Fallout: 76 - Take Me Home, Country Roads

They brought back the freaking pipe pistols?

Good lord I hate the aesthetic on those. I wasn't paying enough attention during the first few gameplay demos.

With Pipe Pistols I consider them to look crappy...but I think it's actually a feature rather than a bug as they're early-game, crappy weapons.

I played a bit of it in the end, got up to around level 6 or 7 in my short time with it. Yeah, I got the feeling a lot of the controls were based around consoles first as well. Both me and the one guy I talked to in-game found the menus to be a hassle. I have a cold right now so what I'm really in desperate need of, though, is a push-to-talk option.

So like I'm completely ignoring this game, but I'm kinda dreading when it gets released because I will be really annoyed if I see this on greatest games list mostly because of similar heartache caused by 3 & 4 keeping showing up in recommendations

Edited by SpookyMask on Oct 30th 2018 at 8:58:54 PM

So remember how in Bethesda games, the Physics is tied to your frame rate? More FPS means faster running. Faster attacks. It's why the games enforce a frame cap generally. To keep the physics in check.

Well it's still the case in Fallout 76.

And yes. a simple edit to an ini file removes the frame rate cap. Allowing you to move at super speed, attack faster, shoot faster, etc....

See the framerate in action

There's a lot of debate on how fixeable this is. Enforcing V-Sync (Which disabling this is the easiest way to get the cheat to work) is a way, but could result in a lot of imput lag (it's why people disable v-sync alot). Which sucks for both multiplayer games and shooting games.

The other is for Bethesda to enforce a frame rate, hardcoded on the engine in a way that players can't just mod away.

Edited by Ghilz on Oct 31st 2018 at 4:52:39 AM

Should they tie the physics to the framerate in the first place?

No. No they should not. What they should do is design a whole new engine from the ground up and just sell the old one on Steam. But apparently they prefer it this way.

They can't sell the old one. The old one is based on Gamebryo, which they license.

Bethesda really loves their engine. For the record, this is actually a very big reason why Bethesda games are infamously buggy. They've basically stuck with the same engine since Oblivion, just modifying it over time. In essence, Bethesda games like Fallout 76 are actually really elaborate Oblivion mods.

As you can imagine, using an engine made for a 2006 game causes a lot of problems, because a game like Fallout 4 or Fallout 76 is on an entirely different scale (in terms of sheer computing complexity) and an ancient engine like that really can't handle it without a lot of work.

Imagine a Model-T which, like the ship of Theseus, is constantly maintained. And in fact, is being upgraded. Eventually, there comes a point where the whole thing won't work anymore because of a lack of backwards-compatibility.

So brushing past a lot of the hate. Any Ps 4 peasants want to group up for the beta today? Had a great time solo for the first one and it got rid of some (not all) of my worries. Even the atom store is quite tame and I can afford any item after a few hours.

Today I want to try grouping and going big into the crafting. I have a Meager CAMP so far but I plan on making a base and pushing into some of the higher territories.

Str and it build so far. PSN: Blindna

Why is the game called 'Fallout 76', anyways? It's really unconnected to the setting.

I mean, Fallout 4 had connections to 1776, the Minutemen, the first American Revolution, etc. So maybe they originally trademarked it as a possible alternative title for Fallout 4 and since they already had registered the domain names they just went with it for their multiplayer spinoff?

Because you're coming out of Vault 76.

Vault 76, which was built in 2076, which is the tricentennial celebration of the United States' founding in 1776. Plus it makes sense as a spinoff title, so as to avoid any appearance of being an actual sequel or mainline title.

EDIT: Managed to sneak in a little bit of extra playtime of today's beta during lunch. Actually got around to setting my C.A.M.P., and quickly found that I'm going to need a lot of wood to build much. Better go back to that lumberyard. Found some scorchers and feral ghouls attacking each other, which was interesting.

Also, does anybody else experience a bug where you can basically collect infinite dirty water from a water source, even if you don't have any bottles? And should just collecting it really give you rads? That seems a bit overkill.

Edited by danime91 on Nov 1st 2018 at 12:41:38 PM

What's this I hear about the game having a self-destruct bug now?

Apparently, people reported that after the game downloaded 100 gigs of patches, the launcher froze and pressing any button while it's frozen completely deletes the game folder. Bethesda's response was "don't press anything until we patch this".

Edited by amitakartok on Nov 1st 2018 at 1:02:09 PM

According to Bethesda, the Speed hack bug won't be addressed before launch. Hopefully it's address at Launch.

The bug apparently causes the launcher to re-download the entire game after wiping the existing copy.

Edited by Ghilz on Nov 1st 2018 at 8:06:49 AM

Played more of the beta — this time the fact that the launcher didn't delete the game meant there were, of course, a lot more players. Ended up roaming about in a group of four heading off in some completely wrong direction. Ended up taking down some giant mutant monster at level 2. Granted, I tactically got it stuck behind some level geometry and gave it a Death of a Thousand Cuts, but still, look, skill.

I had fun enough, but I'm feeling pretty mixed about the game as a whole. When you're trying to do the story, it's kind of a dull experience; I find it hard to get into the plot. You're chasing after some Overseer always just to hear another holotape on about how she's been here and already left. I don't know if it gets better later on, or if more robot NPCs get involved? But I'm always at a distance, I don't feel like anything I'm doing matters, and I feel like my character is some sap who woke up late, was left behind, and is permanently playing catch-up. Which in fairness might be accurate.

When you're with a group, well, actually paying attention to that story becomes pretty hard. I enjoyed interacting with others and forming a little group, but that's just something you can do in multiplayer games. Or I guess in real-life but if I start walking up to strangers and trying to team up with them I will probably be arrested.

With the story failing to hook me and teammates taking away immersion, I feel like you're left to take in a very vanilla experience. I enjoy that West Virginia is a more colourful place than previous games, and I like seeing some of the new wildlife, but the survival elements are so downplayed that I don't think they bring much to the table either. My experiences playing it leave me feeling pretty empty, at least for now.

Yeah, I heard of that issue. It's a pretty glaring oversight for a multiplayer game — I'm surprised they didn't implement at least some sort of hack like hardcoding 60FPS, given it's not a new problem for the engine.

Edited by Lavaeolus on Nov 1st 2018 at 1:48:23 PM

Even hard coding it is a bandaid.

Bethesda's fans know their engine better than Bethesda does. If Bethesda hardcodes the cap, all that means is that they have basically just bought themselves a week before someone mods it out. These are the people who had a Mod making tool for Fallout 4 up by week one of Fallout 4's launch. Months before Bethesda released theirs. These are the people who patch the game better than Bethesda does. These are the people who build script extenders, rebuild the executable to make customizable UI, and so on.

It'll take them a picosecond to figure out a hardcoded fps lock.

It's why any well designed multiplayer games would A) not use the framerate to dictate physics, and B) make such values enforced by server so they cannot be tempered with client side.

Unbinding the physics from the frame rate is probably off the table I suspect. Either the engine doesn't support it, or doing this would have so many knock on effects, Bethesda would have to push the game back for months as they worked to get the game working again.

Edited by Ghilz on Nov 1st 2018 at 11:52:31 AM

Well, hardcoding things like physics and animation to the system clock or frame rate has a long and awful tradition. I remember playing patience at school on a computer that was clearly faster than the game was programmed for (I think it was windows 98), and the victory card jumps would happen in about a tenth of a second.

More recently, one of the need for speed games did that. But also locked the frame rate to 30. So if you set it to 60, like a normal person would enjoy, the cars all suddenly doubled in speed and became nigh impossible to control.

For what it's worth, going to a new engine at this point isn't really possible and never really was. I get the impression that this game is intended to not cost a lot to build, thanks to sharing a lot of code with Fallout 4. Plus, switching to a new engine would also cause problems for Bethesda (a good example of this would be Mass Effect Andromeda, which had a lot of glitches due in part to the Bioware not being used to the new engine).

Got a lot of extra time in that last beta.

Got my camp set up and reached max size which was sadly just a wooden box with all workbenches, power armour a farm and a nice relaxation room (sofa, radio, TV, chairs). Very small compared to what I wanted but I sort of get why.

Hit level 17 and I'm starting to see new weapon types which is a good sign. My worry about things being too easy are gone. Don't just look at level, enemy type makes a huge difference and legendary enemies can have multiple stars. I saw a 3 star Mr gutsy who demolished me.

Didn't find a crossbow but did pick up some bolts for one so confirmed? Also power drill as a weapon is hilarious. Lots of new fist weapons was nice to see as fo4 didn't give them much love.

Alternative themed pvp friendly game mode. Done like a Moba with teams killing waves of each others bots for points and kept within the games lore was interesting.

Nuke codes, I ended up with 3 pieces solo in one play session which was a bit of a worry and knowing how the missions go I wonder if it can be used to lock new players out of key quests until they change server.

Also first proper NPC spoken to (none human) that wasn't just a generic vendor bot. Made me realise how much I missed active NPC dialogue. But it did feel like it had a decent in game reason for being there and the fact they were a pain in the backside / annoying was intentional.

Obviously. Going to a new Engine is what you do before development begins. It's a bad idea when development has started, and even more so when the game's release date is 2 weeks away.

I really hope TES 6 isn't still on Gamebryo. Bethesda needs to learn and move on from that engine.

I didn't see this posted here, but thought some might be interested:

Fallout 76 modding has begun - Eurogamer

Over on Nexusmods, a handful of Fallout 76 mods have appeared. The mods range from simple menu alterations to some pretty funky texture changes. One mod by Motherofdeathclaws, for instance, lets players colour their hair any shade they like (even bright purple), while another by Neeher transforms your character's vault suit from blue to black. Day one of the PC beta and we already have wasteland goths.

...

"Bethesda doesn't allow the traditional way of modding by editing some configuration files that tell the game to not require those packaged assets," Neeher said. Instead, you apparently have to modify the packages (called Archives) using a program within the Fallout 4 creation kit called Archive 2. "You can modify the files inside an archive with this program, such as replacing textures," Neeher explained.

...

But in Neeher's opinion, there could be trouble on the horizon, as the modders are not yet certain whether Bethesda will be happy with their explots. Due to Bethesda's new microtransactions and an in-game store for cosmetic items, Neeher believes "this type of modding may prove a threat to them".

"If someone really wanted to have an atom market purchase but didn't want to pay, they could do this method of modding to steal the content from the store," Neeher said. "I imagine we may hear something about this before release in a couple weeks." Motherofdeathclaws similarly believes the official release could change whether these mods work at all. To me, however, the main appeal of cosmetics is other people see them - something the mods cannot replicate. Perhaps Bethesda will simply let this one go (Eurogamer contacted Bethesda for comment on Fallout 76 modding).

Right now these are all texture mods, but sound replacers and model editing is probably possible. There's nothing so far to change the game's physics or the like; it's still quite limited compared to FO 4 modding.

I've got a character to level 15 and I'm running into the problem of not having Main or Side quests left that aren't sending me to areas/enemies that are far too over leveled for me.

It looks like grinding out Dailies and Events are non-optional.

It irks me because I feel like until now enemies have been underleveled and not rewarding the XP I need to carry me through 10-15. I haven't even actually SEEN enemies in that range. I've been fighting 10's at max, and then BAM, level 22 Supermutants and nothing in the middle.

Edited by CitizenH on Nov 4th 2018 at 6:12:22 AM

Well Beth have given us several friend codes each. I have a ps4 one spare if somebody wants.