Forum:Important question about respawning!

Hello!

I have an important question, which relates to respawning.

I have installed Fallout 3 on my computer about 9 months ago and quickly became obsessed with it. After a couple of months, I formatted my computer and installed Fallout 3 again - using the same files (Fallout 3 + patch 1.7 + Broken Steel). Basically, everything was the same as before formatting. And of course, I used my old savegames to continue playing, since I am far from finishing the main quest.

Here's the problem: after formatting + installing Fallout 3, I noticed that there was loot in containers I ALREADY emptied! Not in all of them, most were empty, but some contained caps, ammo or cartons of cigarettes. Interestingly enough, none of the containers respawned junk which is used to make custom weapons (conductors, vacuum cleanres, sensor modules etc.). Only ammo, caps or cigarette cartons.

Since I am VERY thorough in checking any type of container I come across and looting from it whatever I need, I am 100% sure that caps, ammo and cigarette cartons RESPAWNED! Also, I don't have any kind of perk that would enable me to find more caps/ammo in containers than usually.

Has anybody encountered this problem before? I mean, I tried searching the internet for information on this, but I found absolutely none. Everybody just said, that items do not respawn in containers. Well - what's this, then?

If anybody has an answer to this, I would appreciate it very much!

lifer26

Well, i play on PS3, but i think this might just be a glitch when you formatted it, but hey, why worry about it? You have lots of caps and ammo.i put a picture of a different game on a Fallout wiki and there nothin you can do bout it 12:14, May 6, 2010 (UTC)

I dunno...I don't think it has to do with formatting the computer. And what really suprises me is that I didn't manage to find anybody with a similar problem...

The thing is that in my opinion, respawning of ammo/caps makes this great game too easy...I play it on "very hard" level already, since I have so many experience with these type of games that I really want it to be as tough as possible. Might seem stupid, I know, but that's the reason.


 * I thought junk items were supposed to respawn in containers. That's why you shouldn't store your important stuff in them, because it'll disappear. Like if you don't have the house/apartment yet, there are certain places and containers that won't respawn things in them, and there are ones that do. Riiight? Maybe I imagined this.

18:42, May 6, 2010 (UTC)

I think you are half right, Spork, things do disappear, but I think that is a fixable glitch. But, no, I have not seen things respawn, even in respawning areas like raider camps. Big McLargeHuge 18:49, May 6, 2010 (UTC)

Based on my gameplay experience, I would say that in majority of the containers, things don't respawn. It has NEVER happened to me that I would loot a container, come back after a long time (in-game days) and find it full again - original items duplicated. That was never the problem. In my experience, once you loot a container, the items you took from it are gone. Forever. Of course, if you left some useless junk in it, it also stays there. Forever.

But, it does happen to me that I re-visit looted containers and find caps & ammo in them. As I said in one of my earlier posts, I am very thorough in checking the containers. I usually kill all the enemies and then check all of the containers. And I check'em at least once.

So, the question is, once again:

"Is it possible that certain items, like caps & ammo, respawn in certain containers?"

TNX for your help, lifer 26

I'm a console gamer, so I can't give you a definitive answer, but I'm pretty sure interior containers don't respawn. If you have a problem with difficulty, there are plenty of mods that make the game harder. JK1464 04:47, May 8, 2010 (UTC)

OK, let me give you an example: I cleaned out ALL of the containers in National Archives. 2 - 3 days later, I come back, some of them are full again. Different stuff inside, though. So - WTF?! What puzzles me the most is that I HAVE NOT FOUND ABSOLUTELY ANYONE with similar problem!!! Not on this forum, not anywhere else!

lifer26


 * Do you have perks like Fortune Finder or Scrounger? Maybe they cause those items to respawn in containers?

19:52, May 8, 2010 (UTC)

No, I don't have any perks of this kind...none whatsoever.

lifer26


 * My only other guess is that your game data cache (not the save files) got deleted when you re-installed the game (which would have happened), and that reset the items in boxes/whatever. Except... I don't know if this happens on consoles, I haven't looked. I guess PCs have game data caches, I just don't know where they are or how they work? But my only guess left is that the game cache getting deleted reset some of the containers.

04:45, May 10, 2010 (UTC)

There have been many times where I think I have fully scavved an area, only to find a box I missed. Sometimes, it is easy to miss when the only thing you have to indicate is just a little 'empty' title. Perhaps it is the chache buffer data purge thingy, but it is something I have never seen. Do you have ANY mods whatsoever? That could conflict, if there are any containers added. Big McLargeHuge 06:08, May 10, 2010 (UTC)

OK, let me give you an example. Currently, I am in the Museum of History. I have killed all the Ghouls and checked all of the containers - I took from the containers everything that was useful to me. At some point, I saved my game, exited the game, checked my email account and went back to playing the game. Guess what - some of the containers were full again. What the hell?!

As for the data cache deletion...I have formatted my computer numerous times, whilst in the middle of game progress - not Fallout 3, but any game I have played in the past. When I put my old saves in the appropriate "save" folder of a newly installed game, everything was in order. Why should Fallout 3 be any different? Also - I'm no expert, but I've never heard of a "game data cache" in relation to PCs.

Oh, I do have a mod installed...Broken Steel. But that's it. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, game configuration - as far as the game installation data, updates and mods are concerned - is exactly the same as it was before computer formatting. So...I don't think that's the problem. Then again, I could be wrong.

Also, I tried reinstalling everything a couple of times...didn't help. I'm out of ideas...please help!

lifer26

I have had the same experience, though I play on the 360, so it's not related to deleting and reinstalling the game and using an old save. I'll attempt to get some hard numbers on it at Rivet City in the hallway- the filing cabinets there definitely do respawn "desk trash" plus ammo and caps. I've noticed that it happens more often when I'm away from the city for a long time- if I leave and come back over the course of a few days (in-game), they don't respawn. That was where I first noticed it... I fully looted every cabinet in the hall (since there were merchants right around the corner), came back a looooooong time later, and many were full again. 99.6.39.6 20:31, May 11, 2010 (UTC)

Interesting...the only thing I know for sure is that this problem occured AFTER reinstalling the game (which was after computer formatting). Now, I know that Fallout 3 is supposed to be full of bugs/glitches, but I as far as I was concerned, I had zero problems with the game. Until reinstallation and subsequent usage of old saves.

lifer26

I just chalked it up to Paulie Cantelli. ;) 99.6.39.6 16:54, May 12, 2010 (UTC)