Fallout 3's Development and Cut Content

This post is a collection of notes on Fallout 3 cut content I made a year ago during the height of the Covid-19 lockdown, polished and made readable, if a bit dry (lol). Although far from exhaustive this should give a broad overview of the journey Fallout 3’s story and world took from concept to release.

Fallout 3’s Secret Original Map

The earliest known Fallout 3 development map, found in the game files, dates from around 2005:

This map shows how the exterior cell grid and basic geography of the Capital Wasteland were derived from the real-life geography of Washington DC. The elevated highways and monorail lines are represented (mostly) as they appear in the finished product, as are different coloured cells denoting Downtown DC/Urban/Wasteland. Even though no location markers are present on this map the areas shaded grey representing Paradise Falls, Germantown etc. strongly suggest that many locations had already been at least conceptualised. One important different between this map and retail is that it’s about 12 cells smaller on the western and northern sides. Here is this map with locations added:

Some locations are in the same location as they appear in retail e.g. Megaton, Paradise Falls. But others, like Raven Rock, Oasis, and Little Lamplight are on the opposite side of the map relative to the where we visited them. In the GECK editor the cells these locations originally occupied are still named and fit the locations given in the 2005 development map. Why?

In a talk given at Game Developer’s Conference 2012, Senior Designer Joe Burgess of Bethesda explained why:

“Fast forward nearly two years. We’re in alpha, and for the first time, we’re meeting Fallout 3. Up until this point, the game has been a collection of assets, tasks, code and lots of teamwork. The game is beginning to feel complete as everything comes together. We realized, however, that wandering the wasteland didn’t feel right. Something was off about that experience. What we realized was that the world felt pushed together. We simply had too much stuff, too close together.

This is because we were using the same POI density that had served us well for Oblivion. There’s no secret playbook at Bethesda that tells us what to do. We simply learn from what we’ve done before. POI density wasn’t something we really had a name for back then.

The trouble was that Oblivion and Fallout 3 are very different games. The sightlines in Fallout 3 are much larger, and you don’t have the major visual blockers of Oblivion’s forests and hilly terrain. Aside from all that, it’s a game where you’re supposed to occasionally feel lonely, and we weren’t achieving the tone we wanted.

So we made a decision. We could have pared back, but we decided to add a significant amount of new area to the North and West ends of the map. Remember that we were in alpha, and a lot of this work was supposed to be done. If you’re a producer, you should be squirming in your seat right now. This took our entire environment art and level design teams offline for the better part of two months. It was a painful decision, but we felt it was the best option to make the game what we wanted it to be.”

http://blog.joelburgess.com/2011/03/gdc-2011-transcript-motivating-players.html

https://youtu.be/jOK0Bb58dEk?t=3244

The expansion illustrated in Burgess’ blog:

A few notes:

* There’s still evidence at some of the old locations of what was once there e.g. random scrap car piles at original Vault 112/Smith Casey’s Garage near RobCo factory.

• Other old locales vanished without a trace or were replaced with new sites e.g. Dogmeat Scrapyard where Little Lamplight originally was.
• Burgess notes in his presentation that the new territory was a bit too big and new Points of Interest had to be created; the SatCom Array towers are probably the most obvious example.
• Canterbury Commons is an odd case; the retail location fits with the earliest concept map but there’s evidence in the GECK that it was moved at least once and there’s a large road mesh not used in C.C. itself in the final product.
• Visible in the GDC video (not in the map image in the slides releases by GDC) is that Rivet City was originally just south of the Jefferson Memorial before turning 45 degrees and being moved up the Anacostia River. This was probably plot-related.
• There are several places where road layouts and terrain of the Pip-Boy don’t match what’s actually in-game, or are closer to the development concept map.
• Strange to think that at the 6 months before release there was a version of Fallout 3 with a very different map from what we got.

Downtown DC Was Originally Twice As Large

In Fallout 3, the Downtown DC neighbourhoods are separate loaded worldspaces. According to Joel Burgess, early DC prototypes showed Bethesda that simply building a city layout in the open world was not only a performance nightmare but “also prevented [them] from creating the kinds of gameplay scenarios [they] were eager to attempt.”

Originally there were intended to be 26 (or 24) separate DC worldspaces, in the final game we got 12. In the GECK list of numbered DC worldspaces about every second one is absent. Burgess in his GDC 2012 talk explains why this decision was made; simply too big and too confusing. Considering the criticism the retail Downtown DC layout got it’s hard to image an even bigger take on it! Developers resorted to actually printing out every level and trying to connect on the floor with thumb tacs and string.

• Unused Encounter Zones in the GECK give the names of the cut DC worlds:

Annandale, AdamsMorgan, Alexandria ,BuzzardPoint ,CrystalCity , FreedomStreet, HolmesRun, JeffersonDistrict, LangleyOaks, MonticelloPark, RockCreekEstates, SevenCorners

• There are still several unusable fast travel markers associated with cut DC worldspaces in the game, especially dense if you look around the area southwest of the Citadel in the GECK.
• An early version of one of the Worldspaces, Rockcreek Estates, is actually still present in the game files called “TestQAWorld”. Rock Creek Park in real life is a large urban park conspicuously missing from Fallout 3. Grandma Sparkle was nearly certainly supposed to be here; her GECK name suggests she was somewhere in the DC ruins once. In QATestWorld are spawn markers for hunters, Grandma Sparkles in retail has dialogue where she says her boys (the Rock Creek Hunters) are out hunting Mirelurks. The hunters themselves have dialogue where they say “there’s a ‘guai den to the north.” QATest1 has a secluded spot with Yag Guai and a cave entrance.
• There’s a building intended for DCWorld16 in TakomaPark and Seward Square, and concept art of it drawn over a screenshot of an unknown space, presumably DCWorld16. There’s also associated smaller architecture pieces (skybridge, veranda etc.) that see some use in retail.
• There’s an AI package for DCWorld19 called “LDDCworld19RaiderSniperGuard”
• There’s an AI package for DCWorld20 called “dcWorld20SniperPackage”
• The crazed preacher with an alley full of bombs in Seward Square was originally supposed to be in Adams Morgan.
• The unmarked Talon Company camp near the Super Duper Mart was originally in Adams Morgan.
• Eastern Market Metro Station IRL is where Anacostia Crossing Station is in-game, suggesting it’s just an older name for it. Furthermore, an in-game advert has “Eastern Market” in place of Anacostia Crossing on the Red Line.
• Museum Station is called “Smithsonian” on the same poster.
• The famous cut map “Potomac Steamworks” editor ID is zDCint17to21, suggesting it connected Falls Church and somewhere else.
• There’s a green radioactive light with the prexif “BuzzardPoint” used once in retail, a tiny hint to what it might have looked like.
• The metro layout we got in the retail game seems to have been made even messier because of the cuts. The Vernon Square/Mall section is especially disastrous with signs, door names, and Pip-Boy map names contradicting each other.
• Some locations originally in the DC ruins seem to have been moved out into the Wasteland as the number of worldspaces was cut in half e.g. Arlington Library. Others can be guessed, interior cells where the player compass doesn’t fit the direction they entered from the Wasteland seem like good candidates.
• …and many, many more pieces of trivia, too many to list here and some of it quite esoteric. Like Mason’s unused metro station or Le’Enfant’s cut Outcast sequence or the Pip-Boy map giving clues to the original DC layout. Some of it has already been documented elsewhere. Much of it not.
• Adam Adamowicz (RIP) concept art on Flicker has a few pieces showcasing cut DC levels.

Fallout 3’s Secret Original Story

Fallout’s 3 story went a through few revisions between the original script being written and the final game.

The Brotherhood Outcasts were intended to play a much larger role at one point. There’s a large amount of unused material for a cut side quest which would see the Outcasts and Elder Lyons’ Brotherhood Steel reconcile. The gist of this was the player would recover a data disk, possibly alien in origin, from a cut location in the downtown DC ruins. There’s dialogue from a scene in Fort Independence’s laboratory where the characters involved (including Sara Lyons) watch as the artifact is analysed. In the retail game a marker for this scene is still actually present in the room.

The strange disk

Fallout 3’s Main Quest saw some significant changes.

In the original script, the Lone Wanderer found their father (James) in Vault 87, where he was in the process of being turned into a Super Mutant, and begged his child to end his life. It’s unknown how far into development this iteration of the story got. It’s possible the Failed Experiments found dead in Vault 87 are a remnant of this.

From The Art of Fallout 3

In a cut quest called “Last Rites”, the player would have entered Rivet City through an underwater hatch, acquire the energy source of “the prototype” and return it to Scribe Rothchild in the Citadel. The final objective was to meet Elder Lyons in his study. The quest’s GECK editor ID is “MQ10.” The prefix MQ designates it as the main quest and the number places it between The American Dream (MQ09) and Take it Back! (MQ11).

During development, there was a quest in which the Enclave would attack Rivet City, and the player character would be tasked with escorting the inhabitants to the Citadel. However, team lead Todd Howard decided it was just too big. It’s unknown how much development the level actually saw; however, there’s proof of its place in the world in the 2005 concept map. Note the taft tunnel from the Citadel actually connects to Rivet City (which is also in a slightly different spot), not the Jefferson Memorial. The final game saw a smaller scale sequence where the player escorted scientists from the Jefferson Memorial during an Enclave attack rather than an entire city.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gdc-2009-fallout-3-lead-opens-game-design-vault/1100-6206965/

Note how Main Quest locations in Bethesda’s internal development map are coloured black and white. Notice Oasis is a Main Quest location(!). This makes sense; no other side quest has the sheer volume of unique assets; green trees, clothing, props etc. Most glaring is Harold a creature with a totally unique model and animations. How Oasis would have fit into the Main Quest exactly isn’t known. Interestingly Linden says “Oasis is located near what used to be an old mining town before the bombs fell.” Oasis was originally slated to be located near Evergreen Mills.

With information from developers, concept art, and cut content in game files we can speculate on what the original story might have looked like. Here’s an educated guess:

As you search for your father, you learn, either through Three Dog, DJ of Galaxy News Radio, or by speaking directly to Madison Li in Rivet City, that he went to the now-abandoned Project Purity site located in The Jefferson Memorial. Working with another scientist, his aim was to complete Project Purity, which would supply clean water to the entire wasteland. However, when you reach the Jefferson Memorial, you find a holotape detailing his search for the brilliant Scientist Doctor Stanislaus Braun who worked for Vault-Tec before The Great War and now resides in Vault 112. Upon finding and entering Vault 112, you find that all the inhabitants have gone into virtual reality simulators, where they have remained since the bombs fell.

After entering a stasis pod and loading the Tranquility Lane simulation, you find yourself in a picture-perfect, pre-war town. You talk to Betty, Dr. Braun’s alter-ego within the simulation, who asks you to do cruel and sick “pranks” on the people of Tranquility Lane. Eventually, Braun reveals that your father wanted to confirm that the G.E.C.K. could be used for Project Purity. You return to Rivet City to You travel to Rivet City to speak with Dr. Li when the Enclave attack the city. You must then proceed through the Taft Tunnel to the Citadel with survivors. Upon leaving the tunnels and entering the safety of the Citadel you are introduced to Elder Lyons, leader of the Capital Wasteland’s detachment of the Brotherhood of Steel, who grants you access to the Citadel. He also gives you permission to receive power Armor Training.

You learn of rumours of a green Oasis to the northwest which a G.E.C.K. might have been responsible for. There you meet Harold, who recounts to you how he told your father that something called F.E.V. was the reason for the Oasis miracle. Your father discovered Vault 87 received a large batch of F.E.V. and headed there. [Alternatively, your father just went to Vault 87 in pursuit of the GECK without knowing about F.E.V.) You must then go through Little Lamplight since the direct entrance to Vault 87 is impossible, due to it having been hit directly by a nuclear warhead. In Vault 87 you find your father, where he is in the process of being turned into a Super Mutant and begged his child to end his life. A fight ensues. After having Fawkes retrieve the G.E.C.K or doing it yourself, you start to head back to Little Lamplight but are ambushed and captured by Enclave soldiers before exiting the vault with the G.E.C.K. When you come to, you find yourself in Raven Rock, an Enclave stronghold in the extreme northeast of the map. After fighting your way to his office, President Eden tells you that the only way to get humanity to function properly in the wasteland is through the water. He also says that The Wasteland must be cleansed, which is why he does not allow you to leave until you have taken the vial of modified Forced Evolutionary Virus, which would kill all super mutants, Ghouls and wastelanders. You can then choose to destroy President Eden either through a speech or Intelligence check, or find his self-destruct code and tell it to him. If you ask why Colonel Autumn cannot carry the F.E.V vial for him, Eden tells you that the Colonel does not agree with his plans. The fate of your father gives you an emotional stake in this decision. You may then leave Raven Rock.

You meet Elder Lyons down in the Citadel’s lab. When you arrive, a heated discussion between Scribe Rothchild, Elder Lyons, and Sarah Lyons is taking place. Rothchild argues that Liberty Prime is not ready for action, while Sarah is arguing that there must be some way to get the robot online. Dr Li interrupts and says Rivet City has a prototype power source which could provide a solution. The player infiltrates Rivet City, now occupied by the Enclave, through an underwater hatch and retrieves the prototype power source and brings it to Scribe Rothchild before speaking with Elder Lyons. Eventually, it ends with Lyons giving up and allowing Sarah, and Lyons’ Pride, to go to the Jefferson Memorial with Liberty Prime. Once you arrive at Project Purity, you confront Colonel Autumn one last time and decide his fate. Then, you are faced with many difficult choices; enter the irradiated chamber of Project Purity and sacrifice yourself, make Sarah Lyons go in your place, or simply do nothing and let Project Purity explode around you. Along with this decision, you must also decide whether or not to put the modified F.E.V. vial into The Project Purity console or not.

Notes:

• The Brotherhood’s urgency in attacking the Jefferson Memorial would have made a lot more sense if the Enclave were intending to put the modified F.E.V. (rather than just Eden’s own plan) in the water and the Brotherhood knew it. Whether this was Bethesda’s original intention or not is unknown
• Some of Fallout 3’s cut Main Quest ideas re-appeared as lore in Fallout 4; The Outcasts rejoined the Brotherhood and Rivet City’s reactor was salvaged to power the Pryden.