat will increase the amount of items you can carry (and thus, the variety of weapons you can wield). It also increases the damage you deal with melee weapons, like baseball bats and sledgehammers. 

Strength is also tied to perks that increase your prowess in fist fighting, armor crafting, heavy weapons wielding, and hip-fire shooting. The highest strength stats will give you access to the Pain Train perk, which provides combat bonuses when wearing the iconic Power Armor.

1. Iron Fist – Channel your chi to unleash devastating fury! Punching attacks do 20% more damage to your opponent. (5 Ranks)
2. Big Leagues – Swing for the fences! Do 20% more melee weapon damage. (5 Ranks)
3. Armorer – Protect yourself from the dangers of the Wasteland with access to base level and Rank 1 armor mods. (4 Ranks)
4. Blacksmith – Fire up the forge and gain access to base level and Rank 1 melee weapon mods. (3 Ranks)
5. Heavy Gunner – Thanks to practice and conditioning, heavy guns do 20% more damage. (5 Ranks)
6. Strong Back – What are you, part pack mule? Gain +25 to carry weight. (4 Ranks)
7. Steady Aim – Stay on target! Hip-fire accuracy is improved when firing any gun. (2 Ranks)
8. Basher – Get up close and personal! Gun bashing does 25% more damage. (4 Ranks)
9. Rooted – You're part tree! While standing still, you gain +25 Damage Resistance and your melee and unarmed attacks deal 25% more damage (3 Ranks)
10. Pain Train – Choo choo! All aboard! While wearing Power Armor, sprinting into enemies hurts and staggers them. (Robots and oversized enemies are immune to stagger.) (3 Ranks)

Perception

Perception primarily affects your weapon accuracy in V.A.T.S., Fallout's slow-motion auto-targeting system. It also comes tied to perks rogue-type characters might enjoy, like lock picking, pickpocketing, and explosives. Perception also carries perks that will boost rifle and sniper skills.

1. Pickpocket – Your quick hands and sticky fingers make picking pockets 25% easier. (4 Ranks)
2. Rifleman – Keep your distance long and your kill-count high. Attacks with non-automatic rifles do 20% more damage. (5 Ranks)
3. Awareness – To defeat your enemies, you know their weaknesses! You can view a target's specific damage resistances in V.A.T.S. (1 Rank)
4. Locksmith – Your nimble fingers allow you to pick Advanced locks. (4 Ranks)
5. Demolition Expert – The bigger the boom, the better! Your explosives do 25% more damage, and you can craft explosives at any Chemistry Station. (4 Ranks)
6. Night Person – You are a creature of the night! Gain +2 to Intelligence and Perception between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. (2 Ranks)
7. Refractor – You must be part mirror! Instantly gain +10 Energy Resistance. (5 Ranks)
8. Sniper – It's all about focus. You have improved control and can hold your breath longer when aiming with scopes. (3 Ranks)
9. Penetrator – There's no place to hide! In V.A.T.S. you can target an enemy's body parts that are blocked by cover, with a decrease in accuracy. (2 Ranks)
10. Concentrated Fire – Stay focused! In V.A.T.S. every attack on the same body part gains +10% accuracy. (3 Ranks)

Endurance

Endurance directly impacts your hit points and the amount you can sprint. The perks tied to endurance includes all sorts of damage resistances, the ability to eat a wider variety of foods and drinks (including human flesh) and the ability to take in healing from sunlight.

1. Toughness – You now have +20 Damage Resistance (5 Ranks)
2. Lead Belly – Your digestive tract has adjusted to the weirdness of the Wasteland! Take less radiation from eating or drinking. (3 Ranks)
3. Life Giver – You instantly gain another +20 maximum Health. (3 ranks)
4. Chem Resistant – All the rush without the hassle! You're 50% less likely to get addicted when consuming chems. (2 Ranks)
5. Aquaboy – Water is your ally. You no longer take radiation damage from swimming, and can breathe underwater (2 Ranks)
6. Rad Resistant – Exposure to the Wasteland has made you more resilient, instantly granting +10 Radiation Resistance. (3 Ranks)
7. Adamantium Skeleton – Your skeleton has been infused with indestructible metal, reducing limb damage by 30% (3 Ranks)
8. Cannibal – Feast on mortal flesh to heal your wounds! Eating human corpses restores Health. (3 Ranks)
9. Ghoulish – Sure, you're still human – on the outside! Radiation now regenerates your lost Health. (3 Ranks)
10. Solar Powered – Catch some rays! Gain +2 to Strength and Endurance between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (3 Ranks)

Charisma

Charisma expands your tool set in the game's conversations. With a higher Charisma, you can persuade other characters to do your bidding, and get reduced prices from merchants and vendors. Charisma perks enhance your ability to command your followers, such as the much-advertised canine companion. You can also use Charisma perks to improve your homestead, building supply lines and on-site stores.

1. Cap Collector – Buying and selling prices at vendors are now much better. (3 Ranks)
2. Lady Killer – You're charming… and dangerous. Women suffer +5% damage in combat, and are easier to persuade in dialogue. (3 Ranks)
3. Lone Wanderer – Who needs friends, anyway? When adventuring without a companion, you take 15% less damage and carry weight increases by 50. (3 Ranks)
4. Attack Dog – Your faithful canine companion can hold an enemy, giving you a greater chance to hit them in V.A.T.S. (3 Ranks)
5. Animal Friend – Commune with beasts! With your gun, aim at any animal below your level and gain a chance to pacify it. (3 Ranks)
6. Local Leader – As the ruler everyone turns to, you are able to establish supply lines between your workshop settlements. (2 Ranks)
7. Party Boy – Nobody has a good time like you! There's no chance you'll get addicted to alcohol. (3 Ranks)
8. Traditional – Because you lead by example, your companion does more damage in combat, and cannot hurt you. (3 Ranks)
9. Wasteland Whisperer – Master the post-apocalypse! With your gain, aim at any Wasteland creature below your level and gain a chance to pacify it. (3 Ranks)
10. Intimidation – Time to show everyone who's boss! With your gun, aim at any human opponent below your level and gain a chance to pacify them. (3 Ranks)

Intelligence

Intelligence primarily increases the amount of EXP you gain from performing actions in the wasteland, allowing you to level up faster. Intelligence perks pertain to crafting, hacking computers and even robots, turning them into your allies. The highest perk allows you to become enraged at low health, slowing down time and increasing your damage dealt.

1. V.A.N.S. – Let Vault-Tec guide you! The path to your closest quest target is displayed in V.A.T.S. (1 Ranks)
2. Medic – Stimpaks now restore 60% of lost Health, and RadAway removes 60% of radiation. (4 Ranks)
3. Gun Nut – Shoot first, kill first, with access to base level and Rank 1 gun mods. (4 Ranks)
4. Hacker – Knowledge of cutting-edge computer encryption allows you to hack Advanced terminals. (4 Ranks)
5. Scrapper – Waste not, want not! You can salvage uncommon components like screws, aluminum, and copper when scrapping weapons and armor. (2 Ranks)
6. Science! – Take full advantage of advanced technology with access to base level and Rank 1 high-tech mods. (4 Ranks)
7. Chemist – Any chems you take last 50% longer. Far out. (4 Ranks)
8. Robotics Expert – Machines will always serve humans, if you have anything to say about it. Hack a robot, and gain a chance to power it on or off, or initiate a self-destruct. (3 Ranks)
9. Nuclear Physicist – You've learned to split the atom… and command it. Radiation weapons do 50% more damage and Fusion Cores last an extra 25% longer. (3 Ranks)
10. Nerd Rage – Genius. Is. ANGRY! When your Health drops below 20%, time slows and you gain +20 Damage Resistance and do 20% more damage while the effect lasts. (3 Ranks)

Agility

Agility enhances the frequency you can use V.A.T.S. targeting system, and also grants bonuses to sneaking. Perks tied to Agility increase your abilities with one-handed, silenced weapons, and also increase your damage while attacking from stealth.

1. Gunslinger – Channel the spirit of the Old West! Non-automatic pistols do 20% more damage. (5 Ranks)
2. Commando – Your automatic weapons now do 40% more damage, and improved hip fire accuracy. (5 Ranks)
3. Sneak – Become whisper, become shadow. You are 20% harder to detect while sneaking. (5 Ranks)
4. Mister Sandman – As an agent of death itself, you can instantly kill a sleeping person. Your silenced weapons do an additional 15% sneak damage. (3 Ranks)
5. Action Boy – There's no time to waste! Your Action Points regenerate 25% faster. (2 Ranks)
6. Moving Target – They can't hurt what they can't hit! Get +25 Damage Resistance and +25 Energy Resistance when you're sprinting. (3 Ranks)
7. Ninja – Trained as a shadow warrior, your ranged sneak attacks do 2.5x normal damage and your melee sneak attacks do 4x normal damage. (3 Ranks)
8. Quick Hands – In combat, there's no time to hesitate. You can reload all guns faster. (2 Ranks)
9. Blitz – Find the gap and make the tackle! V.A.T.S. melee distance is increased significantly. (2 Ranks)
10. Gun-Fu – You've learned to apply ancient martial arts to gunplay! Do 25% more damage to your second V.A.T.S. target and beyond. (3 Ranks)

Luck

Luck governs the frequency of critical hits, which deal increased damage. It also gives you a higher chance to find quality items when looting containers throughout the wasteland. Some of the Luck perks include further bonuses to crit chance, but also additional bonuses that occur at random.

1. Fortune Finder – You find even more bottle caps in containers (3 Ranks)
2. Scrounger – You find even more ammunition in containers. (4 Ranks)
3. Bloody Mess – You now inflict +10% damage in combat. (4 Ranks)
4. Mysterious Stranger – Who is he? Why does he help? Who cares! The Mysterious Stranger will appear occasionally in V.A.T.S. to lend a hand, with deadly efficiency. (3 Ranks)
5. Idiot Savant – You're not stupid! Just… different. Randomly receive 3x XP from any action, and the lower your intelligence, the greater the chance. (3 Ranks)
6. Better Criticals – Advanced training for enhanced combat effectiveness! Criticals do 50% more damage. (3 Ranks)
7. Critical Banker – You're a patient battlefield tactician, and can save a Critical Hit, to be used in V.A.T.S. when you need it most. (3 Ranks)
8. Grim Reaper's Sprint – Death becomes you! Any kill in V.A.T.S. has a 15% chance to restore all Action Points. (2 Ranks)
9. Four Leaf Clover – Feeling lucky? You should! Each hit in V.A.T.S. has a chance of filling your Critical meter. (5 Ranks)
10. Ricochet – What goes around, comes around! An enemy's ranged attack will sometimes ricochet back and instantly kill them. The closer you are to death, the higher the chance. (3 Ranks)

What you need to know

• Fallout: London is an extensive mod for Fallout 4 that has been in development since 2019 by Team FOLON. 
• Taking place in the U.K, this mod is set between the events of Fallout and Fallout 2, and its main map is roughly the size of Fallout 4's Commonwealth. 
• The release date of Fallout: London is being pushed back due to the upcoming launch of Fallout 4's current-generation update. 
• This delay is to ensure compatibility with the latest official version of Fallout 4.

There's a bit of unfortunate news for anyone looking forward to one of the biggest mods yet for Fallout 4. 

Team FOLON, the developers of the upcoming Fallout: London mod, shared on Saturday that the launch of the mod is being pushed back indefinitely. The decision to delay the mod's release from its intended April 23, 2024 launch date is due to the arrival of the Fallout 4 current-generation update from Bethesda Game Studios, which is coming just two days later on April 25, 2024. 

Because this update for Fallout 4 is bringing a number of bug fixes and improvements, it's possible that it could change how certain things work, rendering some mods more unstable or keeping them from working at all. As a result, Team FOLON has opted to delay the update in order to ensure that the things which break due to the update can be fixed. 

When will Fallout: London be released?

Fallout: London no longer has an exact release date. In addition to complications from needing to ensure compatibility once the big current-generation update arrives, the install size of the mod — it's somewhere between 30 to 40GB — means that it can't be released on Xbox Series X|S or PlayStation 5, and will only be available on Windows PC. 

Finding a host for such a large file size is also causing problems, but the team is having conversations with GOG, and appear to have a path forward for providing the mod to anyone that owns Fallout 4 through Steam, GOG, or hopefully the Epic Games Store. 

Because the team doesn't know the extent of the fixes that will be needed, an exact release window can't be provided. It might be just a few days, or it could be a couple of months.

Analysis: An unfortunate but obvious decision

While I know this news will be disappointing to anyone who has been looking forward to this mod (including myself!) it's not shocking news. Updates means things change, and with Bethesda games, that means mods need extra work to ensure they work. The Fallout: London development team is talented — to the point that Bethesda previously hired their lead writer — and I'm sure they'll get this done as quickly as humanly possible.

In the meantime, if you're looking to get a Fallout fix a different way, there is a franchise-wise sale right now with all the games and DLC deeply discounted. Combined with the well-received Fallout TV series (read my review here), this has caused a player count resurgence for the entire franchise.

What you need to know

• Update: Emil Pagliarulo has posted a follow-up thread to the original reveal, walking back what was originally said and stating that "not every bit of Fallout info I share is automatically canon." His complete statement can be found below.
• Bethesda studio design director and Fallout 4 designer and writer Emil Pagliarulo has revealed a new connection between Fallout 4 and Interplay Entertainment's original Fallout game from 1997.
• Specifically, it's been confirmed that the soldier seen laughing as another executes a prisoner of war in Fallout's opening cutscene is Nate, Fallout 4's male playable character.
• In that scene, the execution was shown in a US-controlled propaganda news broadcast, in which it was said that "our dedicated boys keep the peace in newly annexed Canada."

Update 4/13/24 @ 2:25 p.m. PT / 5:25 p.m. ET: Bethesda studio design director Emil Pagliarulo has posted a new statement in a thread on X (Twitter) about the new Fallout 4 lore, walking it back and noting that "not every bit of Fallout info I share is automatically canon." Here are his full comments:

"Oof. I wanted to share what I thought was a cool Fallout tidbit without realizing how divisive it might be. I should have. I get dumb when I get excited…and I get excited a lot. Not every bit of Fallout info I share is automatically canon. Nate is NOT a war criminal!

When you're world and character building, you have a LOT of head canon. You're always sorting ideas. Early on, we talked about that being Nate, in that video. He had been through hell as a soldier. Every day was another unknown horror. This was one of them.

So, internally, it was a cool nod to OG Fallout and a way to fictionally frame the character. It wasn't shared with the player because it was never meant to be who YOU think Nate is. For a player, Nate's soldier past is whatever you think it is. THAT is canon."

Original article: All the entries in the Fallout franchise have memorable intros that set the stage for the post-apocalyptic RPG experience their players are about to jump into, but to me, none are as striking as the one from the game that started it all: Interplay Entertainment's 1997 RPG, Fallout. Its opening cutscene begins with the melancholic melody of The Ink Spots' "Maybe" and a short, cheerful ad for Vault-Tec's nuclear bunkers that cuts to an unsettling state-controlled news broadcast in which two power armor-clad US soldiers "keep the peace in newly annexed Canada" by executing a prisoner of war, then laugh and wave at the camera before comically large "BUY WAR BONDS" text flashes and the camera starts to zoom out. Soon, it's revealed that these commercials were playing on a TV from before the "Great War"; and as the last of its power as well as The Ink Spots' notes fades away, the viewer is left with nothing but the harrowing sight of a destroyed city and the eerie sound of the howling wind.

It's a shocking scene that instantly conveys the dark tone and humor of Fallout, as well as its distinctly anti-imperialist and anti-war themes. Now, though, we've learned something new about it: it has a direct connection to Fallout 4, the fourth mainline sequel to the original game released by Bethesda Game Studios in 2015. Specifically, it's been revealed that Fallout 4's male player character, a soldier named Nate, was one of the troops who killed the man in the propaganda broadcast. Bethesda's studio design director and Fallout 4 writer and designer Emil Pagliarulo announced this on Saturday morning amid all the hype for the new Fallout TV show.

"Given the great vibes recently, and the millions of amazing Fallout fans (that's you!) I feel like the time is right to finally share an unknown link between Fallout 1 and Fallout 4," he wrote on X (Twitter), sharing relevant screenshots. "Remember the Fallout 1 opening movie? Annexation of Canada? SAME. GUY. (No, NOT the shooter!)"

This new tidbit of lore explicitly makes Nate complicit to a war crime, and is quite a dark addition to a backstory I always thought of as pretty neutral and morally ambiguous. Fallout 4's intro simply portrays Nate as a soldier afraid of the looming war between the US and China that would eventually engulf the world in nuclear fire — and if you ask me, the fact we didn't know anything more about his character was a good thing since he's the "blank slate" vehicle for our post-apocalyptic roleplaying.

Ultimately, I just don't see the point of this connection. Pagliarulo says that "the TV show perfectly illustrates that inherently good people, especially in the Fallout universe, can do some pretty shitty things to adapt and survive," which is a point I wholeheartedly agree with; what makes me raise an eyebrow is that Nate's laughter indicates he enjoyed the execution he was a part of, and didn't just stand by because he was ordered to. I suppose he could have been commanded to chuckle for the sake of the propaganda, but...meh.

For someone like me who takes the character roleplaying aspect of RPGs pretty seriously, this makes it harder to shape a story for "my Nate" unless I choose to ignore his backstory and pretend he's someone else. And hey, I'm happy to do that — the "Start Me Up" Alternate Start mod has had a permanent spot in my load orders for years — but it's a bit annoying this new connection affects how I perceive the vanilla character. Good thing I usually play as his wife Nora, anyway.

Notably, the surprise drop of this lore came days after the debut of Amazon's Fallout TV show, which has received universal acclaim from fans and critics alike (don't miss our review). Its popularity has led to a Fallout player count resurgence across all the games, and if you've never played them, there's a franchise-wise sale going on you can take advantage of from now until April 21. Fallout 4 is also getting a free next-gen update later in April, so you've got that to look forward to if you're planning to head back to the Commonwealth or step out of Vault 111 into it for the first time.

It's worth noting that every Fallout game other than Fallout 4 VR is also available to play through Xbox Game Pass, which is Microsoft's all-you-can-eat gaming subscription service. Interplay's Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel are only available on PC and PC Game Pass, while the rest of series is on Xbox and PC and both the console and PC versions of the service; with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you'll get access to everything on both platforms.

What you need to know

• Fallout is a video game franchise that first started in 1997 by Interplay and acquired by ZeniMax Media's Bethesda Softworks in 2007. 
• Every Fallout game is currently seeing increased player counts on Steam, with multiple titles becoming best-sellers on Steam and GOG. 
• This resurgence is thanks to a number of promotions and sales, as well as the launch of  a well-received Fallout TV show on Prime Video. 

A well-timed show and some sales have given a shot of adrenaline to a big Xbox franchise. 

The Fallout series is having a resurgence right now, with increased player counts across every game in the franchise. According to SteamDB, which tracks player counts, price history, and more for Steam games, Bethesda Game Studios' Fallout 4 is currently being played by over 53,000 concurrent players. 

While a far cry from the game's all time peak — Fallout 4 reached 472,000 concurrent players on Steam shortly nine years ago — this is still a huge increase over the recent norm, as Fallout 4 had been averaging around 18,000 to 20,000 players for the last few years. 

A similar story can be seen with every other Fallout game. The team's multiplayer entry Fallout 76, which usually has over 10,000 players on Steam, has gone up to 26,000 players. Fallout 3 (which first launched back in 2008) has gone from an average of 500 players to 3,600. Obsidian Entertainment's 2010 entry, Fallout: New Vegas, usually averaged 3,000 to 4,000 players but is now over 11,000 concurrent players.

Why is the Fallout series seeing a resurgence?

This player resurgence across the Fallout games has a couple of different factors, with one of the biggest being the recent launch of the Fallout TV series on Prime Video. The series has been well-received — you can read my review right now — with praise toward the original story and respect for the source material. 

Outside of the show drumming up interest, there's also a franchise-wide sale right now. You can grab Fallout 4 on Steam for just $5, with Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas available for half that. Fallout 76 has a free trial right now, and a long-awaited current-generation update for Fallout 4 is arriving on April 25 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 players.

Of course, as an Xbox series thanks to Microsoft buying Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media, the Fallout games are also available in Xbox Game Pass.

Do TV show adaptions usually boost game sales and player counts?

We've seen evidence in the past that a well-received TV adaption of a game franchise has a synergistic effect, with a game receiving new and returning players thanks to newfound interest because of the show. 

After The Last of Us HBO show launched in January 2023, game sales saw a significant increase, with The Last of Us Part 1 and The Last of Us Part 2 becoming the sixth and eighteenth best-selling games of February 2023 in the U.S, respectively. Prior to that, the release of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime on Netflix helped boost sales of Cyberpunk 2077. 

Analysis: It's a great time to set the world on fire

It's a great time to get back into Fallout (or hop in for the first time), and anecdotally, I know plenty of people who are double-dipping and buying the games on sale again right now. I'll personally be jumping back into Fallout 4 when the update arrives, and I might even have to spend more time in Fallout 76 after that. 

In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more about the creation of the Fallout TV series, you can check out my interview with creator Jonathan Nolan, as well as the showrunners and some of the cast. 

What you need to know

• Bethesda Game Studios has been working on a current-generation update for its 2015 game Fallout 4 for some time. 
• The free update is now slated to arrive on April 25, 2024, and will be available for all players on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, or PlayStation 5.
• Console players will benefit from Quality and Performance modes, while everyone gets a bevy of bug fixes, Creation Club content, and more.

The Commonwealth is finally getting upgraded. 

The current-generation update for Fallout 4, which was first announced back in 2022, is slated to launch on April 25, 2024, as shared by Bethesda Game Studios on Thursday. This update brings native Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 support for the game, with console players able to choose between a 60 FPS performance mode and a quality mode with increased visual fidelity.

Meanwhile, Windows PC players can expect official Ultrawide support, as well as a number of fixes for the Fallout 4 Creation Kit. Fallout 4 is also coming to the Epic Games Store, and will be officially Steam Deck verified. All players, regardless of platform, will benefit from bug fixes and new Creation Club content. 

Enclave Remnants arrive in Fallout 4

As part of the free update, Bethesda Game Studios is including some new and previously-released Creation Club content on all platforms. This includes a new quest where players will be tasked with stopping Enclave remnants from building back up in the Commonwealth. 

There's also a new Halloween Workshop pack, which does exactly what it sounds like, providing 38 Halloween-themed decorations to use when building and customizing settlements. Finally, there's the Makeshift Weapon Pack, which adds a variety of eclectic improvised weapons to choose from. You can see the full list of Creation Club content that's being included below:

• New quest - “Echoes of the Past”
• Workshop items
• Enclave Colonel uniform
• Enclave Weapon Skins
• Enclave Armor Skins
• Tesla Cannon
• Hellfire Power Armor
• X-02 Power Armor
• Heavy Incinerator
• Makeshift Weapon Pack
• Halloween Workshop - 38 new decorations

Fallout 4 is currently available on Xbox, PlayStation, and Windows PC. It's also included in Xbox Game Pass.

Analysis: Good timing for a great update

This update has been a long time in the making, but I'm glad it's finally almost here. I'll definitely be diving back in and giving more of my life to Fallout 4 soon. Between Fallout 4 and Starfield, I'm never going to escape. What a great problem to have, right? While I know the delays were annoying to many, this timing does work out, as it comes just shortly after the arrival of the Fallout TV series on Prime Video. The acclaim of the show is no doubt going to push more players to check this franchise out for the first time.

In my review of the Fallout TV series, I wrote that "Fallout represents some of the best of what game-to-TV adaptions can offer, carrying forward the look, action, and ideas of the iconic franchise while providing multiple viewpoints in a season that'll leave fans and newcomers alike wanting more."

In the months following its release, Fallout 4 became the first console game to ever support modding — and ever since the arrival of that functionality, talented community figures have released thousands of high-quality mods for the title that improve or change every facet of the experience. Due to the sheer volume of Fallout 4 Xbox mods available, though, it's tough to figure out which ones are actually worth installing, and you have to be a bit selective since the Xbox version of the game has a 2GB size limit for mod add-ons.

Fear not, though, because we're here with a comprehensive list of the best mods you can get for Fallout 4 on Xbox today, just in time for everyone jumping in to play the RPG after watching the new Fallout TV show. Whether you want to make Fallout 4 more performance-friendly, overhaul the game's visuals, or add in advanced new gameplay features, you'll find something you love on this list.

Note that any mods requiring other mods, additional content, or Fallout 4's DLC expansions will say so. Also, you'll need to a make a Bethesda account to access mods, which you can do in-game. Don't forget that achievements are disabled while using mods, either.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Fallout 4's new next-gen update may interfere with your ability to install mods, and may have also broken some of the ones listed here. Make sure to check the description of every mod you're planning to install to see if their author has additional information about how the patch affected its functionality.

Is Fallout London on Xbox?

The hottest mod right now for Fallout 4 is the gigantic Fallout London, which is essentially the size of a standalone game. However, if you were hoping to play it on Xbox, you'll sadly be disappointed. At this time it is a PC only mod, and there are no current plans to bring it to console.

Performance mods

Some of the best Fallout 4 Xbox mods revolve around improving your direct gameplay experience. These mods are designed to improve your in-game performance, which is something that will prove helpful for users of the original Xbox One console in particular. Fallout 4 is (notoriously) on the buggy side, and frame rate drops are common. Thankfully, these mods will help mitigate these issues substantially.

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch

If there's only one mod you download from this list, make sure it's the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch. This incredible mod fixes hundreds of bugs that are present in the latest version of Fallout 4, including issues related to NPCs, quests, graphics, in-game scripts, AI pathfinding, and everything between. Whether you want to play vanilla Fallout 4 without tons of bugs or you want to heavily mod your game, and you need it to be as stable as possible, this mod is a must-have.

Optimized Vanilla Textures

A great way to boost your frame rate is to install Optimized Vanilla Textures, which optimizes Fallout 4's default textures so that they load and unload more smoothly and are less taxing on your console. Unlike other performance texture mods that lower the quality of Fallout 4's textures, this one simply makes what's already there run better. This allows you to get a big FPS boost without losing any visual fidelity.

Disable God Rays

The Disable God Rays mod turns off all god rays in the game, which can have a surprisingly large impact on performance. In some areas in the Commonwealth, having god rays off improves FPS by 10-15 frames. The mod author also made a patch that disables god rays in the Far Harbor DLC as well.

Reduced Grass Density

Another great performance-focused mod is Reduced Grass Density, which removes 50% of the grass in Fallout 4 and also gets rid of miscellaneous debris on the ground. This helps improve FPS as well as load times. There are a few different versions of the mod as well; the one we linked above is the medium version, but there's a full version (removes all grass) and a lite version (just removes debris). There's also a patch for Far Harbor.

Benrierimanu's PRP Lite series

I won't get into the weeds of its technical details, but know that the PRP Lite series of mods drastically improves performance in several of Fallout 4's most infamously taxing locations, including Concord, the Boston Commons, Boston Airport, Financial District, and the Corvega Assembly Plant. Make sure you read the mod descriptions and use the versions of each mod that are compatible with the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch.

Workshop Framework

Workshop Framework improves the overall stability and flow of building settlements with Fallout 4's Workshop mode, as it fixes several bugs and speeds up Workshop scripts. If you're planning on doing lots of Workshop builds, this is a must-have.

Graphics mods

When it comes to overhauling Fallout 4's graphics, your options are somewhat limited due to the fact that most modders prefer developing graphics mods for the PC version of the game. However, there are still a handful of excellent graphics mods available on Xbox, and with them your Fallout 4 will look leagues ahead of the vanilla game.

Vivid Fallout

Arguably Fallout 4's most popular texture overhaul across all platforms, Vivid Fallout is truly something special. It adds countless new environmental textures to the Commonwealth that look significantly more detailed than the vanilla game's, and the impact they have on performance is next to nothing. Without a doubt, it's the best texture mod on Xbox consoles.

Natural & Atmospheric Commonwealth

While the Xbox One version of Fallout 4 will never receive the advanced ENB lighting overhaul mods that the PC version can handle, Natural & Atmospheric Commonwealth (NAC) is the next best thing. Featuring an incredibly immersive weather system, enhanced lighting, post-processing effects, and optional special effect filters, NAC is absolutely incredible. Paired with Vivid Fallout, NAC will make your Fallout 4 look amazing. Don't miss the Far Harbor and Nuka World add-ons for it.

True Grass + Grass Reworked

True Grass + Grass Reworked bundles two of Fallout 4's best grass mods together, with the former overhauling the Commonwealth's grass to improve its visual quality and make it appear more natural and the latter making the grass placement as close to the vanilla game's as possible.

Water Enhancement Textures

If you want the Commonwealth's bodies of water to look prettier, don't miss Water Enhancement Textures. It adds more detailed water surface textures and also adds in new splash and foam effects for when you go for a swim in-game.

Enhanced Blood Textures

Fallout has always been on the gory side, so let's make all that blood look better with Enhanced Blood Textures. The mod's various different options for color and spatter size make it a fan-favorite, as do the fancy new visual effects it adds for different kinds of wounds you and NPCs can suffer in combat.

Blood Mist Overhaul

An excellent companion mod to Enhanced Blood Textures is Blood Mist Overhaul, which transforms Fallout 4's cartoony on-hit blood spray into an effect that looks much cleaner and more natural. Make sure it's loaded after EBT in your load order.

Wasteland Creatures Redone

Wasteland Creatures Redone is a retexture mod for the beasts and monsters that you fight throughout the Commonwealth. If you've ever wanted ghouls and deathclaws to look even grosser than usual, this is the mod for you.

KS Hairdos

KS Hairdos is a port of a popular PC mod that adds over 700 different hairstyles to Fallout 4, many of which are suitable for both male and female characters. The hair itself is also much better looking than the greasy hair textures from vanilla Fallout 4, too.

Valkyr Female Face Textures

Valkyr Female Face Textures makes all of the women in Fallout 4 have cleaner, higher resolution textures, resulting in better quality. Sadly, there's no male equivalent, but hopefully that will change one day. You'll need to install this patch in order for the mod to work properly as well.

Seasons: Winter

If you're looking to completely change up how the Commonwealth looks, Seasons: Winter is a phenomenal option. At its core, this mod adds snow to terrain and trees within Fallout 4 in order to make it seem like the Commonwealth is experiencing winter weather. There are companion mods as well that allow you to add snow textures to roofs, roads, sidewalks, and rocks — all of these can be found in the mod's description. There's one that adds snowy weather as well, but we recommend using Natural & Atmospheric Commonwealth instead since it has nicer looking weather. Additionally, this mod can be used with Vivid Fallout, but you'll need to make sure that Seasons: Winter is above Vivid Fallout in your load order.

Improved Hit VFX

Getting injured in Fallout 4 can feel underwhelming sometimes to the point where you don't feel like you're taking damage until it's too late. With the Improved Hit VFX, you can be fully immersed in the chaotic combat of Fallout 4 with more realistic blood effects VFX and configurable shaky-cam VFX inspired by the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series.

Gameplay mods

These mods change the core gameplay experience of Fallout 4, either by altering existing mechanics and items or by adding in new ones. These mods are a great choice if you're looking to spice things up in a new playthrough.

Start Me Up Redux

The fact Fallout 4 forces you to play as the concerned parent of a kidnapped child puts quite a few limitations on your overall roleplaying freedom, which is why the Start Me Up Redux alternate start mod has become one I'll never play the game without. It allows you to spawn into the Commonwealth with a customizable backstory, with various different options for starting level and gear. It also makes tweaks to the story so the game doesn't reference the fact you're Nate or Nora, which is awesome.

Fallout 2287: Nuclear Winter

We're kicking things off with a mod that completely changes how Fallout 4 plays: Fallout 2287: Nuclear Winter. This mod makes the Commonwealth extremely cold and forces you to keep tabs on your temperature, lest you get hypothermia and freeze to death. You can fight off the chills by staying close to fires, eating hot food, and wearing warm clothing. We recommend pairing this mod with Seasons: Winter for ultimate immersion.

Take Cover

Take Cover lets you, well, take cover. You can crouch down and hug solid objects like NPCs do in firefights, and you can also vault over them if they're low enough if you want to try and take foes by surprise.

Everyone's Best Friend

In vanilla Fallout 4, Dogmeat — your canine companion, and the goodest boy — can't travel with you if you choose to bring along another follower like Piper. That's a shame, but we can fix that with the Everyone's Best Friend mod. With it installed, you'll be able to adventure around The Commonwealth with both Dogmeat and a "regular" companion in tow.

Full Dialogue Interface

Most fans don't like vanilla Fallout 4's "dialogue wheel" (if it can even be called that). This is because it only offered a vague hint at what your character would say in conversations, instead of making the contents of your responses clear. Full Dialogue Interface replaces the wheel with a traditional dialogue menu like the older Fallout games.

Armorsmith Extended

One of the most annoying parts about Fallout 4 is that you can't wear armor plates over most of the outfits in the game, and you can't wear helmets and face coverings at the same time either. Armorsmith Extended fixes those problems, and it also adds crafting benches that allow you to craft every piece of armor in the vanilla game whenever you want. Make sure to install AWCKR first, as this mod requires it.

Survival Options

Survival Options allows you to tweak various settings for Fallout 4's Survival mode. Whether you want to make it even more difficult than it already is or make Survival a little less stressful, this mod gives you the power you desire.

Cheat Terminal

Cheat Terminal is the closest thing Xbox One players will ever have to PC console commands, as the mod allows you to turn on god mode, give yourself infinite ammo, make your weapons do insane amounts of damage, and more. Go ahead, cheat — we promise we won't judge.

Melee Hold Block

The default blocking function in the vanilla version of Fallout 4 can be pretty unreliable when dealing with a horde of monsters that rush you down as it only guards you for a couple of seconds. However, with the Melee Hold Block mod, you can now hold the block button to keep your guard up for as long as you want to block incoming attacks and not worry about timing your blocks ever again.

The Wild Wasteland

The Wild Wasteland mod is a mod that recreates the wild and wacky effects of the 'Wild Wasteland' trait from Fallout New Vegas. When you install this mod (and without going into spoilers), you will encounter random events during your playthrough that range from strange distractions to insane incidents that make you question if you what just witnessed was real or a drug-induced hallucination.

Settler and Companion Dialogue Overhaul

The Settler and Companion Dialogue Overhaul mod reworks the dialogue of NPC settlers and companions with over 1,600 new voice lines of dialogue so they'll have more things to say instead of repeating the same dozen or so lines in the vanilla version.

On top of that, some of your companions will now offer extra lore-friendly repeatable quests so you can learn more about them.

Beast Master: Creature Companion Overhaul

Beast Master: Creature Companion Overhaul is a mod that allows the player to tame various creatures and monsters of Fallout 4 and have them become companions similar in function to Dogmeat. In addition, this mod will allow you to name your pets, equip them with saddlebags that can store your items, and even command them to scavenge for items or attack enemies.

So if you ever wanted to have a pet Deathclaw and sic it on Super Mutants and other bad guys ruining your day, then this mod is for you.

Settlement mods

Fallout 4's settlement base-building system was a huge hit with most Fallout fans, but the vanilla mechanics are lacking in a few ways. These mods add cool features to the settlement system and help make it more intuitive to use.

Sim Settlements and Sim Settlements 2

At its most basic level, Sim Settlements allows you to place down plots for settlers to build structures on. You won't need to build them houses, farms, defenses, or stores anymore — they'll do it themselves! Additionally, Sim Settlements also comes with more advanced options that allow you to have settlers build cities while you're away, and the recent Conqueror expansion even lets you play the bad guy and try to take over these cities like a raider.

Note that there's also a sequel, Sim Settlements 2, which rebuilds the original mod from the ground up with improved code, a better HUD, more options, and a story questline with various opportunities for roleplay. The first release is simpler and what I'd recommend if you don't want anything too crazy, but definitely use the sequel instead if you'd prefer something with maximum depth. Note that they're not compatible with each other, so you can't use both mods at once.

Clean the Commonwealth

If you're frustrated by the fact that not every object in settlements can be scrapped, give Clean the Commonwealth a try. It makes many objects that were previously baked into the Fallout 4 world removable, giving you more space and freedom to build the settlement of your dreams.

Settlement Supplies Expanded

Settlement Supplies Expanded adds hundreds of new objects to the settlement building menu, allowing you to create much more detailed and diverse areas. This is the mod for people who like to meticulously decorate their settlements and make them feel as immersive as possible.

Place Anywhere

Place Anywhere gives you the freedom to place your objects wherever you want in your settlement, including in midair or outside of the settlement's borders. This will help builders who were frustrated with the limitations of the vanilla game's placement mechanics.

No Build Limit

Essentially, No Build Limit makes it possible to put as many objects in a settlement as you want without worrying about the vanilla game's build limit. This mod is perfect for folks who want to make massive settlements.

Conquest - Build New Settlements and Camping

The Conquest mod allows players to build settlements and make camp almost everywhere in Fallout 4, no matter how treacherous the terrain may be. You can build small campsites while on the road to cook food, sleep to recharge, or simply rest. Afterward, you can either pack up your campsite to continue your journey or expand it into a fully functional settlement by installing a Workbench next to it via the Workshop menu.

Adventure awaits in The Commonwealth

Fallout 4 is already great in vanilla, but by installing all the mods listed here, you'll have an even better time in Bethesda's RPG. With them, you'll get significantly better performance, a much, much better visual presentation, lots of nifty gameplay additions, and some major improvements for the Workshop and settlement-building mechanics.

You'll also have plenty of headroom with your 2GB size limit to install additional mods if you'd like to. I kept this list relatively "Vanilla+" since not everybody wants to completely transform their Fallout 4 with larger, crazier mods, but if experiencing it in some radically different ways sounds fun to you, definitely spend some time scrolling through the in-game Mods tab or checking out our list of the best Fallout 4 PC mods. Oh, and don't miss our roundup of the best Skyrim: Special Edition Xbox One mods if you're a fan of Skyrim.

Note that Fallout 4 itself, along with all the other games in the series, can be played on Xbox and PC through Xbox Game Pass. The game often goes on sale, too, so keep an eye out for discounts on the Microsoft Store, Steam, Green Man Gaming, and other retailers.

What you need to know

• Back in 2022, Bethesda Game Studios shared that it was working on an upgrade for Fallout 4 on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.
• In addition to dedicated performance and quality modes, the upgrade is going to include Creation Club content and a number of additional bug fixes. 
• While the Fallout 4 upgrade was originally meant to launch in 2023, Bethesda confirmed it will now be arriving in 2024. 
• The Fallout show on Amazon Prime Video is also coming in 2024.

We'll be waiting a bit longer for an upgraded return to radioactive Boston. 

Bethesda Game Studios shared on Wednesday that Fallout 4's current-generation upgrade is being delayed out of 2023. 

"We know you're excited, and so are we! But we need a bit more time and look forward to an exciting return to the Commonwealth in 2024," the team says. 

Fallout 4's upgrade was first announced back in October 2022. It's set to include proper performance and quality modes on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, as well as bug fixes and Creation Club content on consoles and Windows PC, similar to the release of Skyrim Anniversary Edition. 

What else is Bethesda Game Studios working on right now?

In addition to continued work on the upcoming Fallout 4 upgrade, Bethesda Game Studios is providing continued support on its recent science-fiction role-playing game Starfield, with official mod tools and other features on the way next year. Bethesda has also been collaborating with Amazon's Prime Video division on the Fallout TV show, which is slated to launch on April 12, 2024. Of course, in addition to continued support and other projects, Bethesda is working on The Elder Scrolls 6, though this game is years away. 

Analysis: An obvious delay

When we reached December, it was pretty obvious the Fallout 4 patch wasn't going to arrive in 2023. It's disappointing, but I understand needing more time, especially considering Bethesda Game Studios is one of the few gaming teams with unionized quality assurance workers. 

I'd be willing to bet the plan is now for the upgrade to coincide with the launch of the Fallout show, providing some TV-gaming synergy for the brand. The Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2 saw a surge in sales following the HBO show's premiere earlier this year, as did Cyberpunk 2077 with the Edgerunners anime on Netflix. 

What you need to know

• One of the funniest gun-related gags in The Simpsons is a moment in Season 30's "Daddicus Finch" episode where a revolver is bizarrely loaded with a magazine.
• This "magazine revolver" has been added to Fallout 4 thanks to a new gun mod called "Simpson's Gun." 
• The weapon can be customized with multiple attachments seen in the show's "The Cartridge Family" episode, and even has cartoonish cel shaded textures. In the future, the mod will be updated with more attachments and custom animations.
• The mod is currently only available for the PC version of the game, though an Xbox version could come later.

If you've ever spent time modding Fallout 4 or have at least looked through the game's Nexus Mods page, you'll be familiar with the massive number of gun mods fans have created over the years. Bethesda's 2015 action RPG doesn't exactly have an impressive arsenal of weapons compared to what was available in previous Fallout titles, so community members have taken it upon themselves to mod in everything from hyper-detailed "tacticool" firearms to tasteful lore-friendly guns and overhauls to vanilla ones.

Notably, the only type of weapon mod that isn't often seen on the Fallout 4 Nexus are joke ones, but user DeadPool2099 has recently uploaded one of the funniest meme gun mods I've ever seen. That mod is "Simpson's Gun," and it adds the gag revolver from The Simpsons that was hilariously loaded with a magazine during Season 30's "Daddicus Finch" episode.

In addition to the weapon having the same comical reload from the show, the Simpson's Gun mod also includes a variety of craftable attachments based on the ones seen in "The Cartridge Family" episode in Season 9. This currently includes a silencer, a "loudener," and even the barrel attachment "for shooting down police helicopters." In the future, DeadPool2099 also has plans to add the holster, bandolier, and "speed cocker" seen during the episode, as well as custom animations (it currently uses Fallout 4's vanilla 10mm Pistol ones).

My favorite thing about the mod, though, is that the gun even has a cartoonish cel shaded look that makes it look like it came right out of the show. As a result, it sticks out like sore thumb in the post-apocalyptic setting of Fallout 4, which greatly adds to the comedy.

The mod can be downloaded here, and is best installed using an up-to-date mod manager like Vortex or Mod Organizer 2. Unfortunately, it's currently only available on the Windows PC version of Fallout 4, but there's always a chance that the Simpson's Gun mod will make its way to Xbox at some point in the future. There are also plenty of amazing Fallout 4 Xbox mods out there, so there's no shortage of community creations for console users to enjoy.

Fallout 4 is one of the best PC games on the market if you're a fan of game modding, and there are tons of mods you can get for it on Xbox, too. While it's not often thought of as the best Fallout game, the 2015 action RPG is nevertheless enjoyable and definitely worth a pickup. It's also available on Xbox Game Pass, so if you're a subscriber, you can jump in right away.

Despite being one of this generation's most popular titles, Fallout 4 isn't without its flaws. One of the criticisms of the game was that it lacked strong writing, and this is easiest to see when choosing a faction. While interesting conceptually, the factions don't have much depth. The Minutemen are the "good guys", the Railroad are nearly identical to them, and the Institute are unquestionably evil — pretty bland, overall.

However, the Brotherhood of Steel is different. Unlike the other groups, their quest line is full of interesting themes and hard choices. Due to this, the Brotherhood is the only faction to side with in post-apocalyptic Commonwealth of Massachusetts that makes you critically think.

Read: Fallout 4 review

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Moral grayness

When the Brotherhood arrives in the Commonwealth, they make a promise to defend the people living there from threats like feral ghouls, super mutants, and the Institute and their synthetic (synth) soldiers. Should you choose to join them, you'll be doing these this firsthand for awhile; at this point, the Brotherhood are no different than the Minutemen or Railroad, who also wish to act as the Commonwealth's protectors.

However, things start to change as you progress further. Where the Minutemen and the Railroad try to be non-violent whenever possible, the Brotherhood shows its enemies no mercy. Regardless of whether or not super mutants or synths are hostile, the Brotherhood of Steel will kill them because they view them as permanent threats. There's a strong argument to be made both for and against the Brotherhood's ideology, which contrasts the rest of the game's factions being clearly "right and wrong".

A shocking twist

When it comes out that Paladin Danse, the soldier who guides the player as they rise through the ranks of the Brotherhood, is a synth himself, you are forced to make a decision: execute your friend and solidify your belief in the Brotherhood's tenets, or refuse and damage your reputation with them. In the minds of Brotherhood members, the mere existence of a synthetic being that can imitate humans is an affront to nature itself, and that being should thus be executed, even if they are allies.

There are valid reasons for this way of thinking. For example, the fact Paladin Danse himself wasn't even aware he was a synth means that the Institute implanted false memories into his head. This means they could have done other things, such as give him a "termination mode" that could be activated by signal. The risk of Danse potentially turning on his own comrades at any moment is real.

However, it could also be argued that even though synths are machines, their capability to love, befriend, and feel make them human. Does the material your body is made of matter when what makes you who you are is your heart and mind? Additionally, if Danse was going to be used by the Institute as a spy or an assassin, why hadn't they done it already?

This kind of deep thinking is unique to the Brotherhood, and that is ultimately why I think they're the best faction to choose in the game. They may not be the most morally upstanding of the bunch, but they are the most interesting. To me, that's what matters most.

Your thoughts

What do you think of the Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout 4? Let me know.

Fallout 4 is available on Xbox One and PC. Make sure to also check out our coverage on Fallout 76, which releases November 14.

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The aptly named H700 Nuka-Cola is a special version of the already solid H700 PC case from NZXT. The difference being design alterations to coincide with that of the Fallout universe. It's the latest entry in the company's CRFT line of custom themed products. Designed around the Nuca-Cola soft drink, which is found throughout the series of games, the case features some bright, bold red colors and small touches that can easily go unnoticed.

There's vintage-styled artwork on the outside of the case, alongside the aforementioned red color scheme. But it's not in mint quality (what is in the Fallout universe?) so you can expect to see some gunshots here and there as the case was taken by raiders from a nearby vault. As well as all the features of the H700 case, NZXT managed to work in a few extras inside the chassis, including Fallout-themed vents that make it look as though you're peering into a vault itself.

There's even a random Vault-Tec bobblehead figurine included with every case. As well as the new PC case, NZXT also created a custom all-metal Fallout cover for the company's N7 Z370 motherboard. Combining both together would make for quite the Fallout PC. To make this Nuca-Cola case even more special, NZXT is only releasing around 2,000 of them. As for the motherboard, only 400 will be out in the Wasteland.

The H700 Nuca-Cola case will retail for $299.99, and will be available in major markets this month. The same goes for the N7 Z370 motherboard cover, which will cost you $49.99. Fallout 76 is just around the corner, making now an ideal opportunity to prepare your PC for heading out of the vault with your assembled team. We'll be sure to let you all know when they're available for order.

Fallout 4 is a fairly large game — but one modder thought it could be even more. Between the core game and official DLC you can easily spend upwards of 200 hours in Fallout 4 exploring the wasteland and developing settlements. Modder Jshrapnelc apparently didn't believe was enough, so they developed a mod that's actually larger than the official expansions Bethesda has released. It's called Northern Springs and is a must-have mod for Fallout 4.

Available for free, the mod is constructed much like an official DLC from Bethesda, which tasks the player with picking up a quest in the Commonwealth that takes him (or her) to the icy wastelands in the north. The recommended level to hit the snow is 40 so it's certainly plausible to consider this additional end-game content. With more than 25 quests to complete, four new companions, 50 points of interest, three settlements, and two player homes to explore there's plenty to do here.

Winter is coming

Northern Springs even goes as far as to offer four new roles to help survivors make some caps on the side, including cage fighter, deathclaw hunter, book collector, and bounty hunter. With all this in mind and the possibility of meeting the Vault-Tec man who got me into Vault 111 from the get-go, I set off at level 36 because I'm hardcore and not a fan of laying around with my female lead to get her levels up a little. I want a challenge.

But boy, was the mod author not wrong with the level recommendation. Playing on survival, it wasn't going to be an easy ride regardless but Northern Springs is a dangerous place. It takes me back to the lands of Fallout: New Vegas where the game killed me off multiple times, albeit in a slightly different fashion. The included quests are a nice touch to break up the exploration of a new land, though some are a little rough around the edges and buggy, and opting to become a deathclaw hunter gave my character something to do.

The mod is certainly in its early days as numerous quests need tweaking, some characters need alterations and the sound levels need a little rebalancing — nearly blew my head off the battle music was that loud compared to the rest of the tracklist. Still, a mod that was developed by a single soul, it's commendable and is a vast new land for survivors to explore and interact with. It's not perfect and isn't near the level of polish one would expect from official content (though, it's Bethesda), time will make it a better experience.

The choice of music is also a little jarring to begin with. It's more synthwave than 40s, but did grow on me after some hours put into Northern Springs.

Heading north

If you do try and install the mod, it's in beta and the developer is working on any feedback and bug reports submitted by the community, so if you encounter anything that shouldn't be there, be sure to give them a heads up on Mod Nexus. We rounded up some of the best mods in Fallout 4 on PC, which you should check out if you want to add more than this mod alone.

Download Northern Springs for Fallout 4

Game modder SKK50 created a mod for Fallout 4 that allows you to experience Fallout 76 before it releases. This will not only remove all of your companions but add griefers and, yes, even random missile launches.

When I realized I had been playing this mod for 4 hours I decided I may have been having the time of my life. It got to a point where I had been defeated by the most ridiculous things over and over that I was laughing at myself while simultaneously raging. Yeah, this mod brings you right to the brink of that insanity and it's so fun.

How it works

After you download this mod a file will appear inside of your MISC inventory labeled "Fallout 4-76 Enable". To activate the mod all you have to do is open it up that Holotape from the Pip-Boy menu. You'll be met with a not so welcome message and a concise rundown of what you will experience.

It even plays the tune of "Country Roads" for you, which I loved. After enabling the mod that Holotape will then turn into configuration settings from your Pip-Boy.

Settings include things like changing the time of griefing spawns or how often Nukes will drop on you. I would ignore the options for taunting, griefer corpses or PlayerUndead. Turning any of these off will dull the experience that you could be having. Normal enemies in Fallout 4 taunt you during battle, so not having them makes things too quiet in my opinion.

You're probably going to experience a couple of glitches. In my video above I came across a live feral that had only its feet sticking out of the ground. After killing him, he did a little shimmy and then sunk into the ground. Rest in peace, little buddy. Since I experience Fallout 4 glitches on just the base parts of the game, I don't fault the modder for them happening. They happen just as frequently as they do without the mod, so there's no reason to shun it.

Turning your NPCs into Feral Ghouls

There are no raiders or angry scavengers in this mod. All of them have been replaced with ferals. But, you have the option to turn off NPCs being replaced by Feral Ghouls. This mod is going to remove NPCs from the game entirely anyway, so the only thing this option will do is make areas a little less lonely and a lot more deadly. With it on every town or settlement will have Ghouls inhabiting the area that you'll need to clear out but you have auto-access to any Workbench you come across.

So, don't let the fact that there are no NPCs scare you if you're looking to do a full run with this game. There are no quests. All doors and mechanics that once required an NPC to unlock are now open from the very beginning. Some of the quest grounds, like the Death Claw spawn that is supposed to be in the beginning, (shown in the video above) are just straight up removed.

Oh, look. It's Diamond City and the Old Church. Whats that? Ghouls instead of Guards or Minute Men? They're not even the "Of the people, for the people," kind. They straight up want to eat your face so make sure you shoot theirs first.

To be perfectly honest I would recommend you keep this selection on. It gives the game that much more of a "fresh apocalypse" feel to it that you're going to experience in Fallout 76 anyway. If you want to mess around with the nukes and the griefers you can turn this option off for easier gameplay.

This mod is the most fun I've had in Fallout in a long time

Even if you're not looking forward to Fallout 76, this mod is still an extraordinary amount of fun. The griefers level with you and that makes the difficulty of this mod work pretty well. If you're starting from the beginning, the griefers come out on "Noob" level difficulty, increasing in rank as you progress. As you see in the picture above being a higher level has you against the L33T enemies.

It's set up this way to give you the real-life feeling of a fresh apocalypse that Fallout 76 will be doing when it launches. Let's face it, at the start of the apocalypse there flat out aren't that many survivors. From the mouths of Bethesda themselves, "It's the apocalypse, not a theme park."

Want to emulate playing an MMO with your friends like you would with Fallout 76? No problem. Just go into the settings and turn your companion mode back on. Then grab your furry friend and try to take on the wastes together. What is a world without Dogmeat anyway?

All around, this is 100% worth the download and has only made me that much more excited for Fallout 76 to release. Did I mention the adorable notifications you get? You can see them in the video above. From "W00t boxes on sale now!" to "You shoot like a Radroach." It was a nice humorous touch I appreciated from the modder.

See for yourself and get ready for Fallout 76

You can find the Fallout 4/76 mod on the Nexus website, and the download instructions are super easy.

1. Download the mod through the manual downloads. You can find the download under the "files" tab on the website.
2. Create a folder on your desktop and label it "Mods."
3. Extract the download file to that folder.
4. Copy the three files inside of the folder.
5. Paste the files into your Fallout 4 Data folder. (Found: ComputerC:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout4\Data)
6. Load into your Fallout 4 game and select "Mods."
7. At the bottom, menu select "Load order."
8. Click the new mod so that it's selected with a check mark.
9. Go back to the main menu, it will reload, and then you can get right to having fun!

Pre-order Fallout 76 on Amazon

Download the Fallout 4/76 mod here!

Fallout is one of those game franchises that most everyone knows about and a few people treat as a religion. Fallout 4 is also one of the first AAA titles to see an honest-to-goodness VR client, which got a lot of folks nice and happy and maybe even a few went out and spent money on some hardware to play it. That's how a good relationship between partners is supposed to work; company A works with company B to get people excited to spend money. There's a problem this time though because Fallout 4 VR is pretty broken. That's not how it's supposed to work, not at all.

Don't get me wrong. It's no more broken than any other Fallout game. They all needed some serious fiddling around to get them from good to great ( I just finished "fixing" New Vegas last week!) but it matters more when you're as immersed in it as you are inside a VR headset. The good news is that's it's fixable. And you fix it the exact same way as you would the "flat", non-VR client.

Edit the .ini files

Fallout 4's engine depends on brute strength from your graphics card a little too much. The developers did a decent job pre-combining much of the scenery from thousands if tiny objects into a smaller number of larger objects in a lot of places, but when you are in certain areas of the map it's just not enough. When you add the extra horsepower you need to render it all in VR, it's a complete mess in places with a lot of rubble and clutter, so half the game seems horrible to play. You can alleviate a lot of the stuttering, poor framerates and reprojection with a few edits to the games .ini files.

Open My Documents\My Games\Fallout 4VR and look for a file called Fallout4Custom.ini. If it's not there you can create it but be careful you don't name it Fallout4Custom.ini.txt. Make a backup copy of it and keep it somewhere safe, then open it in a text editor and make sure these lines are there:

A big community-driven post on Reddit has determined that these settings are where you need to start. They make some small changes that have a dramatic effect on the experience by boosting performance, but don't ruin the way it all looks. The most important setting is the final line that controls the games supersampling. Keep it at 1.0 or lower through the game engine, and if you want to bump it up to make things a bit more crisp, set supersampling a tiny bit higher in the games Steam settings.

Save that file and try the game. It might be enough, depending on your hardware. If it's not, you can go a step further and cut down on the quality of the shadows of the game with another set of .ini edits. You're looking for Fallout4Prefs.ini this time, and you want to try these settings:

You'll want to look through the file to find the lines and just change the values instead of adding this to the end. And this is just a starting point that you can fine-tune yourself if you want to make things perfect. Well, as close to perfect as a Fallout game will ever be.

I suggest making these two files read-only once you've edited them. That means you'll have to make them writable to change your Pipboy colors, which is a pain in the ass, but the engine has a tendency to overwrite changes if you let it.

It's modding time

Another thing all Fallout games have in common is that mods make them better and more playable. While mods can provide extra content or change the gameplay, they can also fix some issues that would normally require a patch from the studio.

The place to get Fallout mods is NexusMods, You'll find almost anything you need to mod Fallout 4, and that includes the VR version. You'll need to install a program that can "inject" the mods into your game but don't worry it's simple.

• Grab the NexusModManager program from the NexusMods site and install it.
• Run the setup to the point where it's searching for your Fallout 4 folder.
• Stop the search and point it towards your Fallout 4VR folder instead.

A couple of caveats here: if you have "regular" Fallout 4 installed, this won't work and you'll need to manually install the mods. But you should know how to do that if you are already modding Fallout games. This will download and install the mods, but you'll need to manually activate them yourself because the Nexus ModManager will try to activate them for the regular Fallout 4 game, which is why you can't use this method if you have that installed.

You do this by copying a text file from the app data folder for Fallout 4 into the app data folder for Fallout 4VR. Here's a video that walks you through it. Even better, here's a program that does it for you. you'll find the Fallout modding community is pretty helpful when it comes to this sort of thing.

Finally, you'll need to add one more bit of text to your Fallout4Custom.ini file:

With that out of the way, here are a handful of mods that fix the worst offenders when it comes to ruining that VR experience.

• Insignifigant Object Remover
• Lights Remover
• No More Fake Puddles
• Great FPS Boost Grab File 2 (Meshes) ONLY!
• Faraway Area Reform
• VR Offset Weapon Fix
• Fallout 4 VR Optimization Project
• Pipe Guns Glow Site Fix
• Big Text Note

There are thousands of mods for Fallout 4 at NexusMods, and most of them will work with the VR client. You can even import the DLC you may have already paid for in the regular version! Make sure to look the site over well, but word of advice: don't go overboard!

Better than nothing

Ideally, we shouldn't have to edit any files or install any third party content to have a playable game. And eventually, Bethesda will update things that make these tweaks unnecessary. But if you're like me and want to play your game instead of waiting for Bethesda to make it work, you can do it yourself.

Ad Victroiam.

Every week Microsoft and certain publishers discount numerous games for Xbox Live users. Some deals are available only to Xbox Live Gold members and others are available to anyone who utilizes the service through a Spotlight sale. A wide variety of titles, ranging from small experiences to massive blockbusters, are available for substantially less. This week, prominent games like Fallout 4 and Forza Horizon 3 are on sale. Here's a look at all the games discounted this week.

Xbox One

• 2Dark | $6.00 | Gold
• Death Squared | $11.24 | Gold
• Fallout 4* | $20.09 | Gold
• Fallout 4: Season Pass* | $25.00 | Gold
• Fallout 4: Automatron Expansion* | $5.99 | Gold
• Fallout 4: Contraptions Workshop Expansion* | $2.99 | Gold
• Fallout 4: Far Harbor Expansion* | $14.99 | Gold
• Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition* | $35.99 | Gold
• Fallout 4: Nuka-World Expansion* | $11.99 | Gold
• Fallout 4: Vault-Tec Workshop Expansion* | $2.99 | Gold
• Fallout 4: Wasteland Workshop Expansion* | $2.99 | Gold
• Fearful Symmetry & The Cursed Prince | $8.49 | Gold
• FIFA 18* | $30.00 | Gold
• FIFA 18 and NBA Live 18: The One Edition Bundle* | $32.00 | Gold
• FIFA 18 and NHL 18 Bundle* | $40.00 | Gold
• FIFA 18: Icon Edition* | $50.00 | Gold
• FIFA 18: Ronaldo Edition* | $40.00 | Gold
• Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island Expansion | $5.00 | Gold
• Forza Horizon 3: Deluxe Edition* | $34.99 | Spotlight
• Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels Expansion* | $4.99 | Gold
• Forza Horizon 3: Standard Edition* | $29.99 | Spotlight
• Forza Horizon 3: Ultimate Edition* | $44.99 | Spotlight
• Forza Motorsport 6: NASCAR Expansion | $5.00 | Gold
• Forza Motorsport 6: Car Pass | $6.00 | Gold
• Hunting Simulator | $16.00 | Gold
• Letter Quest: Grimm's Journey Remastered | $3.00 | Gold
• Mordheim City of the Damned: Undead Pack | $6.69 | Gold
• Mordheim City of the Damned: Witch Hunters Pack | $6.69 | Gold
• Mordheim City of the Damned | $10.00 | Gold
• Mystik Belle | $7.50 | Gold
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 | $13.99 | Spotlight
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst | $13.99 | Spotlight
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 | $7.50 | Spotlight
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto | $25.00 | Spotlight
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto Pack | $10.00 | Spotlight
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy | $48.99 | Spotlight
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy | $27.99 | Spotlight
• Naruto Storm 4: Season Pass | $11.99 | Spotlight
• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm | $13.99 | Spotlight
• NHL 18* | $24.00 | Gold
• NHL 18: Young Stars Deluxe Edition* | $40.00 | Gold
• NHL 18: Young Stars Edition* | $32.00 | Gold
• Rory McIlroy PGA Tour | $5.00 | Gold
• Shantae and the Pirate's Curse | $10.00 | Gold
• Shantae: Pirate Queen's Quest Expansion | $5.99 | Gold
• Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter | $22.00 | Gold
• Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 Season Pass Edition | $19.80 | Gold
• The Sun and Moon | $3.30 | Gold
• The Technomancer | $10.00 | Gold
• This Is the Police | $6.60 | Gold
• Vertical Drop Heroes HD | $3.30 | Gold
• WRC 7: FIA World Rally Championship* | $25.00 | Gold
• Zombie Army Trilogy | $12.50 | Gold

*Xbox One X Enhanced

Xbox 360

• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution | Games on Demand | 75 percent off | Deals with Gold
• BlazBlue: Continuum Shift | Games on Demand | 50 percent off | Deals with Gold
• Darkstalkers Resurrection | Arcade | 67 percent off | Deals with Gold
• Puzzle Fighter HD | Arcade | 75 percent off | Deals with Gold
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | Arcade | 67 percent off | Deals with Gold
• Capcom Arcade Cabinet: All-in-one Pack | Add-on | 75 percent off | Deals with Gold
• BlazBlue | Games on Demand | 50 percent off | Deals with Gold
• Spec Ops: The Line | Games on Demand | 80 percent off | Deals with Gold
• The Darkness II* | Games on Demand | 80 percent off | Deals with Gold
• The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom* | Games on Demand | 80 percent off | Deals with Gold

*Backward Compatibile

Which games are you interested in? Let us know! Be sure to check out titles like Fallout 4 and Forza Horizon 3 as they're generally great experiences. Fallout 4 is from the creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and is an expansive first-person game. Forza Horizon 3 is the highest-rated Forza experience which features great graphics and a vast world to explore.

Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

If you haven't yet had a chance to take on Bethesda's latest entry in its post-apocalyptic Fallout series, now's a good time to give it a whirl on Xbox One. Microsoft has announced that Fallout 4 will be free to play for Xbox Live Gold members this weekend, allowing members to explore the nuclear wasteland contained within, free of charge.

In Fallout 4, you emerge to explore a world that was ravaged by a nuclear disaster more than 200 years ago. Having been released in November of 2015, Fallout 4 is a little long in the tooth at this point, but it offers hundreds of hours of quests, exploration, and RPG gameplay between the main story and its DLC packs. If you own an Xbox One X, Fallout 4 also recently got a breath of fresh air with 4K support and visual enhancements on the console.

A weekend is long enough to dip your toes into the world of Fallout 4, but there's a ton of depth to its systems and story. If you want to pick the game up after giving it a shot, Microsoft says it will also be available to buy at a 33 percent discount for the base game or 40 percent off for the Game of the Year Edition, which includes all of the available DLC. If you already have the base game, the Season Pass is up for grabs at 50 percent off, and individual DLC packs can be had at a 40 percent discount.

In any case, if you want to give Fallout 4 a shot, it will be free to play through January 28 at 11:59 PT. To get started, you can start downloading the game from your Xbox One dashboard.

See at Microsoft Store

With the release of Fallout 4 VR, a whole gang of HTC Vive owners are headed back to The Commonwealth to loot, craft, maim, kill, poison, sneak, and discover what happened to their son, Shaun. The game was touted as an HTC Vive exclusive, but thanks to SteamVR integration, Fallout 4 VR happens to also work on Windows Mixed Reality (WMR). Is it as good as it is on the Vive?

See at Green Man Gaming

Controls

The biggest issue with playing Fallout 4 VR on WMR is undoubtedly the controls. While WMR motion controllers are sort of a mix between Oculus Touch and the Vive wands, the touchpads just aren't quite the same.

Because smooth movement — the type that's best suited for immersion — requires constant contact with the touchpad, you'll quickly notice how it's not as responsive on WMR as it is on Vive. It seems like it will occasionally send you off in a direction you didn't want to go, and you'll have to remove your thumb and let if figure itself not. This could have to do with moisture on the hands during long periods of play.

The WMR controllers also don't let you travel as quickly as on the Vive. I kept checking my Pip-Boy to see if I was over encumbered, but really it's just the touchpad not picking up that my thumb is close to the edge. Luckily, there is an option in the VR settings that lets you choose how fast smooth movement actually moves. With it cranked up, the difference becomes negligible, but only if you're used to the medium speed of movement on the Vive.

Sprinting, because it requires you to actually click down the touchpad, works fine all the time, but it drains your Action Point (AP) meter and can't be used continuously. Likewise, if you're particularly prone to nausea or just prefer using teleportation, movement works just fine using the trigger to point and teleport.

Other than the movement speed issue that can be mostly fixed and the occasional direction changes, controls are on an even playing field with the Vive. All buttons from the Vive's setup have an intuitive spot on the WMR motion controllers, and the angle at which you hold the controller to aim down the sight of your gun feels just as natural.

Tracking

Fallout 4 VR can be a physical game involving a lot of quick movements, and the Vive's lighthouses are certainly up to the task of seeing everything. No matter what I was doing, including swinging madly with my bat at gangs of raiders, I didn't feel that my in-game motions were different than my actual motions.

For the most part, tracking on WMR is also precise, but you'll occasionally experience a controller losing its place if it's moved too far out of view of the sensors on the front of the headset. Still, this is rare and goes to show just how well the built-in motion tracking can compete with the Vive's lighthouses.

Graphics and visuals

Now that Bethesda has released a couple of beta patches for Fallout 4 VR's graphical problems, the game looks quite good on both Vive and WMR. Your PC is using the same hardware, and the game is going through SteamVR no matter which headset you're using.

However, the display in the HP WMR headset does have a higher resolution (1440 x 1440 compared to 1080 x 1200) than the Vive, and after playing Fallout 4 VR for a few hours on both, it's safe to say that WMR is bringing a clearer picture.

It's easier to pick up targets from a distance — something that's required since the scopes aren't currently showing anything more than a solid black color — and overall it's simply more pleasant to look at. When using WMR, the in-game controllers do show up as WMR controllers, so there are no weird cognitive issues. Some of the overlay does sometimes get clipped by the large ring, but nothing game-breaking.

Setup

If you look at both setups as coming from a state of no VR at all, WMR is much easier to get going. You plug in the headset, run through a couple of training exercises, trace a border, and you're in, ready to launch SteamVR and Fallout 4 VR.

The Vive isn't necessarily a chore, but you do have to set up your two tracking lighthouses. These don't have to be permanently fixed, but they do need to be placed relatively high and do come with the hardware for wall mounting. The software setup doesn't take much time, but you might have to sit around and wait while controllers and lighthouses receive firmware updates with a wired connection.

Neither setup is particularly painful, but if you're rushing home with either setup and need to get into Fallout 4 VR, like, yesterday, WMR should get you there sooner.

Price

Fallout 4 VR requires a respectable gaming rig for it to run properly. Recommended specs from the Steam Store page are:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 or AMD RX Vega 64

Plenty of people are finding that some of the top 9-series NVIDIA GPUs are running it without a problem, but as a bottom line, you're going to need something that costs a decent amount of money whether you're using the Vive or WMR.

Setting performance hardware prices aside, you're looking at about $600 for the Vive system, including wands, lighthouses, and a free copy of Fallout 4 VR.

See at Amazon

WMR bundles, which include the headset and controllers, start at about $400 and go up to about $500. One thing to note is that WMR bundles do seem to see some pretty significant price drops during sales; the lowest we've seen is about $200 knocked off the total price.

See at Microsoft Store

Which is better for Fallout 4 VR?

Fallout 4 VR (about $60) was made to be used with the HTC Vive, and it shows. The Vive wands deliver precise controls, and the tracking is spot on for a game that often requires wild movements.

WMR, however, shouldn't be counted out, and I can see myself often slipping into the Windows headset for a quick romp when I don't feel like plugging in the Vive's lighthouses. The control issues I saw definitely aren't game-breaking, and superior visual clarity is certainly a huge perk.

See at Green Man Gaming

The description just said "4K" support with "dynamic resolution". Many gamers assumed this was a checkerboarded or upscaled solution like the 1440p 30 FPS target on PlayStation 4 Pro. However, that's not the case and the game manages to achieve native 4K almost all the time on Xbox One X. Even when it dynamically scales down the resolution to maintain 30 FPS, it only does so on the horizontal axis so the game looks crisp even during these drops.

Digital Foundry conducted a detailed analysis on Fallout 4 for Xbox One X today where they discovered that even during taxing moments the game only dropped down to 3264 by 2160 pixels. In comparison, native 4K is 3840 by 2160 pixels. This is orders of magnitude better than the target resolution of 1440p (2560 by 1440 pixels) on Sony's machine. This means that the Xbox One X version should look crisper on a 4K display. There are other enhancements like better lighting and god rays but they're similar across the Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro.

It's great to see developers take advantage of the 1.8 teraflops difference between the two machines to push higher resolutions on Microsoft's device. Hopefully even more game makers will do this in the future as they become even more familiar with the console.

In Fallout 4, as the sole survivor of Vault 111, you enter a world destroyed by nuclear war. Every second is a fight for survival, and every choice is yours. Only you can rebuild and determine the fate of the Wasteland. Be sure to check out the game if you like open world shooters and role-playing titles.

• See at Microsoft
• See at Amazon

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