Since I’m on the PC, if I get really frustrated I’ll turn off clipping and float through the map back to the entrance. Some of these vaults can get pretty labyrinthine.
I still can’t figure out how the lock picking minigame is supposed to work.
Lock pick is pretty easy…what I can’t do very well is the computer hacker mini-game. I end up trying to puzzle it out and then just guess, and then repeat until I get it right.
To do the lock pick thing you just move the pick with the mouse then use the pick key in short bursts to test the lock. If it doesn’t move at all then move the mouse until you get some movement…then you just move it in little increments until you pick the lock. I’ve gotten to the point where I can usually pick a lock in a few seconds, even if it’s a hard one, and I hardly ever break a pick anymore. I think I still have most of the original picks I started the game with.
-XT
Thanks. Pratice, practice, pratice, I guess. (I can’t move the bobbypin in increments smaller than 1/4 of the full arc. Mouse setting?)
Yeah, up your mouse sensitivity. If it effects your game play then I guess just modify the setting when you are going to pick a lock. It really does get easier…that’s one of the easiest things in the game for me now, and I always am thrilled when they give me the option to pick a lock and get into something. Not only is it easy, and there are goodies I can yoink, but it’s free XPs to boot! 
-XT
Has anyone tried a low intelligence character? I read that below 4IN, you get different dialog options. If so, how limiting is it?
Bah. Hit by a bug, decided to try and work around it and luckily managed to - only to get hit by another bug, which got autosaved. And of course my last actual save is an hour or so back. Hooray for me.
I’ve managed to collect a few reasonably decent guns by now (just grabbed my first plasma rifle, in fact) but I keep going back to the .357 revolver and my cowboy shotgun. The aesthetics of them are just much more fun than high-powered future weapony-ness.
I have several of the better guns in the game, but I think the Winchester like rifle, the ThatGun revolver and the tommy gun laser are what I normally go out with. I also have the .50 cal sniper rifle, but it’s just too slow firing. What I like to use it for is long range shooting, then switch to the Winchester when they get close. I never did find a .308 sniper rifle…would still like to get one if I can put my hands on one somewhere, since I assume you get more than one shot per VATs round with the thing (plus I have tons of .308…not much .50 cal around). Still haven’t found a Gauss Rifle yet either…definitely want to get one of those at some point, since that was definitely my favorite weapon in FO3.
-XT
My copy finally made it to me after a good long delay from Amazon (note: don’t buy games on two consecutive days, because Amazon’s inventory software is good enough to recognize it, but not good enough to speed anything along while it works out consolidating the two), and I got about an hour of play earlier (ended up straying too far away from Goodsprings, and locked in a character I realized was not quite what I wanted, so I’m starting over tomorrow)…
One question that I have: For those playing PC, are you mouse/keyboard, or using a gaming controller? I hate to say that I may end up buying a 360 controller, just because I am so used to having played F3 on a console that I’m having a really tough time in the early going getting used to the mouse/keyboard controls. I’m guessing with more than an hour, it’ll get more natural, and I need to just ride out the early jitters.
Your mileage and character may vary, but the Hunting Rifle takes up a lot of AP. I can get one shot off and have to wait for a second to get the second one off.
I like the sights on the Hunting rifle, although they’re kinda weird. You have this beat up wood stock rifle with fancy tritium sights. The sights sometimes affect my acceptance of a gun more than the stats. I don’t use energy weapons, but one of the maybe plasma rifles was horrible when I picked one up; no matter how much damage it did I couldn’t get past it.
Does anyone have a clue about if or when there’ll be a second patch? Do they even know the many PC owners have an issue with the NPCs and slowdown?
There is a setting for realistic sights.
Keyboard and mouse. The standard left hand on the ASWD keys and right hand on the mouse…basically the way I play all FPS type games since Doom I rolled out (really since CW). I probably couldn’t play using a gaming controller to save my virtual life.
-XT
Xtisme, I was wondering: if I played games on the two-monitor setup I use for my schoolwork, could I dedicate one of them to display information that usually comes from the Pip Boy? If not in this game, can it be done in others, like the Sims? My laptop isn’t powerful enough to run most games, so I’m deciding whether to get back into PC gaming or to get the new XBox when mine finally dies.
RPGs are my favorite type of game and I think I’m missing out on a lot with the console versions (once all the patches and mods are available).
Thanks for any help.
Two monitor setups don’t usually work that way. At least not in my experience. I am actually running the game on a 2 monitor setup at home, but the second display is just running a browser that I use to surf with (and do searches with when I get stuck in game ;)).
Personally, I’d go the PC route, but then that’s what I’m used to and what my preference is for gaming (I don’t actually have an X-Box…just a WII and an older PlayStation II). The biggest reason I’d go PC is all the additional mods you can get from modders and players out there. There are just tons of extra content and little tweaks to the system available on the internet that makes the game a lot more interesting.
That said, a PC to run this sucker isn’t exactly at the low end, so it’s going to cost more than a gaming system. Myself, I use my computer for gaming and I also use it to terminal into work, configure firewalls, porn and just about everything else, so it sort of leverages my investment nicely.
From the threads we had on FO3 and the back and forth between the X-Box guys and the PC guys, I’d say you are right…you are missing out on a lot. All the player made mods for one thing. However, I’m prejudiced, as I said, and you will probably get a different answer from one of the X-Box 'dopers.
No worries.
-XT
I’m using a .308 sniper rifle with suppressor and carbon fibre stock mods as my primary weapon. I get three shots in VATS (although I’ve got two ranks of Action Boy perk). Works very nicely outside of VATS, too. I was all about energy weapons in FO3, but haven’t found any of them attractive in Vegas.
The only one I’ve found myself really using is the Laser RCW (Laser Tommygun); thanks to its high magazine capacity I can just get in close and then pull the trigger till the charge runs out and still do a reasonable amount of damage even with a Laser skill in the 25-30 range.
Otherwise though, I share the same sentiment- energy weapons just don’t seem to pack the same punch in NV and when you’re in the middle of a free-for-all firefight involving Veteran Legionaries, NCR troops, Cazadors, and a Deathclaw, you really need to be putting your enemies down a lot faster than any of the energy weapons seem to facilitate…
I don’t have much experience with Steam. Will it find patches for me automatically and download them or is there some way to force it to check? Will it do it only if I start the game through steam or even if I start the game directly from the Fallout shortcut I have on my desktop? Thanks.
Steam auto-patches.
And launching it from the desktop shortcut will launch steam first.
I haven’t gotten to Cazzadorsw or Deathclaws, but I’ve been able to kill Giant Radscorpions very nicely with the Q-35 Matter Modulator (Special Plasma Rifle). There is a place or two in the game where they point out that Laser is for less armored targets and plasma is for the beastly boys.