It could be fun to have stuff like removed during a 2nd play through the game, but the game is huge and I already do tons of wandering around regardless. Since there's a level cap, I don't really need the game to take any longer since I'll probably max out well before completing every last thing there is to complete. I was thinking I might want an XP mod that gets rid of the experience increase at higher difficulty, but since my progress has started slowing in the game, I'm not sure.
EDIT - Oh, and I wanted to tell you PC guys that the game, at least on my rig, even though defaulting to super-high settings with like 4xAA and 10xAF, didn't default to high-res textures and that's why they looked so much like ass. I just found this out last night, and while the textures still aren't as high as they could have been, setting them to high is a VAST, VAST improvement. I sincerely recommend checking your "Advanced" graphics options tab in the launcher to see what they're set to if you have the capability of running at high settings.
EDIT x2 - And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but apparently there is a fairly major bug in relation to Megaton. Now I'd like to preface this by saying that for the most part, this game has been almost completely bug-free for me. It hasn't crashed very much at all, and I haven't witnessed almost anything out of the ordinary in the gameworld itself. Things are pretty stable, which is also what makes this so massively disappointing to report (because Bethesda might have had a nearly bug-free game for the first time ever had it not been for this).
Basically, people in Megaton have been disappearing for lots of people. I started looking into it myself when I found that Nova had disappeared from my town, and while I thought maybe it was a gameplay thing, I found no info on it in the game itself. Later I heard about some guy named Walter who was supposed to take care of the water purification system, but he was nowhere to be found. So I looked online, and it turns out... well, the people of Megaton have a lot of accidents which apparently sometimes lead to death. I guess some have reported this to be people basically falling off the walkways and getting killed, though for me... well, there are no bodies. These people just disappeared or, in the case of Walter and apparently a guard of some kind that's support to be hanging around, they were never even there to begin with.
I'm in the process of trying to rectify it. On PC, at least, you can use some kind of "resurrect" command in the console to get them back, I guess... but I don't know specifics as all the posts I've read so far have been people trying to get it to work, not the ones who actually
have gotten it to work. Console people seem to be fucked in this case, so we hope there is a patch very soon. I'll post when I know more.
EDIT x3 - Well, I guess there are separate issues. Few people seem to be experiencing the thing with people dying, and a lot more the "disappearing NPC" issue. Turns out these people are, more or less, teleported to some kind of weird void where they continue to exist, basically just standing around. You can use console commands to teleport to them if you know their IDs, and you can also use console commands to teleport them back to the correct locations. I found both Walter and Nova standing around the void, and so I fast-traveled back to Megaton from the void, went to Moriarty's, teleported Nova back to me, and then ran to the water processing plant and teleported Walter to me. Both immediately went about their usual business as though nothing had ever happened. It was kind of funny.
Nobody is currently sure what the bug is, though somebody on the official forums did say: "Pretty sure a patch is in the making. I won't say how I know, but just be patient." So that's hopeful, if he's got inside word that Bethsoft knows about it and is working on it. It should be very obvious to them what's happening at this point, since I suspect it has something to do with object spawning getting FUBARed by unique circumstances when you return to an area after being away.
So here's the info for anyone that runs into trouble, just remember that the game DOES occasionally remove NPCs for one reason or another, and sometimes they do end up going somewhere else legitimately. Consult a guide or forum if you aren't sure, and hopefully this bug simply never happens to you.
So:
Firstly, you can check on the location of an NPC by doing the following:
- Type "player.moveto <refid>", which will teleport you to the location of whatever ID you type in. So if you typed "player.moveto 00003b59", you'd teleport to wherever Walter is (or just his corpse, if he's dead). That should let you know the status of the afflicted individual.
If your NPC has vanished without a trace, off into the void, try the following:
- 1. Go to wherever you want the NPC to spawn (like their house or place of business, whatever... in theory, they should use the Radiant AI system to travel wherever it is they're supposed to go once you've spawned them back into the "real" world, but why take chances?).
- 2. Type "prid <refid>" to select the character (normally this is done by simply opening the console and clicking on the NPC in question, but since you're in one place and they're in another, you need to use this command to select them). So if you wanted to select Walter, you'd type "prid 00003b59".
- 3. Type "moveto player <refid>" (yes, that's a space between moveto and player) to spawn the NPC in your current location. So if you wanted Walter, you'd type "moveto player 00003b59".
That should do it, and they'll go about business as usual. If they don't, I guess you can just try going away or sleeping for a day or so and that will reset their daily routines. Either way you should be fine.
This right here is a link, courtesy of "Slaythem" on the official forums, of the no-man's-land where these people go. In case you're curious. Somebody suggested what seems most logical to me, that maybe it's a catch-all or overflow in case something goes wrong, where the NPCs are then stored so they aren't screwed up or removed or whatever, but then there's no script to shoot them back to where they're supposed to go.
If your NPC is doing the "I'm standing next to this railing and looking out" thing and gets pushed off the walkway by another NPC (what motherfuckers!), try the following (and note that you can reposition his corpse much like the way you teleport an NPC in the scenario above):
- 1. Type "prid <refid>" to select the NPC, as above. So for Walter, that'd be "prid 00003b59".
- 2. Type "resurrect" once the NPC is selected. You can also do "resurrect 1", which I guess will attempt to piece them back together if they've been gibbed. But I believed just "resurrect" will recreate the model from scratch and restore them to their original state.
Sadly, it appears the game will still tell the townspeople that your newly-resurrected NPC is dead, so they'll go around all doom and gloom on you about the now-reinstated citizen. Kind of silly. Fortunately, the actual death of these NPCs seems to be far less common than the first issue, and I doubt most will encounter it.
The big problem with this is we don't have the editing tools yet, so who the hell knows what the RefIDs are supposed to be! Fortunately, some people have been resourceful enough to gather a few:
Jericho
00003b5d
Confessor Cromwell
00003b48
Walter
00003b59
Lucas Simms
00003b46
Colin Moriarty
00003b3c
Nova
00003b3f (I think it was...)
Anyway... BETHESDA PATCH PLZ NAO KTHX.
Such a shame. I honestly think this may be my favorite RPG of all time, so I sincerely hope they find an acceptable way to get these issues fixed quickly and cleanly. I would hate to see such an astounding game compromised by shit like this.
