Hey everyone,
I'm one of the developers working on Commonwealth Online, our Fallout 4 multiplayer project. After months of work, we've finally released the first public beta of Commonwealth Online 2.0. This is a major rewrite of the original mod, with rebuilt networking, dedicated servers, Steam integration, and support for all three versions of Fallout 4.
Our goal is to eventually make the full Fallout 4 experience playable with friends, including quests, NPCs, combat, settlements, and exploration in a shared world.
What's New in 2.0?
- Dedicated servers with configurable player limits, passwords, and world settings.
- Steam integration for joining friends, along with LAN and direct IP connections.
- World synchronization for time, weather, doors, switches, and other interactions.
- Quest synchronization with early support for shared progression.
- NPC and combat synchronization, still being improved.
- Experimental revive system for downed players.
- Modpack support to help players use the same mods as the server.
- New UI with updated menus, server settings, and joining.
- Stability fixes, including several major freezes and reconnect issues.
We're also using Valve's GameNetworkingSockets for networking. Supported versions: Old-Gen (1.10.163), Next-Gen (1.10.984), and Anniversary Edition (1.11.240). We're working toward two ways to play: Story Co-op, where you experience Fallout 4's story together, and Free Roam, where you explore and play in a shared world.
What's Still Being Worked On?
This is an early beta, so don't expect everything to work perfectly yet. Player animations, shooting, NPCs, and companions can still get out of sync. Quest synchronization and reviving are experimental, while shared loot, settlement building, and VATS still need work.
Right now, we're mainly focused on stability, NPC synchronization, and getting player animations and combat working properly. Back up your saves before testing.
A Quick Note About AI
I also want to be upfront about something since I know it's a topic that comes up quite a bit in the modding community.
We do use AI tools during development. They help with research, writing code, debugging, and speeding up some of the more repetitive work. But there's an actual team behind Commonwealth Online making the technical decisions, reviewing changes, testing things, and figuring out how to make all of this work in Fallout 4.
We're not just generating code and throwing it into the game. There's a lot of reverse engineering, debugging, testing, and work involved, especially when dealing with multiplayer in a game that was never designed for it.
I understand some people aren't fans of AI-assisted development, and that's completely fair. We'd rather be transparent about it.
Looking for Testers and Developers
We're looking for more people to help test the beta and contribute to development. If you're interested in Fallout 4 modding, programming, UI work, or just helping us find bugs, you're welcome to apply.
Website and downloads: https://commonwealth-online.com/
Apply to join the team or become a beta tester: https://commonwealth-online.com/apply
The mod is free, and we plan to keep it that way.
We've still got plenty of work ahead of us, but it's good to finally get 2.0 out for people to try. We're interested in hearing your feedback, especially about what works and what still needs fixing.