When it comes time to return to a previously saved game, then you will want to use this screen. This is also the same screen available from the main menu.
The load game screen is very similar to the save game screen.
The list of the ten save game slots is
displayed on the left-hand side of the screen. A small picture of the currently selected save game is displayed on the upper right-hand side. A description of that same save game is just below the picture.
To load a game, double-left-click on the
appropriate slot or left-click once on the slot to select it and then press the DONE button.
If you do not want to load a game, press the CANCEL button.
Preferences
These preferences control aspects of the game. All the preferences here can be adjusted by you, the player. In this way, you are given a chance to
modify the game to your liking.
All of the preferences below have two or more settings. One of the settings will be the default setting, which is set back at the Fallout factory by well-trained professionals. Don’t worry, however, they won’t get upset if you decide to deviate from the norm and change the default setting.
The options are listed in the brackets following the name of the preference. The underlined option is the factory-set default option.
Game Difficultly [Easy, Normal, Hard]
This preference controls the overall difficultly of reaction and other non-combat related rolls.
Negative reaction modifiers are halved, and all non-combat rolls are made with a +20% bonus if set to Easy. If set to Hard, all negative reaction rolls are increased by 25%, and all non-combat skills are reduced by 10%.
You can adjust this preference at anytime during the game. There is no penalty or reward for using any of the settings.
Combat Difficulty [Wimpy, Normal, Rough]
Controls the difficulty of combat. On Wimpy level, all opponents have a negative modifier to hit you, do less damage and take fewer targeted shots. On the Rough setting, they will hit you more often, do more damage and tend to take more targeted shots.
There is no penalty or reward for using any of the settings, and you can change this preference whenever you wish.
Combat Speed [Slider: [Normal -> Fastest, Player Checkbox]
This slider controls how fast the non-player characters move and attack during combat (actually, just how fast they animate -- they still get their normal amount of attacks, but it just looks like they are moving quickly.)
If the Player checkbox is clicked on, then the player will also be animated quickly.
If combat is moving a little too slow for you, move the slider to the right until combat is humming along at the speed you like.
Combat Taunts [On, Off]
This preference turns the combat taunt messages on and off. If you get tired of the little quotes that non-player characters say during combat, then turn this preference off.
The player character never says a combat taunt.
Combat Messages [Verbose, Brief]
When set to Verbose, combat messages will be more detailed with “flavor” text. If set to Brief, the messages will contain the same information but they will be shorter, since they only contain the critical stuff.
Target Highlight [On, Off, Targeting Only]
When set to On, this preference will always highlight characters during combat. When set to Off, you will never get a highlight. When set to Targeting Only, the highlights will only appear when you are actually using a targeting cursor in combat.
The color of the highlight will give you
detailed information about the character. See page 116 in the Combat section for more details.
Violence Level [None, Minimal, Normal, Maximum Blood]
This preference controls what happens when a character is killed in the game. On Maximum Blood, you will see the most violent, gruesome deaths possible. Normal shows most of the deaths, but doesn’t show a couple of the really bloody ones.
Minimal shows characters falling over in a pool of blood. None just shows the characters falling over.
Since there is no practical difference in the game (except that it is a little more difficult to tell dead characters from unconscious characters with the None setting), you can set it to whatever setting you like.
Notice that Maximum Blood is the default
setting, and Normal is not. That should be a scary indicator of what the development team considers normal...
Text Delay [Slider: Slow -> Normal -> Faster]
This preference controls how long floating text and dialogue screen messages are displayed. Slow speed text messages are displayed for twice as long as normal. Faster speed messages are only
displayed for half the normal amount of time.
Language Filter [On, Off]
There is some naughty language in Fallout 2.
When the Language Filter is used, this text will appear as “&^!@!” instead of the more normal
“!@&^@%!”. Hmm. This manual is using a language filter. The setting of this preference is left to the user.
Running [Normal, Always]
If set to Always, your character will run instead of walk when you left-click with the movement cursor, and you must shift-click to make the character walk. Normal is the default setting, where left-click is walk and shift-click is run.
Combat Looks [On, Off]
With this preference on, the combat cursor will perform the ‘examine’ look when a critter is
targeted. This will give you a detailed description as well as its current level of health. The
examination will be displayed in the text box in the bottom left corner of the game screen. This preference defaults to “off.”
Master Audio Volume
[Slider: Off -> Quiet -> Normal -> Loud]
This preference controls the overall volume of the audio. If set to Off, it overrides all other audio preferences. The Music, Sound Effects and Speech volume controls will all adjust their volume based on the master audio volume control.
Music/Movie Volume
[Slider: Off ->>Quiet -> Normal -> Loud]
This slider controls the volume of the music and the audio during the cinematic movie sequences.