Basically this topic is the discussion and understanding of how the loot system works in the game regarding if/where loot respawns. To my understanding after a certain amount of time the loot will respawn in certain places but apparently not settlements. I was wondering if this was true and any other tips or notes on how this system works.

My general rule is if the bad guys have respawned in a given location, so has the loot.


For example, I just went back to the Museum of History to grab the bobblehead there - raiders inside had respawned and new junk was in the containers I cleaned out first time thru.


Other places, like the State Library, seem to stay empty forever. Oh, and any radiant quest location will respawn regularly and quickly.


While we're on it, I built a safe in Sanc and stored a few modded up guns as an experiment. Several raids and game months later, safe is fine.

Simply put some locations respawn both enemies & loot & some do not the ones that do are indeed on a timer quests do not reset enemies or loot

But settlements do not respawn their loot?

In my experience basically any place that has respawning enemies also has respawning loot. Areas where enemies don't respawn don't seem to get new loot. The loot on the Prydwen for example doesn't seem to respawn.

Hope the cryolator respawns, i lost mine

It seems pretty bugged also. I can get infinite supplies of nuka cola quantum just by fast traveling a short distance to and from Concord. Even one of the dead raiders there keeps re spawning all their items.

EDIT: I should mention I have yet to turn in Preston's quest after killing the Deathclaw so that could have something to do with it but then it's only the upper half of Concord that seems to re spawn at a rapid rate. The area near the museum has not respawned yet.

This could be quite an exploit if it happens anywhere else.

Cells (meaning outdoor and indoor areas) respawn every 72 game hours.

Location that are marked "Cleared" respawns every 480 game hours. An example would be Lexington.

Areas that can become your potential settlement never respawns if:

A. You eliminate all enemies. Example would be Starlight Drive.

B. Complete the mission given to you by the settlement's current residents. Examples are Graygarden and Abernathy Farm.

It is speculated that potential settlements stop respawning loot once you activate the workbench which can only be done after A or B.

If you are part of the PC Master Race, then you can use the following console commands to increase / decrease the time it takes to clear corpses and respawn cells. The default values are shown.

setgs iHoursToClearCorpses 72

setgs iHoursToRespawnCell 72

setgs iHoursToReswpanCellCleared 480

If you are playing on consoles, then you must wait for a mod that will increase / decrease the time before clearing corpses and respawning cells.

Yep after 10 levels or so I go back to cleared locations and loot the chests again.

So can Khrems Tooth respawn? Because mine never spawned and im hurtin