Although it's a hugely successful and much-beloved game, Fallout 4 sometimes gets criticized for its continued scaling back of more traditional role-playing elements. It's these elements that arguably made the series such a cult hit in the first place. Since Bethesda took over for the third installment, it definitely feels li?ke things have slid into more action than straight-up RPG.

Of the later Fallout games that have come about, New Vegas is almost universally considered the best in the series. People are always keen to return to this modern classic, and that includes the modding community, where Nexus Mods user bp42s (thanks, DSO Gaming) brings us "REPUTATION."

Aside from being spelled out in a way that makes it feel like you should shout it out loud with your arms held aloft, this mod adds one of New Vegas' much-missed features into Fallout 4. Speci??fically �and as the name implies �it adds reputation, allowing you to gain fame or infamy among known factions.

Just like in the good old days

This means you can now achieve good standing with a number of settlements across the nuclear-annihil??ated city of Boston, which can yield rewards. For example: having a positive ?reputation may "provide you with access to their gear, materials, or a tribute chest in your honor."

You can also get access to supply crates, which can become unlocked if that particular faction sees you in a more favorable light. Add?itionally, you can get unique perks for reaching an "idolized" status. These perks are said to be powerful, but "not game-breaking or unbalanced."

Alternatively, if you decide to be an utter bastard on your Fallout 4 travels, you can earn such negative esteem, that people will send out hit squads, similar to the Legionary Assassins in New Vegas. Vendors will also increase their prices for both buying and selling dependin??g on wh??at they think of you.

Also, salutes have been added to the game, and bp42s says that generic NPCs "in the more organized or militaristic fa?ctions will have a chance to salute you wh?en you look at them, depending on how liked you are." It's all about making friends or enemies, then.

It's a nice little revival of a role-playing element that seems to have gone away completely in the Fallout series. The fact that your actions and antics can once again influence how citizens and other wastelanders regard you �and whether they want to shoot you in the face �is something I think a lot of fans of the series will be keen to see in Fallout 4.

The post This Fallout 4 mod bring??s back the reputation system from New Vegas appeared first on Destructoid.

At long last, Fallout London is available, and getting to explore a new, carefully crafted piece of Fallout content is just the best. 

Naturally, I wanted to install the mod on my Steam Deck to play it wherever I go. As anyone who’s played the mod can tell you, Fallout London is a bit buggy and prone to crashing, but that didn’t dis??suade me from diving into the Steam ?Deck install.

Reader, it should have. To be frank, installing Fallout London onto a Steam Deck, at least right now, is a total pain. The process is long and arduous, and the reward at the end is a noticeably worse experience than simply playing the game on PC. But if you, like me, just want to give it a go anyway, here’s how you can install Fallout London on your Steam Deck.

Downgrading Fallout 4 on Steam Deck

• Boot up your Steam Deck and install Fallout 4 and its DLC. Now you need to downgrade the game. 
• Switch the Steam Deck to Desktop Mode via the power options
• Via your browser, download the Fallout London Downgrader for Linux from github.
• Extra the FOLON Downgrader to your Downloads folder
• Right click on the newly extracted FOLON-Downgrader and click on “Propertiesâ€?/li>

• Click on “Permissionsâ€?and check the box next to “is executable,â€?so you’ll be able to run the downgrader
• Go back to your Downloads folder, right click anywhere, and select “Open in Terminalâ€?nbsp;
• Type â€?/FOLON-Downgraderâ€?and hit enter
• When the Downgrader opens, select your Fallout 4 folder, typically the path is: â€?home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Fallout 4â€?/li>

• Sign into your Steam account via the Downgrader and let the program run

How to set up Fallout London on Steam Deck

• Open a web browser, then download and install the Heroic Games Launcher
• Open the Heroic Games launcher, search for Fallout London and install it (you may need to sign into GOG or create an account before you can do this)
• On the Fallout London page in Heroic, click on the sliders setting icon
• Scroll down and click on “WINECFG,â€?then go to the Drives tab
• Add a new letter disk, like “D:,â€?then change the path to â€?home/deckâ€?/li>

• Go back to the Fallout London page and launch the application
• Follow the installation instructions, using the same installation location that you selected for the Downgrader. While using the installer, you may need to check “Show Hidden Filesâ€?to get to the right location via the new disk you set up. 

Now you’ve go??t the game installed. You just need to shuffle around some files and get a custom Ini file, and you’ll be ready to go.&n??bsp;

• Copy the files from â€?home/deck/Games/Heroic/Fallout London/__AppDataâ€?to â€?home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/377160/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Fallout4â€?/li>

• Download this Ini file (special thanks to Krupar101) from github, and put it here: â€?home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/377160/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/My Games/Fallout4â€?/li>

• You’re ready to go! If you go to your main Fallout 4 folder, you should see a file called “Fallout4Launcher.exe.â€?Rename that to something innocuous and look for a file called “f4se_loader.exe.â€?Change that file’s name to “Fallout4Launcher.exe,â€?and you’ll be able to launch Fallout London from the Steam app. 

Whew, that was a bit like running a marathon. The good news is that now Fallout London is up and running. The bad news is that you’ll need t??o install one more mod to get the game to run more smooth?ly (and even then it’s liable to crash pretty frequently). 

How to make Fallout London run better on Steam Deck

The Buffout 4 mod is going to help make your copy of Fallout London not crash every 30 seconds. 

• Download the mod from its Nexus Mods page
• Extract the files
• Copy the “Buffout 4â€?folder and the “Buffout4.dll" and "Buffout4_preload.txtâ€?nbsp;
• Navigate to your primary Fallout 4 folder, then follow this path “Data/F4SE/pluginsâ€?/li>

• Paste the files

There you have it. I can’t guarantee that the game will run perfectly for you, but hopefully this will at least?? sustain you until the next time you’re sitting at your desktop.

The post How to play Fallout London on Steam Deck appeared first on Destructoid.

When last we heard about the ambitious Fallout 4 mod Fallout: London, the team had to delay the project due to Bethesda releasing a big update for the base game.?? We still don't know when it's coming out, but it look??s as though we're just moments away from a release date.

A recent message posted on Team FOLON's Discord channel �as mentioned on X/Twitter as well �Fallout: London is just waiting for the "final green light" from Go?od Old Games before the mod is ready to launch. The developer has sent "several builds over to GOG for QA testing," so it just seems to be a waiting game at the moment.

Once this has been done, the team says it "should be good to go," but we still don't know for certain when that will be exactly. Could be days. Could be hours. Honestly, any ideas at this point wil??l be pure speculation.

What is Fallout: London, again?

As with pretty much any Bethesda game, the vanilla experience is often vastly improved with the help of dedicated fans and those in the modding community. Fallout: London is no different, expect it's a ??project that has a ton of ambition.

As the name suggests, it brings a post-apocalyptic universe to the English capital city, thanks to a heavily modified version of Fallout 4. It's being referred to as "DLC-sized," thanks to its huge scope. It adds in a new story, new factions, new weapons, and new enemies. It's basically newness all the way down??.

As for what you can expect to find in there, regulars to London should recognize the?? decayed rui??ns of places like Islington, Hackney, Westminster, Croydon, Lewisham, the City of London itself, and more. Team FOLON is not messing about with this project.

It is a bit of a shame it had to be delayed. It wasn't an easy decision for the modders to make, especially as Fallout: London was scheduled for release on April 23 (St. George's Day, natch). However, Bethesda then announced the launch date for the long-awaited "next-gen" patch for F4, which rolled out on April 25, meaning ?the mod needed more work to take into account the update.

Once it releases, Fallout: London will be available on GOG.com, hence waiting for this last green light. You'll be able to download it for free so long as you have legitimate copies of the main game, plus all the official DLC. Currently, it's only coming to PC, with no plans for a console port just yet. Check out the FAQ for more details.

The post Fallout: London project just needs ‘final green light’ from GOG appeared first on Destructoid.

A lot of open world games like Fallout 4 are popular because they allow us to fulfil a number of fantasies. For example: yo??u may want to know the macabre thrill of killing a person, or stealing without real-world consequences. Or maybe you want to sit quietly in a corner while you poke your irradiated nose into a classic novel.

For those who like to bask in the greatest literary works in human history �and shoot lasers at Super Mutants �this Fallout 4 mod could be just what you're looking for. User Guido500 brings us the second part of their endeavor to inje?ct historically significant books into the wasteland, with "Book Collector II."

With this mod, you'll get access to 73 of the finest works of literature ever printed, from George Orwell to Cervantes to Jane Austen to Dostoevsky. These books have been placed throughout the Commonwealth, and you'll find them in cabins, shacks, diners, officers, and some exterior locations. The mod is also compatible with the maligned Fallout 4 next-gen update.

We're just missing some peppermint tea

What's interesting about this mod is that it actually allows you to read these texts. Well, ?parts of them, at the very least. There's also a quest that will begin once you reach Level 2, which is optional but will lead you to these masterpieces.

Of course, Guido500 had to be a bit cautious when putting these books together and making them available to read. In the description, they say they didn't want to add in more modern fiction, as "many of these are not yet in the public domain." This is why you won't see anything by Hem??ingway or Nabakov or, I don't know, Richard Osman.

I also mentioned that this was part two. You can also get the first book collector mod, which adds in western philosophy texts. Not?hing says "survival in a post-apocalyptic wasteland" like scoffing down the dense work of Heidegger, Wittgenstein, or Russell.

The post Fallout 4 meets Project Gutenberg in this ‘classic literature’ mod appeared first on Destructoid.

Thanks to the next-gen update of Fallout 4 that rolled out in April, the long-awaited and unofficial expansion Fallout: London had to delay release. This was a sad time for those who were eagerly awaiting the DLC-sized mod, but it looks like go??od news is on the way.

In a recent post on Twitter/X, the team behind Fallout: London has said that they "have a new dat??e." That doesn't really clue us in much, but it at least lets us know that a launch day is likely on the horizon.

Diving a little deeper, a message on the mod's Discord channel (as spotted by VG247) says the developer just has "one more I to dot and one last T to cross,??" ?before it's due for release. The message then goes on to say that "we are looking at a matter of days/weeks" and that fans should "stay tuned."

Far out

Fallout aficionados have no doubt been paying close attention to this ambitious fan-made project, which tells the tale of a post-apocalyptic was??teland from the perspective of the UK capital city. We've ?had plenty of teasers about the mod, which promises new factions, weapons, as well as a slew of quests.

Fallout: London had already been pushed back before, originally set to come out at the end of 2023. However, the team ultimately decided to delay release at that point so as not to clash with Starfield. With the launch of the Fallout 4 next-gen upgrade, it seems Bethesda has been getting in the way of the mo??d on more than one occasion, albeit maybe not inte?ntionally.

At any rate, it looks as though the long, hard road is finally coming to an end. London sounds like it's going to be a huge addition to F4, and the extra dela??y will hopefully be worth it in the end. I'm calling it right now: I think it's ?going to be phenomenal.

The post A?? Fallout: London release date is imm?inent, it seems appeared first on Destructoid.

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

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

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

Birdemic, or lack thereof

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

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

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

^{*as good as.}

The post Birds really aren’t real in this Fallout 4 mod appeared first on Destructoid.

Fallout has been all over the place, lately. While the Amazon Prime TV show has been a triumph (a second season was confirmed not long ago), Fallout 4 has not been doing so hot. Despite the long wait for the next-gen update, many felt it was severely ?lacking. But Bethesda seems to want to rec?tify some of the issues.

The most recent update for the game has now been sent out on all platforms, even previous gen. One of the chang??es that's been added is the ability to "manage your control over the game’s graphic fidelity or performance."

On ??top of this, the message above states that Bethesda has also implemented "additional fixes and improvements to address some of the feedbac?k you provided us with on the previous update."

Will it be enough?

To go into more detail, there appears to have been a focus on three areas when it comes to this version of Fallout 4: display settings, frame?? rate target, and visual and performance prioritization. For instance, you can choose betwee??n 30, 40, and 60fps.

As always with patches and updates, Bethesda has fixed more than a few bugs. Some examples include: an "issue with load order? that would? break DLC until a restart after downloading mods" (PS5, specifically) and an issue that could "cause the Creation Club menu to not appear" in the Microsoft store.

Personally, based on what a lot of people have been saying about th?e next-gen update, I haven't even bothered to install it on my Xbox copy. Maybe this latest patch will appease some of the bigger concerns, but many didn't feel the upgrade was worth the long wa??it.

The post New Fallout 4 update fixes bugs, addresses ‘some of the feedback’ appeared first on Destructoid.

Seeking a friend for the end of the world? G??ood idea.

The Commonwealth is a nasty place. Even if you can handle super mutants and deathclaws, it's best to bring a buddy along if for no other reason than to have someone help haul that growing stockpile of extra guns, armor pieces, and miscellan??eous junk.

There are around a dozen companions to find in Fallout 4. While you'll meet some of them without even trying, others aren't qu??ite so obvious. I thought I'd lend a helping hand.

A few notes:

Thankfully, companions can't die. If they're taken out ??in combat, they'll squat down and wait for you to a) heal them with a stimpack or b) kill all nearby enemies. There are lots of dead dogs in this video game, but rest assured, you won't have to dig a grave for your beloved Dogmeat.

If you stick with the same companion, over time, you can gain their loyal??ty and a unique perk.

That deathclaw in the first picture ??isn't going to hurt me, but he's not my buddy, either. I wish! If you'd like to know more, head to the Museum? of Witchcraft at the top right of the map.

There will be spoilers in this post, of course, but I'll try ?to keep them to a minimum. This little guide is intended for people who either want a specific type of companion (say, a super mutant) as soon as possible and don't know where ?to look, or just have a desire to catch 'em all.

How to find Codsworth in Fallout 4

Your family robot Codsworth survived the bombs! Drop by your old neighborhood, Sanctuary Hills, to recruit Codsworth as a companion in Fallout 4.

How to find Dogmeat in Fallout 4

You can't miss Dogmeat. Fallout 4's beloved canine companion can be found at a place ca????lled Red Rocket Truck Stop, which is one of the first areas you'll encounter after emerging from Vault 111. Just follow the path straight out of Sanctuary Hills.

How to find Preston Garvey in Fallout 4

You'll bump into Minutemen supporter Preston Garvey early on in Fallout 4's main stor?y. He needs help clearing out the nearby town of Concord and will become a potential companion upon completing his The First Step quest. Later in?? your journey, once you've helped rebuild the Minutemen, he'll be a seemingly never-ending source of cookie-cutter quests to find and help the other settlements scattered across the Commonwealth.

How to find Paladin Danse in Fallout 4

Paladin Danse can be found on your way into the Brotherhood of Steel. Go to the Cambridge Police Station and take on a few quests. ?Eventually, he'll want to tag along with you a?s a companion.

How to find Curie in Fallout 4

Fallout 4's second robot companion, Curie, is associated with a quest in Vault 81 called Hole in the Wall. To access the vault, you'll first need to cough up three fusion cores (the "ammo" for power armor), and those don't come cheap. With that in mind, a?fter using most of the energy in a core, set it aside; the vault gatekeeper will accept mostly-used fusion cores, so don't hand over fresh ones. Be sure to keep Curie around at least until she asks for help with something. It's a neat li??ttle quest.

How to find Nick Valentine in Fallout 4

Over the course of Fallout 4's story, you'll end up in Diamond City. There's a detective agency in the ba??ck of town, but the owner, Nick Val??entine, has gone missing. Head over there and complete the Getting a Clue quest to recruit him as a companion.

How to find Piper in Fallout 4

There's also a news reporter called Piper in Diamond City. You'll bump into her on your way in, and she'll become a potential Fallout 4 companion upon completing the Reunions quest.

How to find Cait in Fallout 4

It took me about 50 hours before I randomly decided to enter the Combat Zone, so Cait was one of the last Fallout 4 companions I recruited. Go inside, kill a bunch of raiders, and then sp?eak with the ghoul.

How to find Strong in Fallout 4

This milk-loving super mutant says a lot of weird stuff, but that's what makes Strong so endearing. Keep an eye out for Trinity Tower an??d a side quest called Curtain Call; complete it and Strong will join you as a companion.

How to find John Hancock in Fallout 4

There are some entertaining characters in Goodneighbor, so make sure to stop by sooner than later. After you've helped?? some of the locals (one side quest is The Silver Shroud), report back to cool ghoul Hancock in the settlement's Old State House and he'll become your next companion.

How to find Robert MacCready in Fallout 4

If you've played Fallout 3, you'll remember Robert MacCready as one of the annoying kids from that game. He's since grown into a less annoying companion in Fallout 4, and can be found in Goodneighbor. Visit The Third Rail. hea??d all the way downstairs, and swing by ??the VIP room. Bring caps and/or charisma.

How to find Deacon in Fallout 4

One of my other favorite companions is man of a thousand faces Deacon, simply because he's hilarious. Deacon belongs to a major faction in Fallout 4 called The Railroad, and finding their secret base is a pain in the ass. It starts with the quest Road to Freedom, which has you follow the Freedom Trail, a winding path that goes from Boston Common to the Old North Church. If you're going to do the trail proper, follow the red markers on the street at Boston Common, not the ??nearby lanterns. Chris and I both had trouble wit??h this at first.

How to find X6-88 in Fallout 4

A third generation synth (or artificial human), X6-88 can be recruited as a companion inside The Institute. You'll have to go there as part of Fallout 4's main story and, once yo?u do, complete the quest Mankind - Redefined to bring X6-88 into the pa??rty.

How to find Ada in Fallout 4

Some of Fallout 4's DLC expansion packs add more companions for you to recruit, so you won't find them anywhere in the base game. The first, Ada, requires you to own the Automatron exp?ansion. She can't be missed since she's a part of the expansion's story. In fact, she joins you upon completing the expansion's very first quest, Mechanical Menace, near Wattz Consumer Electronics. Be prepared to fight off plenty of robots.

How to find Automatron in Fallout 4

The second Fallout 4 companion in the Automatron expansion is, well, your own Automatron. You'll get the option to build one at a robot workbench at? any ?of the settlements, and it can be fully customized in terms of appearance and weapons.

How to find Old Longfellow in Fallout 4

Old Longfellow is the exclusive companion in Fallout 4's Far Harbor expansion. Once you've got t??he expansion installed, you'll activate a quest called Walk in the Park. Head for the town of Far Harbor and look for a bar called The Last ?Plank. This is where you'll find Longfellow and, upon completing the quest, he'll join you as a companion.

How to find Porter Gage in Fallout 4

Second-in-command of the Nuka Raiders, Porter Gage can only be recruited as a companion in Fallout 4's Nuka-World expansion. You need to complete the quest An Ambitious Plan, which involves taking the elevator to Fizztop Mountain. Upon speaking with Gage, you'll help him smooth things over between Nuka-World's three raider ga??ngs, after which he'll not only become a companion, but also serve as a merchant while in Nuka-World.

The post Where to find companions in Fallout 4 appeared first on Destructoid.

Bethesda recently released a fancy next-gen update for Fallout 4, upgrading the game to run natively on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. If you're a PlayStation o??wner and are subscribed to PlayStat?ion Plus, don't worry, you can access the free update too, and we've put together a simple explainer on how to download it.

Aside from being able to enjoy Fallout 4 on current hardware, the update comes with improved visuals and resolutions, 60fps, and general bug fixes. For whatever reason, this initially didn't apply to anyone who has access to Fallout 4 via PS P??lus' game catalog, sparking ??assumptions that you had to buy the game itself to receive the update.

Bethesda soon assured that wasn't the case and, in an April 25 post on Twitter, promised to sort this out. As of April 30, the issue has been resolved (again, per Bethesda's Twitter account), so here's how PS Plus subscribers can dow?nload the PS5 update.

How to download Fallout 4's PS5 update on PS Plus

First things first, be sure you're at least subscribed to the PS Plus Extra tier. It's the cheapest tier that gives you access to the service's game catalog, which lets you play Fallout 4 (as well as upwards of 400 other games) at no extra cost. The catalo??g is inc??luded with PS Plus Premium too, but not PS Plus Essential.

To download the update, go to the Game Library on the PS5 home screen. As long as you've downloaded Fallout 4 from the Game Catalog in the PS Plus menu, you should find the game in the Your Collection section. Select Fallout 4, ?open the drop??-down menu by selecting the three little dots, and pick the standard edition of the game.

This is the bit that's a little confusing since it will then list two options, both labeled as "Game." You want to pick the second "Game," which should bring up the option to add the PS5 version of Fallout 4 to your library for free.

If this is your first time heading into the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout 4, feel free to check out our guide on which perks you? should prioritize obtaining in the early game. You may have also heard some players recommending not downloading the update at all, t??hough this mainly?? pertains to the PC version because of how the update has impacted mods.

The post Fallout 4’s PS5 update is available for PS Plus owners—here’s how to download it appeared first on Destructoid.

Fallout 4 has some of the best companions of any Bethesda ga?m??e, but they aren’t all made equal.

You can fight through the Commonwealth solo, so I’m going to focus on the stories every companion has to tell to determine who’s the best traveling partner. Because of that there are going to be some notable absences. Look, I love Dogmeat. He's such a good boy, but in Fallout 4, he really doesn't have much of a story or, you know, any c?haracter traits to speak of. He is simply the best boy, and above any and all rankings.

When you're on the road, you need a friend to keep you entertained, and you need someone you can really care about. With that in mind, here are the best companions Fallout 4 has to offer.

10. Codsworth

Ah, Codsworth, you lovable ‘ol robot you. Codsworth se??ems pretty bland, but scratch the surface, and you’ll discover he’s much more than a robotic butler. Codsworth has a genuine moral code and wants you to be good to the Commonwealth. It’s enough to make you wonder if he’s really obt??ained sentience since the bombs fell. 

9. Preston Garvey

I’m going to say it: Preston Garvey doesn’t deserve his bad reputation. Someone needs to hand out all the Minut??emen side quests, and it’s not Preston’s fault that duty fell to him. He’s not the most interesting guy in the wasteland, but the redemptive arc he helps the Minutemen go on is one of the more inspiring wastelands stories we’ve gotten. 

8. Piper

Among the Fallout 4 companions, Piper is the unabashed “good�charact?er. She runs a newspaper out of Diamond City and? wants nothing more than to expose corruption in the wasteland wherever it appears. If your Sole Survivor is a goody two shoes, then Piper is one of your best companions and romance options. 

7. MacCready

MacCready is a rare Fallout character carried over from another game. The Lone Wanderer met him when he was a kid living in Little Lamplight, but now he’s an adult living in G?oodneighbor. His quest gives you a unique perspective on life in the wasteland, and that makes MacCready a worthy traveling companion.  

6. Deacon

There’s no companion more mysterious than Deacon. He’s tied to the Railroad, but long befor??e you meet the faction, you can spot Deacon following you around the Commonwealth in disguise. Once he becomes your companion,? Deacon doesn’t immediately start being more open about his identity, and piecing together clues from his various lies makes for a deeply enjoyable puzzle.

5. Cait

You meet Cait in the Combat Zone, where she’s been wiling away her days getting in fights and taking chems. Cait’s tough as nails, but the more you get to know her, the more you realize that she fits in with a heroic Sole Survivor better than anyone else. Cait has a phenomenal character arc, and the fact that she’s also handy with a lockpick makes her ??one of my go-to companions. 

4. Danse

Having the opportunity to travel with Danse is probably the number one reason to do a Brotherhood of Steel playthrough. Danse adds real nuance to the faction, and his personal story is more closely tied to the themes of Fallout 4 than almost any other companion. Danse is a tragic character who really represents the best that Bethesda’s writing team has to offer??. 

3. John Hancock

Hancock is one of the coolest companions we’ve ever gotten in a Fallout game. He’s the ne’er-do-well mayor of Goodneighbor who also has a surprisingly close tie with the mayor of Diamond City. Hancock became a ghoul by choice, and getting to know his full story is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have in Fallout 4

2. Curie

Out of all the romance options in Fallout 4, Curie is by far the most intriguing. Her story connects with the Institute a??nd the larger plot of the game, and her personal quest has a number of different? branching outcomes. Curie is a deeply endearing character, and helping her discover her innate humanity could make even the most hardcore Brotherhood Knight question their stance on synths. 

1. Nick Valentine

Nick feels like the first companion that Bethesda dreamed up for Fallout 4. So many of the game’s plot and themes tie into his character, and the Far Harbor DLC offers even more chances to get into the deep aspects of Nick’s story. It would have been great if Nick had a romance option, but traveling with a pre-war detective in a synth ?body is cool enough to shoot him to the top of the list anyway.

The post The 10 best Fallout 4 companions, ranked appeared first on Destructoid.

If you ask people, “What’s your go-to nuclear post-apocalyptic story?�Most will probably say Fallout; the action role-playing franchise that has been around for ??more than two decades and is now considered one of the most influential game s??eries of all time.

Now, with the new live-action Fallout series by Amazon premiering to great acclaim and even reigniting interest in the game series, this might be the perfect opportunity to take a walk down memory lane and review some of the best things this franchise has had to offer. Here's our list for every Fallout game ranked from best to worst.

1. Fallout: New Vegas (2010)

If it’s a gripping story full of great characters and amazing twists you want, then Fallout: New Vegas is as good as it gets. After acquiring the franchise in 2007 and releasing Fallout 3 to critic?al acclaim, Bethesda contracted Obsidian to continue the franchise through a spinoff centering around the West Coast storyline. Obsidian Entertainment was founded by several former Interplay employees, so making the connection and the potential was easy enough.

Fallout: New Vegas received positive reviews upon release, but it would be some time until people came to truly appreciate the game’s brilliant narrative and improvements on Bethesda’s Fallout 3 design. New Vegas is now not only widely recognized as the best Fallout game, but also one of the greatest RPG games in history. The title has a cult following, and even now, whenever I feel like a bit of time spent shooting radioactive creatures in the United States nuclear wasteland might do me good, reinstalling New Vegas is my first choice.

2. Fallout 3 (2008)

The severe disconnect between Fallout 3 and the previous two main installments in the series came as a shock to its dedicated fanbase, but it’s not as if Bethesda didn’t know what it was doing and ended up dropping the ball. If you can bring yourself to appreciate the “new�Fallout for the things it has to offer, then Fallout 3 definitely has a place in the RPG Hall of Fame.

It’s easy to look at Bethesda games now and criticize all the outdated gameplay mechanics. Heaven knows that social media has had a field day doing the same to Starfield. But back when there were only a handful of capable developers carrying the Western RPG tradition on their shoulders, Bethesda was regarded as one of the maestros. Fallout 3 has enough gameplay variety to distract you for hundreds of hours of playtime. The threequel ended up bagging numerous Game of the Year awards and garnered the praise of original Fallout devs like Tim Cain.

3. Fallout 2 (1998)

It’s still strange to contemplate the true scope of the first two Fallout games given the technical limitations they had to work with back then. The original Fallout in 1?997 may have kickstarted this entire fictional world, but its sequel improved on almost every aspect, and a mere year later, at that.

There’s a sense of depressing bleakness to Fallout 2 that I find absolutely irresistible. Now, I’ve never been one of those people to reject Bethesda’s Fallout simply because it opted to follow a different design philosophy, but I do believe that its take on the post-apocalyptic story could certainly do with a bit more of that nihilistic sense of dread ??coming from the sure knowledge that humanity is forever doomed. And I certainly miss the turn-based a??ction sequences.

4. Fallout 4 (2015)

Bethesda did a wonderful job promoting Fallout 4, but it could’ve saved itself a lot of effort by simply saying: “If you loved Fallout 3, you’re probably going to enjoy Fallout 4 as well.�Perhaps that’s the single most disappointing thing about Fallout 4 for me. Don’t get me wrong; this is a great game. The world design is more ambitious, the visuals have been much improved over Fallout 3, and the variety of activities and mischief you can get up to in The Commonwealth is truly commendable. And don’t even get me started on the mods, because Bethesda certainly took its cue from Skyrim to make the game as mod-friendly as possible.

Yet something is holding Fallout 4 back. Maybe it’s the high expectations going in after experiencing so many great RPG games between Fallout 3 and the fourth entry. Maybe it’s the mediocre excuse of a story that never truly gets?? its moment in the sun. Maybe it’s all the innumerable bugs that Bethesda can’t seem to ??shake off. And maybe it’s all of these things. Still, none of these will necessarily prevent you from having a fun time playing the game.

5. Fallout (1997)

As discussed earlier, the first Fallout game set the tone for the franchise in more ways than one. Bethesda only expanded on the lore already developed by Interplay, so if this franchise has stood the test of time, it’s because of the talented group of people, including Tim Cain, Chris Jones, M??ark O’Green, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason D. Anderson, who worked on the game for the better part of three years.

There was a time when the game was almost canceled after Interplay acquired the license to Dungeons & Dragons, and the release of Diablo a little while later gave the studio other ideas about how the project should proceed. Through it all, Tim Cain fought for his project, which he’d initially started as a game engine. And the result? A franchise that’s one of the biggest names in the industry. Even now, even today, you can play the original Fallout game and have a ton of fun with it, which is a testament to the sheer?? brilliance that Interplay designers employed to make t??heir game timeless; a feat that only a handful of games in history have managed to imitate.

6. Fallout Shelter (2015)

Fallout Shelter can be a fun experience for people with a love for Fallout and management games. It was originally released for iOS and Android after Fallout 4, but over the years, Shelter has made its way to other platforms as well. Not much can be said of Shelter, and sometimes I wonder if it ever would’ve seen the light of day had Fallout not been such a huge name in the first place.

7. Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2001)

Not to be confused with 2004’s Brotherhood of Steel, this turn-based tactical spinoff had a great story and a decent combat system. Tactics is much smaller in scale, and focuses heavily on strategy during turn-based squad fights. It also introduces several elements to the Fallout lore, some of which have also been incorporated into Bethesda’s games?.

8. Fallout 76 (2018)

One of the most controversial releases in history, Fallout 76 was the first game that made people genuinely question if Bethesda is still the right developer for this franchise. Even on a broader scale, some wondered if Bethesda has still "got it," a concern now exacerbated tenfold thanks to Starfield’s middling critical and commercial reception.

Fallout 76 was Bethesda Game Studios�first attempt at a multiplayer game, and it ended up being a disaster of epic proportions. We could go on and on about how Fallout 76 gets everything wrong about the franchise ??and perhaps the online gaming landscape, but let’s just say that most people would rather forget it even exists and leave it at that.

9. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004)

I know what you’re thinking: A Fallout game worse than 76? That can’t be right. Well, this spinoff from 2004 is definitely up there among some of the worst games ever developed. Gameplay mechanics are almost non-existent, the plot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and the hack-and-slash nature of combat doesn’t even work for Fallout. Say what you will about 76, but at least that game adhered to som??e basic game design standards and had some redeeming qualities? going for it.

The history behind the Fallout games

Fallout is one of those massively successful and recognizable names that had very humble beginnings. It may not be as dramatic a tale as two broke programmers grinding in sweat an?d ??tears, day and night, to come up with an era-defining masterpiece, but that first game in 1997 is very different from the Bethesda shooter you know and adore today.

In many ways, Fallout was the brainchild of Tim Cain (Pillars of Eternity, The Outer Worlds), who worked on the initial concept for six months before getting the go-ahead from Interplay. By the time the game was being finalized, it had already cost a whopping $3 million to develop and a crew of game developers to finish. Interplay imagined Fallout as the spiritual successor to Wasteland, which was another co??mmercially successful post-apocalyptic role-playing game released in 1988.

It ended up selling 600,000 copies around the world �not quite as impressive as other competitors like Baldur’s Gate or Diablo, but enough to warrant a sequel and a future in the gaming industry. When Fallout 4 came out in 2015, it sold 12 million copies to retailers in the first 24 hours, grossing $750 million and se??tting records.

Comparing the Fallout TV show and Fallout games

The new Fallout live-action series by Prime Video has garnered rave reviews across the board, turning it into one of the handful of video game adaptations to have left an impression on the general populace. Amazon's take on the Fallout universe is fun, faithful, and compelling, so much so that its release on the company's live-service platform made the sales for Fallout 4 skyrocket by a whopping 7500% in just one week. Trust me; you can't help but want to play one of the Fallout games after watching the series. And as for the show itself, we're already impatient to see what will happen to our new cast of characters in season 2, already confirmed to be in production at Amazon Studios.

The post Every Fallout game, ranked best to worst appeared first on Destructoid.

After a couple of years in development, Bethesda finally released the next-gen update for Fallout 4. Promising a lot, the patch has not been going down particularly well. For one thing, those in the modding community have been concerned about it breaking fan-made content.??

While there's an argument to be had that next-gen was targeted largely at the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game, it seems PC players have been feeling disappointed in the offering. According to the patch notes on Steam, the update offers a few changes, including Steam Deck verification, widescreen support, and a relatively (for Bethesda)? short list of bug fixes. But it isn't enough.

There's also been a post from the studio acknowledging that "PS Plus subscribers have been unable to access the free next-gen update" for PS5. So even console players aren't doing so well, either. Given the long wait and t??he lack of worthwhile payoff, some have taken it upon themselves to suggest not bothering with the upgrade at all.

Turn the clock back - how to fix next-gen Fallout 4 mods

Leave it to modders to fix something the official developers themselves should have seen coming. Over on Nexus Mods �specifically the Fallout 4 page �there are a n?umbe??r of downloads that will actually prevent your game from installing the update.

There are a couple I've come across, both of which are currently in the most popular F4 mods of the last 30 days. The first one is from zerratar and is simply called "Fallout 4 Downgrader." It is, as you can imagine, exactly that. According to the description, this mod reverts the game back "to its pre-next-gen version," allowing you to "continue using mods," particularly ones that utilize the all-important F4SE.

The other one is a little more clever and comes from user Bilago. Rather than revert your game back to a previous version, "Skip Next-Gen Update" actually tricks Steam into thinking you've already installed it. Much like zerratar's offering, you can now continue to play Fallout 4 on PC without worrying about mods breaking.

Also, not long ago, Nexus Mods itself posted a message about concerns people in the modding community had about issues with the then-inbound next-gen update. It then linked to a forum post that gave instructions on how to prevent the patch from being applied to your copy of the game. If you've already installed it, it may be too late, but here's the post all the same in case you do find it useful.

I'm sure Bethesda will be back with some sort of fix for the problems people have been having. Todd Howard and his team could well work with modders to make things smoother, but given the studio hasn't been in touch regarding the Fallout: London mod that had to be delayed because of the update, fans may have to find their own solutions for n??ow.

The post Why are some Fallout 4 mods encouraging people not to up??grade to next-gen? appeared first on Destructoid.

I love terminal hacking in Fallout 4. I don’t know why. It isn’t very exciting, admittedly, but I think it’s the c?licking sounds. If you have the intelligence, you’ll be hacking terminals a lot, so this may help speed up the process.

Terminals in Fallout 4 are used to provide information and ?lore, but locked ones typically do something contextual to the environment around you. For example, some locked door require you to use a terminal to unlock them. Other times, you can make a turret friendly or turn off a security system by hacking a terminal. Generally, their use is made obvious by the presence of an obstacle in the immediate area.

Note that terminals come in four flavors. You have access to the Novice rank off the hop, but if you want to crack anything beefier than that, you’ll need the Hacker perk. You’ll then be able to interact with tougher and tougher terminals as you? rank it up, which sometimes requires ??you to be at a certain level. They are:

• Level 1: Advanced
• Level 2 (Player level 9): Expert
• Level 3 (Player level 21): Master
• Level 4 (Player Level 33): Failing won’t lock the terminal

How Fallout 4 terminal hacking works

Fallout 4’s hacking system is largely the same as the one in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. You’re slapped with a wall of text, and it’s up to you to sort of guess the correct password. These take the form of blurbs of legible text among all the garble. If you were good at word searches as a child, you may?? have an innate aptitude here.

You’re given four guesses from the start. You have to pick ??one of the words, at which point it will tell you how many letters of that word are in the correct spot. This is rated as “likeness�and appears on the right side of the screen.

So if the word is BUCKET and you pick ??BILLED, you’ll be told that it has a likeness of 2. That’s because the B and the E are in the correct spot. This tells you that the word you’re looking for is something like B***E*, which might be enough information to ??go off of, but otherwise, you can pick another word and roll the dice on the likeness. Maybe you’ll get a couple more hints that will make it more obvious.

If you spend all four attempts and still don’t get the password correct, the terminal will lock for quite an extensive amount of time. 

Fallout 4 terminal hacking made easy

The most helpful advice I can give you to make terminal hacking easy is, when you’re down to your last guess, just exit the terminal. When you interact with it again, you’ll have once more have four guesses, and?? you can start fresh. This makes the whole minigame negligible, as it’s sometimes faster to just randomly pick words until you only have one guess left, then? exit and try again. This allows you to easily brute force the terminal.

 Otherwise, if you want to do this with integrity, make use of brackets. These are the characters {}, [], (), and <>. If you can find an open and closed pair in the jargon and move the cursor over it, it will highlight. If you click on ?this (it won’t use an available attempt), it will either remove one of the incorrect passwords or refill all your attempts.

If you pair these two techniques together, hacking a terminal is a piece of cake. The? only thing that will keep you from cracking one is the skill level of the terminal, which, unfortunately, there’s no quick way around.

Have your companions hack for you in Fallout 4

If you don't want to tire out your fingers, you can also ask a companion to handle the hacking for you. Each one has a different aptitude for it, but they still have a chance of success as long as they’re comfortable with the secur?ity rank. If a companion fails, they will be locked out of the terminal, but you can still attempt it yourself. You’ve got nothing to lose.

If you convince Nick Valentine to join you as a companion, he tends to be the best hacker (aside fro?m you, of course). Like all of your companions, he's not perfect, but he has the best chance of breaking through a termina?l's lock.

Buffing your hacking in Fallout 4

Finally, there are two ways you can upgrade your hacking beyond just increasing the Hacker perk rank. The first is finding the Science bobblehead located in Vaul??t 75 which is southeast of your starting settlement underneath Malden Middlesc??hool. This bobblehead will permanently add a fifth attempt to your hacking abilities.

The second way is to max out your relationship with Nick Valentine. Getting top affinity with him will grant y??ou yet another guess and will also reduce the lockout timer when you fail an attempted hack.

The post Fallout 4 Terminal password and hacking guide appeared first on Destructoid.

It’s no surprise that Amazon’s Fallout has brought the entire franchise back into the spotlight. Exiting a vault for the first time is an eye-opening experience, whether you’re spinning up a new Fallout 4 chara?cter or entering the Commonwealth ?wasteland for the first time.

To get the best chance of surviving, you’ll need to know the best perks to get early in the game. These perks are handpicked to be useful for nearly every build, regardless of weapon type. Even if you’re charging down Super Mutants three times your size with a pool cue (though I’d advise against it), this selection of the best early-game Fallout 4 perks will ca?rry their weight throughout ??the entire playthrough.

Idiot Savant

You've probably seen Fallout 4 players mention Idiot Savant for level grinding, and for good reason. The chance to multiply the experience from all sources by five makes for a much smoother leveling ex?perience. Even without save scumming, Idiot Savant can carry you to level 30 quickly.

The downsides of Idiot Savant are easily manageable. You won’t have access to mod crafting perks such as Science or Gun Nut, but mods can still be acquired from vendors and weapons you find. You?? can always just increase your intelligence and take the perks you’d like while still benefitting from the occasional Idiot Savant proc, albeit at a less frequent rate. 

• Requires 5 Luck
• With 1 intelligence, rank 1 and 2 of Idiot Savant have an 11% chance of granting 3x and 5x experience respectively
• With every additional point of intelligence, the chance lowers by 1%
• By having 2 intelligence and eventually getting rank 2 of Idiot Savant, you have a 10% chance of getting 5x experience from every source while still being able to take one of the other most helpful perks in Fallout 4: Medic

Medic

No matter how much of a sweet-talking pacifist you may be, you’re going to take health or radiation damage in Fallout 4. This makes the Medic perk one of the highest impact? perks for any build from early to end game.

Healing items can be e??xpensive and difficult to stockpile early on, so increasing their efficiency makes an immense difference both in your survival and in your cap supply.

• Requires 2 Intelligence
• At rank 1, Stimpacks and RadAways will remove 40% of health and radiation respectively
• This bonus increases by 20% with every rank, up to 100%
• At rank 4, the healing rate increases

Lifegiver

One thing? to note about Stimpacks is that they heal based on a percentage of your max health instead of a flat rate. That means that the higher your health pool, the more health each Stimpack effectively heals. Lifegiver doesn’t sound too exciting on paper, but it’s one of the most essential perks to have if you want an efficient and less anxious playthrough. 

• Requires 3 Endurance
• Each rank in Lifegiver provides an extra 20 flat maximum health. 
• At rank 3 however, it additionally grants the player a passive health regeneration ability. While the regeneration is slow and isn’t going to replace a Stimpack within the heat of battle, it can save you using a Stimpack to top off your health after taking a stray bullet or two. 

Toughness

Lifegiver and Medic work hand in hand, but add Toughness and you'll be strong enough to taunt even Super Mutants. Toughness increases your damage resistance (DR) on?? all body parts, allowing you to get up to an additional 50 DR?.

For exampl??e, a standard s?et of full combat armor grants 59 DR to all body parts. At Toughness rank 5, you’ll have nearly as much DR while naked. Pair Toughness with any set of armor to become truly tanky.

• Requires 1 Endurance
• Rank 1 grants 10 additional DR 
• Every additional rank adds 10 more, up to a maximum of 50 additional DR

Action Boy/Girl

In previous Fallout titles, action points were exclusively used in VATS, offering little reason to take action point perks if you weren’t using it. Fallout 4 expanded acti?on points with the ability to sprint and assigned action point costs to...well, ac??tions.

The last thing you want to do is run out of action points when you’re desperately tryi?ng to jump onto a rock to evade a Deathclaw. Action Boy/Girl won’t make you capable of outrunning a Deathclaw, but it’ll make you think that you can. 

At rank 3, you won’t have to stop for a breather as often and can typically regenerate the action point cost for jumping between each maneuver. These bonuses become even more valuable if you find yourself using VATS often or ??t??ake VATS-related perks such as Blitz, Gun Fu, and Mysterious Stranger. 

• Requires 5 Agility
• At rank 1, action points regenerate 25% faster 
• Each rank adds an additional 25% up to 75% at rank 3

Strong Back

In any Bethesda game, you’re bound to find yourself overencumbered at some point. Rather than make the heartbreaking ??choice between dropping one of the dozen hunting rifles you’ve looted or the 28 typewriters you found, you can take the Strong ??Back perk. 

Some could argue that Strong Back isn’t a necessary perk since players could simply manage their inventory better. But, as my low-intelligence character would say, “Big number in bag make bigger money at vendor.�/p>

• Requires 6 Strength
• At rank 1, Strong Back grants you an extra 25 carry weight 
• Rank 2 provides an additional 25 carry weight 
• Rank 3 grants you the ability to use action points to run while overencumbered
• Rank 4 by allows players to fast travel despite being overencumbered
• Rank 5 can only be acquired if players have the Far Harbor DLC, but it reduces the action point cost of running while encumbered by 50%

Scrounger

Finding ammo is essential in Fallout 4, but you're probably not using a gun for e??very single ammo type. This means you can sell off surplus ammo in order to purchase supplies. Scrounger increases the chance of finding ammunition within containers, which is extremely notic??eable in the early game when there are fewer ammo types in the loot table. 

There isn’t any way to craft ammo themselves without the Contraptions DLC, but even then, you'll need to source the materials for the ammo recipes. This makes Scrounger valuable in the early game if you're struggling to afford sufficient ammo along with Stimpacks, RadAways, a??nd equipment upgrades.

• Requires 2 Luck
• Rank 1 provides a 40% increased chance to find ammunition in containers 
• Rank 2 and 3 provide an additional 30% chance each, up to 100%
• Rank 4 grants a base 5% chance to reload a “freeâ€?magazine or fusion core which scales higher based on the player’s luck attribute.

Black Widow/Lady Killer

Whether you’re playing through the main quest, the DLCs such as Far Harbor or Nuka-World, or you’re roaming the Commonwealth looking for trouble, one thing is certain: You’re gonna find yourself up against many more males than females in Fallout 4. For this reason, the Black Wi??dow perk f??or female characters is more valuable than the Lady Killer version for males. 

Both perks only apply to humans, as Super Mutants and Synths are considered genderless.? Female characters will find the flat damage bonus to be active much more often than their male counterparts, but both genders have enough enemies to make persuasion checks against that Lady Killer is still worth it.

• Requires 2 Charisma
• With either of the perks, you’ll deal an additional 5%/10%/15% more damage against the opposite gender at ranks 1/2/3. Additionally, the opposite gender becomes increasingly easier to persuade and intimidate with each rank. 

The post Fallout 4: Best perks to get early in the game appeared first on Destructoid.

With an endless amount of television and monitor sizes, it’s no surprise that the default field of view (FOV) in games isn’t a one-size-fits-all setting. While many games include an FOV slider within their options menu, Bethesda has yet to implement one for Fallout 4. (That’s right, not even in the next-gen update.)

Luckily, the community has found ways to edit the FOV settings by using console commands on PC or installing h?elpful mods on PlayStation and Xbox. 

How to change FOV in Fallout 4 on PC using console commands

In Fallout 4 there are two dif??ferent FOV settings. The first value is the FOV when viewing your Pip-Boy, the second is the gameplay FOV. It’s important to remember the order of these values whe??n adjusting your settings using console commands. 

1. Open the console by pressing the tilde (`) key
2. Type: fov 80 100
3. Then type: saveini
4. Close the console

The example above will set your Pip-Boy FOV to 80 and your gameplay FOV to 100, but you can use the numbers you're aiming for. It’s important that you don’t forget the “saveini�command, otherwise the next time you load the game, your settings will be reverted.? 

How to change FOV in Fallout 4 on Xbox and PlayStation using mods

Xbox and PlayStation players don’t have access to the convenient PC console commands but there are still options available to them. Using Bethesda mods (the built-in mod?ding men??u) that the community have created, settings such as the field of view can be adjusted. 

Mod list for Xbox and PlayStation that adjust the FOV

• 60 FPS Series S|X Ultra Settings 90 FOV (Xbox Series S|X only)

Unfortunately many mods have been broken due to Bethesda pushing a plethora of updates (due in large part to Amazon’s Fallout TV series) which means mod authors will need time to update their work. Over time, new or previously available mods that added FOV sliders into Fallout 4 will be updated a?nd so will this guide. (Hang in there PlayStation players, we’ll keep you updated?!)

The post How to change FOV in Fallout 4 (PC and consoles) appeared first on Destructoid.

The April 25, 2024 “Next Gen�update to Fallout 4 brought with it a number of C?reation Club, er, creations that were integrated into the main game. One ??of these is the Hellfire Power Armor. If you’re like me, you love your collection of Power Armor, so let’s go get it.

The Hellfire Power Armor is gained by completing the quest “Pyromaniac, but I promise there isn’t much to it. First, we need to head toward Listening Post Bravo. If?? you haven’t been there yet, this means we need to go far East of Sanctuary and a little South. It’s So?uth of Breakheart Banks and South East of Greentop Nursery settlements. This isn’t the location of the quest, just the nearest landmark.

You don’t have to go into Listening Point Bravo; we’re looking for a camp that is just a short way southeast of it. The camp has a campfire in the center of it, but more importantly, it’s inhabited by three members of the Forged. One of these members is named Pyro and is wearing our Hellfi??re Power Armor.

Note t??hat when I went to visit this camp, the raiders were already roaming. They were at? the location, but they were already prepared for a fight.

How to complete Pyromaniac in Fallout 4

Completing Pyromaniac in Fallout 4 is as easy as? taking down Pyro. Okay, that’s not easy �he’s wearing Hellfire Power Armor �but the objective is at least quick and simple. Once the Next Gen patch has been installed, the Pyromaniac quest will automatically become active.

That’s entirely it. There are two other members of The Forged alongside Pyro, and while you’re probably going to want to eliminate them, as well, it isn’t required to complete the quest. You might even accidentally complete this quest if you just choose to snipe the raid??ers from a distance.

Nonetheless, your reward for? completing the objective is 150XP. You can then strip the armor off of Pyro. You will, of course, need a frame to mount it on.

What is the Hellfire Power Armor

The Hellfire Power Armor in Fallout 4 is mostly a different aesthetic. In stats, it’s similar, but slightly worse than the X-01 Power Armor. Its defense and elemental resistances are roughly the same, but its HP lags behind. It does have slightly be??tter electrical resi??stance, but it's not significant.

However, the differences in stats here aren’t terribly significant. You may need to make more repairs to your Hellfire Power Armor, but it will keep you safe and snug during combat just as well as the X-01. Personally, I like the X-01 because of its slightly insidious look. In particular, I like the Quantum X-01 Power Armor from the Nuka-World ?expansion, because it comes in my favorite color.

The post How to ge??t Hellfire Power Armor from the Fallout 4 Pyromaniac quest appeared first on Destructoid.

Bethesda has released its next-gen patch for Fallout 4, bringing improvements to the game on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, ?and PC. Unfortunately, the PC version of the update is proving rather underwhelming, since it's not only broken players'?? mods but has introduced very few bug fixes.

The patch dropped on April 25 and, to be fair, it was widely expected to break some mods PC players had downloaded since Fallout 4's 2015 launch. It's why the team behind the fan-made Fallout: London project opted to delay its release till after the patch. However, no one knew exactly which mods would be affected, and the answer is a lot since it includes the Fallout 4 Script Extender, a modding resource that many other mods rely on to work (as spotted by IGN).

The good news is one of the Script Extender's developers, ianpatt, has said they're working on an update to get it working again. The bad news is they have no idea how long it'll take, explaining in a Nexus Mods post, "I am working on an update and cannot currently offer a timeline for its availability, nor whether there will be any critical technical issues that would block an update. If not obvious already, this one is going to take much longer than normal." Right below that post, another Nexus Mods user called Destructionares has shared a walkthrough on how to downgrade to the older version of Fallout 4, which should get all your mods working again.

What's also disappointing is how few bugs the update has addressed. Bethesda has patched Fallout 4 several times since launch yet some issues have continued to plague the game for years. The newest patch has fixed some of them, such as one that prevented save data from loading during the prologue. The full list as shown on Steam, however, only counts 16 bug fixes (alongside unspecified stabilit?y improve??ments), which isn't that many in the grand scheme of things.

This doesn't mean the update's been going smoothly for console players either. According to Digital Foundry's Thomas Morgan, the Xbox Series X|S version's Quality mode, which sacrifices framerate for higher quality graphics, simply doesn't work. Performance mode, which prioritizes a smoother framerate, works completely fine, but disabling it doesn't change anything, keeping the game at 60fps. Meanwhile, PlayStation Plus subscribers who got Fallout 4 through the Extra tier's game catalog have learned the hard way that they haven't received the update at all. Fortunately, Bethesda has said its team is working on resolving this, so ?PS Plus Extra users will get the update at some point.

It's a shame the next-gen update's release has come with its own set of issues since the Fallout series has otherwise been doing really well for itself. The Amazon show has proved successful enough to generate renewed interest in the Fallout games, with some like Fallout 76 hitting new concurrent player peaks on Steam.

The post Fallout 4’s next-gen update on PC has broken mods while also barely fixing anything appeared first on Destructoid.

There’s no arguing against it, the Fallout universe is huge. With a canonical timeli?ne spanning over 1,000 years, there’s a lot of history packed into relatively few games. Thankfully, the games don’t span the entire timeline, instead spanning a 195 year period between 2102 and 2287.&n??bsp;

Fallout 76 (Set in 2102)

Despite being the latest game to be released, Fallout 76 is actually set right at the very beginning of the timeline in terms of the Fallout games. Set just 25 years after the events of the Great War, the residents of Vault 76 are among the first people to resurface i?nto the Wastes, leaving the safety of the Vault for Reclamation Day.  

Fallout (Set in 2161)

The first released Fallout game was, until Fallout 76 hit the scene, also the earliest part of the timeline seen in game form. Set 59 years after the events of Fallout 76, Fallout sees the main character set out in search of a water chip before time runs out, and everyone in Va?ult 13? perishes. The main character goes through untold hardship, only to end up exiled for their troubles. 

Fallout Tactics (Set in 2197)

Despite being released three years after Fallout 2, the events of Fallout Tactics occur 36 years after the events of Fallout and 44 years before the events of Fallout 2. Gameplay is very ??different from both games, with the focus being?? more on tactical combat, as the name suggests.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (Set in 2208)

Released three years after Fallout Tactics, the events of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel take place just 9 years later, although Todd Howard would confirm that neither Tactics nor Brotherhood were considered part of the canon when making Fallout 3, saying, "For our purposes, neither Fallout Tactics nor Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel happened."

Fallout 2 (Set in 2241)

Prior to the release of Tactics and Brotherhood of Steel, Fallout 2 would indeed have been a direct sequel to the original Fallout. The story of Fallout 2 sees you playing as a direct descendant of the exiled main character from Vault 13, who must leave the safety of ?Arroya in ?search of a G.E.C.K. 

Fallout 3 (Set in 2277) 

The first Fallout game developed by Bethesda, Fallout 3 sees events occurring 36 years after the events of Fallout 2. This is likely the Fallout game which most people have the most vivid memories of; where you begin the game as a child in Vault 101, aging up an?d taking the G.O.A.T. before leaving the Vault in search of your father. 

Fallout: New Vegas (Set in 2281)

With events set just four years after those of Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas sees you playing as a courier ??who, after being shot in the head, goes on a fairly violent quest across the state of Nevada to find who did this, why, and what happened to their final delivery.

Fallout Shelter (Set circa 2286)

Fallout Shelter takes place immediately before the events of Fallout 4, though the exact year has never been confirmed. As a mobile game, Fallout Shelter is markedly different from all of the other games mentioned here, with gameplay focusing more o??n Vault manageme??nt than combat or exploration. 

Fallout 4 (Set in 2287)

Fallout 4 was the furthest into the future of the Fallout universe that we actually saw until the addition of the new Fallout TV show. Events in Fallout 4 take place only one year after the events of Fallout Shelter, 195 years after the events of the original Fallout game and 210 years after the Great War. Where Fallout 3 saw you head out in search of your father, Fallout 4 sees you h???ead out in search for your son after he was stolen during your stint in Vault 88, held under cryogenic stasis.

All Fallout games in release order

Here are all of the Fallout games ordered by release date:

• Fallout (1997)
• Fallout 2 (1998)
• Fallout Tactics (2001)
• Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004)
• Fallout 3 (2008)
• Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
• Fallout Shelter (2015)
• Fallout 4 (2015)
• Fallout 76 (2018)

What order should you play the Fallout games in?

The order you choose to play the Fallout games in is entirely up to you, and your preference for graphics and play style. While playing chronologically is the best way to learn everything there is to know about the lore and history of the Fallout universe, it's not a requirement to do so.

It is entirely possible to dive straight into Fallout 4, for example, without having too much knowledge of the lore and history. While the story is undoubtedly connected to other games and you'll miss out on a lot of easter eggs and lore tidbits, you can enjoy the experience of the game with?out having to worry too much.

Of cou?rse, if you want to play by release order, you will be able to appreciate just how far these games have come in terms of development and graphics, while being gradually introduced into the universe and the concepts therein.

The post Every Fallout game in Chronological Order appeared first on Destructoid.

Within the Fallout universe, there are seemingly endless Vaults set up by Vault-Tec for the purpose of? safeguarding humanity. At least, that’s what Vault-Tec would have you believe. In reality, these Vaults were set up with the sole purpose of human experimentation, and there are a truly enormous number of them. 

It’s very hard to establish what should or shouldn’t be included in ‘canonâ€?within the universe. Opinions differ from fan to fan and even Chris Avellone, the creator of the Fallout Bible, has said that his work shouldn’t be used as c?anon while others strongly argue that it should. 

It’s a bit of a minefield, so I’m going to stick with the things that are counted as canon by most people �the major games and the TV show. With that said, let's look at some Vaults within the Fallout universe and their purpose within the Lore.

Fallout

The original Fallout game, developed by Interplay Entertainment and first released back in 1997, only introduced four Vaults into the lore of the universe, with two of them going on to be referenced in Fallout 2. 

Fallout 2

Surprisingly, Fallout 2 only brings one new Vault into the Fallout universe, as well as the two that also appear in the first Fallout game. 

Fallout 3

Fallout 3 marks the starting point of what I like to call the explosion of Vaults. From this point on, each game adds a ??large number of Vaults that each add to the lore and prove precisely how terrible Vault-Tec truly is.

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas really booste?d the number of known Vaults within the lore. There are eight in total, and ??I’m sure I don’t have to tell you by this point that they’re all pretty terrible. 

Fallout 4

Including those introduced in add-ons, Fallout 4 introduces eight Vaults into the universe, and their purposes according to lore can only reaffirm ?any bad feelings that you’ve already grown for Vaul??t-Tec.

Fallout 76

Fallout 76 adds the most Vaults into the Fallout universe by a mile. In total there are 14 Vaults to go through and Vault-Tec just ke??eps g??etting worse. 

Fallout TV series

If you’ve not seen the TV series in its entirety, I suggest you turn back now if you want to avoid spoilers! 

Vaults 31, 32, and 33 interconnected Vaults. The brainchild of Bud Askins, who we come to learn was one of the executives at Vault-Tec before the bombs fell. Only two of these Vaults house a population during the s?how, while the other holds the cryogenically frozen bodies of the? executives themselves.  

Vault 4 is outside of these three interconnected vaults and is where Lu??cy and Maximus are given shelter during the series.

During episode eight of the Fallout TV series, we are shown a map of all Vaults in the United States. On this map, there are 116 Vaults out of the 122 Vaults currently known within the canon of Fallout. One user over on Twitter took the time to pl?ot all of the Vaults shown in the TV show on Google Earth, which I recommend checking out if you want to know more about the locations of the Vaults I've disc?ussed here.

Here's the Fallout TV show Vault map:

The post All known Fallout Vaults canon to the franchise appeared first on Destructoid.

The superb modding community for Fallout 4 has created some incredible mods in the many years since its release. Paired with the fact that the open-world RPG isn't exactly well-optimized, it can be a great idea to get some mods that increase performance. These are the best Fallout 4 Performance Mods you can get in 2024.

Best Fallout 4 Performance Mods in 2024

We've put together over a dozen of the best mods designed specifically to boost performance and increase your framerate when playing Fallout 4. All you have to do is download and install these mods and you should see a major instant FPS boost when playing. Here are the best Fallout 4 Performance Mods:

• Baka MaxPapyrusOps
• Baka Scrapheap - Script Memory Limit Expander
• Buffout 4
• Disk Cache Enabler
• FAR (Faraway Area Reform)
• High FPS Physics Fix
• Insignificant Object Remover
• Long Loading Time Fix
• MCM Booster
• Shadow Boost FO4
• Sprint Stuttering Fix
• Ultra Quality God Rays Performance Fix
• Vivid Weathers
• Vogue ENB - Realism

Here's more details on what each mod does to increase your performance in Fallout 4, as well as where you can download them:

Baka MaxPapyrusOps

Download

The Baka MaxPapyrusOps addon increases the built-in limit of operations per task in Fallout 4 by 5x, f??rom 100 to 500. This allows Papyrus Scripts to have increased perform??ance by not being restricted to such a small amount.

Baka Scrapheap - Script Memory Limit Expander

Download

This mod expands the default memory size limit of ScrapHeap allocations which are used all over Fallout 4. This will res??ult in increased stability and performance throughout the game.

Buffout 4

Download

??Buffout 4's creator describes the mod as a buffout but for the engine that Fallout 4 uses. In summary, this mod fixes a lot of engine bugs that exist in Fallout 4 that Bethesda simply never fixed. It also adds a nifty Crash Logger. That way, if you do exper??ience any sort of crash, you can actually see what caused it.

Disk Cache Enabler

Download

With the Disk Cache Enabler mod, the volume and speed of your hard disk caching are increased while playing Fallout 4. This is overall a performance boost that should see increased FPS without having to do ??anything else.

FAR (Faraway Area Reform)

Download

Using the FAR mod will cause optimization and improvements to over 6,000 distant land textures throughout all of Fallout 4. This is actually? one of those mods that not only increases performance but actually makes the game look better as well. You should experience better performance and less stutter overall.

High FPS Physics Fix

Download

The High FPS Physics Fix mod unties the game speed from your game framerate. This unlocks your FPS and allows you to play at any FPS without affecting your actual game speeds. It also fixes some stuttering issues due to the game being locked to framerate, which should make Fallout 4 run smoother overall.

Insignificant Object Remover

Download

This Insignificant Object Remover mod removes a lot of duplicate objects that you typically can't even see in Fallout 4 which improves performance without you noticing a differ??ence. With fewer objects to load, this mod also helps out with loa??d times.

Long Loading Time Fix

Download

Everyone should be using the Long Loading Times Fix for Fallout 4, which does just that. At its core, this mod fixes the long and even sometimes neverending black loading screens that plague Fallout 4. This mod also reduces load time when revisiting visited locations as it caches a?? lot of its textures.

MCM Booster

Download

The MCM Booster mod for Fallout 4 reduces the MCM (Mod Configuration) menu loading time making it nearly instant. This is sort of a meta mod, as its only needed if? you have a lot of mods, but by using all of these performance-based mods in the first place, it's certainly recommended.

Shadow Boost FO4

Download

Shadow Boost FO4 changes the distance of shadows throughout Fallout 4 dynamically, i?ncreasing framerate dramatically without affecting the overall detail of the game.

Sprint Stuttering Fix

Download

A common occurrence throughout Fallout 4?? is the frequent twitching and stuttering that occurs when sprinting, especially in ?first person. This mod eliminates that stutter, making the game feel a lot more smooth.

Ultra Quality God Rays Performance Fix

Download

With this Ultra Quality God Rays Performance Fix, the mod simply runs a .bat file that executes a series of console commands that will optimize the performance of the Fallout 4 godray lighting system. You could do each of these commands manually, but this mod makes i??t easy, executing the proper commands imm??ediately without you having to do any work everytime the game loads.

Vivid Weathers

Download

The Vivid Weathers Fallout 4 mod is a weather and climate overhaul that improves image quality and performance of all the weather systems in Fallout 4. This is another mod that makes your game lo?ok better, while running better.

Vogue ENB - Realism

Download

This Vogue ENB - Realism mod adds realistic shaders that increases depth of field, color correction, Lumasharpening, SMAA, and SSAO for Fallout 4. Once again, this mod will make your Fallout 4 look better, but also run better.

The post Best Fallout 4 Performance Mods appeared first on Destructoid.

Fallout 4 is a nearly perfect experience out of the box, but that doesn't mean a little tweaking with some mods can't make things even better. Mods have traditionally been a PC-only experience, but Bethesda has made it a streamlined and painless process to install mods in Fallout 4 on both PC and console.

Install Fallout 4 mods on PC/console with Bethesda.net

• Launch Fallout 4 on your preferred platform.
• From the main menu, select Mods.
• You’ll be presented with a scrollable list of available Fallout 4 mods.
• Select the desired mod to view the detailed mod description page.
• Favorite the mod for later use or Download it to install immediately.

Uninstall/disable Fallout 4 mods with Bethesda.net

• From the Fallout 4 main menu, select Mods.
• Scroll to the My Library category.
• Select the desired mod to view the detailed mod description page.
• Click Disable or Delete, depending on preference.

OR

• From the Mods menu, press the appropriate button to select the Load Order option at the bottom of the screen.
• Select the desired mod and hit the indicated hotkey to Disable or Delete it.

A perk of installing mods through Bethesda.net is that you can browse mods on the website to install later. As long as your Bethesda account is linked to your Fallout 4 game, any mod favorited on the website will show up in-game in the Mods menu under My Library or My Fav?orites.

Keep in mind that, if playing Fallout 4 via Game Pass, there are two different versions of the game: console an?d PC. Mods favorited or installed on PC (and via Bethesda.net) will not show up in the game on console; you’ll have to do?? everything twice if you’re saving The Commonwealth on both platforms.

Install Fallout 4 mods on PC via Nexus Mods

You can also install mods for the game on PC via Nexus Mods, the biggest Fallout 4 modding site. Many of the mods on Nexus are already on Bethesda.net, but if a desired mod is only available on Nexus, the installation process can be simpli?fied by first i??nstalling the Vortex Mod Manager.

• Download, install, and launch Vortex Mod Manager from Nexus Mods.
• Go to the Nexus Mods website and select the Fallout 4 mod you wish to install.
• Read the Requirements section of the mod. If you are missing any of the requirements, you'll need to download those first.
• Go to the Files tab of the desired mod.
• Click Mod Manager Download. A dialog box opens. Click Download again.
• This will start the mod download with Vortex. Go to the Downloads tab in Vortex.
• Once the mod is finished downloading, click Install.

Otherwise, on PC, you'll need to follow specific instructions to manually install the mods and ensure they work with each other. Mod manager??s like Vortex handle?? this for you, but either way, you'll be doing some tinkering to make sure everything plays well together. It might take some trial-and-error, but soon you'll be playing in a modded Wasteland all your own.

The post How ?to install Fallout 4 mods, a step by step guide appeared first on Destructoid.

Remember the karma systems from Fallout 3 and New Vegas? Sadly, Fallout 4 didn't have this feature, as Bet??hesda seemed to want to reduce actual role-playing, favoring quite a heavy lean towards action. Luckily, a modder has come to the res?cue for those who miss what it was like to be hated or loved in an RPG.

Over on Nexus Mods, user bp42s has brought Karma back to the wasteland, by implementing the missed feature into the fourth Fallout game. As the creator says: "Karma is back!"

The mod takes its cues from the likes of New Vegas and F3, doling out praise and punishment behind the scenes, depending on your actions. Now, when you play as the Sole Survivor, what you do will shape how others respond and react to you, like your decisions actually meant something. Re??member that?

What about when the update comes out?

All this talk of Fallout 4 mods may leave some of you feeling a little wary about trying out new ones. Nexus Mods has been struggling to cope recently as servers have been getting overloaded with people looking for Fallout content. Then there's the next-gen update that's coming this week, which is likel??y to break or mess up a ?lot of custom modifications.

However, according to bp42??s, their karma mod should be absolutely fine to cope with the big pa?tch once Bethesda sends it out, "regardless of the version you'll be playing on."

They also say they've spent "quite a while rebuilding it from scratch to have less hard dependencies" on additional downloads. It is still recommended to have a few other mods installed beforehand, b??ut you should be good to go.

[Everyone liked that]

The post A new Fallout 4 mod brings back New Vegas and F3’s karma system appeared first on Destructoid.

Part of the fun of Fallout 4 is experimenting with a ton of different builds to see what you enjoy the most. I've tended to favor rifle-based builds in my few playthroughs of the game, but for my next playthrough, I think I'll be looking to try a melee build where I rush down my enemies. With that in mind, you may have heard of a build surrounding a particular XP perk. Here's what the Idiot Savant build is in Fallout 4 and if it's worth taking.

What is the Idiot Savant build in Fallout 4?

The Idiot Savant build in Fallout 4, as expected, revolves around the Idiot Savant perk. This perk requires 5 points in Luck to be taken, and will ?provide you 3x XP randomly for any action that can give XP, with the chance of this happening based on your Intelligence stat. The lower your Intelligence stat is, the better chance there is to have Idiot Savant trigger. Later levels of the perk can up this boost to 5x XP, and provide 3x XP for all kills for a short period after the Idiot Savant perk triggers.

With th??is in mind, you'll be going for a build with 5 Luck, 1 Intelligence, and whatever else you feel might benefit the build. This will make the amount of experience you earn considerably lower, along with locking out later Intelligence-based perks along the perk tree. These perks you'll lose out on relate t??o weapon mods, along with the perk Nerd Rage, which improves you when at 20% health or lower.

Is the Idiot Savant build worth using?

Speaking from experience, the Idiot Savant build is worth taking in Fallout 4. While you are locked out of a lot of weapon mods, I've never found a particular need to use them myself. They're merely a nice bonus, should you want more out of your weapon. With that said, I would suggest keeping your Intelligence at 2 instead of lowering it to 1. You'll only have a 10% chance to trigger Idiot Savant instead of 11%, but setting Intelligence to 1 will lock you out of the Medic perk, which improves the effectiveness of Stimpaks and RadAway. If you're familiar with Fallout 4, then you know it's invaluable.

If you plan to run the build, I'd advise tackling tons of side content early into the run. The lower XP from such a low I??ntelligence stat will be felt, even with bonus XP on random actions. Getting some early levels will make sure you don't fall behind in power. Once you start triggering the occasional 5x XP boost from Level 2 of Idiot Savant, you won't feel as much of a power gap.

The post Fallout 4 Idiot Savant build – is it worth it? appeared first on Destructoid.

Fallout 4 (and other franchise entries from Bethesda) are currently enjoying an unexpected surge in popularity thanks to the Fallout TV show. As modding is a key part of the Fallout experience on PC, it should?? come as no surpr?ise that Nexus Mods, too, is buckling under pressure.

Notably, Nexus Mods is one of the biggest mod-hosting websites on the Internet, and it's been struggling with the sudden influx of Fallout traffic for days now. As per Nexus Mods' own report, the site has been experiencing "much more traffic than usual due to the popularity of the Fallout TV series." The announcement explains that the site has already deployed additional resources and monitoring to keep?? up with the demand, but the problems are persisting still.

Nexus Mods is having trouble keeping up with Fallout 4's new burst of popularity

The Nexus Mods' status tracker page reports that all of the following site features are currently experiencing problems with degraded performance: the website itself, the Nexus Mods API, the CDN, and the forums. In other words, if you're trying to download some mods for your burgeoning build of Fallout 4, the odds are good that you're having trouble.

The first report of problems was posted on Friday, April 19, and Nexus Mods staff is still dealing with the fallout, if you'd excuse the pun. "We are continuing to investigate? this?? issue," says the update posted earlier today, on April 22.

The Fallout TV series isn't the only one to blame for this, keep in mind. Following the series' launch on Amazon Prime, Bethesda was quick to announce that a "next-gen" update for Fallout 4 would be dropping soon. On PC, specifically, this means support for ultra-wide resolutions (21:9 aspect ratio) and some additional Creation Kit goodies. Arguably, the biggest "feature" of the update is the fact that it's bound to break a bunch of mods. Mods that are now being aggressively downloaded by PC Fallout fans.

It's not all grim, mind. Bethesda claims that it's worked to "minimize impact to the majority community mods." We don't know yet what that means, exactly, but it's better than nothing. Not that it helps the situation with one of the biggest Fallout 4 mods we've seen yet: Fallout: London, the release of which was postponed following Bethesda's next-gen update announcement. It'll be an interesting couple of weeks for the Fallout 4 modding ??community, that's for sure, as while many modders are sure to update their releases to accommodate for the new game? update, others may leave them behind entirely, causing problems with legacy support and beyond.

The post Fallout 4’s biggest modding site buckles under the game’s renewed popularity appeared first on Destructoid.

While the games never fully left the limelight, the recent Fallout TV show �with a second season now confirmed �has increased the franchise's popularity in a pretty big way. With that in mind, it will not surprise a single person reading t?his that some of the games have experienced a big uptick in concurrent players.

For example: Fallout 76 saw a player count of 73,368 on PC in the last 24 hours or so, according to data from SteamDB. The chart itself gives a visual representation of this increase and while the numbers are not as strong as, say, Fallout 4, it's still a testa??ment to the TV show's success.

Likewise, the third entry �specifically the Game of the Year edition �also saw an increase in popularity, with a new peak concurrent player count of 11,471. New Vegas has also been getting some love, with 43,632 people playing over the weekend, just a few thous??and shy of the player count record that was set some 14 years ago.

Not just the newer games, either

While the original Fallout installment from way back in the day hasn't bested its peak, more people do seem to be playing it lately. However, the 1998 sequel is sho??wing a new peak concurrent player number on Steam. It's good to see the older entries s??till pulling in fans.

In fact, from what I can tell, Fallout 4 is the only mainline game that hasn't hit a new record since the show aired, which is kind of surprising seeing as it's probably the most successful one in the series in terms of sal??es. Although having said that, it's been con??????????????????????????sistently popular since it was released.

Oh look, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel has a new record number of Steam players as w??ell. Okay, it's only 243, but it kind of hammers home the influence the recent? adaptation has had.

The post Unsurprisingly, some of the Fallout games are hitting new concu?rrent player peaks appeared first on Destructoid.

Even longtime fans of the franchise can find themselves a little stumped about how to throw grenades in Fallout 4, because it’s not entirely obvious. Bethesda changed up the mechanics from?? previou?s games a bit and then didn’t provide clear guidance on the new way to do it.

Throwing grenades in Fallout 4 on console

Players will of course first want to equip a grenade, which can be accomplished by pressing B on the controller to open the Pip-Boy. Under the Weapons section of the ??Inventory (INV) tab, select the type of grenade you want to wreak havoc with, and then press?? A to equip it.

That arduous task done, exit the Pip-Boy. It won’t appear as if you’ve got a grenade equipped, but a grenade icon should now be visible on the right side of the HUD, above the ammo indicator. This will also tell you how many grenades you have left. Hold down the right bumper (RB) and you’ll hear a clicking sound. Aim with the reticle dot in the center o?f your screen, release RB, and you’ll throw the grenade.

Throwing grenades in Fallout 4 on PC

For PC gamers playing Fallout 4 with a mouse and keyboard, the method is pretty much the same. Instead of RB, you’ll want to press and hold the Left Alt key. Again, you’ll hear a click to replicate removing the pin. Pick your target ??with the reticle and release the Left Alt key to let fly.

In case you ever forget how to throw a grenade in Fallout 4, the Help section provides a handy reminder. The “grenades�entry summarizes this information for both console and PC users, including how to even equip a grenade or mine in the first place. There’s also no need to rush?? to throw the grenade because there is no timer, so it won’t explode in your hand.

Few things are more satisfying than tossing a grenade into a group of ghouls and watching them go flying in all directions. Now, for players preparing to jump into Fallout 4’s long-awaited next-gen update, it won’t be a challenge just figuring out how?? to throw the darn things.

The post How to throw grenades in Fallout 4 (PC? a?nd console) appeared first on Destructoid.

Fallout 4 already lets you play in first-person, but if you want an even more immersive experience, there's a separate VR version of the game you can buy on PC. What's more, it has its own modding community w??ho have made their own optional improvements.

If you own a VR headset, like the Valve Index or HTC Vive, and you've been hankering to get into the Fallout series after watching the excellent TV show, or are simply looking for a new way to play Fallout 4, Fallout 4 VR should be right up your alley. Before you start, though, be sure to go through our list of some of the best Fallout 4 VR mods available that should ??make for a more optim?al experience.

Fallout 4 Script Extender

Let's get the most boring one out of the way. The Fallout 4 Script Extender is practically mandatory, since it ensures any other mods you download work properly. Some won't work at all without it. So before you do anything else, make sure th??i??s is installed.

Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch

Another necessary mod is the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch. To be blunt, Fallout 4 was kind of a buggy mess when it launched in 2015. While that's to be expected from Bethesda games, it was nonetheless frustrating, and dedicated fans took it upon themselves to fix all the issues Bethesda itself never got round to. This mod removes hundreds of bugs related to quests, NPCs, items, and the like, although it does mess with a couple of aspects of the VR version. To resolve those, get the Unofficial Fallout 4 VR Fix as well.

Idle Hands

In the world of Fallout 4 VR, your player character is apparently a telepathic wanderer without arms, since all your tools and weapons just float in the air when you use them. This makes the whole experience far less immersive, so if that sort of thing bothers you, download the Idle Hands mod. It grants you visible hands, which you can customize with different styles and skin tones, as well as an arm to attach your Pip-Boy too. It also pairs nicely with the Kabuto VR mod, which gives Power Helmets their own HUD to make it really feel more like you're wea??ring one??.

Start Me Up Redux

In Fallout 4, your player character wakes from cryogenic sleep in a Vault 200 years after the bombs dropped, only for a pair of strangers to murder your spouse and kidnap your baby son, setting you on a mission of vengeance. Not everyone wants to roleplay as this character, though, or at least they don't want to sit through that lengthy opening section every time they start a new playthrough. The Start Me Up Redux mod not only lets you skip the opening so you can get right to the game, but it also gives you the option to play as a different Vault dweller or a Wastel??ander. As such, it features entirely new dialogue and is described as a "whole-game story overhaul."

Virtual Holsters/Virtual Chems

These two mods have very similar functions so we're combining them into one section. Normally, you need to equip weapons and use Chems via the Pip-Boy menu, which isn't bad by any means. However, with the Virtual Holsters mod and the Virtual Chems mod, you can equip weapons and Chems to your person. So, if you've got a pistol strapped your hip, you can whip it out with one? fluid motion without the need to open the menu. Aside from adding another level of immersion, it's just really cool to do and can make you feel like a badass.

Sim Settlements

In Fallout 4, you can build and manage various settlements, which can be populated with NPCs and can help you gain important resources like food, scrap for crafting, and just general experience. Not everyone enjoys how much micromanaging it requires, though, which is where the Sim Settlements mod comes in. It's practically a complete overhaul of how settlements work, making it closer to something like Sim City where you can place down zones for your settlers to make buildings for you. ?It also gives the settlers more varied backgrounds and adds a level of randomness to keep things a bit more challenging and engaging.

Be Seated Fallout 4 VR Edition

This is another mod for those who want as an immersive experience as possible. Since you're probably going to be standing up while playing Fallout 4 VR, it can be a bit distracting whenever your character takes a seat yet their height doesn't change, making it seem as if they're standing on the chair. The Be Seated ??mod fixes that, and you can then?? sit down in your own chair to match your character.

Fog Remover—Performance Enhancer

Fallout 4's performance isn't the best, but before you pull a Dragon's Dogma 2 and go around slaughtering NPCs to improve it, how about you try installing this performance mod instead? The Fog Remover mod, as the name implies, removes any instance of interior fog, steam, dust etc. from the game, allowing the whole thing to run a lot smoother. It doesn't work on any exterior fog, though, since that's tied t?o the weather system.

True Storms—Wasteland Edition

Speaking of the weather, the True Storms mod was originally made for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, but eventually received a Fallout 4 version that you can use in VR too. Fallout 4 already has a pretty immersive real-time weather system, but this mod adds even more variety, allowing for dust storms, heavier and lighter ??rain, and even hazardous radiation rain. It also promises new sound ef?fects, textures, and particle effects, and storms can provide a sneak buff for you and any companions you have travelling with you.

FallUI

Fallout 4 VR unfortunately doesn't have dedicated UIs and instead re-uses the same ones from the original Fallout 4. Since they're not tailor-made for playing in VR, they can make the experience less pleasant, which is why one person decided to create multiple mods, dubbed the FallUI series, to address the various UIs. This link will take you to one that optimizes the main HUD that you can also configure to your liking, but the same creator has ones for the inventory screen, the map, the workbench, and a? few others. So, you're free to pick and choose which ones you want, or you can install the whole set from the get-??go.

The post 10 Best Fallout 4 VR mods appeared first on Destructoid.

While Fallout 4 is far from the most beloved entry in the series, it breathed fr??esh and non-radioactive air into the series through Sur??vival Mode. That's the name they gave to a difficulty setting that's not just the hardest possible in this game, but also one that brings extra setbacks. The Wasteland is never kind to visitors, but Survival Mode can make it an utter nightmare, so let's look at how to make surviving it a possibility.

Optimal stats for Survival Mode in Fallout 4

The most importan??t stats for survival mode are Strength and Endurance, with Intelligence taking a distant third place. You can neglect pretty much every other stat to get the two main ones as high as possible. That's because, in this mode, nothing beats the ability to carry stuff, take damage, and heal up. A good starting comp would look something like:

• Strength: 9
• Perception: 1
• Endurance: 10
• Charisma: 2
• Intelligence: 4
• Agility: 1
• Luck: 1

How to play Fallout 4 in Survival Mode

While you can go back to a regular difficulty mode at any moment of your fearless playthrough, Survival Mode is something?? you can only activate before the game starts. Once you quit, there's no going back to it on that save file. The game allows your character to keep their life after?? resigning Survival difficulty, but not their survivalist pride.

What's different in Survival Mode

On top ?of making everything harder overall, Survival Mode essentially removes many quality-of-life aspects of the base game. It doesn't feature manual or regular autosaves. The only way to save is by resting. The game saves when you exit, but the save is deleted a?s soon as you load back in.

Ammunition has weight, meaning that it can get you over-encumbered, which will cause you to lose stats and take damage. Lastly, you cannot make use of the console to cheat.

You can Play Fallout 4 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and on PC. You can watch the Fallout TV series on Amazon Prime.

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Are you all excited about the Fallout 4 next-gen update? I'd imagine many of you are. Except possibly those who have been waiting for the fan-made project Fallout: London, which has had to be delayed. And also those who are in the modding commu?nity.

Much like when Stardew Valley released its big 1.6 update, many were concerned that the changes would break a lot of mods, or at least make them incompatible. This is expected to be the case for Fallout 4 custom content after the big update rolls out.

Nexus Mods recently issued a statement about this, addressing concerns people will likely have about the possibility of bro??ken mods. It's expected that a lot of them will become unusable once the game gets upgraded to next-gen, but as the post itself say??s: some of the information is speculative until proven otherwise.

What's a vault dweller to do?

Until the patch rolls out, no one can be 100% certain which modifications are going to be compatible and which need updates of their own. Nexus Mods provides a link to a forum post, which provides information on how you can stop the next-gen update from happening on your game. The advice relates to GOG, Steam, and Xbox Game Pass (PC) versions of Fallout 4.

However, it's going to be largely up to the mod creators themselves to make sure theirs are compatible. Major ones, such as the all-important Fallout 4 Script Extender (or F4SE), are likely to be on the case, but unless teams get early access to next-gen, they might ??have to scramble for a solution fast once it launches.

As for when it's actually releasing, you can expect to see your copy of F4 being upgraded from April 25. The patch will not only give a boost to the game to make it look its best for t??he PS5 and Xb??ox Series X|S, but it's also coming with new content, including some free Creation Club items.

The post The Fallout 4 next-gen pa??tch could break some mods appeared first on Destructoid.

Having released in 2015, Fallout 4 is still the most recent single-player game in the series (the multi-player Fallout 76 is more recent). It is, once again, an isolated story taking place in a post-apocalyptic future. Like each Fallout, it also takes place in its own region (though Fallout 1 and 2 had some overlap). So, where does Fallout 4 take us?

Fallout 4 is set around the city of Boston, Massachusetts. ??But w??hile Boston is the biggest feature on the map, it also depicts some of the surrounding regions.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that Fallout 4’s map is an abstract representation of the region, being a much smaller area than the geographical region actually takes up. Many of the locations aren??’t directly named, and while they may align with a borough or city in the metropolitan area, it’s hard to confirm that they are supposed to be a representation of that area.

However, many are, so we know that Concord, Bedford, and Lexington are locations on the map. South of Boston, the area has been left unrecognizable by the Great War. The area may have been Dorchester or Quincy, but the bombings have left it an irradiated marsh called the “Glowing Sea.�/p>

While th?e area has been made abstract to make exp?loration of it more enjoyable from a gameplay perspective, there are still real-world locations that you can visit.

What locations are featured in Fallout 4

While much of the Boston region has been squished for the sake of gameplay in Fallout 4, ?there are still real-world ?locations you can visit. Here are some:

• Fenway Park (Diamond City)
• The Old State House (Goodneighbor)
• The Boston Public Library
• Salem
• M.I.T. (C.I.T.)
• The USS Constitution
• Old North Church
• Spectacle Island
• Massachusetts State House
• Bunker Hill Monument
• Logan International Airport (Boston Airport)

There are, of course, more places you can visit. While Bethesda took a lot of libe??rties with the Boston area, they tried to make it recognizable which meant incorporating real-world elements to it. However, it might give you some places ??to take your tour if you ever visit Boston.

The post Where do??es Fallout 4 take place?? Locations featured in the game appeared first on Destructoid.