Vault 111 Vault 111 is a vault - series fallout shelter developed by Vault - Tec . It is located overlooking Sanctuary Hills , Massachusetts . Background . Vault - Tec designed Vault 111 to observe the effects of long - term cryogenic suspended animation on unsuspecting test subjects . Vault 111 ' s staff consisted of an overseer and a small team of scientists , security guards and facility maintenance personnel employed on a short - term basis . Test subjects were lured to Vault 111 from the nearby neighborhoods of Sanctuary Hills and Concord and were placed in stasis pods after being told deceitfully that the purpose of the pods was for decontamination . According to Vault - Tec standard operating procedures , Vault 111 was to remain sealed for a minimum of 180 days , after which the vault could be opened upon receipt of an " All - Clear Signal " from Vault - Tec or at the overseer ' s discretion . However , after the 180 - day mandatory shelter period elapsed , Vault 111 received no all - clear signal and its staff faced dwindling supplies . Despite requests from the security staff , the overseer refused to unseal the vault door , concerned that the radiation outside the vault had not declined enough to be survivable . Shortly after , a faction led by the vault ' s security and support staff engaged in mutiny against the overseer in an effort to unseal the vault door and leave the vault . In response , the overseer placed the vault on lock down and asked all staff to hand over any food , weapons and medicine . It is unclear whether the mutiny was successful as the logs end here on both the security terminal and the overseer ' s terminal . After witnessing the murder of their spouse and the kidnapping of their child , the Sole Survivor awakens in Vault 111 after being held in cryogenic stasis for 210 years . Upon accessing the Vault 111 monitoring terminal , they learn that all of the other subjects that had entered the vault , except for themselves , their spouse and their child , had died of " asphyxiation due to life support failure . " In the Dangerous Minds quest , the Sole Survivor discovers that the mercenary who shot their spouse , Conrad Kellogg , was directed not to deactivate the life support for the other residents and not to release them . 60 years later , due to an ' error ' in Vault 111 , the Sole Survivor is released from cryo - stasis and escapes . However , it is later revealed that the release was in fact a personal choice made by Shaun , now director of the Institute , and not an error of the vault as initially thought . Layout . Unlike other vaults , the entrance to Vault 111 not only has an atypical pneumatic hull , but also acts as a hatch which gives way to an interior elevator . The inner door opens first , followed by the hatch opening . While painted in the prelude , the vault door is rusted and dull after the Great War . There was also a security checkpoint , a trait most other vaults lacked . After the release of the Sole Survivor , the vault shows obvious signs of neglect . Frozen mummified corpses are in the pods , skeletal remains of some of the killed occupants are scattered around the interior with signs of violence , and much of the machinery is no longer in proper working order . Radroaches have also invaded the vault and serve as the Sole Survivor ' s first encountered enemies . However , despite the complete lack of maintenance for nearly 210 years the vault interior is in surprisingly good condition compared to other abandoned / fallen vaults encountered in the Capital Wasteland , the Mojave and even some of the other vaults within the Commonwealth . Appearances . Vault 111 appears only in " Fallout 4 " . Behind the scenes . The Top Ten list on the recreation terminal in Vault 111 contains a list of short - hand versions of some of the console commands that are available to use in game . Bugs . If you didn ' t open Nora ' s / Nate ' s pod and retrieve their wedding ring before leaving the vault during Out of Time , going back will still trigger the same dialogue ( " I ' ll find Shaun " ) even if you have already completed the game . This is the same with all the dialogue from activating the pods , and the Sole Survivor shouting if they ' re the only one alive , why Vault - Tec would do this , etc .