I Could Make You Care

I Could Make You Care is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Initiating the Quest
This quest is triggered by Veronica seeing things around the Mojave that cause her to question the wisdom of the Brotherhood of Steel remaining hidden underground and not interacting with the world. There are nine triggered conversations throughout the Mojave Wasteland that Veronica will initiate in response to nine different situations she and the Courier may encounter together. Note that you will only need to complete three of the conversations to activate this quest. Some of them can only be triggered by lines of dialogue that only happen once, so if the player has already heard that line before recruiting Veronica, the trigger won't occur. Note that there are three triggers that can never go away - the main doors at Camp McCarran Terminal building, the entrance ramp of Vault 3, and traveling near Nelson or Cottonwood Cove. The Boomers museum trigger can be activated even if the player has already heard the tour, but not if Pete and the Boomers are hostile.

Note: If she doesn't initiate the listed conversation, it may initiate if the player talks to her via companion wheel or waits 30 seconds or so. There is a delay in the conversation trigger, and it won't trigger if the player is in conversation with someone else.

Here are the nine triggers, and the things Veronica says:
 * Casa Madrid Apartments - The trigger is some of Tom Anderson's lines. Specifically, the line, "I'm with the Followers of the Apocalypse...," (responding to the question, "What do you do here?"), and all of his lines confessing to the murder of Corporal White (part of the quest The White Wash). All of these lines are only given once. Veronica contrasts his good cause and lack of resources with the Brotherhood of Steel's incredible resources but lack of a good cause.
 * Vault 3 - The trigger area is on the outside, about a third of the way down the ramp to the door. Veronica talks about how the Fiends are giving the NCR more trouble than the Brotherhood ever did. (Veronica states that the fiends are giving the NCR more trouble than the brotherhood despite their lack of power armor and energy weapons, despite the fact that energy weapons are used by the majority of fiends).
 * Nelson or Cottonwood Cove - The trigger is the player traveling to either location and staying for 30 seconds or so. The trigger areas are large squares larger than each town, so it may trigger before the player actually sees the town, or while passing through a corner while on the way to another location. The two towns share a single trigger, so going to both does not count twice. Veronica comments on 'savages' taking over the Mojave.
 * Camp McCarran Terminal building - The trigger area is just inside the terminal building, at the center set of main triple doors or the eastern set of triple doors closest to Colonel Hsu's office. The third set of triple doors on the west side will not trigger the conversation, as there is no trigger zone there. It is not necessary to pass through the doors; just walk very near them on the inside of the terminal. Veronica talks about her surprise at how many NCR troops there are.
 * Nellis Air Force Base - The Boomers museum. The player just needs to listen to Pete's lecture in front of the mural. The trigger is the last line of his speech. Veronica remarks on the similarities between the Boomers and the Brotherhood of Steel.
 * Old Mormon Fort - The trigger is Julie Farkas's line, "Are you here to drop off medical supplies? ..." which only happens the first time the player meets her. Veronica is impressed with the work they're doing. Some people have been able to trigger Veronica's dialogue in the Old Mormon Fort even after the player has already met Farkas. Try talking with doctors around the camp.
 * Camp McCarran Terminal building - The trigger is the line, "A pleasure to meet you! I'm Dr. Thomas Hildern..." This line only happens when the player first meets Hildern. Veronica talks about the NCR investing in new research, unlike the Brotherhood.
 * REPCONN Test Site - The trigger is Jason Bright's line, "We wish to escape the barbarity of the wasteland..." which is his response to the first question about the "Great Journey." This line is only given once. Veronica compares Jason Bright to her old mentor, Elijah.
 * Silver Rush - The triggers are Gloria Van Graff's greeting "Welcome to the Silver Rush..." and her line "Please let me know if anything catches your eye." which is the response to the player saying, "I'm just browsing." Some of these lines will not happen during certain stages of Birds of a Feather. Veronica comments on all the energy weapons.

Some events may force the quest to start at a later stage, even if three of the above triggers haven't happened.
 * Hidden Valley - Have Veronica open the bunker door after having armed Archimedes II during That Lucky Old Sun and having separately obtained Euclid's C-Finder. (Confirmed XBOX,PS3,& PC: The quest will start with "Bring the rangefinder to the elder" but you can do the quest normally.)
 * Go to Gibson's Shack south of Helios One with Veronica and use the debug console to unlock the terminal there.
 * The quest can sometimes be activated without having Veronica in the party, possibly by picking up the rangefinder. However, the quest will not continue further without Veronica.

Preliminaries

 * Get the quest to begin by recruiting Veronica and activating three of the nine triggers listed above.
 * Veronica will ask the player to go to Hidden Valley, as she has something she needs to do. Agree to go.
 * Visit the Elder in charge, either McNamara or Hardin, depending on whether the player has finished Still in the Dark and the outcome of that quest.
 * Veronica will try to convince the Elder that the Brotherhood needs to grow and change. The Elder will not be interested.
 * Veronica will ask the player to help her find some data or technology that will help her convince the Elder. She will suggest going to one of her old mentor Elijah's data terminals.
 * The terminal is in Gibson's Shack, near the Gibson Scrap Yard.

Acquiring the technology
Note: If the player has already completed That Lucky Old Sun without diverting power to Archimedes II, this option cannot be completed. It also appears that if That Lucky Old Sun has been completed at all and/or the player has obtained Euclid's C-Finder, choosing this option during this quest may lead to glitches. Also, if the player obtains the Euclid's C-Finder but the quest has not yet been initiated, this can provide a quick shortcut to the end of the quest.
 * The player and Veronica will find data on three interesting technologies, only one of which is necessary to continue the quest.
 * Option 1: Euclid's C-Finder & Archimedes II:
 * If not already done, complete That Lucky Old Sun and divert the power to Archimedes II. Note that it is not necessary to activate Archimedes I, the base-protection technology that will kill the NCR soldiers.
 * Obtain Euclid's C-Finder from Max in Freeside. It can be taken while he sleeps, bought for 1000 caps (or at 20 caps with 45 barter), or pickpocketed.


 * Option 2: New farming technology:
 * If There Stands the Grass has been completed at all, choosing this option may lead to glitches.
 * If not already done, complete There Stands the Grass and do not allow Keely to delete the data. Make sure to leave with a copy of the data in the player's Pip-Boy.
 * Option 3: Pulse Gun:
 * (Optional) The player can obtain the key to the box containing the Pulse Gun from a filing cabinet in Pearl's Barracks at Nellis Air Force Base. This removes the requirement of picking a very hard (100) lock.
 * The player needs to go to Vault 34 and eventually open the overseer's office, and unlock the armory door. In the armory is the very hard locked box with the Pulse Gun.
 * On an unpatched game, the Pulse Gun may sometimes be purchased from the Silver Rush, or may be carried by higher-level Fiends. This was fixed in the first patch.
 * Note that at any time while doing Options 1 or 2, the player can go get the key from Nellis Air Force Base or the Pulse Gun from Vault 34 and switch to Option 3; it's not necessary to talk to Veronica and explicitly switch paths. It is not clear if the other direction (switching from option 3 to 1 or 2) will work.
 * Note: Switching is always possible by going back to the comm station and re-downloading the information, this will prompt a dialogue with Veronica enabling you to choose a different path.

The Brotherhood is not pleased

 * Return to the Elder. Veronica will show him the technology. He will remain unconvinced.
 * Veronica will ask the player's opinion about whether she should stay in the Brotherhood or leave. The player can choose for her, or can tell her it is her choice, in which case she will stay.
 * Veronica will want to go outside to get some air. Outside will be a team of Brotherhood of Steel paladins who are angry at Veronica and the player for spreading subversive ideas. The player must deal with them in one of the following ways:
 * If Veronica decided to leave the Brotherhood:
 * The player tells them so, and they let Veronica leave, but tell Veronica never to come back. (There's an optional 95 speech check here, but it has essentially the same outcome.)
 * Note that killing the paladins at this point will fail the quest and make Veronica leave.
 * If Veronica decided to stay in the Brotherhood, the paladins are not so easily dissuaded. The only solutions are:
 * Pass a 95 speech check to get them to leave peacefully. As above, killing the paladins after succeeding the check will fail the quest and make Veronica permanently leave the player.
 * Scare them off with Terrifying Presence, which is only a temporary solution. They will be there every time the player returns to the Hidden Valley bunker until one of the permanent solutions is taken.
 * Talk to them until they turn hostile and attack, then kill them all. The player will not gain infamy with the Brotherhood or lose Veronica's trust by killing them, at least if the paladins shoot first.

Conclusion

 * Once the paladins are dealt with, the next actions depend on whether Veronica decided to leave the Brotherhood or remain a member.
 * Option 1: Veronica remains a member:
 * Veronica comments about her decision, and the difficulties of staying with such a dogmatic group.
 * The quest concludes. The player gets 1000XP and Veronica gets the Bonds of Steel perk.
 * Option 2: Veronica decides to leave:
 * Veronica expresses an interest in joining the Followers of the Apocalypse. She suggests going to the Followers' outpost.
 * At the outpost talk to Doctor Alvarez about Veronica joining. She says that Dr. Schiller makes the decisions, and he's gone for the day.
 * Go away from the outpost and wait at least 24 hours.
 * Upon returning to the outpost, the player will find the rogue paladins, who have slaughtered all the Followers of the Apocalypse and patients, and accuse the player and Veronica of sharing forbidden knowledge with outsiders. There's no way around it -- the rogue paladins all need to be killed. Killing them will not gain Brotherhood infamy and will not make Veronica leave, you also gain their Power armor and weapons which include Gatling lasers.
 * Veronica will blame herself, but it just reinforces that she made the right decision.
 * The quest concludes. The player gets 1000XP and Veronica gets the Causeless Rebel perk.
 * From here on out, you can still return to the Hidden Valley Bunker with Veronica, however, she will refuse to go inside and will instead wait outside.

Bugs

 * This glitch allows you to recruit all humanoid companions. You need to do this before the quest start.
 * First, you need to trigger three conversations.
 * Second, when you trigger the third conversation, Veronica will ask you ‘ Hey, you got a second?’ then reply ‘Not now’ and the conversation will end.
 * Third, dismiss Veronica.
 * Fourth, recruit another humanoid companion.
 * Fifth, Go to 188 trading post with that companion.
 * Sixth, talk to Veronica and answer her with the following order ‘What did you want to talk about earlier?’ ‘Why don’t you just go back on your own?’ ‘I have things I need to do. You’d better be alone.’ Then the game will treat you as dismiss a companion.
 * Seventh, talk to her again and recruit her, now you have two humanoid companions.
 * Eighth, go to next companion you want to recruit.
 * Ninth, repeat the step six and recruit the third humanoid companion.
 * Tenth, repeat step six again and recruit Veronica. Repeat step eight to step ten again and again will allow you to recruit all humanoid companions.
 * Here is a walkthrough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDZjTMVLXU
 * Bonds of Steel perk is still currently bugged. It adds no additional DT to her, despite receiving the message about it. Verified by GECK and Living Anatomy data.


 * Whilst trying to complete the Go with Veronica to talk to the Brotherhood of Steel elder at Hidden Valley section of the quest, Veronica enters the Hidden Valley Bunker and instantly runs to the intercom. She then proceeds to do nothing other than say "See you around" on a continual loop and refuses to engage in conversation.Upon fast traveling to Gibson's shack Veronica just walks off to the intercom at Hidden Valley and does the same thing.This is a pre and post update problem it seems.
 * SOLUTION: Eventually Veronica will make her own way to the elder and initiate a discussion. Once you arrive she will instantly walk away whilst still in discussion. WALK WITH HER. She will complete the discussion from two levels away eventually and you can then instigate a the companion wheel. (I had to dismiss her, because it didnt highlight the next quest option upon completion, and she went back to the 188 trading post)
 * After obtaining the Pulse Gun, your pipboy may still show the objective "find the Pulse Gun in Vault 34".
 * SOLUTION: Drop the Pulse Gun on the ground and wait for several seconds; pick it back up. The Quest should update and ask you to return to the Elder.


 * If the player has completed There Stands the Grass prior to starting this quest, it's impossible to finish the quest with the "farming technology" even if the data was not destroyed by Keely. The quest directs you to the terminal in Vault 22, which no longer has the data. (Verified PC, Xbox 360, PS3)


 * Activating the Archimedes II weapon system and gaining the Rangefinder before you initiate this quest will automatically flag the journal to tell you to return to the Elder after activating the terminal in Gibson's shack. If you go get a second technology, the quest is seemingly broken. Neither Veronica or the Elder will have conversation options to continue further, and neither will initiate their dialogue scripts between the two, despite there being periods where you cannot talk to either one after coming close to the Elder.


 * After leaving Gibson's Shack after downloading Elijah's data, Veronica may not comment no matter how long she's been with you or how many places you've gone together. Her only response to anything is What's up?.
 * NOTE: Just because Veronica says what's up, does not mean she is stuck in the glitch. So before you give up hope, cross your fingers and take her to another conversation-trigger location.
 * FURTHER NOTE: If you leave the shack before speaking to Veronica, then just go back into the shack and re-download the data, and speak to Veronica before leaving the shack. Fixed!
 * SOLUTION You have to speak to Veronica when you are still in the shack. However, if you have already completed the Helios One and Vault 22 missions, you may get an infinite loop of dialogue, that does not allow you to exit the conversation. It is meant to be done in order.
 * SOLUTION A possible fix to this glitch is to fast travel to Vault 22 and ride the maintenance elevator. This might also fix the bug where Veronica mysteriously disappears after the PC enters the Brotherhood bunker.
 * Console Workaround commands See the discussion under http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:I_Could_Make_You_Care#Possible_console_command_workaround_to_start_I_Could_Make_You_Care
 * WORKAROUND A possible workaround to Veronica being stuck only commenting with What's up? is to steal the Euclid's C-Finder from Max who is in Freeside.  As long as you do not activate the terminal in Gibson's shack or retrieve another piece of technology this workaround should work (Unconfirmed if retrieving any of the requested technologies will also cause this workaround).  This will start the quest and advance it to the point where you return to the Brotherhood with the technology.  After you return to the bunker you can advance the quest normally till it is finished.  The following conditions were met when it worked: 1) Did not visit hidden valley and talk to the BoS (with or without Veronica).  2) Had not retrieved any other piece(s) of I Could Make You Care technology.  3) Had not visited Gibson's shack.  4) Directed the power at HELIOS to the ARCHIMEDES II.  It appears that taking Veronica to the BoS before starting the I Could Make You Care quest will cause this workaround to not work.  However, using the other methods to opening BoS's bunker is uncertain that it will glitch the quest.  If the this quest is not glitched it will appear after taking her to three of the locations and then direct you to Hidden Valley.  If you have already taken her to hidden valley and talked to the BoS then you may have to revert to an earlier save.  NOTE: I have lost misplaced the save which pre getting the Euclid's C-Finder.  Any additional information on the conditions (such as other technologies which trigger, gaining access without Victoria, etc) that still allow this workaround to work would be quite beneficial to the community as I know I am know I am not the only who was quite frustrated trying to get this quest to work.  Additionally, it might be a good idea to create a table on the talk page listing the different conditions (listed above) and various solutions and if it worked or not.


 * The encounter with the Paladins outside the bunker may not spawn, stopping the quest from progressing. This can be fixed by re-entering and exiting the bunker until they turn up. It may take four or five attempts before they appear.


 * While talking to the Elder, both Veronica and the Elder will freeze in place and will not respond to attempts at communication. Upon reloading, the Elder spouts three phrases, and Veronica is unresponsive.


 * After the Brotherhood Paladins confront you outside the bunker Veronica may become immobile.
 * Solution: Traveling to Gibson's Shack and reactivating the terminal inside will fix this bug. Also, after she appears in the shack you may have to speak with her before she will be able to move again.
 * Solution: (Will only work if she chooses to stay.) Don't talk to the paladins before battle. Put some pulse mines in front of the bunker before taking Veronica to talk to the Elder. When the player leaves the bunker, the pulse mines will explode, and the paladins will immediately turn hostile. After the battle Veronica will talk to you. Then you need to talk to her via companion wheel and she will say "Listen...I want...", and after this talk, the quest completes.


 * After taking the Rangefinder option, if you use HELIOS One to power the grid instead, you should be able to discuss the other two options with Veronica (so says the Journal). However, when talking to her only her normal dialogue appears, rendering the mission unsolvable. Choosing to go to Vault 22 after destroying the data also renders the mission unsolvable because the terminal will be blank.
 * Solution: (confirmed on the ) If you take Veronica to Nellis and steal the note from the Filing Cabinet, you receive an update for the Pulse Gun portion of the quest. Complete this portion of the quest as normal and the Elder/Veronica conversation will go off without a hitch.


 * After completing the quest she may stop following you. Fast travel and dismissing and rehiring her had no effect. Reloading to a previous save after entering Vault 34 caused a "DLC not installed" error message and forced a restart.


 * Randomly stops following the player which can be fixed by dismissing her and recruiting her anew.


 * When the Paladins initially deliver their ultimatum, sometimes only one will become hostile and three will run away, still friendly. The quest completes normally after killing the one hostile, but upon returning to the bunker the three have come back, deliver their ultimatum again, and attack. After this fight, Veronica refuses to follow you, and will sometimes start an unprovoked dialogue with you but only give the standard "what's up?". This appears to be caused by her attempting to deliver the quest-ending dialogue but, already having delivered it, getting stuck and refusing to budge until it's delivered. The only way I found to fix this was to clear the speech flags from the console, causing everybody in the game to re-introduce themselves to me.
 * WORKAROUND! To fix this through the console, enter resetquest 00145f85 which erases the completed ICMYC mission from your quest log. After separating from and rehiring Veronica, she seems to work perfectly fine, following the player again.


 * If done after helping Paladin Hardin in the Still in the Dark quest, but before Elder McNamara is ousted, Hardin and McNamara will not talk to the player, and the Brotherhood quests will be locked. However, this does not have any affect on Veronica's quest itself. This can also cause Veronica to stop following you.


 * Quest can be received by buying the Range Finder from Max in Freeside, however after finding Veronica and completing the quest by using the 95 speech option on the paladins that confront you outside of the bunker, the quest does not complete.


 * Game may freeze each time you attempt to enter Gibson's shack. The load screen will freeze (roulette wheel stops spinning) and you will hear a fire crackling.
 * WORKAROUND - (Confirmed) Approach the hut but don't go in. "Wait" untill the next day (in this case I waited 12 hours, 8:40pm till 8:40Am) then enter the Hut. Retried from save and confirmed I can enter the Hut only if I wait till next day, other wise load screen freezes. NOTE: you may need to deselect the quest i.e. make another quest your primary one.


 * Nellis Air Force Base Trigger has failed for some players and Veronica fails to comment after hearing the speech. (xbox 360) it may take several attempts for this dialogue to initiate. The same can happen with the silver rush trigger, retrying may work.


 * The Kings water fountain in freeside seems to be a trigger to initiate quest dialogue. When speaking to the King member manning the water, Veronica engaged in both the "old mormon fort" dialogue and "silver rush" dialogue. In both instances, the area was visited immediately after the triggers.


 * If you chose the pulse gun option then on return the elders dialogue might not show up.


 * If you kill the Brotherhood Paladins in the Followers' Outpost and then don their armor later while Veronica is still your companion, she will interrupt whatever you are doing to tell you that she will not stand for you killing members of the Brotherhood of Steel. Veronica will then go back to regular dialogue options.


 * Not sure if it was a coincidence or not but after walking to the three places that can always trigger her conversations and no conversation taking place I randomly got one of the conversations after hearing the automated response in Vault 11.


 * If you re-enter the bunker after encountering the hostile paladins, sometimes not all of them will enter to follow you. Only two followed me and Veronica back in, and when the two were killed, the quest ended. When you go back outside the bunker, the two other paladins are still standing around in front of you, but are now not hostile. I don't know why this happened.


 * As of patch 1.02, the nine triggers may not ever activate at all and Veronica will never initiate dialogue, thus making the quest impossible to start. (PC owners can get around this using console commands, but 360/PS3 owners will have to wait for the next patch to hopefully fix the problem)
 * Possible solution: I simply traveled around with Veronica for a few days, doing a couple other quests. Went back to Camp McCarren building to do another quest and she started talking about how many NCR there were. You may just need to have Veronica around for awhile and the triggers should function normally later.
 * Can confirm above for Xbox. The conversation with Julie Farkas at the old Mormon fort didn’t trigger anything from her.  Traveling to camp McCarren didn’t trigger anything either.  After exploring around the wasteland for a couple hours her McCarren response randomly came out, the Julie Farkas however did not but the rest of the responses worked as they are supposed to after that.

It is possible for the keys and information on the pulse gun at Nellis Air Force Base not to spawm in the cabinets rendering the "easy way" thru this part of the quest way to be impossible.

Fixes

 * Solution to the dialogue between Veronica and the Elder freezing or not starting at all during the first phase I Could Make You Care: upon arrival, stand beside the Elder's table and raise and lower (twice if necessary) your Pip-boy any time the conversation freezes. You might lose some sentences, but the first step of the given quest (Bring Veronica to the Elder) will be completed, and Veronica gives you the next step of the quest (the terminal thing) as soon as you leave the Elder's room. Apcka 08:31, January 6, 2011 (UTC)


 * Solution to Veronica not following after I Could Make You Care: During the battle with the paladins, KO Veronica before you kill the last paladin. When she wakes up, you can manually talk to her twice for her standard dialog. *Note* won't work on hardcore for obvious reasons.


 * If she becomes immobile after completing the quest, try talking to her using the companion wheel. She will thank you for helping her out and she should start following again. If this doesn't work try one of the other fixes below. There is also a fix on NewVegasNexus: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35943


 * If Veronica won't follow you anymore (she simply stands in place and won't move, despite being able to interact with her) after you fight the Paladins outside the Hidden Valley Bunker (After suggesting she stay with the Brotherhood to gain her Bonds of Steel Perk), simply travel to Gibson's Shack, re-download the data from the computer, talk to her so she brings up the conversation about what technology to pursue, choose the technology you choose initially to complete the quest, exit the conversation, talk to her again, enter her workbench and craft ANY item (1 ammo conversion works just fine), after the item is crafted and added to your inventory she should now follow you again. Test by simply entering into sneak mode, if she crouches with you she is now following you again. Solution works for xbox 360,PS3 and PC.


 * If Veronica won't follow you anymore, you'll have to go back to before the part of the mission where she speaks to the elder after you retrieved the notes, and directly tell her you want her to leave (don't suggest for her to stay, and don't allow her to choose for herself).


 * If Veronica gets stuck and won't follow you anymore, and then you get the infinite loop once you get to the comm terminal at Gibson's Shack, you'll have to restart the mission (from a previous save) and work back to the part where she speaks to the elder after you retrieved the notes, and directly tell her you want her to leave (don't suggest for her to stay, and don't allow her to choose for herself). Then go to Gibson's Shack and access the comm terminal, and once you do, it will say (in the upper left side of your screen) "COMPLETED: Access Father Elijah's notes for the comm terminal", and upon exiting the terminal, Veronica will automatically start talking. After you choose one, it will give you the option to exit the dialogue, and Veronica says, "I like the way you think...". Good luck!


 * If Veronica missed too many triggers to initiate her companion quest, the console command set "145f85".ngreetingpending to 1  . will advance her companion quest dialog conversations. This may need to be done up to 3 times, allow a few seconds after the console command for her to initiate dialog.
 * Since there are always three triggers available (McCarran, Vault 3, Nelson/Cottonwood Cove), it's generally going to be better to trigger the quest "normally" - use the console only if the regular triggers won't work.


 * If you have already completed There Stands the Grass and you are unable to download the Vault 22 data: it's possible to reset the mainframe terminal by using the console command 'set e6a6a.DataState to 0'; you can then re-download the data to complete the objective. This should even work if the data was deleted.


 * If the triggers don't seem to be occurring (including her dress trigger), leave Veronica at the 38 and take another companion with you for a while, and come back to her later. In my case, i completed Raul's companion quest, and when i returned to the 38 and picked up veronica, the dress conversation triggered, as well as two quest triggers. I then did the boomer museum trigger, which worked the way it was supposed to. afterwards, the rest of the quest went off almost without a hitch... i only encountered the Gibson's Shack freeze bug (for which a workaround is listed on this page under "bugs")

Behind the scenes

 * 'I Could Make You Care' is the name of a song by Frank Sinatra.