Repair List (Fallout 3)

Item repair in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas primarily utilizes a type of form list known as a repair list to determine which items are eligible for any certain item to be repaired with.

Characteristics
Each item has an entry point in the G.E.C.K. (editor) that allows the developers to assign a specific repair form list. Every item that can be repaired can always be repaired by it's own likenesses, e.g. a silenced 10mm pistol can always be repaired with any other silenced 10mm pistol. The repair lists will specify which, if any, other items are eligible to be used for repair.

Populated items
The repair form lists are usually populated by items that are similar to each other, e.g. the Fallout 3 form list Repair10mmPistol is populated with:
 * 10mm pistol
 * Silenced 10mm pistol
 * Colonel Autumn's 10mm pistol
 * Butch's 10mm pistol

These items are all eligible to be used to repair any item that uses this form list for item repair. The items that use the Repair10mmPistol repair list are:


 * 10mm pistol
 * Silenced 10mm pistol
 * Colonel Autumn's 10mm pistol
 * Butch's 10mm pistol
 * Sonora Cruz's 10mm pistol
 * Silenced 10mm pistol test gun
 * Simulation 10mm pistol
 * Simulation silenced 10mm pistol
 * DLC02 test gun
 * Alloy steel 10mm pistol
 * Alloy steel silenced 10mm pistol

Any of these items that use the form list Repair10mmPistol can be repaired with any of the items that populate the form list. You may note that it is possible to repair a regular 10mm pistol with the unique Colonel Autumn's 10mm pistol. This situation was avoided in Fallout: New Vegas by not including unique items in the form lists, only allowing them to use the form lists populated with the common variants of these items.