Fallout Demo

The Fallout Demo is a freely downloadable and playable demonstration of Fallout. It was released on April 26, 1997.

For the E3 demo from 1996, see this article.

Gameplay
Max Stone is the only available character in the demo. While his stats and biography are the same as in the retail version of the game, his traits are different. He starts the demo with a fairly decent inventory of weapons and items, including a H&K MP9 10mm SMG, leather armor and 2 stimpaks.

The demo uses an area map similar to Junktown in the final version of the game (the map is called "JUNKDEMO" in the demo file) instead of a separate one, and it has a different plot with completely different characters, except for the dog and Phil, who have the same conundrum just as in the actual game.

The demo takes place in Scrapheap, a small town in New California dominated by two competing gangs: the Crypts and the Fools. The Crypts are led by a man named Rayze and rule the town's power generator. They are large in number and can be identified by their leather armor. Their rivals, the Fools, are led by a woman named Baka. They are fewer in number and are less formidable opponents due to their metal armor. At the time that Max Stone visits, the Fools are waiting for only one more affiliate before engaging in a war with the Crypts. At the same time, a man named Lex leads the non-gang inhabitants, waiting for someone like Max Stone to liberate Scrapheap from the gangs.

Walkthrough
The Fallout Demo has a main quest, "Solve Scrapheap's gang problem", that can be completed in multiple ways.
 * If Max Stone decides to side with the Crypts, he can help them maintain control of the generator by helping them wipe out the Fools.
 * If he decides to side with the Fools, he must help them wipe out the Crypts, therefore transferring the rule of the town and the generator.
 * He could also just join one gang, wait for them to wipe the other gang (or themselves) out, and finish off any gang survivors, which would rid the town of all crime altogether, and leave the power generator in the hands of the people.
 * The fourth and final way to end the demo would be to doom everyone in town by using wire cutters to destroy the generator.

Deadline
Though both the demo and full-release versions begin on December 5th, the characters in each version are given different deadlines to find a water chip for Vault 13. There are 120 days to find the chip In the Fallout demo, while 150 days are given in the full-release version of Fallout to meet the deadline.

Cut content
In the game files, many unused Vault Boy images can be found, that were primary intended to illustrate the GURPS stats, but when Interplay made the decision to drop GURPS on February 12, 1997, they were kept in the demo for future use in the final version of Fallout (presumed for new perks and traits). However, they were not included in the actual game and those Vault Boy images are only present in the demo files.



Note

 * The Ambidextrious Vault Boy image was meant to be used for Small Guns, but was given to the Fast Shot trait instead. This can still be seen judging by the Vault Boy image describing skill points.
 * The Sex Appeal Vault Boy of the Fallout demo is used for Strength in-game.
 * The Toughness Vault Boy is used for Endurance in-game.
 * Statistics that did not have a specific Vault Boy picture used the one for Level.
 * Chris Taylor, in hindsight, regretted releasing the demo because it took away time from the actual game that they could have used for both balancing the game and fixing glitches in it. He also did not think that it did a very good job of portraying the actual game.
 * According to Chris Taylor, there was quite a bit of internal discussion concerning creating a demo for an RPG when they were planning for Fallout’s demo. Not many RPGs did demos at the time, and most of those that did were shareware projects, which would not have worked for Interplay. Taylor cannot remember if everybody was enthusiastic about the demo, but he thinks that they were. They just wanted people to play their game.
 * For Taylor, the most memorable part about the demo was when Brian Fargo tried it for the first time. He was killed by a hernia (critical failure on a Strength check) in the first area attempting to open the manhole cover to the sewers.

Bugs
The demo will not run properly on newer versions of Windows (including Windows XP), instead producing a black screen with an hourglass cursor, which will never finish loading. The best way to fix this is to right-click on the application (FALLDEMO.EXE), then go to Properties, Compatibility, and then under the "Compatibility mode" header, check the box to run it in compatibility mode for Windows 95. Finally, under the "Display settings" header, check the boxes to run it in 256 colors and 640 x 480 screen resolution. This will allow it to run just fine.