Recovering missing NPC in Fallout 3 Please note that most of the issues recorded in this article have been fixed on all three " Fallout 3 " platforms with the 1 . 1 patch . Only for PC version . This article talks about using console commands to compensate for bugs and , as such , only applies to the PC version , with the exception of the specific part concerning consoles and the " Getting Them Home " section . Note that you can convert your Xbox 360 Fallout 3 savedata for the personal computer version with Modio : extract your Xbox 360 savedata on Windows , extract the file within the Xbox 360 savedata on the directory Fallout 3 uses for saved games then play it on Windows . Everything will work exactly like when you play Fallout 3 on Windows so you don ' t have to worry about anything . Once you debugged your game , save it and put it back it the original Xbox 360 file then in your Xbox 360 and everything will work as if it was the first time . The problem . Because " Fallout 3 " is such a huge game , some bugs are still prevalent , and sometimes named non - player characters in " Fallout 3 " can disappear or die by themselves . It can be an annoyance , like missing security bots that you can repair for the Big Trouble in Big Town quest , something serious , like missing Walter which prevents you from completing his minor quest at all , or even missing Colin Moriarty or Moira Brown , which prevents you from advancing in the game . ( In Colin ' s case , a character with sufficient Science skill can still hack his private computer to determine James ' location and continue the main quest without necessarily skipping steps . Be prepared for a minor Karma loss , however . Alternatively , a male character with the Lady Killer perk can get the computer password from Nova . ) The problem might happen because , for some reason , the non - player characters get lost from the pre - set " rails " that they walk on , and their AI gets confused , and they get teleported to the block of land below Springvale School . It ' s worth thinking that this would be the spot where all missing non - player characters get teleported to ( if they don ' t die of falling first , that is ) , but it varies between cells . A possible reason for them to be transferred to the spot below the School is that , as it is very close to the center of the map , it is probably the spot at the cells ' coordinates 0 , 0 . So instead of staying in their " real " coordinates , the game teleports the non - player characters to the coordinates 0 , 0 which is probably the block of land below Springvale ( Needs more investigation , this is just a theory — you should suspect this because the block of land there is the only textured block of land around , and because it ' s a perfect square ) . The reason why this happens might also be that when non - player character changes cell ( From inside some Megaton house to the " exterior " of Megaton for example ) the game gets confused and bugs the non - player character to coordinates 0 , 0 instead of the coordinates the door should lead to ( This happens < nowiki > [ rather rarely though ] < / nowiki > in other games of too , namely Morrowind and Oblivion ) , causing the non - player character to seemingly vanish , although he still is actually in the same cell he should be in , just in wrong place . Reference ID . For both cases you ' ll need an non - player character ' s reference ID . To obtain it in game , you ' ll need to load or start a game where this non - player character is available and click on the non - player character while in console mode . The reference ID will appear along with its name at the top of the screen . You can also check that non - player character ' s page , as reference IDs are listed there . Alternatively , you can type ( change " xxx " to represent whatever you would like to name the resulting saved file ) into the console , and then search for the non - player character ' s name in the text file opened for you . Note that the first section of the file contains base IDs , not reference IDs . So , usually the second hit will give you the reference ID . Notes on commands . The command mentioned later may need to be repeated twice if it didn ' t succeed at first try , as the engine sometimes needs to load additional packages , which it will do only after command fails once . gives exactly the same result as clicking object in console mode . So , if you see a corpse you want to resurrect right before your eyes , you can just click it instead of typing the command . Still alive but missing . An non - player character may still be alive , but may have wandered through gaps in world geometry into some uncharted nothingness or in a void below ground . First you may want to check where is that non - player character right now . Sometimes you ' ll even find out that he ' s really perfectly okay , just standing in a place you didn ' t think of . Open the console and enter this command : Example with non - player character Walter : After a short time and , probably , a loading screen , if an non - player character wandered to another world cell , you ' ll find yourself near your target or his corpse . You may talk to him and finish what you need right there , but even better , if the non - player character is really not where he ' s supposed to be , just bring him back where he belongs . To do so , go to the general location where this non - player character appears ( so his AI won ' t have much trouble returning to his routine tasks ) and type : After that , the non - player character should appear directly in front of you and resume his usual activities . In case he managed to die somewhere , you ' ll get his corpse instead — see next section for more . Invisible . A non - player character may still be in the game but for some reason invisible . He has a location you can move to as mentioned above . When you summon him to you he ' s not there , but moving to him again brings you to where you summoned him . In this case just follow the instructions for " Dead " , below . Dead . Sometimes non - player characters die by wandering off the cliff or spending too much time in irradiated areas ( like the bomb in the center of Megaton ) . In such case you can even find his or her corpse around where he usually is . First you may want to bring his corpse back to where it belongs , as described in previous section and then type the following commands : This should reset the non - player character back to alive status and reinitialze his AI . You may need to wait for up to 24 hours for that non - player character to return back to his usual path and activities after using those commands . Should a companion non - player character die ( example : Fawkes ) , the resurrected non - player character may be in the state they were in before they joined you , and will not offer companion dialogue options ( a resurrected Fawkes may merely tell you to " Go away " when you attempt to initiate dialogue ) . To reinitialize them as a companion , as described in the notes for Dogmeat , use the " resetquest " command followed by the appropriate . Ex . : After resurrecting Fawkes , enter " resetquest 943ee " without the quotation marks . Talk to him as if recruiting him for the first time . Getting to missing Megaton citizens on Consoles . Extensive testing on the 360 AND PS3 has revealed that if some of your precious Megaton citizens have gone missing — for example , Moriarty ( though he is not absolutely necessary to complete the storyline ) has vanished and you suspect that he ' s in the uncharted void — you can still find them ! Of course it ' d take a lot of work to get him / her back to Megaton but you can still talk to them and get their quests etc . This little trick involves the plane on Lucas Simms ' roof , jumping over Megaton walls and walking in unmapped void for some time . By all accounts this will not completely break your game ( although there might be that tiny possibility ) , however there is a chance that the game will crash while walking a short distance from Megaton . This may simply occur because the player is walking in unmapped space , however some have reported that it may be due ( in the case of Walter ) to the number of pieces of scrap metal the player is carrying . Anything over 20 – 25 pieces of scrap metal seems to cause some bugs in Walter ' s unmarked quest . Before attempting any of this , please ensure that you save your game . To get started , you need : Make your way to the roof of Lucas Simms ' house , and then climb on the plane wreck there , using the railing on the left - hand side of the catwalk when you are facing the plane . After you ' re on the railing , jump on the tiny pipe crank sticking out the wreck . Then jump your way on the plane , all the way to the top , until you manage to jump your way over the Megaton walls . It might take some patience but when you get on top of the plane , save , so if you fail the jump you don ' t need to do all the climbing again . When you ' re outside Megaton , there ' s some pieces of landscape there ( i . e . what you can see through the gaps in Megaton ' s walls ) , but most of it is just gray void with grass on it . You can walk where the land should be , it simply doesn ' t have any textures on it or anything . Take one stimpak to heal your possible cripple from the fall if you want to . If you are not strong enough to survive the fall , save just before you land then reload the save . You should land safely . In any case , start making your way towards Springvale School . Using your Pip - Boy World Map will help a lot in this . After you ' re where Springvale School should be ( You should be able to identify this by another plot of textured map shining in the uncharted void ) start whacking your V . A . T . S . key . Eventually , if any non - player characters have been bugged into here , it should target one . Many of the generic Megaton Settler non - player characters tend to end up here and , in my case , I found Nathan and Colin Moriarty there as well . All the non - player characters there talk as they normally would . They don ' t move unless you attack them , in which case they either flee or chase you for a bit until they give up and go back to normal . If one could somehow get them follow you ( counter - pickpocketing a melee weapon in their inventory and taking away their gun and getting them to attack you ) , it might be possible to lure them back to Megaton ( The big door that opened when you first arrived at Megaton is now closed , but you can walk through it ) they might return to their everyday lives , but that ' s just a theory , after all , this might be the first investigation on this , so this trick needs a lot more research . For a video on how to do this , please visit the Youtube guide ( thanks to fALConxxii / I3lackjackx ) . Note : It is possible to get up to the plane on Lucas Simms ' house " without " going into his house . You ' ll simply need an object like a barrel ( one can be found near the Craterside Supply ) . Simply pick it up and go to the Water Processing Plant . Now , if you go to the right of the Water Processing Plant , you ' ll be right next to a small part of the roof of Lucas Simms ' house . Place the barrel next to the railing near his roof , making sure that it ' s standing up . It ' s pretty tricky to get it standing up , but once you do , you can go onto the next part : jump onto it . The physics for the barrel are very shoddy and the barrel may fall over , or even randomly glitch up , but keep trying . Once you are on , feel free to save . Now simply just jump onto the roof . Sometimes , your legs will just clip the bottom of the roof , and you won ' t make it , and of course , the barrel will fall over , but keep on trying . Eventually , you ' ll make it up . Then just walk to the left , and into the plane . Getting them home . It is possible to lure the non - player characters back to Megaton and return them to their everyday life , but it will require effort . Firstly you need them to chase or run from you depending on if the non - player character is violent or not . This can be done in many ways , but a simple punch to the face works best . It would be a good idea to drop a stimpak into their pocket beforehand so they can heal themselves later . If it is an non - player character that reacts in a violent way you should pickpocket then steal his / her gun . Your next move should be to lure them back home . If you are chased by the non - player character , for example Lucas Simms , you might have to cripple their legs to make them slower than you . If the non - player character flees then you have to guide them back to Megaton by chasing them in the correct direction . When you get the non - player character next to the Megaton wall , back off a far distance and wait for 24 hours . If the non - player character is a chaser , simply run around the outside of the Megaton walls until you are able to wait . After waiting 24 hours , fast travel back to Megaton and the non - player character will have returned to his / her normal routine . Note : When fast traveling back to Megaton you may be attacked ; simply run back out of the city , wait for a while , then return and they won ' t try to kill you . An alternate non - violent ( but possibly more time consuming ) way is to simply " push " the non - player character all the way back to Megaton . When you get close enough to Megaton , the non - player character will automatically enter and return to his / her normal routine . If taking the non - violent path , some non - player characters will just stand in front of the Megaton gate . In order to get the non - player character to continue their normal routine , you must get the non - player character to flee from you ( either pickpocketing them or a simple punch ) , then just enter through the Megaton gate from the void . You should see the non - player character fleeing in front of you . Then , exit so that you are now outside in the Capital Wasteland , to avoid any confrontations with the Megaton settlers ( tested on the PS3 with Walter and Confessor Cromwell ) . Note : If you are trying to get Jericho to be a follower and he ends up in the void , start by using the above strategy of jumping over the wall and heading out to where the school should be . If Jericho is there just pay him 1000 caps as you normally would to hire him . You will notice he will not follow you but not to worry , all you have to do is run back to the Megaton door and go through it . This will send you outside of the city complete with Jericho in town ! ( Tested on Xbox 360 ) Videos . " Missing non - player character recovery "