Vault 120

Vault 120 is a cut Vault-Tec Vault located off the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts, underwater in the Commonwealth. It would have been involved in the cut quest 20 Leagues Under the Sea. The adventure there would involve a sentient giant squid contained inside the Vault, and the Vault itself would be inspired by BioShock. The giant squid would have been the vault's overseer.
The cells of Vault 120 do not exist in the game files of Fallout 4. However, a complete level is included in the files of Fallout 76, at records:
# 00004D4D	(Vault 120,	zCUTUnusedVault120COPY0000), 
# 00004D4C	(Vault 120, later referred to as "generators" to avoid confusion, zCUTUnusedVault12002COPY0000), 
# 00004CF4	(Stellwagen Gorge, zCUTUnusedVault12003COPY0000) 
# 00004CEE, (Vault 120 Research Station, zCUTUnusedVault12004COPY0000), 
# 00004CCA	(Vault 120, a generic airlock, zCUTUnusedVault120AirlockCOPY0000). 
The level geometry and scenery are mostly intact and can be rendered using fo76-utils, allowing for reconstructing the flow of the location. 
==Storyline==
It is impossible to reconstruct the complete storyline for Vault 120 and 20 Leagues Under the Sea due to the absence of dialogues, quests, and other essentials. However, there are enough markers and related descriptions left in the files that it can be possible to partially reconstruct it. Judging by the markers, the Vault would still be populated and the player would have arrived onboard the Yangtze submarine together with Captain Zao (as per the marker MS03ZaoWallLean003 in the first area,) who would accompany the player and a person named James into the depths of the Vault. The ultimate confrontation would take place in the depths of the research station, against the giant squid overseer, with Zao and James (markers MS03ZaoAtOverseer001 and MS03JamesAtOverseer001) presumably offering two different resolutions to the quest. The environmental destruction and doors blocked off with crates suggest that the Vault dwellers fought against some sort of enemy, perhaps the squid overseer itself.
Beyond that, a lot of the details remain vague. It appears that the location was scrapped before custom assets were created, leaving placeholder models behind, after playtests. MS03Playtest14 and MS03Playtest17 found at the Gorge and Research Station respectively suggests the location was heavily play-tested and just did not work correctly. The Yangtze model was retained together with Zao, with all references to 20 Leagues Under the Sea removed from the code and the game's files.
The only remnant of that in the final game is the marker MS03ResurfaceMarker near the Yangtze's location, suggesting that the Yangtze would resurface there - or more likely, an escape capsule from Vault 120, as per MS03CapsuleMarker001, in the chamber next to the octopus chamber, and the Vault120EscapePodParent persistent reference.
==Layout==
The Vault was built underwater, in the aforementioned Stellwagen Gorge. The player would arrive at the location by submarine (the same model that ultimately became the Yangtze), which would crash into the submarine entrance bay, punching inside right next to the already open Vault door (standard model as any other Vault in the game). The player character would crawl into the Vault through a torpedo tube (represented in the game by a sewer cover). 
Some untextured assets that can be found in Fallout 4, through the use of XEdit, show both an underwater Vault window (VltSquidWindow01) and an underwater Vault door (VltLGDoorMarine01). The actual location was not available until Fallout 76 was released, together with a copy of Vault 120 cells at the time the location was scrapped.
===Vault 120===
The first part of Vault 120 would be the residential area off to one side of the Gorge. Immediately by the submarine's forceful entry point would be the unloading area and a technical room with rusting machinery, opposite the entrance to the Vault proper. This would have the usual entry gantry, processing and screening area, and the airlock. The layer would spawn near the end of the torpedo tube and navigate through the adjacent room in order to reach the Vault entrance.
From the airlock, the player would be able to reach a control room overlooking the sub bay and the main habitation areas in the opposite direction. They'd pass by a work room (possibly security) and enter the main Vault down the stairs, with the underwater gorge just beyond the windows. The habitation areas included a nursery and half a dozen apartments with a shared layout (either a common room and kitchen annex, a bathroom, and two bedrooms, or a common room with a curtained-off double bed and toilet annex). The player would have to pass through ruined apartments, as the main corridor would be blocked off with Vault-Tec crates. 
At the terminus of the habitation areas were two caves leading deeper into the Vault. The first contained two Vault structures connecting to a workshop in the back, while the other was a series of gantries leading deeper into the Vault, ending right next to the communal room with two rows of eating tables and an adjacent kitchen and food storage room on the ground floor, and a classroom and unknown room above. Right next to the classroom was a corridor leading upstairs to a small office overlooking the atrium (with shutters) and an adjacent room that likely looked out over the gorge and the research facility - missing assets preclude definite confirmation, but it could have been the overseer's office.
From the atrium, the player could access the walkway connecting the residential part of the Vault to the research station (not available while the squid was not dealt with).
Fo4 Vault 120 1 Yangtze Crash.png|The crashed submarine
Fo4 Vault 120 3 Adjacent Machinery.png|Machinery room
Fo4 Vault 120 4 Vault Door.png|Vault door; still using the default numbering 
Fo4 Vault 120 5 Vault Airlock.png|Airlock beyond the door, note the bugged assets
Fo4 Vault 120 6 Vault Screening Area 1.png|Screening area just inside the Vault
Fo4 Vault 120 7 Vault Screening Area 2.png|Ditto
Fo4 Vault 120 8 Security.png|Security chamber to the side, where the player would be ambushed by an Assaultron
Fo4 Vault 120 9 Upper Corridor.png|Stairwell to the residential area
Fo4 Vault 120 10 Upper Corridor 2.png|Another angle
Fo4 Vault 120 11 Upper Corridor Office 1.png|Inside the office
Fo4 Vault 120 12 Upper Corridor Office 2.png|Cold storage next to the office, accessible through a hole in the wall, as the main door is blocked off
Fo4 Vault 120 13 Entrance to Habitation.png|Entrance to residential, swings in the foreground, nursery in the background
Fo4 Vault 120 14 Quarters Main Room 1.png|A typical residential setup near the entrance
Fo4 Vault 120 15 Quarters Main Room 2.png|Another shot
Fo4 Vault 120 16 Quarters Toilet.png|Residential toilet
Fo4 Vault 120 17 Quarters Bedroom.png|Bedroom
Fo4 Vault 120 18 Quarters Blocked Room.png|Blocked chamber, forcing the player to go through the apartments
Fo4 Vault 120 19 Hydroponics Cave.png|Hydroponics cave, note the missing assets
Fo4 Vault 120 20 Hydroponics Storage.png|Storage chamber where James would be encountered
Fo4 Vault 120 21 Hydroponics Storage 2.png|Survivor makeshift bedding
Fo4 Vault 120 22 Entrance to Atrium.png|Entry to the atrium
Fo4 Vault 120 23 Atrium.png|Atrium proper, with rows of eating tables
Fo4 Vault 120 24 Classroom.png|Classroom on the upper level of the atrium
Fo4 Vault 120 25 Sentrybot Ambush.png|Sentry bot ambushing the player
Fo4 Vault 120 26 Atrium Office (Zao).png|Atrium office 
Fo4 Vault 120 27 Exit to Generators.png|Elevator to the generators
===Generators===
It appears that the player would not be able to head into the research station like that, but would have to bypass through an underground chamber containing three generators. It appears that the intention was to deposit the player character on the floor of the Gorge: The other end of the generators contains a staging area and storage room next to an airlock leading outside, together with a power armor spawn - the intended method of navigating was apparently walking along the sea floor to the other side of the complex. 
Fo4 Vault 120 28 Generators Elevator.png|Elevator from the residential area
Fo4 Vault 120 29 Generators.png|Generators proper
Fo4 Vault 120 30 Generators Airlock Entrance.png|Exit to the airlock
Fo4 Vault 120 31 Generators Airlock Staging.png|Staging area
Fo4 Vault 120 32 Generators Power Armor.png|Power armor spawn (seems the cell is limited to T-51 spawns, indicating the area was intended for character levels 10-18)
Fo4 Vault 120 33 Generators Airlock.png|Airlock proper
Fo4 Vault 120 34 Generators Exit.png|Exit to the Gorge
===Stellwagen Gorge===
The Gorge itself is unfinished and lacks much of the seafloor, but it does contain several structures on the seafloor (possibly storage and diver workshops), with a collapsed gantry near the airlock leading to the research station. The player would have to bypass this by going through the nearby cave and pass through a cavernous chamber, before emerging on the other side of the gorge, and passing under the heavily irradiated submarine, before entering the station proper through an airlock.
Fo4 Vault 120 35 Stenwallen Gorge.png|Shot of the gorge; note that the location was never finished and thus lacks proper lighting, seafloor, fog, and water
Fo4 Vault 120 36 Gorge Generators.png|Generators near the Gorge, analogous to the ones in the previous location
Fo4 Vault 120 37 Entrance to Cave Passage.png|Entrance to the cave leading up to the Yangtze
Fo4 Vault 120 38 Crashed Yangtze.png|Yangtze embedded in the side of the gorge
Fo4 Vault 120 39 Research Facility.png|Entrance to the research station
===Research Station===
The research station would be the final stage of the Vault 120 adventure. From the airlock, the player would pass through the staging area similar to the one in the generators segment, an underwater cave, and a series of chambers overlooking the gorge and connecting to the walkway that links the station with the residential area of the Vault, before entering the main research complex.
The complex is divided into two parts, the research station proper, with an adjacent living annex containing storage, bunk rooms, toilets, and showers, centered around a Vault-style atrium, filled with workstations, desktops, sample storage rooms, and autopsy chambers with dolphish carcasses prepped for dissection, with an adjacent natural cave with three holding pools for marine life. One of these burst, flooding the main area of the Vault and leaving dead dolphish on the floor. It seems the intended flow was from the living quarters, through the ground floor of the atrium, to the holding tanks, and then leaving the player free to explore the rest of the research station, with the purpose of finding a password for resolving the 20 Leagues Under the Sea quest. They would then ascend the stairs leading out of the atrium, into the final squid chamber.
The other part of the facility is the final, vaulted chamber, with three large pipes descending from the ceiling into a pool. This area is unfinished, as one side of the chamber consists of placeholder assets (flat panes blocking out what seems to be a chamber for the sentient octopus mentioned by Todd Howard), with an anvil floating just next to a gantry, identified as MS03PlaceholderOverseer001, indicating that the squid overseer of Vault 120 would confront the player there.
Escape capsules would be found right next door (MS03CapsuleMarker001), up the stairs, with the player activating them and escaping Vault 120 at the conclusion of the quest.
Fo4 Vault 120 40 RF Airlock Exit.png|Exit from the airlock
Fo4 Vault 120 41Entrance through Cave.png|Natural cave leading into the facility
Fo4 Vault 120 42 First Chamber.png|First chamber
Fo4 Vault 120 43 Junction Bridge to RF.png|Junction area, with a turret spawn above and a marker activation zone at the top of the stairs
Fo4 Vault 120 44 Seabridge Overlook.png|Seabridge overlook
Fo4 Vault 120 45 Entrance to RF Proper.png|Entrance to the research station
Fo4 Vault 120 46 RF Corridor.png|Corridor connecting the different parts of the sleeping quarters
Fo4 Vault 120 47 RF Sleeping Quarters.png|Spartan bunk beds in the living quarters
Fo4 Vault 120 48 RF Toilets.png|Toilets
Fo4 Vault 120 49 RF Shower.png|Shower
Fo4 Vault 120 50 RF Showers.png|Showers
Fo4 Vault 120 51 RF Atrium.png|Atrium with the main working area
Fo4 Vault 120 52 RF Atrium Experiments.png|Rotting remnants of marine life experiments
Fo4 Vault 120 52 RF Atrium Lab.png|Automated lab/kitchen next to the atrium
Fo4 Vault 120 53 RF Atrium Empty Observation Tank.png|Burst observation tank; this is the part accessible from the ground 
Fo4 Vault 120 54 RF Observation Tanks.png|Observation tanks chamber
Fo4 Vault 120 55 RF Whale Dissection.png|A dissection chamber with a dolphish prepared for opening
Fo4 Vault 120 56 RF Records.png|Records room 
Fo4 Vault 120 RF 57 Cold Storage.png|Cold storage on the upper level of the living quarters
Fo4 Vault 120 58 RF Entrance to Squid Chamber.png|Entrance to the Squid holding chamber
Fo4 Vault 120 59 RF Squid Chamber.png|The squid chamber
Fo4 Vault 120 60 RF Squid Window.png|Closeup of the squid window placeholder
Fo4 Vault 120 RF Escape Pods.png|Escape pods, using placeholder silo assets
==Notes==
Vault 120 is also the name of a Vault and quest location in Fallout Shelter.
==Behind the scenes==
* Todd Howard discussed Vault 120 and the 20 Leagues Under the Sea quest in a Reddit AMA on November 10, 2021. He stated that it was to be a "Bioshock style vault," with a giant sentient octopus outside.Todd Howard on Reddit
* Artist Christiane Meister, who designed the model of the giant squid, elaborated on the topic in an interview as part of the Fallout 25th Anniversary, indicating that the giant squid was actually supposed to have been the overseer of Vault 120."What was your favorite contribution to the Fallout series and was there a feature or detail that didn’t make it into a Fallout game?"I worked on a lot of the creatures for Fallout, but I think my favorite is the Mirelurk Queen.There was an underwater vault where the Overseer was supposed to be this giant octopus/squid. The model was still in the Creation Kit so some people found it and used it, I believe. Fun fact: I made the carousel horses in Fallout 76. You will note that one of them is a hippocampus, with a giant squid eating the sea horse... Revenge of the squid."(Meet Christiane H.K. Meister - Senior Character Artist at Bethesda Game Studios)
** With the additional details of the vault overseer being the giant squid, and the two alternative quest resolutions, this location and quest may be inspired by the Fontaine Futuristics level in BioShock 2. The plot of this level revolves around a scientist who has been mutated into a gigantic creature and rendered insane, who may be killed at his original personality's request or spared and set free at his new personality's request.
* "Stellwagen Gorge" shares its name with that of the real-world Stellwagen Bank, an oceanic plateau in the Massachusetts Bay.
==Gallery==
Reddit Todd Howard FO4 Vault 120 comment.png|Reddit comment
FO4 Squid cut texture 0012EF26 1.jpeg|Squid textures
FO4 Squid cut texture 0012EF26 2.png 
==References==
Non-game
Category:Vaults
Category:Fallout 4 cut locations
ru:Убежище 120