Talk:Shalebridge/Archive 1

My game didn't freeze or have issues re-entering the tunnels after searching an invader ant... and I've retested it without being able to get a freeze or crash too. Do you have any mods running that might be causing those issues? Bloodwars 00:16, 5 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I have encountered the problem on 360, so the issue is not related to mods. I have also discovered that searching the invader ants is not the cause of the problem, or at least not the only one. When I visited the friendly ant colony, I avoided searching the invaders and I could leave and reenter without problem. After I had visited the other colony and killed the queen, I could return once, but when I returned after a few days, I encountered the same bug where the game freezes in the loading screen. You'd think Bethesda would prioritize something like this above getting rid of exploits that only are beneficial to the player...--Mehbah 18:10, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

My game just had this happen on 360. If I hadn't been able to revert to a previous autosave my game would have been pooched pretty hardcore. Then I would have gone out and started shooting people. See? Video games don't make people violent. Video game bugs do. LOL


 * So is this a 360 bug only? I'm not freezing, but I'm on a PC (geforce 9800gt, dual core intel). Bloodwars 00:16, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

This does not make any sense. I just tried to re-enter the tunnels for the second time, and I got the bug. I am VERY certain that I did not cause the message last time, since I had the damn article on my laptop screen as I went through. I wonder how this could still happen..--Melankh 21:15, 11 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Same happened with me two times (XBox360). First time into the tunnels I made sure not to inspect the invader ants, taking only the book from the Ant Researcher and returning 73 hours later to see if he respawned. Crash. Tried again after first killing the Queen in Shalebridge Hill to remove invaders entirely, got the book from Ant Researcher, waited 73 hours, re-entered, crashed.

Perhaps inspecting anything will cause the problem? I'm inclined to think the error is possibly from the Ant Researcher respawning. DONAR 11:19, 12 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I was thinking the same thing. I've never seen him alive and I was able to enter before he should have respawned. Or maybe it could be related to the invader ants and their respawning?--Mehbah 11:25, 12 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I've literally just been trying to workaround the glitch as follows;
 * Entered Shalebridge Tunnels (full stealth, no interaction, no attacks, no inspecting) went in as far as the Ant Researcher, turned, exited and immediately re-entered. No crash. Exited.


 * As above, but waited an hour upon exiting and re-entered. No crash. Exited.


 * As above but waited 3 days and 1 hour before re-entering. No crash. Continued in to examine Ant Researcher/Invader Ants, game froze while I was inside the tunnel (not the usual freeze during loading screen).


 * if someone else can get the game to crash consistently even without interacting with anything in the Tunnel, we can probably update the Main Page to advise player to avoid the Tunnels entirely until Bethesda fix it.DONAR 11:52, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I had a save where I went to Shalebridge, killed the hostiles, took the book, used the stimpak, and left. Upon return several days later, it froze. I was never in the enemy ants' nest. I'm going to mess around with it a bit, see if I can't make something work. If it is related to the researcher, maybe moving his corpse somewhere (like the entrance?) would help. PositronicSpleen 17:41, 16 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I've encountered the glitch on one character by accidentally entering the 'hill' area before the tunnels: after my first entrance into the tunnels, I couldn't re-enter without freezing. Maybe it occurs when the game loads the other tunnel? This could also suggest that by interacting with the invader ants or entering the tunnels it loads the hills area, which somehow breaks the tunnel? XXCrocmonXx 19:57, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I have done the same exact thing - cleared out Shalebridge Hill first of the Ant Queen and all the underlings, then went over to the Shalebridge Tunnels, did everything there except inject the eggs. Bug still occurs. I then tried it again (Same behavior) except this time I went to the tunnels first instead of the hill. Exited, re-entered, and the bug came up. Not sure if it tries to "read" the state of the Shalebridge Hill cell or not as it loads in the tunnels (My guess would be it reads whether or not the Ant Queen in the other ant hill has been killed, not necessarily the whole cell or whether the PC visited it or not), but from the looks of what I tested, and from the looks of the tons of discussion on this page regarding said bug, I've come to the conclusion that you should just take and do everything you want there, forget about injecting the eggs (As you won't be able to come back to it later) and just never visit there again. At least exiting the tunnels doesn't freeze the whole Wasteland area around the tunnels... That would be worse. --24.90.156.106 19:52, October 25, 2009 (UTC)

Wow...
This is a very paranoid article... it's weird because I never had any trouble like that with the colonies or anything. No freezes or nothing. Could it be that someone's game froze while playing that part and they were a bit over-enthusiastic about it while editing the article ? (PS3, by the way) --Penumbra 21:49, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I have found a work around, simply wait in Megaton for 74 hrs then return to Shalebridge. Since doing it this way I have not had any crashes on the 360. The ant researcher was dead in the water when my game was crashing, moved him out of the water and waited in Megaton solved my crashes.(Note: 73 hrs crashes game but 74 does not) --A Test Monkey

I just entered the tunnels for the first time, never been to this part of the map before.. anyway i went in, killed and searched the invader ants, searched the compost heap, took the science book from the dead researcher and moved his corpse onto dry ground. Ive pretty much done everything the article tells me not to do lol. But yeh, it crashed on the loading screen when i tried to re-enter, so i'll be able to test this work around extensivly.

Its a shame this place is so bugged, it looks like an interesting little side quest. Its different at the very least..--

Edit: It still crashed for me.92.10.83.213 21:42, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

It seems (going by this talk page) that the bug only affects the 360 version. And yes, it freezes on my 360 to. Fat Man Spoon 22:05, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Possibly another solution for those out there: Make sure there are no ants left anywhere in the tunnel. What do i mean by this? I noticed that after i killed the invader ants, there would be friendly ants that would pop up as visible on my compass indicator but I could not target them in VATS or see them on the screen. They were "clipped" into walls and even into the pile of ant waste to the east of the pool. Every time i had clipped ants, i would crash (on 360). Eventually, i just killed every ant along the way to the ant researcher. Made sure there were no clipped ants (even throwing a grenade on a wall with a clipped ant to kill it) then started farming the science book. Never had a crash after that. Wait 73 hours or more though. (NFB)--169.231.35.98 05:02, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

The above solution worked for me. My process was as follows, after several failures using other methods. I loaded up the save prior to entering either tunnel. Then I went into "Hill" first, yes that's correct. I proceeded to shoot up the joint and took out everything in there including the queen, however, I did not loot anyone or anything. I left, saved, and went into "Tunnel". I proceeded to shoot up that joint and took out everything that moved, save one that clipped into the compost heap and I couldn't kill. I left, read the book, saved, waited, saved and came back in. There was the one forager and the scientist, killed them both, and its been smooth sailing ever since. Nothing special, just run in, kill him, loot his corpse including his armor, run out, read the book wait, wash-rinse-repeat. Worked for me 20-some books and counting. Hope the same for you--Pontiac 05:00, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

What I did was:
 * 1. Saved just before i entered the tunnel for the first time
 *  2. Go inside the tunnel
 * 3. Make sure everything is killed everything inside
 * 4. Looted the book, and nothing else
 * 4. Go outside
 * 5. Wait for 75+ hours.
 * 6. Repeat from #1.

And it worked! I'm happy! --L3art 15:39, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Above steps 1-6 worked for me. I looted everything else as well. No freezing, and don't have to save once its working. Only been to tunnels, allowed friendly ants to kill all invaders then killed all friendly ants. After waiting 75+ hours all corpses have disappeared and there is no sign of the glitch, even if I loot and interact with everything (all containers looted and 25 Science Books). On the other hand, if I don't kill all the ants, only killing and looting the researcher and nothing else, I still get random freezes on the loading screen. I recommend killing all the friendly ants, some of them are on a ledge that can be reached via a ramp made of rocks in the large lit cavern near the entrance, they make loud walking sounds when alive and all should be reachable. Being forced to guess, I think the bug lays with the friendly ants (they're unique to this location, with unique smaller ant models and name), or unlikely else their nectar regeneration, and either way killing all of them seems to solve the problem. It could be that its their clipping mentioned elsewhere that causes the freeze. XBOX360 --Firstblood 87.75.167.189 18:38, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Those!
If you ask me, this place used to be an addition to the "Those!" quest. The caves can be considered a safer place to work for Lesko, and it's far away from humans. In the cave, the ants are smaller and friendly, easier for Lesko to handle. Lesko might even have suggested killing the rival ant queen to make his work easier. Also, the fact that you can use a Stimpack on the eggs might suggest you may have assisted Lesko at some previous build of the game. Perhaps the Ant Researcher (or what ever) might in fact be a remnant, a possible merc scientist assisting Lesko after the latter moved in (assuming he did, like the with the fire ants). Possibly, ofc. Perhaps the buggy state of this place may have been the result of the area being incomplete. --Radnus 81.205.186.16 14:42, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Above worked for me too. Went to hill first, killed queen, went back to tunnels killed everything there. So far I've looted the researcher about 36 times.

Frozen loading screen - Trigger unknown
The trigger of this bug is not related to the looting of the ants : the bug will occur regardless of your actions even if you don' t get the message that you get when you loot the first ant and even if you don' t loot the place: this means that looting the ants simply can' t be the trigger. I think the whole cell is bugged because every savegame i create in the cell is corrupted and freezes on loading screen. If you plan to visit this place more than once (to get more copies of the science book or for touristic scouting purposes) here' s what worked for me: when you exit to the wasteland, the game will freeze if you attempt to return inside the tunnel. You need to change cell first: go to Megaton or Tempenny Tower or Rivet City (a safe place) and wait three days. When you return to Shalebridge you will find the giant ants out of the tunnels (that's the signal that the whole area respawned with all its enemies, the signal that it is again shiny new for you). At this point you should be able to enter again the tunnels and eventually get another copy of the science book. Feel free to loot the ants and follow the unmarked quest because that is not the trigger of the glitch. You have to remember when you exit that if you attempt to reenter, the game will probabily freeze: avoid such attempt and wait 3 days in another cell (Megaton, Tempenny Tower etc.). Don' t wait out of the tunnels because, if you do, the exterior Shalebridge cell (wasteland) won' t respawn correctly (you can notice that by the fact that no enemies will spawn in the zone)and the bug will occur upon attempting to enter the tunnels again. I' ve tested several times this method on the xbox 360. I can' t assure it works for everyone but you should give it a try if no other method works for you. This place is obviously the location of an unmarked, well let' s say unfinished not implemented quest, that' s why it's so buggy (every unmarked unfinished quest in the game carries tons of bugs...let's think of Paladine Hoss for example in Falls Church) I hope i could be of any help and please, sorry for my english ^_^ --82.55.140.211 00:50, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Make a video
Can someone make a video to show how to exploit the ant researcher glitch properly (without the game freezing)? Maybe just a shalebridge walkthrough.Tehuberleetmaster 21:01, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Cleaned up page
Still needs work, particularly with actually replicating bugs and addressing them as to whether they are extensions of other bugs. There was a fair bit of repetition and so many important warnings this page was hard to read. Separated a lot of the bugs into their own locations as it makes it easier to pinpoint where they are, but tried to make it clear that this place still owns the suck. --Mctaff350 03:36, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Should the note at the beginning of the article that says "Note: It is recommended that players skip this area, as there are no great rewards for exploring it, apart from the Big Book Of Science." even be there? It seems to be someones opinion and doesn't belong on the page. Dweller93 13:52, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Never mind I removed it. Dweller93 13:52, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I think you did the right thing, really. The warning certainly did look like an opinion. Perhaps a better warning would be in order, if someone wants to think of one. I'm too tired. Mctaff350 03:36, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Just a quick question: on the main article page Shalebridge is listed as a cave, however, in-game it has the settlement symbol; does anything need to be changed or was it intentionally done like that according to The Vault's standards? --05:14, 9 July 2009 (UTC)Chapadust

E74'ed
I am not saying that this is the cause, I'm just sharing the info... anyone can decide any relation or not on their own ;)

My less than a year old Elite E74'ed while doing the glitch. I figured since the E74 is related to video hardware and many have suggested the freeze is related to video, that I'd mention that it happened.

I haven't tried the glitch while leaving the Shalebridge cell entirely, scared to try it again actually ;) I know I have gotten it to work in the past, sometimes working, sometimes not, where I thought I did everything the same.  I had tried it around L7 and got 4 or 5 copies of the book but then got stuck on freeze into the tunnels so I deleted all of the Shalebridge related saves and didn't go back until now at L19... where I froze on my 2nd or 3rd book, deleted the last save, retried, E74'ed

Just FYI ;)

-Q

Ants are the cause of most "bugs"?
I believe ants are what cause most bugs for me in the whole game (ok...maybe not just me). Usually I get a random crash after a few hours. Whenever I went to shalebridge or grayditch my game started crashing every 10~30mins (sometimes even less). That is also true when I find ants in random places across the wastes. Maybe this matter could be looked into by the experts? I mean, it has to be related somehow, imho. Anyways, I've done some googling around and gathered up some info:

Most crashing happens when:
 * Ant becomes visible (enters field of view - is rendered) - (video related?)


 * Looting (ants or anything) - (no idea)


 * Moving around through areas that contain ants or ant corpses (i.e. entering or exiting a house in grayditch or tunnel in shalebridge)(video related? - or maybe physics since corpses are "thrown" when respawning in any area...also, "thrown" corpses sometimes get clipped)


 * Being torched by fire ants (happens mostly with me - possibly video related)


 * Others (random - i.e. just walking around) - (no idea)


 * Crashes were mixed between CTDs, black screens, messed up video after close up, freezings etc. As with me, its always a black screen (no way out of it save rebooting), reason why I think it's some video issue here. My specs are mostly medium, and I suppose lag isn't related to the matter since I had these crashes in both lagged and "lagless" situations. Crashes also happened to people regardless of PC performance or the console it was running on.

Note: I don't know how useful this is, for my understanding of these situations is really simplistic, as I don't know much about computers and whatnot. What I intend here is to present the little I know about this matter and hope it helps somehow. And sorry about my english :/ 201.26.101.101 04:48, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

I did EXACTLY OPPOSITE of what this page said to do and got no freezing problems so far, but after 5-6 re-enters the forager ants somehow got out of the tunnels, and were also smaller then they were in the tunnels too, this happened on the xbox 360 version, I'll keep a picture for proof.--71.196.190.116 18:46, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

I tried this section out on my 360 today and wasn't getting locked up during the loading screen but instead was getting severe clipping issues inside the cave. The researcher himself vanished and was still running around and trying to attack me. Firing any sort of gun at him made no difference but when I swung the Shishkebab at him it locked up instantly, leaving my controller vibrating just as if I'd hit a valid enemy. It really seems like the clipping is what causes the crashes with the load crashes likely happening because something loads into a completely impossible spot after it clips there during the first trip into the cave. Solsund 05:04, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

Freezes only on 360???
Has anyone had a freeze on a console other than 360??? I'm on PS3 and have had no problems.

360 Freeze Under New Circumstances
My science is already at 100, so I have no reason to re-enter these tunnels once I hvae looted them the first time, so I thought I would be good for it. Just to be safe, I saved before I entered the tunnels. While I was inside, everything was going fine until I injected the huge egg clutch with a stimpack. As soon as I took a step back from the injected egg clutch, I froze. This was my first time in the cave, and I had been exploring it for some time before the freeze. --98.180.4.125 21:13, October 10, 2009 (UTC)

Shalebridge AREA on PS3
I went over to the Shalebridge Ant Tunnels and killed the ant queen and when I tried to leave the game stayed at the loading screen and the music stopped and the little dial kept on turning. But it just wouldnt load. I went back to a game save from before i entered the tunnel and everytime I try to leave the Shalebridge area the game freezes. Even when I try to teleport the loading screen pulls up and the dial keeps turnin' but the music just aint' playin'. It just won't load. I can't go back to a previous game save because i would have to do Operation: Anchorage all over again and that took me a while. What do I do?

-

leave the arrea on foot enter a different place and leave it again fast travel from there. otherwise goin all the way back too anchorage is the only option.

Freezing is unrelated to game conditions (bugs, shalebridge, monkeys) 98.245.72.181 20:57, October 14, 2009 (UTC)
This friggin game has frozen at the load screen on me and friends at multiple spots in the game including: twice at different stages during the Water of Life and one I can't remember. Each time it crashes I lose hours and it just ruins the experience for me. 20:57, October 14, 2009 (UTC)~

then turn on auto save, i find it hard too belief you mannage too play hours without getting an auto-save. read the articles about the freeze and the offered ways too fix it and you should be fine, this is the discussion page not the complain page.

ID
Whats the ID of the friendly ants? I'm getting this for computer soon and I want a couple inhabiting my house. On a related note, wadsworth won't kill them, will he? JerichoRCDF 23:07, December 8, 2009 (UTC)