I'd love to explore more of Fallout London's gorgeous world, but it keeps crashing every few minutes

Update: Ignore the part where I implied that you wouldn't be able to access vanilla settings once the mod was installed. I was just a (crazy, charismatic, flamboyant) idiot.

In my short time with Fallout 4's massive mod, Fallout London, I read a delightful post about a scientist who named his favorite irradiated shrew “Big Dave,” hit several Radsshrews with his walking stick, chowed down on expired pink waffles, and was warned about train delays because of “leaves on the tracks.”

“A British transport joke!” I said to myself, marinating in a fair amount of crown-mandated light entertainment. “Our organ-whippingly expensive but vital public services has I was shouting “Bullshit!” Good time. Then the game people transported me directly to my desktop, and continued to do so at regular intervals for the next few hours, from “this conversation was getting good” to “my save was about to load.” My upper lip was practically quivering, I tell you.


I’m not alone in this. There’s a patch on the way, and there are already a few supposed fixes. One involves downloading another mod. The other is apparently an Nvidia issue with the ‘Weapon Wreckage’ setting. Unfortunately, to turn this off, I have to uninstall FOLON and Fallout 4, then reinstall Fallout 4 to access the vanilla settings menu. I’ve done this twice already. First, I tried running it on Steam, then had to buy it from GOG because the restore tool wouldn’t work. Then, I did a fresh install so I could change the settings the first time I started experiencing crashes. It didn’t work.

Simply put, I'm done. To be clear, this isn't me saying “avoid the mod”, it's just that I've exceeded my personal tolerance for fiddling with the files. I'm going to watch a YouTube video because I really want to see more of what FOLON has to offer. So, here's a public service announcement: Try to set up the extra mods and settings you need before to prevent similar bales you go in. Or wait for the patch.

It's a shame, really, because London looks fantastic so far. Everything from the architecture to the lighting to a new dialogue system that's more reminiscent of New Vegas is an incredible step up from vanilla Fallout 4. Enjoy your mince pies at this station from the opening area:

A train station in Fallout London.

Image credit: Team FOLON/Rock Paper Rifle

It reminded me of the spooky grandeur of Bioshock more than I expected, but it works well. I also found the lack of traditional Fallout iconography incredibly refreshing. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like the Vault Boy and Nuka-Cola have long been robbed of any satirical appeal they might once have had; they’ve been mascotized to the level of Funko Pop, all dead-shiny as the stuffed creatures’ eyes. But here, even the Pip Boy has been replaced, and these new symbols do just enough to break up the stifling familiarity and liven up the atmosphere. Also, I repeat: you can regain health by eating pink wafers.

So, when you start playing Fallout London, enjoy it. I'm sure you will, just make sure you set everything up beforehand. Me? I'll have nightmares about a giant file that won't open.

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