Fallout: New Vegas exploits

Exploits are "holes" in the game programming which allow a player to do something that the developers did not intend and as such, alter the balance of the game in a way that benefits the player. These differ from the console commands created by developers to aid in testing and debugging the game. Information on console commands may be found at Fallout: New Vegas console commands.

Experience Via Skill Challenges

 * During the quest Come Fly With Me, when Chris Haversam requires Isotope-239 igniting agent, you can travel to Novac and ask Cliff Briscoe about the toy rockets. While doing this, there's a speech check that you can repeat to earn the speech challenges and for steam, the trophy/achievement Outstanding Orator.


 * During the Three-Card Bounty quest, after killing the Fiends speaking to Major Dhatri about 10 of Spades and Corporal Betsy provides two speech checks (Speech 35 and 46 resepectively) that may be repeated for 20xp.


 * In the Vault 11 sacrificial chamber, one may access the mainframe in the room to the left after sitting through the presentation by Vault-Tec. Once accessed, every time the third option is selected, 550xp is gained. If the player chooses the Here and Now perk at any point afte performing this exploit, any subsequent level-ups will not occur.


 * After accepting the quest Flags of Our Foul-Ups from Sgt. McCredie in Camp Golf and talking to O'Hanrahan and about helping the squad, he'll ask the player to talk to the Misfits. This will open a speech check with Razz (Speech 40) that may be repeated for 40xp.


 * Speaking to Mr. House yields a medicine check (Medicine 35) that repeatedly yields 35xp.


 * Speaking to Mr. House about retrieving the Platinum chip yields a barter check (Barter 50) that will provide 50xp everytime the dialog path is completed.


 * Prior to saving Deputy Beagle in Primm, the player must speak to Manny Vargas in Novac. The player will now be presented with a speech check (Speech 40) which may be repeated for 40xp. Should the player speak to Beagle prior to talking to Vargas, the check will not be repeatable.


 * During Oh My Papa, speaking with Jack in the Red Rock Drug Lab will yield a repeatable speech check (Speech 60) that provides 60xp. This exploit may be used to "break" the level cap.


 * After returning the data for Dr. Hildern during There Stands the Grass, talking to Dr. Williams provides a speech check (Speech 25). This option appears after asking her "What do you think of Dr. Hildern?". The conversation may be repeated unlimited times.


 * The player must first agree to kill Ringo for the Run Goodsprings Run quest, kill him, and return to Joe Cobb. Upon returning to Cobb, one must then agree to shake down Chet for supplies. The player must then kill all the gang members, including Joe Cobb for good Karma (this results failing the quest). Despite the quest being failed, the player may still go to Chet in the Goodsprings General Store and ask him to donate supplies to the Powder Gangers. The player may choose either the Barter check (Barter 25) or the Speech check (Speech 25). Both choices may be used repeatedly, granting 25xp per use. The checks also provide Powder Gangers fame, Leather Armor, and 9mm rounds which may be sold back to Chet. Each of the dead Powder Gangers, with the exception of Joe Cobb, will receive Leather Armor, yielding 5x more Leather Armor. This exploit may also be used with Doc Mitchell, but the Spare medical supplies he gives the player cannot be sold or dropped.

Experience Via Combat

 * The Mister Sandman perk may be utilized on the children in Bitter Springs. The child will not die, but the player will still recieve 50 xp.

Miscellaneous Experience Exploits

 * The player will earn a varying amount of xp every time a mantis foreleg is moved between a player's inventory and a container. The amount of xp granted is based on the xp value of the last insect that the item is removed from, not the xp value of the original insect.


 * After killing Big Sal during How Little We Know, the player may continue to gain experience by punching his corpse. Each punch earns 50xp.


 * Tipping brahmin counts towards the Knocked Up challenge. This challenge can be completed unlimited times by getting into sneak mode and activating a brahmin, ie: using the A button on an Xbox 360, thus knocking it down. Repeat 100 times for 75xp each time the challenge is completed. One suggested place to do this is in the little corral at the Crimson Caravan's office. Knock down a brahmin several times and push it up against a wall of some sort and repeat.

Complimentary Voucher Stacking

 * When dropped, Complimentary voucher remain in mid-air, ignoring gravity. Exploiting this permits the creation of "stairs" allowing access to many areas previously unreachable.

Agility Stat Boost

 * After finding the Sierra Madre Vending Machine codes needed to return casualwear (and related lightweight apparel that gives a +1 boost to Agility), you can raise your Agility well beyond normal limits. Simply equip the casualwear and then turn it in to the vending machine. The clothing will be removed from your inventory, but the +1 Agility boost will remain added to your stats. This exploit can be repeated any number of times, adding +1 with every equipped clothing item you return.

Unlimited grenades

 * If Christine is locked in the Switching Station for the Mixed Signals quest, she sets traps in the Executive Suites during Last Luxuries. On the west side of the floor she sets a tripwire and frag grenade trap. The grenades can be disarmed and collected an unlimited number of times.

Unlimited XP Gain

 * After completing the Gala event, Dog/God provides a repeatable Speech check. When speaking to God, the player must ask why they are here and why the collars have not been set off. With a speech skill of 75, the player may speculate that the Pip-Boy is boosting the signal. This speech check is not marked as such but will provide 75xp. This dialouge path may be repeated an unlimited number of times.

Easy "Sierra Souvenir Aficionado" Achievement

 * By repeatedly dropping Sierra Madre chips and picking them back up, the player will quickly earn the achievement and additional XP bonus challenge without having to actually locate/win the required amount of chips.

War club glitch

 * When performing a forward power attack with a fully upgraded war club, the player is rocketed forward. If this is used repeatedly, one may actually move far faster than with a holstered weapon.


 * Using this same exploit, should a player charge into any form of ramp (IE: steps, curbs), the player may be launched into the air, possibly high enough to perish from the resulting fall damange.

Skilled trait glitch
Also note that if levelling a character to 50 within the tutorial area using an exploit taking the Skilled trait will slow the process by 10% - over 8000 25 point speech checks!
 * When starting the game, one may choose the Skilled trait to gain +5 to every skill at the cost of earning 10% less XP throughout the game. When leaving the tutorial area, should the player rebuild their character and choose the Skilled trait again, one will gain an additional +5 to every skill (for a total of +10 total per skill) while still only suffering a 10% XP penalty. Note that you will lose 10% of your earned XP; at lower levels this may not be noticable but a level 50 character that chooses Skilled when leaving the tutorial area will become level 47. The perk may be taken a third time during Old World Blues through the Auto-Doc's mental examination adding a further 5 points per skill, however your XP is not reset (e.g. you can't get extra perks).

Unlimited EXP gain

 * The X-42 giant robo-scorpion may be repeatedly disabled via the Robotics Expert perk. Shortly after being disabled, the robot regains function.

Level Cap Increase (PS3)

 * After beating Old World Blues and reaching the increased level cap of 35 the player appears to be unable to level up any more. On PS3 however, you can increase your level cap by deleting the game data utility of Fallout New Vegas, but not the DLC of Old World Blues. The player must then download the 236MB patch and allow it to install. There will then be a 22MB patch that needs to download, the player cancels this download and disables their PS3 internet connection. They can now enter Fallout New Vegas and load up their level 35 character. A message should appear stating that their level cap has been increased by 5 and they should even receive 100xp. The player's new level cap is now 40.

NOTE: The player may need to load up the game once before downloading the 236MB patch for this to work. It is also unknown at this point if this can be repeated multiple times to further increase the level cap beyond 40.

Money

 * Upon recruiting Fisto to work for the Garrets as their "sexbot", the player may talk to the robot about provided services. Upon exiting the conversation, the player will be granted 10 caps. This may be repeated unlimited times.


 * Should the courier drop more than 32,768 (2^15) of any casino's chips, the game's engine glitches. Upon retrieving them, the player receives a negative number of chips that may be traded for caps, NCR, or Legion money. The exploit may also be done with values higher than 32,768 but the number of "negative" chips received is inversely proportional to the number of chips dropped. Dropping 33,000 chips will give you close to -32,000 chips. Every time the chips are turned in, the player will will gain that amount, only in positive numbers. Bear in mind: when picked up, the chips will not show up in the player inventory anymore, but may be turned in for money over and over. Pressing the [start] button will end the exploit, and you will need to redo everything.


 * When cashing in chips from the Vikki and Vance Casino, the chips will not be removed from the player inventory but the currency (caps, NCR, or Legion money) will still be acquired. Using this method, the player may repeatedly "cash in" without ever losing any chips.

Big MT Caps exploit
It is recommended that the player have the Jury Rigging perk before attempting this. By killing and looting lobotomites at Ulysses' Point, The Cuckoo's Nest, the X-7a "Left Field" artillery launch, and the X-2 transmitter antenna array the player will recieve a number of valuable weapons. The player should use the Toaster to super-heat any Saturnite fists. The player may then sell these to weapons vendors with higher cap pools such as the Sink, Gun Runners, Sgt. Contreras in Camp McCarran, and the Great Khan armory near Bonnie Springs. By the time all weapons have been sold, the lobotomites have usually had enough time to respawn. Using this route, the player will avoid all nightstalkers, cazadores, and cyberdogs; reducing the number of stimpaks consumed while maximizing the number of higher yield NPCs encountered. If done correctly, one commonly earns between 25,000 and 50,000 caps per real-time hour.

Barter and Repair exploitation

 * Vendor exploit: 100% weapons and armor...as with Fallout 3, the player can sell damaged weapons and armor to vendors who already have at least one copy of same item in their inventory...after completing sale (i.e. getting caps) repurchase item (rinse and repeat) depending on how many of same items vendor started with, player will eventually be able to purchase item at low quality cost...then have 100% fully repaired item in their inventory which they can now either keep or sell back at 100% value. This exploit allows players to clean out vendors of their inventory without spending a cap i.e. ammunition shortages will rarely be a problem assuming player uses exploit whenever he/she gets a chance. Profit from the sale is the difference between the current condition of the weapon and the full 100% condition of the weapon so choose a very damaged weapon to buy/sell.
 * Note: appears to only work if player starts with only 1 copy of item in their own inventory...not working? Confirm you do not have a "stolen" item or hidden duplicate in your inventory.
 * To avoid glitches in Fallout 3 and New Vegas choose a lightweight, high value item. Get 2 of them and repair one to 100% and break the other. This way you can carry your own items that few, if any, Merchants will glitch on and you won't have to hope they have a broken version of the good item you may be carrying. You can now sell the 100% item first then the broken one. Buy the broken one back and you will receive the fully repaired item, then buy the broken one again and you will receive that one. This can also be done with MULTIPLE fully repaired items, but it runs the risk of becoming glitched. Using this you can clean out any merchant, the Big MT Sink or Lonesome Road commissary units.

Resetting Vendor Inventory/Cash

 * If a player saves the game when in the same cell as a vendor and restarts the game, the vendor will have restocked it's inventory.

Caravan

 * With the 1.02 patch, Cliff Briscoe, Johnson Nash, Lacey, and Quartermaster Mayes have been limited to five games of caravan apiece. However, the player can still reverse-pickpocket caps into the inventory of non-merchant non-player characters who play caravan (such as No-bark Noonan or Isaac). This allows the player to exploit the 'double caps' bug.
 * Any trader who plays Caravan can be exploited for caps. There seems to be a logic error that involves all the different types of currency, if you buy everything so that you have no caps you can still gamble with your NCR and Legion money, the game gives you back all the money in caps. If you continue to do this until the trader has 20 to 30k it never diminishes his/her total caps. You can keep feeding the trader more caps by buying and selling items.
 * You can reverse pick-pocket Dale Barton at The Fort and add caps to his inventory, and he will bet the caps, but they will not be removed from his inventory if you win. Using this method, money may be repeatedly duplicated. It has been reported that winning larger amounts of caps (around the area of 5000000 and up) causes the game to crash.

Weapons

 * If a player enters and then exits VATS while wielding an anti-material rifle equipped with incendiary ammo, the target will be lit on fire as though they were shot at.


 * If a player loots an enemy's weapon while wielding the Alien Blaster, any ammo carried by the enemy will be converted to alien power cells.


 * When using round-by-round reloading weapons, the slow speed can be remedied by having more than one ammunition type and quickly tapping the change ammunition type button. This will instantly load the weapon with a single piece of ammunition.


 * Break a missile launcher, but break it by your hand, when you fire the last missile and it says the message and takes away the weapon; now after the message appears and it takes the weapon go to pipboy, weapons, select a weapon depending on the ammunition you broke your launcher with.
 * If you had regular missiles equipped it will let you throw down as many placed explosives as you had regular missile ammunition.
 * If you choose to break if using HE or HV rounds, you will be able to throw the missiles by equipping a throwing spear or like weapon, even with C-4 plastic explosive.


 * During the Brotherhood of Steel quest line the player is informed that they may have some of the Brotherhood's recharged energy cells/microfusion cells. Every time the cell is reloaded, the container will be filled regardless of the amount of time passed.
 * One may find any weapon that would otherwise be in bad condition, fully repaired. By saving prior to picking the weapon up and reloading the game, the game glitches and registers the weapon as fully repaired. This only works for weapons spawned on the ground, not weapons dropped by the player or NPCs.


 * While on the weapons page, hot key the weapon with the ammo type you wish to hotkey. While still holding the hot key button, navigate to the ammo page and hot key the ammo of your choice. Now equip any weapon and press the ammo's hotkey button. The weapon will remain equipped up the ammo will change. All effects from the ammo retained. Guns that run on microfusion breeders do not need ammo to fire, only the initial hot key. Loading a save disables the glitch. Most, but not all combinations will work (IE: a Laser Detonator with Tiny Tots. The ammo can be added to melee and unarmed weapons as well, and they will not consume ammo. Throwing weapons and mines are also effected, and will allow you to "throw" the ammo. By using 12ga, 4/0 buck will fire multiple shots from the weapon. When combined with placed explosives (IE: C-4 plastic explosive), multiple explosives will be created, and only the 12g, 4/0 buck will be consumed. This permits quick multiplication of said explosives.

Loot

 * The following is a list of respawning characters that carry valuable equipment:
 * The two guards outside the Gun Runners factory wear combat armor and carry a hunting rifle, all in roughly 50% condition.
 * NCR veteran Rangers wear armor worth up to 7500 caps and spawn at Camp Forlorn Hope, Camp Golf, House Resort, and many of the Ranger Stations.


 * If you decide to not ally with Caesar's Legion at the Fort, you have a chance to gain an unlimited supply of Legion money, armor, and weapons, as well as a possible source of infinite 12.7mm ammunition and 12.7mm SMGs. After clearing out the main area of The Fort and searching the bodies, find the corpse of the Legion Decanus and carry it to the drawbridge where you entered the area from. Drop the body and activate the drawbridge, which takes you to the outer area of The Fort. Immediately turn around and go through the drawbridge again. Check the body of the Decanus and he should have his weapon, ammunition, armor, and the spent shell casings he was carrying even if you had already cleared off his body. Repeat as many times as desired. Also works with all other human non-player characters in the area with the exception of the Praetorian Guard.


 * On the quest Come Fly With Me after informing Jason Bright that you've gotten rid of the nightkin and everyone runs to the basement, a Bright follower in a Space Suit will walk instead of run when they're in the basement. If you kill him before he gets to the rockets you will be able to get a second Space Suit. When you comeback after finding the thrust modules and rocket fuel, and Jason gives his speech go back to the bright followers corpse and another space suit will have spawned on it.

Perks

 * If a perk has a required skill level which you can reach with one level's worth of skill points (e.g. Animal friend has a Survival requirement of 45 and your current Survival skill is 40), allocate your skill points to the number required, select the desired perk and return to the Skill point allocation screen. You can now reset your points and put them to whatever you want - the perk is still selected even though you no longer meet the requirement.

Extra perks

 * If a player reaches the level limit prior to leaving the tutorial boundaries surrounding Goodsprings (through any of the listed experience exploits), they have the oppurtunity to reset their character's level to 1 while still keeping most (though not all) of their perks. To do this, one must attempt to leave the tutorial's boundaries and select "Rebuild Character". After rechoosing all stats, the player will return to level one but still have most of his/her perks. Also, if the player changes the character's sex during the rebuild, they can get both Action Girl and Action Boy to rank 2.

Companions

 * In the middle of battle, talk to your companion. Select the "Stay at a Distance/Stay Close" option twice, then exit the companion wheel. When you exit, your companion's health should be fully restored (although sometimes it requires the command to be pressed rapidly four or five times).


 * By giving a companion ammo in smaller portions of 2 or 3, one may place more ammo in a companions inventory than they would normally be able to carry.


 * When a companion is given the 1st Recon Beret they are granted the normal 5% critical chance bonus. If the player then toggles between ranged and Melee attack modes in the companion wheel, the companion will gain an additional 5% bonus. This may be repeated 18 more times for a 100% critical strike chance. The effect remains until the beret is removed.


 * Prior to one's visit to The Fort, a player can leave companions in wait mode. Upon exiting Caesar's tent, the companion will "teleport" to the player. The companion retains his/her inventory, allowing for an easier way to complete Challenges such as Historical Propriety, Against All Tyrants, and Even a God-King Can Bleed.

Recruit all humanoid companions at once

 * To perform this exploit, the player must recruit Veronica Santangelo and trigger her quest I Could Make You Care. When Veronica opens dialogue, one must tell her that you do not have time right now and then fire her. If the player then hires another companion and talks to her, she requests that the courier take her to Hidden Valley. If the player declines with the first negative response, they will get a notification saying Veronica's "Scribe Assistant" perk has been lost, opening an additional companion slot. The player need only recruit another companion and repeat.
 * Through use of this exploit, companions may be brought into add-ons and other areas that perform "companion checks".
 * Non-active companions will not be stripped of weapons when entering casinos.

Karma

 * Flame damage (damage over time) kills do not count against your karma.


 * Just like in Fallout 3, you attack an opponent and not kill it then have a companion finish it off and no karma will be lost. (most of the time)

Achievements/Challenges

 * While in Freeside, the use of some doors (such as the Freeside's East Gate) will count as energy weapon kills upon loading the new area. This happens at random and cannot be controlled by the player.


 * When pick-pocketed, the residents of Vault 21 will retain possession of there items regardless of a pickpocketing success. This bug may be exploited to quickly complete the pickpocketing challenge.


 * Any ants killed with the Sonic Emitter during Ant Misbehavin' will count as being killed by the weapon that the Courier has currently equipped.


 * Deathclaw Pro Hunter: A deathclaw will be considered killed by dynamite if a burning stick is en-route at the moment in time the deathclaw dies of other reasons, such as a companion shooting it or mines it walks into. This stick of dynamite needs to be in-flight and not have landed anywhere.

Artificial Intelligence flaws

 * The artificial Intelligence governing deathclaws is unable to correctly determine when a player is within reach.
 * For example, deathclaws will not attack players if they are standing on the taller rocks or machinery, even when they are in reach. This flaw in the deathclaw AI can be exploited to safely kill these creatures at lower levels.

Barrel exploit
When a barrel is "squished" between two characters, the barrel will gain great speed and fly many yards away. In the process, both characters are damaged. When performed on NPCs by the player, the NPC will remain passive (assuming the character was passive to begin with).

Gaining access to Legate's camp

 * This point of interest can be reached early (pre-endgame) by getting out of the map near Bloodborne Cave and running around to the south/southwest side of Legate's Camp and its cliffs until you reach a sandy hillside which will pretty clearly lead to above Legate's Camp. Then follow the clifftops down to near the Legate's tent (the tent at the top of the winding staircase) & reach the cliff point as close to the center of the camp as possible. This will trigger your Pip-Boy as having discovered the location, allowing you to fast-travel to and from the camp as you wish. Traveling this route can make you get stuck because of the invisible walls.


 * Another way to enter this location early is to access it from the Dam directly. In order to do this you will need a lot of 5mm ammunition (this requires 5mm Staircases to be built). Walk across the dam along your left in the direction you would to the legate camp, until you come to a point where you can jump off the side (try to aim for the water). Once you hit the water, continue to proceed in that direction until you hit land again, and proceed along the wall until the wall meets a sloped surface and you can move no further. From here, you should build your first staircase out of the 5mm boxes. This is simple and should take no more than a minute. Once you get over this sloped surface, you'll see a huge drain. work your way down into that drain until you hit the bottom. Immediately looking to your left, you'll see a ladder. Go over to the ladder, climb it, and you will be on top of the drain across from where you originally were. From here, move along the outskirts of the top of the drain until you are at the road/bridge leading out of the dam. From here, just follow the main road uphill towards the legate camp. Keep moving until you hit the first of 3 gates. Use your 5mm boxes to hop all 3 (which is extremely frustrating and time consuming), and you'll be in. At the second gate, if you look to your right, you'll see a slope and to the left of it is a rock that you can get onto. Jump on the slope, drop a 5mm round and push it into the corner near the rock. Jump onto it and you will get onto the rock. You can get over the next two gates if you stick to the edge. You will most likely run into 3 legion soldiers, 2 on the other side of the wall, armed with a rifle and an axe. After that, outside the camp walls, you will run into a guard armed with a ballistic fist. By killing him and taking his attire, you will be disguised from the 15-20 legion soldiers, including the guards. Once you make it inside this camp, you will be able to fast travel in and out as you please. Unfortunately, you will not be able to kill the end boss as he is not present until the last mission.


 * In order to do this you will need at least one companion, lots of stimpaks, an unarmed weapon like the power fist or zap glove, and not be playing on hardcore mode. First take your companion to the location you want to get out of(must be an angled wall or cliff) then you push them as close to the wall as you can. Next you will use your power fist and punch them towards the wall making them slightly go up it. Then you will use your fists and go into V.A.T.S. and target your companion, hitting them once which should bring you right next to them (make sure to heal them after this step or they will get knocked out and you will have to start this exploit over again). Then you reequip your power fist again hitting them farther up the wall and repeat the V.A.T.S. step to get farther up the wall and continue doing those steps to get up over the wall. Works great on the east side right behind the main dam part of Hoover Dam to get to the Legate's Camp.2562877728 c93d6a89d3.jpg

Armor hopping
If you press grab just a few milliseconds after jump standing on a piece of armor you can jump on it repeatably to get high off the ground. This glitch can be used to get to out of bounds, or places you are not supposed to be able to, like Legate's Camp. While this glitch is undoubtedly harder on the consoles, it is not fixed as the Xbox 360 status had suggested. It simply requires very precise timing.

Utilizing patched exploits
Any exploits that have been flagged as "Fixed" or "Patched" may still be used if the pertinent patches are deleted. Doing so, however, may also remove access to add-ons until the patches are re-installed.