No toolset for Fallout 3 PC at launch

By Robert Purchese Published 9 July, 2008

Too many "barriers" for console mods.

Bethesda has said there will "definitely" be no developer tools shipped with the PC version of Fallout 3.

But it remains a possibility for the future, unlike on consoles where there are too many "barriers" to overcome.

"It will definitely not be included on the disk," said Todd Howard in a fan interview on the Bethesda forum. "If and when one is available it will be a free download. I wish I could promise that an editor will be coming and when, but I can't.

"As far as consoles go, that's not happening for this game and user content. It's something we keep talking about with Microsoft and Sony, but there are a lot of barriers there right now, from delivery to security.

"We'd love to see that happen," Howward continued. "I'd love to see Oblivion content created by PC users available to all platforms, because the data is the same, most of them would pretty much 'work' right away."

Howard explained that quite a lot of the mechanics in Fallout 3 are similar to Oblivion, but tweaked and streamlined for a less expansive and more focused story - with many more outcomes.

There should be a full skill list in a few weeks, he promised, before explaining that Traits from the previous Fallout games have been rolled into Perks. There are around 100 of these and you get to pick one each time you level up in Fallout 3.

There are 20 levels in total, so theoretically there are 19 skill decisions to make. Howard said it was "important" not to let players see everything in one play through, and to make customisation choices hard.

Fallout 3 is due for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 this autumn. Pop over to our Fallout 3 gamepage to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • Widge #1 4 years ago

    Big fat HMMM at barriers

  • Tyronne #2 4 years ago

    Knowing how clever some of the bedroom coders on the pc are, it would not surprise me if someone got a oblivion editor working on fallout 3 before any official one comes out.

  • Katsumoto #3 4 years ago

    "haha
    why would you want to change a new game from day one anyway? silly pc people"

    Take a look at the mod scene for Oblivion and then reevaluate that statement! The first step was removing the giant overblown need-to-see-this-half-the-room-away interface, for instance.

  • Wickerman #4 4 years ago

    Sounds fair enough to me - did anyone really expect it to ship with a toolset on the PC? And did anyone really expect those who bought the console version would at any point get access to a toolset?!

    Given that the means of communication on the two console platforms are owned by the console manufacturers, any dodgy content that gets sent across them could (and indeed probably would) be seen to be their responsibility. Now with that in mind, they aren't going to give people the chance to mess about too heavily with the code (which even if you could, would be a pain in the arse with a controller, and would require changing parts of the toolset itself to allow for the transition from PC to console - which itself would no doubt be seen as a lot of work for little, if any, pay off)

  • jellyhead #5 4 years ago

    mmmmm, PC mods for Fallout 3. Dreamy, i'm a happy chap now :)

  • karstux #6 4 years ago

    I'm fairly certain they'll release FACS (FAllout Construction Set) for PC soon after the launch. If I remember correctly, with Oblivion they didn't ship the editor on the game disc either, but had it ready for download. Bethesda has always been very mod-friendly, it's an important part of their reputation and ethos. Not releasing an editor would alienate their traditional userbase, and I don't think they can afford to do so.

    We definitely won't see official 3d exporter tools though, and that's a pity. The "bedroom coders" will have to cover that... and they will, I think.

  • UncleLou #7 4 years ago


    why would you want to change a new game from day one anyway? silly pc people. mods are a pisser.


    To iron out the flaws of the unmodded game, genius.

  • aldo_14 #8 4 years ago

    haha
    why would you want to change a new game from day one anyway? silly pc people. mods are a pisser.
    waiting for the backlash...
    haha

    What would you prefer - paying for DLC or getting it for free?

  • FaceOmeter #9 4 years ago

    gungrave: may i study you in some kind of lab? KTHXBYE

  • Vandrius #10 4 years ago

    Heh, and this is why PC will continue to make my consoles a secondary tool.

    Anyone with Oblivion on console... I pity you. It was really an 8/10 game there. With mods, it became 10/10 with double the content and playability.

    PC modders typically add content that is of a higher quality than the original campaign itself. NWN, Oblivion, Morrowind, Medieval TW, Rome TW etc etc... their OC was vastly inferior to some of the modders offerings.

  • QPRHOOPS81 #11 4 years ago


    "SAVE YOUR PITY FOR THE WEAK! "

    He did.