Doomguy Plays: Fallout 3\New Vegas :COMPLETE!:

Vote is over and Fallout wins

Fallout 3 (AKA, NOT FALLOUT 4).
No not Fallout 4. I'll need to save up for the next gen of GPU's for that one and also I'm waiting for the usual bugs, mods, and DLC to get hammered out.

In the meantime, Fallout 3 has imo aged well. Why? The Tales of Two Wastelands mod. You won't find this on the Nexus website (those people are...overzeulous sometimes) because of some legal mumbo jumbo and a falling out of the two groups. I don't know the details, it's messy stuff and not worth getting into.

What is worth getting into is the fact that TTW combines Fallout New Vegas with....Fallout 3! It's literally two games in one! More importantly it upgrades the Fallout 3 game using the Fallout New Vegas engine! Since New Vegas is already so similer, that's why it was possible. I won't lie, a modded TTW install is more stable then a modded Fallout 3 install. New Vegas brings under the hood changes to the game engine and it shows.
I'll be playing the game heavily modded and open for specific kinds of play style if you suggest them to me.

 

I suggest Not Fallout 4。That game has so many little side quests、like Skyrim。I played it、 but stopped after leaving the vault due to support issues。The game crashes due to my quad-core processor。
Next would be Doom 3。That should be an easier playthough、 due to linear play、 with exceptions of some choices (should I save that guy、 or melt his flesh off？)。

 

I am actually going to start FALLOUT 4 tonight maybe? if i have time lol ..

I voted for Turok that game was epic back in the 64 days

 

Kind of hoping for a little more interest in this. If I do Fallout 3\Vegas what kind of playthrough should I aim for? It is sort of like an rpg so I got some freedom in choosing how to play.

 

Let's see...
Perhaps try to be the righteous good guy? That is the only path I know. Fallout 3 I could not play, and I have not completed the main quest on New Vegas. In New Vegas, maybe you could avoid taking sides in the main quest.

 

Oh right, since it would be the TTW mod then both games are combined
A well done mod made train station "links" the two wastelands. The station is located off the exit inside one of the subway systems. It leads to a new area which honestly could pass off as the base game.
I'll start in the capitol wasteland and gather enough gear to take over that train station. It's very hard otherwise. I'll need some heavy gear to take on the mutants. After that I'll be given the chance to play either wasteland and bounce back and forth. It's really cool, I already did once and it seems really seamless.

Well unless your one of those die hard lore purist guys that get upset over a working transcontinental railroad...

Besides I always wanted to bring the cowboy repeater back to D.C

So good guy huh? I've done many sides in Fallout 3 but as far as New Vegas goes I always side with House. All right, here's my mod setup because I can't stand playing this game vanilla anymore

---------------------

TTW-Fallout 3 + New Vegas. Requires the complete game versions of both including the DLC. Check! Install was pretty easy and the forum is informative and has what you need.
It would be more accurate to say this is Fallout 3 added to the New Vegas engine. Everything in FO3 get's ported to the newer engine which means aiming down the sights, reload benches, and just less crashes.

Weapon mods- I'm stuffing at least three of them. I'm a proponent of "more=better". This is not going to be very lore friendly and I don't give a damn. However I have my limits. You won't see me wielding duel lightsabers or something crazy like that (it exists apparently). Just some more modern weaponry to flavor up the repetitive "Chinese Assault Rifle".

Level lists will get merged and bashed up. I've done this before with limited success (Some weapons won't spawn on enemies unless I modify the level lists. No one got time for that!)

Graphic Mods- I'm going have to be careful with this. My computer is a brand new Intel Core I3 6300 series. While it's only a duel core it's packs a very high clock and has the fastest RAM you can buy today (DDR4-3200).
I can play Battlefield 4 on Medium without even a GPU.
I already tested and as expected I can Ultra the stock game and the TTW game (Speaking of which, TTW doesn't really up the sys req. Only the RAM reqs. Don't play with 2 gigs! You can get away with that with only one wasteland but no way with two!)

With that said I'll add one of those texture packs and an environmental mod. I will NOT however do any of those snazzy ENB effects. That kills my framerate between to about 20-30. And that's when nothing is going on. A shame but there's not much a dinky doo used Geforce 640 can do. GPU upgrade will have to wait until the next wave of GPU's come out (We've really been waiting a long time for those too...)

Delete Radroach mod- HUH!? I can't play this game without this mod. I'm sorry but...I can't do it. These are the WORST ENEMIES I HAVE EVER PLAYED AGAINST IN THE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES! Seriously why the hell did they make them look so freaking real!? And then they glitch through walls...and then...and then....

Screw it. This mod turns them into Mole Rats. Mole Rats are cool. More Rats are cute. And Mole Rats are better. Not to mention

And no, this doesn't break the quests or anything.
The ants are pushing it but...they're easy to ignore and not too bad

Project Nevada- One of those "megamods" that does a bunch of stuff. Really I'm just here for the X2 damage multipliers.

EVE- Not a weapon mod exactly, it tweaks all energy weapons and turns them into real life energy weapons! In other words energy weapons are actually...cool

More Perks Mod-Because more is better. See weapons above

DarniUi- My goto choice in HUD overhauls.

CASM- Changes the autosave system because the defualt doesn't cut it for me

Marts Monster Mod (MMM)-Adds some monsters but I'm really here for the increased monster spawns. I just like my games to be more...action like.

Probably a couple other stuff

Alright I'm setting it up. Shouldn't take too long, I already have most of this stuff set from before...

 

IT BEGINS!
I don't want to be too spammy this time so I'll put less pictures and increase the time between posts. I'll try to put in a pic for anything I feel needs it. Main quest stuff for sure plus anything that might be humorous. Of course If I'm looking to laugh it's pretty easy to crack a joke...

A good guy playthrough was suggested so I'll do that. I can be flexible though and there is no reason why I can't go psycho if I'm pressed to do so. I have played this game many times before. While I can't say I one hundred percent completed it, I've done the DLC's and cracked the level limit at least once. Except for the New Vegas part, I'm less practiced in that area but that's for much later. First I'll do the Capitol Wasteland and build my character up.

No pacifist stuff though. I kill things and go smashy smashy on mutie puny head.

Rise and shine to the Pyromaniac Love Hotline theme. We don't want to set you on fire, only your heart so it burns for us.


War...War never changes

The TTW mod gives me to chance to start in either game. We want to do the Fallout3 one because it makes more sense.
Somehow minutes after our own birth our father (voiced by the ever great Liam Neeson) tells us how much we're going to look like him. If a latino man with a sharp mustache is what he looks like I should submit my application to be his stunt double.

Anyway right after that slightly corny beginning, baby me get's ushered out of the room because mommy is having some issues.

Fast forward and now we actually get control of our character!
As a two foot tall mini man

Spoiler

I don't even...
Maybe a weird combo of mods.

After pumping up some stats by reading baby books we fast forward again to our birthday (10th I think? I forgot the tutorial I just did lol)
The robot messed up our cake and local bully Butch wants our sweetroll. I TRY to play as the nice guy and share it with him...but it was give in and be a wimp or tell him to suck a big one (okay okay. It was SOAK your head Butch.) Butch gets scolded for trying to pick a fight (bastard threw 6 punches until the A.I did anything!). Our dad tells us that he has something for us with Mr.Jones in maintenance.
We head down there getting briefly stopped by local bike Ms. Butch's mom (Well I'm assuming she is. I could have sworn one of the overseer's mail said something like this but maybe it's my...imagination at work again.).

Mr.Jones and Dad reveal their present. Our very own BB Gun! Cool!
Too bad I messed up my load order and merge patches because I was soon met with the worst enemy of the game. Radroaches.
What.The .Hell. QUIT.
I realize I left over half my mods turned off and go around to fixing that. Soon enough I load back in and no more radroaches! Instead they get replaced by lovable molerat who I happily shoot with my BB Gun.

After that the game fast forwards again to the age of 16. It's time to take the G.O.A.T exam. Before leaving dad's office be sure to pick up the medicine bobblehead on his desk. Those bobbleheads give you boosts in your stats. I'm not sure if this is missible or not...
The hallway outside has our friend Amalia being bullied by Butch and the "Tunnel Snakes"
Their best pickup line seems to be the impressive "I'll show you a REAL tunnel snake"


I convince them to leave with a speech check of all things.
I then make my way to the classroom but don't feel like taking the stupid test. Nice guy playthrough or not, the Overseer's crap makes my head spin. Instead I specify exactly what three skills to tag.
I go completely unoriginal with guns, energy, and repair. I know boring. However I raised the level limit to 100 this time so skills lose their usefulness somewhere along the way. Except for lockpit and computers which I always use.

Leave and trigger the next transition.
This time something is wrong. Amalia wakes us up and tells us our dad has left the vault! Not only that but Mr.Jones was killed by the Overseer! I take Amalia's gun (If you don't something special happens. I'll tell you soon). Make sure to get what you can from your room and get greeted by a radroach infestation. Well that's what everyone thinks but I really like my molerat mod. I beat them up with the baseball bat alongside the security guys.

Eventually a terrified Butch begs us to help his mom! She's trapped with the radroaches! Or molerats...whatever. I feel for the guy, he's about as terrified of them as I am. I didn't use to go in there either
I agree to help "but only for his mom. She always gave me a ride"

...

Sorry couldn't help myself

Spoiler

I crush all who stand in my way. Eventually I make it to the Overseer who's punishing his daughter via his thugs. If you let Amalia keep the gun she kills the thug herself. Otherwise you have to do it. I spare the Overseer and eventually find Mr.Jone's dead body. I loot his glasses and data recording regarding dad. I find Amalia who gives us the key to the Overseer's office. Loot that place and head below to the vault door exit.

As I open the door Amalia expresses surprise that this event is actually happening. I can't get her to agree to come with me and start to leave the area. Oh I kill the two goons who always try to stop me on the way out.

The game makes a big save here. It's the one these games usually make before the lengthy tutorial phase is over. That's why this post was so long so apologies, it was plot related.

The final screenshot of the wasteland!

Spoiler

Actually modded quite a bit. The trees are from Vurts Flora mod. It gives the game three flavors of flora. This is the "wasteland" look. They'll be plenty of dead trees and shrubs to spruce up the rather dead wasteland. Purely an aesthetic choice. I think it's actually pretty neat and makes DC look less like a desert and more like a dead urban center. One last thing, see those buildings in the background? That's another mod that literally double stacks the DC ruins "skyscrappers". I quote skyscrappers because vanilla game those things are shorter then some apartment buildings. This looks great up close, I promise screenies.

Next destination...Deathclaw Country!
Yeah...
Let's go to Megaton instead!

 

"Welcome to Megaton, the bomb is safe"
That's what the robot in front of the settlement says. This is Megaton

Spoiler

Looks terrible but what do you expect from the apocalypse? There's an undetonated nuke in the middle of the town but I'll ignore it for now. I first sell off the loot I got back in the vault to an eccentric shopkeeper and head on up to Moriety Bar. He doesn't clue me in on where he went, first he wants me to do a favor for him. I did have enough caps for getting the info right there and then but let's go ahead and do what he wants.

He wants me to "take care" of some junkie who ditched him. She's located dangerously close to Springvale Elementary School. I leave the settlement and do that. Since I'm a good guy I let her go and get absolutely nothing. I quickly fast travel back and for whatever reason I tell Moriety I "took care of her". I didn't do anything. Well I have the caps so I pay him and learn that dad said he went to the GNR radio station. That's where I need to go to advance the plot. First though this guy was calling me over...

Spoiler

Mr.Burke wants me to blowup Megaton! This game sure didn't waste time with the good vs evil choices did it? I refuse and head straight towards the sheriff of Megaton and rat out the maniac. He tells me he's going to show how "wasteland justice" works.

Spoiler

Maybe he should have handcuffed him first...
Secret! You can save the sheriff if you kill Burke as soon as he does this! You'll have to use the VATS combat thing but it's possible! I immediately pull out my gun and blow the guy's face off. The best part is how everyone in room reacts, they something like
"Good riddance! Better him then me!"
It's hilarious and I think it's designed that way. It's the little things in this game. For my efforts I get...nothing! What the hell sheriff? Some people let him die so they can loot his assault rifle. In any case I loot Burke and find myself a silencer for the 10mm pistol, good stuff!

I'm feeling gutsy and decide to take on the raiders inside the school. It's starting to get dark now.
It's a VERY hard fight. I empty half my ammo and many stimpacks for crappy weapons and low grade ammo. Still I pick up a single action shotgun with plenty of 20 gauge shells and more importantly I loot something called a "Homemade Rifle". I don't remember which mod this comes from but basically it's a 9mm bolt action rifle with one of those "peep hole" sights. Very useful, much better then trying to snipe with the silenced 10mm pistol.
I also clear out the basement of the school which is infested with an army of ants. All of this does net me a level up so that's good.
I sleep inside the school for the next day.

I wake up and find that I forgot to change my "weather mod settings". This isn't what I wanted to see waking up.

Spoiler

And then a radiation storm pops up out of nowhere and screws me up. Uh....
I load back and then change the settings of this mod. I like the effects but some settings are too extreme for my tastes.

Anyway I explore a little around the back area of the vault. I find some giant ants and a hunting rifle in a beaten up barn. The hunting rifle is nice but I really need more .308 rounds to get it going. Eventually I stumble on more raiders in a destroyed highway.

Spoiler

This rifle is really something. With well aimed shots you can pick them off from a nice distance with a very common ammo type. Unfortunately they swarmed me once and got me a gameover. What I really need is a good automatic weapon. Somehow one of the raiders had a sniper rifle which also uses the .308 ammo type. Stat wise it's weaker in my game but of course it comes with a scope.

A good trip. I go back to Megaton and sell more loot. The shopkeepr Moira wants to write a "Wasteland Survival Guide". Yeah sure why not? I decide to go to the "Super Duper Mart" and check out if it has food or anything.

Spoiler

GUYS I NEED INPUT HERE!
This happens to me EVERY TIME! For some bizarre reason this KID shows up here in ALL my playthroughs regardless of mods used!

Spoiler

Is this quest supposed to fire off here of all places? Grayditch is further away from here so I don't get it. Anyway he wants me to save his town from ant monsters. We'll get to that later.

First I need to clear out the supermarket. This is hard but with a good long range weapon and a silenced pistol I clean house. Most importantly I find some grenades inside which is really good news. Nades are devastating against raiders. I also find plenty of 5.56 ammo which would be awesome if I actually had a gun that used it. I make my save here.

 

No comments huh?

Then comment on THIS

Spoiler

South of the Super Duper Mart is a building that manufactures teddy bears. I didn't touch anything. This is an example of all the "little things" this game is so good at.

 

I saw this earlier, but since my PC cannot run this game stability wise, I could not comment. I think I only got the chance to meet the boy once.

Those are heavy little suckers. The thing I love about these games are things like what you decided to show.

 

Next part...
Graphics weirdness and wild mutant bear appears EDITION

I somehow borked the graphics on my game. Since my PC couldn't handle graphic porn I had to tone down things. Eventually it got to the point where I decided to sacrifice the very interesting "Interior Lighting Mod". The hit I took indoors was just too much and without proper ENB settings it just looked bad anyway. Too dark to see and it just wasn't feasible. So back to default gray underground. On the flip side I pumped up the AA settings so it looks really good.

Outdoors had to be changed around too. For some reason I had two outdoor lighting mods. No wonder night time was completely black and my pipboy was useless.
Default game looked fugly though so I left one of the lighting mods remain. The hit to my FPS was really nasty. With careful tweaking I'm playing in outdoor areas at around 25-30 FPS. It never dips below 20 though. I wonder if something is doing that by design. It's okay, not great by any means but it's very stable and rarely fluctuates even if I use the "tgm" cheat and spam grenades at the ground. Stability > fluctuating FPS

Spoiler

I really like that skyscrapper mod, can't wait to explore the DC ruins[/img]

Before setting out to do the main quest I need to find good weapons. Unlike vanilla Fallout 3, the TTW mod uses the New Vegas stats. That means the Super Mutants are HARD. They have a high armor rating and since I'm using a weapon mod they come with automatic weapons.

I decide to explore south of Megaton and find plenty of stuff. In fact this may have been one of the most fun trips I remember having in this game.

Spoiler

I nearly crapped my pants when I saw this guy run up to me like that. I didn't keep the launcher


Bribed the guard to Tenpenny tower and sold my loot to make a profit. Didn't do anything else though and made the midday trip back to Megaton


Mutant Bear vs Chainsaw Man! I didn't even know these guys spawned at my level


This is why you don't go exploring at night time. A special feral ghoul from the Marts Monster Mod with a very good lighting mod.

Really good stuff! I found an assault rifle too. It was labeled something FNC. I believe that's a European assault rifle. It doesn't quite have a high rate of fire but I'll take anything that fires the 5.56 round. It's base stats should give me the punch to take on the Super Mutants.

I also found a very large amount of .357 magnum ammo and a Cowboy Repeater! This is no doubt the level list from the New Vegas portion. The .357 magnum ammo is vastly superior to the 9mm ammo I was finding for long range combat. More importantly the reloading bench still regards the magnum round as a "small pistol" caliber. That means I can break down similar ammo and create more ammo for this gun. Unlike the .308 the Cowboy Repeater fires what the game considers "pistol caliber rounds". Actually historically that is true. This will be the mainstay ammo of choice for me until I have enough materials to create more types of ammo.

I decide to test my arsenal now against those Fire Ants in Grayditch. I hate this place because those ants terrify me. Nevertheless I soldier on and pick them off easily at long range. In the underground metro I find a mad scientist guy who wants me to help him regain control of the ants. I agree and do the "good path" by killing the Ant Queen Guardians BUT NOT THE QUEEN!. I hate this part, that queen is one ugly monster. Doesn't help that this one time the game glitched and the queen glitched through walls and tried to kill me. It was terrifying!
No glitch this time! I report back to the scientist and tell him I'm ready for my "Mutagenic Bioenhancer...something something"
I opt to upgrade my perception

Ants kill themselves and I save the town. Or what's left of it. I promise the kid I'll find someplace for him to live and leave.
I go back to Megaton and disarm the bomb. This nets me a house where I can store all my stuff. I rest and prepare to tackle to main quest!

At least I try to but apparently my game freezes when it spawns Super Mutants...hmm. Let's see what happened this time.

UPDATE!

You got to be kidding! For reasons that completely escape me I somehow get repeated crashes at the same exact spot! Somehow I must have screwed up something regarding Super Mutants because they don't show ANYWHERE!

I...I think I know what it was. A patch I put in for something regarding TTW may have cannibalized the mod concerning monsters (MMM). The solution then would be to just remove the patch (since it's so mundane and not important.

However...!
It must have had far reaching effects ever since I started because as soon as I attempt to leave the cell I'm in the game crashes. I have tried so many combos and loaded back to empty cells to no avail.

What is with it and my terrible luck regarding saves!?

I'm going to keep trying but...I may have to start all over. This really pisses me off! Of all the times I played this game with different setups dumb mistakes like this should be below me. I won't give up though! Even if I have to restart I will do this. Damn I'm pissed off though. This game has such a crappy way to CTD, it doesn't tell you squat.

Maybe it's a missing mesh but then I should get the red triangle? Did something happen to the script that spawns the enemy? A simple reinstall of the mods could fix it. What if it's the save? I can't fix broken saves.

sigh

UPDATE PART 2!

Okay... I think I got it! I'm not sure what did the trick but I'm now able to see and fight Super Mutants without any crashes. After disabling the offending mod in question I had to go back and make sure each of my other mods were installed properly, nothing could be overwritten by the offending mod.
This still gave me crashes!
I said "screw it", and then installed the New Vegas Anti Crash "mod". It's actually a plugin for the NVSE. This doesn't stop the underlieng problem but it simply reroutes any problems.

And for some bizarre reason it worked. I tested extensively by cheat teleporting to known Super Mutant locations. It seems to work fine? I did get a weird "stretching" problem but I suspect the use of the "tcl" command. Once I turned that off it everything worked.

Very strange. I also made a clean save inside the Megaton women's bathroom. Figured no one will bother me there

I don't know exactly what happened but it seems I will be able to continue playing. My only fear is that something happened to the Super Mutants or my save file that I don't see coming yet. We'll just have to hope the New Vegas engine can shrug off errors better then the FO3 one.

 

Whew!
That could have been a disaster. Okay so we make our way to the DC Ruins!

After fighting through the metro tunnels I emerge from underground and unto a Brotherhood of Steel patrol. They are led by the "Lyons Pride" or something like that. Anyway Sara Lyon and her elite troops "escort" me to the GNR radio station. We fight a bunch of Super Mutants along the way. I let them do most of the work. A light rain is settling in this afternoon making it darker then it normally should be.

Eventually I make it at the front of the station when this guy appears

Spoiler

I nuke him with the Fat Man found in front of the fountain. I repaired the Fatman with a couple of weapon repair kits so it's doing good damage (the repair kits are from New Vegas and the workbenches. Damn I like this mod)

Loot stuff and go inside. Talk to the radio guy Three Dog to learn about the "Good Fight" and how he met our father. He doesn't tell us where he went though, first he wants us to find a replacement dish for his radio broadcast. The only available lies in the museum of science, smackdab in the middle of the DC Mall.

After mowing down zombies in the metro (I get the feeling this chainsaw from one of the weapon mods is borderline OP), I emerge in the middle of the mall. I slept inside the metro since doing this part in the dark is suicide.

At this point, if I thought the game was getting easy I quickly learned that there are somethings I simply can't take on yet.
Like this!

Spoiler

This was awesome actually

I do pass that part. Well timed grenades and indestructible pillars saved the day. Non of them threw grenades which really screwed them over. The muties outside happily threw grenades to my annoyance.
I setup my screenshot taking abilities with the "t" key so this isn't a bother.

Anyway I clear out the museum and grab the dish. A Super Mutant Master guards the room it's located on. All my bullets bounced off of him so I had to resort to grenade spam. My efforts net me an automatic shotgun (terrible condition and using 12 gauge shells that I don't have) and more importantly an M4! This American assault rifle is the shortened version of the M16. The M4 comes with a very high rate of fire which makes it superior to the FNC I was using before. I don't think it's as accurate though. Still I need a close range weapon like you saw in that screenshot.

Oh right, I sell my loot in the "Underworld". A town of friendly ghouls who live inside the Museum of History. I fix up the dish in the monument and report back to Three Dog who tells me my father went to Rivet City.

Some screenies of the DC Mall

Spoiler

There's a battle going on there. I'll avoid it at this time


This skyscraper mod is great! Down this way goes to the Lincoln Memorial. I'll ignore it for now.

The best way to Rivet City is walking alongside the river. Don't try to do this through the heart of DC, you'll be chewed up and I'm not even sure you could (The metro tunnel system is caved in at certain spots)

I move alongside the riverside and start to worry I won't make it before sundown

Spoiler

Behind the Pentagon you can see those cool skyscrapers again. That's a cool sight!

I quickly make my way thought the Jefferson Memorial and use up most of my ammo. It's getting really dark now but I'm almost there!
Rivet City is too dark to take a screenshot so I'll just tell you it's a big aircraft carrier. I go in and rest up. The next morning I wake and talk to Dr.Li who tells me my father went to the Jefferson Memorial. Guess I'll do that. First though I pay a visit to this eccentric old man who wants me to find the Declaration of Independence

Spoiler

The what congress?

I don't think...

Okay now he lost me

I love this game

 

I must say, those mods make Fallout look more pleasant.
And that chainsaw makes me think of DOOM for some reason.

 

Spoiler

Muahahahahaha!

So I spent a bunch of time doing...stuff. Nothing new to report, Game is a little unstable. Had a couple of crashes but I chalk it up to a broken game engine. It's non repeatable and with the "CASM" mod, the autosave system is great. Not a big deal at all, I can certainly live with it since it's pretty rare. I did a bunch of minor quests here and there. I explored the DC ruins and found plenty of interesting things.
As of now I'm level 10 with a wide range of weapons available to use. Here's my loadout so far

Hotkeys 1-8. My mouse has 6 buttons and really makes it easy to switch to different weapons. Also modded Fallout allows a bound "grenade key"

1-Chainsaw. I wonder if my level list broke or something because something like this shouldn't have been allowed to be found on a lowly raider at around level 4. Strangely enough it was the only raider I ever met with a chainsaw? It's some place east of Tenpenny Tower, a bandit cave I had to quickly run away from because it was at the time too tough. Borderline OP, it obliterates Feral Ghouls in almost a second and it punches through pretty much all armor. However this is modded Fallout. Bringing a knife to a gunfight (even a big chainsaw), will get me chewed out especially by big gun wielding enemies. It's unlikely I'll be removing this anytime soon. It's biggest drawback is it's frequent need to repair and heavy 20 weight.

2-Ammo switch key. This is from Fallout New Vegas. Plenty of ammo types in this game. I do make frequent changes to my loadout

3-M37 Ithaca- A 20 gauge pump action shotgun. I bought this one in Rivet City at Flak & Shrapnel. This pump shotty is excellent against lightly armored targets like raiders and ghouls. I should point out that I'm using the "Shotgun Commando" mod that makes shotties good weapons for both the a.i and me. While not a long range weapon by any stretch, it can hit and do decent dmg at med and obviously short. Don't forget to craft slug rounds to take down the heavy armored enemies. Slugs are great for mid range sniping at muties. Try it, it works wonders!

4-Colt M4A1- Mentioned before. I wish it had a scope though. Also it chews up ammo like crazy for the average dmg it does. Looking around for an alternative 5.56 automatic

5-empty slot
6-H&K USP- Fires .40 S&W bullets, this pistol is a definite leg up from the typical 9mm. For whatever reason I found a large amount of the former so I decided to use this weapon. It works pretty damn good! Has the stopping power to take down a mutie with a full clip. That's something the Barrata I found earlier can't boast about. For the moment, this will be my handgun of choice for single targets

7-Plasma pistol- Honestly just a placeholder. I haven't found any good energy weapons yet.

8-Cowboy Repeater- It's getting very difficult to find .357 ammo in the DC wasteland. This rifle fits the niche for a rapid firing mid range rifle. This is my preferred playstyle but ammo is scarce

I also have L96A1 sniper rifle. However care must be taken if I'm to use the excellent .308 rounds. Those don't come by often enough. I do have enough to pop the heads of an army of muties if need be.
I have a missile launcher and a fatman in my safe house alongside a bunch of mines and grenades.

I forgot to screenshot myself, I'll do that next post. Overall I'm in excellent shape and ready to continue the main quest.

Here's some random screenies

Spoiler

Traffic not that bad today


They got funny signs in Rivet City


It's a dark one, that night mod really puts pressure. So scattered through out D.C are these "booth sized bomb shelters"

Why did a robot go inside of one?

 

I've swapped out the Cowboy Repeater with a Lever-action Rifle. It fires the far more common 10mm round. In real life that's not a common round but game lore wise it is. The more powerful round is usually considered a bit too much in the recoil department. Anyway the most annoying thing about this rifle is it's awful gun sights. I'm on the lookout for a scope modification.

I decide to do a few more side quests, notably the Arefu one that requires you to deliver a letter from Lucy West. This quest introduces you to "vampires" and apparently her little brother is one of "the family". He killed his parents and fed on them and now joined the family which is tormenting the Arefu settlement.
They are led by Vance who is surprisingly very civil and polite. After winning their trust I'm able to convince Lucy's brother to return to the only family he has left. Apparently "big sister" is the only person who "understands" his pain and can take care of him.

This sounds like a plot from a Japanese anime with question mark undertones

Now I decide to tackle the main quest. From notes left behind by dad, he's ventured to some kind of vault underground a garage. It's nearby a massive raider camp called Evergreens. I follow the train tracks to Evergreen and wipe out every single psycho with my powerful arsenal. Along the way I encounter giant supermutent behemoths and I fire mini nukes at them with my Fatman.

Unfortunately I'm such a crappy shot with the Fatman that I basically waste my entire mini nuke ammo on them. After that I sell off my loot and head to the garage.

Vault 112 is underneath that garage and I'm greeted by a friendly robot who tells me I'm hundreds of years late to report in. I'm given a vault suit and told to sit inside some kind of chair. Let's see what this is about.

Spoiler

And then I wake up in some kind of freaky black and white world

Spoiler

I forgot whether the vanilla game makes this a black and white world or if it was a mod. I know I've done this place in color before.

Anyway this is a simulation. A brat named "Betty" runs the show and won't tell me where my father is unless I play her "games". Since I'm playing the role of good guy, I instead search out for Mrs.Dithers who is the only person here that is aware this is a simulation. She tells me to activate the failsafe inside of an abandoned house.

I go in, and after a short minigame regarding sounds and clicking on house objects, a computer manifests out of nowhere. The only way to break out of this place is to activate the emergency failsafe. Instructions on the computer says this will KILL the participants permanently. The exception is for Dr.Braun who is obviously disguised as Betty. Also me and dad are immune for some unknown reason?

Not sure exactly, but triggering the failsafe activates a Chinese Communist Invasion on suburbia America. This nets me good Karma for "putting the people out of their misery from the tyrant Betty". Interesting.
Anyway I confront Braun and he reveals the dog is actually Dad. He lets me go at this point since he has no power over me. This begs the question though...how did he get power over dad then? This place is weird. Also whatever you do don't punch Betty. He still has power to kill you.
This place is a contradictory mess but it's interesting at least

I leave the simulation and finally meet up with dad!

After a short talk he wants me to go back with him to Rivet City.

I DECLINE

No need to continue the main plot yet. He goes on ahead and "waits" for me to continue the main plot. Major stuff is about to happen at this point in the plot but I don't want to trigger it just yet. Instead I think it's time to play a DLC!

Spoiler

Well that looks crappy

Welcome to Point Lookout!

This is the second hardest DLC for Fallout 3. Usually it's considered the hardest but Mothership Zeta takes that one when you consider this a a heavily modded game. I must note the very SPECIAL things I did in regards to this section of the game

-I'm playing the Point Lookout Reborn Mod. I have never done this mod before. It changes up the locations and remakes this DLC. I played a little and definitely noticed some stuff that wasn't in the base DLC. I'm liking it a lot so far and look forward in cluing you in on what's changed!

-I nerfed the "magic damage" the natives of Point Lookout do to you. In Bethesda's infinite wisdom they thought giving enemies a fixed 25+ dmg per shot regardless of everything you protect yourself with is good for increasing difficulty. No it's not. It's a cheap a.i trick that is BS.

-To mitigate the effects of the mod that changed the behavior above, I'm using the shotgun commando mod. Every shotgun in the game is more deadly. Since PL has many shotgun wielding enemies this serves as an alternate buff for these enemies. I tested both these setups before in another playthorugh and it works infinitely better then vanilla PL behavior. This DLC is difficult only if I fight like an idiot or get ambushed at point blank range (which is possible with my subpar perception stat and foggy environment)

-I'm going in with crap equipment. That's right, I left many guns back in Megaton in order to roleplay a traveler that doesn't want to carry too much.
No M4, No missles, no shotty (although like I said before I'll find plenty), no CHAINSAW! (Whoo! Let's see how I survive now!), no armor...

Basically only a pistol and a lever action rifle. I literally came in with regular clothes, no bulky armor this time. This could be tough but let's see.

 

Point Lookout!

Otherwise known as Point "I will crush you computer" lookout.
Due to overwhelming of all my mods I effectively rendered this place a frames per second nightmare. NVSR (New Vegas Stutter Remover) prevents the game from ever dropping below the 20 fps mark. This ensures that I don't get killed because of "laggy gameplay". Instead the game goes slowmo. I haven't seen it ever kick in except for extraordinary circumstances (Firing a mini nuke point blank in a room full of movable objects, npcs, and mines).

However in my quest to ensure a glorious looking game and because I overrated my new computer, I didn't take into account that the environment in Point Lookout contains something the other places don't. Water and fog. Due to lighing mods and all sorts of reflective textures this pushed my comp a bit hard. It was certainly doable, I just had to be careful in certain areas and take down enemies quickly and at long range because if it got too hot then it slowed down.

But who wants to listen to me whine? You came for pics.

Spoiler

The Reborn mod that I mentioned changes things you can do here. One of the first things you should do is restore power to the board walk and the motel. I came back here often to rest as wandering the night was suicide.


Blackhole of Doooooom
Or my computer farting out a missing texture. For whatever reason this haunted this exact spot for the entirity of this trip. It goes away when you get close and reappears at a distance. Not sure what to make of it. Flickering textures always happens in this game but this is the most flagrant example of one I've seen.


Rock and roll


Locals seem nice


I should have brought a rocket launcher...

A lot of stuff to do in this place. I'll simply list what they are

• Restore power to the boardwalk and motel. The motel especially has been changed by the reborn mod, you can no longer crash in the place and find yourself a bed. The doors are electronically closed which locks you out of a another sidequest until you fix it.
  
• As just mentioned, there is a side mission that has you fulfilling a mission of a Chinese agent from before the war. There is a sunken submarine that was supposed to be completely destroyed back then. Can you finish this mission many years later?
• Going east takes you to Calvard Mansion where there seems to be some kind of action going on. This is the "main quest" for this DLC
• North from here you'll find a hardware store to sell your loot. You will also find some lady who makes hard liquor. There's a quest for making it. Make sure you have plenty of space in your inventory for this one.
• Further north will make you encounter the "Smuggler camps". While they do exist in vanilla game, the Reborn mod builds them a camp alongside the road and these guys are tough! Your going to have to fight your way through the road and blockades if you want to make it further north.
  
• All the way northeast is the Ark and Dove Cathedral inhabited by crazy "tribe" people. Stay away from them for now, part of the main quest
• Around here is a "trap cave" which is home to an orphan boy. He rigged it with traps and it's dangerous.
  
• There is also a "Feral Ghoul Safari". Cost 1000 caps to fight feral ghouls alongside two other people.
  
• Going west from there is a prisoner camp. Very tough fight here, part of the Velvet Curtain quest regarding the Chinese spy.
• West from here isn't much, you can find a downed fighter plane.
• From the top left of the map going south, you will eventually find a Punga cave or something. Part of the main quest.
• Right near that you will see Blackhall Manor. This is part of a quest to find a book for the elderly man there. You hear from a missionary that this book is "evil" and the man is part of some occult or something. Up to you how you decide to tackle this quest after finding the book. I'm opting to return to DC with the book because this quest references the Dunwich Building which is in the DC wasteland.
• South from here is the Salvager Camp. This is new from the Reborn mod. Save the salvager and his dog to complete the quest. The salvager is a good place to sell your loot if Haley Hardware is out of caps.
• Then all the way southwest of the land you'll find some abandoned tents where that missionary lady is hanging out

That sort of sums up the map. There is of course things you can find in between.

Regarding the main quest, after you save a foul mouth ghoul in the manor he orders me to check out why those tribe guys attacked him.

Spoiler

Hey...Hey...
Look at me
Look
At
Me

There goes those wonky graphics again. This only seems to happen here? This place is messing with my comp

Make sure you pick up one of the tribe people clothes because you have to dress as them to gain access to the cathedral. Once there they'll tell you to go to that punga place or something on the other side of the map.
This is where I made my first real mistake in this DLC. This DLC is tough but there is generous ammo and health. What I didn't factor was the TIME AND DARKNESS!
Remember how I said night time is dangerous? Double so in this swamp. It was roughly 6 P.M when I entered that place. By the time I got to the Punga tree it was getting really dark to the point that I couldn't see my hands. I also realized that the pipboy light mod I had was way too weak. I stumble along in the dark for a good 10 minutes after "breathing in the pores" of the punga tree.
Not only was my character high, it was nearly pitch black and weird noises and images flashes across my screen.

I was scared. It was nighttime in my home and for the first time Fallout 3 made me scared like I was playing a horror game. I'm so bad at those sort of games guys!

Spoiler

Not me, just a random video from some youtuber to refresh your memories of this place. Now imagine this place in near perfect darkness. The only light from trippy special effect explosions. Here's an example of how dark it was.

Spoiler

Gotta say though, darker nights really add to the roleplay elements. Definitely gonna up the power of my pipboy light though (I hate that it effects indoors however)

Anyway waking up with a scar I'm now part of the tribe! I find Nadine inside the cathedral and she fixes that up for me. I learn that the leader is located in some cave or something. After pointlessly reporting to the ghoul I search out the leader. I find him talking to a hologram of a brain. Yeah...

Spoiler

I report back to the ghoul and he tells me we can pinpoint the direction of the brain's signal if I put some thingy on top of the Ferris wheel. I do exactly as the ghoul says (and ignore the brain somehow speaking "into my mind"). However putting the jammer thing triggers a massive wave of angry tribals. For whatever reason these guys were even harder then before, I wonder if they were immune to that mod that nerfs them? One got stuck behind a wall but was able to snipe at me for OP damage. I had console kill the bastard.

On topic of stuck enemies, there's been a lot of weird physics in this place. Not a big deal, actually was funny on a few occasions.

Spoiler

This must be Fallout 3's idea of Drone Warfare

So I head on back to the ghoul only to see that his manor get's blown up as soon as I get close. I find him in his safe bunker and he's pissed off. Time to find the brain and destroy it!
Brain is located underground the lighthouse protected by an army of robots. I let the ghoul waste most of them, he's handy with the shotty. Anyway once I get to the end they meet in other face to...glass. Or whatever the brain is encased in. They both in an arguement vaguely simulating the earlier Republican debates. I try to be diplomatic but it seems the game is FORCING me to choose someone to kill.

Is this right? Why isn't there a middle ground? Or is there one that I don't know about? If I can get trough this without bloodshed please let me know! Since I don't know I shoot the brain. I get rewarded with...nothing. Well he says I can loot the place to my hearts content. I net something called a Microwave Emitter. Seems like a giant laser gun.

We're done here.

I go back to the ferry but then see Nadine! She found who gave me that scar, it was that Ferryman! I confront him and he admits to picking a piece of my brain. Seems like the only reason is because he's a wacko. Game glitches and he doesn't' pull his gun out on me. Since dialogue loops if I try to talk to him again, I simply shoot him in the face with the Double Barreled Shotgun. I also get my brain back.

Because I can.

I save back in the D.C Wasteland. It's about time to continue the main quest.[/spoiler]

 

This was a useless rant post
Sorry!

Continue on ahead

 

Here's a crash course review of the next events since I lost the post and pics for the next part. Sorry!

• Your character's dad dies.
  
• Enclave finally appears
• You seek refuge with the Brotherhood of steel
• You learn the G.E.C.K can be found in vault 87
• Enclave can now spawn in the wasteland
• I get a bunch of fancy new weapons

And here's a video of that event to jog your memory a bit

Spoiler

Alright what's next? I have decided to do "The Pitt" DLC. First though I need to check over all my equipment. The wasteland it very dangerous now with the arrival of the Enclave. On the flip side they have a great arsenal of new laser\plasma weaponry.
Here's a little something of what I'm seeing

Spoiler

Boom headshot! A sneak attack headshot with a rifle slinging 7.62 Nato rounds (or .308) is enough to kill these guys in up to three shots max. Usually just one shot is enough but it seems to vary.


I have no idea how that raider got in the cabinet like that.


I found the "Oasis". A secret location to the north that has a talking tree. I decided to put the tree "out of his misery" by cutting his heart. That's what he wanted me to do. I thought I'll get bad karma but instead the crazy people living there "understood what I had to do". What the heck? I was hoping for a massacre for killing their god. Keep in mind I usually set him on fire so I wasn't sure what this option did.


Now this is interesting. "Alien Power Cells". I found this near a radio station to the north. Make sure your "HDR" setting is on in the configuration menu to see glowing objects like Nuka Cola Quantum and power cells. Is there something nearby I should look for? Hmm...

I also cleared out the capitol building and got all sorts of goodies. I'm now completely prepared for "The Pitt" DLC.
But where is it!?
Ah... see I'm using a mod called "Delay DLC". You know the messages you get when you start a new game and it announces the DLC you have installed? That's immersion breaking. How on earth is your character supposed to know what's going on halfway across the map just because you installed the DLC? See this mod triggers the message when you get close to the DLC location. To get to the Pitt you have to travel north and save this guy Warner. There is a special radio signal when you get close to the radio tower. By the time I get there the DLC triggered the message and then I heard the radio signal. I save Warner from some raiders and he tells me how I need to help him save his people from slavery.

Very fluid how that worked, much better then before where he automatically assumed I listened to his broadcast (I didn't). You actually have to search out the radio and listen to it this time. The same works for the Point Lookout DLC. I have to find the ferry on my own. I don't have map marker to spell it out for me.

Next post adventures in The Pitt!

 

Rapid firing events are on the way! Forgive the onslaught but this wasn't exactly a very long DLC

The Pitt takes me to the industrial city remains of Pittsburgh! This city alongside several other American cities were industrial capitols of the world. The amount of materials that came out of them made them the focal point for the military build up of the 30's, 40's, and throughout the cold war.
These days though, American policy has shifted away from manufacturing and more into services. These once symbols of industrial might are now dormant. China wins out in regards to massive manufacturing centers. This is the Fallout universe though, and per-apoclypse America shows off Pittsburgh as a humongous industrial center.

I kind of wish there was more to explore though. I can see all those factories and stuff but I hardly ever go into any of them. Be sure to travel light, you won't be able to haul stuff back to base so make sure you leave room for new goodies.

To begin, Werhner tells me to get to the tunnel to the most northwestern part of the map. After killing the slavers there I make my way to the Pitt.

Spoiler

This is DAY time! This place is a horrid looking place and that's by design. Be careful with hard to see mines and traps through the thick pollution.

I get "captured" by the raiders and join the workforce as a slave. The raiders also steal all my equipment. Don't worry, we will see it all later. However now I'm practically naked. Midea is the person of interest here. She tells me I have to get Iron Ingots from the steelyard in order to avoid unwanted attention. This is very difficult for two reasons.
One, I have no weapons. I find a fellow slave who gives me an "Auto Axe". It's like that chainsaw I was using before. This isn't a good weapon to use though imo because of point number two.
The Steelyard is infested with "Trogs". These mutated humans resemble weird fish looking things. They have no weapons and charge at you with their bare hands. However they have a pretty decent reach and hit really hard. Couple that with the fact that you start with no long range weapons and health you can get in trouble very quickly.

In the steelyard I do find an Assault Rifle and I use it to with precise marksmanship. Inside one of the factory buildings I get the required 10 ingots and report back to the bosses.

Spoiler

For some strange reason no one took my ammo. It's not exactly cheating though, it only takes a couple shots to the face to kill a trog. If worse comes to worse use the auto axe to mow them down one by one. Use back and forth movement to avoid getting hit by their melee. Fighting them resembles fighting Minotaurs in Oblivion. They are clumsy but hit hard.

Now Midea tells me that Asher, Lord of the Pitt is going to make a speech. After the speech she "volunteers" me to fight in the arena. If I win I get my freedom!

The arena is tough for one reason really. The radiation. I have to win the fights quickly or the rads will kill me. I do all three fights and loot their equipment each time. No matter though, as a reward someone tells me I can meet with Asher now. More importantly I get my equipment back! Yay!

I leave the undertown slave area and make it up to Uptown here Asher's massive palace is located. The plan is to go inside, steal the cure he has, and go back to Midea.

Spoiler

Whoa don't shoot! You can hear her taking practice shots in the area. Don't worry, she won't actually shoot you. All npc's should do this if you talk to them with your weapon out. It would be funny

Inside the palace I find Asher who is much different then you would have expected coming in. Apparently he's a former Brotherhood of Steel guy who was abandoned because his comrades thought he was dead during their "Scourge". The Scrourge was the purging of the city because of the chaos that was happening here prior. Apparently it was worse back then. Anyway he tells me the cure to the sickness stuff that was happening here would do no good for the slaves. It is necessary for him to do the horrible things he has done in order for a better tomorrow. Before I could decide if he has a point the slave uprising Werhner and Midea were hinting at starts. He leaves me there to take care of it.

Now I have a decision to make. I learn that this "cure" is in fact Asher's baby daughter. She is immune to the sickness that turns all newborns into Trogs. Based on some audio logs I stole from Ashur's bedroom, I learn that he is in fact sincere in his attempt to better the lives of the citizens of the Pitt. First though sacrifices have to be made.

The game attempts to paint the issue as morally gray now. I decide to side with Ashur and leave the palace. I don't take the "cure" with me. That would be kidnapping.
Outside slaves get slaughtered by the armed guards. Not all the slaves though, some continue working. Oh finally got a decent screenie of what a Trog looks like

Spoiler

I got back to Midea who is pissed off that I joined Ashur instead of her revolt. Now I was supposed to get info from her about Werhner's location but there is no option for it. I thought there was supposed to be a speech check?
Hmm.
I just blast her head off. Yeah I know!
"But Doomguy! That's evil! You can't do that you said you'll be a good guy!"
I didn't even get bad Karma. My game is acting funny.

On her body I find the note from Werhner. He's in the steelyard. I got there and this time clean out the place. I pick up as many ingots as I could fine (more then thirty out of apparently 100). I also find a very unique weapon. It's called "Wild Bill's Sidearm". Because of my heavily modded game it's considered a .22 long rifle revolver. That has to suck right? .22 ammo is the bottom of the bottom. However whatever mods I had made this gun incredibly powerful for it's caliber. It's nearly equivelent to a .357 revolver. However it has a slow rate of fire. It seems this is really changed around from the vanilla stats.

I find Werhner and confront him. Since he's in no mood to negotiate we fight and I shoot him down. Revolt is put down and I report back to Ashur. He thanks me and tells me I can use the "Ammo Press" to forge new ammo. This is a very powerful utility to use! However I have to come here to use it. I do so and make plenty of rare ammo casings. Also unfortanely it doesn't make the "new" ammo from mods. That's okay though, as an American ammo making machine it would be weird for it to make 5.8x42mm Chinese ammo. Yes that's how detailed my mods are

Cool stuff. But that's the end of the DLC. I go back to the wasteland and sell my loot.

I'm curious what those alien cells from earlier were...[/spoiler]

 

I did it again.
Go ahead take a guess. Of course my save game!!!
Of course I borked my save file. This wouldn't be a Doomguy playthough without more save game shenanigans

Got real bad news this time. It seems I am suffering from the infamous "Save Game Corruption" bug. Anyone who has played these games knows what I'm talking about. It's when loading a save game causes it to crash.
Now not all is lost. It seems I'm suffering from a lesser issue of this corruption. The warning signs were there (those weird artifacts from Point Lookout?). Even before some of the textures were "flickering". It wasn't anything serious. I was still able to load games after death and level up.

Now it's the next level of corruption. See I can load my save file from the main menu with no problems. However if I die my game crashes when it attempts to load the previous save from "Ingame". The only way to load back is to literally quit to the main menu and then manually load that save.
Annoying?

I realize the symptom and then tested something else.
Level ups!
I cheated the level up screen and unfortunately that caused the game to crash. I am now level 21.
I can think of two workarounds for the moment. For the death thing I already know the workaround. I can still save with no problems but there is corruption in it. However for the level up screen the simplest fix is to turn off XP all together. No more level ups!
This doesn't attack the symptom though. My file is corrupted and I don't know what it is I did that made it so. I'm using CASM and this is the first time it failed to stop this in countless of playthroughs. I suspect I made a mistake by loading a autosave once instead of a fresh save. Ever since then I've been using the other saves from a bad save point. Too much playing around with mod settings and a failure to save in a safe interior cell (my favorite is the women's bathroom in Megaton )

I'm going to see if I can solve this. It's unlikely but I'll try. If I can't then I'll disable the level up stuff but that means I will always have the threat of the game quitting on me. My fps is pretty strong still, let's hope my cpu wrestles with the crappy game engine for a bit longer.
I don't even know how far to load back, clearly the symptoms were there. This started with the missing Super Mutants which I already fixed. Was it back then? Or was it that time when the weapons weren't loading into the weapon lists? What about that additional ammo? Or about the light settings that made it impossible to see inside?
So many places where the game decided to get cancer on me. I have no interest in starting over, I will drag this carcass of a game to the finish line no matter how much it cries from the pain.

UPDATE!​

Crisis averted! I think...

Realizing that I couldn't save from within a corrupted game I needed a way to load into that game from a similar but non corrupted game. The simplest would have been to load an old save from before the corruption. However I had no clue which of those saves were good. Also far too much has changed from back then to now. So instead I deactivated over half my mods and loaded the offending save file.

Aha! The game loaded! This time it was missing data obviously from the missing mods. I was missing guns and stuff. I then proceeded to blow myself up in the women's bathroom with a fatman in order to regenerate everything. The game reloaded! Very interesting, it wasn't doing that before. It seemed without a bunch of mods loaded the game was able to continue like normal. I then made a fresh save and then quit the game. Restarted the game and loaded that save. I skipped over two weeks of ingame time to respawn everything. Saved that game in a new slot and quit again. Loaded back and had completely fresh game bug free. (I think)

Not done yet!
I wanted my old stuff back so I reactivated all my mods and loaded that new save. As expected nothing complained however the game didn't give me my old stuff back. It "erased" it when I removed those mods before. With all the mods loaded and no problems noticed, I saved again in a new slot.

But I want my stuff back!
No problem! With all the mods loaded back I decided to load the original "corrupt save" from within the "clean save" game. I held my breath expecting the game to freak out.
It didn't!
Why not? Well why should it? The game thinks nothing has changed since I loaded the same exact mods that the save had before. What DID change was the fact that I loaded that corrupt save file from a "Clean" save file with the exact same mods.

As expected I had the same stuff as before. I then made a fresh save from that old save file. Loaded that file...no problem! I then blew myself up to see if the file would reload and it did! Tested the level up screen...it worked!

Voila!

After a roundabout way to get saving, loading, and levelups working again I was able to save my progress in a new set of save files.

I don't blame you if you don't understand what I just did.

Essentially loading the corrupt save from a non corrupt save file is the secret. You can't just load from the main menu, you have to load from one save game to another. Don't ask me why, I didn't make this game.
If something similar happens again I now know how to pull the game out of the brink of death. I suspect the game still has issues but the important thing is to have a stable save file.

Will test some more around the wasteland. I know this will probably bite my ass again, something screwed up the save for a reason. Only time will tell.