Fallout 4: New Vegas Devs Open Up About Bethesda's Audio Requirements

The incredibly ambitious fan project Fallout 4: New Vegas blends the best of both worlds into one passionate gaming venture. Though this particular project has the green light from Bethesda, similar undertakings have been taken down by crossing a line with the developer. Because of that, and because of the loyal following (including myself) paying close attention to the development project for F4NV, the team behind this venture have opened up about the discussion they had with Bethesda and how that will affect audio content used in their finished product.

While the team continues to chip away at voice over requirements and the overall development process, they did want to address a few of the more common questions they receive from interested fans. They recently took to their Facebook page to clarify a few misunderstandings and give those interested an inside look at what their process actually is.

In their most recent post, they mentioned:

"Bethesda requires all assets to be remade for projects such as this. What this means is that all voice overs, in-game music, radio music, and sound effects will need to be replaced.

Now, some of this was going to happen anyway - our team had planned on doing brand-new renditions of some of the background music found throughout New Vegas, and new sound effects were going to be made that better suit the environment or weapons (such as the firing sounds for the Bozar.) Expanding this facet of the audio portion of the project - while still a sizable undertaking - is aided by the sound effects already present in Fallout 4, as well as the resources of the fantastic sound team we have on Team F4NV."

"What is likely most concerning to many fans is the radio music - for many, the radio stations in New Vegas are core to their perception of the game and the way that they experience it. Due to the copyright status of the music used in Fallout: New Vegas, it's impossible for F4NV to use it. To do so would require licensing the track, which is far outside the budgetary scope of F4NV. This means we'll be searching for tracks to replace the originals, and - like much of the project - aim to create something that embraces the stylistic feel of the original, while still offering something new. We already have plans in the works for this, and look forward to being able to showcase just what we have in the near future!

Finally, there's voice acting. Like the above, all the voice acting will have to be re-recorded by new actors. Because of this, a number of concerns have been raised about the potential quality of the voice overs used in the project. As with anything else Team F4NV releases, our focus is on quality over anything else. This is one of the reasons our voice acting team has been separated from our core development team. This means our voice acting team can focus on cultivating the best possible voice actors, and working on characters that they're best suited for, and our development team can continue working on milestone and locational goals."

Interested in supporting this team? Please check out their website right here to do just that and see how YOU can be a part of the magic.