Another topic bought this to mind, but I`ve always wondered.

How do you view the process of Reloading a game?

No, I don`t mean reloading after a crash or testing. I mean reloading because you got killed for some reason.

I hate getting killed and having to Reload. I always have a small moment of annoyance, depression (I did get killed after all ) and anger, then Reload with a resolve to win.

But has anyone noticed that EVERYTIME you Reload the world is slightly different? Look in a box and an item that was there last load is gone or changed. Kill someone and check their stuff and he has 2 caps instead of 5.
Oblivion and Morrowind does this too, it`s one aspect i`ve always liked about their games.

This kinda got me thinking.

What if Bethesda`s games works on the scientific principal of Quantum theory. This theory is to do with the fact that there`s a zillion versions of ourselves that spilt off from our present moment into a zillion alternative versions of our existence. There`s even the theory that we never really die, at the moment of death, we are just moved to the reality where we actually survived to carry on.

I always think that Fallout 3 works just like this. We failed in one Fallout 3 world, but on a new reload we begin in a slightly different new Fallout 3 world where we never actually died at all.

I doubt they put such deep thought into leveled lists but if quantum theory floats your boat I say go with it.

i'm pretty sure enemies or characters contain a random amount of loot. for instance the programmers do not code all ghouls simultaneously, and code their inventories singularly, enemies spawn and most likely have an certain inventory coding based on their character.

your idea is pretty cool though, makes me think.

LOL. I doubt it too, but that`s just me!

@Sirlolzalot:

If it makes a person think then there`s some use to my musings after all!

Yeah! I know what you mean! When I reload enemies don't appear where they were before, It's interesting

Intersting thread and idea, but I don't think game developers will know much about or think about quantum theory. I think it's more likely the way the game works gives this impression to those who are aware of how quantum theory works. However, you may be able to take any kind of ethos, scientific approach or methodology and manipulate it to fit what happens in the game and then make a case that the game is following that kind of scientific theory or approach.

I think it's probably part of a wider effort that attempts to make the game less predictable. Replay value wouldn't be as good if we knew what was going to be in all the containers each time round. This may not have been the reason why this happens, but it's a good outcome of the game and one thats helped to keep me playing for so long.

Some game developers (not mentioning any names or games ) could clearly do with sending some of their staff on quantum theory courses though!

Sorry but there is no such "scientific principal". It's pure speculation.

I view reloading a save just that.

Well, I get pretty annoyed when I get killed off as it doesn't happen very often. As for reloading I always exit the game first as there's some pretty nasty loading errors I've seen from just loading game right after dying.

Yea, I have to do that sometimes.

I think you are thinking of randomisation, it's what I find so great about this game, a reload is never exactly the same as before.

On occasion it can be frustrating, such as on one occasion at the market in Rivet City, where you know the usual responses you get in the market, but on this one occasion I got a really interesting response with some choice options of reply that could have lead to something really interesting or good, so I did a save and chose a reply, not a very good one apparently, reload - gone.

Similar happened in other places, missed saving a guy because I was slow to react so reloaded and he didn't even enter the scene on reload, ah well at least he didn't get killed this time.

I Agree, It would be pointless to do

In RL I don't count on reloads. Dying would bother me much more than it does in FO

The Quantum Theory, especially the part about multible universes, is great if you abstract from the idea of getting killed all the time because there's a zillitrillion ways to die every second. It also means that I, in some corner of The Big Everything, is stinking rich and married with Scarlett Johansson. Doesn't it?? (I know zib about it, really, but it's so far out that I love it.)

I don't think Bethesda had it in mind when creating the game, but it shouldn't matter. The quantum mechanics should affect everything in the physical universe, and games are - on this level - very physical. So the quantum mechanics should work in the Wastland, as well as in 'Real Life'. And if it's not quantum mechanics that works behind occurrances when reloading, then what? Coded randomness, sure, but randomness and chaos are the very nature of quants, as far as I understand these principles you talk about.

So, the principles are there, intended or not.

I think you're on to something. Where one day a game, hopefully a post-apocalyptic game, will arrange for the entire world model to switch to another counter-existence for every reload. Common elements are partly generated from a master list to vary in any number of ways, and important changes would simply switch between 3 handmade variances.

For the generated example: Urkel Swartzenegger who was a settler store inventory assistant whose boss was John Doe before quickload now becomes Edmund Swartzenegger the store owner and John Doe is demoted to stock boy. Edmund also now has a moustache to show you that he's changed. His dialogue remains the same, but there are minor adjustments.

For the handmade example: Arefu WAS a settlement with 1 brahmin pen, 1 mayor's office, 1 jail, 1 watertower, 3 stores, 1 farming area, and 1 mine. But after a quickload it now has 2 brahmin pens, 1 military command post, 2 watertowers, 3 apartments, 2 farming areas, and the mine is replaced by a nuka-cola waterslide park.

Didn't The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past call shotgun in this area?

I think that the game developers made it so that a few variabls are changed in the game world after you die to see whether it helps you survive. Think of it as them changing things randomly, it could make things easier or harder.

You obviously dont understand Quantam Theory? Or you do, and I don't, but thats another topic altogether.

But basically the reason is because when you reload it re-rolls, or re-calculates the items in certain areas. It has nothing to do with multi-verses, or string thoery, or quantam theory, or entangled particles. Its just the game doing its thing.

I can see a time in the future when humanity has ruined the earth to such an extent, that humans will choose to exist in a virtual world, a constructed paradise that seems real in every respect. While outside in the real world, the seas are like acid, and the skies are permanently black with pollution, and there are no trees or animals, and the air is poison. :violin:

It depends if I'm RPing I do it where I die I die, but if I'm just playing without no RP ill reload.

You mean the Matrix?

A matrix that is not ruled by giant robots, but one that people enter by choice. :thumbsup:

It's cosmic rays, man :shocking:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=288285

Hmmm fellow paladins attack him he knows too much pew pew pew .

I thought the OP was going to address the events remaining in the queue, only to occur upon reloading.

I'm cool with the turkey drop distribution system.

One time, the old guy maintaining Megaton's water purification plant was dropped to his death every time I reloaded the game. I had to back up to a previous save in order to spare his life. I didn't get any Karma for that. Time travel is its own reward.

I think it's the AI director or something

It's time travel, just like in The Teminator!

It always fascinates me how things turn out differently on a reload. I think that`s the beauty of the game really.

Had one where I was running along and some Super Mutants surprised me with heavy weapons at a corner and blew me away before I could do anything except say, "Whut?"

On a reload, I set up mines just before the corner where I had been slain and was ready to attract the Super Mutants attention and waited, gun in hand, but nothing. After a while, I went and had a look around the corner then explored all over- No mutants anywhere. Where did they go? What happened? That`s convenient. Reality had changed.