Fallout 4 mod replaces Pip-Boy with itty bitty diary

Fallout 4 mod replaces Pip-Boy with small diary
(Image credit: Bethesda)

It's easy to spot a Vault Dweller in the wasteland—just look for the big, clunky computer strapped to their forearm. But if you've played through Fallout 4 a few times and want to look at something different when you check the map or organize your inventory, or if you want to roleplay a character who never lived in a Vault, here's a fun new option.

Rather than clamping a Pip-Boy to your arm, the Dear Pip-Boy mod replaces the familiar personal computer with a small hand-held diary. Instead of poking buttons to visit different sections of the menu, the itty bitty diary has pages you can flip through. The little hand-written tabs for stats, inventory, data, and map add to the feel that it's a small paper journal instead of a computer, something you might keep stuffed in your back pocket when you're not holding it. Naturally, the paper diary still functions just like your Pip-Boy, and there are animations when it comes to Vault Boy and other elements of the menu.

Here's a little video showing off the itty bitty journal:

And not to worry. For all you music lovers and signal-followers, the diary has a small radio built into the back cover so you can still listen to old world tunes and track down mysterious transmissions in the Commonwealth.

The mod doesn't require any other mods to function, which is frankly pretty refreshing these days. There is a separate fix file if you have any issues using your mouse in the diary, and the same fix also adds some sound effects for page flipping and makes the pages a bit bigger. You can find the Dear Pip-Boy mod here at Nexus Mods.

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

Read more
Maybe I'll finally stop getting lost in Fallout: New Vegas' Bison Steve Hotel thanks to this new minimap mod
Official Doom Guy art superimposed over Vault 666 Fallout-themed background.
Fallout-themed Doom mod Vault 666 has multiple endings, an OP Dogmeat companion, and a Ron Perlman-impersonating narrator so good, I was worried it was AI-generated at first
Chief Hanlon sits in his usual spot at Camp Golf.
If you want Fallout: New Vegas to look a little more lived-in, these mods have you covered
V strikes a pose: framing her face between her two hands, which are replaced by feet.
I spent too long playing the Cyberpunk 2077 mod that turns V's hands into feet, and now I genuinely think it's what's great about PC gaming
Mortimer Goth swanning around inside a New Vegas casino built inside the Sims 2
A Fallout: New Vegas fan is so fed up waiting for a remake he's decided to do it himself. The twist? He's making it in the Sims 2
Two giants and a cow
Here's a mod that gives Skyrim Special Edition its own Witcher-style bestiary
Latest in Fallout
Male and Female Vault Dweller holding guns and cresting a hill with ruined city in background
The New Vegas remake of the Fallout 3 that never was just got its first demo, not to be confused with the straight-up remake of the cancelled Fallout 3 or, indeed, Fallout 3
Lucy smiling while using her pip boy
Ella Purnell dreads being typecast for her 'poop finger' in Fallout: 'This finger is the bane of my life'
Fallout 76 - a player in a vault suit gives a thumbs up
Fallout 76's former project lead says it's still his favourite game he worked on, but the initial reception was demoralising: 'I got yelled at in an Apple Store, I'll never forget'
Mortimer Goth swanning around inside a New Vegas casino built inside the Sims 2
A Fallout: New Vegas fan is so fed up waiting for a remake he's decided to do it himself. The twist? He's making it in the Sims 2
Maybe I'll finally stop getting lost in Fallout: New Vegas' Bison Steve Hotel thanks to this new minimap mod
A jumpsuit-clad Lucy, played by Ella Purnell, emerges from a vault in the Fallout TV series.
Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins sure are excited for everyone to see Fallout season 2: 'No one's going to be able to predict what happens. There's some big twists this time around'
Latest in News
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam