FAQ - Last Updated 2-24-99

What is Fallout 2?
Fallout 2 is a dark Post Nuclear Role Playing Game. See the links page for reviews; the files page for the patch and goodies to download; the Story page for a short description of who you will be playing; the screenshots page for, you guessed it, screenshots.

Where does Fallout 2 take place?
In the wastelands of northern California. Visit New Reno, Redding, and the ruins of San Francisco. Some places will not be visible from the world map until you learn about them. Unless your character knows there's a group of scientists hiding out in the mountains, you're probably not going to find them without directions. We can't give out any more information than that, so please don't ask. We're not going to ruin the game for you. ; )

Can I use my character from Fallout 1 in Fallout 2?
Fallout 2 takes place 80 years in the future, so your character would most likely be dead or drooling. Those kinds of characters just aren't much fun to play. Also, it would cause severe balance problems if very experienced characters could start the game at the beginning. So, no.

Is there a demo?
No, sorry. There is not, nor will there be one. Doing a demo would have delayed the shipping of Fallout 2 significantly. Doing a demo for a complicated RPG isn't a simple process; it would delay Fallout 2 by many months.

Will there be an editor for Fallout 2?
Fallout does not work like a Quake game in that levels are not just put together with an editor - we have our map tool and a scripting language which has to be written and then compiled. Changes also need to be made to the program code itself when stuff is changed around. We are thinking about releasing our mapper program and the source code to the game. We aren't sure when this might be, if ever. Please don't ask. IF we release it, you WILL hear about it. :)

Will Fallout 2 have multi-player?
No sorry. As to whether or not there will be a multi-player/online game in the future using the Fallout world has not been decided. Please do not email the development team about this.

Will there be a Macintosh Version for Fallout 2?
Regretfully no. It would cost more then we would make back on it. If you'd like more info. on why Interplay is not currently doing Mac titles, visit our MacPlay Website. It might help answer some questions. http://www.macplay.com/website/pressbox/future.html

Are there going to be expansion packs for Fallout 2?
There are not any plans at this time, but we have made the modifications to the engine, so that we will be able to in the future. This does not mean that we will be making expansions, it just gives us the ability if we want to. We won't know for a while yet, if we will be doing an expansion pack. If we do, we'll announce it on the home page.

What new characters are there going to be?
Fallout 2 will have more mutants, droids, ghouls, giant lizards, flesh-eating plants, etc. You'll be able to have party members that range from a super mutant to a whiny scientist and more, but we don't want to spoil anything.

How many NPCs can I have in my party?
This is based on your Charisma. You can have a maximum of 5 party members, but there are perks and other special NPCs that can exceed this number. The formula is (Charisma/2=Max NPCs), rounded down.

Are there special encounters, like Fallout 1?
Yes, there are special encounters. Any character can find them, but they are normally only accessible by high luck characters. There are also low luck special encounters_ not too pleasant. These encounters can happen anywhere on the world map, but certain encounters are limited to the terrain type you are traveling over: mountain, desert, coast, etc.

What control will I have over my party members?
There are general combat instructions you can give them: Berserk, Aggressive, Defensive, Coward, or you can Customize their settings. Each party member has certain things he or she will not do. You won't be able to tell an old mechanic to go berserk, or a brave warrior act like a coward.

What are some of the settings I can customize?
In the combat controls, you can customize how often they fire Bursts, when they will Run Away, what weapon types they will use in combat, the distance they will maintain from your enemy when in combat, who to attack first, and guidelines for using drugs/chemicals.

What other commands can I give my party members?
You can also tell them to heal themselves, wait for you, ask what their best weapons are, put their weapons away, take their armor off, and keep a certain distance from you out of combat. Some NPCs have other special dialog. Some will make things for you, give you information on the current area you are in, etc. Some NPCs will also give you a bonus to certain skills if they are in your party.

Do party members increase in level?
Yes. Party members get better with time. As you increase in level, they have a chance of increasing as well.

Can I give my party members better armor?
Yes. You will be able to give party members any type of armor. To avoid confusion and look of clones following you around, they will look the same but their resistance to damage will change.

Any new Skills or Traits?
We've changed how some of the skills work, but we did not add or remove any. There has only been one change in the Traits section. Sex Appeal has replaced Night Person.

What about Perks?
There are a lot of new perks. Besides the normal perks that you can select as you go up in level, some of them are special perks that you learn or buy from NPCs. There are also 12 hand-to-hand perks that you automatically gain when you reach their minimum requirements of: level, unarmed skill, and/or statistic. These are detailed in the Manual.

What new weapons are there?
There are about twice as many weapons in Fallout 2 than Fallout 1. These include the M72 Gauss Rifle, M3A1 "Grease Gun" SMG, Louisville Slugger (bat), H&K CAWS, and the Solar Scorcher.

Will there be non-lethal combat?
Basically, no. Only in rare, specially-scripted events will there be non-lethal combat, like fighting in a boxing ring.

Will there be more quests and stuff?
Fallout 2 has many more things to do than Fallout 1. Not all the quests are available to any character. Some are gender or skill dependent. Some aren't available right away, while others may appear because of your actions in another part of the world.

How much bigger is Fallout 2 going to be?
Fallout 2 has been advertised as being 50% bigger, but it is actually much bigger than that. There are many more quests, maps, NPCs, weapons, monsters, and all-around things to do.

Does Fallout 2 use the same engine as its predecessor?
Yes. There will be a lot of new art and improvements to the engine, but we're following the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Does Fallout 2 Support a 3D accelerator?
No. We are using the same 2D engine, so there isn't a need for one.

Will there be Fallout 2 Merchandise available to the public?
There aren't any plans at this time, but we are looking into it.

I've heard something about an Easter Egg. Does this exist and if so, what does it do?
This factoid contains a slight spoil. Do not read any further if you do not want to know. There is an "Easter Egg" in the game. It looks and is labeled as an "Easter Egg". This is JUST a hidden item in the game for those of you who hunt every inch of a game. That's all! It can NOT be used and does nothing_ even if there was a salt shaker in the game, it still would let you use the item. ;)

Are the Tag skills working properly?
Yes. The tagged skills are working correctly. Skills costs more to increase the higher they get. The following is the Skill Progression chart which is also in the readme.txt.

Each skill increment from 1-100 costs 1 skill point. Each skill increment from 101-125 costs 2 skill point. Each skill increment from 126-150 costs 3 skill point. Each skill increment from 151-175 costs 4 skill point. Each skill increment from 176-200 costs 5 skill point. Each skill increment from 200-300 costs 6 skill point. Note: Max skill is 300, instead of 200.

Tagged skills still cost the above amount of skill points but instead of increasing 1 level, the tagged skill will increase by 2. So, to increase a skill from 101 to 102, would normally costs 2 skill points. If you had that skill tagged it would increase to 103 instead, but you still have to spend the base cost: 2 Skill points.

Is there a Push Command?
Yes. You can Push NPCs that join your party as well as most other NPCs that wander around. To do this hold down the right mouse button, select the hand and arrow icon, the release. This will move the NPC one hex. Generally you have to be within 6 hexes, for this command to be available.

You can even push your party members in combat, but they will use up 1 action points ever time you push them. These action points are subtracted from their next turn. This will option will only appear if that NPC can be pushed and only that NPC will moved.

What does the Combat Look so in the Preferences section?
With the Combat Look Preference set to "On," the combat cursor will perform the 'examine' look when a critter is targeted. This will give you a detailed description as well as its current level of health: Almost Dead, Severely Wounded, etc. The examination will be displayed in the text box in the bottom left corner of the game screen. This preference defaults to "off."

How do I skin geckos?
This isn't an innate ability. There is someone in the beginning part of the game who will train you in this fine art.

How do I refuel my car?
The car runs on Small Energy Cells and Micro Fusion Cells (the ammo you use for energy weapons.) To refuel the car, hold down the right mouse button over the front end of the car, select the backpack icon, then scroll through your inventory for one of the above power cells, left click on the power cell. This will refuel your car. Don't forget the trunk can store items. It only takes two Micro Fusion Cells to completely fill the car, but almost a dozen Small Energy Cells.

Items are disappearing from my inventory. Is this a bug?
You aren't the only one in the game who has sticky fingers. Some characters in the Den, very short ones, are stealing from you. Be sure to check the shopkeepers too, for the thieves have to sell your goods to someone.

How do I remove my addiction to Jet?
Jet is a permanent addiction. You can get rid of the addiction by solving a certain quest in the game. Heroes don't do drugs.

Can I hold a weapon in each hand and fire them simultaneously?
Wielding weapons will work as it did in the original. You will have two item slots but you will only use one weapon at a time.

Can I put a silencer on my gun?
There are not any silencers in the game since it would drastically unbalance the game.

I heard you could combine items, is this true?
Yes. Certain items in the game will be able to be combined. Add a laser sighting to that special rifle or up the ammo count in that drum-fed auto shotgun. These are only for specific weapons and only specially skilled NPCs can perform this upgrade.

Is there a time limit?
There is a hard coded time limit in the engine for 13 years, but other than that, you don't need to complete the main plot within a certain time period.

Have the load times been improved?
Yes. Load times have been addressed in the final patch and should be significantly quicker. If you are still having troubles, see the Troubleshooting section below or contact customer service.

Is there more than one english version?
Yes. Actually there are three: US, UK, and the ELV (English Low Violence). See the Readme.txt in the files section to determine exactly which version you have, if you are unsure.

Is there a patch?
There is a patch for the US, UK, French, & German version. Sorry, but there will not be a patch for the ELV (English Low Violence) version. These patches are located in the Files section of this board. Please be sure to read the readm.txt BEFORE installing. Sorry, but save games are not compatible with the patch and installing the wrong patch will corrupt portions of the game.

Is there a Character Transfer Utility?
Sorry, there is not a character transfer utility. There is already a 3rd party character editor out there that would do the exact same thing as the character transfer utility.

I heard something about a free Fallout 2 sticker?
Yep! See the below link for the details. This is only while supplies last or until May 1st, which ever comes first.

See this link: Static Sticker offer http://feedback.interplay.com/fallout2/msg2/5451.html

What are the System Requirements?

Required
Windows (R)r 95/98 CD-ROM
Pentium (TM) 90 or faster
16 MB RAM
30 MB available hard drive space
Direct X certified SCGA card
Direct X certified sound card
4X or faster CD-ROM drive
Windows (R) 95/98/NT SP3 Only
100% Microsoft-compatible mouse

Recommended
Pentium (tm) 120 or faster
32 MB RAM
150 MB hard disk space
DOES NOT WORK IN DOS

TROUBLESHOOTING Be sure to follow the instructions carefully. If you are still having problems, contact Tech Support. (see your manual or readme.txt for details)

Load Times:
The final patch (1.02d) has shorted load times considerably. If you are still having long load times, even after the patch, try these:

1. Be sure absolutely nothing is running in the background, especially ANY virus programs or ICQ (in any mode). This seems minor but it can make a big difference.

2. Try running off of a Large install instead of the Huge install.

That should speed things up a lot for most systems.

If you are still having problems, this works for some people and might be able to help you out. Someone on the web posted this solution for some systems: I have cut the load times on my machine (PII 266, 64MB RAM) from 45-50 seconds to 10-15 seconds, and have cut the save times from 15-20 seconds to 5-10 seconds.

Here's what I did:
- LARGE install instead of HUMONGOUS
- Copied the MASTER.DAT file from the CD to the hard drive FALLOUT2 directory
- Changed the fallout.cfg file to point to the FALLOUT2 directory instead of D: (changed the line "master_dat=D:\master.dat" to "master_dat=C:\Program Files\Interplay\Fallout2\master.dat"

Someone else from the web came up with this slight tweak to speed things up a bit:
The file system in Win95 has three settings: laptop, workstation, and server. If you have MORE than 64MB of main memory, set to 'server mode' will also improve your load times a bit. If you have LESS than 64MB, server mode can actually decrease performance.

Crash Problems:
If you had or have the first Beta patch and you have the car, your saved game might be corrupted, even after applying the new patch from 11-25-98. To restore it, apply the current patch if you haven't already. Load a previous saved game where you do NOT have the car yet, then load the game where you have the car. This should fix the problem.

If you are still having frequent crash problems, there is something incompatible with your system and the game. Try the following:

1. Make sure you are not running ANYTHING at all in the background while you are playing - especially virus scanners, ICQ, IRQ, etc. Even if the programs aren't active, they still eat into your processing power and can causes a lot of other problems with Fallout 2. Make sure none of these are running while you play Fallout 2.

2. MOST IMPORTANT: Make sure you have the latest drivers for your sound and video cards. It's very important that you have the latest AND that they are DirectX Certified. Also be sure that you have the version of DirectX that's on the CD or higher.

3. Make sure you have PLENTY of hard drive space. You need at least 20 megs of RAM for the game. Plus, your disk cache might be running out of space. So always have more than enough free hard drive space.

4. General: Defrag your hard drive. This is not normally the problem, but it can't hurt.