So for the past month or two, we've been hearing vague descriptions of Fallout 4's overall size. However, there's one thing that wasn't really taken into account, and that's the fact that many of the interiors will take up actual world space. In Skyrim, Fallout 3, and almost every Bethesda game, cells were separated, and certain liberties were taken with the scales, with many interiors taking up far more space than their exteriors.

So, do you guys think this will be an issue, or will level designs be different to accommodate for this change?

I'm no astrophysicist but wouldn't that make it bigger?

If I owned a property that was one acre but had a house with a 2 acre interior, I have 2 acres.

But that's how Fallout 3 works. You had interiors that were bigger than their exteriors. Fallout 4 is said to be approximately the size of Skyrim in terms of world space, but Skyrim had dungeons and such not included in that overall world space. Fallout 4 seems to be largely one space (with fewer mountains).

I'm not worried. To this day, I logged 370 hours on Skyrim and still haven't seen it all, haven't even touched the Dark Brotherhood or the Dawnguard and Dragonborn expansions. Though that may have something to do with my restart-itis.

And if I recall, it was said that as the crow flies, Fallout 4 will be roughly the same size, but with a lot more content because the map isn't dominated by mountains.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think there will still be large external cells. The low/no load time doesn't indicate every single thing will be one loaded worldspace. I'd be surprised if we're disappointed in size. Beth knows size is a big factor in their games, to deviate from that would be a disservice to their exploring genre

That's kind of the tough part of this...there won't be those dumb mountains taking up tons of space, but at the same time many of the dungeons will take up world space...makes me wonder if things will balance out, or if it will result in more content overall...

This is one thing im not worried at all about. They said it to be roughly the size of Skyrim, obviously minus the mountains, and that map seemed quite large to me. Also it seems there wont be as much dead space, as in buildings that are just there for show. Im hoping they took the opportunity and gave a lot of these buildings( even the minor ones) areas to explore... even if theyre simply empty.

Fallout 4 also has a lot of potential for vertical exploration, given the large numbers of multi-story buildings in the Boston ruins. I don't expect it to be much bigger than Skyrim, but I doubt it will be smaller.

I'm not overly worried, either. Bethesda has always been good at making large sandbox games. However, this is something new for them. I'm not trying to imply that Fallout 4 will be small, rather that it won't be quite as big as what we're expecting.

But you are wrong, there will seperate load cells for some areas.

Everyone's of the general concensus that skyrim is significantly bigger than 3 and NV right? If that's the case, I'd be more than happy having 4 the size of skyrim. And with Todd not being specific, that statement could have been entirely about the exterior world and nothing to do with interiors/dungeons

The larger external cells will still have loading screens (its been confirmed), so we will easily have the large dungeons like in skyrim. The whole open interiors just seems like itll make it so all those previously locked buildings (FO:NV Im looking at you) will actually be able to be explored.

I've always interpreted it as the main world map being the size of Skyrim's. Wouldn't that make it about twice Fallout 3's size or so?

I hear you. I think a LOT of people are going to be expecting it to be 3x the size of Skyrim simply because its NextGen and new means bigger, right? But im pretty sure those people will be greatly disappointed if they actually expect that. Im pretty sure I heard it was roughly the size of Skyrim, cant tell you exactly where I heard that but im pretty sure I did lol.

Why worry over something you have no control over? Either trust Bethesda enough to pre-order and play it or wait for some reviews and make your choice then.

Nothing you or I or anyone on this forum can do will make FO4 any larger or smaller than it was on the day they announced it....

I don't remember that actually being confirmed. Do you remember where that was said?

It was confirmed as a follow up question to the interview where he said there will be no loading screens for entering buildings.

He clarifies, yes some large areas will have loading screens, but they will be very fast.

...it's a discussion. I've preordered Fallout 4, as well as the season pass, and I intend to play the hell out of it.

Me wondering how the size of the world map will compare to Bethesda's previous games due to the differences in map architecture doesn't really have much to do with trust.


Right, but I was under the impression from that interview that the vast majority of the game's content will take place in the same world space, and that it was only certain areas with tons of complexity that would be separate.

It's certainly possible that the exterior might be smaller than some people think, but I put less emphasis on actual exterior map size and more emphasis on how much/little empty space there is in the outside world. A good balance can be hard to find sometimes. That said, I'm personally optimistic about this issue and not really worried about it.

I'm guessing the major interiors will still be their own cells.

If its smaller as some suggest than those 6 settlements that the player can build are going to make that world space feel even smaller once those outposts are completely built.

It just seems like it'd be real bad if Fo4 was as small as some imply due to the fact that encounter zones would overlap or there would not be as much to do in the world space.

Yeah, we've already seen some loading screens for interiors and I believe most interiors will be separate cells. It makes sense, It uses less resources and allows the creators to completely control the interior environment. The way some enemies react, you wouldn't want them all pouring out on the street the instant you come close to a building creating an interior that is no longer a threat to explore.

I have no worries about map size. When's the last time you played a bethesda game and thought to yourself.. "This is too small!" Even playing Morrowind, which does have a rather small map in comparison to newer games, still feels like a massive game. A lot of it has to do simply with landscaping and pathways. Witcher 3 map is supposed to be massive and I cleared every map.. However, It only took me 200 some odd hours to do so. I put over 400 hours in Skyrim.. So map size really doesn't have anything to do with content size.

No, I don't think it will be an issue.

There will be some scaling challenges but it's a large world.

I suspected that some liberties had been taken with prior games.

(Would Rivet City and Whiterun fit within their borders?)

But I think it will be fine.

I'm pretty sure Whiterun actually did fit perhaps minus the keep.

Someone made a mod to place the cities inside the worldmap so there wouldn't be loading screens between them.

I jumped over the fence into whiterun with that mod

Not worried. I imagine it will be bigger than F3's worldspace, and that was plenty big for it's day.