Commonwealth Deck: Fallout 4 on your Stream Deck

The Combat page on a Stream Deck XL, drawn as dark keys with bracketed corners in phosphor green. Top row: health as a bar across two keys, 96 of 310; AP across two keys, 34 of 105; rads, a dash; ammo 152 10mm Round; grenade, Frag Grenade, 4 left; and limbs, a small figure with the left leg in red. Second and third rows: favourites 1 to 12, the 10mm Pistol on slot 1 lit green as the weapon in hand, then Combat Rifle, Security Baton, Frag Grenade, Psycho, Molotov Cocktail, Jet, Pipe Wrench, Laser Musket, Stimpak, Nuka-Cola and Med-X; VATS, Open, lit, on Q; Throw Grenade and Melee on Alt and Holster on R. Bottom row: Back, Stimpak 7, RadAway 3, Rad-X 2, in combat, detection, effects Jet and the weapon key on R. — The Combat page on an XL, mid-fight with a crippled leg. The keys are drawn by the plugin's own code from a made-up character.

What you need

Windows 10 or 11 with Stream Deck software 7.1 or newer.
A Stream Deck, Stream Deck XL, Stream Deck +, Stream Deck Mini, Stream Deck Neo or a Corsair Galleon 100 SD.
Fallout 4 1.11.240 on the same PC. We test with the Steam version.
F4SE 0.7.9 and the Pip-Boy Companion App Enabler (AE) mod (below). Both are other people's work, from their own pages. Nothing of ours goes into the game.

1. Install the plugin

Submitted for approval. Commonwealth Deck 1.0.0 is with the Elgato Marketplace. This page will link to the listing when it is up.

2. Set up the game

Fallout 4 has a server built in for its Pip-Boy companion app, the one the phone app used. A small mod turns it on, and Commonwealth Deck connects to it on your PC. Set it up once:

Check that your game is Fallout 4 1.11.240: right-click Fallout4.exe in the game folder, then Properties, Details. The F4SE below is built for that version.
Install F4SE 0.7.9, the Fallout 4 Script Extender, from f4se.silverlock.org: copy f4se_loader.exe, f4se_1_11_240.dll and the Data\Scripts folder into your Fallout 4 folder, or install it with your mod manager.
Install the Pip-Boy Companion App Enabler (AE) mod from Nexus Mods with your mod manager, so that Data\F4SE\Plugins\PipboyAppFix.dll is in the game folder. It needs nothing else.
Start the game through F4SE: f4se_loader.exe in the game folder, or your mod manager's F4SE tool. The Play button in Steam starts the game without F4SE, and then without the mod.
If Windows asks whether to let Fallout 4 through the firewall, allow it on Private networks. The game's app server needs it.
Load a save and open the Pip-Boy once. The game starts sending its data then, and the keys come alive.

Without the game the keys say what is missing instead of going blank: game not running, Pip-Boy app not on, open your Pip-Boy once, another app connected or at the menu. Every key's settings also show whether the game's Pip-Boy app is live, and list the controls that have no key yet. If something is not right, see Troubleshooting.

3. The Commonwealth Deck key and its layout

Drag the Commonwealth Deck key onto any profile and press it: your deck opens a ready-made layout with six pages, with Back at the bottom left of every page.

Explore: health, AP, where you are and the time, your weapon, sneak, the Pip-Boy light and a Stimpak, and the way to the other pages.
Combat: health and AP bars, ammo and grenades, your limbs, VATS, favourites 1 to 12 (as many as your deck holds), Stimpak, RadAway and Rad-X, and your effects.
Pip-Boy: level and XP, caps, carry weight, SPECIAL, the tracked quest, the date and time, effects, the Pip-Boy tabs, the radio, the map marker and quick save.
Power Armor: each piece of your suit and its condition, broken and missing pieces marked, the worst part, the whole suit and your spare fusion cores.
Workshop: Workshop mode, place, store and the menu arrows.
Map: the map across your keys, centred on you (below).

Two Stream Deck pages side by side. Explore: health 245 of 310, action points 88 of 105, rads a dash, location Commonwealth and the Map page; weapon, sneak and Pip-Boy light keys showing R, Ctrl and Tab (long), Stimpak 7 and Follow, on, lit green; then Back and the Combat, Pip-Boy, Power Armor and Workshop pages. Pip-Boy: level 24, 62% to 25; caps 1,204; carry weight 188 of 260 lbs; quest When Freedom Calls, talk to Preston Garvey; Oct 23, 2287; the Pip-Boy, Stats, Inventory, Data and Map keys on Tab, K, I, J and M; Back, Radio on O, Quick Save on F5, the radio key lit on Diamond City Radio and Follow, on. — The Explore and Pip-Boy pages on a Stream Deck. The game's Pip-Boy app does not send rads, sneak or the Pip-Boy light, so those keys show a dash and still press your keys. Made-up character.

The Pip-Boy page on a Stream Deck XL. Top row: level 24; XP as a bar across two keys at 62%; caps 1,204; carry weight 188 of 260 lbs; quest When Freedom Calls; the date Oct 23, 2287; the time 6:30 PM. Second row: the Pip-Boy, Stats, Inventory, Data, Map, Radio and Favorites keys on Tab, K, I, J, M, O and F, and Quick Save on F5. Third row: SPECIAL 5 8 4 3 8 6 5 with one bonus; effects Jet; addictions none; Stimpak 7; RadAway 3; Rad-X 2; location Commonwealth; radio Diamond City Radio 98 MHz. Bottom row: Back; hunger, thirst and sleep, each a dash; the radio key lit on Diamond City Radio; Map Marker, Mark here, no marker set; live source Pip-Boy app, live; and Follow, on. — The Pip-Boy page on an XL: the Radio key tunes in or switches off, Mark here sets the map marker. Made-up character.

There is a layout for the Stream Deck, XL, +, Mini, Neo and Corsair Galleon 100 SD, each in English, French and Spanish. Stream Deck offers them when the plugin is installed. On the + and the Galleon 100 SD the dials show health, AP or XP, turn through your favourites, the Pip-Boy tabs, the radio or VATS targets, and on the Map page they zoom, pan and find the nearest quest marker.

Follow

With the Follow key on, the deck turns to the Combat page in VATS and to the Power Armor page while you wear your suit, and back when that ends. A page you choose by hand stays put until the situation changes.

Language

Every key, dial and settings page speaks English, French or Spanish, with the game's own words. The Language setting, in any key's settings under Options (all keys), picks one; Automatic follows Stream Deck's language. What the game itself sends, the names of items, quests, stations and places, shows as the game wrote it, in the language you play in.

The Pip-Boy page on two Stream Decks. In French: Niveau 24, 62 % vers niv. 25; capsules 1 204; charge maximale 188 / 260 lb; quête L'appel de la liberté; 23 oct. 2287, dimanche; the Pip-Boy, Stats, Inventaire, Données and Carte keys; Retour, Radio, Sauvegarde rapide on F5, the radio key lit on Radio de Diamond City and Suivi, Actif. In Spanish: Nivel 24, 62 % al nivel 25; chapas 1 204; peso de carga 188 / 260 lb; misión Cuando la libertad llama; 23 oct. 2287, domingo; the Pip-Boy, Estadísticas, Inventario, Datos and Mapa keys; Volver, Radio, Guardado rápido, the radio key lit on Radio de Diamond City and Seguir, Activo. — The Pip-Boy page in French and in Spanish. Made-up character.

4. The keys and dials

Vitals: health and AP as readouts, as bars stretched across up to three keys, or on a dial, and your limbs on a small figure, crippled ones in red.
Chems: your Stimpaks, RadAway and Rad-X, with how many you carry. A press uses one through the game, with no menu. Push a health dial to use a Stimpak.
Favourites 1 to 12: what is on each slot, lit when that weapon is in your hands. A press uses it.
Readouts: level and XP, caps, carry weight, weapon and ammo, grenade, SPECIAL, the quest, the date and time, effects and addictions.
Radio: the station it is set to, or the one playing, lit while it plays. A press tunes in or switches off. On a dial, turn through the stations and push to switch the one shown.
Map Marker: mark where you stand, or clear the marker.
Power Armor: a piece of your suit and its condition, the spare fusion cores, the whole suit or the worst part, on a key or a dial.

The game's Pip-Boy app does not send combat, sneak, rads, the weather, Survival needs, settlements or the fusion core's charge, so those keys show a dash. Keys that press a control for them still work.

Left, a Stream Deck +: the Pip-Boy, Map and Quick Save keys on Tab, M and F5, quest When Freedom Calls, Back and the Map, Workshop and Combat pages; on the touch strip an XP dial at 62%, a radio dial on Diamond City Radio, 2 of 3, a Pip-Boy tabs dial on Map and a menu dial. Right, a Corsair Galleon 100 SD: the map drawn across its keys with Region 1.2 km, Clear marker at the top right, Move marker here at the bottom right and Back; below, its four dial screens showing one map, Zoom Region 1.7 km, E-W centred, N-S centred, and the nearest quest marker 100 m NW, 1 of 2. — The radio and Pip-Boy tabs on a Stream Deck +'s dials, and the map across a Galleon 100 SD's keys and its four dial screens. Made-up character and map.

5. Keys that press your controls

Command keys press the key you use in the game: activate, jump, sneak, sprint, grenade, melee, holster, the Pip-Boy and its tabs, quick save, Workshop mode, VATS and its targets, the menu arrows and more, each showing its key. Commonwealth Deck reads your ControlMap_Custom.txt in Documents\My Games\Fallout4, or else the game's default controls, and follows a rebind at once.

Keys go to the game only while Fallout 4 is the window in front, one press for each press of yours. Nothing is automated.
The game's long presses stay long presses: a Throw Grenade key holds Melee, a Holster key holds Ready Weapon, and the Pip-Boy light and Workshop mode keys hold theirs.
A control with no key, or only a mouse button, says Not bound. Give it a key in the game's Controls menu and the key picks it up.

6. The map

The Map page draws the map across every key but Back, centred on you: the places you have found, quest markers, your custom marker, your power armor and your arrow, turned the way you face. A press zooms between Area, Region and World. The top-right key clears your marker and the bottom-right key marks where you stand, each with two presses within 3 seconds, so a stray press moves nothing. On a + or a Galleon 100 SD the four dial screens show one map: zoom, pan east-west, pan north-south, and the nearest quest marker's distance and direction.

Two Stream Deck pages side by side. Power Armor: health 245 of 310; fusion cores, 2 spare, charge not sent; helmet 60%; the suit 57% with 1 broken and 1 missing; Pip-Boy light; action points 88 of 105; left arm 0%, broken, in red; torso 75%; right arm 80%; VATS ready; Back; left leg 20% in amber; worst part, left arm, broken; right leg missing, an empty frame slot; Stimpak 7. Map: a made-up green map drawn across the keys with roads and a grid, Region 1.5 km on the top-left key, Clear marker at the top right, a quest marker, places and the player's arrow in the middle, an amber diamond for the custom marker, Back at the bottom left and Move marker here at the bottom right. — The Power Armor page with a broken arm and a missing leg, and the Map page. The map picture here is made up; in the game it comes from your own Fallout 4 files.

The map picture

Under the markers is the game's own world map picture, read from your Fallout 4 folder while you play. The plugin reads it once for each game version, read only, and keeps a converted copy in %APPDATA%\CommonwealthDeck. Nothing of Bethesda's ships with the plugin, and nothing in the game folder changes. Zoomed in to Area, the game's own local map of the ground you have explored is laid over it.

The Map picture setting, under Options (all keys), turns it off for a drawn grid. If the plugin does not find the game by itself, enter your game folder in Fallout 4 folder. The settings say where the picture came from, or why there is none.

7. Also on the XENEON EDGE

Commonwealth Deck also writes a small feed file, %APPDATA%\CommonwealthDeck\feed.json, about once a second while you play. Commonwealth Dashboard, our iCUE widget for the Corsair XENEON EDGE, reads it: your status and limbs, SPECIAL and perks, inventory, quests, the map, the radio and your power armor, on the touchscreen under your monitor, at the same time as your Stream Deck. Its touch buttons tune the radio, use chems and set the map marker, through Commonwealth Deck, on your PC only.

Edge feed, under Options (all keys), turns the file off, and Edge controls turns off the widget's buttons. Without a Stream Deck, Commonwealth Link writes the same file for the widget. It stands by by itself while Commonwealth Deck runs.

8. What it can and cannot do

It reads what the game's own Pip-Boy app server sends, on this PC, as the phone app did. Nothing of ours is in the game, and nothing in the game folder changes.
It sends the game the app's own commands (use an item, the radio, the map marker) only when you press a key, and command keys send one key press for each press of yours, only while the game is in front.
It connects to the game on this PC. It reaches another PC only if you type its address or press Find. No account, and no internet connection.
It writes two things, both in %APPDATA%\CommonwealthDeck: the feed for the widget, which a setting turns off, and the converted map picture. Your character's name stays out of the feed unless you tick Show the character's name.
For the widget's buttons it listens on this PC only, and each tap needs a key written into the feed file, new each start, so a web page cannot send one.

Troubleshooting

The keys say Pip-Boy app not on.

The game is running, but its Pip-Boy app server does not answer: the Pip-Boy Companion App Enabler (AE) or F4SE is not loaded. Check that the mod is on in your mod manager and that Data\F4SE\Plugins\PipboyAppFix.dll is there, and start the game with f4se_loader.exe or your mod manager's F4SE tool, not the Play button in Steam. If you turned down the Windows firewall question, allow Fallout 4 on Private networks in Windows Security, under Firewall & network protection, Allow an app through firewall.

The keys say another app connected, or app busy.

The game serves one companion app at a time, and another one holds that connection: Commonwealth Link, or the Pip-Boy app on your phone or tablet. Close the phone app. Commonwealth Link steps aside by itself while Commonwealth Deck writes the Edge feed; if you turned Edge feed off, quit Commonwealth Link from its tray icon.

The keys say open your Pip-Boy once.

Commonwealth Deck is connected to the game, but the game sends nothing until you open the Pip-Boy once after loading a save. Open it and close it again.

Where does the map picture come from?

From your own game files: the world map picture the game's Pip-Boy map uses, read from your Fallout 4 folder while you play. If the Map keys show a plain grid, the Map picture setting is off or the plugin did not find the game; enter your game folder in Fallout 4 folder, and the settings say what they found.

The fusion core key shows no charge.

The game's Pip-Boy app does not send the fusion core's charge, so the key shows your spare cores and says charge not sent. The pieces of your suit and their condition do come through.

The command keys do nothing.

Keys only go to the game while it is the window in front. A control with no key says Not bound: give it one in the game's Controls menu. If the game runs as administrator, Windows blocks key presses from programs that do not, so start the game normally.

Frequently asked

Can the game run on another PC?

Yes, for the readings. Enter that PC's address in Game address in any key's settings, or press Find the game on my network. Command keys press keys on this PC only.

Do I need a Stream Deck for the XENEON EDGE widget?

No. Use Commonwealth Link.

Is this made by Bethesda?

No. Commonwealth Deck is an unofficial project made by TeaTime, not affiliated with or endorsed by Bethesda Softworks or ZeniMax Media. Fallout and Pip-Boy are trademarks of ZeniMax Media Inc., named only to say what the plugin works with. No game logo, artwork, font or screenshot is used: every key is drawn in code, and the map picture comes from your own copy of the game.

Something is still wrong.

Email support@teatimeservers.ca and tell us what the keys say.