Fallout 3 exploits

Exploits are "holes" in the game programming which allow a player to do something which the developers did not intend and which alter the balance of the game in a way that benefits the player.

Exploits unavailable after latest patch

 * With the Mister Sandman perk, you can knock any sleeping essential NPC unconscious as many times as you like. You get experience for the "kill" each time. Unavailable in patched game and GOTY version.
 * Listen to Bittercup rant about how she has been with all of the men in Big Town. In this rant you find out specifically about what happened with her and Pappy. End the conversation with her and talk to Pappy. A couple lines in you'll have a speech option that will never go away and can continue to gain 5 XP experience each success. Unavailable in patched game and GOTY version.
 * At Rivet City: Every night, the doors to the market lock (normal). They can be picked with relative ease for a decent amount of experience. After unlocking all the doors, go back outside and wait until midnight. This WILL cause you to lose karma. Unavailable in patched game and GOTY version.
 * At Museum of History: The second section of the feral ghoul infested section, where all the Abraham Lincoln artifacts are found, there are 2 gates that are locked (Very Easy). There is a nearby terminal that allows you to lock the archives section (aka lock the gates) even if they were picked. This can be done indefinitely for 20XP per door, with no chance of failure. Unavailable in patched game and GOTY version.

Ammo related

 * If you find a group of enemies (raiders would work best) and kill one, you can place a weapon (like firelance) and one ammo (like Alien power cell) in the body then break the other enemies weapons one will grab the weapon and ammo and when you kill them take the weapon and ammo back and you should get more ammo.
 * Now a better way to do this (above) is to find a single raider and use the Mesmetron to stun them. Now take their weapons (or they will probably still use it) and give them a weapon with one ammo and then tell them to walk it off. (Make sure he pulls out the weapon or it won't work) Then kill him and take the gun (first recomended) then the ammo. You should now have more ammo than before.

Infinite ears and fingers

 * With the Lawbringer or Contract Killer perk, you can knock an essential NPC (e.g. Shrapnel and children) unconscious as many times as you like. They will spawn an ear or finger each time they are knocked unconscious.

Skipping levels

 * Keep in mind that this skips a level. You do not level up twice (meaning you will only be able to set points for 1 level up). With that being said, this glitch is only useful if you want a faster way to get the Achievements for reaching level 8, 14, 20, and 30.
 * Skipping levels still rewards you with the boost in Health for both levels. Maximum HP increase per level is (EN / 2) + 3.
 * You must gain enough XP to level up. You need to go through a door (to load a new area) before the Perk screen appears. Once through the door the Perk screen will automatically pop up, and you will have skipped the next level.
 * You can skip multiple levels. Once you have successfully skipped a level, just load your autosave, turn around and go through the door again before the Perk screen, and repeat.
 * You can also level up past level 30. You will get the health boost for each level past 30. You cannot continue leveling up after level 30 on the Xbox 360 or PS3 using the above "level skipping" method.

Infinite items and bottlecaps
This method can also get you Infinite good Karma just say "Just take all the scrap metal i have, No charge, I just want to help" this is a quicker way of getting good karma.
 * Go to Protector Casdin at Fort Independence, give him X Scrap Metal and pick pocket the Scrap Metal back. Now give him 2 (Value Y) less than what you gave him, pick pocket him again for the Scrap Metal. Now save the game, and try to get caught pick pocketing, it will say "16 scrap metal(s) removed" then "14 Scrap Metal(s) removed." This gives a negative (-) Z value, which can net you infinite scrap metal . However, only Walter, Casdin, and Winthrop can accept scrap metal in return for items. **Do not pick up any more scrap metal, this will break the glitch.
 * After successfully completing this visit Walter in the Megaton water processing plant to gain unlimited caps and XP. You must first repair the three leaking valves in Megaton and then he will offer to take Scrap Metal for caps. Walter will take 5 Scrap Metal for 50 caps and give you XP each time. After you reach level 30, he will simply give you caps.

Unarmed
Requires Operation Anchorage

You need the Chinese stealth armor and 2 hockey masks. Equip the armor, equip one of the hockey masks, then repeatedly equip the other mask. If you check your unarmed stats, it will have been raised by 10 instead of 5. Keep on tapping to raise it to 15, 20, 25, etc. Skill value will stop rising eventually, but by the time the damage of the unarmed weapons will rise so high that the power fist will do up to 2000 damage.

The exploit works with any skill or S.P.E.C.I.A.L stat that it raised by headgear, providing that you have two copies of that headgear. However, the Unarmed skill is the only skill that continues to raise weapon damage after you reach 100 skill points.

The unarmed bonus is not entirely permanent. If the equipped hockey mask is unequipped then your unarmed stats will revert back to whatever they were prior to the exploit.

Big Guns
At the Bethesda Ruins, there is a raider that spawns every 73 hours that has a copy of U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes on him\her. The raider in possession of the skill book will be holding a flamer.

Science
Within the Shalebridge Tunnels (the Mutated Forager Ant tunnels, as opposed to the neighboring "invader ant" tunnels) is an evil NPC called the "Ant Researcher", who contains a Big Book of Science skill book on his corpse. Every 72 hours, another Ant Researcher respawns within the Forager Ant tunnels. Kill him, leave the tunnel, wait 72 hours, then re-enter and kill him again for the book. Repeat as many times as necessary.

Killing without karma change
The player and all NPCs take damage from being hit by an object at a high speed, including items that may be placed in your inventory (weapons, aid, apparel, etc.), and objects that can merely be moved around but not taken (oil drums, tires, etc.). This allows killing of any NPC without Karma loss/gain or a change in social status (aggressive/friendly) between you and other NPCs associated with the victim. To do so, simply hold up the object in front of you so that it is between you and the target, then run into it as fast as possible. Larger objects, like shopping carts or oil drums, do more damage when used this way, as opposed to smaller items like bottles of whiskey. You can also simply attack a person without killing them then have a follower finish them off.

Companion exploits
Be aware that having more companions will increase the processing load on your system. You may experience low frame-rates, stuttering, freezing, graphic glitches, game glitches, corrupt save games and system instability.

Sergeant RL-3 glitch to get every permanent follower
With this glitch, you can get as many companions as you want, how many times you want. This means you can do this glitch prior to Raven Rock, then after it, without a problem. It works rather slowly, so patience is necessary.
 * 1) Have Sergeant RL-3 in your party.
 * 2) Go to the companion you want to hire and tell RL-3 to wait. Then talk to him and choose the dialog option, "not just yet, I want to talk about something" and then fire him.
 * 3) Adjust your karma as necessary (i.e. hack a private computer for bad [Underworld or Megaton]/give away purified water for good [outside Megaton or outside Rivet City])
 * 4) Hire the companion you want.
 * 5) Go inside a building and wait 7-8 days. You should receive the message "Sergeant RL-3 has returned to Canterbury Commons" which opens a companion slot.
 * 6) Adjust your karma as necessary (see step 3) so that it is neutral
 * 7) Rehire Sergeant RL-3
 * 8) Repeat steps 2-7

Puppies!

 * 1) at level 22 get the puppies! perk.
 * 2) kill dogmeat (if he's in your party) this will free up his companion slot
 * 3) Add any follower (must have correct karma)
 * 4) Repeat steps 2-3 until you have enough followers

Moving big objects
To move a larger object, grab a smaller object. The best choice would be a barrel.


 * First get the barrel vertical
 * Move the barrel into a bigger object and move it so that it is laying down horizontally against the bigger object.
 * Now push the barrel into the bigger object, with some good aiming. The bigger object will move without a problem.

Friendly Talon Company / Hitmen
This makes all the mercs that spawn outside buildings and metros friendly to the player.


 * Only works if the player has not been confronted by hitmen yet.


 * 1) First get Very Evil or Very Good karma.
 * 2) Go to a building where the Hitmen spawn often (Lucky's is a good one).
 * 3) Save while in there and walk outside. If you're lucky you'll hear the sound of guns being drawn. You have to quickly go into your Pip-Boy 3000 menu and fast travel somewhere random in the Wasteland. It has to be somewhere far enough away so the Hitmen don't follow to talk, the nearby metro is too close.
 * 4) Fast travel to the metro next to Lucky's and run to Lucky's.
 * 5) The hitmen will walk towards you as you get close and will say something like "And now its time for you to die" or "surprise" but will remain unhostile.

Haley's 100% repair bug/exploit

 * With every successive "visit" to Haley's Hardware, Haley's Repair skill increases by 5 points (3%) up to the maximum 100 points allowing vendor-repair-only items to be fully repaired. The increases in skill are permanent and are an inevitable consequence of frequent visits to his shop throughout the game. It requires that the shop be re-loaded by the player's system. This is achieved by walking far enough away to load a new cell, and then walking back and re-entering the shop. The end of the dock to the south is far enough away.
 * The glitch for raising Haley's Repair skill is caused by his suit, removing it causes the glitch to stop working. So don't reverse pickpocket him for it if you want make his repair grow higher.

Casdin

 * 1) Go to Fort Independence and get the "Outcast Collection Agent" job from Casdin.
 * 2) Follow the job until Casdin has a large amount of weapons and armor.
 * 3) If you kill Casdin and loot his body, he will have all the items you gave him, but they all will be fully repaired and VERY valuable. A fully repaired plasma rifle nabs you around 1799 caps. All you have to do is find a vendor with that much. Alternatively, you can spend lots of caps on weapons or repairs and then sell the plasma rifle to make your money back.

All the caps you'll ever need / Free repair (All platforms)

 * 1) See if a vendor has two identical weapons or apparel type and you have one
 * 2) Select the one in the vendor's inventory that is in the worst state of repair; the worse the state, the more money you make.
 * 3) Buy it, then sell it back again. Repeat until the item is in your inventory at 100% repair. It should only take 2 sell/buy cycles to do it.
 * 4) Then sell the 100% repaired one, it will be back in the vendor's inventory at the bad state of repair value and the cost will be significantly lower than what you sold it for.
 * 5) Buy it back, sell it again and so on, until you have all the vendor's money.


 * This won't work if, at the start, the vendor has no items that you wish to use and you have two. The vendor must have at least one to start with.

The bigger the difference in condition, the greater the profit for each time the item is sold and bought back. However, the vendor must sell weapons (if you are using weapons) or apparel (if you are using apparel).


 * 1) Have two pieces of weapons or apparel, in this example we'll use a Laser Rifle. One rifle should be in good condition, the other should be broken or in very poor condition.
 * 2) Find a vendor that normally sells weapons (for example, Flak or Shrapnel depending on who is managing the store at the time).
 * 3) Sell the repaired Laser Rifle and complete the transaction.
 * 4) Sell the broken Laser Rifle and complete the transaction.
 * 5) Buy back the broken Laser Rifle, notice that its value increases in your inventory.
 * 6) Sell the now repaired Laser Rifle.
 * 7) Repeat steps 5–6 until the vendor has no more caps.
 * 8) When you're finished and you want your items back, buy back the broken Laser Rifle and complete the transaction.
 * 9) When the transaction is complete, the second Rifle in the vendor's inventory should now be broken; buy that one.


 * EDIT* Does not work for Xbox Platinum Hits.

Falling without Dying
If you fall off of a high place (such as the Tenpenny Tower), one can save their game before hitting the ground. When this save is loaded, one will harmlessly fall to the ground. This can also be used with V.A.T.S.. If a person is near you while you're falling, you can enter VATS the moment before you hit the ground, attack the person, and walk away with only 10% of the damage you would've gotten.