7thsealord

Like: Moira - for reasons already given by others. She is totally crazy and wonderfully entertaining. Charon - (a) For his responses when you first try to talk to him; (b) "You purchased my contract from Ahzrukhal? So, I am no longer in his service. That is good to know. Please, wait here. I must take care of something." and subsequent actions. Pure gold, that guy - I really like his style. Not Like: Tenpenny and Burke - for obvious reasons. Doctor Braun - ditto. Almost everybody in Paradise Falls - I'm kind of "that way" about slavery. People Not Necessarily Evil, But Who Probably Should Be And Deserve Whatever Nastiness I Can Arrange For Them: Moriarty, Doctor Lesko, Wernher, Doctor Zimmerman. People Who Just Annoy The Hell Out Of Me As A Player: Most Outcasts - lousy attitude that (to me) makes no damn sense whatsoever.

@MrJackson: Based on my very recent experience, make absolutely sure you have FOSE installed. That is Fallout Script Extender, not FO3E. If you don't have FOSE, and then install a mod that needs it, the entire game locks up - even if you then remove the mod that caused this problem in the first place.

The Lone Wanderer's mother. Well, that would be very soap-operaish. Doesn't really gell with everything that people like James or Doctor Li say though. We know Dad was outside the Vault before we were conceived, and Moriarty met Mom so obviously she was out there too. Yes to the first, and no to the second. Moriarty refers to James and "his Brotherhood of Steel friend", and also expresses condolances on the death of the LW's mother. As I understand it, the BOS is Paladin Cross.

The Lone Wanderer's mother. Well, that would be very soap-operaish. Doesn't really gell with everything that people like James or Doctor Li say though.

SImms's poor memory is hard to understand in-game - but was probably due to the designers trying to keep things as open-ended as possible. The obvious assumption is that the Lone Wanderer will head STRAIGHT for Megaton after leaving Vault 101. But, let's face it, there are any number of players who will zoom off in any other direction, if just out of ignorance or sheer bloody-mindedness. Or tour the immediate neightbourhood before heading to Megaton. Rather than have dialogues that are time-specific (and may not even get used), a much simpler "one-size-fits-all" approach was taken. Happens a lot in FO3 - you pick up a quest that seems time-critical (the Germantown rescue is an obvious one) , but instead go off and complete Point Lookout, The Pitt and whatever else you fancy, then come back and the Germantown quest will still be waiting for you. In playability terms, I understand (and approve of) why the game is set up this way - having to constantly watch the clock / calendar (as in "original" Fallout) can be very off-putting. But it can lead to some odd situations if the Player chooses to be "that way".

True, "That Girl" doesn't come up in anybody else's conversation in Megaton. Could be that she was just not that interesting a subject. Megaton undoubtedly sees a lot of people passing through - recall that Simms has to be prodded somewhat just to remember the very recent visit by James. And, other than Moriarty, nobody else has anything to say about him. That Moriarty doesn't seem to "know" could be taken a number of ways. That Moira could cover all her tracks so well that he simply never finds out, I rate as extremely unlikely. Not impossible, I grant you (Never Say Never), but the guy makes a living out of knowing stuff that other people don't. More likely (IMO): (A) there is simply nothing here for Moriarty to know. Moira is a local, end of story; or (B) if true, Moira found a way to keep Moriarty's mouth shut - probably an ongoing blackmail / bribe scheme (Simms and Manya both comment on how Moriarty has a hand in everything that goes on in Megaton - maybe this is his "hold" on Moira). Simms does refer to Moira as being ' .... different'. But neither he nor anybody else in Megaton ever give the idea that Moira may have come from elsewhere. Of course, she may have specifically asked / paid the townsfolk not to - recalling that Manya does mention most of Megaton's "names" and where they come from, but Moira does not rate any mention whatsoever. Then again, maybe Moira and Manya just don't get along for some reason. There are enough gaps and vague areas that one could read all sorts of stuff into all this - a lot like conspiracy theories in real life. Your hypothesis is as good as any but mostly because of the lack of proof either way.

It seems to me that a number of people in Megaton take the line of "Don't ask me - but Manya would know...". So, that Moira uses this line is not necessarily proof of much in itself. Alternatively to Moira - the Wastes are a big dangerous place and 10 years is a pretty long time. Just about anything could have happened to "The Girl". That she (supposedly) never returned suggests that whatever happened probably wasn't good. Definite quest possibilities here. Hm, maybe she ended up getting turned into a Super Mutant?

Seems to have been quite a few people who have left Vault 101 in the couple of decades prior to FO3 (snuck out, busted out, or basically not come back from exploration). Honestly, I don't know why they bother with that big door, it doesn't seem to do more than slow people down momentarily. Gotta wonder if that is the real reason for 101's population decline ("Would the last person to leave Vault 101 please turn off all lights and leave the key under the doormat?"). Also gotta wonder why none of the "regular folks" in 101 seems to notice all these disappearances. I'm guessing The Overseer and his security goons spend most of their time covering up this stuff - telling everybody that such-and-such just met a nasty accident and, as per standard procedure, his/her body went straight to the incinerator, etc. etc.. Which also raises questions about that "scouting party" the Overseer sent out. Supposedly, a couple stayed in Megaton, and the rest returned. Assuming they kept their mouths shut, how was their absence from 101 explained? Noting that none of these people seemed to still be around when the Lone Wanderer's story hit stride, one can only wonder if all(?) of them had .... "accidents". The more I think about it, the nastier The Overseer gets. But, Moira as "The Girl" makes a certain sense. It also suggests that she is much more cunning than she seems - asking the LW to talk about the Vault for the Survival Guide, for instance.

:thumbsup: Yes.

I'm no expert, but the first change I made to FO3's settings was to totally disable the Autosave. The game needs very few excuses to crash and, based on personal observation, killing the Autosave removes one of the biggies. You will have to do game saves the old-fashioned way, or else find an add-on (think there are at least a couple in the Nexus's Utility section), but this is not a major problem.

Going to go out on a limb and say that my particular problem seems to have been well'n'truly cured - by simply adding the most recent version of FOSE. Once again, I would like to thank Grizzly_UK and everybody else who helped - or tried to.

Not total or instant coagulation, therefore not necessarily impossible - just difficult. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any point in trying to drain blood from bodies prior to preparation for either autopsy or funeral. As I understand it, this is a standard practice for both. The impression I have is that most of the Family are still very new to Vance's rules. Most of them seem to be more uncertain than anything else. The exception would seem to be Karl, but the others seem sincere enough as presented. As for Karl's little remark, this could very easily be his idea of humour, or an attempt at low-level intimidation, or a reference to his pre-Family life, or combinations thereof. Any of these would seem very much in character for him. The fact that he has a Bonesaw someplace is hardly conclusive evidence of cannibalism - he's their trader, after all, and has all sorts of junk in lockers. If said Bonesaw could be forensically matched to a pile of gnawed-upon human remains, then you might be onto something. ;) Just about any military, militia or security force in the Wastes (and arguably a lot of other places) could be defined as a protection racket, if you think about it. I also note that, in the dialogue choices for making peace between the Family and Arefu, there are options for them simply leaving Arefu alone. Certainly one possible interpretation. Whatever makes you happy. Just, as I see this, not necessarily the only possible interpretation.

Lesko's goal was a worthwhile one. Then again, one can say this about various appalling acts supposedly done in the name of Science. His idiotic shortcuts - and self-righteousness about the importance of his work over a few lives - marks him in my book as nothing but trouble. Sure, he MIGHT work out "the cure" if given time. However, given his track record, I think it far more likely that his next experiment would give the Wastes a horde of implacably hostile super-giant ants that can teleport - and shoot frickin' lasers from their heads. Assuming he doesn't go totally Dark Side and/or sign up with the Enclave or whoever. Hmmm, now there's a scary thought - Lesko and AntAgonizer working together. Weirder stuff happens out in the Wastes. Anyhow, my procedure has been to park my Companions just outside as I go for the Big Five (700 Nitro Express works fine for this). Go back to Lesko, collect my shot, let him go down there and do the thing with the terminal. Then I go down there with the troops, and wax the Queen. Minigun works well for this part (about 3-4 clips), and so does the 40mm Grenade Launcher - forget VATS, just point downrange and maintain constant fire. (I do confess to wondering what would happen if a mininuke or two was fired into the Queen's chamber. Maybe I'll try this some time - as a scientific investigation. ;)) Anyhow, Lesko usually freaks out during this little party and tries to run away - usually through the line of fire. Might try to feel a little bad about Lesko's (probable) death and, more to the point, the Karma loss for same, but not much for reasons already stated. I tend to run especially Good characters (not absolute paragons of virtue, but ...), so this should say something.

First game. The railway yard near Jury Street Metro Station. Was poking around (as you do), and suddenly there is a damn Super Mutant Behemoth in my face, whaling on me like the proverbial red-headed stepchild. Not too surprisingly, I died. Checked the Wiki later, and found out what triggers that encounter. Basic reaction to that and, a little later, when discovering the whole exploding baby carriage thing: "You sicko b#####ds...".

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_console_commands

Alaska / Canada, perhaps? OK, not as much variety weather-wise, but operating in a snow/ice environment rather than the usual desert could be an interesting change. Plus there would be lots of leftovers from the War - remnants of the Chinese invasion and the Canadian resistance, and so on.

Well, shahr, my specific problem does seem to have been solved by adding FOSE (TO ALL NEWBIES: IF YOU WANT MODS, FIRST INSTALL FOSE IN YOUR FO3 FILE. TRUST ME ON THIS!) :D . I'm just being cautious. Few things suck nearly as much as thinking everything OK, only to have the same problem unexpectedly return.

a531, If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend the Fallout Wiki ( http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki ), which has useful stuff like descriptions and walkthroughs for all the quests. Also has pages devoted to stuff like console commands, which can be extremely handy for "bringing back" those NPCs who get inconveniently dead through no fault of yours. I know some purists hate this sort of thing, because they would much rather find out things for themselves or whatever. Which is fair enough - their games, their rules. Me, if things are going bad and I don't know what the hell to do, much rather look at the Wiki than spend a bunch of gamesaves endlessly bashing my head against a brick wall (so to speak). Nice going with the Rock-It Launcher, by the way. Sicko, but effective. ;) As far as I can tell , none of FO3's quests are actually "time critical" (at the simpler levels, at least). That is to say, you could get a quest that seems urgent (like the Germantown rescue), instead go off to visit Point Lookout or wherever, come back, and the Germantown quest will still waiting for you to complete. I prefer to do these things as they come up, if just because it makes more sense from a story-telling perspective, but this is handy to know.

Busted up the SupaDupa Mart gang. Oh YEAH, baby. I'm BA-ACK! One of the MaxLevel mods has been removed. Assuming my game continues to be so (uncharacteristically) well-behaved, I might just raise the ante. Thinking of deliberately loading one of the mods I discarded because they seemed to bring the original problem out. Just to see what happens. Guessing it should be OK, but I'll find out for sure.

Thank you for that link, G_UK. Long mod list, but the majority are either very minor tweaks or one-of-a-kind items. You should have seen it before I removed Minihideout and Alpha-CEV (both of which ran OK, by the way). ;) Plus, I tend to run with the graphics toned down some - eg. FO3's grass is horrible to look at and a performance hog, so I just don't have it. No problems with the MaxLevelWorkarounds that I am aware of. I beleive that these cover different aspects of hitting or exceeding Level 30. There is a different set of MaxLevelWorkaround mods for games WITHOUT Broken Steel, so maybe that is what you are thinking of. Currently tooling around Megaton, building up all the necessities of life (firepower, armour and healing) and getting set for the SupaDupa Mart. Still no problems - system has been as good as gold thus far.

Strong personal preference for Good-aligned Characters here. I load up on stuff like all the armour and weapons that Vault 101 'hostiles' were carrying, plus extras (Bobby Pins from Amata's room, for example, which have no Karma loss). May not seem like a lot of money, but it's all good. Oh, yeah, also plenty of chances to pick up Radroach Meat. I do so, not as good as Stimpacks, but still worthwhile. Straight to Megaton to sell most of this stuff off. Use most of that money to pay what's-his-name at the tavern for information about Dad. Ok, I know that isn't a very cost-effective way to go, but it seems the most appropriate to me in story terms. In mildly varying order, fix those Leaky Pipes, do the first couple of Survival Guide quests, and the Burke + Bomb Quests. Get the House as soon as possible, if just because I need a place to sleep and keep extra stuff. Plenty of options for bases and so forth elsewhere, but as long as I'm buying / selling in Megaton, I might as well live there. Start looting Springdale and the immediate area, using the proceeds to build up firepower and stimpacks. Then go after the raiders in Springdale School. Plenty of stuff there for re-sale - raider armours can fetch good money. At this early stage, I tend to vacuum up EVERYTHING, if just for the monetary value. If running out of space, I'll use Repair (always a Tag Skill) to do repair / merges of some items. Overall, I might lose a bit of money by doing so, but it provides a faster and more dependable return than constant cacheing. Having built up the fundamentals (skill, armour, firepower, healing), then I'll start exploring further out. Moira's Survival Guide is an early incentive, with the Arefu quest also being worked up towards. Oh yeah, and I stay well away from Grayditch until I've gotten a few levels and some serious firepower. Those damn Fire Ants are NASTY buggers.

Too early to tell just yet. Fingers crossed. The really annoying thing is that, previously, it has been the sort of problem that jumps up again JUST when you thought you had it beat. I did load up with a bunch of extra mods before starting the current game, including a few associated with the last couple of crashes. So, if it's still gonna happen, it should be soon. Hopefully, I put FOSE in the right spot (the way my luck has been going ... :rolleyes: ) - everything in the same folder as Fallout3.exe and stuff like GECK, right? And on something of a tangent, but still possibly relevant, my current load order is below. I know that esms should go at or near the top, and that certain things need to go before certain other things anyhow, but if anybody has more specific suggestions (or knows of certain things that should NOT go together), I would be glad to hear them. Fallout3.esm Anchorage.esm ThePitt.esm BrokenSteel.esm PointLookout.esm Zeta.esm CALIBR.esm DCInteriors_ComboEdition.esm Abbreviated Effects.esm TalonExtraArmor.esm T3T_BetterMegatonStorage.esp resetfollowers_v3.3.esp BetterGamePerformance.esp MaxLevelWorkaround-BS.esp Dogmeat_WaitMegaton v1.1.esp CALIBRxMerchant.esp GNRfix.esp BoSPatrols.esp AdvancedReconGear.esp FemaleEnclaveSoldiers - Broken Steel.esp GrenadeLauncherV4.esp BA_WRM.esp Black Widow.esp royphilipsveryevilwmask.esp Crystal.esp Shack On The Beach.esp Arlington_House_Clean_USA_Flag.esp Despicable Dashwood v2.esp Chinese Peasant Hat.esp Boosted Raiders.esp aaloBlackSmithForge.esp Nice Player Bed.esp Beret.esp MaxLevelWorkaround-HP-BS.esp Rivet City CLEANED.esp Tailor Maid.esp Tailor Maid PITT.esp Tailor Maid Brokensteel.esp sunglassescollection.esp Supersledge Knockdown.esp PointLookout_lesstraveltime-6to10days.esp BS Eye Pack V.1.esp Freebooter_Armor.esp Slower Degradation (-50%).esp BenTweaks-FO3.esp GNR Shop.esp X_InfiltratorsExtended.esp DCInteriors_DLC_Collectables.esp CommonWealth of the North.esp Cloth.esp Persona_and_Secret.esp blackrock_shooter.esp Wasteland_Seductress.esp Dark_Temptress.esp Hel Armor.esp 1alexscorpionsnipergear.esp Lever Action Shotguns.esp 700NE rifle.esp Capitan's Quarters.esp Camper Hill.esp betterpowerarmor.esp Ghoulified Cromwell.esp HamiltonArmory.esp ArlingtonDefenses.esp Fire Extinguisher Explosions.esp 12BoltDivingHelmet.esp Better Caravans.esp StarPaladinCrossNoWeapons.esp BeefedUpCitadel.esp Tenpenny_plant_remover.esp All Anchorage Armors Usable.esp Death Canyon v3.esp bittercup_comp.esp BetterButler.esp Better Companions Ess.esp Better Companions Clover Ess.esp Companion Zhao Jiao.esp Better Wasteland Clipboards.esp Frazzled.esp Sgt. Rock.esp specialbobblesmoved.esp Bikini_Armor_TYPE3.esp Alexa.esp airplane crash.esp Anchorage - Extra Holotapes.esp TakingOutTheTrash.esp Attentater's Wasteland Economy.esp AsharasPresets.esp Fawkes-warmachine.esp reduced karma loss for Stealing.esp no blur on hit.esp Crossbow.esp GaryHoloTape.esp I'll Touch What I Want.esp Warblade.esp Stealthboy Recon Armor - Workbench.esp Pirate Pely's Boats & Bait.esp navy_rivet_city_by_RedlineC64.esp silo home.esp Scorpion_Queen_Type3.esp FollowersRelax.esp RadiationSuits.esp ScubaTank.esp Wasteland Weather Overhaul .9 (no interiors).esp GreenWorld.esp NoMegatonTricycle.esp 01Tucu'sBandanas.esp EnclaveHideout.esp Haldurs Improved Workbench.esp slaveraider.esp slaveraider_newlook.esp pickelhaube.esp ZL-PithHelmet.esp UncleShubsSaladScissors.esp FreddyFear.esp RaiderExpanded.esp The Pitt Crash Fix.esp FreePumpkin.esp Lamplight Backdoor Exit.esp Old tommy.esp OutlookPoint.esp muzzle with 100 radius lightening.esp Raiders have Pitt Armor.esp VulturesRest.esp WEP Pack 1.esp WEP Pack 2.esp chinesepatrolcaps.esp FungusDeal.esp Underworld Underground.esp WolfCustomDeagle.esp Various map markers.esp WinchesterModel1894Yellowboy.esp PowerArmorTrainingPlus.esp skyforest.esp Wild Bill is Awesome.esp Crimsondragoonremnants.esp Submarine Wreck.esp The town of girdershade.esp MyPipe2.esp Nuka-Cafe_LightHouse.esp Not alone in the Wasteland anymore.esp TecVault.esp Tom Bookseller ENG.esp Tom Bookseller ENG fixed.esp UnarmedNinja.esp megatonTrophyRoom_kitchen.esp MegatonOutdoorShower03.esp BM06AppleTreeQuest.esp HambonesMinigun.esp MoreChems.esp Echo_UseBothGloves.esp Timescale 8.esp Fallout Safe Exit v1.1.esp

Thanks for that thought. Became sort of acquainted with DEP a few weeks back when installing FO3 Configator (the ReadMe strongly recommends "excluding" Configator on DEP, and provides basic instructions on how). I've since set DEP to Windows and Essentials only. See how we go there. Anyhoo, started the game again from the ground up - the entire Vault 101 song and dance show. So far, so good. The only problem has been with the 5mm Rimfire Revolver (mod apparently lacks a mesh - covered on another thread). No biggie - could have been deeply embarassing if I only discovered this problem in the middle of combat (whole screen blanks out when equipping weapon), but that's all.

:ermm: Ohhh-kaayyyyy, looks like it could be an extremely embarassing oversight on my part. Thank you muchly for that, Grizzly_UK. Up until now, I had basically assumed FOSE = FO3E (don't ask why - then again, I've only been playing FO3 for a couple of months). Given how much FOSE's importance is repeated just about everywhere in connection with FO3, this could make a major differance, I'm sure. I'll work on getting FOSE installed (thank you for the link) - right after the obligatory repetition of "I Am A @#$%^&* Idiot" and a few dozen self-administrered headslaps. Thank you to everybody else for their assistance. Hopefully, I will be on my way again shortly. But if anybody else has any other insights (other than my obvious need for an IQ transplant ;) ), please feel free to make them. As my old high school science teacher was fond of saying, "When in doubt, read the instructions ..."

Autosave was just about the first option I shut off. I save frequently via the manual menu, if just because of more routine crashes. Does seem like frequent saves reduces the incidence of crashes in general for me. Also doesn't seem to be any correlation with whichever cell I'm in. And I don't have the Unofficial FO3 Patch like Bandit Ngeback. Painstakingly going through the game mod by mod by mod by mod on the off-chance that this problem will conveniently manifest on cue for one but not others has less-than-zero appeal. Thinking back, the VERY first time this cropped up (I think) was the 'Beware Of Girl - TwoTone Beretta' mod. It was in a selection of recommended mods a trusted friend sent me very early on. Yeah, I know now - maybe too much graphics-wise for my system but, at the time I figured that if the system couldn't cope, it would let me know, I'd pull the mod out and that would be it. Instead, ended up having to do the uninstall / reinstall thing (leaving the BOG mod completely off, by the way). Everything was fine for a while (probably because I didn't add much for quite a while), but then the same problem would crop up here and there. As I have said, the only means I know of dealing with this has gotten really really old. I do not blame that particular mod and I do not believe it "did" something to my system or anything, but it was the first especially demanding mod I installed and it had this problem. Other biggish mods haven't. Friend speculates that there is a language problem with the game, because Bethesda (in their infinite foresight :rolleyes: ) omitted various "unnecessary" codes which have subsequently been used by a great many modders. Allegedly, to deal with this one needs to install something called the 'Extended Language Library'. Taking this one with a grain of salt, because I'd have thought it would be resolved early on via one of the more routine add-ons or patches (I understand that GOTY has everything up to the official 1.7 patch). Checked around, and I certainly haven't found any references to an 'Extended Language Library' so far.