Fallout fans have been flocking back to the series since the release of Fallout 76, with player counts skyrocketing for Fallout 4, New Vegas, and even the initially divisive Fallout 76. This has led to a surge in modding activity, with popular mod site Nexus Mods reporting a whopping 6,300 TB worth of downloads last weekend.
There are plenty of reasons for this resurgence in modding interest. Bethesda has given relatively little post-release attention to most of its Fallout games, despite its seemingly constant string of Skyrim re-releases. This has left a void for modders to fill, and they have stepped up to the challenge in a big way.
In the last month alone, a plethora of new Fallout 4, 3, and New Vegas mods have been created and released to immediate popularity. Some of these mods are TV show-themed, such as one that adds the iconic Mandalorian’s Amban blaster pistol to Fallout 3. Others focus on spicing up your wardrobe, such as a mod that imports over 100 new clothing items into Fallout 4.
If you’re a veteran fan revisiting the Fallout RPGs for the first time in a while, you might be interested in some of the mods that serve to add fresh content. For example, Fallout: New Vegas players can now download the DUST mod, which describes itself as a “lore-friendly expansion covering the land east of the Colorado River and the people living there.” This mod is still in beta, but the outside spaces are almost fully complete, and the mod team is hard at work adding more NPC dialogue and quests.
Meanwhile in Fallout 4, a mod called The Machine and Her adds a new quest along with a fresh dungeon, complete with voiced NPCs, a selection of weapons, armor, and more. You can even enhance the Fallout 4 experience further with the Karma Overhaul mod, which adds “a fully fledged, integrated, and polished version of Fallout 3/New Vegas’s Karma system.”
Other mods focus on fixing bugs and upgrading the visuals of the games. The Fallout 3 Unofficial Patch does exactly as its name suggests, fixing errors and bugs in Fallout 3 and its DLC. You can also find loads of retexture mods, like the Mirrors Retexture mod, which “makes all those broken mirrors look less awful.”
There are so many Fallout mods out there that it’s well worth browsing through them yourself if you’re planning on playing any of the Fallout RPGs any time soon. Just be sure to exercise caution when downloading files online.
For Fallout 4 fans, it’s also worth keeping in mind that the Creation Club content is arriving on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S tomorrow. This update will boost frame rate on consoles and add widescreen support on PC, among other things.
