After making a post about <a href="/posts/fallout-4-service-discovery-and-relay/">discovering running Fallout 4 servers and relaying them</a>,
in only a few days, the full protocol from Fallout 4 was decoded. Several
packages for interacting with the Fallout 4 server have been posted:
<ul>
<li>Node.js - <a href="https://github.com/robcoindustries/pipboylib">pipboylib</a></li>
<li>Go - <a href="https://github.com/nkatsaros/pipboygo">pipboygo</a></li>
<li>Ruby - <a href="https://github.com/mattbaker/pipboy-explorations">pippipe, pipparse</a></li>
<li>Python - <a href="https://github.com/matzman666/PyPipboy">pypipboy</a>, <a href="https://github.com/Gavitron/pipulator">pipulator</a></li>
<li>Java - <a href="https://github.com/cpopp/PipBoyClient">PipBoyClient</a></li>
<li>.NET - <a href="https://github.com/weberph/Fallout4-PipBoy">Fallout4-PipBoy</a></li>
</ul>
Beyond bindings, there are a also several documentation efforts to bring
together information about the overall protocol:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/NimVek/pipboy">nimvek/pipboy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/mattbaker/pipboyspec">mattbaker/pipboyspec</a></li>
</ul>
And several UI efforts:
<ul>
<li>Electron app - <a href="https://github.com/robcoindustries/pipboy">pipboy</a></li>
<li>Node.js server - <a href="https://github.com/AlexanderDzhoganov/pipboyclient">pipboyclient</a></li>
<li>Go server - <a href="https://github.com/nkatsaros/pipboygo">pipboygo</a></li>
</ul>
The <a href="https://github.com/robcoindustries/pipboylib">pipboylib</a> bindings culminated
in the beginnings of the <a href="https://github.com/robcoindustries/pipboy">Electron app, pipboy</a>:
<img src="/assets/blog/decoding-the-pipboy-database/pipboyapp.gif" alt="">
The intention with the <code>pipboy</code> Electron app is to create a cross-platform
Pip-Boy UI for Fallout 4 that for running on a separate screen that is approachable
for others to add on to. <a href="http://electron.atom.io/">Electron</a> forms the foundation for all
this by using standard web tech: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with Chromium and Node.js.
If you're familiar with the Docker suite, <a href="https://kitematic.com/">Kitematic</a> is
also an Electron app.
Having this basis makes it really easy to build things like a Pip-Boy database viewer:
<img src="/assets/blog/decoding-the-pipboy-database/db-viewer.png" alt="Database View">
<img src="/assets/blog/decoding-the-pipboy-database/deathclaw-search.png" alt="Deathclaw Search">
We'd welcome your contributions in pull requests, patches, and issues over at
<a href="https://github.com/RobCoIndustries/pipboy">RobCoIndustries/pipboy</a>.

λ Blog.

Decoding Fallout 4's Pip-Boy database with a community of vault dwellers