WARNING! There will be end-game spoilers below for Fallout 4! Continue reading this only if you've finished the game or you don't mind being spoiled. You can play this mod even if you are a new player or never finished the main quest, but you should avoid reading the description if you don't want spoilers.

The short version is that this mod opens up the possibility of an alternate happier ending, at least if you play your cards right. Everything else remains unchanged.

Section 1: The Main Features

Section 2: The Background Story

Section 3: Getting Started

Section 4: The Impact of Faction Choice

Section 5: Finding and Recruiting Shaun After

Section 6: Modded Alternate Endings Like Project Valkyrie

Section 7: Other Outcomes

Section 8: Companion Mechanics

Section 9: Other Mods and Compatibility

Section 10: Known Issues and Common Questions

lore

Section 11: Contact Information

To support my work, subscribe to my BitChute channel (older videos). Also subscribe to my new YouTube channel which includes the newer videos. Let's reach a wider audience. It's all free.Wow... What a long, strange trip it's been. I started making this mod back in 2018 and since then I found new stuff to add to the mod and imperfections to fix through regular updates and volunteers helping out with various aspects. It's probably time to shorten the description and only include the information relevant as of the last update 5.3.5. For details check the change log page but basically the dialog has been greatly improved and many new features and compatibility patches have been done.- several new immersive quests- all new dialog is(and no we don't use text-to-speech anymore)- new companion and settler (Father) that can be taken alongside other companions at the same time- new commentary from some of your companions and faction leaders if Father is your companion- an indestructible Institute power armor for your companion- new game ending cinematics made in the style of Fallout 3 (they don't replace the vanilla cinematics, they play a while after them)- new rewards for successfully competing the mod- mod settings available through holotapes at the chem station (because mods can't really edit the game menu as easily), you can turn cinematics on/off, enable the killing of essential NPCs, change voice actors, deactivate features that might cause issues with other mods and much moreHas it ever bothered you that there was no way to save Father and cure his cancer? As far as Fallout lore goes, this is 100% possible but unfortunately the vanilla game did not explore those options.Forget the fact that an organization that's mastered teleportation, the creation of fully grown adult humans in a lab and biological immortality (Kellogg's cybernetic enhancement) should have conquered cancer by now. Biological immortality itself is quite common in Fallout lore. Ghouls can live forever (or at least nobody has ever seen one die of old age), same with the super mutants created by the Forced Evolutionary Virus, same with Gen-3 synths, same with pre-War people who kept their brains in jars and the Cabot family in Boston found an alien artifact that allows the user to live forever (and any blood derived from him also allows others to live forever), when you meet them they are all over 400 years old. Ironically, X6-88 himself recommends giving Jack Cabot's Mysterious Serum to the Bioscience team but this is never an option in the game. There's also the possibility that either Vault 81's hidden section or Med-Tek Research had extensive medical research done.Anyway, this mod will give you a few options to save Father, it won't give you every possible option, but I think you'll be pleased with the result. If you want to discover this yourself, stop reading and download the mod. If you want to know more read below.From the time Father reveals he's dying from cancer at the Directorate meeting till the end of the main quest, you will get the opportunity to save his life.There are really only two main "happy endings" to Father's story. You either use a modified version of Jack Cabot's Mysterious Serum to cure him as a human or you use the Forced Evolutionary Virus to save him as a super mutant.To save him as a human, you must work with Dr. Dean Volkert which means you must have access to the Institute on friendly terms. He will usually be found in the Institute infirmary during work hours. Bring him one sample of the Mysterious Serum and one copy of Vault 81 Medical Research (new item found in Vault 81's hidden section). If you give him these two items, he will be able to make a single dose cancer cure. A speech check must also be passed as Dean is reluctant to use the serum given Father's unfavorable view of biological immortality and his shutting down the program that allowed Kellogg to live for over 100 years.To save him as a super mutant, you must use the Force Evolutionary Virus (FEV). One sample is found in Virgil's former lab, the other can be given to you by Dr. Volkert if you can convince or coerce him to share it.In both cases, you can also kill or pickpocket Dr. Volkert if he refuses to part with the cure or FEV.Whichever option you pick, you must administer the cure on his deathbed which is right before the end of the game's main story.The mod allows you to save Shaun and get him as a companion, but choices do have consequences so consider them very carefully.For example consider your agreement with Lorenzo Cabot that the Mysterious Serum is for your personal use only. Consider the fact that the Mysterious Serum itself comes in limited supply if you side against Lorenzo. Also consider the fact that there is no way to even interact with Dr. Volkert if you reject the Institute straight from the beginning, leaving you with only one option to save Shaun, the FEV.If you've done everything right, obtained a cure, administered the cure on his deathbed and kept him alive,This is normal, don't panic.If you side against the Institute, Shaun is reluctant to join you immediately but the dialog with your faction's engineer (Ingram, Tom or Sturges) will change and you will have an opportunity to secure safe passage for Father out of the Institute. Activating the evacuation order is not necessary and you can still leave the rest of the Institute to die (or do they really?)If you do side with the Institute, Shaun will fake his death and you will still become the Director.You can later find him in Vault 111. He will also send a courier for you with instructions on where to go if you forget, but meeting the courier isn't necessary.Keep in mind that if you blow up the Institute, you will need to pass ato recruit Father. You will only get one chance.Once this is done the new ending cinematics will play.There are mods out there that give you entire alternate endings to the game such as Project Valkyrie and Nuka-World Reborn There is support for the Project Valkyrie ending. If you opt for this ending there is no deathbed scene, but there will still be a way to save Shaun.Finish the final quest called "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", go to your Director's terminal, click on the message "Someone Is Looking For You", then walk over to Vault 111. If you somehow forget you're supposed to go there, a courier may come to remind you but as before interacting with the courier isn't really needed, it's a relic from an older patch that I kept for immersion purposes.You can recruit Father as a companion and then work to cure him. There isn't really a time limit, but unless you cure him you will not get his companion perk or rewards and he will never agree to leave his custom power armor (which is also his life support).At this point you no longer interact with Dr. Volkert, instead you can give Shaun the serum and Vault 81 papers directly. Any previous progress done with Volkert caries over so you may be able to just cure him on the spot or only require one item of the two. Shaun will however reject the FEV as a viable cure but you can forcibly restrain and infect him anyway. This is a last resort option that only works if Father is following you and if you have failed to find a proper cure. Upon becoming a super mutant he leaves behind his unique power armor and you can pick it up.I'm afraid there is no support for any other alternate ending mods but you can force the game to spawn Shaun in Vault 111 using a cheat holotape, at least as long as you didn't kill Shaun. I mainly added this option as XB1 users cannot download Project Valkyrie.The mod features new ending cinematics regardless of your faction choices and regardless if you save Shaun or not.There are several other ways to conclude the story with matching cinematics. 1. You can disown Shaun in all of the 4 vanilla endings + Project Valkyrie or simply decline to have him as a companion. If this option is chosen he will forever inhabit Vault 111 wandering around like he owns the place. You can also opt to disarm and imprison Shaun in Diamond City's jail.2. You can offer him a mercy kill through lethal injection on his deathbed.3. You can use a special holotape to give up looking for Shaun, triggering the "Vice Ending" cinematic. This only works if you haven't reached the Institute yet and have given up looking for Shaun.4. You can use a special holotape to seal your allegiance to the Nuka-World raiders after you have become enemies with the Brotherhood, the Railroad and killed Preston Garvey, this will trigger a "Nuka-World Ending" cinematic where the Sole Survivor became a full-time raider boss and never found Shaun, having antagonized everyone who could have helped him reach the Institute.5. You can destroy all 4 factions and trigger another special cinematic called "The Psychopath Ending".To clarify:- the Brotherhood of Steel is considered destroyed if Maxson is dead or if the Prydwen is destroyed- the Railroad is considered destroyed if Desdemona is dead- the Minutemen are considered destroyed if Preston Garvey dies- the Institute is considered destroyed if you nuke it, regardless if Father is saved, murdered, or simply left to dieA possible pathway to this ending would be using the Railroad to destroy the Prydwen, killing Desdemona, using the Minutemen to destroy the Institute and finally killing Preston Garvey. A reminder that the mod allows you to activate the killing of essential NPCs so you won't need other mods to do this.6. If you recruit Shaun with Project Valkyrie you can opt to give up looking for a cure. You can then say your final goodbye and Shaun will shut off his power armor's life support and... die. You can also cancel this at the last second, keep Shaun alive indefinitely (while continuing searching for a cure in vain) and still trigger the ending. This is the only way to trigger an ending cinematic if you have no Mysterious Serums or FEV left to give him. There is no real time limit to save him but you simply won't get his perks.7. It is entirely possible to revise an ending after an ending cinematic has already played out. Let's say you save Shaun with the Brotherhood and destroy all other factions, but then you destroy the Brotherhood and kill Shaun. Upon replaying the ending through the use of holotapes, you will get different outcomes.Companion mechanics for Father differ slightly from most other companions. Here are the differences:1. He doesn't override other companions. This means you can have Father + other companions following and fighting for you at the same time. Wanna install Nora Companion and do a family outing to the Glowing Sea? Go for it. Want to have double super mutant companions with Shaun and Strong playing smashy smashy on your enemies? That's a thing too.2. Unlike other vanilla companions, Father doesn't have a true dynamic affinity system, his feelings towards you depend entirely on how you completed the game (saved Institute vs. destroyed Institute vs. organized a coup to oust him in Project Valkyrie ending). There is one thing and one thing only that he truly hates, being shot at by you, but he will "forgive" your abuse after a while. Otherwise, you can engage in whatever degenerate crimes you want with him around. There are also a few actions he likes/dislikes, for example he dislikes resorting to cannibalism however this has no impact on your relationship with him, he will never leave you. There are also no extra rewards to gain from him after the ending. You will unlock the companion perk once you have both recruitedcured him.3. Assigning him to a settlement works slightly different. Once assigned, you can only reassign him. You cannot reassign him through dialog.4. (Human) Shaun wears an indestructible custom-built Institute power armor. You can get him out, but only through a speech check as he is very reluctant to travel the wastes without it. If the Project Valkyrie ending is chosen, he will completely refuse to get out of his power armor until he is cured of cancer.5. (Super Mutant) Shaun can only equip stuff that super mutants can. If Strong can't use it, neither can he.6. There is no romance option. No, don't even ask! It is not happening.Regular Abilities:1. Can be commanded to do specific things like stay in a post, walk to a spot, inspect stuff, loot stuff etc.2. Can become a settler.3. Can trade items with.4. Can dismiss.5. Has a lot of idle chit chat dialog and you'll get a chance to find out a bit more about his past. You can also talk with him about your pre-war life and whether or not you liked or hated it.6. Your Pip-Boy can track his whereabouts after he is dismissed.Other Abilities:1. His companion perk provides 1% bonus to all experience and he can restore several lost items such as Broadsider and Deliverer. It also allows you to make Institute and underground (vault) themed clothing, hazmat suits and also craft the controversial Kells' coat which was cut from the vanilla game. Rewards are available at the chem station.2. His genius level IQ allows him to hack any terminal. (Note, sometimes he might get stuck walking to the terminal, but you can talk to him to unstuck him.)3. His power armor will provide audio warnings about his HP levels/radiation, parodying Half-Life 1 and 2. (No audio from Half-life 1 or 2 is used.) Keep in mind that trying to use his power armor will not get you the same audio warnings. The power armor is designed to detect unauthorized use and disable medical systems. Only Shaun will be able to make full use of it.4. He will scavenge stuff (usually tech items but not exclusively) and share them with you once a day if you talk with him.In addition, many faction leaders, companions and Virgil himself will notice that Father is your companion and will say... stuff.The mod is compatible with most mods, unless maybe there are fundamental changes made to the ending, particularly lore unfriendly mods or mods that make radical modifications to the way the ending scripts works. Since a series of specific things need to be done to save Father, radical alterations of the Institute quests or locations can have unexpected results. For example minor/medium alterations of the FEV lab might be okay, but a full transformation of the FEV lab might block the pathway to the FEV vial. Modifications to Dr. Volkert might be okay, but deleting Dr. Volkert will obviously lock you out of some paths to curing Father.vanilla IDs are edited believe it or not, I prefer to add new things and use new scripts rather than modify old ones. For example the FEV is added to the FEV Lab using a teleport script when you first load the game, the FEV Lab cell isn't edited directly. Still, there's no 100% guarantee of compatibility with all mods.Mods that you might want to consider using along with this mod: Nora Spouse Companion - if playing male Dual Survivors - Nate Companion Mod - if playing femaleIf you'd like to see more mods here, let me know.A saved game to use to skip most quests and get to Father faster:A: It's an upcoming 2020 mod (also made by me) allowing the player character talk like a terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger if playing Nate/male (or Cameron if playing Nora/female, the terminator girl played by Summer Glau, although she will still largely use Arnie one-liners from Arnie movies). Since this mod will only affect official content, any quest mod that wants to be fully compatible needs to make changes. This mod is now fully compatible with Talk Like Arnie (even though the big mod itself isn't released yet).A: It might be a compatibility issue with another mod, so try disabling some things using the new compatibility holotape.A: So does the game menu. But I discreetly place weird things like this in the chem station. It's better to have the experience somewhat customizable. They can be disabled completely by typing "set zzBlockAll to 1" and "0" to cancel.A: It's worth keeping in mind that they don't actually replace the vanilla cinematics, the new cinematics will play a short while after the vanilla ones.Also, have you accidentally disabled them? If you missed the cinematics, use the chem station items to replay the ending.A: Literally anywhere will do. As the mod doesn't edit any vanilla IDs, it really doesn't have an impact.A: He hacks terminals...LOL!A: There isn't safe way to uninstall any mod without corrupting your save. You should ignore it instead. Everything this mod adds to the game is entirely optional and I really mean everything. It is entirely possible to play through this mod to the final quest without even realizing you have it installed.A: Yes, he does. He will not be a dumb Strong clone. He doesn't even like eating people. In fact he may actually be the smartest super mutant in Falloutfan fiction.A: I thought about it for a while and in all fairness it's unlikely to stop the cancer unless Father took unlimited regular doses which isn't an option. There is a limited supply and Lorenzo won't give you more if you don't use it on yourself only. (Although you can use one dose for Father before you meet Lorenzo and that won't piss Lorenzo off.)To cure him from one dose would likely require some modifications. Anyway, it's all fanfic speculation on exactly how the serum actually works.A: Known issue, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about it, you should avoid doing that plus the original pieces are hidden and cannot be modified anyway, only changed by trading Shaun new ones.A: No, the FEV will kill you instead.A: Father may bug out on some terminals especially when inside his power armor, if this happens, you can talk to him and either force him to try an alternate path to the terminal or abandon hacking. The hacking also cancels automatically if you leave the area, making Father follow you again.A: Reassignment is only possible using the workshop interface using "Move".A: No. As Father fakes his death for the Institute ending, he will not be returning. He will however follow you to the reformed Institute of Project Valkyrie.A: No, but you may get some brand new (but kinda sad) cinematics.A: No, this works on a vanilla Fallout 4 with no DLCs, no Creation Club content, no mods, no script extenders. Just keep your game updated and don't pirate.You don't even need to have Project Valkyrie or Nuka-World installed really, even though the mod does offer content somewhat related to that.A: Because this mod adds new dialog to Volkert and I can't be bothered to be blamed for abug, I decided to add a Volkert cure fix into this mod. If you're injured or irradiated, Volkert should nowoffer you free healthcare. He won't cure addictions, but he never did, not even in vanilla. He also won't bother with extremely trivial injuries, you must be lower than 99% HP. You're welcome.A: Well... I didn't. I simply took other lines from the game files along with cut content and rearranged them so the characters say what I want them to say. This doesn't always work perfectly, but it's the best option.You can also activate the other voice actors for a more tailored experience, they're very talented people, but they won't sound the same. Oh well, at least we got rid of that dreadful text-to-speech ages ago.A: That's not really a question, and saving him is optional.A: There is a fine line between something being lore-unfriendly and being a work of fan fiction.So, let's first establish what kind of man Father truly is. Yes, he cares more about the Institute than his own biological parent. The following are also true:1. Father worked with Kellogg for years, while secretly plotting his downfall in an elaborate 4D chess type of scheme.2. Father can be convinced to disable some synths guarding the Institute, so he's perfectly willing to compromise even the integrity of the Institute itself if he thinks that will convince you to stop murdering every scientist in your path.3. Father wants synth Shaun to live even though he thinks synths aren't people.4. Even knowing that you might side against him, he pre-records a holotape for it and he still wants to help you cope with losing your son by giving you a child synth clone of him.5. It's possible to be forgiven by Father even if you let the synths go free at Bunker Hill and admit to it openly. He won't even withdraw your appointment as Director knowing you're a synth sympathizer.Father constantly makes compromises and makes choices that seem out of character either because he gets sentimental about his mommy/daddy issues or because he has some hidden agenda and he's willing to engage in elaborate long-term schemes to get his way.There are multiple reasons why Father would join the Sole Survivor even if he destroys the Institute. I'll leave it up to you to decide which one it is, there's no "official" position on this.A: I really don't like to spoon feed this but if I must okay...You're Shaun. You're a cold calculating sociopath, albeit with somewhat of a weakness for your parent at times. But you're also really smart and rational about things, as humanly possible anyway, you're a man of science, not so much emotion. You're certainly not above revenge but it's not the priority for you. The Institute and its research is.Unfortunately your mom/dad didn't see things that way, she/he destroyed your organization and killed most of your lifelong friends and colleagues.You have four major options:Option A: Fight against your parent, but let's face it, you and what army is going to take on the Sole Survivor now? You couldn't kill her/him when you had the entire Institute up and running, what chances do you have now as one old man in a power armor or one super mutant? Perhaps you can find a few refugees, but will they ever respect you again? Best case scenario, you don't get back the Institute and the only thing you have to look forward to is a short painful life as an outcast.Option B: Leave everything behind and never look back which likely will also lead to a short painful life as an outcast. You just don't have anywhere else to go.Option C: Suicide, but you're probably too practical for that. What is that ever going to accomplish?Option D: Play ball with the Sole Survivor and the faction that becomes the most powerful in the Commonwealth. An olive branch has been extended to you, it makes no rational sense to pass it up. Whether your goal is to rebuild the Institute, salvage what you can of the Institute's work, get revenge, maybe even seek redemption, this is the only chance you'll ever have. If you believe that "humanity's future lies below", Vault 88 is another successful and expanding underground project and the Mechanist's Lair has a fully functional assembly line that isn't too different from the Institute's Old Robotics.If you were saved as a super mutant, you may have just gained biological immortality. Provided the FEV doesn't make you dumb over time (it hasn't made Virgil dumb either so there is hope) and you can stay alive, you could potentially live long enough to see the Institute or an organization like it rebuilt. You may not like being a super mutant but the deed is done. You can't change the past, this is almost an actual quote from your previous exchanges with the Sole Survivor.Which one do you pick as Father?A: This is being kept purposely vague to allow potential storyline continuity with the events of the Fusion City Rising mod. Really, believe what you want to believe.A: As I explained many times, if you do the Institute ending he fakes his death. I'm not going to revamp the entire Institute so Shaun can continue being Director. Also, nobody would respect a super mutant Institute leader, so faking his death is definitely necessary if you go with the FEV option.A: Well, that's for you to discover really, but many definitely won't be silent about it.A: How should I know if you're not specific enough? Consider this, if it works for almost everyone else, then the problem is likely on your side. Unless you're specific about it, I cannot help you.A: Two reasons: 1) Too many people will only download the core file and assume everything else is optional (even when it's not) so rather than deal with 100 comments "OMG why doesn't this mod work?" it's simpler to just put the entire thing up. 2) Because it's the current year. Seriously, you're probably not on dial-up anymore.Do not contact me if you pirated Fallout 4 asking for tech support regarding this mod. Here's my standard answer to that: "Buy the damn game!" Generic messages like "the mod doesn't work" with no details or "how do I install mods" will be ignored.I'm currently working on making more quest mods in whatever free time I have left, if you're interested in what I do, let me know.Like/subscribe/comment and all that jazz.