New California Fan Prequel Hits GOG Mods with One-Click Install
A new fan-made chapter set in the Fallout: New Vegas universe has landed in a more convenient form: New California, an unofficial prequel, is now available as a one-click install on GOG Mods. Built as a large-scale total conversion, it adds fresh story content and a wide set of new assets while relying on the original New Vegas license.
Key takeaways
- New California is an unofficial Fallout: New Vegas prequel released as a one-click mod on GOG Mods.
- The project adds new story content, areas, voice lines, radio stations, enemies, and a new soundtrack.
- It requires only a license for Fallout: New Vegas, and the mod is otherwise available at no additional cost on GOG.com.
- The mod takes place 21 years before the events of New Vegas, starting in Vault 18 in the Cajon Pass region.
- Development began in concept around 2010, later continuing steadily from 2012 after being known as Project: Brasil.
A large prequel built on New Vegas—and beyond
New California positions itself as an unofficial predecessor to Fallout: New Vegas, but it does not simply retread existing plot beats. Instead, it uses New Vegas as a foundation while delivering a completely new storyline, new environments, and additional gameplay content designed to expand what players expect from the Mojave-era Fallout experience.
The mod’s additions go beyond quest text and locations. It includes newly voiced dialogue, multiple new radio stations, new enemy encounters, and an original soundtrack to match its post-apocalyptic setting. Those new audio elements are part of the broader push to make the prequel feel like a standalone release rather than a small side project.
Where it takes place—and what choices change
New California is set 21 years before the events of Fallout: New Vegas. The story opens in Vault 18, located in Cajon Pass, a region shaped by the San Andreas Fault and positioned between the San Bernardino Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains—areas that have been devastated by three nuclear strikes in the Fallout timeline.
Originally structured episodically, the mod has since been completed and fully released as a consolidated package. Players are presented with a central choice early on: respond to the broken world through a more combative approach or pursue science and investigation to find answers. The decisions include multiple gradations, opening a variety of paths through the narrative.
Even the first part of the story—released in 2013—already featured 13 different endings, underscoring how much the mod’s branching design has been in place since its earlier releases.
Long development, Black Isle inspirations, and modern tech
New California takes thematic inspiration from older entries in the series, including the “Black Isle” era games Fallout and Fallout 2, which were rendered in 2D and isometric perspectives. While it draws on those older design ideals, the mod runs with the 3D visuals enabled through the Gamebryo engine used by Fallout: New Vegas.
Conceptually, the project has existed since around 2010. By 2012, it entered a sustained development phase, and at one point it was known as Project: Brasil. Leadership comes from Radian-Helix-Media, guided by Brandan Lee, though the work has involved shifting contributions across the team over time.
How to get it running on PC
To install the mod, players only need an active license for the original Fallout: New Vegas. The complete New California package is available at no extra cost through GOG.com via GOG Mods, and it is distributed with a one-click installation process intended to make setup simpler than older mod workflows.
For players who want to enhance visuals, the mod also supports using preferred graphics mods and shader injectors such as Reshade or ENB-Series to update the look of the now-older base game.
