Increase your Fallout 1 character's maximum level beyond 21!

Sounds either too good to be true or too grindy, right? Well, Natsuki Subaru is here to make your Fallout 1 experience both exciting and make you stronger at the same time! Note: This is for the Fallout 1-in-2 mod which uses the Fallout 2 Engine for anyone who is confused why this guide is showing up here. I'll release a similar guide for Fallout 2 RPU exclusively in the future.

Backstory

After playing Fallout 3 and 4 (Haven't done New Vegas as of the release of this guide yet), I decided to dive back into Fallout 1. However, it seemed so different from when I first played it. Leveling was slow, inventory/companion management was clunky, perks were given every 3 or 4 levels depending on your character build, and overall, it didn't seem like the awe-inspiring game that I remembered it to be. And it had none of the QoL features that made Fallout 2 more enjoyable.

Then I stumbled across this video by GamerPoets: https://youtu.be/GCT2SG4ohgI?si=zIbg877rhZFjCNNQ
Following his clear instructions, I installed Fallout 1-in-2 and was able to dive back into Fallout 1, marveling at the wonderful changes made to the game to make it more accessible to a gamer like me. Still, leveling up was rather slow and it was capped at 21. I decided that I wanted to level up not only faster, but higher. My first attempt was to increase the leveling cap to Level 40 and this is what that looked like:

1000,3000,6000,10000,15000,21000,28000,36000,45000,55000,66000,78000,91000,105000,120000,136000,153000,171000,190000,210000,229000,247000,264000,280000,295000,309000,322000,334000,345000,355000,364000,372000,379000,385000,390000,394000,397000,399000,400000

To understand how I got this outcome, I went down the the following line of code in the ddraw config files for Fallout 1-in-2:

;Uncomment and set a comma delimited list of numbers to use a custom xp table.
;Player's level is capped once the highest specified level is reached
XPTable=1000,3000,6000,10000,15000,21000,28000,36000,45000,55000,66000,78000,91000,105000,120000,136000,153000,171000,190000,210000

What I did next was a rather complicated formula that looked something like this: 210000 - 190000 = 20000
I added 20,000 to 210,000 and got 229,000. Every time I added 20,000 to the new level cap number, I subtracted 1,000 from it so I ended up leveling up backwards. For instance: 397000 + 2000 = 399000
And then: 399000 + 1000 = 400000

While this system worked, it was still very grindy and I live a rather busy life so I don't have the freedom of an irresponsible teenager anymore.

All About The Number 12

Then one day as I was busy painting doors and access panels at my job, I began to think of ways to speed up the leveling system in Fallout 1 and 2 while increasing the level cap AND get more perks too! The major obstacle I had to overcome though was that perks would only be doled out every three levels without the Skilled Trait and every 4 levels with the Skilled Trait. I needed a leveling system that would cap at levels that could be divided by 3 and 4 at the same time.

Then after paying attention to the Level 24 cap in Fallout 2, I realized that in order for a level cap to fairly divided by both 3 and 4, it would have to have to be divided by 12!

With this new knowledge, I began to look at which numbers could be divided by 12. For this, I had to look back at the multiplication tables about the number 12 and these are the level caps I came up with:
12
24
36
48
60
72
84
96
108
120
132
144

Take A 0 Away From 1000 To Make 100

Now that I had a proper understanding of the level caps that will always dole out a perk on the final level with or without the Skilled Trait, I began to focus on making leveling up as fast as possible. My solution for this was to ditch the old system which increased levels in increments of 1000.
Example: 0 + 1000 = 1000. 1000 + 2000 = 3000. 3000 + 3000 = 6000. 6000 + 4000 = 10,000 etc...
My new system is this: 0 + 100 = 100. 100 + 200 = 300. 300 + 300 = 600. 600 + 400 =1000 etc...

I ran tests and the results in Fallout 1-in-2 were phenomenal! (Side note: I'm using the Expert Pack Rat Mod so I can carry infinite items)
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After killing just 4 of the rats in the cave, I was already at Level 2!
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By the time I left the cave, I was at Level 3 with the Awareness Perk!
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At this point, you're probably screaming: "WHAT WITCHCRAFT IS THIS AND HOW CAN I LEARN IT?!"
Calm down people, I will show-and-tell you what to do.

The Magic Of Coding And Departure

First up, follow the instructions to install the Fallout 1-in-2 mod using the link provided here: https://youtu.be/GCT2SG4ohgI?si=zIbg877rhZFjCNNQ
The next step is optional but I like to modify Fallout 1-in-2 with the Expert Pack Rat mod from: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout2/mods/49
This makes the Small Frame Trait into more of a buff than a trade-off.
Now locate your Fallout 1-in-2 folder.
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Find ddraw config and open it with Notepad.
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Go to Edit and click on Find... or press CTRL+F
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Enter the following in Find: Player's level is capped
And click Find Next.
It should take you to something like this:
;Uncomment and set a comma delimited list of numbers to use a custom xp table.
;Player's level is capped once the highest specified level is reached
XPTable=1000,3000,6000,10000,15000,21000,28000,36000,45000,55000,66000,78000,91000,105000,120000,136000,153000,171000,190000,210000

Now to make it easier to determine which Level cap you want, I've included the line of code all the way to Level 144 and I've noted the optimal level caps along with a key to show you what your expected Level cap should be:
100,300,600,1000,1500,2100,2800,3600,4500,5500,6600,7800,9100,10500,12000,13600,15300,17100,19000,21000,23100,25300,27600,30000,32500,35100,37800,40600,43500,46500,49600,52800,56100,59500,63000,66600,70300,74100,78000,82000,86100,90300,94600,99000,103500,108100,112800,117600,122500,127500,132600,137800,143100,148500,154000,159600,165300,171100,177000,183000,189100,195300,201600,208000,214500,221100,227800,234600,241500,248500,255600,262800,270100,277500,285000,292600,300300,308100,316000,324000,332100,340300,348600,357000,365500,374100,382800,391600,400500,409500,418600,427800,437100,446500,456000,465600,475300,485100,495000,505000,515100,525300,535600,546000,556500,567100,577800,588600,599500,610500,621600,632800,644100,655500,667000,678600,690300,702100,714000,726000,738100,750300,762600,775000,787500,800100,812800,825600,838500,851500,864600,877800,891100,904500,918000,931600,945300,959100,973000,987000,1001100,1015300,1029600

Level 12: 6600
Level 24: 27600
Level 36: 63000
Level 48: 112800
Level 60: 177000
Level 72: 255600
Level 84: 348600
Level 96: 456000
Level 108: 577800
Level 120: 714000
Level 132: 864600
Level 144: 1029600

Decide which level you want your character to reach and select the line of code you want.
Example: I want my character to be capped at level 36 so I'll overwrite the current line of code in the "XPTable=" with this, 100,300,600,1000,1500,2100,2800,3600,4500,5500,6600,7800,9100,10500,12000,13600,15300,17100,19000,21000,23100,25300,27600,30000,32500,35100,37800,40600,43500,46500,49600,52800,56100,59500,63000
Pretty cool, right? I will also be making a guide for Fallout 2 so keep an eye out for that! Now get back into Classic Era Fallout and make the most of your character's potential!
Natsuki Subaru signing off!

Addendum: The game engine is capped to level 99 and you can't go beyond that as far as I know.
The Level 99 Cap Key is this: 485100
If I find some talented modder out there who can find a way to break this barrier, I'll let you all know and make a new guide.