Operation: Anchorage bugs

Bugs and glitches/exploits in the Fallout 3 add-on Operation: Anchorage.

Glitches/Exploits
Getting The Winterized Combat Armor from Operation: Anchorage Xbox360 fRYHo-gZefc

Keep your simulation inventory

 * It is possible to keep your inventory from the simulation. This means that you can keep your Winterized Combat Armor, Gauss Rifle, Jingwei's Shock Sword and whatever weapons you got from the Quartermaster (ie:Trench Knife, Assault Rifle, Combat Shotgun, etc.) and then receive your reward from the VSS Armory in the Outcast Outpost.


 * This is possible by exploiting an inventory glitch where the player's inventory from the simulation is not removed until after the player returns to the Outpost. To perform this glitch, do the following steps in order and remember to save before performing the glitch because it will take several attempts to achieve this. Also note that the player should not have started the simulation already, otherwise it is impossible to do and I would suggest loading a previous save if you really want to keep your simulation items.

1. - To set this glitch up, the player needs to talk to Protector McGraw and then to Specialist Olin to get the Neural Interface Suit. After you equip the suit, open the simulation pod but DO NOT sit down on it.

2. - Go into the locked room where Gary 23 is and then drag his body back into the pod room. Lift his body into the pod, bending him around the foot rest. His legs under the foot rest, and his head on the top, in the middle of the foot rest. You should be able to interact with him by looking all the way down, while on the chair. Save now, and enter the chair, if his head is in the middle of the screen, and obviously in range if you look all the way down, you have him right. Also, make sure his body is within the shell's range, so you don't get him fracked up... You will notice him get fracked up if he gets moved out of the pod, or begins having seizures. ***It is most important here to be looking at the body when the simulation starts as if you were going to search it but the option will be unavailable at this time***

3. - Enter the simulation and play through to Paving the Way. From this point on everything in your inventory will be taken out of the simulation, so remember to get your weapons package and Gauss Rifle from the Quartermaster and to pick up all the ammo found along the way. It is recommended to also perform the All Requisition Weapons/Ammunition glitch in order to maximize the amount of weapons and ammo you "bring home". Continue playing up to Operation: Anchorage (quest).

4. - Play through the quest, disabling the pulse field and make your way to the doors of the Chinese Compound. At this point make sure you have a save before going in. Once you enter, pick the speech option 'I'm going to kill you SO MUCH'. Shoot the Shock Sword out of General Jingwei's hand. Pick up the Shock Sword and then kill him. Make sure you are not in the southern end of the compound because General Chase may catch you in a speech and send you back to the Outpost without making another save. As soon as you kill General Jingwei, run North toward the Chinese Soldiers and turn around to find where General Chase is and then make another save (you can overwrite your last save if you want).

5. - Now talk to General Chase and he will send you back to the Outpost. During the loading screen, you can hold down the 'right stick" (Or keep pushing down your mouse. PC players without a gamepad will have a rougher time with this.)***If you were looking at the body when the simulation started then don't touch the right stick at all just keep hammering at the A button as the game remembers your last position (only confirmed on Xbox360)*** When the screen goes black (with clock like animation) keep tapping 'A' with your view constantly pointed down. This should stop your crosshairs right on his head if you bent him around the foot rest. If done properly, you will be able to search his body. If you were too late, you will examine his body with the 'real world' inventory. If you open it up properly, usually during the black screen, you will have your 'simulation' inventory.If you do have your sim inventory, put all your items on his body. You will then regain your 'real world' inventory quickly after you 'regain consciousness' and your view returns. Exit, talk to Protector McGraw, and then search Gary 23's body to retrieve your weapons from the simulation. Combined with the following two bugs, a player can leave the simulation with tens of thousands of bottlecaps worth of ammo.
 * - This part is hard and may take several attempts to achieve it. Sometimes you're thumb might slip or your timing may be off, but as long as you have a save right before General Chase, you can repeat quickly. Also, you may have improperly positioned Gary 23, so you should save with him in the simulation room before you 'go under', and reposition him... You will now have to do the whole sim again. You should have him bent around with his legs under the foot rest with at least his head in the middle of the top. To ensure that you get it right the first time you can place several bodies on the simulation pod.
 * - Also, all weapons & armor obtained from within the simulation that you get from the Quartermaster, and Jingwei's Shock Sword, have an enhanced item HP (CDN or Condition), This makes them relatively indestructible. You can also pick pocket a fully repaired, likely invincible Fat Man from one of the T51-B units near the pulse field. If you pick their 5mm rounds you can then shoot the minigun with your Gauss, and get an 'unbreakable' minigun.
 * -Oddly enough, the minigun has a script corresponding with the ammunition dispenser, you gain 480 ammo if you have it in your inventory. Possibly a previous concept for a minigun requisition holo-tape. This is perfect for Big Guns lovers to never have to repair a minigun.
 * -It is possible to obtain a flamer within the simulation. To get it take a left after you see a bunker ahead of you while you are in the trenches to disable the pulsefields. The bunker should have two hostile turrents in the slats. After you turn left, you should come a split in the trench.  On the right is a short concrete section of trench, to the left is a winding section of trench that dead-ends in an enclosed room with a Health Dispenser, three army cots and a Chinese Terminal.  Go to the left again.  Unless the American Infero Unit was killed, he should be in the room or shortly come into the room and sit down. Once he has stopped moving you can pickpocket him for his flamer fuel. After you get the fuel off him, add something else he can use, I gave him a Missle Launcher and three missles, and shoot him. I shot him four times in the foot to make him stand up and attack. As soon as he pulls out the Missle Launcher, put your weapon away to calm him.  The Flamer should now be in his inventory. You can now go use the infinite ammo glitch to get as much flamer fuel as you want to take out.
 * -NOTE: The flamer appears to start out at approximately 20% HP, or CND. Not sure if it is invincible from the 20% (Yes, this flamer is invincible. It can be repaired with regular flamers, and when it reaches 100%, it should not need to be repaired again for a long time, and when you are allowed to repair it, the repair should give a 0% CND boost).
 * -Oddly enough again, the Flamer has a script corresponding with the ammunition dispenser, you gain 120 ammo if you have it in your inventory. Possibly a previous concept for a flamer requisition holo-tape.
 * -It is also possible to obtain a Chinese Assault Rifle by stunning a soldier once to take his ammo, then again to take the rifle.
 * -A Chinese Commando Hat can be found atop a semi-circle of sandbags near the start of the path to the Chimera Depot. It blends in very well, so it is likely easier to find if the player knocks it off of the sandbags, and into the snow. It is not known if it is invincible or not.

All requisition weapons

 * This glitch allows you to get all of the weapons that you requisition from the Quartermaster, and is quite simple. All you do is get one of the tapes for a set of weapons (ie: Close Combat, Fire Team, etc.) then get the weapons from the Quartermaster. After you do that, go back to the command tent and get another tape. Go outside again, drop your guns and talk to the Quartermaster again. He will give you the new set of weapons that you ask for. A message will then appear saying your other set of weapons were removed, but they will still be where you dropped them earlier. Keep repeating until you get the desired packages/weapons. If you use this with the other glitch (keeping the weapons from simulation), you can make a fast couple of caps once you sell the items, quickly build an arsenal if you are a low level, or simply get to keep weapons with unique/new skins.
 * Note: Attempting to talk to a stealth Chinese Stealth Dragoon may somehow cause your equipment to reset to what you're supposed to have. Same thing will happen upon conversation with a soldier equipped with Power Armor, and possibly just any NPC. Same thing will happen if you pick up another weapon that uses just that ammo. (Under the mission The Guns of Anchorage while you still can pick up Chinese Assault Rifles around the map)

Unlimited ammunition

 * It is also possible to drop your ammo, replenish, and then pick your original ammunition up again, bypassing the simulation's built in ammo cap. This allows for infinite ammo as long as the player is willing to repeat the process.
 * Note: There is the possibility of a glitch (tested on the 360). After doing the above for an extended period of time the 5.56mm ammo suddenly disappeared. Looking at the weapons screen it can be seen that the player has -32176 556mm rounds (last known amount 33120 before drawing 240 from the ammo dispenser). This is due to an integer overflow (the game designers didn't expect you to have that much ammo and thus there is no safeguard) Update: The integer in question seems to be the ammo on the ground as once 33000+ 5.56mm bullets were collected in the inventory then dropped the number switched to a negative. But if stopped at a lower number (say 28000) the bullets remained fine and the glitching could continue (example: Gained 28000 bullets then dropped them out of the way and worked up another 28000. The result when picking up the first set was a combined 56000 with no negatives). It can be assumed that this can be repeated so long as no one item on the ground has more than 30000 bullets in it. Another option would be to use the Quartermaster as a 'gore bag' of sorts similar to Gary and just deposit your ammo onto him at certain intervals.
 * Also note that when doing this glitch for an extended period of time without picking up the ammo, the game will start to lag. To stop this, just pick up the ammo periodically to condense it and then drop it and repeat the process (for better understanding, read above).
 * The integer glitch occurs at 32,768 because binary code is based on powers of 2 and that is 2^15 power. The ammo was set up as a 16 bit signed integer, where the high bit (2^16) controls if the number is positive or negative. So once you reach 2^16, the game interprets it as -(2^15).
 * This doesn't seem to work with missiles also.

Unlimited experience points

 * Important: if you intend to use this exploit then make sure that you're high enough level that you get 75 exp from Rivet City security NPCs (for example). If you go there earlier then the bots will only award 15exp (and 37exp on every 3 kills) no matter how high your level gets. Should you still want to go there at a earlier level then I recommend that you call in 3x infantry and snipe them on fairly long range and duck in behind a tent after each shot to avoid aggro (you only need to hide for a second between shots and they give 30 exp each).


 * You can gain unlimited EXP during the quest Paving the Way, specifically when securing the Listening Post and destroying the fuel tanks in the Chimera Depot. It is recommended that you save your game between each EXP boost to ensure that you don't lose any of your hard work. However if you don't mind bad karma then just clear out the US camp.

1. - First, you will need to recruit a Strike Team that has only one robot in it, either a Mister Gutsy or the Sentry Bot both of them give 75 exp but Mister Gutsy has less hp. Benjamin Montgomery will be in your team by default, but do not assign any other NPCs to your squad while attempting this glitch because they will make it more difficult.

2. - Now, you will need to requisition a weapons package from the Quartermaster. Pick Close combat package (or all of them) for the shotgun. Your ammo will need to be refilled quite frequently from the nearest ammo supply station depending on how long you want to do this (this can be done indefinitely). However, if you just want to gain quick exp and not spend much time on it then obtain some hard hitting weapons such as grenades, mines, a missile launcher or a Gauss Rifle. To save time on getting ammo, use the ammo glitch (see above).

3. - Tell your team go to the Listening Post or the Chimera Depot or have them follow you to a secluded area. If you head to the Listening Post or the Chimera Depot, clearing the enemies from the area first is recommended. Alternately you can simply clear out the American camp for an exp boost and if Benjamin Montgomery attacks you while using this exploit then you can jump up on the T51b tent to avoid him.

4. - Now to actually do the glitch, hide behind Benjamin Montgomery and then sneak attack the robot. If you can't one-shot it then wait until you're hidden again (you get 2 shots on every NPC without Benjamin attacking you). Do not use VATS, as shotguns do way more damage on free aim sneak attacks.

5. - Once the robot is destroyed you can request another from Benjamin Montgomery. Within seconds, another will appear nearby. Repeat step 4 as many times as you want to gain EXP. To speed things up you shouldn't talk to Benjamin until he comments on your friendly fire. The very moment he opens his mouth you can press to talk with him to call in a new bot. The spot that the bot occupies free up until it starts to disappear.

You can't attack or get Montgomery to attack you by firing at him, so don't worry about hitting him when the bots spawn inside him.

General bugs

 * Unable to finish the "Put on the Neural Interface Suit" part of the quest. The game doesn't seem to react when you put on the suit given by Specialist Olin. Simulation Pod will eventually open (indicating that you DO actually wear Neural Interface Suit), but you will not be able to take a seat (Olin says her line about frying the circuits) thus you won't be able to enter the VR and play any further. Confirmed on PC with no mods running.
 * If you attack the doctor in the American HQ, the entire base will become hostile to her and shout "This commie doesn't stand a chance"
 * Sometimes if you attack one of the undressed soldiers in the bedding area of the American HQ it will start a massive fight amongst all the American soldiers. The soldiers are convinced that everyone else is a communist.
 * If you have the Repellent Stick in your Inventory when you start the Sim, it'll stay with you in the Sim.
 * Xbox 360 - If you haven't finished Operation Anchorage before installing Broken Steel, you will be unable to access the Armory at the end of the quest or complete the quest. After using the terminal next to the Armory door, the door will still be listed as locked and will not open. (Restarting the console seems to fix this)
 * Xbox 360 - After turning off the pulse field nothing happens. The soldiers do not advance and T-51b soldiers never show up at all. Thus, the door does not open and the game cannot be completed.
 * Xbox 360 - You can listen to Wernher's Distress Signal while still completing the Anchorage simulation.

Mapping bugs

 * Before you cross the bridge to reach the second "Field Storage", head up the stairs and jump onto the rocks nearby. If you follow them along you will find footholds in the cliff for jumping higher up it. After climbing for a short time you will reach a hole in the cliff allowing you to go behind the stone. Video can be seen here.


 * You can climb onto the top of the mountains by jumping up to the left of the second "Field Storage" door and then making your way up and right, passing over the Field Storage door, though it is difficult. From here you can reach most of the geometry in the cliffs part of the level, including the distant plain and mountains and the bottom of the ravine. If you walk all the way back to start of the level on the top of the mountains on the other side of the ravine, you can see your parachute stuck in some trees on top of the mountain above the level start. There is no know way of getting there; it is the highest mountain in the level and all of the approaches to the peak are apparently too steep to scale. Also there is a "Chinese Radio Beacon" radio station centred in some trees near where the ravine meets the outer plain, but nothing has been found there.


 * After crossing the bridge to reach the Chinese bunker, if you turn directly right and start climbing the cliffs it is simple to reach the top with basic jumping.


 * After reaching the U.S. Army Field Headquarters at the beginning of second section of the operation, it is possible to get behind the forcefield and walk freely around the open landscape. You are able to walk on almost all ground. It is also possible to complete the second section of the operation without firing your weapon by simply walking along the pipeline all the way to the Chinese HQ and activating the door from the inside. Doing this will bypass the other mission objectives so you will not receive the "Paving the Way" achievement, but you will receive the other three. Chinese Stealth Armor Video can be seen here.


 * Upon entering the Chimera compound, the wall to the right hand side is climbable through a series of jumps and by sticking as close to the wall as possible. Once you reach the top you can walk through the forcefield and explore freely.


 * To the left of the guard tower directly outside of the Chimera compound, you can walk through the rock (enabling you to see behind it). The same bug can also be found in numerous places on this map. One being the bend along the same wall as before, but earlier in the path.

Object bugs

 * When trying to re enter the simulation pod, it will prompt you to have your neural interface suit regardless of if you have it on. Trying to sit in the chair will yield no action as pressing the use key will not allow you to sit back in it. This is either a bug or you're simply not allowed to re enter the simulation, which hopefully may be fixed in an update, so if you want to relive the adventure, save before you enter.


 * When wearing the Chinese stealth Armor you are able to equip multiple hats or helmets. You do not get the DR bonuses for more than one hat/helmet, except for the metal helmet stacked with other helmets/hats, but you do get the other bonuses such as extra points to skills and stats. You can also first put on the Chinese stealth armor, equip multiple head gear, then change your armor and still wear multiple head gear.

Misc bugs
WARNING: follower death. Leave followers behind at your house before starting this quest or they could be killed, as the game does not permit followers inside the Outcast Outpost. Also, sometimes all of the items a follower was carrying disappear after exiting the Outcasts' bunker upon completion of the simulation.


 * Xbox 360 Version: In the first part of the simulation in a bunker it appears as if the doors are blocked with rubble, although they can still be passed through.


 * Outcasts will turn hostile after completing the sim, every single one of them but Specialist Olin and Defender McGraw, and you'll have to kill them (which is a perfect chance to loot their power armor) resulting in bad karma. If you succesfully defeat the outcasts and Defender McGraw survives then he will tell you that Defender Sibley was responsible for this "mutiny" and says (if the Outcasts still refer to you as a local) that you are the best person they have, other than the Outcasts themselves, even though you are still a "local".


 * There are several items that, if in your inventory when you enter the pod, stay in your inventory, but offer no advantage. These include the Slave Collar, the Repellent Stick, Colonel Autumn's Laser Pistol (if obtained via glitching), any house theme decorations and all quest items you have in your inventory.


 * When in the simulation, placing a marker on the new 'world map' may in fact cause your compass to direct you to a different, unrelated location. When opening your map again, you will see yourself moving away from the marker you placed, despite the on screen compass suggesting you are approaching it.


 * Shortly after getting inside of the artillery compound for the first time and climbing some stairs, you will find a room locked by a terminal with a second terminal and a chair inside. Sitting on the chair will leave the player stuck standing up with no way to exit and return to normal play.


 * For some reason, many trees at the beginning of the level may seem to be elevated to a very high level. Some of the textures on trees later in the game may have their low resolution textures.


 * If you equip the Shishkebab or any other "backpack weapon" like the gatling laser or minigun before entering the pod, the backpack (ammo pack, motorcycle tank etc.) will be visible on your back until the next 'fade to white' reload. Alternatively, to remove this you can simply re-equip the Winterized Combat Armor that you always wear.


 * There will be two Winterized T-51b Power Armor soldiers wielding a Fat Man. When they blow up the wall leading to General Jingwei there will be radiation from the explosion. If you are being radiated when entering the base, the radiation sound will keep playing even when you are outside the the simulation. If this happens reload your save right before the base. Note that if this does not fix the problem, leaving the Outcast Outpost will.


 * Not necessarily a bug, but very annoying. When escorting the Outcasts to their base, any direct or indirect fire that hits them will turn them hostile to you, you can (sometimes) yield to them by holstering your weapon.


 * During your fight with the General, Power Armored soldiers may appear to enter the area as enemy units and begin to shoot at you. To avoid this, after speaking with Jingwei, immediately run to the northeastern area of the refinery behind the large steel crates. Montgomery may also follow you and assist you in your fight by shooting at Jingwei.


 * If you attack an enemy in VATS right before fading to white after blowing up the artillery guns, when you fade into the CP Tent you will be stuck punching the air until the General talks to you, after which you will return to normal play.


 * When trying to re-enter the Outcast Outpost after having completed the DLC Quests, the lift/elevator can freeze with no way of exiting. If this happens to you, try turning around and hitting the switch on the lift. When this works, you'll see the elevator doors close (on the already closed elevator doors, no less), and the lift will rise, sending you back out to Bailey's Crossroads. (You may have to reload the autosave for this to work, though.)


 * If you have the Cannibal perk, it is possible to feed on the fallen Chinese troops and Stealth Dragoons if you can get to them before they disappear from the simulation. Eating the Dragoons may cause the game to crash (PC), so it's advisable not to consume them.


 * If you have the Robotics Expert perk, you can use it to put the Chimera Tanks at the Chimera Depot into a permanent shutdown state. However, walking around the front or sides of the shut down tanks (near the blades) will still knock you to the ground for several seconds.


 * After completing the simulation and obtaining the Winterized T-51b Power Armor, if you have not yet completed You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head and are currently doing that quest you will automatically complete it and receive the Xbox 360 or PC achievement. Since the quest is complete, you can not continue or finish it. If you have not picked up any keys from the targets, then the keys may no longer be attainable. Video here. You can reset the quest using the resetquest command. You will have to speak to Crowley to re-add the quest.


 * Just inside the first door to the listening post, you are able to pick up 3 pieces of Scrap Metal. The room looks like a garage. These miscellaneous items can be picked up while all others can not.


 * You might encounter a bug where Benjamin Montgomery becomes frozen in place. This will disable you from using your strike team throughout the rest of your simulation. Although your strike team will appear at the camp after every mission, Benjamin Montgomery will not. The best thing to do is to do the missions without them or go to the last save.


 * During the scripted sequence which occurs immediately when arriving at the pulse field, it is possible to initiate a dialogue with the power-armored soldier that wanders into the field before he is killed. The dialogue interface, including the black background box for the dialogue text, appears, but no text. Pressing a key exits this dialogue and normal gameplay resumes.


 * The loading screen while leaving the outcast outpost lift may freeze forcing you to restart you console. This normally only happens to people running the game from the hard drive. (Xbox 360)


 * Sometimes you may get a message in the top-left corner of your screen saying that Sergeant Montgomery is unconscious after the simulation.
 * Montgomery might not jump out of the pipe within the first cave section, screwing your game..


 * If you die while fighting General Jingwei and load your last Auto-save, the initiate cut scene and dialogue won't happen, leaving you stuck until you exit and restart the game (or by loading a previous save and then reloading back to the auto-save).


 * In the final battle with General Jingwei, it is possible for his sword to be shot from his hands due to the flurry of bullets all around. If this happens, Jingwei will continue to engage you in unarmed combat, though his punches will continue to deliver the electric shock of his sword (PC). This does not occur if the player chooses to shoot the sword from his hand using V.A.T.S.


 * If you get a requisition holotape but don't use it after the simulation it will be in your miscellaneous inventory.


 * A player who has already exploited the requisition glitch can actually have the items taken away by a soldier in power armor if they talk to one trapped in the pulse field. Though it will initiate dialogue only a black box appears and the script runs as if you had just talked to the requisition officer to swap your kit.


 * Xbox 360 Version: The elevator to the underground facility can sometimes get stuck in the shaft; the doors will not open to let you out and the activation button will not take you to the surface. The elevator can also be activated with the button on the support beam or "opened" if position your indicator near the shaft. If you "open" as opposed to "activating" the elevator then you stand a better chance of getting stuck in the shaft. Save before you go down below.


 * Xbox 360 Version (apparently only for Italian language version; but similar bug reported for German PC version): The weapons choice terminal in the General's tent doesn't work properly, because you can actually choose only the "Assault Pack", the "Close Assault Pack" and the "Heavy Pack". When you try to get the "Sniper Pack", a message tells you that "You're using this pack" ("Stai usando questo pacchetto"). Furthermore, all the terminal's selectable items seem to have something wrong: for example there are only descriptions for "Heavy Pack" and "Sniper Pack" available and – when you click on "Sniper Pack" to choose it – the description for the "Close Assault Pack" will appear.


 * If you kill the Quartermaster, his body remains and is lootable instead of just disappearing.


 * In at least one case, the Chimera tank respawned next to the player after reloading a quicksave.


 * After finishing the simulation, you may end up stuck in the pod, unable to get out. To work around this, create a quicksave after Jingwei is dead, and, before talking to General Chase, open the console and warp somewhere (example: coc megatonclinic) and then travel back to the outpost. You'll get your equipment back and the quest update upon re-entering the outpost (only confirmed on one machine so far).


 * On some occasions, when you are warped to the U.S HQ and send your strike team to either target, low quality trees will either be in the air or on the path when you exit the base. These trees can be walked through. This may have something to do with the high trees behind you on the Cliffs at the start of the simulation.


 * This editor encountered a bug during the attack on the mining town (en route to the listening post) in which 'walls' would appear around the player. These would be flat, featureless shapes that took up huge areas of the map. They could be walked through, but could not be seen through, resulting in some very frustrating times dealing with Dragoons. Reloading, etc. did nothing to help, and with the player unable to see targets the squad is very important to have around! The issue only took place outdoors, ending when the player entered the actual listening post.


 * In at least one case, a Chimera tank spawned on the hill next to the Chinese ice base


 * If you've downloaded The Pitt and received both the distress signals, when you choose to play Operation: Anchorage instead and enter the simulation, all of your radio stations on your Pip-Boy are removed except two: the Vault 101 PA System, which cannot be accessed or heard, and Wernher's Distress signal, which can.


 * If you've downloaded The Pitt and are playing both DLCs on a PC, sometimes the game can "restart" the DLCs, and take all the DLC items/perks away, and make you go through the quests again; be wary of this, and reload your game ASAP.


 * On the way to the Chimera mission, the player passes 4 Chinese soldiers on their knees about to be executed. The player is able to pre-emptively execute the prisoners by shooting them from close to the base before the event triggers (or if they are fast enough, even if the event does trigger). The player will get experience for each kill and the soldier that was to do the executions will fire randomly into the air where he would have normally fired at the back of the Chinese prisoner.


 * Sometimes if you enter the bunker the second time, your companions will disappear and not show up at any spawn point.


 * (XBOX 360) When a surplus of 100,000 5.56m rounds are on the ground (with other ammo types) during the ammo glitch the X-Box will freeze. Always be sure to save during the ammo glitch!
 * (Xbox 360) After downloading Point Lookout, when on the quest "The Guns of Anchorage" you are not able to place an explosive charge on any of the cannons, thus not allowing you to progress any further in the DLC.