FathersFallout Update 29 (Alpha) - down not dead, respawn at host, unlocks sync, launcher PLAY check

File: FathersFallout-Update29-Alpha.zip
SHA-256: 37e21a9dcaf1d5e360d5588eda70caecf1c6c9d61dda5af399970c0aeec946c1

Everyone should update. Update 25 to 28 players can still connect for campaign co-op, but reviving and
Respawn at Host need Update 29 on both sides. A dedicated server needs Update 28 or newer players.

NEW

• DOWN, NOT DEAD. While playing together, the hit that would kill you puts you DOWN instead. A friend
  revives you by CROUCHING beside you for 3 seconds. A window gives you the choices:
  • RESPAWN AT HOST (guests): get up next to the host.
  • LOAD LAST SAVE: the game's own death.
  • WAIT FOR A FRIEND.
    Nobody comes in 90 seconds: guests respawn at the host, the host's last save loads.
    Switch it off in F1 > Sync ("Down, not dead") or DownNotDead=0 under [Sync].
• UNLOCKS SYNC FOR EVERYONE. An unlock now reaches every player however it happened (lockpick, key,
  terminal, quest), even players who weren't there yet - the server remembers it.
• LAUNCHER PLAY CHECK. When Fallout 4 doesn't start (a console window flashed and nothing happened), the
  launcher now says why after 30 seconds, from F4SE's own log: wrong game version, antivirus, Game Pass
  copy... It also starts Steam if it's closed, refuses a second copy of the game, and the FALLOUT 4
  check turns red when the game isn't 1.11.240.

FIXED

• Looted bodies no longer vanish for the guest while the host is in a menu (looting, Pip-Boy).
• No more bleeding necks or black faces on the other player's character: only clean faces are used now.
• Naked while clothed: the other players' clothes are checked every 10 seconds and put back on when
  they've fallen off.

WASTELAND WARS (EXPERIMENTAL)

• CAMP: F1 > Camp > SET UP CAMP HERE puts down a camp kit where you stand: a sleeping bag (your
  respawn point), a cooking fire, a weapons workbench and a stash footlocker. MOVE CAMP HERE / PACK UP
  CAMP take it with you (what's in the stash comes back to your pockets). Other players see your camp.
• BEDS: you get up at the last bed you lay down in, even a bed far away.
• LOOT BAG: after dying, the HUD tells you every 20 seconds how far your bag is and in which direction
  until you empty it.
• REVIVE: only your crew (or your faction) can revive you. GIVE UP, or nobody comes in 60 seconds: the
  Wars death as before. Alone, you die at once.

Tested with a simulated second player, not yet across two PCs.

Back up your saves before playing. Found a bug? Press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and send the
file it puts on your Desktop. A log from both players helps the most.

FathersFallout Update 28 (Alpha) - dedicated server, teleport to host, friendly fire off

File: FathersFallout-Update28-Alpha.zip
SHA-256: 4085031c45fbad29b6cfab4eda7a104f1e4e01450ca5a2ab4f9832791c65dad0

Everyone should update. Update 25, 26 and 27 players can still connect for normal hosting, but a
dedicated server and the fixes below need Update 28.

NEW

• DEDICATED SERVER. Run the server on its own, with no game open, on any Windows PC that stays on.
  Launcher: HOST > [X] DEDICATED SERVER (NO GAME) > START SERVER (port, password, world owner).
  Friends join by IP (forward the UDP port). Works for campaign co-op and Wasteland Wars:
  • Wasteland Wars: the war lives on the server (NPC world, crews, claims) and carries on whoever
    is online.
  • Campaign co-op: someone's game still runs the shared world, and the server picks who. Set a
    WORLD OWNER and only that player hosts, so the world carries on in their save between sessions.
    Empty = the first player in hosts.
    Steam join doesn't work with a dedicated server (it needs a host's game) - join by IP.
• TELEPORT TO HOST in the F1 menu: guests can jump next to the host at any time. Campaign co-op
  only (not in Wasteland Wars).
• LOAD SETTINGS check in the launcher. A raised uGridsToLoad (old tweak guides set 7 or 9) made
  loading screens 2-3 times longer (36 s instead of 13 s in a test). Click FIX IT to put the game's
  own value back (your ini files are backed up first).

CHANGED

• Friendly fire is OFF by default in campaign co-op: your friend's stray shots don't hurt you any
  more. Switch it on in F1 > Sync if you want it. Wasteland Wars is unchanged.

FIXED

• NPCs no longer sit back down again and again after getting up by themselves.
• Characters no longer show up twice for a moment after an appearance change.
• A player no longer turns invisible after changing clothes (missing pieces are put back on).
• Enemies no longer stand still after another player opened a menu during a fight.
• Quitting to the main menu or the desktop is no longer reported as a crash in the log.

Tested in the lab with a simulated second player (including a game joining a dedicated server),
not yet across two PCs.

Back up your saves before playing. Found a bug? Press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and send the
file it puts on your Desktop. A log from both players helps the most.

FathersFallout Update 27 (Alpha) - deaths match, dialogue with subtitles off, full quest catch-up

File: FathersFallout-Update27-Alpha.zip
SHA-256: c4ea03eafed559a08ee4b10376e71217457d4bf6ab9a37afa23c73c0f68cc7db

Everyone should update. Update 25 and 26 players can still connect, but the fixes below need
Update 27 on both sides (and 26.0 can still crash when NPCs talk).

FIXED

• Deaths now match on every screen. An enemy killed by fire (flamers), poison or bleeding could be
  dead for one player and lying "downed" and alive for the other. Damage over time wasn't shared;
  now the game that saw the NPC die tells the others.
• Essential characters (Preston, Codsworth, quest NPCs) can no longer be killed for good by
  another player's shots. They go down at 1 health, just like with your own, so their quests are safe.
• NPC dialogue is now shared even when your subtitles are OFF. Before, only players with subtitles
  on sent NPC lines. Your Settings don't change: with subtitles off you still don't see subtitles.
• A conversation that plays in both games at once (for example Piper at Diamond City's gate with
  both players there) is no longer heard twice.
• Joining late now catches you up on EVERY quest stage the host has done, in order, instead of only
  their current one, so the things earlier stages did (items, doors, NPCs moving) happen for you too.
• No "Talk" prompt on another player's body, including the first moments after it appears.

ALSO

• Clearer log lines for bug reports (bodies fading, NPCs dying on one side only).
• Saves, the server and Wasteland Wars are unchanged.

Tested in the lab with a simulated second player, not yet across two PCs.

Back up your saves before playing. Found a bug? Press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and send the
file it puts on your Desktop. A log from both players helps the most.

FathersFallout Update 26.1 Experimental (Alpha) - hotfix: no crash when NPCs talk

Everyone should update. This fixes a crash to desktop in campaign co-op, and a player still on
Update 26.0 can keep crashing while others are on 26.1. Update 25 and 26 players can still connect.

FIXED

• Crash to desktop when an NPC talked near another player, often within seconds of joining
  (Fallout4.exe+0x211EDD0 in the log). A fight nearby made it much more likely.
• NPC dialogue lines now really reach the other players. The feature never worked in Update 26:
  this same bug stopped it.

Nothing else changed: saves, Wasteland Wars and the server are the same as Update 26.

Tested with a simulated second player, not yet across two PCs.

Back up your saves before playing. Found a bug? Press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and send the
file it puts on your Desktop.

FathersFallout Update 26 Experimental (Alpha)

Campaign co-op: Update 25 and Update 26 players can play together (best: everyone on Update 26).
Wasteland Wars: everyone needs this update.

WHAT'S NEW IN CAMPAIGN CO-OP

• The world never stops for the others. While one player is in the Pip-Boy, a menu or a loading
  screen, the others keep playing and that player's NPCs are taken over. A guest who Waits or Sleeps
  moves the time for everyone.
• VATS runs in real time while others are connected, so nobody's world slows down.
• Join Game from the Steam friends list, or accept a Steam invite. Start the game from the launcher
  first: a game Steam starts by itself doesn't load the mod.
• NPC dialogue lines reach the other players (new, please report anything odd).
• Getting out of power armor shows the empty frame to the others.
• Fewer slides with a gun out: the walk restarts properly after drawing and aiming, and if it stays
  stuck the body puts its gun away and out again by itself.
• Other players' bodies shouldn't blink out any more, and name tags always show a name.
• Quitting is no longer logged as a crash, and settler jobs aren't sent twice.

WASTELAND WARS (EXPERIMENTAL) - NEW
A separate game mode: Rust, in Fallout 4's Commonwealth. No story and no quest characters, and it
never touches your campaign: its own characters, saves, server and port (UDP 7790).

• Click WASTELAND WARS (EXPERIMENTAL) at the top of the launcher to play.
• A living world: raiders, Gunners, mutants, ferals, synths, caravans, the Brotherhood, Minutemen
  and Railroad live on the server. They camp, patrol, raid, trade and fight whether anyone plays or
  not. Listen in on the radio.
• SURVIVAL: the game's own survival mode. Eat, drink and sleep. Sleeping in a bed saves your game,
  and there's no fast travel. A Wars character from an earlier test build goes into survival the
  moment you load it.
• Random starts: a new character wakes up at a different quiet settlement each time, with a note
  from the President of the Commonwealth.
• Crews, sides and voice: start a crew, or side with the Brotherhood, Minutemen, Railroad or
  Institute. Talk nearby (N) or by radio (B).
• Take settlements: clear one, hold its workbench for 30 seconds and it's yours. They will come back.
• Rust-style death: your gear stays in a bag where you fell.

KNOWN ISSUES IN WASTELAND WARS

• Survival, random starts and the latest squad changes have only been tested on one PC so far.
• Diamond City's gate stays shut and the town is empty.
• Your death bag is only in your own game, and what you build may not show for others yet.
• Squads spread out when they spawn and set off, but still camp close together.
• The DLC islands aren't in it.

Back up your saves before playing. Found a bug? Press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and send the
file it puts on your Desktop.

FathersFallout Update 25 (Alpha) - voice chat, NPCs alive on both screens, power wires, settler jobs, better quests

File: FathersFallout-Update25-Alpha.zip
SHA-256: c969d0340080a12acb100992b64e25f53b58837316d169f251a58630d2f1b4e3

EVERYONE NEEDS UPDATE 25. Update 24.2 and older can't connect to an Update 25 game (and the other
way round): the host and every friend update together.

WHAT'S NEW

• VOICE CHAT. Hold N to talk to the players around you (push to talk). You hear each other by
  distance: full volume up close, fading out by about 45 metres, from the side the other player is
  standing on, and only where you are (the same building, or outdoors together). F1 -> Voice chat:
  change the talk key (any key or mouse button), mic and voice volume, switch it off, or test your
  mic ("hear myself"). The HUD shows [TALKING] while you talk and the name of whoever is talking.
• NPCs' everyday animations are shared: smoking, leaning on walls, looking around, inspecting
  things, eating, dogs sniffing about. Before, only sitting and working at furniture reached the
  other screen; now people idle the same way for everyone.
• Settlements: POWER WIRES are shared. A wire one player strings between a generator, pylons and
  lights appears for the others, in the same shape, and powers things in their game too. Moving
  a pylon reshapes the wire for everyone; scrapping a wire removes it everywhere.
• Settlements: SETTLER JOBS are shared. Assigning a settler to crops, a guard post or a shop in
  workshop mode does the same in the other games, using the game's own job assignment (so food,
  defense and the settlement's numbers follow).
• Quests: every quest stage now reaches the other players, in order. Quests often run several
  stages at once, and before only the last one arrived - so things the earlier stages do (giving
  items, updating objectives, moving NPCs) could be skipped on the other screen.
• Quests: a guest's progress counts. When the guest picks up the quest item, kills the target or
  talks to the right person, the quest moves on for the host and everyone else too. A stage that
  already happened is never run twice.
• Quest buttons, switches and levers pressed by a guest now work in the host's game. Quest scripts
  check that "the player" pressed them, so a guest's press used to be ignored there and the door,
  machine or quest step it drives never moved.
• The launcher shows what's coming next: Wasteland Wars, a separate experimental mode (locked for
  now - coming soon).

GOOD TO KNOW

• Voice chat, power wires, settler jobs, guest quest progress and quest buttons are new and have
  been tested with a simulated player so far, not yet two PCs. Please report anything odd.
• Voice chat uses your Windows default microphone. If nobody hears you, open F1 -> Voice chat,
  tick "hear myself" and watch the mic meter, and check your default recording device in Windows.
• When you join, your quests catch up to the host's current stage of each quest, but what the
  earlier stages did (items, objectives) isn't replayed for the joining player.

Back up your saves before playing. Bug reports: press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and attach
the file it puts on your Desktop.
https://github.com/FLHNM/FathersFallout

FathersFallout - Copyright (C) 2026 FatherLamb

FathersFallout Update 24.2 (Alpha) - hotfix: no crash when fast travelling

File: FathersFallout-Update24.2-Alpha.zip
SHA-256: e76cd2ebde8148e4c7ba1408976c06936bf6654764a219962918bd96c53d0b8f

A small hotfix for Update 24.1. Everything else is the same as 24.1.

PLAYS WITH UPDATE 23, 24 AND 24.1. Everyone should still get 24.2: the fix works in each
player's own game, host and guests alike. Update 22 and older can't connect.

WHAT'S NEW

• Fixed a crash when fast travelling with another player nearby. The game saves when you fast
  travel, and the other player's character was being removed from the world at the same moment
  the game was writing that save. Now their character leaves a moment before the trip starts
  (about a quarter of a second) and comes back when you arrive.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Closing the game can write a "GAME CRASHED" entry at the end of the log even when nothing went
  wrong while playing.

Back up your saves before playing. Bug reports: press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and attach
the file it puts on your Desktop.
https://github.com/FLHNM/FathersFallout

FathersFallout - Copyright (C) 2026 FatherLamb

FathersFallout Update 24.1 (Alpha) - NPCs walk properly, shared Pip-Boy lights, draw-and-shoot fixed

File: FathersFallout-Update24.1-Alpha.zip
SHA-256: 20b75c0c2c068084efbdb38d994cc6a9a8ee30fd9b0c6778f30fd40aa4b243c5

Update 24 + 24.1 in one download (Update 24 was only tested privately, so this is its first public release).

PLAYS WITH UPDATE 23. Update 23, 24 and 24.1 can all join each other (the shared Pip-Boy lights only
show between Update 24+ players). Update 22 and older can't connect.

WHAT'S NEW

• NPCs walk properly on the other player's screen: people and dogs walked in slow motion and slid
  along (the game played their walk at a quarter of its speed). Now their legs match the ground,
  the same as on the host's screen.
• Pip-Boy lights are shared: turn your Pip-Boy light on (hold Tab) and the other players see it on
  you, lighting you and the ground around you, in YOUR Pip-Boy colour. In power armor it shines
  from helmet height like a headlamp.
• No more NPCs blinking in and out: people one player's game spawned (settlers, traders) were
  removed and placed again on the other screen whenever you moved around. New copies of the other
  player's NPCs now appear where they stand, not for a moment at your feet.
• Draw-and-shoot: the first shot of a fight (gun drawn and fired in one press) now shows on the
  other screen, and quick shots in a row while drawing are no longer lost. Fixed a phantom shot
  that drawing a weapon could fire on the other player's screen.
• Less sliding: the other player's body no longer glides without its walk animation after
  drawing a weapon, a sprint or a jump, and no longer walks on past them and jumps back when they
  stop running.
• Companions no longer trot on the spot on the other player's screen (Dogmeat ran in place for
  minutes): they stand still when they stand, and walk and run normally.
• Day and night match: a player who joined at night could keep a night sky while the host had day.
  If the time of day ever looks different, the F1 menu now has "Sync time with host" (for the
  joining player): it takes the host's time of day and weather at once.
• A friend's body no longer disappears after travelling (right after a loading screen it could be
  removed by mistake as an "old leftover").
• The guest's game no longer moves the same few NPCs (for example bodies the host dragged) every
  10 seconds for the whole session.
• A friendly NPC hit by a replayed shot of the other player's body no longer turns on you.
• Quick weapon swaps are smoother: switching weapons several times in a row in a fight no longer
  rebuilds the other player's body for every single swap.
• Better crash reports: if the game crashes, the log now shows exactly where (the crash logger was
  being switched off a few seconds after the game started). [ SHARE LOG ] now also sends the
  session before, so after a crash you can restart and still send the log of the crashed session.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Closing the game can write a "GAME CRASHED" entry at the end of the log even when nothing went
  wrong while playing.

Back up your saves before playing. Bug reports: press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and attach
the file it puts on your Desktop.
https://github.com/FLHNM/FathersFallout

FathersFallout - Copyright (C) 2026 FatherLamb

FathersFallout Update 23 (Alpha) - join password, Steam friends only, shared companions

EVERYONE NEEDS UPDATE 23. Update 22 and older can't join an Update 23 host, and Update 23 can't
join an older host - the game tells you the versions differ.

WHAT'S NEW

• Join password: hosts can set a password in the launcher (PASSWORD FOR YOUR GAME) or in the F1
  menu, and friends type the same one when they join. Empty = anyone who finds your game can join,
  like before. A wrong password is said straight away (no endless retrying), and 5 wrong tries in
  a minute make that address wait a minute. Don't reuse your Steam or email password.
• Steam friends only: hosting through Steam now only lets in people on your Steam friends list
  (on by default). Before, anyone with your friend code could join. Turn it off with [ FRIENDS ONLY ]
  in the launcher if you want to play with someone who isn't your Steam friend - and set a password.
• Companions are shared: Dogmeat, Piper, Codsworth and the rest now show up for the other players,
  following you and fighting with you. The other player sees a copy of your companion, so their own
  Piper stays wherever their story has her, and nobody can start conversations with someone else's
  companion. With Friendly fire off, the other player's shots don't hurt your companion.
• Safer networking: the server checks every message, drops floods and closes connections that
  never finish joining; the game ignores broken or impossible messages instead of using them.
• Name tags no longer draw over the F1 menu, the Pip-Boy or other menus.
• Hosting through Steam stops when the host disconnects and starts again when they reconnect.
• Files renamed: the settings file is now FathersFallout.ini (your old F4MP.ini moves over by
  itself) and the server is FathersFalloutServer.exe.

GOOD TO KNOW

• HOSTS: Windows Firewall asks about "FathersFalloutServer" once because of the new name. Click
  Allow (only needed for friends joining by IP; Steam joins don't need it).
• If the other player's world has the same NPC as your companion standing nearby (their Piper in
  Diamond City while your Piper follows you), you only see your own Piper there.

Back up your saves before playing. Bug reports: press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and attach the file it puts on your Desktop.

SHA-256 (FathersFallout-Update23-Alpha.zip): 1970d7f66ada43091c762de3988c5dd6e5b2c65050e6ce8d12edd1edf7038938

FathersFallout - Copyright (C) 2026 FatherLamb

FathersFallout Update 22 (Alpha) - quest gates open for everyone, shared settlement containers, friendly fire option

Online co-op for Fallout 4 - alpha test build. Each player uses their own character and save; everyone shares the host's world.

Alpha: expect bugs. Back up your saves first (Documents\My Games\Fallout4\Saves).

Download

FathersFallout-Update22-Alpha.zip - unzip anywhere, run FathersFallout.exe and press PLAY (it installs the new mod file). Follow README - START HERE.txt (or the Player guide).

Needs Fallout 4 1.11.240 with all 6 DLC + F4SE, Address Library and F4SE Menu Framework - the launcher checks and links them.

Everyone should update to 22. Update 21 and 22 can still play together, but the fixes below only work when both players have Update 22. Update 20 and older can't connect.

New in Update 22

• Gates and doors opened by quests open for everyone. A quest script only opened its gate on the game that ran that part of the quest: if the host had already been to Diamond City, the guest stood outside a shut gate (and in the host's world Piper isn't waiting there any more, so there was no way in). Same at Covenant: whoever did the quiz got in, the other player stayed locked out. Now if a door is open or unlocked in either player's world, it opens and unlocks for both. Doors are only ever opened this way, never shut or locked, so nobody gets locked out.
• Settlement containers are shared. Chests, crates and boxes built at a settlement now show the same contents for both players (before, neither saw what the other put in).
• Containers ask again when their contents never arrived (the host wasn't nearby), instead of staying out of date for the rest of the session.
• Friendly fire can be switched off - "Friendly fire" in the F1 menu (Sync section), or FriendlyFire=0 under [Sync] in F4MP.ini. Each player decides for themselves; on by default, as before.
• Fixed a possible hang on a black loading screen when a guest went through a door at the same moment the game was taking them to the host after joining.

Good to know: loot outside settlements is shared on purpose - the host's world is the real one, so when one player takes something from a container it's gone for the other too. Quest NPCs follow the host's story: if the host is further along, an NPC can be somewhere else for the guest than their own save would put them.

Is it safe?

The launcher isn't signed with a paid certificate, so Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" → click More info → Run anyway. All code is public in this repository, Windows Defender finds no threats in this build, and you can check your download with Get-FileHash in PowerShell:

File	SHA-256
FathersFallout-Update22-Alpha.zip	96b9dcc3f2009e16481a6f0db5d3cbf925be2745a49cd012561bfbc1b72c8e8e
FathersFallout.exe (launcher)	3611cefcf2f6332e72c09f88458a459e005999e53deae9e91d15662e0f845455
mod/F4MPClient.dll (game plugin)	8cdd83c643d17585fb3828d75ae669dd183c49c8e5ee6d3d71f3820157b61808
server/F4MPServer.exe (co-op server)	9c38c0905cf9e435eec9b2d005531a7eb66e54c969457b7048a8c2e0389a5b69

More in the FAQ.

Known issues

Faces are close matches, not exact. A guest's quests catch up to the host's, but one-time things from skipped steps (items handed out, NPCs moved) don't happen in the guest's game. The host doesn't see a guest's companion yet. Full list: Known issues & what's being worked on.

Found a bug?

Right after playing, press [ SHARE LOG ] in the launcher and attach the file to a bug report. Logs from both players help most.

---

FathersFallout - Copyright (C) 2026 FatherLamb. GPL v3 with additional terms (see LICENSE and NOTICE). Not affiliated with Bethesda Softworks.