Fallout 1 radiation The Glow

Singularity

First time out of the vault
I'm playing though Fallout for the first time, and just exited The Glow, and keep dying from radiation poisoning.

I didn't want to read any spoilers about the game before I played it, so I didn't remember to take the two prescribed Rad-X before entering. Anyway, once outside, I used my geiger counter and discovered my rad level was above 1000, which I understand is an instant death (though apparently not an immediate death). I then took two rad-x (which I should have taken before) and all my rad-aways, which dropped my radiation level to around 500. I then made sure I was at full health (56) and left the glow.

Exactly 3 1/2 hours after I exit while traveling on the world map, I emerge into open desert and immediatly die, with 0 hitpoints.

My questions are: why does my health not drop incrementally? Did my radiation which passed 1000 set a flag to instakill me in 3 1/2 hours, even if I dropped my rads to below a fatal level?

And, of course...what do I do now? Obviously, if I had a save game before I ever went in, I would have done that, but alas, I do not (which I suppose is another major infraction altogether).

I even tried one of those trainers (I know this part belongs in the modding/hacking forum, but didn't seem relevant) to give myself enough rad-aways to drop my rads to zero, but it STILL kills me 3 1/2 hours later every time...even with my rad resistance at 100% and maxed radiation resistance perks.

Dunno what else to do. Help please...I don't want to start over from the beginning.
 
Listen, you could try giving yourself Buffout, if you boost your Endurance and Strength a bit you might survive (The game checks, whether your ST-x and EN-x are larger than zero; x depending on the rad count; if they are, you survive; I might be a little off on this one, though.)

Other than that, your only option is to replay. It's not a big deal, since Fallout isn't as big as the sequel.
 
if you've taken two rad-x'es you could allways search the glow for more rad-away(that is, if you haven't allready)

also, use at least five, I repeat FIVE save slots! You would not regret it!

EDIT: oh, and did I mention use at least five save slots?!
 
It´s in the manual of FO or FO2 a lot of times . . Safe often :)

Oh, and I´d go with ten slots . .
 
Nope, 8. You'll have to leave one for the 'evil' game and one for the 'dumb' game.
 
What kind of unholy gravedigging is this? I only use one slot for continuous quicksaving, actually, though I use the other slots when I enter a new location.

Silencer, nice sig. :wink: Sort of a collectible since that line is out of the current guide version...
 
Radiation at the Glow, aka Irreversible Radiation?

Ok, here's the scoop: this post concerns the original Fallout, (v1.1) and I am running it on WinXP. Also, this game is saved in only one slot. I went through the Glow completely, but stupidly without using any Rad-X for the first level or two (and definitely not at the crater). However, I noticed the radiation had no ill effects...
UNTIL I got out and onto the crater map (the surface). I am still fine enough to just walk around. However, whenever I try to leave and go to the next map square, my character dies. There is no explanation for my death, so I assume it is the massive radiation I built up. Using the Geiger, I find I have 13412 rads on me.
Now then, onto what I did to try and fix this. Using a hex editor, I changed the amount of Rad-Away packs that I have, such that I had enough to eliminate all those rads. I used them all (in addition to a Rad-X pill to stop further contamination), and now the Geiger reads 0 rads. As a note, I am addicted. However, I still die when attempting to leave, or sleep for more than an hour or two. I don't think withdrawl is causing this, b/c I still have full hp before I do anything. My char windows no longer has the radiation characteristic highlighted. The radiation is gone!
So, now to my question. How do I get rid of all that radiation??? Am I doing something wrong by using Rad-Away? What am I missing? There must be some way around this without starting the game over. Please help!
 
Hmmm...that's a shame.

I wonder how the Radiation system works in Fallout. If your # of rads ever goes over a certain limit, is the insta-kill factor unavoidable? Thus, above that certain limit, no amount of Rad-Aways will help. I used in excess of 355 Rad-Aways to get me back down to 0 rads, but I'm still dying... I would think that the game should just kill you right away when you get to that limit, instead of leading you on so that you save the game when you will inevitably die. Has anyone looked into making a mod to do this? I think this would help tons of people avoid the same mistake I have. Also, from searching the forums, it seems that many more people have encountered this same problem, all with no workable solution. So...

Proposal: A Mod that will kill your character when it reaches the "inevitable radiation death" limit in your # of rads.
 
Holy crap! I figured a way out! It seems I am not boned after all....

Here's what I did. First, I took a Rad-X to avoid further contamination. Then, I hacked save.dat to give myself plenty of RadAways. That eliminated all my rads. It took some time, but the Geiger finally said 0.
The next step was to use all my Buffouts and Mentats(?) I read a previous topic about this very same problem, and it turns out that over time the radiation WILL eat away at all your stats (your strength, agility, etc), until you are dead. My guess is that endurance also goes down to 0, which reduces your hp to 0 (just a supposition, tho). Anyway, the good people in this post:
http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/vi...adiation&sid=03b1eff06cd491e14f53b8ef71031612
have suggested to pump your stats using the drugs of Buffout (and Mentat, for my case). This, in fact, works! Provided that your rads are down to a sufficiently low level (for me, they were, due to the glory that is Hexedit!). I used 3 Buffouts and 3 Mentats. I was able to leave the Glow onto the next map square, and then proceed all the way to the Brotherhood.
HOWEVER,
Using all those drugs makes you addicted. At that next map square my HPs were halved. Make sure you use plenty of Stims! On several occasions on the way back to the BoS, I stopped to see a message basically saying that I was bleeding out the ass. The radiation hurt me, as did the massive addictions. It took the entire trip back to the BoS to recover my stats. But the key thing is that I GOT BACK. I didn't have to restart the game! Weeee!
Someone should make note of this post, as I'm sure someone in the future will have this problem again. This will help tremendously, provided the player has the proper drugs on hand.
So, to conclude, I was not screwed over to death, but I did walk away with a bleeding ass. Radiation death is not necessarily certain.
 
You can find a description of how radiation works in either of my guides. For the benefit of future forum searches:

1. When you get radiated, a timer starts (to midnight on the following day, I think).

2. Taking RadAway once this happens does not prevent the coming attack, which is consistent with how it's described in the game - it can't magically undo the damage to your tissue, just purge radioactive particles.

3. The attack lowers some of your stats depending on how many rems you absorbed, -6 being the most severe penalty. If any stat drops to 0, you die. It also hits you for some HP, but only 20 at the most, so this is less likely to be the cause of death.

4. Radiation death is only checked at this one instant. If you use drugs (or, failing that, a character editor) to make sure no stat goes to 0, you're safe.

5. Assuming you don't soak up more radiation, there will be no more damage. After a week, your stats return to normal.

6. Removing remaining rems with RadAway isn't critical. All they do is increase the severity of future radiation damage, but they don't cause any trouble by themselves.

7. Use more than one save slot.

Finally, chem addiction doesn't cause damage. It does drop your stats, but not lower than 1, so you can just weather it out (which also takes a week).
 
For the benefit of future forum searches, I'm merging it.

Also, for the benefit of future forum searches don't double post and actually perform those searches before asking questions.
 
bellagio said:
Any better solution in meantime or I have to restart the Glow ?
(yes , another victim)

No, the solution of radiation poisoning is still the same:

1. Reload.

Or.

2. Use an inventory editor to give yourself RadAway, and buff up your strength and endurance if you need to.
 
I have to replay the Glow oh well oh well.....
But first im gonna try hack some file...

If i get lot of radaway and buffs im gonna get addicted and that is bad isnt it ?
 
bellagio said:
I have to replay the Glow oh well oh well.....
But first im gonna try hack some file...

If i get lot of radaway and buffs im gonna get addicted and that is bad isnt it ?

Not as bad as death I suppose.
 
Back
Top