Oblivion Remastered is the latest in a long line of redesigns and refined versions of some of the best old games. fall out The series appears to be equally prepared for such treatment. The natural speculation after Bethesda returns to Elder Scrolls is that Fallout 3, the first entry in the series’ studio, will soon be a choice. But what about Interplay’s beloved original? Series co-creator Tim Cain thinks about exactly that and concludes that there are rather important challenges that get in the way.
In his latest video, Cain takes “A Fun Friday” and discusses the struggles the developer faces as he tries to remaster the original fallout. He previously theorized about a more substantive remake, but here Cain “just take the original game, code, content and remaster it. It works at a higher resolution, fix bugs, fix the code and make it work on the latest OS.” To this day, it remains one of the best RPGs on PCs, but late 90’s classics can be difficult to get back.
A fresh paint coat might be the perfect solution. Cain admits that it is something he thinks about a lot. Especially when you’re thinking about some of the games you don’t like and want to change. “But if you open that Pandora box, there’s a problem,” he warns. He emphasizes that he isn’t necessarily trying to take on the project himself, and that he’s not even sure he wants to try it.
The three categories of Cain’s highlights are “legal, technical and subjective issues,” but he points out that it is somewhat interwoven. The first is the source code. “When I left the interaction, they said ‘You better not have this copy’, so I destroyed every copy of the source code I had. “He even says he cleared up early prototypes and libraries, and lost “personal toy projects” along the way.
But there’s good news there as Interplay co-founder Rebecca Heinemann recently revealed that she’s found a copy of the “Lost” code for Fallout 1 and 2. But “even if somehow the code fell to my knee,” says Cain, but as it is written using the Watcom compiler, you will soon come across the issue. “It’s old, it’s no longer supported, it’s a buggy – I found a bug in this compiler. Some of them had to be reported to fix it because it’s necessary to do what we’re doing with Fallout, and I’m sure there’s more.”
Cain explains when he archived Fallout’s code, he doesn’t include any sounds or movies. “The programmer who wrote that code doesn’t tell me the source code. At the time I didn’t know what was going on. I still don’t know what the situation is. I can extract it directly from the finished game, but it’s difficult to convert it to a satisfactory quality for a remaster.
Next is the music license. Cain says the license used for ink spots had no time frame, but “maybe” requires that new deals be launched, as such transactions do not cover potential remasters. He is also thinking about bugs and bugs you want to fix. Anything that causes a crash, memory leak, loss of stock, or incorrect dialog calls is a reasonable target. But beyond that, you run into the problem of subjective change that may separate the remaster from its original, beloved form.
“What about bugs in AI? Can we improve AI? Surely. Is it a fix or is it a subjective thing you’re tampering with?” Cain refers to the way NPCs shoot each other, or whether their mates can slam you behind you or run away without leaving the battle. “These are all things you might want to tinker and take them out. Are these effective things to do with the remaster? Because it changes the feel of the game.”
Particularly, the peers believe that Cain has been added late and can be dramatically improved. “But it’s subjective here. This would remove some of the Janks that people like (part of the fun Janks). Ian accidentally doesn’t film maggots in burst mode.” Oblivion Remastered was a shining reminder that a bit of stupidity could be fun. There is a longstanding affinity for some of the more notable bugs and glitches that can occur, especially when dealing with older games.
Cain also points out the ability to end the game without collecting the water chips sent to discover first, the tricks employed by the speed runner. “Do I need to fix that? What about something as small and seemingly insignificant as killing a chess supercomputer to Zax? There’s a bug in the check.
Even if you choose to fix some of these issues, it only presents further issues. Mandatory water chip gatherings may require additional dialogue, but director voice Kenneth Mars passed away in 2011. “Here we have our options. Please don’t add new lines. It will be strange, but we can call you, but we can’t.
Cain also said that another actor could mimic Mars’ performance, “I don’t know about the legal aspects of this. I don’t want to talk about the ethical aspects. The fifth solution is to run software that mimics the audio of AI on every line of directors.
Cain considers aspects such as which platforms may land a potential remaster, and the need to fit the menu and controls. He asks if the UI, controls, inventory system, or difficulty settings need to be adjusted to suit modern flavors. “How much are we changing the original fallout right now? Is this about quality of life or are you making a new game? You need to turn off important mistakes completely. I know a lot of people hate it – or do you have a setting?”
Finally, but what’s important is the visual. Running at a much higher resolution means scaling assets in real time or doing it in advance for a more comprehensive overhaul. “Or, if you just leave it and you go higher res, will the sprite and interface be smaller?” In conclusion, Cain says he would consider tackling technical issues with “I’m good at and do fun things”, but he realizes that the subjective aspect is by no means an easy argument. “Anyone who has to remake this game will understand that some of these arguments rely on debate.”
For now, we’ve put together the best classic PC games you can do. For more modern things, stay ahead of the Fallout 5 release date that could land.
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