Broken Steel bugs

Bugs and glitches/exploits in the Fallout 3 add-on Broken Steel.

Important

 * Before reporting any bugs, make sure when you install the DLC pack, that you also install the 1.5 patch. Without the patch it is possible that some models will not load (they will appear as red triangles) and the game will crash often.
 * Please try to use correct grammar and spelling when posting a bug/glitch. If you have a legitimate issue, don't be ashamed. By all means, post your issue--your posts help improve this game. If you see an error on a post, edit it. Also, for the convenience of others and for yourself, be sure to include the game version in which the bug/glitch occurred (i.e. Xbox 360, PC, PS3) in parenthesis at the end of your post. Remember, this is a public site. Act professional and refrain from using the wiki as a source of "trolling." Thank you.

Installation

 * Several noted gameplay bugs are due to users not having installed the latest Fallout 3 patch before playing with Broken Steel installed. Broken Steel does not enforce the 1.5 patch, but it does need it for full compatibility. Check your version: From the title screen, select Settings, then Display. In the lower left hand corner, you'll then see the update number.


 * If you have it installed, you may need to take off the unofficial patch that stops you from completing the game before installing Broken steel (Windows only).

Gameplay

 * A few steps you should make sure you do in loading the game. First go threw the loader not directly threw the exe (unless you have the bsa files dumped directly into your video and data folders then it shouldn't matter it will automatically detect them) under the file loader click data files and check to see your expansions are going to be loaded by confirming the check mark. Second start up your game with a save as close to the end as you can swing it, rite in front of the panel is fine. Do NOT use any console commands and see if that helps, secondly if you are still stuck make sure you use the “showracemenu” option and select a preset, you can always change it later using the same command. If you where fiddling with it before (such as got a “haircut” or “plastic surgery” somewhere else in the game) it may have affected the race values. Selecting a preset resets the values. next try it again and hope for the best.
 * If you have not completed The American Dream, you may freeze within 5 feet of Elder Lyons and be unable to talk or move. The quest does not continue, and Elder Lyons does not speak. Weapons cannot be drawn upon entrance to laboratory.
 * To fix this, tell Sentinel Lyons that you aren't ready. Go out to the courtyard, and come back in to say that you are ready (unconfirmed).


 * Attempting to gain the laser pistol next to the mini nuke at the end of the Presidential Metro results in the player becoming stuck and unable to get out without loading to the most recent save. (unconfirmed)


 * After installation of Broken Steel, and completion of original story line, some characters do not reward XP. (Ex: Super Mutant Behemoth at Capitol Building, and his companions.) (unconfirmed)


 * After installing Broken Steel, Scribe Rothchild becomes glitched while trying to complete the quest, Picking up the Trail. He tells you to follow him to gain information about Vault 87, but he does not move and you cannot speak to him again. (confirmed, happens in vanilla game too). Solution: knock him unconsciousness, wait for him to wake up and speak to him.


 * Reported incidents of an "invisible barrier" appearing any certain points i.e. the utility door up the earth mount and the door to Tesla coil leaving players trapped if they jumped in, this bug is on the Xbox 360 version, only one barrier appears to have dodgy coding and blocks important in-game places (Xbox 360)


 * After getting the Puppies! perk, there is a reported incident of no longer being able to hire any follower other than Dogmeat's Puppy, even if the puppy is dead or outside Vault 101. Someone has created a mod fix for users of the PC version: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6208. A related incident found that--on at least one occasion--if the player character kills Dogmeat's Puppy, even accidentally, the puppies appear to stop respawning and the player still will not be able to add any other followers. It's possible that the player may have to wait weeks for a puppy respawn, but theory hasn't yet been tested. (Xbox 360 & PC) (confirmed)


 * After completing Take it Back!, everybody uses dialog for when the Purifier is taken by the Brotherhood such as, "The Purifier is ours!" and will make it hard to talk to them about quest related things. (unconfirmed)


 * After the Two Weeks Later screen, regardless of your decision, you get stuck with no HUD visible obviously waiting for Lyons to approach you but he gets stuck on his way and you cant do anything. Just make sure you have latest patch installed and it works no problem. (unconfirmed)


 * When going back to The Citadel to turn in the cords, Scribe Rothchild will not open a talk frame and just say he has no time for you. (unconfirmed)


 * When getting into the Tranquility Lounger in Vault 112, the screen flashes as usual but the player is never taken to Tranquility Lane, remaining stuck sitting in the lounger unable to do anything but look around. (unconfirmed)


 * When talking with MARGoT, approximately one-third of her lines have no voice-over, and are skipped after a split-second, and at least one dialog tree causes a game crash. (PC)


 * After Sarah's "So much for celebrating" dialogue if Fawkes is told to enter the code, his dialogues are not heard, and when he enters the room, he just stands at a place until there is the explosion. Also when the player himself enters the code, he wakes up below the bed and hence unable to get up. (PC, Xbox 360)


 * After speaking to Elder Lyons about the events of the past two weeks, he directs you to Scribe Rothchild. After asking Rothchild for an update on the situation, he tells you to follow him to the map, but he fails to lead you there, instead carrying on with his daily routine. Similar to Locating Vault 87 Glitch
 * Fix for this issue available at Nexus under a file named Rothfix.


 * Similar to the above bug, once Broken Steel is completed with the 'good' ending and your vertibird lands back in the Citadel courtyard for Lyons' speech, the speech never occurs. Your character is locked into the 'listening' pose but Lyons, Rothchild, and Sarah simply walk off and continue their daily routine leaving you stuck there. This makes the good ending impossible to finish, effectively defaulting you to blowing up the Citadel, as doing so does not involve a speech at the end. (PC)
 * Fix for this issue: After the game loads the Citadel and you are stuck at this screen, open the console via the tilde "~" key and type "enableplayercontrols". This should give you control over your character, and then you can run to Elder Lyons and talk to him, thus completing the quest.


 * Paladin Tristan does not appear at quest marker for "death from above"
 * fix - type in the console prid xx005689 (enter) next type enable (enter) he should appear walking at you from the broken truck.


 * Game crashes while trying to exit the purifier after talking to Scribe Bigsley. Game then crashes whenever player tries to zone to the Purifier thereafter, even from previous saved games.


 * When level 20 reached the skill or perk screen never show up and the player stays at level 19 while his exp. keeps rising past the max.


 * In Broken Steel, after the 2 weeks later cut scene your character gets stuck unable to move.
 * fix - save the game while stuck, then load it. It should make elder lyons pop up in front of you. Then, open up the console and type in EnablePlayerControls. That should give you control of your character again and you should be able to talk to lyons and progress.


 * During the quest Shock Value, upon entering Old Olney, the game freezes leaving no other choice but to reboot the computer.


 * Despite having finished the main quest for the add-on, when returning to Jefferson Memorial the water is not flowing from the pipes. Also, Liberty Prime is still there killing randomly spawning Enclave soldiers and Sentry Bots. Also Jefferson Memorial no longer has a map marker, the only way to get there is via foot.


 * After the 2 weeks cut scene any attempt to hack the medical computer freezes the game on Windows 7.


 * When a NPC drinks FEV infected water (in combat, usually), you'll get the message "Continued consumption of FEV laced water will be fatal" as if you had drunk it yourself.

Minor

 * GNR may begin playing information about the completed Project Purity, discussing plot details ahead of time. (confirmed PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
 * Liberty Prime may not hit the wall to the relay station, and the wall may just fall apart without any motion from Prime a few seconds later. (unconfirmed)
 * Follower could not leave the room that the player appears in after Take It Back! Pushing the follower through the open doorway fixes the problem. (unconfirmed)
 * Some followers do not appear beside your bed when you wake up after completing take it back. To repair this you can exit the area, re-enter and they will be waiting beside your hospital bed in the citadel. (unconfirmed)
 * Star Paladin Cross refuses to follow you when she appears beside your hospital bed in the citadel after you've completed take it back. After telling her to follow you she stays put, yet her dialogue options change as if she was following you. The only way to repair this is to fire and re-hire her. (confirmed Xbox 360, PC, PS3)
 * PC console solution:, ,
 * problem is, her 'waiting' flag doesn't get reset, she misses the first part of her dialogue most probably due to 'StarPaladinCrossHasBeenHired' flag in Followers quest being 0. No idea how to fix it without a mod (can't assign value to quest variable from console). You will have to use this solution after every time you tell her to wait.


 * Paladin Bael, the unnamed boss paladin (RefID=b8759) and the Sentry Bot (RefID=71730) in front of the Citadel main gate disappear after Take It Back! quest is completed. (Xbox 360 & PC versions) This can be fixed on the PC through the console. Raider will spawn when fast traveling to citadel and attack you and continue to respawn every three days. (PC)
 * The game freezes upon reaching level 21, distributing skill points and picking a perk. Possible freeze occurring at lower levels on PC.
 * After installation of both the official 1.5 Patch and the Broken Steel DLC, the radio stations disappear from the radio menu and will not play on any of the radios in the Wasteland.
 * Dogmeat dialog has 'Goodbye, Dogmeat' instead of 'Let s go, Dogmeat'.
 * Holy Water Pamphlet: If you stand in front of your door house and take & read the note saving the game and then reloading the game, the note will appear again. The same will appear on any other door that the note exist. Found out on Xbox 360 and PC versions.
 * After finishing the last quest Who Dares Wins and your back on Citadel. Go on Lab section and you will find Liberty Prime body parts. His head is near the two Tesla Cannons. If you go back to Satellite Relay Station his head will still be there too and you still talk with Prime. Result that there are two Liberty Prime Head in the game meaning that this is a bug. Found out on PC version
 * When fast traveling to megaton with a mind controlled deathclaw it will appear alongside you and will attempt to kill the inhabitants (and will most likely succeed). (PC)
 * Feral Ghoul Reavers upper bodies may start spinning around with such speed that they cannot be manually targeted, while lower body behaves and moves normally. Most likely related to the glitch that they cannot be damaged. (PC, 1.5)
 * Aqua Pura crates were in front Evergreen Mills, even though the purifier hadn't been activated yet - James hadn't even been rescued from Tranquility Lane. (Xbox 360 and PC)
 * GNR just repeats the different introduction to the news. (confirmed)

PlayStation 3 version glitches

 * When using V.A.T.S in Old Olney the game froze when using a Heavy Incinerator. But it did unstick after 10 seconds or so.
 * Broken Steel has suddenly made the framerate very sloppy.
 * Fawkes randomly disappeared while wandering the wasteland (after completing all main quests, no quest was active at the time), there was no message saying "Fawkes has died!", and he cannot be found at The Underworld, Vault 101, Megaton, The Citadel or Project Purity. Reloading the game save does not appear to solve the problem.
 * Once installed broken steel DLC water in the basin remains irradiated.
 * When playing through the Satellite Relay Station in "Death From Above" Cross and the rest of the BoS members disappear. When in combat their voices can be heard but they do not aid in combat and are nowhere to be found. Fast travelling recovered Cross, and Paladin Tristan appeared back at the Citadel after completion of "Death from Above".
 * The Rockland Car Tunnel icon does appear on the world map.
 * Once you reach level 21 the game may freeze and you are forced to load the last save, but will crash once again.
 * As the player levels throughout the extra ten levels their karma title will not change.
 * In the trophies section, the images for Messiah and True Mortal are switched.

Gameplay

 * Upon completing the Broken Steel DLC, when one goes to start through the quest "The Amazing Aqua Cura", Fawkes may be dead and stuck under the table that holds the cash register.
 * After downloading BS, Pitt, OP A, 1.5 patch, and load of a save game will not allow travel to the southwestern portion of the map. Game either freezes while fast travel loading, loads forever, or if you try to run there, will freeze when nearing the southwestern portion of the map. Makes BS unusable.
 * In order to fix this, you need to clear the cache on your HDD. According to Bethesda, you go to the settings tab, then select memory, then press y for device options. Next, you press X, X, LB, RB, X, X. It will ask you if you want to perform maintenance. Select yes and let it do its thing. When you start the game, it will have cleared the old patches and re-download the latest.
 * When you beat the final chapter, the "2 weeks later" never appears, and the "Settings" menu, and downloads area, become "sticky" and glitchy.
 * During The American Dream quest as you approach Elder Lyons, you freeze in place and are stuck there unless you load up a previous save. You cannot draw your weapons, talk to Elder Lyons, move, activate V.A.T.S, or talk to anyone who passes by you.


 * Broken Steel has a bug on the Xbox 360 version, stopping players from activating Project Purity. Sarah Lyons becomes stuck on dialogue (when you choose not to kill col. Autumn) and does not initiate the dialogue choice of who should activate the purifier. Alternatively, if you do, she simply states "Let's make sure the control is secure before we do anything else," and will not continue. However, it is still possible to level up to level 30 and the improved enemies can still be found throughout the Wasteland.
 * After getting the Puppies! perk, there is a reported incident of no longer being able to hire any follower other than Dogmeat's Puppy, even if the puppy is dead or outside Vault 101. Someone has created a mod fix for users of the PC version: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6208. A related incident found that--on at least one occasion--if the player character kills Dogmeat's Puppy, even accidentally, the puppies appear to stop respawning and the player still will not be able to add any other followers.
 * After Broken Steel update, during Those! quest while in Marigold Station, player can become permanently stuck in VATS while action continues very slowly in background.
 * Clover vanished after the events of Take it Back!, much later in the Broken Steel quest line a message said she returned to Paradise Falls, but cannot be re-hired.
 * Upon completing Who Dares Wins, if no content from Operation Anchorage DLC is being carried on the player's person, Aiding the Outcasts may become a marked mission once again, and all Operation Anchorage DLC ingame item content will disappear. This forces you to redo all the missions of Operation Anchorage.
 * Once you reach the level "21" the game will freeze and you are forced to load the last save, but will crash once again.
 * 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.
 * After level up from 20 to 21 new chosen perk and skills are not saved while level does go up to 21.
 * An exploit for unlimited BoS armor, holotags, Enclave armor, and weapons (including the occasional BoS Paladin equipped with a Tesla Cannon) during the initial assault on Adams AFB. Just before you cross onto the runway after the deathclaw cages, BoS and Enclave troops are seen battling behind the blue pulse repulsion field. You can then cross onto the runway and either kill or wait for the Enclave to kill the BoS troops to collect their items. However, the fallen bodies disappear after about 10 seconds. The troops will respawn when you cross through the wrecked hangar back towards the deathclaw cages. This can be repeated to your heart's desire.


 * After installation of Broken Steel Scribe Rothchild disappears after giving him a few Cameras.
 * After installation of Broken Steel unable to give Scribe Jameson Holotags.

Minor glitches

 * Adams Air Force Base map glitch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXtFfZDqD3w), walk outside the map on Xbox 360
 * GNR may begin playing information about the completed Project Purity, discussing plot details ahead of time.
 * Unable to save games in Fallout 3 after Broken Steel has been downloaded (Xbox 360 version). Doing so creates "Disc is Unreadable" error. Autosave still works. After getting the "Unreadable" error, cannot get to the loading screen to load another saved point.
 * Enclave mind-controlled deathclaws attack PC even if the player has the deathclaw mind control device on them.
 * Paladin Bael, the unnamed boss paladin and the Sentry Bot in front of the Citadel main gate disappear after Take It Back! quest is completed.
 * Upon Entering Craterside Supply; Billy Creel, Harden Simms, Moira Brown and the Mercenary all fell through the floor. Upon moving in any direction, your character will fall through the floor.
 * You cannot leave the Tenpenny Tower penthouse without the game locking up.
 * Holy Water Pamphlet : If you stand in front of your door house and take & read the note saving the game and then reloading the game, the note will appear again. The same will appear on any other door that the note exist.
 * Aqua Pura crates were in front Evergreen Mills, even though the purifier hadn't been activated yet - James hadn't even been rescued from Tranquility Lane.
 * Upon entering the purifier airlock at the end of Take it back, followers going in with the player in may vanish permanently after the "Two weeks later" cutscene.
 * All creature companions (Sergeant RL-3, Fawkes, and Dogmeat) are nearly invincible when first hired. They will still be the same if hired BEFORE downloading Broken Steel however.
 * After completing the final quest and talking to Elder Lyons about giving him supplies to rebuild Prime, he vanishes and is nowhere to be seen. Rothchild may vanish the same way.
 * Liberty Prime's head is still where it died even though you can see it in the Citadel Laboratory, so it is in two spots at once.
 * If you get the Puppies! perk, you may be unable to recruit any followers, saying you may only have one follower at a time. This may be because the puppy is considered a follower, instead of whatever you would call Dogmeat, because he can come with you no matter how many followers you have. This glitch may occur even if the puppy is still waiting at Vault 101.
 * A way to fix this is to take the puppy to the follower you want, kill the puppy, and immediately talk to the follower before you get the message that the puppy is at the vault. Note: if you are trying to get Star Paladin Cross or Fawkes, make sure you have high karma before attempting this, because you will lose karma for killing the puppy, making it possible to have to gain more karma, kill the puppy, then recruit the follower.