I just picked up the "Game of the Year Addition" (No MODs installed) and this is my first time playing. I tend to explore more than follow the story line which is where I may have shot myself in the foot. My current mission is "Finding the Garden of Eden" (Recover the G.E.C.K). My problem is that the characters in Little Lamplight have the option for directions to vault 87, but I do not receive the option for accessing either the vault directly via Murder Pass (from MacCready), or to have Joseph power up the terminal. I'm wondering if the order in which I completed the quests is my problem.

Early on in the game I discovered Paradis Falls and rescued the three children. This gave me entrance to Little Lamplight, but since I was not far enough along in the main quest there was no mention of Vault 87. I have read that MacCready is supposed to give me the mission to rescue the children, but since I had already done so that option never came about. I am now far enough along in the main storyline that I'm back in Little Lamplight (as explained previously) but have no way to enter Vault 87. I have 100 in Science and Lock Picking, and also have the "Child at Heart" perk.

Am I missing something, or is there now a problem with the quest due to the order in which I completed them?

Thanks in advance for any and all help available.

No problem is quest order. Just keep talking to MacCready.... have you found and spoken with Joseph? I cannot, it seems at least on 360, for all my characters, get the option to open the gate until I've had a conversation with Biwwy, whatever the outcome.

I have interacted with the following characters, all will (Except MacCready) give directions to the vault (I should probably note this is the PC version):

Joseph:
Got the history of Little Lamplight, learned about his study materials, got a haircut.

Biwwy:
With the "Child at Heart" perk I was able to get his "Wazer Wifle" for free. (So he's not the trigger.)

Lucy:
Got healed, traded buffout for fungus.

Eclair:
Found out about his name, traded "strange meat" for fungus.

Sammy:
Talked about guarding the gate, found out about Princess' nickname.

Princess:
Told her I knew about her nickname, that MacCready punched her in the nose.

Zip:
Traded Nuka for the "lucky" bullet.

Knock Knock:
Talked about morale, listened to her jokes, told her my story.

Kick Knack:
Had equipment repaired, traded items.

Penny:
Asked about her nickname.

Squirrel:
Asked about his name.

MacCready:
Found out who he was and how he got the job, with "Child at Heart" perk was able to open Trade for Fungus option, he will not give me directions, I have tried talking to him with Biwwy's Wazer Wifle in hand.

I did just notice one thing. The previous quest line in the main story "Picking up the trail" has the item "Search Lamplight Caverns for a way into Vault 87", and it is NOT marked. How was I able to close that quest and move on to "Finding the Garden of Eden"?

Has he got the line "do you know a way into vault 87", but it's greyed out?

That was my problem with him. I had to ask him the greyed out line, and then there was a new dialogue option. When I selected that, he ran off on his chubby little legs to open the backdoor for me.

I think what you need to do is to first ask him about it, then talk with another random brat who will tell you to ask Mayor RJ Mac*censored* about it. Then this new dialogue option should appear.


I had Child at Hearted my way into Little Lamplight, hadn't been to Paradise Falls at all yet, and avoided contact with the little ratfaces in Little Lamplight because they annoyed me too much.

Everyone except MacCready has the option to ask where vault 87 is. They all say it's through Murder Pass, and that if I want to take a look to go North of the Souvenir Shop. I can go to the gate and can see the lever to pull, but I'm unable to open it (As I believe this is something that MacCready does). The problem is that no one mentions to talk with MacCready about access, nor do they offer to open the gate, and Joseph does not have the option to power up the terminal. I've talked with the "random brats" but they only want to play tag.

Does Bethesda Softworks monitor the forums? If so, could one of you please supply some insight? If anyone else has any suggestions they would be appreciated, as I would hate to roll my game back to the "Picking Up the Trail" quest line.

Thanks,

Well it appears that I have found a bug in the quest line. I loaded back (900+ saves back) to when "Picking up the trail" was my active quest and I was able to get MacCready to open the vault.

Ouch. Sorry man... I don't know what to tell you.

Since you have so many saves, I assume that you are playing on the PC? If so, you could try using the no-clip option on the console (the 'tilda' key). Once in the console, type ( tcl )(without the brackets) and then hit Enter. Hit the tilda key again to exit the console. You should now be able to walk through the gate and get to the door. Perhaps this will work for you(rather than backtrack that many saves)?

I also have numerous saves(I had well over 1400 for my original playthrough), but I have had instability issues when I had that many in the Save folder. I would recommend cutting & pasting the majority of them into a backup folder. I generally keep about 100-130 saves in the folder at a time now, and the stability is much better. There used to be many crashes on the Load/Save menu screen and that has disappeared.

you have to talk to scribe rothchild first, at the citadel, and go on the pc terminal and it gives you the info about the vault then go to rothchild and talk to him then you'll be able to get mcreedy to open the gate.

Thanks for the reply, but since my last post I've completed the main story and am now working on the DLC missions.


Shadowshiv,

I'll make note of your trick just in case I run into something else. I have had some instabilty issues so thanks for the heads-up on the saves.


Westofhterockies,

Scribe Rothchild is the one who starts the "Finding the Garden of Eden" quest line, so yes I had talked to him and found the location of the vault from the computer. That is what gave me the option to ask about vault 87. The real problem is that I was able to finish the "Picking up the trail" quest line without completing the "Search Lamplight Caverns for a way into Vault 87" (Talking to MacCready) quest.


Thanks for all your help,

You are quite welcome, Mang. I am just glad that you were able to complete the Main Quest regardless of the speed bumps you hit in Lamplight.