Skip to main content
PC Gamer PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES
UK EditionUK US EditionUS CA EditionCanada AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • Hardware
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Video
  • Forum
  • More
    • PC Gaming Show
    • Software
    • Movies & TV
    • Codes
    • Coupons
    • Magazine
    • Newsletter
    • Affiliate links
    • Meet the team
    • Community guidelines
    • About PC Gamer
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
PC Gamer Magazine Subscription
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$32.49
Subscribe now
Don't miss these
Magic the Gathering Card art of New Vegas' Caesar sitting on throne, holding gauntleted hand out with sideways thumb.
RPG Fallout: New Vegas lead writer worries Caesar's argument for authoritarianism 'was done a little too well,' but still believes 'you can't just make your tyrants cardboard villains'
Horses trailer still - bunch of otherwise naked people in horse masks
Horror There's more to Horses than the Steam ban: The controversial horror game is a great example of how games can effectively borrow from film, and how they can also stumble
Stranger Things cast in a row looking concerned at camera.
Movies & TV Obsidian's Josh Sawyer leads the charge of RPG fans playfully roasting Stranger Things for its D&D rule flubs: 'The oldheads are going to catch all these things'
Someone in front of a computer in Fallout New Vegas
Fallout Turns out that Fallout: New Vegas beta stuffed with cut content also contains early versions of the DLCs with some big differences
Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at a TV
Movies & TV A location shown in Fallout Season 2 Episode 1 got me pointing at the screen like Leo—and it has nothing to do with New Vegas
An adventurer in a ruined house
Fallout The first episode of Fallout season 2 solves the 15-year-old New Vegas mystery of the missing Vault 24
Dino Dee-lite Motel from Novac with Lucy (Ella Purnell) in the dinosaur statue
Movies & TV Fallout Season 2 review: If the first season was a love letter to all of Fallout, Season 2 is the result of a huge crush on New Vegas in particular
A screenshot from Avowed, showing a sweeping vista, with the PC Gamer Game of the Year Personal Pick overlay in the top left
RPG Avowed didn't rewrite the RPG rulebook in 2025, but it still gave me some of my biggest gaming 'wow' moments of the year
The Rust King
Fallout 'Our world is like a theme park': Fallout 76's latest expansion into the mysterious Ohio has proven to be its best move yet
PC Gamer Top 100 2025
Games The top 100 PC games
Vault Boy demonstrates how to duck and cover
Fallout You might think reimagining Washington DC as a nuclear hellscape for Fallout 3 would have been grim, but it made the lead designer want to set the next game in his hometown: 'It's just kind of fun to blow things up'
Elon Musk in Fallout: New Vegas.
Fallout Fallout: New Vegas' Mr. House was based on Howard Hughes, but the game's lead writer says his sense of the character 'has changed as we've seen the rise of Silicon Valley would-be messiahs'
Diffusion mod for Half-Life
FPS 10 years in the making, this total conversion based on Half-Life is every bit as ambitious as Black Mesa
The Ghoul tipping his cowboy hat in Fallout
Movies & TV Fallout Season 2 Episode 1 recap: 'The world may end, but progress marches on'
Text reminds you to press W + SHIFT to run above a screenshot of a ledge leading across a gap toward a rooftop
Action Great moments in PC gaming: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic's rooftop chase
Popular
  • GOTY Awards
  • PC Gaming Show
  • Best PC gear
  • Arc Raiders
  • Quizzes
  1. Games
  2. RPG
  3. Fallout
  4. Fallout 4

Ranking the god rays in Nvidia's Fallout 4 mod by subtlety

Features
By Christopher Livingston published 9 September 2016

Shining a light through some wires? Okay. Through a skeleton? You're pushing it.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

I've just finished playing Nvidia's Vault 1080 mod Note: I played it with another mod that makes it more lore-friendly by changing all the 1080 references to simply 80. Also note: I played it with my GeForce 980. Anyway, it's not a bad little mod at all: Nvidia created a creepy vault inside a spooky church, and did a nice job with the set dressing and monster placement. There are some legit scares down there.

Obviously, the real reason for the mod is for Nvidia to show off its indoor god rays, and that it does. The mod team really didn't pass up a single opportunity to shine their tech into your eyes, and as a result there's a certain lack of subtlety to the affair. I've collected images of some of the light placements to judge the logical ones and the times they went a little too far in showing off their tech.

Page 1 of 13
Page 1 of 13
Behind the Vault door

Behind the Vault door

Okay, I easily give them this one. Entering a vault, even a vault modded in by a graphics card manufacturer, is a cool and intimidating moment, and the rays shining from within the massive broken door are entirely suitable and logical. It looks cool.

Subtlety Rating: 9 (Remember, we're ranking subtlety, so the higher the number, the more subtle it is.)

Page 2 of 13
Page 2 of 13
Behind a bunch of hanging cables

Behind a bunch of hanging cables

I feel this is fair. Vault 80 (I'm using the lore-friendly name) has been the site of a pillaging attempt by raiders. Raiders are dumb and greedy, and would probably yank a bunch of cables out of the walls like the stupid brutes they are. Some of those cables might wind up hanging in front of a light. I could see that happening.

Subtlety rating: 8

Page 3 of 13
Page 3 of 13
From under a metal catwalk

From under a metal catwalk

Safety-wise, I'm not sure this is a great idea. When people are walking around in the dark on a raised metal platform, they'll be looking down to insure they don't fall off and plunge to their death. It's probably not a great idea to shine a bright light through the floor directly into their eyes, even if you want to impress them with how awesome the light looks.

Subtlety rating: 4

Page 4 of 13
Page 4 of 13
Through a bunch of beds

Through a bunch of beds

People read in bed. I certainly do. And that's not all I do in bed, if you know what I mean! What I mean is, I also morosely contemplate my inevitable death on a nightly basis. And whether reading or fearing the fast-approaching eternal void, I do like to have a light on. A light next to a bed makes sense. A single light, mounted at floor-level, for two bunk beds, though? No one can read like that.

Subtlety rating: 4

Page 5 of 13
Page 5 of 13
Through an empty crib

Through an empty crib

Night-lights are important for babies who are afraid of the dark, but shining a high-grade construction site quality dual halogen worklight directly through the crib will probably mess up the poor tot's REM sleep. I daresay someone is trying to show off.

Subtlety rating: 2

Page 6 of 13
Page 6 of 13
Up a dead raider's butt

Up a dead raider's butt

I'm fine with this.

Subtlety rating: 8

Page 7 of 13
Page 7 of 13
Through a goddamn wheelchair

Through a goddamn wheelchair

Are wheelchair users sick of seeing wheelchairs used as horror props? I have to assume they must be. Why is a wheelchair considered scary? It's just a device for getting around. If you see an empty car parked somewhere you don't consider it scary or every trip through a parking lot would turn into The Blair Witch Project. What does an empty wheelchair signify? That someone or something got out of the wheelchair and walked away? Even if that something was a monster, it should be a cause for celebration.

What was I talking about? Oh, yeah. Not subtle.

Subtlety rating: 0

Page 8 of 13
Page 8 of 13
Through a slowly rotating desk fan on the floor

Through a slowly rotating desk fan on the floor

I'm torn with this one. It's not even remotely subtle, casting a light through a rotating fan at floor level so it casts moving rays and shadows. But it's still cool and looks really nice. Alas, I'm rating subtlety and not nice-fan-ness. My hands are tied.

Subtlety rating: 2

Page 9 of 13
Page 9 of 13
Through a louvered window, but hey wait a second

Through a louvered window, but hey wait a second

This one seems just fine. A desk lamp has been knocked over and is shining through a louvered office window and into a hallway. That's perfectly subtle and great. But if you look really closely, you'll notice the light isn't even technically on. The bulb is dark, yet is still emitting the Rays of God. It's a miracle! Just not a subtle one.

Subtlety rating: 2

Page 10 of 13
Page 10 of 13
Through one of these things

Through one of these things

It's better than shining a light directly through a crib, anyway.

Subtlety rating: 6

Page 11 of 13
Page 11 of 13
Through a ribcage balanced against a skull

Through a ribcage balanced against a skull

Okay. Come on. Come on, now.

Really.

Subtlety rating: -14

Page 12 of 13
Page 12 of 13
Through everything all the time, everywhere

Through everything all the time, everywhere

At this point even God is like, "Enough with My rays, Nvidia. We get it. Everyone gets it."

Subtlety rating: 1

Page 13 of 13
Page 13 of 13
TOPICS
Best of
Christopher Livingston
Christopher Livingston
Social Links Navigation
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.

Share by:
  • Facebook
  • X
  • Whatsapp
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Read more
Routine sci-fi survival horror
Routine review
 
 
Fallout 3 guy
The 9 best quests in Fallout history
 
 
Gordon Freeman illustration from wallpaper released for Half-Life's 25th anniversary rerelease.
Renegade graphics warlock makes Half-Life look like Half-Life 2, then runs it on an ancient laptop, raising a middle finger to poorly optimised PC games
 
 
Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at a TV
A location shown in Fallout Season 2 Episode 1 got me pointing at the screen like Leo—and it has nothing to do with New Vegas
 
 
A demonic flower sprouts from a droplet of blood and screams in the trailer for Divinity, Larian's upcoming RPG.
Divinity's trailer is cool, but I suspect Larian's body-horror Burning Man splatfest doesn't set an accurate tone for the full game—and if I'm right, it'll be weird that it's happened twice
 
 
The Ghoul tipping his cowboy hat in Fallout
Fallout Season 2 Episode 1 recap: 'The world may end, but progress marches on'
 
 
Latest in Fallout
Image for Fallout 4's lead designer reckons it is the 'most replayable' game in the series thanks to its interweaving quests, which I'm sure will go down swimmingly with New Vegas sickos
Fallout 4's lead designer reckons it is the 'most replayable' game in the series thanks to its interweaving quests, which I'm sure will go down swimmingly with New Vegas sickos
 
 
Someone in front of a computer in Fallout New Vegas
Turns out that Fallout: New Vegas beta stuffed with cut content also contains early versions of the DLCs with some big differences
 
 
Vault Boy demonstrates how to duck and cover
You might think reimagining Washington DC as a nuclear hellscape for Fallout 3 would have been grim, but it made the lead designer want to set the next game in his hometown: 'It's just kind of fun to blow things up'
 
 
The Rust King
'Our world is like a theme park': Fallout 76's latest expansion into the mysterious Ohio has proven to be its best move yet
 
 
The Ghoul talking
'We're all big fans of Walton': Walton Goggins reprised his role as the Ghoul for Fallout 76's latest expansion, and it was a big hit among the devs
 
 
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 04: Executive Producer Todd Howard attends the UK Special Screening of "Fallout" presented by Amazon MGM Studios & Prime Video at White City Television Centre on April 04, 2024 in London, England. "Fallout" is launching exclusively on Prime Video on 11th April 2024.
Todd Howard says 'Fallout 5 will be existing in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening'
 
 
Latest in Features
People hanging out near a car smoking
Roadtrip RPG Keep Driving teaches you that a hitchhiker is just a friend you haven't met, and that friend might have weed
 
 
Guy riding a sled in Rust Christmas event
12 years on, relentless survival game Rust is showing no signs of slowing.
 
 
Hazel Flood from South of Midnight holding a glowing blue bottle with the PC Gamer "Personal Pick GOTY" banner overlay on top.
Like a good ol' southern potluck, South of Midnight had me going back to play for seconds, and then thirds, thanks to all its little details
 
 
Satya Nadella sits between Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos looking awkward
Microsoft's year of shame
 
 
A blood elf stands ready to give you a Prey assignment in World of Warcraft: Midnight.
World of Warcraft: Midnight's new solo-friendly Prey mode will have bosses attacking you out of nowhere: 'There's going to be some really mean stuff that we're going to do to you'
 
 
Taito's Time Gal anime art cover
I played dozens of retro games this year, and these are the ones I still whole-heartedly recommend going into 2026
 
 
  1. MSI and Asus gaming monitors on a green background with the PC Gamer recommended logo in the top right
    1
    Best gaming monitors in 2025: the pixel-perfect panels I'd buy myself
  2. 2
    The best fish tank PC case in 2025: I've tested heaps of stylish chassis but only a few have earned my recommendation
  3. 3
    Best gaming laptop 2025: I've tested the best laptops for gaming of this generation and here are the ones I recommend
  4. 4
    Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customizable keyboards for competitive gaming
  5. 5
    Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC
  1. Acer Predator Orion 3000 gaming PC
    1
    Acer Predator Orion 3000 gaming PC review
  2. 2
    Acer Predator Orion 7000 gaming PC review
  3. 3
    Dangbei DBOX02 Pro projector review
  4. 4
    Death Howl review: A brilliantly abrasive hybrid of deckbuilder and soulslike
  5. 5
    NZXT Player Three Prime gaming PC review

PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...