Quick advice dump from 2024 100% on PS3

[ThirtyTwoMewtwos]

The game is horrifically unstable as is common knowledge. I'm going to quickly run down some tips I collected from here and around the internet that helped me along the way. Maybe they can help someone else trying to do this now. If you're on PS+ Streaming, ignore the DLC info as it doesn't have them. (the game is much more stable on PS+ Streaming due to this. Its the same with FNV)

 

I played on a refurbished PS3 Slim with an SSD upgrade.

• Occasionally, usually following a crash, and after the trophy sync acknowledgment, hold L2+R2+Square all the way through the slides until the Bethesda logo and start icon show up. If done correctly these will disappear. Once they do, hold a little longer and then release and play as normal. This clears the game's cache. It doesn't matter what exactly that means, it just helps.
• You want to keep your save file as small as possible. It will naturally bloat throughout your playthrough(s). I'm having some small issues at 13Mb on ps3 but nothing too insane. I've done it all on one save file.
• If the game becomes completely unplayable at any point, either cut your losses and delete all your saves (nuclear option) or, reinstall the game. On other forums I've seen people claim that a fresh reinstall helps, This tip mostly applies to those using a PS3 as on streaming you don't have the ability (or likely even the need) to reinstall. 
• As with any game, stable or not, this is a trophy hunting experience, there are a LOT of missables. Save often. Simple as. Every once and a while do a hard save, after a combat, after a quest, when starting a quest etc. Every once and a while use a new save slot to make a different hard save.
• I had to go back and do both Escape! and Galaxy News Radio again due to doing these quests wrong or something with speech checks. I don't know how that works but at least with GNR, if you aren't using a guide, DO NOT speech check Three Dog when you first meet him. It completely skips the quest and therefore the trophy. The guide mentions this. I am just stupid.
• Do not use energy weapons, flamers, etc. Anything that turns enemies to ash or goo makes a pile of stuff in the Gameworld that never goes away. this increases the file size dramatically. The save file bloat is the main cause of freezing and crashes and performance loss. yay Bethesda.

• The shooting is awful, build for VATS as best you can and consider playing on very easy. I used the assault rifle and the Chinese assault rifle for most of the game, you can press R2 to make VATS go by faster.

• The top guide claims there's no exploit for hacking terminals. If you aren't aware, the terminal mini game in all bethesda fallout games is very easy to cheese. Open the terminal, Select three random passwords. If you don't successfulyl unlock it, back out of the terminal then go back in. Rinse and repeat until you've successfully hacked it. (or just paly the mini game as normal, don't forget you can hit parenthesis or brackets for dud removal and more tries - () {} [] <>   <---- These.

 

(DLC)

• You can cheese the lvl 30 karma trophies with the karma perks. Leveling 29-30 just save before you level up and use the karma perks to get each respective trophy. This is a well known trick but I wanted to put it here just in case.
• I recommend doing mothership Zeta as your second DLC if you do GOTY. The epoxy is extremely useful for repairing weapons without having to open the pip boy. I did it almost immediately following Operation Anchorage, which the guides will usually tell you to do first.
• The most unstable DLC in this experience bug wise was easily Point Lookout. I had both the first and final quest completely bug out. Had to redo the first quest three times.
• Performance wise, The Pitt stuttered and chugged constantly. I was getting seconds per frame rather than frames per second at some sections. (My save file was around 11Mb at this point)

 

Please feel free to add anything I missed to make this experience better for others trying it. Good luck on your journey!

[TheJimmonator]

I got the plat over a decade ago and no longer have access to that save file, could I start a new game and access the DLC immediately upon exiting the vault to do the 100%? Would this presumably make my save file smaller and the DLC more tolerable?

 

Also, Is there a good, early game XP glitch to boost me straight to level 29 so I don't have to do that naturally again?

 

These tips seem super helpful, thanks!

[ThirtyTwoMewtwos]

Just now, TheJimmonator said:

I got the plat over a decade ago and no longer have access to that save file, could I start a new game and access the DLC immediately upon exiting the vault to do the 100%? Would this presumably make my save file smaller and the DLC more tolerable?

 

Also, Is there a good, early game XP glitch to boost me straight to level 29 so I don't have to do that naturally again?

Definitely! You can immediately bee line to all DLC and the main quest is very short. You have to complete it to play broken steel but that story is only 3-5 Quests. 

The order I recommend is Anchorage - Mothership - The Pitt - Point Lookout - Main Quest - Broken Steel. Skip most of the side content and only go directly to objectives and you should be just fine. You will get freezes so save often!

 

also yes there is a great xp glitch. As soon as you start collect as much scrap metal as you can. This video here shows how to do the glitch easily. I did this for the main game karma + xp level trophies. The more scrap metal you get the better. Super easy to get started this way!

)

[RedDevil757]

I started this on PS3 and decided to cut my losses and give up with it. I played it in 4k on series X instead. Which was nice as I didn't have to worry about glitches breaking it

[ThirtyTwoMewtwos]

8 minutes ago, RedDevil757 said:

I started this on PS3 and decided to cut my losses and give up with it. I played it in 4k on series X instead. Which was nice as I didn't have to worry about glitches breaking it

I definitely plan on giving it a modded run on PC soon. Just so I can give the game its fair chance to not be a bad memory. Last time I played it was on Xbox 360 and I don't remember ever having any of the issues there that I had here on PS3. I will say though, I'm very happy to have it on my list.

[RedDevil757]

12 minutes ago, ThirtyTwoMewtwos said:

I definitely plan on giving it a modded run on PC soon. Just so I can give the game its fair chance to not be a bad memory. Last time I played it was on Xbox 360 and I don't remember ever having any of the issues there that I had here on PS3. I will say though, I'm very happy to have it on my list.

Yeah it's an awesome platinum to have 

[thomaspantrias]

I started the game for the first time this Friday for the dlcs I follow the guide of the site. Unfortunately I did 13 save files if I delete a few will be an issue? I'm really nervous last year I played vanilla New Vegas from the ps plus subscription and I made around 150 saves I didn't had an issue playing it and I had the streaming to worry while playing with an internet of 24 Mbps which was a miracle.

[black__bunny]

24 minutes ago, thomaspantrias said:

I started the game for the first time this Friday for the dlcs I follow the guide of the site. Unfortunately I did 13 save files if I delete a few will be an issue? I'm really nervous last year I played vanilla New Vegas from the ps plus subscription and I made around 150 saves I didn't had an issue playing it and I had the streaming to worry while playing with an internet of 24 Mbps which was a miracle.

I make a new save every time and delete the old ones once I start to get to ~20 - I read it helped with the stability of the game and IMO it does make a difference. I haven't had any issues when I have deleted old saves, just make sure you don't accidentally delete your most recent save 😅

[sven100]

Can someone pls tell me, what is the fastest way to lv 30 without playing the game normal?

I have Platinium since 2009 and wanna get 100%. Unfortunaly i lost my save due an HDD Crash.

I googled a little bit, but i only found the scraps/Walther Glitch, which only works on Pc.

[HuntingFever]

6 minutes ago, sven100 said:

Can someone pls tell me, what is the fastest way to lv 30 without playing the game normal?

I have Platinium since 2009 and wanna get 100%. Unfortunaly i lost my save due an HDD Crash.

I googled a little bit, but i only found the scraps/Walther Glitch, which only works on Pc.

The Scrap Metal exploit listed above is the fastest way to cheat your way to max rank.

 

[sven100]

16 minutes ago, HuntingFever said:

The Scrap Metal exploit listed above is the fastest way to cheat your way to max rank.

 

Oh damned, thx. I overread it.

That's nice to hear. I think i will play this game before the PS5 Version of Fallout 4 comes out.

[SUGARTOUCH]

On 3/24/2024 at 5:08 PM, black__bunny said:

I make a new save every time and delete the old ones once I start to get to ~20 - I read it helped with the stability of the game and IMO it does make a difference. I haven't had any issues when I have deleted old saves, just make sure you don't accidentally delete your most recent save 😅

I have been using ps plus cloud saving to keep my older saves on the cloud and off my ps3 console.

[Poindexter2291]

Is the DLC thats on a GOTY edition unlimited use or one time use only? I can't recall how all these old PS3 games worked but I've been hearing horror stories from other games where even unused DLC codes become useless, or a game's DLC can only be used once, etc.... I want to get the game and all DLC so I'd be looking at getting a used copy of the GOTY edition, but I don't want to run into an issue of DLC codes already being used up. I thought GOTY editions were all  contained on the disc, so unlimited uses... but I figure its best to check before I order. Thanks in advance

[HuntingFever]

49 minutes ago, Poindexter2291 said:

Is the DLC thats on a GOTY edition unlimited use or one time use only? I can't recall how all these old PS3 games worked but I've been hearing horror stories from other games where even unused DLC codes become useless, or a game's DLC can only be used once, etc.... I want to get the game and all DLC so I'd be looking at getting a used copy of the GOTY edition, but I don't want to run into an issue of DLC codes already being used up. I thought GOTY editions were all  contained on the disc, so unlimited uses... but I figure its best to check before I order. Thanks in advance

Both the FO3 GOTY Edition and the F: NV UE have everything on the disc - the latest patch included .

[Lordguwa]

brings back good times. i found this game for 5$ at a pawn shop. but i didn't decide to start it until years later.

 

the mothership zeta is best done as the last DLC due to problems. i explored everything and didn't have much issue other than the occasional crash.

(even the DLC areas).

Edited May 3 by Lordguwa

[Buff_Cupcake]

I have still have my GOTY copies of Fallout 3 and Fallout NV and i'm so tempted to fire them up. The only thing that is keeping me from playing at least Fallout 3 again at the moment is the possibility that we'll get a remaster of Fallout 3 by the end of the year. The best thing Todd Howard could do is to release a Fallout 3 and Fallout NV remaster collection for the holiday season this year.

[Poindexter2291]

I'm about 30 hours in, almost finished with the main story and also completed Operation Anchorage.

 

I recommend buying the infirmary and laboratory upgrades in your house. This will give you free heals, remove all radiation effects, heal all limbs, and cure all addictions and all it requires is a quick fast travel to Megaton. The lab will also generate one free consumable AID item per day. 

 

SLEEP whenever you can, this will heal you and will also give you a Well Rested bonus which is +10% XP

 

I didn't look at ALL the guides prior to starting but it's definitely valuable to do Operation Anchorage as soon as possible. You get an overpowered armor and some overpowered weapons that should carry you through the rest of the game. There is apparently a bug with the armor, where the game gives you the wrong "version" of the armor which has almost 10 million durability points, which means it will basically never need to be repaired. Apparently this is patched in some versions but in my GOTY edition, so far I have not seen the armor degrade at all. 

 

I'm not sure if any guides mention it since there are no trophies tied to them, but there are companions you can use in the game to fight with you and hold items. I wish I realized that 25 hours ago. You can also tell them to prioritize certain types of attacks based on the weapons you give them (melee, long range, etc). Some are tied to good or bad karma and will leave you if you fall outside that category. 

 

For the trophy Strictly Business, since I did not want my "Good" playthrough to be tainted by being a slaver, I saved my game right after accepting the quest, completed the entire quest, got the trophy, and reloaded my save. Now, my save file's do not have that quest completed nor did I experience any negative consequences, and I still got the trophy. Apparently by doing this quest you can end up "breaking" Flak as a merchant, and there's another quest that gives you discounts at the Rivet City marketplace, so losing Flak as a merchant was not something I wanted to do. 

 

One VERY HELPFUL tip I found online for getting the 9 karma level trophies.... when you get very close to reaching levels 8, 14 and 20, go to Megaton's Craterside Supply, and near the entrance there is a mercenary. You can throw a mine close by his feet and instantly defuse/pick it back up. This will give you a small amount of XP each time, so you can use this to inch towards the next level. When you're close to level 8 with good karma, throw mines, pick up, and level up to level 8. Reload save, go to the Megaton Saloon and use Colin's terminal repeatedly, as mentioned in the guide, reduce karma to neutral, go back to Craterside supply, and use the mine exploit to level up to 8. Repeat a third time with bad karma (or just start blasting when you reach bad karma). This will allow you to not have to worry about finding sources of XP to level up while also having to worry about karma at the same time. 

 

Edit: I learned yesterday that you can rapidly reduce karma by using the fat man. When I tried to lower it by blasting civilians with a combat shotgun, it took a large number of kills. Using a few mini nukes seem to drop karma down much quicker. 

 

I'll add more as I progress through the rest of the game

Edited Thursday at 12:45 PM by Poindexter2291