Oh, Bethesda, you just can’t help yourself sometimes it seems. A fresh glaze of cringe has been slapped onto Bethesda after a player pointed out that the Fallout 76 widescreen update was merely an INI edit. Bethesda had apparently been working on the fix for over a month before its release. And what’s more worrying is that a modder was able to fix the problem themselves even before Bethesda managed to plaster over the cracks.
This all came to light in a Reddit post from user AbheekG, who posted screenshots of the apparent widescreen support Bethesda had created for Fallout 76. The screenshots show the in-game text stretched out just enough to notice, while sliders and menu boxes have been magnified substantially. Instead of adapting visual elements to display at the intended dimensions within a 21:9 aspect ratio, Bethesda’s fix appears to merely stretch the visuals, particularly the UI, from 16:9 out to 21:9.
AbheekG had a few choice words for Bethesda in a tirade that seemed more akin to a disappointed teacher than an angry fan. The post asks if Bethesda is “seriously saying that this was a months worth of work into getting the 21:9 support fixed” before going on to say that the whole fix is “embarrassing.” They pose a fair question: “Bethesda, are you really saying this is the [best] ultrawide support possible? When you ‘bent old technology in ways you didn’t think possible’.”
The user goes on to share a handful of images from a similar widescreen support fix for Fallout 4, serving to further underline the flaws in the Fallout 76 fix. And, if earlier reports which suggested that Fallout 76 shared a similar chunk of code to Fallout 4 are true, it is worth questioning whether or not anyone tried to use the same fix for the new game.
Well, no one may have asked that question, but one modder has at least managed to answer the need for a legitimate widescreen support before Bethesda’s version released. In the same post, a comment shared a link to a modder’s version of the ultrawide fix. Apparently, the modder had to disassemble the game’s interface files before fixing each of them individually in order to get the support needed.
Bethesda has not yet commented on the suggestions of the widescreen support being an INI file edit, and seeing as how they’ve been fairly tight-lipped since Fallout 76 launched, it seems likely there won’t be much of a response.
