Form ID

A form ID is an object property assigned by creators or the engine to each and every thing in Fallout 3, be that items, NPCs or parts of the world like sign on a wall or the wall itself. There are two types of Form IDs: Base IDs and Reference IDs (usually shortened to Ref IDs).

Base ID (aka Base parameter in the game console)
Base ID is the number assigned to template of each object that is used to create many instances of that object. For example all bottle caps in the game have exactly the same Base ID. This ID is used in scripts or console with commands that create new instances of object, like  or.

This value is also used for the setessential command, which makes the NPC invulnerable. To use it, put in:

Reference ID (aka ObjectReferenceID in the game console)
Every new created item has its own reference ID. For example, all the bottle caps created from same Base ID will have different reference IDs. This ID is used to manipulate existing objects with commands like,  , or  , for example.

Any item that is not created by pre-defined game scripts (either original or from mods) will have reference ID starting with FF to indicate that this item belongs to this particular save game. It is for dynamically generated items, like loot from containers, random encounters or trader's wares.

Load order
Load order of modules (ESMs and ESPs) will affect the ID number of modules. The first two digits of a ID number corresponds to its load order (in Hexadecimal, like the rest of the number). One must use a utility like FO3Edit to ascertain the load order of a module. Fallout3.esm's ID number is should always be 00, as it should always be the very first module to load. The ID number series in the FF (decimal equivalent: 255) range is reserved by the game engine for objects created and saved in the gamesave file (such as PlaceAtMe'd objects, projectiles, dropped inventory, or list-spawned actors).

According to the layout of this system, the maximum number of modules that can be loaded by the game is 254 (256 load order ranges, - 1 for the Savegame FF range, - 1 for the always-mandatory Fallout3.esm).

Named character IDs
Below are the Base ID and Reference IDs for most of the named characters in the game. They are grouped together by the character's initial location and then sorted alphabetically. RefIDs were obtained from the textfile created by the console command. Base IDs were obtained using Fallout Mod Manager: http://timeslip.chorrol.com/fomm.html.

"GECK name" indicates characters whose name in the G.E.C.K. was significantly different from the name used in the game.

Player character
SetEssential does not work correctly on yourself, it causes the camera to point at your feet and other issues.

Vault 101
Many Vault 101 characters have multiple BaseIDs because they have different models, one for each segment of the Tutorial Levels. (e.g., when your character is 10 years old, 16 and 19.) Because of this many characters are listed multiple times. In addition while many Vault 101 security guards are named ingame, behind the scenes they are just generically labelled. Collectively this means many Base IDs for characters in this section may be incorrect or missing.

Miscellaneous locations
Locations that contain just one character are listed here.

Form ID