Fallout 3 Cut Content

[C16]

 
Foreword

Little was known about Fallout 3's cut content until three years ago Adonis VIII started investigating the skipped indexes of Downtown DC. Currently, it looks much like what you see here:




However, upon closer inspection, you can see that there are numeric indexes missing. For example, DCworld01 - Chevy Chase skips right over DCworld02 to DCworld03 - Dupont Circle. There are many of these as visible in that image.



Upon deeper investigation, miraculously (and thankfully) Bethesda didn't (or forgot) delete the Encounter Zones for these "skipped indexes." So, after piecing everything together and filling in all of the holes, this is what DC should look like:

To further add to this discovery, there is an old Gamespot interview with Emil Pagliarulo that confirms that these areas were, at one point, in the game. Unfortunately, they were cut because - in the words of Todd Howard, "They just didn't work." 
Here is that article:
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gdc-2 ... 0-6206965/



And in that article, there is this tidbit of information:



Unfortunately, the iterative development process can lead to parts of a game being left on the cutting-room floor because they required too much work. In Fallout 3, the urban ruins of central D.C. were supposed to be twice as large as they were in the final version. "These maps were done and polished, but Todd thought they had to go," recalled the designer. "You just have to be honest with yourself and admit when something isn't working."




Much of the exterior worldspace work is complete, and I will soon (~3 months) be touching upon interiors.
 
What was changed from Alpha to final Retail?

In the Alpha version of Fallout 3, (Pre-E3) the metro was accurate compared to how it looked on the DCTA maps scattered throughout the subway stations. People have such a hard time navigating these because they lead to the wrong areas.



Prior to DC being reduced in scale, the metro systems had navigation maps and pointers to help guide you through the dark ruins of DC's subway system.



This discovery was made when we found that one of the pointers had 1 use, in 1 cell, in the game. That led to finding this, in the Metro Central cell:



[collapsed title=Image][/collapsed]




And there you have it. It appears that, prior to DC's metro being reconnected once areas and metros were cut from the game, that it didn't make sense to have something that no longer accurately represented the layout of DC.





In addition to the small changes such as those I listed above, there were numerous cut interiors, a cut quest, and cut NPCs.



The cut interiors are as follows:
Metro (L'Enfant Plaza Station)

...Even more Metro Stations I haven't mapped out yet

Infested Sewer

Waterfront Sewage

Potomac Steamworks (Connecting Falls Church to Monticello Park)

Federal Trade Bureau

Bureau of Special Affairs

Alexandria Arms Basement (Wasteland to Alexandria)


The cut NPCs are as follows:
Paladin Bishop

Paladin Northup

Specialist Aberdeen



The cut quest:
MS07

[Mystical Panda]

Those areas look sweet!!!

[jlf65]

I've been using the Monticello Park mod since it came out. Can't wait to get the rest!

 

[James_T_Quirk]

Nice, like a little palentological Re-Construction from Fallout's fossil record of code ....

I wonder if this Unfinished quest or the NPC's could be used by TTW, for immersion links, like the Paladin's to integrate Veronica into DC Brotherhood, or something (she seems happy there, with remnants & mutants to bash, plus I nuked her old home), as a example, Just thinking out loud ....

Keep up the good work !!

 

[C16]

We actually know what MS07 involved, but we don't have the voice files to do any restoring.

[Postal-Dude]

Wow, this project looks absolutely amazing!

Good luck with this huge mod project. If this actually works out, it will definitely be part of my essential mod list. Even better if it works with TTW let it be as official content or mod.

I always wondered about the cut content in FO3 since there was never much known about it. Nice to have at least DC, always seemed obvious to me that the devs cut some things out there... Wondering if there is more out in the wasteland but considering how filled it is, I don't think there's much.

Hope this mod will see the light of day!

[the dark lard]

I need this mod. And this game needs a Game of the Decade Edition.

[SaymonKopolsky]

Looks really amazing, i love the DC areas.

[RoyBatty]

SuB unfortunately has quit modding Bethesda games. :(

[Risewild]

:(