emulator: fallout1-ce
type: standalone
core_classification: game_engine
source: "https://github.com/alexbatalov/fallout1-ce"
upstream: ~
profiled_date: "2026-10-04"
source_commit: "0609bcfd0ec40ff0571d0f57fab2821eb461dc8b"
core_version: "1.1"
display_name: "Fallout (Community Edition)"
cores: [fallout1-ce]
systems: [fallout]
verification: existence

notes: |
  Fallout 1 Community Edition is Alex Batalov's cross-platform rebuild of
  the original Fallout engine. It reads the same data files the retail
  installer dropped: master.dat holds the game resources, critter.dat the
  animation frames, and the data/ directory holds loose patch overrides.

  The main executable loads config fallout.cfg from its own directory
  (src/game/gconfig.cc:122-137). Keys master_dat / critter_dat /
  master_patches / critter_patches default to "master.dat", "critter.dat",
  "data" and "data" when the file is missing (gconfig.cc:58-61). On
  startup, game_init_databases() in src/game/game.cc:1223 opens both
  DAT files with db_init(); either missing raises GNWSystemError
  "Could not find the master/critter datafile" (lines 1249, 1266) and the
  game exits.

  The data/ directory is a user-writable patch overlay; it is empty on a
  clean retail install, so retrobios does not ship an empty tree. Music
  (ACM files under data/sound/music/) and movies (sound/MOVIES/) are
  loaded on demand and the engine runs without them, so they are marked
  optional. Font and resolution tweaks live in f1_res.ini and are a user
  preference, not game data.

exclusion_note: "data/, sound/ and movies/ load from the retail install folder, not from a shared BIOS tree"
files:
  - name: master.dat
    path: fallout1-ce/master.dat
    system: fallout
    category: game_data
    required: true
    description: "Fallout 1 master game resource archive (retail/GOG)"
    note: "db_init call fails with GNWSystemError if missing"
    source_ref: "src/game/game.cc:1237-1251"

  - name: critter.dat
    path: fallout1-ce/critter.dat
    system: fallout
    category: game_data
    required: true
    description: "Fallout 1 critter animations archive (retail/GOG)"
    source_ref: "src/game/game.cc:1253-1267"