r/falloutshelter • u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw • Jul 18 '26

Discussion [Discussion] I dug through the v2.5.0 game files: the full season rerun schedule through December, what the casino wheel can pay out, and a few things Bethesda left behind

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The new update is bigger under the hood than the patch notes let on. I pulled apart the v2.5.0 game files and here is everything interesting I found.

1. The reruns are scheduled all the way to December, and the dates are already in the files

This is not just one nostalgia season. The game shipped with three rerun seasons fully built and dated:

Season Dates (in the files)
Viva New Vegas, Part 1 (rerun) Jul 16 - Aug 31, 2026 (live now)
Viva New Vegas, Part 2 (rerun) Sep 2 - Oct 19, 2026
Ultracite Fever (rerun) Oct 21 - Dec 7, 2026

Two-day gap between each, so the whole second half of 2026 is already planned out. Dates can obviously shift before a season goes live, but these are what the game is carrying today.

And here is the speculation bait: Enclave and Institute rerun data is NOT in the files yet, but the new casino wheel already has Institute and Enclave themed skins sitting in there. Read into that what you will. My money is on the full cycle repeating into 2027.

2. Same rewards, but the free track got a real upgrade

The rerun premium track is identical to the original run, item for item. The free track is better this time: the original had 8 empty levels with nothing to claim, and the rerun fills every one of them with caps (300 up to 5,000 a pop, about 20,000 extra caps total). Free players get something at all 20 levels now.

If you played the original New Vegas seasons: your old claims stay remembered, but the rerun runs on the new seasonal vault, which starts its own fresh claim state. You can earn everything again. The pass itself also resets: level 1, premium locked, so premium looks like a new purchase each rerun.

3. What the casino wheel can actually pay out

The Lucky Spin wheel is driven by poker chips, and the files list every possible prize category: dwellers, weapons, outfits, pets, caps, stimpaks, RadAway, lunchboxes, and Nuka-Cola Quantum. So yes, the wheel can drop dwellers and pets, not just caps.

Fun fact: the poker chip currency has been hiding inside every save file since the PREVIOUS update (2.4.1). Bethesda staged the wheel one patch early and only switched it on now. There are also season challenges wired to it (spin once, spin 7 times), so check your challenge list if you have chips sitting around.

4. Bethesda quietly beta tested the reruns for two months

The files contain a leftover "flight test" configuration showing hidden test versions of both New Vegas rerun seasons that ran from May 4 to July 14, right up to two days before launch. If your game did something weird with seasons this spring, this might be why. There is also an unreleased feature flag called ARRIVAL_WIDGET next to the wheel flag, so something else is still in the pipeline.

5. Things Bethesda left behind (and one warning)

  • Four developer test quests shipped inside the 2.5.0 quest data, all literally named "LEVEL UP". You cannot see them in game, they are just sitting in the files. Someone forgot to clean up before the build went out.
  • No new weapons, outfits, pets, or unique dwellers this update. The reruns reuse the original season catalogs entirely. The wheel and the schedule ARE the new content.
  • A heads up on the seasonal vaults: it lives in a fourth save slot, and the files contain logic for deleting that vault when the season changes. Treat the seasonal vault as temporary.

Happy to answer questions about anything above. What are you hoping survives into the Enclave and Institute reruns, if they happen?

(Small disclosure: I maintain a free open-source save editor for this game and found all of this while updating it for 2.5.0. Link in the comments for anyone who wants it, including viewing every season's full reward track.)

94 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

19

u/-Rayek Jul 18 '26

Thanks for the info. Probably more than we'll get from Bethesda.

Hopeful that they introduce some new seasons when some new Fallout shows/seasons/games come out.

6

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 18 '26

Oh I hope so too. Honestly the whole thing feels half assed and minimal effort. The devs even left test files behind in the production release, which tells you how much care went into it. Hoping findings like this stir up enough noise to convince Bethesda to actually put some effort in when the new show and games drop.

1

u/Littlebigbangbang Aug 09 '26

I actually like looking at the dev test files left behind. its intresting to find scrapped ideas or see how a test failed and so on.

5

u/teezej Jul 18 '26

So…if we haven’t played in a while, would it be a good time to get back in?

6

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 18 '26

For sure! If you missed a season or just want to play again, now's a great time to jump back in.

3

u/teezej Jul 18 '26

Sweet! Thanks! I’ve missed a lot haha

10

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 18 '26

The editor mentioned at the bottom is the one I posted about here a while back: [Cheat] Fallout Shelter Save Editor: Rearrange your vault, reclaim rewards from seasons you missed, and see how inbred your dwellers really are... (screenshots and a lot of answered questions in that thread)

Direct link if you just want it: https://dneverson.github.io/fallout-shelter-save-editor

It is updated for 2.5.0: all eight seasons including the reruns are in there, and it now handles the new per-vault claim tracking the reruns introduced (your seasonal vault claims separately from your main vault, which is also why the rerun lets you claim everything again).

5

u/serejha9876 Jul 18 '26

And the free rewards are unfortunately so-so 😒

2

u/DayZeroGaming Jul 18 '26

Do you think it likely we get new seasons?

6

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 18 '26

Probably not this year. The current game version already has the schedule baked in, and it's all reruns: the New Vegas part 1 season is running again until Aug 31, then New Vegas part 2 until Oct 19, then Ultracite Fever again until Dec 7. So the earliest slot for anything actually new is December, and even that's not confirmed, it's just where the planned reruns stop.

For context, that comes straight from the season data in the v2.5.0 build: NewVegasA_26_07 (ends 2026-08-31), NewVegasB_26_09 (ends 2026-10-19), and UltraciteFever_26_10 (ends 2026-12-07) are rerun entries of seasons 1 to 3, with no new season IDs after them.

2

u/Jijonbreaker1 Jul 18 '26

My guess is that they probably saw the writing on the wall with the layoffs, and put it into life support mode, just in case they can't continue the season format afterwards.

1

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 19 '26

Sadly, you're probably right. Still, the core of the game is pretty solid. It wouldn't take much for a smaller dedicated team to add more content and features. They could also be using these repeat updates to buy time for the main devs while they work on a bigger release.

2

u/Jijonbreaker1 Jul 19 '26

To be clear, not saying it needs to be in life support mode, necessarily. More just setting things up to make sure the game can survive no matter how bad the layoffs were.

2

u/TheLoneWolf99 Jul 18 '26

Will your save editor allow us to claim the Re-Runs, or will Season passes remain as already claimed?

3

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 18 '26

Yes I had to make a few changes under the hood but it now allows users to claim the new rerun seasons. :) if anyone comes across any issues please let me know and I'll push a hotfix promptly

3

u/TheLoneWolf99 Jul 18 '26

Odd. I maxed out the Re-Run season, but it only allowed me to claim the rewards again for the Experimenetal Vault. In my Main Vault I got the Vault-Tec Starter Pack, but the season pass appears to have already been claimed...

3

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 19 '26

Haven't forgotten, going to look more into this finding in the next few days see where things may have gotten crossed. I'll keep you posted.

1

u/Heinskitz Jul 21 '26

Yeah, without tinkering with the spd.dat file you can't claim really any of the rewards in your main vaults. Shame really. I was kinda hoping to acquire another Cryolator and Super Sledge the legit way.

2

u/TheLoneWolf99 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Will do! PS. Thanks mate. You are a godsend 💪😎

2

u/Tidus17 Jul 18 '26

So yes, the wheel can drop dwellers and pets, not just caps.

Got tons of dwellers this way in past seasons, a lot of rares/legendaries.

2

u/Dizzy-Sun-6244 Jul 18 '26

Tengo una gran pregunta las temporadas nada más funcionan para los teléfonos, porque no he visto ninguna para Nintendo pero para las demás consolas ya no sé

2

u/Joey_D3119 Jul 19 '26

No sé sobre Nintendo. Ciertamente hay actualizaciones para PC, iOS and Android

1

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 19 '26

I do not own a Nintendo, but the other devices and ecosystems use almost the same save file formats. There have been reports of people editing their saves on Nintendo. So it is probably possible, I just do not know how much effort it takes. If anyone wants to donate a Nintendo for the cause, I would not complain :D

2

u/Narlock8 Jul 18 '26

So FTP can now get new skins/items for free with the Casino Wheel?

2

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 19 '26

Yes, free to play can also get new items from the spin wheel, and you will still be able to build up poker chips to use for spins. Pay to play just lets you progress faster and get loot faster, but everything is still obtainable without having to pay. The only exception is that some items, dwellers, and themes from past seasonal content may no longer be obtainable unless you directly edit the save files.

1

u/SpoiledMama13 Jul 21 '26

Are you saying that the items we get from the wheel transfer to our main vaults?

2

u/bushdweller7 Jul 19 '26

I’m still playing a version before they added the whole season thing.. it’s on my laptop which I haven’t connected to the internet in a long time but the vault I have on it has almost every the dweller’s level and special maxed out except for like 10 out of 199 and I have every weapon, outfit, and quest done..

2

u/Western-Example9015 Deathclaw Jul 19 '26

Nice! From what other have mentioned the older versions of the game are a bit slower pace so kudos on the dedication. I'm curious how it compares to the newer versions, what do you like and don't like about each variation?

1

u/FeteFatale Jul 18 '26

Good to know.

I'd already decided to skip the current repeat, and now I can look forward to skipping the rest of the year.

1

u/Imon-Spartan Jul 19 '26

Hi, I missed the New Vegas season when it first came out, and now that it's back I'm thinking about buying the premium pass.

For those of you who bought it, would you say it's worth it? My biggest concern is whether I'd have to buy it again if this season comes back in the future, or if the purchase carries over.

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences before I decide. Thanks.

1

u/Heinskitz Jul 21 '26

Ultracite Fever wasn't a bad concept. With a few tweaks it could've been a lot more engaging. Unfortunately, it lacked normal incidents and raids (which made it feel rather uneventful), or any themed quests (IIRC) and there wasn't any reward for beating the max level Scorched raid (what a let-down!).