Fallout Frequently Asked Questions

What are the system requirements?
The DOS PC version requires: Pentium-90, 32 megs of RAM, 2x CD-ROM drive, SVGA (VESA-compliant), SoundBlaster-compatible. The Win95 version requires: Pentium-90, 16 megs of RAM, DirectX 3.0a or 5.0, 2x CD-ROM drive, SVGA, DirectSound compatible sound card. Some people have reported success running on lower speed machines (486/66 and up), but we do not officially support less than a P90. The Mac version requires: PowerMac with 16000k free memory, CD-ROM, System 7.1.2 or higher, and a variety of extensions (they are included on the CD). All versions require 10+ megs of hard drive space and a mouse.
When will a patch be available?
The 1.1 patch is available now. Download it from the Files page. There are three versions: one for Win95, one for DOS and one for the Macintosh version. Download the version that you are using and be sure to read the installation instructions carefully. If you don't, it's possible to incorrectly install the patch and that will crash the game! You don't need that, now do you?
The European release is labeled as version 1.2, which has the same fixes as version 1.1.
A 1.3 patch is not available. We are unsure at this time if we will still put one out. No more information is available at this time. When we have news, we will update this page.

Help! I need some hints. Where can I go to get them?
If you need answers to some common questions, try the Strategy pages. You can ask for hints in the Feedback message board, but look through the questions and answers that are already posted first. You can also ask on comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Usenet. A strategy guide is available from Brady Books (Official Survival Guide to Fallout, ISBN: 1566867134).

What changes from the demo in the final?
We have made some major changes to the engine based on feedback from the demo. Here is a brief list: unload ammo from guns, changed APs for various actions in combat, added a skill cursor to the action cursor, better AI, faster combat, stealing and sneak were adjusted, looting now loots all creatures in a hex, font sizes are larger in the dialogue screen, longer ranges in combat, better pathing, critters in the way of a ranged weapon attack modify the to hit number, crippled limbs have a greater affect, unconscious creatures eventually regain consciousness and more. Obviously, there are more locations, critters and items. Also, the S3 ViRGE cards (like the Diamond Stealth 3D) perform much faster under the final release version. They no longer have as severe of a slow-down problem.

How come it won't install?
There have been reports of bad CD-ROMs. We have tracked this down and we believe that it is an incompatibility between some CD-ROM drives and the format of the production CD. We are looking for a solution. One way to check and see if it is a bad CD, is to attempt to install it to another machine. Some possible solutions that reportedly worked for some customers: disable the read-ahead cache, disable the CD-cache altogether, REM out the CD-ROM drivers from your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and let Win95 handle the CD-ROM, change the Win95 CD-ROM driver, try installing under DOS. We hope to have a solution shortly. If you use the Win95 version, close all other applications before installing and before playing Fallout.

How can I install to WinNT?
NT users can get around the installer by manually installing the game themselves. Note however that you must have at least NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 in order to play the game. Also, Fallout should work fine but was not tested very much under NT.

For the instructions below, I will assume that you have created a folder called FALLOUT on your C: drive and that the drive the Fallout CD is in is your D: drive. Insert your actual drive letters where appropriate.

1. Copy d:\program\win\falloutw.___ to c:\fallout\falloutw.exe.

2. Create a text file in c:\fallout called fallout.cfg and add the following line to it:
[system]

3. You now have 4 options corresponding to the 4 install sizes:
3a. Do not copy anything else. This is the same as the smallest install, but is also the slowest way to play the game. If you do this, make sure you follow the steps in 3b, 3c & 3d below for editing the config file.

3b. Copy d:\master.dat to c:\fallout\master.dat. This file is 318 MB.
If you do _not_ do this step, add the following on the next line in c:\fallout\fallout.cfg:
master_dat=d:\master.dat

3c. Copy d:\critter.dat to c:\fallout\critter.dat. This file is 150 MB.
If you do _not_ do this step, add the following on the next line in c:\fallout\fallout.cfg:
critter_dat=d:\critter.dat

3d. Copy the entire d:\data folder to c:\fallout\data. This is 73 MB.
If you do _not_ do this step, add the following two lines to c:\fallout\fallout.cfg:
[sound]
music_path2=d:\data\sound\music

4. Add the following line to your [system] block:
free_space=0

5. Make sure you close and save your changes to the c:\fallout\fallout.cfg file.

For example, if you chose to not copy any of the data files over, you should have a fallout.cfg file that looks like this:

[system]
master_dat=d:\master.dat
critter_dat=d:\critter.dat
free_space=0
[sound]
music_path2=d:\data\sound\music

That should be it! Just run c:\fallout\falloutw.exe to play the game.

Do I lose features if I do a small install?
No. All features are present under all install sizes. The only difference is the amount of load times; the larger the install, the smaller the load times. You can play the game without the CD-ROM if you do the Humongous install (600+ megs).

Help! The game runs slowly or crashes often. What should I do?
A couple of things: If you are running under DOS, you really do need 32megs of RAM or you need to run under Win95. You can install a larger amount of the game to your hard drive. If you are using Win95, try the DOS version instead. Make sure that you have DirectX 3.0a (or higher) installed. Try installing DirectX 5.0 and the most recent compatible drivers for your video card. Grab the patch from the Files page.

What is the list of known bugs in Version 1.0?
Currently, we know of these bugs. The 1.1 patch should fix them all.
Install Problem: incompatible CD/CD-ROM drives
Multiple NPCs appear on screen/save game corrupted
"ERROR" messages in dialogues
Hub Water Merchants give money instead of take
StealthBoy turns into Geiger Counter
Errors in the Gunrunners/Boneyard
Some adventure/dialogue timing issues
Radiation Poisoning may cause Stat problems

What is this about a time limit? Does the game end when you get the water-chip?
There is a time limit in the game for the water-chip. You must recover the water-chip within 150 game days. Most people have found that this is ample time, and there are even ways of increasing the limit. The game does not end when the water-chip is returned. There is another time limit, but there are ways around that as well. That time limit is 500 days (400 days if you use the Hub Water Merchants.) The 1.1 Patch removes the second time limit.

I want to know the location of the water-chip! Tell me!
Part of the game is questing to find the water-chip. Here are some clues instead of an exact location: 1) the water-chip is in a vault, 2) it can be used to provide a city with water without requiring outside assistance, so look for a large city that is self-sufficient, 3) many people will tell you to stay away from the vault you are looking for, even if they don't tell you that directly...
You can get more hints from the Strategy pages, including the specific location of the water-chip!

My stats are changing. Why is this happening?
There are three things that could be happening: 1) you used a chem, 2) radiation poisoning, or 3) you are wearing powerful armor. Chems modify your stats for a period of time (in three steps: raise above normal, lower below normal, return to normal) and then your stats should return to normal. Radiation can temporarily and/or permanently decrease your stats. Some armor can increase your Strength.

Inventory is annoying. Can you help?
There are two things that you should remember about inventory: the inventory command cursor (right-click to switch between the hand cursor and the command cursor). You can use items multiple ways (put them in your hand, use the command cursor in inventory on the item, use the command cursor on you out of inventory). Use the method you feel most comfortable with. To move many items into a container, move the container to one of your hands, and drag items to it while in inventory, then move the filled container back into the inventory list. You can arm dynamite and drop it from within Inventory.

How do I give items to my party-members? What items can they use?
You can use items on an NPC to give it to him or you can use Barter but the best way is to Steal from them. When you Steal from them, they will not care what items you give or take. NPCs will use ammo for their guns (if it is the proper ammo, you might try unloading their gun to match identical ammo types to it) and Stimpaks if they fall below 50% HPs. They cannot use armor.

Can you e-mail me when new stuff is available?
Yes. Interplay has a monthly (mostly) newsletter that lists the latest patches and demos. To be added to this, send e-mail to "gamersclub@interplay.com" with the subject line of "newsletter" or fill out the Interplay web visitor registration page. There is also a page at www.interplay.com/special.shtml that lists the latest demo and patch releases.

If you have any more questions, you can reach us via e-mail. For technical support questions about Fallout or information about other Interplay titles, send an e-mail to: support@interplay.com For Hints, Questions and Game Strategies visit the Fallout Feedback section of this board. For Web questions or problems, contact:webmaster@interplay.com The Links page has the location of other Fallout resources.