How To Play Fallout: London, The Biggest Bethesda Mod In Years
And will this anticipated mod ever come to console? We asked the developers.
Fallout: London, an all-new, fan-made expansion for Fallout 4 set in a post-apocalyptic version of the English metropolis, is finally out. In a year devoid of new, playable games in the beloved franchise — despite the enormous success of Amazon’s live-action show — this ambitious mod will likely be the most interesting Fallout-related thing you’ll play all year.
“It's been a long road of countless volunteer work hours, but we finally did it!” Team FOLON project manager Dean Carter tells Inverse. “We are very proud of the mod we have created. And I personally am so thankful and proud of the team pulling this fantastic piece of gaming together.”
“As much as we would like to be on console, at this stage it is not possible.”
In its five years of development, the project managed to gain a lot of positive buzz. So much so, CD Projekt Red’s popular digital storefront GOG stepped up to host the game like a brand new release. But for lots of players, jumping into Fallout: London won’t be as simple as installing it and starting on your adventure. There’s a bit of a process to get the game going, especially for those on Steam.
Here’s how you can get Fallout: London up and running on your PC — along with an update on whether this Bethesda mod will ever make its way to consoles like Xbox, PS4, or PS5.
How to Get Fallout: London on GOG
Fallout: London was developed by dozens of industry professionals and veterans, modders, hobbyists, and game enthusiasts over five years.
Before you can install Fallout: London, players will have to sort out which version of Fallout 4 they have installed. Bethesda’s 2015 role-playing game may be known for its mods, but the storied developer set back this active community considerably when it released its next-gen update in April. The controversial update is why Fallout: London was delayed several months in the first place.
Instead of getting to the bottom of making the mod compatible with Bethesda’s next-gen patch (thereby delaying it further), Team FOLON opted to release their game and let players downgrade their copies on their own terms.
For players who own Fallout 4 and all of its DLC on GOG.com, this process is extremely easy. GOG’s Fallout 4 GOTY edition automatically downloads as a version compatible with Fallout: London. If you’re using GOG Galaxy, the storefront’s dedicated app, you’ll want to disable cloud saves according to the company. If you’ve already updated your copy of Fallout 4, don’t fret: GOG Galaxy’s convenient Rollback Feature will let you downgrade your game without a problem.
Team FOLON’s Fallout London Downgrader on Nexus Mods is the easiest way to revert your copy of Fallout 4 to a pre-next-gen update version.
If you don’t already have a copy of the game or want to bypass any complications, Fallout 4’s Game Of The Year Edition is 60% off on GOG until Aug. 2.
How to Get Fallout: London on Steam
For players on Steam, there are a few additional, simple steps. Steam users will have to head over to Nexus Mods and download Team FOLON’s downgrader. Launching this handy mod will do most of the downgrading work for you in just a few clicks. Be sure to know the exact location of the Fallout 4 game file to keep the process going smoothly. If you don’t know where you have Fallout 4 installed, open up Steam, right-click Fallout 4 in your library, and select Manage, then browse local files to see where the game is located.
Steam users will also have to disable cloud saves. You’ll have to right-click Fallout 4 in your library, click Properties, and under the General tab, toggle the Steam Cloud option off.
How to install Fallout: London on GOG
Fallout: London’s expansive map is approximately the size of Fallout 4’s Commonwealth and the Far Harbor DLC combined.
For players on GOG, once again this process has been made super easy. Simply add Fallout: London to your library, install it using GOG Galaxy, and hit play.
How to install Fallout: London on Steam
Steam users will have to take some additional steps. You’ll first want to download the required Fallout: London installer from GOG, free of charge. In total, the download is around 34 GB. Once downloaded, open the setup “.exe” file within.
Before we move forward, you’ll need to make sure you have the “Fallout 4 Script Extender” or “F4SE” on your computer. If you’re already familiar with modding Fallout 4, chances are you already have this required application up and running on your computer. For everyone else, Team FOLON smartly included the F4SE installer in the “Fallout London” file. It will be named “f4se_loader.exe” in the “Fallout London” folder. Simply run the application and follow its instructions.
You’ll need to make sure you have the Fallout 4 Script Extender installed before hitting the “installer.exe” file in your downloaded “Fallout London” folder.
Once your script extender is installed, click the application named “installer.exe” in the “Fallout London” folder to begin the process of placing the mods files in the correct places. Like the downgrader, you’ll need to tell the installer where you have Fallout 4 installed on your computer.
Once this process is done, you should be able to boot up Fallout: London without a hitch. It’s worth noting that Fallout: London is a total conversion mod. This means to play the original version of Fallout 4 again, you’ll have to uninstall the mod and the game, then reinstall Fallout 4.
As a bonus, Team FOLON has a list of 13 recommended mods at the bottom of its downgrader page. None of these mods are required to play Fallout: London. They are just a list of popular mods and tweaks that have made Fallout 4 a more user-friendly, improved, and fun experience over the last eight years. It’s a great list for those returning to Fallout 4 after some time, and might not be familiar with how the community has improved the game since its launch.
Will Fallout: London release on Xbox, PS5, or PS4?
The Fallout: London launch trailer.
While PC players get to enjoy this all-new look at post-apocalyptic Europe, console players will have to watch from the sidelines. While the console version of Fallout 4 has mod functionality, Fallout: London is too extensive a mod to get approval from either Sony or Microsoft.
“As much as we would like to be on console, at this stage it is not possible,” Carter tells Inverse. “F4se, which is the system we use, is not compatible with consoles. It simply won't work on it.”
