You've been asking for it, and here it is: Bethesda is releasing a patch for Fallout 3 today that will fix a number of bugs and quests, as well as a few of those XP exploits you might have been hearing about from your shadier friends.
The patch will be going up today on Xbox LIVE, the PlayStation Network, and can either be downloaded through Games for Windows LIVE or directly from Bethesda for those playing on a PC.
Additionally, this update is required in order to play the first Fallout 3 DLC pack, Operation: Anchorage, which is slated for release on January 27 for 800 Microsoft Points via Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows.
Hit the jump for the bug/quest fixes this patch will bring.
Bug Fixes
- Friends notification no longer causes the game to pause. (Playstation 3)
- Fixed occasional crashes during loading and waiting.
- Friendly or neutral NPC health bars, when taking damage, no longer flicker repeatedly.
- Fixed issue where certain NPCs would occasionally disappear from the game.
- Fixed issue where dead NPCs would occasionally come back to life.
- Fixed rendering issue with the Gatling Laser gun's tracers.
- Fixed issue where the haircut menu would occasionally not appear properly.
- Added ability to remap your VATS and pip boy buttons.
- Fixed rare load/save issues that would cause NPCs to behave incorrectly.
- Fixed issue where quest objectives would occasionally not update properly due to talking activators, intercoms and conversations.
- Using Radaway from the Pip-Boy's Status Menu repeatedly no longer crashes the game.
- Player no longer gets stuck in level up menu if their skills are maxed out.
- Fixed issue where multiple followers would occasionally not load into an interior.
- Fixed rare issue with getting stuck in VATS mode.
- Fixed rare crash with fighting NPCs with corrupted data.
- In game radios will now play properly if player was listening to the radio in the Pip-Boy first. (Playstation 3)
- Fixed rare crashes while loading and saving games.
- Fixed rare issue where player would fall through the floor while in VATS.
- Fixed occasional crash after scoring a critical hit in the head with a Railway Rifle.
- Prevent NPCs from inadvertently dying from falling.
- Fixed occasional issue where the controller would stop working properly.
- Fixed crashes related to repeatedly equipping and dropping clothing and armor into the world.
Quest Fixes
- Fixed several instances where quest item stayed in inventory permanently after completing quests.
- Fixed an issue where the distress message would occasionally not play in Trouble on the Homefront.
- In The Waters of Life quest, the Citadel gate will open properly if the player fast travels away after exiting the Taft Tunnels but before reaching the Citadel gate with Doctor Li.
- For the Home Sweet Home quest, the broken protectrons in Big Town become active at the proper time.
- In The American Dream quest, fixed specific issue which prevented the player from accessing their belongings in the locker by the door if they left the room first.
- Fixed infinite caps exploit in Strictly Business quest.
- Fixed rare instance where Dad would have no valid dialogue during The Waters of Life quest.
- Prevent issue during the Finding the Garden of Eden quest where player would fade to black, instead of traveling to Raven Rock, while in combat with a follower.
- Fixed several XP speech exploits with certain NPCs.
- Fixed XP exploit with a robot in Fort Bannister.
- Fixed issue where player's controls can become locked permanently during The American Dream.
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Contest:
10:26 AM on 01.13.2009
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Now that means I can't use the Big Town XP exploit anymore to get that last Evil achievement I'm needing.
Crap. Back to killing Super Mutants then, I suppose. We'll just have to do this the hard way.
Glad it's dated for the DLC. I will be eagerly awaiting it.
In my game, the last guy just stands at the ballot box.
I'll find out when I download it.
I must be "doing it wrong"!
Good. I hope that brings back my man in the water purification tower. He would buy my scrap metal. Then all of a sudden he was gone. No note or anything.
GO UK! WOOOOOOOOOO!
Also, cool avatar.
Really? I was playing it the other day and received no update... maybe I was unlucky?
I could sure use some caps.
...Yup. I held off buying the game until the patch dropped, and when I first put it in a week or so it updated fine. no more retarded freezes every time someone signs in!
About time. Does this make them appear again, too?
Regarding disappearing characters
I'd heard that there's actually a reason for the Water Purification guy vanishing. Apparently his AI was prone to walking off the guard rail outside the water plant. As a result, the fall kills the character and you never see or hear from him again once the game claims his body.
The other instance you can see of this is the guy that's stationed in Megaton's entry guard spot. He's above the gate on a walkway. If he's not there when you pass by in Megaton, it's for the same reason.
As for Shrapnel... He's still there. Just not in Rivet City. I was walking the map and I ran across Shrapnel 3 times in the wasteland, all in the southern portions of the map. He can't sell weapons since he's not at the store, and he seems to think he's still in Rivet City, but he does do weapon repairs which was handy when I saw him wandering.
My water guy vanished as well at one point, but then I found out later on that there's a ghoul in the Underground who'll buy up your scrap metal as well.
Worked out pretty well, actually. I wanted his jacket anyway.
As far as I understand, the way Gamebryo (their game engine) works, it spawns stuff in the air and drops them down to where they're supposed to be. I don't know why they decided to go this way... It creates alot of the problems that people are noticing. The dude in the water purification building spawns sometimes near the railing outside and it causes him to clip through or something, which causes him to fall to his death.
It's the same problem that existed with the "Big Trouble in Big Town" quest, where helping the town to repair their robots led you into a scrap heap void of anything to fix. Apparently they spawned in the sky but got stuck there.
I imagine alot of the screwy stuff that goes on in that game is a result of the way stuff spawns into the world. Oh well, so far I've been pretty lucky. I haven't had any major screwyness with my game, and I've probably racked up about 50+ hours by now.
I'm glad they finally came out with a patch, some of the bugs were so soul crushing.I remember trying to get the robots to work in Big Town and since they never appeared I had to load up my previous save which lost me 2 hours of gameplay
I am not going through all of that monotonous child stage bullSHIT and re-leveling just to complete the missions I haven't done. Bethesda, take your heads out of your asses and fix your fucking game breakingly bad design work.
Whilst I agree with the idea of carrying on after finishing... I think the blame rests on you as a gamer for not being cautious enough with your saves when it was blatantly obvious that the game was going to be ending when you get to the monument. And the Oblivion excuse does not hold up.... developers often go against game design choices they have made it similar games.
I understand that Bethesda themselves regret the design choice, and are making up for it by allowing you to continue when they release the DLC pack... but the fact of the matter is, it is the gamer's responsibility in this circumstance.