Never too early: Someone is already modding the unreleased Fallout 4

By Gabe Gurwin Published October 30, 2015

fallout 4 weapons modder falloutcharactercustomize — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Fallout 4 releases this November, and developer Bethesda is committed to making the game accessible for the modding community. At this year’s E3, the studio announced that mods would be available to not just PC players, but Xbox One as well, and it looks like the Fallout community has wasted no time flexing its creative muscles — in fact, someone has already started modding Fallout 4.

In an interview with the Bethesda Blog, Peter Zaccagnino, who originally unveiled his plans for a “Rail Rifle” mod on the Fallout 4 forums last month, said he actually started working on his custom weapon “a day or two after the reveal trailer came out,” and he based the weapon’s design on the iconic MG42 machine gun from World War II.

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“When I saw how all the weapons in the game can be modded into different variants, my jaw dropped,” Zaccagnino tells Bethesda. He admits that he was “so engrossed with the weapon modding” in Fallout 4 that he hadn’t paid attention to the other modding capabilities it offers, but could potentially add a mount or turret for his Rail Gun in the future. If he finishes the final design for the Rail Gun before the game’s November 1o launch, he may even design a second weapon.

“I’ve always liked rail guns for some reason. In real life they’re incredibly powerful. The ones the Navy currently uses can fire from miles and miles away with extreme precision,” Zaccagninio says. With the improvements to the shooting mechanics in Fallout 4 from past games, it should be a ton of fun to try out.

Even without user-created content, Fallout 4 looks to offer one of the most customizable experiences the medium has ever seen. Nearly every piece of loot can be used to either alter your equipment or add components to your settlement, and the character creation tool offers a ridiculous level of detail — and having other characters say your actual name helps with the “immersion” that the industry so desperately craves.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

Gaming

The best Power Armor in Fallout 4 and where to find each set

Fallout 4 key art featuring the power armor suit hung up in an armory.

From the very first Fallout game, the Power Armor has been every wastelander's dream to pilot. This hulking suit of armor can make your normally squishy Vault Dweller nigh unkillable in Fallout 4. But there's more than just one type of Power Armor, and each one has different stats and requirements to wear. Not only that, but some you might find one piece at a time and need to build yourself, while others can be found as a complete set. If you want to make even a Deathclaw think twice about attacking you, only the best Power Armor will do. Here are the best suits in Fallout 4 and where to find them.
Raider Power Armor

This is the only Power Armor in Fallout 4 that even a base-level player can wear right off the bat. While that's great, it does mean it's the weakest option out there. The best stats you can get with it are 500 damage resistance, 250 energy resistance, and 1,050 radiation resistance for a total rating of 1,800. It's great for the early game if you can snag one, but is quickly outclassed by everything else on this list. A guaranteed spawn for this armor is in the cave right beside Skylanes Flight 1665 on your map.
T-45 Power Armor

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All Fallout games in order, chronologically and by release date

A woman and a dog leaving a vault in Fallout 4.

War never changes. The retrofuturistic apocalypse world of Fallout has graced fans with pretty regular releases since 1997, letting us explore the North American wasteland in the aftermath of a nuclear war in a variety of regions.

It can be a little hard to keep track of the series' timeline if you aren't listening to every holotape in every game and keeping your own log of events. On top of the best Fallout games, we now have to consider where the new Fallout TV show fits in the timeline. We aren't going to get into every timeline detail here (the series' lore is surprisingly deep and detailed) but we will let you know exactly what year every mainline titles takes place in and how you can play them in order.
Fallout games by release date

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How to hack in Fallout 4

A computer terminal in Fallout 4.

No matter what perks or skills your character has in Fallout 4, hacking will always come down to your ability as a player. There's no way to cheat the system here, and if you don't grasp what the game is asking you to do, you're mostly out of luck. Terminals will hide great loot behind their cryptic puzzles, as well as allow you to take over certain controls to turn your enemy's security against them. Some have very interesting logs about certain characters or events for all you lore junkies out there. Hacking has tons of uses, so let's brush up on your computer skills and give you a refresher on how to hack in Fallout 4.
How to hack in Fallout 4
When you first interact with a terminal to hack in Fallout 4, it will be a little overwhelming. As long as you have a high enough hacking skill to attempt a hack, you can go right into the minigame.

The basic idea of hacking is to find words hidden in that jumble of letters and symbols. Your goal is to find the correct word to crack the terminal before you run out of attempts. Once you find any word and select it, the terminal will tell you how close that word is to the correct one based on how many letters it has in the same space as the answer in the form of a likeness rating. The higher the rating, the more letters it has in common. It is somewhat similar to Wordle, only you don't type in the words yourself.