Fallout: New Vegas : It's Anti-Materiel. Not Material.

[Chen]

For the end-game fight,

Spoiler:

Yeah, that guy is crazy difficult. If you've got wild wasteland on, there's an Alien Blaster north of the Higgins Farmstead or whatever it's called in the northwest of the map, which works pretty well. Otherwise I've seen it recommended that you lay a bunch of mines on that path up to the guy, and then start shooting him from a distance with your most powerful gun. (As in, don't even bother talking to him.) He'll run over the mines and explode before he gets to you, though that does still leave you with his minions, whose power fists also empty shotgun blasts into you...

Spoiler:

Stealth boys can trivialize it since you're almost impossible to detect even with no sneak skill with one. Crouch, shoot with sniper rifle, repeat. Its how I finally killed Caesar and his tent full of ballistic fist wielding guards. It is a tad cheesy though. Turbo can also help in these cases by majorly increasing your speed so you can kite them easier. A fat man used at a distance can also work

[gmalivuk]

Or, if you're not into the weapons that explode on their own, I once again recommend (if you have Wild Wasteland) the Alien Blaster combined with the "explodes if killed with energy weapons" perk, whatever that one's called. Then if you're at a good range (close enough that you're likely to hit but not so close that you'll get caught in the blast), you can often kill two or three people at once with only a shot or two, if they're standing close enough together.

Make sure you don't do this with your companion going in for melee or unarmed, though, as it's a very efficient way to get them killed.

[Kag]

"explodes if killed with energy weapons" perk, whatever that one's called.

Meltdown. And yeah, it's ridiculously powerful, as is the Alien Blaster.

[SecondTalon]

You don't need to click on yourself, as player.setscale works fine (any command you can do while selecting an npc, I believe you can also do to yourself by typing "player." in front of it). And also, yeah, you don't need the preceding zeros. (My second playthrough, I cheated "a bit" in order to use more of the conversation options than I'd been able to the first time...)

For the end-game fight,

Spoiler:

Yeah, that guy is crazy difficult. If you've got wild wasteland on, there's an Alien Blaster north of the Higgins Farmstead or whatever it's called in the northwest of the map, which works pretty well. Otherwise I've seen it recommended that you lay a bunch of mines on that path up to the guy, and then start shooting him from a distance with your most powerful gun. (As in, don't even bother talking to him.) He'll run over the mines and explode before he gets to you, though that does still leave you with his minions, whose power fists also empty shotgun blasts into you...

Yeah, like I said... Theory is that player.setscale will do it. My own experience is that it doesn't, but maybe I'm fat fingering it. Somehow.

Anyway,

Spoiler:

I sniped several guards, got a ballistic fist and had Veronica use that while I shot the hell out of the Legate or his cronies when they showed up. Had to heal Veronica a few times.. Her health total, but she and the securitron tied him up somi could down him. Fucking General Oliver, though..... Fuck that guy.

[Menacing Spike]

That's.. strange. Maybe try it without the Stealthboy? I dunno.

Independent Vegas Spoiler Question Thing.

Spoiler:

Did anyone else have a major issue with the General and the four rangers abso-fucking ruining your shit if you don't have 100 in Speech and pass all the checks? I mean, I even swapped to a good suit of power armor, nudged the Securitron in front of me so they had to tear it apart, immediately opened my pipboy and downed every last healing thing I had so my regen was something ungodly, and still got my head rammed straight up my own ass before my army of loyal robots took them apart?

Spoiler:

Err, I just ordered my robots to throw him over the dam; didn't you have that option?

Also, setscale works on the player!!!???
Well, thanks, you made me reinstall the game. Dicking around with minicass was getting a bit old, but you opened me to a new world.

[SecondTalon]

....wait, I thought that was just a threat...

[gmalivuk]

I talked it out with the NCR both times, because I was still friends with them.

[Menacing Spike]

....wait, I thought that was just a threat...

Nope.

[SummerGlauFan]

....wait, I thought that was just a threat...

Threat? This. Is. FALLOUT!!!

[SecondTalon]

I talked it out with the NCR both times, because I was still friends with them.

Yeah, I thought we were all chummy-chummy, and then

Spoiler:

I wander into a room to activate the whatever for Yes-Man, and they all go hostile on me, and my companions blow a half-dozen away before I really even realize what's happening.

... I feel bad that we also tore the Enclave Remanents apart when they landed, as I had them aligned with the NCR... and yet, I got an an ending that suggested they were still alive, so.. either I managed to run and get to the door before my crew killed them all, or it just bugged on their ending.

[The Utilitarian]

Kinda sad that there aren't any options with the remnants that allow you to be friendly with them for an independant new vegas ending. I think in my next playthrough (assuming I can make the ending to THIS playthrough stop CRASHING) I might just forget about them to avoid the hassel.

[SummerGlauFan]

ED-DE just randomly started a fight in the middle of CAMP MCCARAN. For no reason that I could see (possibly he got stuck inside a tent, since he has had trouble with tents before, and decided to shoot someone to get them out of the way, but that sounds pretty unlikely). I had to reload a save. Strangely, though, after the NCR had torn the poor little eyebot to shreds, they were just peachy fine with me.

[gmalivuk]

Kinda sad that there aren't any options with the remnants that allow you to be friendly with them for an independant new vegas ending.

Sure there are, you just can't be hostile against both the NCR and the Legion during the fight for the Dam.

[Naurgul]

Thank you, pseudo. Does anyone have a recommendation on which to play for a trial run? Like is Fallout terrible compared to 2, or visa versa?

Having played both of them recently for the first time, I'd say start with FO1. It's shorter and I think kinda more forgiving in the start of the game. Also, some people consider FO2 to be a big departure from what made FO1 great, although I wouldn't say that personally. You should definitely mod both of them too. I think I only used the official patch for FO1, while I used a variation of this guide for FO2. It didn't work as it was, so here's the updated instructions:

Spoiler:

1. Install Fallout 2. Choose Humongous.
2. Download Killap's Fallout 2 Restoration Project (F2RP) Installer.
3. Install the F2RP, check everything.
4. Grab the latest SFall version, the version included in F2RP is outdated, take ddraw.ddl and ddraw.ini from that and paste them to the FO directory.
5. Edit ddraw.ini, add the following in main:
   

   Code: Select all

   ;Ensure that the RP ddraw.ini file is being used
ModifiedIni=42

6. Edit ddraw.ini, fix graphics. Choose mode 4. Change resolution to 800x600.
7. Delete the ereg directory.

Edit: WTF, that was 12 days ago? Sorry everyone.

[Jessica]

ARGH!

So, I'm unable to complete "where's the beef" quest line because it keeps crashing when I go into the hot springs.

[gmalivuk]

Yeah, the Ultralux was pretty buggy for me as well.

[BoomFrog]

There are two personal challenges I am considering trying to do.

Pacifist: Finish the entire game without killing anything.

Ironman: If you die make a new character. Also play on hardcore so your companions only have one life as well (this part may be more frustrating actually). You may save if and only if you also quit. You may never load the same file a second time.

Has anyone tried either of these or anything similar?

[gmalivuk]

I don't know if Pacifist would even be possible. Are there end-game quest lines that don't require *any* killing?

[The Utilitarian]

Hmmm it might be possible to be a pacifist yourself and just, y'know, have your allies destroy everything for you, but that might not be in the spirit of what you're suggesting. Strictly speaking (neither you nor your companions kill anyone) I don't think it's possible. I could be wrong though. Actually I suppose you might be able to get by using KO weapons like the cattle prod? Unsure.

As for Iron Man (or True Hardcore as I'd call it) it'd certainly be tough. I think you'd have to go Stealth/Sniper route for the most part, just try to keep as much ground between yourself and your foes as possible.

*edit* You'd definately want Light Step too to avoid having an errant mine or grenade trap end your spree.

[BoomFrog]

I know I could have done Ceaser's ending without personally attacking anything if

Spoiler:

I'd had enough speech to talk down the general. I'd assumed most endings can be talked through actually.

So far I convinced goodsprings to fight off the powdergangers. Hide during the fight and looted a powderganger outfit to sneak out of town with. Hopefully other gangs will leave me alone too.

[You, sir, name?]

Spoiler:

I can confirm you can talk your way out of killing the Caesar's boss in the NCR ending with 100 speech, and get out of killing most of his camp with a Caesar's uniform.

I don't know if Pacifist would even be possible. Are there end-game quest lines that don't require *any* killing?

A MacGyver-style gun aversion would probably work, though.

[Drumheller769]

Thank you, pseudo. Does anyone have a recommendation on which to play for a trial run? Like is Fallout terrible compared to 2, or visa versa?

Having played both of them recently for the first time, I'd say start with FO1. It's shorter and I think kinda more forgiving in the start of the game. Also, some people consider FO2 to be a big departure from what made FO1 great, although I wouldn't say that personally. You should definitely mod both of them too. I think I only used the official patch for FO1, while I used a variation of this guide for FO2. It didn't work as it was, so here's the updated instructions:

Spoiler:

1. Install Fallout 2. Choose Humongous.
2. Download Killap's Fallout 2 Restoration Project (F2RP) Installer.
3. Install the F2RP, check everything.
4. Grab the latest SFall version, the version included in F2RP is outdated, take ddraw.ddl and ddraw.ini from that and paste them to the FO directory.
5. Edit ddraw.ini, add the following in main:
   

   Code: Select all

   ;Ensure that the RP ddraw.ini file is being used
ModifiedIni=42

6. Edit ddraw.ini, fix graphics. Choose mode 4. Change resolution to 800x600.
7. Delete the ereg directory.

Edit: WTF, that was 12 days ago? Sorry everyone.

Thanks for the insight. Even though I'm pinching pennies, I think the 6 bucks for FO1 & FO2 on GoodOldGames is cheap enough to fork out. Now I just have to wait for the bandwidth to d/l them! (gogo monthly bandwidth cap)

[Jessica]

So, I finally got through the ultralux. Took a lot of quick saves and crashes, but I finally made it.

I also had to use the console twice to fix otherwise game breaking bugs (Getting into Gomorrah after refusing to give up your weapons the first time, and bringing ed-e back to life after lighting the gas in vault 22 [plants]). I'm glad I have the console option on the PC, as sometimes this game just seems almost unplayable with the bugs.

[SummerGlauFan]

So, I finally got through the ultralux. Took a lot of quick saves and crashes, but I finally made it.

I also had to use the console twice to fix otherwise game breaking bugs (Getting into Gomorrah after refusing to give up your weapons the first time, and bringing ed-e back to life after lighting the gas in vault 22 [plants]). I'm glad I have the console option on the PC, as sometimes this game just seems almost unplayable with the bugs.

Where do you people keep finding bugs? I have not had this game crash on me once yet, and other than one or two times when framerate dropped for a bit, the biggest bugs I've had have been companions not following me sometimes (and ED-E started a random fight with the NCR once).

[SecondTalon]

I had Veronica's quest bug out on me. Apparently, once you pick a tech... stick with it... don't decide halfway through that you want to go after a different one.

Also, odds are Raul's quest is bugged for you. Apparently if Raul isn't with you talk to Ranger Andy the first time (possibly it's him teaching you the move that triggers it), he won't initiate the dialog needed to start his quest.

Note: Ranger Andy is in Novac, a place where you get Boone and probably spend a fair amount of time chatting with everyone you meet, as you've still not met that many people at this point in the game. Raul is at the top of Black Mountain, past a fuckton of Super Mutants and Nightkin, and the "easiest" way to get up there is to climb the north face of the mountain after looping around, passing through Novac. The fastest way involves possibly outrunning goddamn Deathclaws.

So yeah, bad triggering there.

Also, on subsequent playthroughs, if you're doing the Bright quests, talk to Manny first and get the quest from him. While you can go ahead and do it, and then talk to Manny and tell him you already cleared it up, he'll acknowledge it then give you the information you already know because it's your second playthrough, he'll then start acting as though you haven't resolved the quest yet, and refuse to help you until you get rid of the Ghouls.

And of course, there's Veronica not leveling unless you mod her.

[Jessica]

Well, like I said, the ultralux crashed on me like 5 to 10 times in a row when trying to talk to the informant and him getting shot. sometimes it was leaving the room, sometimes it was starting the conversation. Sometimes it was walking into the bathhouse. Finally, it let me go through the whole thing. It was really fucking annoying.

Then there's the bug where if you go into Gomorrah and don't hand over your guns the first time, the next time you go in it'll just stop and nothing will happen. which sucks for doing quests.

[EdgarJPublius]

Actually, this game has only crashed on me once in about thirty hours, which is roughly 9000 times fewer crashes per playtime than FO3, I also had a 'crucified' corpse fairly early on, but again, far fewer than in FO3 (for me at least).
The most annoying thing are the bugged quests and such, but there are fixes on newvegasnexus, or simple console command fixes for most of them,

In general, I prefer the bugged quests to the rampant unplayability I experienced from FO3, especially since this game seems so much like the real successor to the fallout franchise we should have gotten earlier.

[Serrin]

As to the Iron Man/Very Hard question:

Spoiler:

It took me about 6 major tries, with a number of abortive attempts dying on the way to Vegas. My winning strategy went along the lines of tagging speech, guns, and...I forget. Maybe lockpick. 9 int, with an implant around level 4 (maybe I made it by 3...), going with Education and Comprehension ASAP. Arm yourself with a 9, or whatever's handy. You can fix up the SMG in Doc's house with a 2 point investment at level 2. Your first decent armor will be Combat Armor looted from Durable Dunn's. But combat should mostly be avoided in the beginning. You can do Primm if you're not afraid of hitting the hotel solo, or losing too many pre-implant skill points.

Take the very long way around to Vegas, passing through Nipton, Novac, etc. Pick up Veronica ASAP. She wrecks things, even with 1 charisma. Screw around Vegas long enough to do some easy, combat-light quests. Go back to Primm as soon as you have the parts or Repair to fix up ED-E. Enhanced sensors are awesome. So is having another (not-quite-warm) body between you and the enemy. Do Nellis early, because artillery kills you dead no matter how well armored you are. Or just skip Nellis entirely. I think you can do that with Yes Man. I didn't. I eventually figured a one-stop path through the barrage.

Also early on, once you've got the science/lockpick chops to do so, sneak into Repconn HQ, and loot the brotherhood guy to give to Veronica.

From there, I did a lot of easy peasy quests, got enough Repair for juryrigging, made a bazillion caps (Caravan can do the same basic thing), bought the best Combat Armor there was, and then proceeded along Yes Man's quests. House is really easy to kill as long as you don't try fighting securitrons. I was incredibly stupid and (very carefully) did Black Mountain for the brotherhood to get power armor. It would probably have been more effective to power along to the endgame, and do Auld Lang Syne.

Once you get to the endgame, it's just a matter of doing lots and lots of drugs. Having an AM Rifle helps too.

[BoomFrog]

Well done. What level were you by the end of the game?

[Vaniver]

Serrin- does the Int implant increase the number of skills you get? We had a report to the contrary in this thread. (i.e. were there any levels where you got 16 skill points instead of 17?)

[Serrin]

22. I did a lot of excessive puttering around, counting on Veronica, ED-E, and combat/power armor to keep me safe from mid-level foes.Though I only puttered about areas I knew from previous attempts didn't contain deathclaws or cazadors (okay, I encountered some cazadors, but I did more drugs than a Phish concert, and they were only little cazadors. I needed the book.). Foreknowledge is pretty much the most important thing you can have in an Iron Man playthrough. Foreknowledge, and 9 END. I basically got to ignore land mines as long as I managed not to stand directly on top of them, but grenade bouquets would still wreck me. Luckily, there were none of those in mandatory areas, and I avoided them like the devil, at least the ones I knew about. And I didn't find more.

I didn't pay too much attention to the skill point per level, because I simply assumed that my assumptions were right. A stupid thing to do, yeah, but it didn't occur to me to check for myself. The forum posts that I found indicated that the int implant would help, and I took it on blind faith. That said, I don't remember any 16 point levels, and it might've stuck out to me if I had.

[Yakk]

Anyone run into the vault 11 bug? I'm doing a playthrough, and am worried that it might break the end of the game.

[EdgarJPublius]

Welp, that's immensely frustrating. Got to the final cutscene with only minimal crashes, but now I can't actually watch the damn thing without it crashing.

[CombustibleLemons]

I was just thinking, how bad would it be to be the play testers who tested alpha of new vegas?

[The Utilitarian]

It's funny how a few consistant crashes can send even the most dedicated PC gamer into a blind rage. Sometimes it makes you realize how weird it is that we've just come to accept that products we buy will sometimes spontaniously stop working through no fault of our own.

I certainly wouldn't keep trying to use my toaster if one day it spat out a toasted human hand
(obscure reference ahoy!

[Menacing Spike]

It's funny how a few consistant crashes can send even the most dedicated PC gamer into a blind rage. Sometimes it makes you realize how weird it is that we've just come to accept that products we buy will sometimes spontaniously stop working through no fault of our own.

I certainly wouldn't keep trying to use my toaster if one day it spat out a toasted human hand
(obscure reference ahoy!

When personals computers are designed, they think "fuck it, the user can just restart". When there is an exception, they just send you a message such as "bad access to memory adress 00xblahblahblah". That's because it's far cheaper that way.

Computers such as, say, those who control medical equipment, are better designed. Because "the user can restart" is not valid there. Of course, they cost a lot more.

[Yakk]

The choice was "blindly do what the program says, or determine that the computer tried to do something that seems questionable, and stop doing what the computer says".

Choice #1 was the default choice. Choice #2, with protected memory and the like, evolved. It is a massive improvement over choice #1. Because choice #1 led to the program not crashing, but instead writing over every block of memory in your computer with random garbage.

[SummerGlauFan]

I... I honestly don't know why you guys have so many crashes. I haven't had worse than a framerate drop here and there, and my computer is more than a year old.

[Mumpy]

It even crashes my Xbox, which is pretty annoying.

[pseudoidiot]

Finally made my way to the quarry with all the deathclaws. Level 24 + sniper rifle + AP ammo = a lot of dead deathclaws having no idea what just hit them. I think mama deathclaw took 2 or 3 shots. Alpha male took a few more. I did feel kind of bad slaughtering the baby deathclaws, though.

Also, I now have a pimped out Pip-Boy. I got it from either Mick or Ralph in Freeside. He said something about me having been in Lucky 38 then gave it to me. Kind of fun, although when there's a lot of light around me, it's so reflective it's really blinding when I bring it up. I think you have to have the wild wastes (or whatever it's called) trait to get it.