Skip below to get right to the goodies if you don't want to read a long winded back-story. 
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About 9 years ago I loaded up a game called Fallout 2 after having shelved it for some time. The Temple of Trials had put me off years prior, but something was telling me that I should return to this game. Once I entered Klamath, I was hooked. Bugs plagued my experience though and I soon went online to see if there were any unofficial patches. I'm not sure why I did this, but if I recall correctly it was my tinkering with Total Annihilation that led me to believe that if there was a crazy modding community following it, there had to be one for Fallout as well.
I soon found a patch being actively worked on by someone named Seraph. I also found Per's unofficial guide, which listed a multitude of bugs that were still left open. So I went to work to figure out how the heck to fix all these problems. Fallout modding can be a bit daunting, especially with the lack of documentation at that time, but it was a challenge I was willing to tackle. I sent my first few batches to Seraph to include in his work and the ball started rolling.
It was 2005 at this point and I guess I just wanted something of my own released, so coming out of nowhere, I posted my own patch here at NMA. And thus began my Fallout modding addiction.
By the end of 2007 over 1,000 bugs had been squashed and though it was satisfying, I wanted to squeeze even more out of Fallout 2. After reading through the section of Per's guide on unfinished content I knew what had to be done, and thus the Restoration Project was born.
1.0 of the RP packed a lot of goodness, but it lacked polish and looking back now, to be honest, elements of it were indeed a bit amateur. Some of the more hard core Fallout fans were put off by this and in the end I'm sure there are those who haven't touched it since.
I was only one man, and scripting, mapping, writing, making graphics, music, etc was something I couldn't do alone. With any great project, especially one that others see potential in, people will come out of the woodwork to help. "If you build it, they will come" is something aspiring modders should keep in mind.
2.0 of the RP saw the arrival of Dravean as lead writer and Pixote as lead graphic designer and mapper. These guys came in and raised the quality bar to the next level. Dravean went through all the dialogue and made it more in line with the Fallout writing style and lore and ensured that future dialogue was of the same quality. And Pixote, well, what can be said about that crazy guy.
The thousands of hours he put in to create new graphics and animation sets is just mind boggling. If you needed mapping or graphic work done, he did it. I also have to give a shout out to Darek. He's our local Fallout detective and was immensely helpful in finding the causes to dozens of obscure and long standing issues. And of course, there's Timeslip. Her exe hackery was crucial to bring the RP to where it is today. And in general, she's made the lives of Fallout modders easier. And lastly, I can't not mention NovaRain, who was a dedicated tester for me throughout the years. He must have played through the *entire* game dozens of times over the course of all this. While I only single out a few people here, there were many others that stepped in to lend a hand with the RP over the years. The readme and credits in the game lists them. I'm truly grateful to all of them.
Now come 2013, RP 2.2 is being released. I believe that this version is what I had always envisioned the Restoration Project would become. If you were put off by older RP releases, please give it a try again. I think you'll be pleased. If you've been waiting 6 years to play the RP, well, now is your chance. And if you've already played it dozens of times before, rest assured there is new content for you to experience.
Is this the end of Bear Dude's Fallout modding adventure? To me it is, but I've already said this before and I'll admit that anytime I see a bug reported for something I've worked on, I get the urge to squash it. So expect at least one more minor update down the road, especially since at the very least a Russian translation is in the works. But do know, that to me, I'm done.
Was all this worth the many, many thousands of hours I put in over the years to fix vanilla bugs and add new content? I think so. I had fun doing it and really, I just wanted others to get even more enjoyment out of a game they loved. I also like to think that in some way I inspired others to do modding of their own and to realize that just because a game is old it doesn't mean it has to be abandoned.
-----
Without further ado, after 3 long years and countless delays here is another big update to the Restoration Project! Previous 2.x saves (beta included) can be used, BUT I highly suggest against it. They'll load, but there have been enough map/script changes here and there that something will surely break. So start anew!
Bug reports should be added to the Fallout 2 RP bug report wiki. A link can be found below. Posting only in this thread risks your report being lost over time.
Enjoy!
Installation instructions:
1. Make a clean installation of Fallout 2 (humongous install). If you are running Visa/7/8, be sure to NOT install in the c:\program files directory.
2. Download and install the RP (only use the manual install if you really know what you're doing)
3. That's it. Don't install anything else, unless you know what you're doing!
Direct links:
Windows installer (recommended): download
Manual install (advanced users): download
My Fallout modding website
Restoration Project technical wiki
Restoration Project bug report wiki
Restoration Project walkthrough (a bit out of date)
**POST FIXES**
None at this time.
RP 2.2 Change Log:
-----
About 9 years ago I loaded up a game called Fallout 2 after having shelved it for some time. The Temple of Trials had put me off years prior, but something was telling me that I should return to this game. Once I entered Klamath, I was hooked. Bugs plagued my experience though and I soon went online to see if there were any unofficial patches. I'm not sure why I did this, but if I recall correctly it was my tinkering with Total Annihilation that led me to believe that if there was a crazy modding community following it, there had to be one for Fallout as well.
I soon found a patch being actively worked on by someone named Seraph. I also found Per's unofficial guide, which listed a multitude of bugs that were still left open. So I went to work to figure out how the heck to fix all these problems. Fallout modding can be a bit daunting, especially with the lack of documentation at that time, but it was a challenge I was willing to tackle. I sent my first few batches to Seraph to include in his work and the ball started rolling.
It was 2005 at this point and I guess I just wanted something of my own released, so coming out of nowhere, I posted my own patch here at NMA. And thus began my Fallout modding addiction.
By the end of 2007 over 1,000 bugs had been squashed and though it was satisfying, I wanted to squeeze even more out of Fallout 2. After reading through the section of Per's guide on unfinished content I knew what had to be done, and thus the Restoration Project was born.
1.0 of the RP packed a lot of goodness, but it lacked polish and looking back now, to be honest, elements of it were indeed a bit amateur. Some of the more hard core Fallout fans were put off by this and in the end I'm sure there are those who haven't touched it since.
I was only one man, and scripting, mapping, writing, making graphics, music, etc was something I couldn't do alone. With any great project, especially one that others see potential in, people will come out of the woodwork to help. "If you build it, they will come" is something aspiring modders should keep in mind.
2.0 of the RP saw the arrival of Dravean as lead writer and Pixote as lead graphic designer and mapper. These guys came in and raised the quality bar to the next level. Dravean went through all the dialogue and made it more in line with the Fallout writing style and lore and ensured that future dialogue was of the same quality. And Pixote, well, what can be said about that crazy guy.
The thousands of hours he put in to create new graphics and animation sets is just mind boggling. If you needed mapping or graphic work done, he did it. I also have to give a shout out to Darek. He's our local Fallout detective and was immensely helpful in finding the causes to dozens of obscure and long standing issues. And of course, there's Timeslip. Her exe hackery was crucial to bring the RP to where it is today. And in general, she's made the lives of Fallout modders easier. And lastly, I can't not mention NovaRain, who was a dedicated tester for me throughout the years. He must have played through the *entire* game dozens of times over the course of all this. While I only single out a few people here, there were many others that stepped in to lend a hand with the RP over the years. The readme and credits in the game lists them. I'm truly grateful to all of them.Now come 2013, RP 2.2 is being released. I believe that this version is what I had always envisioned the Restoration Project would become. If you were put off by older RP releases, please give it a try again. I think you'll be pleased. If you've been waiting 6 years to play the RP, well, now is your chance. And if you've already played it dozens of times before, rest assured there is new content for you to experience.
Is this the end of Bear Dude's Fallout modding adventure? To me it is, but I've already said this before and I'll admit that anytime I see a bug reported for something I've worked on, I get the urge to squash it. So expect at least one more minor update down the road, especially since at the very least a Russian translation is in the works. But do know, that to me, I'm done.
Was all this worth the many, many thousands of hours I put in over the years to fix vanilla bugs and add new content? I think so. I had fun doing it and really, I just wanted others to get even more enjoyment out of a game they loved. I also like to think that in some way I inspired others to do modding of their own and to realize that just because a game is old it doesn't mean it has to be abandoned.
-----
Without further ado, after 3 long years and countless delays here is another big update to the Restoration Project! Previous 2.x saves (beta included) can be used, BUT I highly suggest against it. They'll load, but there have been enough map/script changes here and there that something will surely break. So start anew!
Bug reports should be added to the Fallout 2 RP bug report wiki. A link can be found below. Posting only in this thread risks your report being lost over time.
Enjoy!
Installation instructions:
1. Make a clean installation of Fallout 2 (humongous install). If you are running Visa/7/8, be sure to NOT install in the c:\program files directory.
2. Download and install the RP (only use the manual install if you really know what you're doing)
3. That's it. Don't install anything else, unless you know what you're doing!
Direct links:
Windows installer (recommended): download
Manual install (advanced users): download
My Fallout modding website
Restoration Project technical wiki
Restoration Project bug report wiki
Restoration Project walkthrough (a bit out of date)
**POST FIXES**
None at this time.
RP 2.2 Change Log:
Code:
New Content:
• New minor character at the Abbey.
• Very minor quest addition to Primitive Tribe.
• Eldridge now goes back to check on his dogs if they bark too much.
• New Dr. Wong questline to explain the Shi ending with the sentient plant. New location and new characters!
• BOS bases in NCR and Den now have underground areas that can be explored after giving the BOS a copy of the vertibird plans. They said you had full access to their facilities, but locations other than San Francisco just had sad, inactive elevators. This is no longer the case!
• New Lenny model (installer option).
• New player model when boxing in New Reno and fighting in San Francisco (installer option).
• The player reload animation is now played everytime you reload your weapon. (sfall option)
• Repair bay at Sierra Army depot now repairs hurt bots or replaces destroyed ones. This will occur on any level of the Sierra Army Depot. A previous version of the RP mentioned this feature, but it was in fact not properly restored.
• Alternate way to assassinate Westin, which involves his heart pills.
• Combine torn pieces of paper to form a password list to access the various computer terminals in the Shi Temple.
• Cassidy is now voiced! (installer option).
Modified Content:
• Primitive Tribe changes:
-Based on community feedback, the Primitive Tribe was renamed to Umbra Tribe. The Primitive Tribe was a placeholder name by the original devs, so it was time a real name was chosen.
-New entrance map picture.
-Overhaul of the spirit questline.
-Dialogue changes made to make the location more consistent with what is expected from tribals in the Fallout world.
• New entrance map picture for the Abbey.
• If you happened to make Lenny glow from a radioactive drink, you can now remove this effect by applying some RadAway.
• The large metal globe on the EPA entrance map no longer continuously rotates. This was changed because a) how could it keep moving after so many years and b) there are too many animated scenery objects on the map, which causes slowdowns for some people.
• Carrying more than one lighter would prevent you from smoking. This has been fixed.
Bug Fixes:
Abbey:
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• Time correctly passes when escorting Brother Jason to Gecko.
• You can no longer get double experience by first examining the water pump, talking with the merchant, and then examining it again.
• Decreased size of inventory picture for the wine bottle.
• The grave digger now correctly appears after midnight, rather than a few hours before.
• Marcus armor fully implemented (optional addon from the installer).
• Fixed inconsistent dialogue with the Abbot if you killed the deathclaw before speaking to him.
Arroyo:
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• You were unable to steal from Hakunin's chest if you were out of his sight. This has been corrected.
• Lucas now gives you a text float when he has no more to teach you, rather than running through the same dialogue again only to learn that he has nothing more to offer. This is now consistent with the other warriors who teach you at your tribe.
• Fixed spawn locations of broc flower and xander roots on the hunting grounds that were often out of range of the player.
• Hakunin's talking head was broken at night.
Broken Hills:
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• Killing Jacob would result in a conversation window popping up with Chad in regards to skimming money.
Den:
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• Fixed more issues with the church/house party fight.
• You could ask Vic about Ed again even though you never initially asked him.
• Fixed issue with saving in combat while fighting the squatters in the Residential area.
EPA:
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• Skynet and the mechanical dogs no longer disappear after going down into the EPA. They'll be waiting back up at the surface with any other party member that can't climb.
• Appearance modification auto-doc (optional addon from the installer) had missing dialogue lines for the bald dude.
• You now just need to hit a critter with the solar scorcher to register using it. Of course this needs to happen outside, and during the day.
• Corrected spore plant line of sight.
• Time correctly passes after using the agility increasing syringe.
• All instances of crashing when using a terminal at the EPA in combat should be addressed.
• Fruit flies didn't have a picture in the aiming screen.
• It's no longer possible to extract the new NPCs multiple times.
• Fixed the various goo types found around the location. Green goo burns and does damage just like other green goo. The red goo (which was added in the RP) causes poison damage and burns the throat.
• One of the wanamingos was incorrectly using a script assigned to the Redding wanamingos. This caused the wanamingo clearing quest at Redding to end prematurely.
• Fixed logic bug with the robot control computer.
Gecko:
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• Wooz no longer stocks normal beer and booze; only radioactive stuff now.
• More fixes to the Brain.
Klamath:
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• Minor tweaks to the Dunton rustling quest.
• Fixed XP exploit with Keeng Ra'at cave-in.
• The Duntons are now on their own team and the whole town won't go hostile if you attack them.
• Added a bit of dialogue for dumb characters when talking with Aldo.
• Sally Dunton would tell lady players who don't want female bath attendants to go to her brothers, even if they were dead. This is no longer the case.
Modoc:
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• Fixed issue with having Bess in your party and taking Grisham's job of defending his brahmen.
• There are several spots in the northwest section of Farrell's garden—which is also the densest—where you can't attack critters even if you're standing right next to them. This has been addressed.
• Fixed an issue with Grisham, where he would keep getting shotgun shells in his inventory after exiting dialogue.
New Reno:
---------
• Fixed crash after reading the hint book when having Dermal/Phoenix upgrades.
• Issues with Father Tulley and the Abbey wine quest were corrected.
• Pit boss would talk about McGee even though you had never spoken to him.
• If Enclave soldiers are killed, you can no longer hitch a ride on the Vertibird during the secret transaction.
• Mrs. Bishop and her daughter no longer stand up in the middle of their beds if combat is initialized while they are asleep.
• Fixed issue where Mrs. Wright could potentially get stuck on the Commercial Row map.
• Fixed animation issue with Wright's sons.
• You no longer can get the info from Nikki for free.
Primitive Tribe:
----------------
• Watching the hunter get killed in the cave and then talking to the shaman would result in him incorrectly thanking you for saving the hunter.
• Shaman wouldn't give you healing powders depending upon what dialogue option you chose.
• Corrected issues with dumb player dialogue and Krom.
• Sulik will now correctly go hostile if you attack his tribe.
Redding:
--------
• Giving money to Fannie before talking with Lou would result in Lou not mentioning San Francisco anymore. This has been addressed.
• The player now gets moved to a room when he/she asks for one to rest in.
• Doc Johnson now restocks (only normal stims, antidote and some money).
• You can only mention McClure to Doc Johnson if you actually had met him.
San Francisco:
--------------
• Fixed Brotherhood's medical computer and its stat increases if you had taken all the assault enhancements.
• Destroyed forcefields at Hubologist's base now behave the same way as other destroyed forcefields.
• The Shi no longer give floats about going after the Hubologists, if you already killed them.
Sierra Army Depot:
------------------
• Robots in their holding bay on level 3 can now exit and attack the player.
Vault 13:
---------
• Dialogue nodes were reversed for hacking into the overseer logs. This has been fixed.
Vault 15:
---------
• Improved fix for player location spawning when entering the Squat after helping to annex it.
Vault Village:
--------------
• Issues with this questline should all be resolved.
Random Encounters:
------------------
• Several fixes to Kaga.
• A few fixes to errors in the random encounter table.
• Some of Kaga's companions in a few of his encounters used weapons that they did not have animations before. This has been fixed.
Misc:
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• Various installer tweaks.
• Now using sfall 3.1 and High Res patch 4.0.2. Hopefully this will fix any odd crashes/issues that were unexplained before (extraneous periods in the message window is one such issue). The latest sfall also fixes crashes when killing critters with explosives. Another nasty vanilla bug squashed!
• Fixed graphical glitch with Sulik wearing leather armor.
• You can no longer steal from locked containers, thus bypassing the lock.
• Companions sometimes had incorrect talking head backgrounds when at night or when at various locations.
• All quotes (double or single) are now consistent and use straight quotes in all the text files.
• Car should no longer get lost when you run out of power over a town circle. This was marked as fixed before, but it looks like it wasn't as robust as it is now.
• When you try to use the car when it's out of gas, it will display a message telling you that you need to refuel the car. Before it would say nothing and to new players it would be unclear what is happening.
• Several vanilla game fixes were also addressed. See the unofficial patch notes for details. But two fixes worth mentioning are 1.) fixing the shopkeeper restocking bug that occurs after several game years and 2.) vast improvements to caravan runs.
• Many typos fixed.
• Several map fixes (missing blockers, misaligned scenery object, inaccessible containers, shooting through solid objects, lighting problems, critters getting stuck, etc).
• Several dialogue tree issues with scripts were fixed.
• Many other issues that never got properly documented over these last 3 years because of on and off again modding.
