Fallout 4 is a game that contains games. Little holotape games you can collect and give a go if you get bored of running around post-apocalyptic Boston. Well, a modder’s now used that framework to get both the original Fallout and Morrowind running on the RPG’s Pip-Boy and terminals, just in case you want the extra layer of firing up Fallout 4 next time you want to head for Vault 13 or Vvardenfell.

While modder RPGKing117 has posted video demos of both games being played via Fallout 4’s holotapes to YouTube, they’ve only released Morrowind one as a publicly available mod thus far. That said, it’s worth noting that it’s only available via GitHub as of writing, with the Nexus Mods upload of the file having been automatically quarantined for a good few days now. RPGKing117’s claimed this is due to it creating some custom DLL files.

As for how the modder’s pulled both creations off, they wrote that in the case of morrowind, the game’s streamed live into the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy screen using a custom-modified build of OpenMW 0.50. “OpenMW runs in a hidden window locked to 876×700, which gets upscaled to 1024×1024 and streams its framebuffer directly into Fallout 4’s Pip-Boy display in real time,” RPGKing117 continued. “A custom F4SE plugin handles the holotape trigger, the shared-memory bridge, and input passthrough so keyboard controls reach Morrowind while you’re in-game.”

As such, you’ll need Steam copies of Fallout 4 and Morrowind to run it, as well as the Fallout 4 Script Extender and a 64-bit version of Windows 10 or 11. The modder notes that “most OpenMW-compatible mods should just work”, and has provided more detailed installation instructions on the mod page. As for the original Fallout version, they said they’re currently polishing that up and will release it as a mod once it’s ready.

I’ll be honest, I can’t see myself ever sitting down for a full playthrough of either game in this fashion, but it’s certainly a cool proof-of-concept. Maybe next time I get a hankering for some settlement building I’ll keep these on standby for those quiet moments when I can’t decide where to put the sofa.