AN ALTERNATE ITEM HACK FOR FALLOUT 2 ==================================== What does it do? ---------------- Basically, replaces one file from your saved game with something packed with goodies. Namely, fills some lockers and bookcases in an area with enough advanced weaponry and ammo to exterminate a whole continent, advanced armours, books (including the one that sets all skills to 300), 99999 cash, 5000 stimpacks, and virtualy everything you'll ever need in the game. Heck, technically speaking there are more items here than you could possibly collect by playing the honest way, since some items would normally be unique, but I've put 'em here twice for good measure. OK, I know there's a similar patch, by Ed.L (lee@compex.com), and in fact this one is inspired by it. Honestly speaking, Ed deserves the credit, as I mostly just duplicated what he did. (Well, I also placed better items and duplicated some unique ones, but that's beside the point :) Only problem is that Ed's hack is for the unpatched 1.00 version. The original and buggiest. It won't work with the patched version. My hack is created for the patched version, i.e., you'll probably need this one if you've applied the patches. Disclaimers ----------- First of all, I am NOT associated with Interplay or Black Isle in any way. Please don't hassle them with e-mails about hack. Whatever your problem with the hack, it's not their fault. Second, well, I don't guarantee anything. It seemed to work fine on my computer, for a few hours worth of testing, but I can not and will not make any guarantee about how well it will work on your computer. You use it at your own risk. And if you have any problems, well, they're your problem, not mine. I don't get a cent out of this, and I'm doing it in my free time, so I can't possibly afford to offer any support. Again, you use it at your own risk. If you do not aggree with this kind of "no warranty" policy, please don't use the hack. If you do use it, you implicitly accept the terms above. Distribution ------------ You may distribute it in any way, as long as you do not modify the files in any way. Caveat ------ Be warned that using this cheat will ruin all your fun. The whole idea in role-playing games is to build your character from wimp to hero. By cheating, you bypass not only most of the challenge, but also a good part of the plot (or at least it's sole reason of being a part of the plot.) This is worse than playing a Quake clone in god mode. It is turning a game for brains into a mindless Quake clone in god mode. It's like turning chess into a "shoot-em-up" arcade. It IS possible to finish Fallout 2 without cheating for powerful weaponry. In fact it is possible to finish it as a non-combative character. I know I did. Well, you were warned. How to use it ------------- 1. Go to Klamath. 2. Go to the area called Trapper Town within Klamath. (Appears as "Mall" on the auto-map.) 3. Exit this area. 4. Save the game in BOTH slot 1 and slot 2. 5. Overwrite the klamall.sav file in the data\savegame\slot02 directory with the hacked one in this archive. 6. Load the game in slot 2. 7. Go back to the Trapper Town section, and loot whatever catches your fancy from the lockers and bookcases and a table with stuff on it. Particularly be sure to check out the building with the "Guns" sign, since that's where most stuff is. Now, if you have'n finished Klamath yet, and haven't got the fuel cell regulator from the broken car behind the chain fence, be sure to also do the following steps. Otherwise, I highly suspect you'll never be able to get it. But if you've got it already, you can skip these steps, and leave the goodies there for when you need more of them later. 8. Exit Trapper Town again. 9. Save the game again, let's say in slot 3. 10. Overwrite the klamall.sav file in the data\savegame\slot03 directory with the original one from slot 1 (data\savegame\slot01 directory). 11. Re-load the game from slot 3. More Caveats ------------ A. As tempting as it may be, don't get powerful guns or machine guns for your team mates, or at least not from the beginning. Those guys miss a lot, and often hit you or each other. If you give Vic a Gauss Rifle immediately after you've got him, he'll almost surely blow your brains with it soon. I gave him a FN FAL HPFA when testing this hack, and the third battle or so, he emptied a 20 bullet clip into me. Ouch. B. Tempting as it may be, you may want to refrain from getting a power armour for yourself right away. Some npc's seem to react differently if you're dressed in power armour. I don't know the extent of this effect, i.e., I can't tell exactly how much will it influence your game. But I'd say that if nothing else, better see the chats as they would happen normally. (On the other hands, dressing your party members in power armours doesn't seem to have any effect on any npc chat, and it helps keep them alive.) C. Some items, such as the Tanker Fob or the president's override key are parts of various quests. Using them otherwise because you had them from here may well screw up the game's scripts. I only included some of these items here for the event that somehow you encounter a bug, and can't get the item the normal way. Or that you find that you advanced the wrong skills and now it'd take half of forever to gather the xp to get the skills needed. -- Cristian Golumbovici (golu@bx.logicnet.ro, Moraelin@my-dejanews.com)