Fallout 4 is a fine game. But for many, it marks the point whereat which developer Bethesda stopped making the super RPG-ish games they loved and instead became the studio that would bring us Starfield. But now, thanks to a talented modder, you can play one of Bethesda’s most beloved old RPGs, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, inside Fallout 4 via the game’s PipBoy.
As spotted by PC Gamer, modder RPGKing117 has spent the last few weeks getting a specially modded version of the open-source port of Morrowind (OpenMW) up and running on Fallout 4‘s PipBoy. And after “countless hours of beating” their “head against a wall,” the modder has pulled it off. The mod is out now on PC. You can see what it looks like below in this video demonstration created by RPGKing117 that shows the modder playing Morrowind on a computer inside Fallout 4. The mod lets you play the old RPG on both the PipBoy and any in-game PC that can run in-game holotapes.
How this is working isn’t too complicated, though it does sound like a pain to get running. As explained by the modder, OpenMW runs in a “hidden window locked to 876×700, which gets upscaled” and streamed directly into Fallout 4 in real time. The modder uses a custom Fallout 4 Script Extender plugin that handles a lot of the work and helps the player use the keyboard and mouse to play one game while inside another.
To get this running on your PC, you’ll need to own a copy of Fallout 4 and Morrowind and have F4SE installed already. The mod comes with OpenMW, so don’t worry about that. Then just follow the not-too-complicated instructions, and soon you’ll be playing Morrowind in the irradiated wasteland of the Commonwealth. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to run both games at the same time, so don’t try this on an old junk PC or a weaker device like a Steam Deck.
Oh, and because RPGKing117 has already been asked many, many times, yes, the modder is working on a similar mod that will let you play the original Fallout on the Fallout 4 PipBoy. It’s not done yet, but the modder is making progress on the project as you can see below.