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Fallout 2

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Fallout 2
Fallout 2 cover
Developers
Black Isle Studios
macOS (OS X) The Omni Group
Publishers
1998-2013 Interplay Entertainment
2015-present Bethesda Softworks
Retail re-release Sold Out Software
OS X MacPlay
Engines
Fallout Engine
Release dates
Windows October 29, 1998
macOS (OS X) August 24, 2002
Reception
Metacritic 86
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Turn-based
Perspectives Isometric, Bird's-eye view
Controls Point and select
Genres RPG
Art styles Stylized
Themes North America, Post-apocalyptic
Series Fallout
Fallout 2 on HowLongToBeat
Fallout 2 on IGDB
Fallout 2 guide on StrategyWiki
Fallout 2 on MobyGames
Fallout 2 on Wikipedia
Fallout
Fallout 1997
Fallout 2 1998
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel 2001
Fallout 3 2008
Fallout: New Vegas 2010
Fallout 4 2015
Fallout Shelter 2016
Fallout 4 VR 2017
Fallout 76 2018

Warnings

The Mac OS X version of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.

Fallout 2 is a singleplayer isometric and bird's-eye view RPG game in the Fallout series.

General information

The Vault - An extensive wiki for the Fallout series
No Mutants Allowed - General Fallout Discussion
GOG.com Community Discussions
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
DRM-free
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Epic Games Store
DRM-free after installation through Epic Games Launcher (notes may include more details)
Comes configured with the High Resolution Patch and sfall.
DRM-free when launched from the executable.
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Part of the Classic Collection
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Previous Interplay-published version supported OS X as well. Comes configured with the High Resolution Patch and sfall.
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Microsoft Store
DRM-free after installation through Microsoft Store client (notes may include more details)
DRM-free after being copied to any other folder.
Included with Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Windows
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
Comes configured with the High Resolution Patch and sfall. DRM-free when launched from the executable.
Windows
Amazon.com
GOG.com key
Included with Prime Gaming from March 7, 2024 to April 10, 2024
Windows
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Bethesda.net (unavailable)
Bethesda.net Launcher
Windows
GamersGate (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Fallout Classic Collection includes Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel.
The digital release of the Mac version is actually a DOS version which uses DOSBox in order to play it, though the retail version was a true native port.

Version differences

Retail versions differ in the available violence levels: the North American version has all 4 violence levels, the regular European version has 3 and the German one has 2.
Furthermore, both the regular European and German versions remove child NPCs, rendering at least one side quest impossible.
Digital releases are based on the European versions.

Monetization

Type Notes
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch v1.02 updates the game to the latest version.

Unofficial patches

Install one or the other; they are not mutually compatible.

Unofficial Fallout 2 patch

A community patch that fixes over 1000 bugs with the game past the last official 1.02 patch.
Full list of unofficial patch corrections

High Resolution Patch

A utility/patch that modifies the game in memory to add support for windowed mode, higher resolutions, and various other enhancements.
Included with the GOG.com and Steam releases.

Restoration Project (unofficial expansion)

An unofficial expansion which restores lost content originally planned for Fallout 2 (dialogue, NPCs, locations, etc., including the child NPCs cut from the European release).
Contains a large amount of restored content, as well as the unofficial patch and high resolution patch mentioned above.
The ammo mods change combat engine damage calculations and can increase the combat difficulty unreasonably.
Vault-Tec Labs Wiki - additional installation information.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\[Note 1]
Microsoft Store
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/38410/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\data\SAVEGAME[Note 1]
Microsoft Store
macOS (OS X) $HOME/Library/Application Support/Fallout 2/saves/
~/Library/Application Support/GOG.com/Fallout 2/saves/
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/38410/pfx/[Note 2]
Save games can be transferred between Windows and OS X installations of the game.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud
Syncs up to 953.67 MB of game data (maximum 1000 files).
Xbox Cloud

Video

Video settings
Video settings

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Use High Resolution Patch. Pre-installed with GOG.com and Steam.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
High Resolution Patch supports 4K but is not recommended as the UI does not scale with resolution and is extremely small in 4K. Pre-installed with GOG.com and Steam.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Use High Resolution Patch or see Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
To minimize screen tearing, disable fullscreen optimizations on the executable of the game.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Locked at a low frame rate. Mouse movement not clamped to engine frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Windowed

Edit config file[citation needed]
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Edit ddraw.ini.
  3. Under [Graphics], set Mode to 5

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Controller types

Audio

General settings
General settings

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
The exception is the "A Kiss To Build A Dream On" track by Louis Armstrong.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Official localization by «TWP CORP.» for local retail version. This version removes blood from the game.
Traditional Chinese
Official localization by «TWP CORP.» for local retail version. GOG.com and Steam releases patch download here, but it cannot be directly used in GOG.com and Steam releases (Fallout2HR.exe), all text will be glitched. You must enter the game from 'play Classic version' (Fallout2.exe), high-resolution patches can be applied separately, see here.
French
German
Italian
Check here for the retail and GOG.com versions, and here for the Steam release.
Polish
Local retail version only. For digital releases use this patch.
Russian
Official localization by «1C-Softclub» for Local retail version. Localization can also be installed on the steam version, following these instructions.
Russian
Unofficial localization by «Левая корпорация» and «Fargus Multimedia»
Spanish
Fan translation by Clan Dlan, download; alongside complete full guide in Spanish (author: L@Zar0), download.

Issues fixed

Colors are displayed wrong

See DirectDraw troubleshooting for other solutions.
ddraw.ini mode[citation needed]
Only works in a limited number of cases.
  1. Open ddraw.ini.
  2. Find the [Graphics] header.
  3. Change mode=0 to:

mode=4 for fullscreen DX9 mode or mode=5 for windowed DX9 mode.

Install the High Resolution Patch.[citation needed]

Error Initializing Video Mode 640x480

Custom Resolution[1]
  1. Create a custom resolution of 640x480 with 60Hz refresh rate and 8 bits per pixel.

Mouse issues

Slow/choppy mouse[citation needed]

If your mouse or game is slow or choppy, disable any kind of framerate limit like RTSS or vertical synchronization in your GPU drivers (applies for global adaptive vsync and G-Sync too).

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9 Requires the High Resolution Patch or sfall; default in digital releases.
DirectDraw 3.0a, 7 DirectDraw 7 support requires the High Resolution Patch.
OpenGL
OS X only.
ExecutablePPC 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Utilities

sfall

An engine modification for Fallout 2, allowing the base game to run correctly on modern operating systems.
Use D3D9 for rendering for a much improved compatibility with newer systems. Also allow to bind mouse wheel.
Adds additional features for modders.
Included with the GOG.com and Steam releases.
GOG.com and Steam versions use an outdated build.
Vault-Tec Labs Wiki - additional information can be found here.

Fallout 2 Save Editor

A simple save editor for Fallout 2.
Compatible with mods.[2]

Falche2

A character editor for Fallout 2.
Also known as Fallout 2 Character Editor v2.10.
Can edit your character stats, perks, skills and more.
Not compatible with the Restoration Project.

Peixoto's patch

Allows nearest neighbor or xBRz scaling.
Supports the original DirectDraw renderer, as well as the DirectDraw, DirectDraw 7 and Direct3D 9 renderers of the HD patch.

Mods

MIB88 Megamod

An mod pack that add new content and other enhancements.

Use other mods and fan patches. Available in both English and Russian.
Add new locations and additional enhancements, including those from other mods and patches.

Restoration Project extensions/standalone

These mods can also work with the Restoration Project mod, although some can also work on the base game as well.

Extensions

Standalone

  • Weapons Redone - a gameplay overhaul that balance combats and weapons usage.
  • Vintage Firearms - Replaces most of the weapons with real-world vintage firearms.
Compatibility requires skipping the install of included item.lst file inside \Data\Proto, use Restoration Project's version instead.

Restoration fix

Restoration fix restores children and skilldex images to European and digital versions of the game.

Fallout Et Tu

A Fallout to Fallout 2 engine conversion that integrates Fallout 2's features into Fallout 1.

Port of Fallout 1 into Fallout 2 that can be played from start to finish.
Requires an installation of Fallout 2 and Fallout 1's MASTER.DAT.
Patches lots of bugs, has all the quality of life of Fallout 2 and associated Sfall version as well as the FO2 hi-res patch.
Has optional INI tweaks, including a motorcycle similar to the Highwayman, restoration of invasion timers, and more.

System requirements

Steam

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 90 MHz
System memory (RAM) 16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 565 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA
Sound (audio device) DirectSound or SoundBlaster Compatible

Disc Version

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95, 98, NT
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 90 MHz
System memory (RAM) 16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 30 MB
Video card (GPU) SVGA
DirectX 3.0a compatible
Other 4X CD-ROM
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.1.4
Processor (CPU) Power Macintosh G3 233 MHz
System memory (RAM) 128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 600 MB


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  2. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/38410/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (38410) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Support for Fallout 2 - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023
  2. Fallout 2 Savegame Editor - No Mutants Allowed Forum - last accessed on May 2023