Look, let’s be real for a second. Fallout London isn’t just some little weekend project or a basic texture swap. It is massive. It’s basically Fallout 5 in everything but name, except it’s free and made by a team of obsessive fans who clearly haven't slept since 2019. But because it’s a total conversion mod and not an official Bethesda release, actually getting it to run can feel like trying to fix a pre-war mainframe with a rusty spoon. If you’ve been wondering how to play Fallout London without your PC exploding or the game crashing every time you look at a Radger (that's a mutated badger, by the way), you’re in the right place.
It's weirdly complicated. Usually, you just click "install" on Steam and go. Not here.
The GOG vs. Steam Headache
The first thing you need to know is that where you bought Fallout 4 matters more than anything else. Honestly, if you own the game on GOG, you’ve already won. The GOG version of Fallout 4: GOTY Edition is basically "plug and play" because GOG doesn't force the "Next-Gen" update on you. You just download the Fallout London launcher from their store, and it handles the heavy lifting.
If you’re on Steam? Well, grab a coffee. You’re in for a process.
The "Next-Gen" update Bethesda pushed out in 2024 completely broke the script extender (F4SE) that Fallout London relies on. So, to play the mod on Steam, you have to "downgrade" your game. This sounds terrifying, like you’re hacking the mainframe, but it’s mostly just moving files around. Team FOLON (the developers) released a dedicated downgrader tool, but even that can be finicky depending on your folder permissions.
Don't even think about trying to play this on Epic Games Store. It just doesn't work. The Epic version lacks the necessary infrastructure for the downgrader, so if that's your only copy, you're unfortunately out of luck for now.
Why You Absolutely Need a Clean Install
I see people trying to layer Fallout London on top of their existing modded saves. Please, just don’t. It’s a recipe for a corrupted save file and a headache that’ll last until 2027. You need a completely fresh, nuked-from-orbit installation of Fallout 4.
- Uninstall Fallout 4.
- Go into your
SteamApps/commonfolder and delete the leftover Fallout 4 folder manually. - Go to
Documents/My Games/Fallout4and delete those .ini files too. - Reinstall the game.
This ensures no ghost files from that "Macho Man Randy Savage Deathclaw" mod you installed three years ago come back to haunt your trip to London. Once you have a clean slate, you can apply the downgrader.
The Essential Add-ons (The "Must-Haves")
Even after you figure out how to play Fallout London, the base mod can be a bit unstable. It's a miracle it works at all, honestly. To make the experience actually playable, there are a few extra plugins from Nexus Mods that are basically mandatory.
Buffout 4 is the big one. It fixes engine-level bugs and provides crash logs. Without it, when the game crashes (and it will), you'll have no idea why. Load Accelerator is another lifesaver. Fallout 4's load times are tied to the frame rate; this mod unclips that during loading screens so you aren't staring at a black screen for three minutes every time you enter a pub in Camden.
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Navigating the Streets of Post-Apocalyptic London
Once you're in, the vibe is... different. It's not the bright, Americana-soaked wasteland of Boston or DC. It’s gray. It’s rainy. It’s incredibly British. You start in a lab (standard Fallout stuff), but the moment you step out into the city, the scale hits you.
The difficulty curve is steeper than a hill in the Cotswolds.
In the early game, ammo is rarer than a polite person on the Underground at 5 PM. You’ll spend the first few hours bashing things with a cricket bat or a lead pipe. Don't be a hero. If you see a group of Hooligans and all you have is a flare gun and a dream, just run. London is designed to be a bit more "survival-lite" than the base game.
Factions and the New World Order
You’ve got the Gentry, who are basically the posh remnants of the government hiding behind walls. Then there’s the Tommies, who act like a makeshift army but are spread way too thin. You’ll also run into the 5th Column and Camelot.
One of the coolest things about the writing here is that it doesn't just copy-paste the Brotherhood of Steel. There are no Power Armor suits falling out of the sky every five minutes. In fact, finding a set of Power Armor in London is a massive deal, as it should be. It makes the world feel grounded.
The voice acting is surprisingly professional, too. They even got Neil Newbon (Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3) and Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor) to lend their voices. It’s that level of quality that makes you forget this is a free mod.
Technical Troubleshooting for the Desperate
If you're getting the "infinite loading screen" or the game crashes immediately upon startup, check your Fallout4Custom.ini. You need to make sure "Archive Invalidation" is turned on. Most mod managers do this for you, but sometimes you have to go in there and do it manually like a caveman.
Another tip: Turn off Weapon Debris. If you have an Nvidia card, the Weapon Debris setting is a notorious game-killer for Fallout 4 on modern hardware. It will crash your game within ten minutes. Turn it off in the launcher before you even start. You won't miss the little bits of concrete flying around, I promise.
The Steam Deck Situation
Yes, you can play this on a Steam Deck, but it’s a bit of a faff. You’ll need to use Proton GE and likely install the mod via a desktop PC first, then move the files over, or use a specific Linux-friendly script. It runs surprisingly well once it’s set up, mostly because the Deck’s resolution isn't demanding, but keep an eye on your battery. London is a resource hog.
Making the Most of Your Trip to the Big Smoke
The best way to experience London isn't by rushing the main quest. The side content is where the soul is. There’s a quest involving a submarine in the Thames that is better than half the quests in the original game.
Check every nook and cranny. The level design is dense. Unlike the wide-open fields of the Commonwealth, London is tight, vertical, and packed with environmental storytelling. You’ll find notes left by people during the "Resource Wars" that give you a grim look at how the UK collapsed before the bombs even dropped.
Actionable Next Steps for Success:
- Secure the right version: Buy the GOG version if you want to save yourself four hours of troubleshooting. It often goes on sale for under ten bucks.
- Use a Mod Manager: Use Vortex or Mod Organizer 2. Do not try to install this manually by dragging files into your Data folder unless you really know what you're doing.
- Install Buffout 4: This is non-negotiable. It solves 90% of the stability issues.
- Save often: Use the "manual save" option. Quicksaves and Autosaves in the Fallout engine are notoriously prone to corruption over long playthroughs.
- Join the Discord: The Team FOLON Discord is incredibly active. If you hit a bug that stops your progress, someone there has likely already found a console command to fix it.
That’s basically the long and short of it. Playing Fallout London is a bit of a trial by fire, but once you’re walking across a ruined London Bridge with a custom-made "Luger" in your hand and a weirdly upbeat British radio station playing in your ear, you'll realize it was worth every minute of the setup. It’s a monumental achievement in gaming history, and honestly, it’s probably the best Fallout content we’re going to get until the end of the decade.