Original Fallout source code was apparently never lost and has been preserved through decades

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The source code for the original Fallout cRPGs was never lost--an Interplay founder had backups all along.

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It's a common belief that after Fallout creator Tim Cain left Interplay in the 90s, that the original source code for Fallout 1 & 2 also departed with him. Cain was made to destroy all remnants of Fallout source code because it was owned by Interplay. Cain kept impeccable records and notes, and he believed that without his backups, the code had simply been lost to time over the years.

That isn't the case. In a recent interview with VideoGamer, Interplay founder Rebecca Heineman confirmed she had copies of the original Fallout duo's source. In the 90s, Heineman made it a personal goal to preserve Interplay's projects onto CDs.

"I have the source to all my projects, so most games I got running on the CD without issue....

"I made it a quest to snapshot everything and archive it on CD-Roms. When I left Interplay in 1995, I had copies of every game we did. No exceptions. When I did MacPlay, which existed beyond my tenure at Interplay, every game we ported, I snapshotted. It included Fallout 1 and 2.

"Interplay had issues with people leaving the firm, and if you quit, they got... testy," she explained. "I was a founder, so when I left, I kept EVERYTHING. Now, on Fallout, I did the Mac port for my company, MacPlay. So I have everything, including the source code to Fallout 1 and 2. Now, I don't have Tim's notes or other work in progress files. But the source code is not lost."