Basically, it seems that if you start your game in New Vegas, and then return to the Capital Wasteland and attempt to do the quest Trouble On The Homefront, things get really wacky because the triggers for leaving Vault 101 were never updated/removed to indicate that the player character is "returning" to the Vault, and never left yet. In short, when I tried to do the quest, I encountered some really weird glitches because the triggers are being forced to fire BACKWARDS, one of which seems to have affected my game permanently.
When returning to Vault 101 from starting in New Vegas, the player will pass through the trigger that activates the Vault door. In the original game, this is the trigger that's supposed to close the door behind them when leaving Vault 101 for the first time, but if you start your game in New Vegas and are coming TO the Vault, as opposed to leaving the vault, the trigger still fires and will open the door instead.
The problem is that Vault 101 will be in the same state it was in when your character was supposed to have been a child - because you see, the game doesn't know that you never actually "left" the vault (those quest triggers never fired). Vault 101 will be completely empty. No NPCs, no quest triggers, no nothing. What's worse, if you then activate the door controls inside the vault, and close the door to Vault 101 while inside, you will be sealed inside the empty vault forever, with no way out, because the inside door controls then become inactive! I had to reload a save to escape!
The way I was able to get the quest "Trouble On The Homefront" to activate correctly was to approach the vault door, which triggers the script that simply "activates" the door. Since the door is closed by default, it opened. Remember, that trigger is supposed to be the trigger that closes the door when you first leave Vault 101, but since you are returning from New Vegas, it activates the door and does things in reverse, thus opening the door instead. Afterwards, I activated the door controls inside Vault 101, and ran outside as fast as I could before the door closed.
THIS is when the game finally recognizes that your character has "left" Vault 101, and THEN you can enter the password "AMATA" on the outside door controls, and re-enter Vault 101 as it's supposed to be, populated by the present day NPCs and their conflict with the overseer. HOWEVER, this is where things got really weird.
Rex and EDE were there. Inside the Vault, just chilling in the hallways. They were NOT companions at the time I traveled to the Vault, and I had left them in New Vegas. However, I found both Rex and EDE inside Vault 101, just waiting around like they had always been right there, totally freaking me out. Am I correct in assuming the TTW developers used Vault 101 as "holding cells" for non-human companions??? Otherwise, I have no idea whatsoever how they "teleported" themselves from New Vegas into the hallways of Vault 101.
Second, a more serious and permanent glitch happened after doing the bugged Trouble On The Homefront quest - Dogmeat has apparently become a permanent member of my party, and I can't get rid of him! No matter where I go, Dogmeat is always there! Any door I walk through, Dogmeat is there, and begins walking away like he's going back to Vault 101. And what's worse, I can't speak to him. He speaks to me instead. When I initiate dialogue with Dogmeat, he says, "What do you need?", like he's a human NPC, and then I can only tell him to go mark his spot, or say goodbye. Other than that, he's always there, walking away, and sometimes sitting down.
I tried to get rid of him by beginning DLCs - and even that doesn't work. Dogmeat "shadowed" me all the way through Operation Anchorage, and is now "shadowing" me through Point Lookout. I can't get rid of Dogmeat, I can't tell him to go home, I can't tell him to wait - Dogmeat has become permanently "tied" to my character. And he really is there, because he will join combat and fight enemies, but otherwise just starts walking away whenever I enter a new cell, like some dog ghost haunting me.
Any suggestions on what to do about this glitch? I've disabled every mod I'm using that otherwise affects companions, to no avail. And, Dogmeat seems to be the only companion affected. All other companions are still behaving normally, and this only started after doing the bugged Trouble On The Homefront quest.
One final suggestion about this bugged quest, when playing a TTW game beginning in New Vegas. As you approach Vault 101 when coming from Vegas, I noticed that the bright light and music that plays when you first step out of the Vault and into the Wasteland for the first time is still triggered. I have some modding experience, and I'm guessing that this is because the player character is passing through the trigger that causes this effect to happen when they are supposed to be leaving the Vault for the first time (when starting in the Capital Wasteland).
This would be an EXCELLENT opportunity to "transport" the player character "back in time", and have them play the quests while they were growing up (such as the quest Growing Up Fast), that are otherwise lost and skipped when starting in New Vegas, to sort of reacquaint them with their roots as a flashback sequence.
I imagine the scripting would have to be similar to the scripting that fires when entering Tranquility Lane, having your inventory removed, and being forced to play as a child. It could work much the same for the quests Growing Up Fast, Future Imperfect, and Escape!
As you approach Vault 101 after starting your game in New Vegas, and receive the distress call from Amata that begins Trouble On The Homefront, WHEN you approach Vault 101 for the "first" time, begin a flashback sequence that is scripted to turn the player character back into a child, removes their inventory, and moves them into the appropriate cells and begins the quest Growing Up Fast, so they can experience their roots and experience what "happened" as they grew up before they left the Vault, as if the Lone Courier is remembering what caused them to leave Vault 101 in the first place.
Then, after completing Escape!, and leaving Vault 101, write a script that mimics exiting Tranquility Lane - i.e. returning the player character to an adult, restoring their inventory, moving them back to the cell outside Vault 101, etc., so they can proceed with Trouble On The Homefront. This way those quests can still be played and will be woven into the player character's journey, instead of being skipped and/or bugged out.
Just remember to adjust the Vault environment accordingly. Certain doors in the early FO3 quests are Very Hard locked, to prevent the child version of the player character from wandering into parts of the Vault they're not supposed to see yet. So, if the Lone Courier returns from New Vegas with lockpicking skills high enough to breach those doors as a child, it may cause issues, so those doors would have to be made "inaccessible", or require a key so they couldn't be opened by a child version of the player character with high lockpicking/hacking skills.
Also, before I forget, one other small oversight that might be included in future versions of TTW - apparently, if you start a game in New Vegas and then play through the Fallout 3 storyline second, remember that the scripts for Fallout 3 don't take into account all of the items available in New Vegas, and so sequences that affect your inventory may accidentally omit some items. In my game, it was my PIMP-Boy 3000 after leaving Tranquility Lane. I'm guessing since the PIMP-Boy 3000 technically didn't exist when Fallout 3 was released, the script that restores your character's inventory doesn't include the PIMP-Boy 3000 on the list, so my character was left inside Vault 112 without a Pip-Boy of any kind after exiting the Tranquility Lounger! I had to add it back using console commands. Might want to check into that for future updates!
Anyways, any feedback on what to do about the Dogmeat glitch would be very much appreciated, as well as thoughts on properly scripting Trouble On The Homefront, and weaving Growing Up Fast, Future Imperfect, and Escape! into a TTW New Vegas starting game would be appreciated as well. Thanks in advance for any feedback, will be checking back soon.
