Bethesda Curbs Speedhacking By Locking Fallout 76 FPS

Well, now, this isn’t exactly the “fix” I was expecting. Nearly a week ago, we reported on how some users with beefy PCs were modifying Fallout 76 files to move faster. It’s called speedhacking, and even though there isn’t much hacking involved (it was done by adding a line to an .ini file), it was still an issue. Granted, it’s not as big of a deal as some may describe. People found out how to move faster, but only by a small percent. Still, Bethesda responded by saying it would provide a fix. And by “fix”, apparently the company meant it would lock Fallout 76 to 63 FPS.

Lament, you poor souls with 144Hz monitors, for your god hath forsaken thee — and all because of an old engine. Indeed, Fallout 76, like its Bethesda brethren, uses the same outdated physics engine as prior games in both the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series. The engine has changed over the years, yes, but it’s still haunted by easy exploits.

Here’s speedhacking in progress:

Move Fast, Patch Slow

The reveal came out of the rather chunky 30 GB update for Fallout 76. In the patch notes, we saw fixes for bugs and changes to the UI. There’s even a fix to stop enemies from dying in a “T-Pose,” much to the chagrin of memers everywhere. However, according to PC Gamer, the maximum FPS is confirmed stuck at 63. How well those three extra frames affect performance may forever be a mystery to me. Bethesda failed to mention the frame lock in the patch notes. The patch also reportedly prevents you from going higher than 90 for field of vision.

Either way, this should eliminate those pesky players who travel the world while staring at the ground. But we’re hoping that this is merely a temporary fix. I’m sure there will be many players out there who would want to squeeze all the performance possible out of the game. We won’t know until Fallout 76 hits PC on November 14.