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Fairfax ruins | ||||||||||||||||||||
Fairfax main street (bottom) and external shots (clockwise: from the northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Fairfax ruins are the destroyed remains of a town in the Capital Wasteland, located south of Vault 101, east of Fort Independence, and north of Andale.
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- 2Layout
Background

The Brotherhood Outcasts and local raiders are engaged in a stalemate, fighting over the town - while the Outcasts have fortified Fort Independence, they are constantly being harassed by degenerates camped out in the city. Despite superior training and technology, the Outcasts have not occupied the town proper for reasons unknown.
Layout
Exterior
The ruins consist of the main street, several alleys and destroyed houses. Raiders fill the area and are well-armed. North of the main road, running through the center of the town east to west, is the entrance to the metro tunnels. There are also several manholes leading to the utility tunnels. There are also various traps that may attract the raiders' attention if set off. You may also run in to frag mines by fast-traveling here. Outside one of the houses on the outskirts of town, is a gas valve that, when repaired, allows you to burn enemies by shooting them inside the house.
Utility tunnels
The main entrance to the utility tunnels is a grating in the floor that collapses into a small rectangular hole in the center of Fairfax Ruins. A far less defended entrance to the tunnels is a manhole located to the northwest of the ruins to the east of the Brotherhood Outcast base. Inside are several ammunition boxes, raiders, aid items, and other loot.
There is also a separate subway tunnel in the center of Fairfax Ruins guarded by two raiders. This subway has no links to any other areas, but there are various ammunition boxes lying around. When entering the tunnel, there are some mines as well as a shotgun trap close to the entrance. The tunnel is, like the rest of Fairfax Ruins, only inhabited by raiders.
Inhabitants
The place is now full of raiders, whose numbers depend on the character's current level. They are mostly armed with missile launchers, combat shotguns, and assault rifles, and some may wield a flamer, or even 10mm submachine guns.
- After Broken Steel is loaded, to the north of the ruins, the Enclave have set up an outpost with a deathclaw cage which will appear after the player has done the quest, The Waters of Life. Upon approaching the camp, there will usually be three soldiers and two officers present, but their numbers can change depending on the player's level. The soldiers are sometimes armed with flamers and will be busy executing several wastelanders enclosed in a cage, which may explain the bodies. This observation also suggests that a deathclaw cage was being used as a makeshift execution chamber. An Enclave Hellfire trooper may be included in their ranks.
Notable loot
- U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes in the car dealership east of Fairfax Ruins. It's sitting on top of a generator in the higher area to the left. Listen for the generator.
- Another U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes can be found in Dot's Diner to the south. However, it's much easier to find by going north from the Nuka-Cola Plant.
- Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual in the Fairfax station on the rubble below the mezzanine next to the east escalator.
- Nuka-Cola Quantum in an overturned truck under the highway south of the ruins (towards Andale).
- Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor, in the concrete treehouse south of the ruins.
Notes
- When fast traveling to this area, there will be at least one raider with a missile launcher nearby accompanied by at least two armed raiders (sometimes armed with 10mm SMGs, R91 assault rifles, or combat shotguns). This is dependent upon the player's level. If the player has just cleared the place of enemies and are fast-traveling back right away, no raiders should return. However, it is possible for them to return if the player is at higher levels (and waiting 73 in-game hours).
- A friendly Enclave soldier wearing Tesla armor and armed with a missile launcher may be encountered in the open square on the south side of the ruins (where the broken highway comes into the town). He will clear out the raiders in the area, including the raider with a missile launcher. He reports 'Area secure' and the only dialogue option is 'See you later'.
- Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts will occasionally patrol this area, and may assist in combat.
Appearances
The Fairfax ruins appear only in Fallout 3.
Behind the scenes
- Fairfax Ruins are the ruins of real-world Fairfax, VA. However, the ruins in Fallout 3 are comparatively smaller than the true town and the location is much closer to downtown Washington DC than depicted in the game.
Bugs
- You may (rarely) encounter Defender Morgan somewhere in Fairfax Ruins either still fighting or already dead. Even after you find Defender Morgan dead in Fairfax Ruins, she may reappear sometime later in the same situation.
Gallery
Fallout: New Vegas |
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Developer: Obsidian Entertainment This game has unused areas. |
Fallout: New Vegas is the fourth (canon) entry in everyone's favorite post-apocalyptic RPG series. Developed by Obsidian, which includes a bunch of folks who worked on the original two games. It was released for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in October 2010 to positive reviews and extensive bug complaints.
Most of this content can be played with in the Windows version through the use of the console (~) or the New Vegas edition of the G.E.C.K.. Some of it requires FO3 Archive Utility and/or NifSkope to view.
- 1Sub-Pages
- 3Unused Perks
- 4Unused Audio
- 5Cut Quests
- 6Miscellaneous
Sub-Pages
Unused NPCs They survived the apocalypse, but not New Vegas' rushed development. |
Unused Creatures Some critters and contraptions that never quite got to roam the wasteland. |
Unused Items All sorts of unused or inaccessible armor, weapons, ammo, keys, and the like. |
Unused Maps Test rooms and other miscellaneous unused areas. |
Unused Notes Text notes from quests that were changed or cut entirely, as well as other random text strings and e-mails. |
Unused Dialog Words left permanently unspoken, either due to impossible criteria or because they were horrible. |
Downloadable Content
Dead Money A LOT of Vera Keyes. |
Honest Hearts Pick your poison. |
Old World Blues Weird skeletons and even weirder old men. |
Lonesome Road The final secrets of The Divide. |
Unused Graphics
An unused piece of graffiti hinting at the first New Vegas DLC, Dead Money. This is only unused in the base game and can be seen with the Dead Money expansion installed.
Unused Yes Man faces.
These audio test cells appear as static world objects in the G.E.C.K.. There is one for every footstep sound effect in the game.
Fallout 3 Archive Utility Box
A medical history test. This was used at some point to determine the player's traits. It is done through the menu in the final game. Some of the answers on the test do not have corresponding traits in the final game, either.
An unused ending slide, showing a different, creepier face for House than is used in the final game.
Models for child characters without clothing/armor equipped remain in the game from Fallout 3 (where they could by removing equipment and entering third person when the player character is a child), but can't be seen without console commands or mods in New Vegas.
Unused Perks
Survivalist
This Pip Boy image can be found in the game's BSA but there is no corresponding code. A similarly named perk in Fallout 1/2 increased the player's survival (outdoorsman) skill. There aren't any skill upgrade perks in New Vegas, so this may have done something different.
For the following perks (which are usable in-game), type player.addperk [form id] to give them to your character.
Child At Heart
Form ID: 03142
Seemingly a carryover from Fallout 3, but there are a few uses for it hidden in the game's code (see unused dialogue). Since there are mercifully very few children in New Vegas, it would have been almost completely useless.
DeathClaw Omelet
Form ID: 136e14
Since the criteria for the recipes to work are whether you have the notes, not the perks, this perk does nothing.
Spicy Casserole
Form ID: 1613be
Since the criteria for the recipes to work are whether you have the notes, not the perks, this perk does nothing. In the game, the only way to get the casserole made is to ask Ruby to make one for you in exchange for a Radscorpion Poison Gland. The ingredients are Flour, a Jalapeño Pepper, Mole Rat Meat, and a Radscorpion Poison Gland, and it would have required a Survival skill of 30.
Unused Audio
Music
- Fallout 3's death theme.
- A piece of music intended for use at night in Legion-controlled territories.
- 'Hangover Heart' by Hank Thompson is listed in the credits as one of the radio songs, but does not appear in the game, or in the game's files. Likely cut due to licensing difficulties.
- The complete Fallout 1 and 2 soundtracks are present in the game's files in 128 CBR mp3 (used music is encoded in 192) in the directory DataMusicFallout1and2. The Fallout 1 soundtrack is named and fully tagged in such a way that it looks like it was copied from somebody's home music collection. Several tracks that were not used in New Vegas are included in these files.
Craps
Craps was going to be a casino game at one point. There is little left to support this other than craps tables in the Lucky 38 and the fact that dice rolling sound effects for craps are stored in the exact same naming scheme as the regular casino games. It's unknown if any actual coding for it exists at this point.
Liberty Prime?
Fallout 3 Archive Utility Locating
These sound effects were found along with other monster voice files in a folder named 'robotlibertyprime'. Despite the folder name, the sounds seem to be someone making goofy hurt/death sounds.
Cut Quests
Big Winner: The Tops
One objective:
Objective Index | Objective |
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10 | Visit your private Suite on the 13th floor of the Tops |
Chip Provenance
Called 'VChipHistory' internally. This appears to be the remnants of a quest that tracks the ownership of the platinum chip - at one point, it was possible to give it to a faction, steal it back, then return it again. The script file for this quest is incomplete but revealing:
Of note is the variable tracking chip ownership by the Followers - they are the only faction with which the player cannot side in the final game, nor can the chip ever enter their possession.
The House Always Wins
There is no 'The House Always Wins', only parts I-VIII.
Objective Index | Objective |
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5 | Talk to Mr. House at the Lucky 38. |
10 | Bring the Platinum Chip to Mr. House |
12 | Recover the Platinum Chip from Benny at the Fort. |
20 | Deliver the Platinum Chip to Mr. House. |
25 | Go to the Basement of the Lucky 38. |
26 | Observe Upgrading of Securitrons. |
27 | Return to Mr. House. |
30 | Use the Platinum Chip to open the secret bunker at Fortification Hill. |
31 | Enter the hidden bunker. |
32 | Upgrade Mr. House's secret Securitron army. |
36 | Report back to Mr. House for further instructions. |
40 | Convince the Boomers to support Mr. House. |
42 | (Optional) Neutralize the Boomers by killing the tribe's leaders. |
45 | Inform Mr. House that the Boomers will support his cause. |
47 | Inform Mr. House that the Boomers have been neutralized. |
50 | Investigate the Omertas and stop them if their plans oppose Mr. House's interests. |
52 | Inform Mr. House that the Omerta threat has been neutralized. |
60 | Find the Brotherhood of Steel and destroy them. |
62 | (Optional) Inform Mr. House that you've negotiated a peaceful solution with the Brotherhood. |
64 | Inform Mr. House that the Brotherhood's bunker has been destroyed. |
70 | Go to Hoover Dam and protect President Kimball during his visit. |
72 | Inform Mr. House that President Kimball survived the assassination attempt. |
74 | Inform Mr. House that President Kimball is dead. |
80 | Go to Hoover Dam and defeat Caesar's Legion. |
The House Always Wins V
This quest has an unused stage:
Objective Index | Objective |
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62 | (Optional) Inform Mr. House that you've negotiated a peaceful solution with the Brotherhood. |
It is impossible to negotiate peace between House and the Brotherhood.
The House Always Wins: Lockdown
An unused quest that would have the player locked out of the Lucky 38 for misbehavior.
Objective Index | Objective |
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10 | Escape the Lucky 38 until Mr. House's security lockdown expires. |
12 | Escape the Lucky 38 or kill Mr. House as Caesar directed. |
14 | Escape the Lucky 38 or neutralize Mr. House as Colonel Moore directed. |
16 | Escape the Lucky 38 or neutralize Mr. House as Yes Man directed. |
18 | Escape the Lucky 38 or neutralize Mr. House. |
20 | Deliver the Platinum Chip to Mr. House when his 24 hour security lockdown has expired. |
30 | Return to Mr. House when his 24 hour security lockdown has expired if you want to continue working with him. |
Its associated script contains the following variable and description:
Infected Brahmin Meat
The Infected Brahmin Meat the player can find in the kitchens of the Ultra-Luxe had an implied use for an unmarked quest which never made it into the game. Unused pop-up messages exist for poisoning the Legion's stew and dog bowls, but the scripts attached to the message are nonfunctional. The slave girl Siri would have been involved in this quest, as remnant dialogue strings indicate. There are also leftover dialogue strings indicating that dropping the infected meat on the plate would result in the death of the Legion's mongrels, but the results of adding it to the stew remain unknown.
ID | Name | Text | Menu Button 1 | Menu Button 2 |
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FortDogBowlMsg | Dog Plate | Meat intended for the Legion's mongrels is usually dropped onto this plate. | Leave the plate alone. | Drop the infected Brahmin meat on the plate. |
FortPotMsg | Stew Pot | This pot contains ingredients for the Legionaries' stew. | Leave the pot alone. | Added the infected Brahmin meat to the mix. |
Jailhouse Rock
An NCR sidequest involving the unused NPCs Trooper Willis, MP Fretwell, and two unnamed NCR Troopers. There are also two blank sidequests immediately following it, VMS27 and VMS28 (VMS29 is Kings' Gambit).
The Moon Comes Over the Tower
This quest includes an unused stage:
Objective Index | Objective |
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15 | Disable the Lucky 38's network encryption from three executive consoles. |
These three consoles are located at Camp Golf, H&H Tools Factory, and New Vegas Steel.
My Kind of Town
The quest to recruit a sheriff for Primm has unused variables to allow for the player to recruit a new sheriff after one has been killed off. This is technically impossible on the game's quest engine, as it requires a quest to be completed, then started again. Johnson Nash has a bit of unused dialogue to accommodate this.
Additionally, there is a variable remaining from a time when the method of recruiting an NCR sheriff was through petition. Johnson Nash has something to say about this as well.
Run Goodsprings Run
This quest has an unused variable to set the Bighorners free, presumably to run amok.
This variable can be found in VMS16bQuestScript.
Talent Pool
It seems Bruce Isaac's portion of the quest once involved a bounty hunter, presumably hired by Mr. Bishop. This unused variable can be found in VMSTheTopsTalentPoolScript.
TempMan
Quest associated with Test Man.
The Thorn Mayhem
At some point it was possible to open the Thorn's cages, releasing the creatures within and causing widespread mayhem. Methods of doing so may have involved Red Lucy's otherwise useless computer terminal, or some unused keys. Unused dialogue was recorded for multiple NPCs' reactions to this event. The quest's script explains in no uncertain terms why it was never completed:

Underpass Water Purifier
An unmarked quest that has the Courier fixing a water purifier in the Underpass, a location north of the Mole Rat Ranch that is still in the game but almost empty (Carlyle St. Clair and a few mad Brahmin live there). This quest would have likely been assigned by an unused NPC by the name of Meg Reynolds. While the quest exists in name and very incomplete script form only, the unused message for solving it is still around:
Viva Las Vegas!
Unused post-endgame stage of the main quest. It has variables for each outcome of the final battle at Hoover Dam, but nothing else.
Quest Stage | Log Entry |
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10 | Independent Vegas stub |
20 | NCR Stub |
30 | Legion Stub |
40 | Mr House Stub |
Welcome to Fabulous New Vegas
There are two quests with this name: one of them for a press demonstration, another that tracks dialogue for an unused in-game rendered version of the introductory cutscene. The press demo version has only one stage:
Objective Index | Objective |
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20 | Kill the Raiders. |
The White Wash
There is an early version of this quest, the quest object itself having been repurposed to hold variables for the final version of the quest, though its original objectives are intact.
Objective Index | Objective |
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10 | Speak to Lieutenant Romanowski about the water shortage. |
20 | Check the East Pump Station computer for evidence of a water shortage. |
25 | Talk to Wrench about the water shortage. |
30 | Return to Lieutenant Romanowski with the information you uncovered from the East Pump Station. |
35 | Buy Wrench's Super Tool Kit back from Angelo's Pawn Shop and find out what he knows about the water shortage. |
40 | Catch someone in the act of stealing water from one of the western cisterns. |
50 | Confront Anderson about the water shortage. |
60 | Complete the White Wash to resolve the mystery of the missing water. |
World Changes Post-Endgame
There is no post-endgame, the game just ends.
End States for The Strip
Post-endgame content. See above.
Freeside Post-Endgame Content Quest
See above.
Hidden Quest Names
These are not unused, but they still have names you cannot see in gameplay.
- A Difference of Opinion: This is the name of the quest dealing with Chief Hanlon at Camp Golf. The quest was instead consolidated into Return To Sender.
- Arachnophobia: Second half of the Camp Searchlight quest, consolidated into Wheel of Fortune.
- Caesar's Foe: The negative counterpart to Caesar's Favor. Never actually assigned, Legion Assassins just start showing up to kill you.
- Like Water For Stealth Boys: This is the part of Come Fly With Me involving the Nightkin in the REPCONN basement. Its objectives were consolidated into Come Fly With Me.
- Limited Access: The NCR equivalent to Caesar's Hire, for mixed NCR reputation.
- Most Wanted: The NCR equivalent to Caesar's Foe.
- Stocking Up: Bring holotags to Camp Forlorn Hope.
- Team Spirit: Bring Legion Ears to Camp Forlorn Hope.
Miscellaneous
Big Guns
The Big Guns skill was removed from the game late enough in development to leave references to it in a few places.
- Every time a skill check is conducted in dialogue for any or all combat skills, Big Guns is checked along with the other five used combat skills. Neil has one of these checks.
- Additionally, searching through the texture files reveals that True Police Stories was the original Small Guns skill magazine through its filename. Milsurp Review was originally intended as the Big Guns skill magazine until the two skills were fused.
Unused Reputation
The only reference to a Primm reputation is in Testacles' dialogue. In the final game, Primm is mostly independent/leaning NCR. There's also a corresponding graphic that goes unused with Primm Slim on the left and what looks like an older wasteland settler, possibly representing Johnson Nash.
The Fallout series | |
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Windows | Fallout (Prototype) • Fallout 2 • Fallout Tactics • Fallout 3 ('Van Buren' Prototype) • Fallout: New Vegas • Fallout 4 |
DOS | Fallout (Prototype) |
Mac OS Classic | Fallout |
Mac OS X | Fallout 2 |
PlayStation 3 | Fallout 3 • Fallout: New Vegas |
Xbox 360 | Fallout 3 • Fallout: New Vegas |