‘Fallout: New California’: What You Need to Know Before Release

This is it! The final update before Fallout: New California, an incredibly ambitious fan-made project years in the making, finally releases to the public! But before we dive back into the total conversion passion project, there’s a lot you need to know about the years leading up to its grand debut. That’s where this comes in!

The team took to one final update on Moddb for a final Dev Diary detailing the road thus far. Keep in mind that this isn’t the end, there is so much more to come, but this is a helpful guide as to what kind of work went into this mod and what players can expect.

Let’s get started!

7 Years!

“It is very exciting times around here,” began the mod’s creator in the latest diary post. “FNC has been testing since last May with a small group. This week we’ve been testing with a larger group. Basically just finding any last minute things we can polish off to take some rough spots out of the otherwise glassy finish on the mod. BETA 200 won’t be perfect, but it’ll be damn close. We’re still relying on open beta to have the community join us in making patches and reporting issues. Still worth downloading and playing day 1, but if you want to check back in after a month or two, our final 1.0 vesrion will go live December 14th-15th.”

To get everything in working order, the team compiled a list of frequently asked questions and this is a composite of them all. 

Is This For Fallout 4?

The answer is no, simply. They did add, “The amount of effort porting FNC to Fo4 would equal the time spent making it. Roughly: 6 years. Not happening. Unless you have a stack of dollars and your name rhymes with Ethesta and you want Fallout 5 to be in New California. Then hire me, the answer is yes.”

Is This on Console?

The team has mentioned quite a few times that this couldn’t ever make its way to console. People forget that console support is still relevatively new for mods and this project has been 7 years in the making, it began before mods were possible on both Xbox and PlayStation. To make a change now would be virtually impossible, “If you can figure out how to make it work, more power to you, but I’d imagine it would be outstandingly difficult if not impossible. The licensing fees alone would be devastating, so even if you could do it, it’d violate EULA.”

Is This a Standalone?

Fallout: New Vegas IS required to play but there is a start up menu that gives an option to play the vanilla game, or the mod. “You can start New California or New Vegas. FNC is not like a DLC, it’s basically a new game. New start, new world, new player character, all new map — never even touches New Vegas til the end.

And yes, you will be able to travel to New Vegas after our ending credits. No, you will not be able to take your New Vegas Courier back in time 20 years and play as the Star Player.”

So What Is This Mod About?

The team explains, “Set in 2260, 20 years before New Vegas and 10 years before Fallout 3,you are the Star Player. An adopted tribal wastelander living in Vault 18. That is where you grew up, surrounded by the events following Fallout 2 just a few decades before you were born.”

Players will be able to choose their narrative path by choosing Tackle or Dodge in the opening sequence, “Tackle starts you on the Path of the Warrior and reshapes your story in Vault 18. Who you are, what people think of you, and how you behave are all up to you after that. You open up the option to join Vault Security or Maintenance in this path.”

“If you Dodge, you start the Path of the Scientist. You wake up injured with a busted leg and limp through the prequel, helping your robotics teacher repair the Vault’s computer network and discovering another side to the story not seen in the other path.”

Once the story progresses, the Vault ends up exploding and the real journey begins. Players can choose to play a Free Agent, a Raider Slave, a Psychopathic Killer, or an Enclave Sleeper Agent. 

This Mod Is HUGE

This mod adds over 48 new quests, 8 new companions, 2 main quest paths, 5 NCR main quests with 3 endings, 5 Raider main quests with 2 endings, a chance to switch from Raider to NCR, a New Reno Bishop Family Mod quest with 3 endings, and so much more with yes – even more endings. This mod is very choice-heavy with loads of replayability potential. 

The mod itself also can take up to 30 hours to complete, depending on completition. It’s also 6.9GB to download, an additional 3.3GB for high resolution textures. If you want the best experience, you can also check out these recommended mods as well! 

Is This Mod Compatible With Other Mods

Yes, and they have an entire list detailing which mods are safe to use during Fallout: New California. If it’s not on the list, you can always reach out to the team via their Facebook page for any specific questions in case something was missed. 

And that’s a wrap! The team ended the latest post by saying, “Some people grossly underestimate how massive FNC is! Some people gross overestimate it. But in the end, you’ll just have to play it. It is very rich with Fallout lore, packed with characters that are memorable and interesting, has many deeply immersive moments, epic battles, wild plot twits, it looks great, and players will be hapy, I’m sure to finally get a rich non-linear single player role playing game back in the original West Coast close in spirit with Fallout 1 and 2, between 3 and New Vegas.”

Less than a week to go! October 23, mark those calenders!