Nightsolo's Hints and Extras

Hints

• Save often.
• Loot everything that's lootable.
• Use your party members to carry stuff, as they don't have a weight limit. You can always Steal it back later, and they don't seem to mind.
• Keep your party members well supplied with Stimpacks. The more they have, the more often they'll use them, and the longer they'll live.
• Save in rotating slots. This makes it easier to undo something you screwed up.
• Take your time on the Water Chip quest. 150 days is plenty of time to do all the side quests in between.
• Don't worry about making the wrong choices or missing out on a quest or two here and there. You can always play the game again later and make different choices.
• Save more often than you think you should have to, including before every conversation.
• If your Barter Skill is high enough, sell a Stimpack to a shopkeeper for $100, then buy it back for $80. Repeat until you're rich.
• Use drugs to get Perks you wouldn't normally qualify for. When you level and you get the "Choose Perk screen," don't. Instead exit back to the main screen, use some drugs, then go back to the character screen and choose your Perk.
• When you have a choice in ammunition, choose JHP. AP is just weak. FMJ is middle-of-the-road.
• Plasma is better than Laser. The Alien Blaster uses a different technology and is better than anything.
• Installed in Windows XP, the game does not like to be Alt-Tabbed -- it crashes. So you may want to print this guide.
• Another glitch I've had is the screen going totally black at times. I've cleared this by pulling up the character screen real quick. Not a problem in combat as it doesn't cost Action Points. It's annoying, but at least you get to play an awesome classic game.
• Did I mention you should save often?
• If your Gambling Skill is high, spend a lot of time in casinos. It's the easiest way to get money. Also with high Gambling, be selective on what you loot: only take Stimpacks and money. The same goes for a high Barter Skill.
• Save your Stimpacks for later in the game. Rest and use First Aid and Doctor as much as possible.
• Be careful with who you hit in combat. Shooting the wrong character could lead to the good guys fighting you, and you killing someone essential to a quest. This goes along with not giving your NPCs burst-capable weapons.
• You can beat the game without turning in the Water Chip. Just take out the Cathedral and the Military Base before the 150 days is up.
• Aimed shots do more criticals. The eyes are the best spot to hit, though hitting a male in the groin will knock him down.
• Don't waste precious ammo on small critters like Rats. Use a melee or unarmed weapon.
• Specialize in and carry two types of weapons, and use them when the situation warrants. For example, lasers are great against leather, but not against metal.
• If you access your inventory in combat, reload your weapon while you're there. It'll save Action Points for killing stuff.
• Reload your weapon after every fight. It's so embarrasing to start a fight with an empty weapon.
• If you're not already playing on Hard difficulty, raise it there before you read a book. Reason being is that your skills are lower on Hard, so if you raise the difficulty, read, then lower the difficulty, you can get your skills over 91% just by reading.
• I should probably mention something about saving.

Extras

• Brahman = highest Indian Caste in reality, Brahmin = 2 headed cow in game. Is this a developer's joke, or just coincidence?
• Though he doesn't come right out and say it, according to Phil in Junktown, Dogmeat's former owner is a spittin' image of Mad Max.
• Fallout Soundtrack (61.4 MB) - does include the theme song
• Fallout save game editor (149 KB) - use at your own risk
• Fallout saved games (520 KB) - from key points in the game
• Desktop images (216 KB) - 640x480
• Fallout Font (55 KB) - Gothic821 CN MT
• Fallout Manual (6.35 MB) - on the CD, but here it is for all you lazy mutants
• Fallout 1 in 2 - Skip everything below and just do this
• Fallout 1.1 official patch (555 KB) - apply this first
• Fallout 1.2 fan patch (457 KB) - includes the UK-only 1.2 patch, apply this second
• Fallout 1.3 fan patch (251 KB) - re-adds children after the 1.2 patch, and fixes more bugs, apply this third
• Fallout NPC fan mod (32 KB) - allows more options for your party members, apply this last
• Engine Tweaks (50 KB) - Timeslip Oblivion's game engine tweaks including the ability to scroll your inventory with your mouse's scroll wheel.

last modified 15 June 2025