Dummied Out / Fallout

Fallout 2

• Fallout 2 contains lots of items and references towards things that were cut from the game due to time restraints. Some of this has been restored in the Fallout 2 Restoration Project.
  • The game contains unique interface messages for the situations where an enemy manages to inflict a One-Hit Kill Critical on the player, including a description of you getting a nice view of your body as your head sails through the air (when receiving a Critical Hit in the head), or a description of you feeling a sensation of instant brain death (when receiving a Critical Hit in the eyes). However, none of the enemies in the game are capable of inflicting an instant-kill Critical, and even then, the game would display the Game Over screen before you'd be able to read the text, and therefore these texts are never actually seen.

Fallout 3

• Using the Fallout 3 G.E.C.K. Editor, you can find an abundance of strange items and NPCs with no unique models. There was going to be a better Tesla Armor that involved something called "Robo-Thor". Who was O'Grady, and why does he have his Peacemaker? Was Three Dog supposed to wield Law Dog? And was whatever the "Spinebreaker" thing that was explicitly used to scare the player in Vault 87 related to that Failed FEV Subject, and where does it "spawn the Super Mutant and start him running"?
  • These items can also be discovered and obtained by PC users without the G.E.C.K. by typing "coc testqaitems" in the console. This takes the player to a room designed to test various items. Several of the dummied out items appear here as well.
• It was going to be possible to construct a freezing weapon called the Cryolator from a coolant component, a liquid nitrogen canister, and a crutch (only the latter is obtainable). This has a model and textures, but isn't programmed. The Cryolator would later appear in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.
• The Japanese version has the evil resolution of the Megaton bomb quest removed (since it involves detonating a nuclear bomb and destroying a town — Japan is a little sensitive about that kind of stuff) by removing the NPC that would trigger that part of the quest. The only thing you can do is disarm the bomb (the good resolution). As a result, the Tenpenny Tower suite and destroyed Megaton are inaccessible in the Japanese version of the game.
• The Loading Yard at Mama Dolce's has a gate that "Requires a Key", but can't be unlocked and leads nowhere. Possibly intended for DLC that was never made, or just to psych the player.
• The atrium for Vault 87 is dummied out with a "Requires Key" door that can only be opened via console command. The characteristic inner vault door leads into a blank void, rather than an entry tunnel (which would be collapsed anyways). This door does have a purpose, however, since it is the point where the Enclave enter during the cutscene when they capture you.
• Another room that is present but inaccessible without console hacking or glitching is located in Vault 92 Sound Testing, blocked by a jammed door. Beyond this is a door leading to the Overseer's emergency tunnel, which can't be accessed from the Office side but may have been intended to be.
• Megaton also has the Abandoned House, an untextured prototype version of the house you get for disarming the bomb.
• The Winterized T-51b Power Armor from Operation: Anchorage was originally meant to be degradable like the standard T-51b from the core game, which would mean it couldn't be fully repaired, reducing its usefulness. The developers apparently realized this and scrapped this version in favor of the indestructible simulation version. The destructible version still remains in the code.
• In-game text prompts indicate that the armor in Fort Constantine was originally going to be the Medic Power Armor (which is found in the Old Olney Sewers in the final game) rather than the T-51b.
• Textures for a Brotherhood of Steel Robobrain and a Brotherhood Outcast Eyebot and Mister Gutsy exist in the files. There's also Outcast Recon Armor.
• A pink texture for the T-45d power armor and helmet with a heart on the chest exists in the game's files. This is what it looks like applied to the model. Whether it was actually meant for inclusion or is just a developer joke is unknown.
• In Broken Steel, a "beta" version of the Tesla Cannon can be found hidden in the Rockland Satellite Relay Station cell.
• One of the burned-out houses in Springvale has a key-locked cellar door. In the base game it is inaccessible, but in the Broken Steel DLC, it is the location of the Holy Light Monastery. Ditto the Hank's Electrical Supply building. Similarly, in New Vegas, there are four locations in the vanilla game's Wasteland with inaccessible passageways or inactive objects, but which become the entry points to the DLC areas once those are installed.

Fallout: New Vegas

A common joke is that Fallout: New Vegas had enough cut content to equal an entire game, and it's not that far off the mark — a ton of unused NPCs, areas, quests, weapons and armor, as well as a huge amount of legacy content from Fallout 3, were scrapped prior to release, with further removals made through subsequent patches. Most of it can be accessed by using console commands, and some content has been restored via various means, including the "New Vegas Uncut" series of Game Mods.

• Armor/Weapons:
  • The Deathclaw gauntlet from 3 was originally intended to be reused in Vegas, but was cut for unknown reasons, even though it exists in the game files and is perfectly playable. However, a unique version of the gauntlet (the "Fist of Rawr", alternately "Fist of the North Rawr" with the Wild Wasteland trait) could be obtained by killing a unique Deathclaw and crafting it during the Lonesome Road DLC.
  • Unusable Welding Guns can be found in various locations; they were likely meant to have crafting functions that were never implemented.
  • There is a dummied-out armored version of the Vault 21 jumpsuit, which is in fact the same version worn by the Courier in the ending slideshow. There's also an unused "Vault 24 Jumpsuit", even though there is no reference to Vault 24 in any Fallout game.
  • A holotape in an unmarked quest makes reference to "battle rifles", a weapon type that is not available in the base game with expansions. "This Machine", likewise, is referred to in the G.E.C.K. as a unique version of a "Battle Rifle", implying a non-unique version of the gun was cut from the game before it was readded with the Gun Runner's Arsenal DLC.
  • Stun grenades that inflict fatigue damage exist in the game, functional but unused. They would later reappear with a modified appearance under the name "flash bang" in the Lonesome Road DLC.
  • Old World Blues would have had a frag mine that looks like a piece of meat, meant to be used to kill Gabe, and two reskins of the grenade rifle that would have fired miniature blue roboscorpions and Chinese spider drones from Operation: Anchorage. The textures for the latter two were used in Lonesome Road as the Great Bear and Red Victory grenade rifles, available if you nuke the Long 15 and Dry Wells respectively.
  • The Scorched Sierra power armor worn by Colonel Royez after nuking the Long 15 in Lonesome Road has a matching helmet model with eyes that glow green.
• Locations:
  • Cottonwood Cove originally had an extra bunker underneath it, which (if the G.E.C.K. is anything to go by) had a unique Irradiated Radroach enemy inside it. Unfortunately, its true purpose is unknown and the only remnant are script notes and the aforementioned enemy.
  • The sub-basement of the Tops Casino is not normally accessible by the player, but if you have Benny accompany you to the Presidential Suite and kill him before he escapes, a glitch causes the elevator to remain unlocked, allowing you to access it and a sealed-off area of Vault 21. Dialogue from Yes Man and Jessup, and enterprising modders, suggest that the Vault was used as a "hidden passage" for Benny to enter and exit the Strip at his leisure without being hassled by the Securitrons.
  • There's also a house in Cottonwood Cove, a third floor of Gomorrah hotel rooms, and two unused sections of the New Vegas sewers (northwest and southwest), which were presumably made inaccessible for not containing anything of interest, and because Gomorrah is "large and difficult to navigate" even without another floor.
• NPCs/Creatures:
  • There was originally a plan to include a brahmin companion named Betsy, who would sit outside the north gate of Freeside and could be used as a pack animal. She couldn't attack enemies and would run away when combat initiated, but she had a carry weight of 600 pounds and had a companion perk that allowed the player to gain better sale prices at merchants. She exists complete on the disc, save for voice acting for the original recruitment and companion quest. The "If It Wasn't for Betsy" mod restores her original concept.
  • A functional Eyebot (using the model of the Enclave Eyebot from Fallout 3) was intended to be put in the Sunset Sarsaparilla headquarters, who would greet the player before summoning robots to attack. Its functions and lines were completed, but it was pulled on the basis that the Enclave would never give an expensive piece of technology like that to a soft drink company (that, and the factory has been trashed when the player arrives, making it highly unlikely that such a prized piece of technology would still be lying around without being stolen by scavengers or enterprising parties).
  • Gojira, a massive Fire Gecko who was originally made by Obsidian for a joke to playtest NPC reactions at Camp McCarran. It was never intended to be put into the game proper, but the mod "A Wilder Wasteland" summons it once all the other legendary creatures in the game have been killed.
  • The Powder Ganger corpse surrounded by the Deathclaws in Quarry Junction was originally an actual NPC named Hawkins, who had a questline associated with him and could be allowed to tag along as a temporary companion. However, his lines were never completed and the only elements that exist are written script notes.
  • Most oddly, there were radioactive tumbleweeds that were intended to be present throughout the map, designated as creatures (so they could be destroyed by the player). While they function correctly, the dev team deleted it for causing bugs and lag to the game.
  • A Sentry Bot toy was originally intended to be found in the gameworld, and would act as a third companion. It was a miniature robot that would follow the player around and run away during combat. It was restored in the "Wilder Wasteland" mod.
  • A Super-Mutant New California Republic Ranger named Chauncey was originally intended to show up at Ranger Station Foxtrot, sporting a red scarf and a comically-small hat. It's unknown why he was pulled, but his model is still on the disc.
  • Two fully-voiced robots (A Sentry Bot named Koch and a Protectron named Bohr) were intended to be discovered in Vault 22, where they could be repaired and have dialogue related to the player's mission there. It's unknown why they were deleted, though Doctor Keely doesn't acknowledge them in any dialogue, suggesting they were removed earlier in development. However, they can both be restored with the "A Koch and Bohr Story" mod.
  • In addition to Jane, Mr. House would have had another female-programmed private Securitron named Marilyn based on Marilyn Monroe in the Lucky 38 penthouse. She was cut due to issues with her voiceover so late that she appears along with Jane on the 2 of Diamonds card in the Collector's Edition, and Veronica still says "I was surprised [House] only had the two robot sex slaves."
  • A fully functional Securitron is in the game that would have replaced Sarah Weintraub as the proprietor of the Vault 21 hotel and gift shop if the player killed her. It's permanently disabled in-game, possibly because it wouldn't have made sense if the player had killed or disconnected Mr. House.
  • There are more crucified men in the game files than those who actually appear in-game. The mentioned-only Mayor Steyn of Nipton also exists as an unused NPC, using the model of the Tops chairman, and his corpse was probably meant to appear.
  • All three of the named Fiends the NCR tasks you to kill (Violet, Cook-Cook and Driver Nephi) have a full set of conversation options indicating that they could be spoken to on friendly terms. This was simplified to have them act always evil, and (with the exception of Motor-Runner during the quest to give him drugs in "Abu Dhabi Honeymoon"), they can't be reasoned with or spoken to in deep dialogue. A mod, "Cook Cook in his Castle", restores the character's original dialogue and encounter, which would have the player (morality isn't factored in) encounter him in his "home" cooking a Brahmin with a flamethrower, and after some dialogue with him, he will proceed to attack the player along with his minions.
  • If you offer a companion to Mortimer as a replacement meal while you have multiple humanoid companions (which is normally impossible), he asks "Which one?", suggesting Obsidian planned for the possibility of having more than one humanoid and one non-humanoid companion.
• Quests:
  • Black Mountain had a significant shift midway through development, with its original plan (the mountain acting as a key battleground between Tabitha's Super Mutants and the NCR) largely being scrapped before release, with remnants of code suggesting it had much more functionality. A video from TriangleCity shows some of the concepts that were either unfinished or buggy, including an additional setpiece that would have occurred if the player tried to activate the mountain's satellite while Tabitha was still alive (and was linked to the quest "Return to Sender") — and she caused the destruction of one of the dishes, which would cause a permanent change to the gameworld, as the destroyed dish would remain at the bottom of the mountain as a physical part of the environment.
  • If the player released Benny from Caesar's camp and let him go free, he would seek you out and attack you again somewhere in the gameworld, while calling you out for letting him go.
  • Freeside had a huge amount of content cut - NPCs like beggars and pickpockets, an unused quest involving Rotface (who would either attack the player, join the Followers of the Apocalypse or disappear forever based on how often you bought tips from him), additional cutscenes and dialogue options when attempting to negotiate between the Kings and NCR, and a more open area that didn't require going through several gates. Most of it was restored in the "Freeside Open" mod.
  • Hoover Dam had numerous bits of content and level geometry cut before development and through subsequent patches, including additional areas (including a road leading up to the Legate's Camp, complete with an encounter with a squad of Legionnaires), an additional sewer system that could be traversed, and an additional area behind the Legate's camp that may have acted as a "final arena" against Lanius if the player was able to convince him to accept a one-on-one duel, as opposed to the same instance occuring directly within the camp only if the player has Good Karma.
  • "How Little We Know" has an option to turn over Clanden's snuff tapes to Captain Pappas and have the NCR military police arrest him. It's completely functional, but the necessary trigger appears to have been intentionally disabled, possibly because Ambassador Crocker says that the NCR's treaty with Mr. House gives law enforcement authority on the Strip to his Securitrons, even for NCR citizens.
  • During "The House Always Wins", it was originally possible to be thrown out of the Lucky 38 by Mr. House for a whole day if you attacked any Securitrons, and you had to wait before you could progress to the next mission. Additionally, House was supposed to have dialogue taunting the player and expressing doubts they would be able to reach his antechamber if the Securitrons were destroyed.
  • Victor would have attacked the player if they entered the Lucky 38 after destroying the Securitrons under the Fort.
    Victor: You low-down snake! I wish I'da left you in the ground to rot!
  • "The House Always Wins V" has an unused optional quest stage to "Inform Mr. House that you've negotiated a peaceful solution with the Brotherhood," which is impossible in game. Mods restore this feature.
  • There is also a note in which Mr. House agrees to let the NCR annex the New Vegas Strip in exchange for NCR citizenship and immunity from prosecution.
  • The "My Kind of Town" quest in Primm (where the player had to suggest a new sheriff) could originally be solved in one way by rallying the townspeople to sign a petition to become part of the NCR and have them oversee management of the town.
  • There was supposed to be an unmarked quest ("The Thorn Mayhem") where you could release the creatures locked in the Thorn's cages and let them loose on the unsuspecting Red Lucy and residents in Westside, causing all manner of panic. It was removed due to time constraints, but was restored by modders.
  • It was meant to be possible to use the Infected Brahmin Meat in the Ultra-Luxe kitchen to poison the Legion's stew and dog bowls.
  • The game was originally intended to continue past the ending, and you would be able to venture to various parts of the map and hear people's reactions to your choices. All of this dialogue will still play correctly if you use any mod that allows you to play past the endgame. Some bugs in the final quest will also allow you to hear post-game dialogue. For instance, if you follow the NCR questline and talk to Colonel Moore during the final battle, she'll mention that she's been promoted to Brigadier General and that they're pursuing the Legion back to Arizona.
  • Slides and voiceover narration for two alternate endings to the Dead Money DLC are unused: one has the Courier die in the Sierra Madre Vault after Father Elijah turned it into a Gas Chamber. The other involves Christine Royce killing Elijah and trapping the Courier in the Vault.
  • The DLC Old World Blues was supposed to have an ending in which the Think Tank escapes from the Big MT and uses the entire Mojave Wasteland as a test site for even more weird scientific experiments. As seen here, one slide image is still in the game files (named nvdlc03_endingslide_failure08, suggesting at least seven more slides were deleted). Chris Avellone released the text for the intended narration, and later revealed the ending was cut at Bethesda's request.
  • A number of computer terminals give the option of "Lucky 38 Executive Override", but performing the operation does nothing and no other part of the game ever references it. According to the Word of God, this was originally part of the quest, "The Moon Comes Over the Tower", but was cut. A mod later restored functionality to the quest, via making the player travel to H&H Tools, New Vegas Steel and Camp Golf in order to activate the additional terminals. Additionally, Emily Ortal had unimplemented (or possibly bugged — the dialogue option meant to trigger it is set to check Emily's Perception instead of the player's) dialogue making it much clearer that she slept with Benny after he requested her help to reconfigure Yes Man.
• Other:
  • The game originally started with an in-engine sequence where Benny spoke to the player and shot them in real-time, but was changed to a pre-rendered cutscene for the final game. According to research from an enterprising modder, the original intro was changed because of a combination of bugs (the way the character was oriented in the sequence caused problems with character creation), odd tonal shifts (the DLC Pre-Order Bonus packs activate at multiple points throughout Benny's dialogue) and the dialogue itself was changed multiple times during development.
  • A large number of areas and "fluff" NPCs were cut from the game pre-release (and even through subsequent patches) due to console limitations. Among these, The Strip was intended to be a seamless world space (along with Freeside, mentioned above), with many more bystanders, refugees and ambient events, while Camp McCarran had bits of level scenery and at least three characters (the Drill Sergeant and two Recruits) removed at various points in the game's official support. Notably, Freeside's design for several exterior walls changed dramatically from release to the final patch, due in part to console limitations.
  • All of the companions have screaming sounds coded in the event that they're lit on fire. In the final product, fire has no apparent effect on them, and the screaming itself can come across as jarring. In particular, Veronica continues screaming and crying, even after the fire subsides.
  • The Child at Heart perk from Fallout 3 is in the game, complete with voiced dialogue options from children for it, but was left unused, despite having about as many potential uses as Cherchez la Femme (another Perk with limited utility). Some mods, including Tale of Two Wastelands (which ties in its functionality to the Fallout 3 version of the perk), restore this.

Fallout 4

• Cut dialogue can be found in the game's files relating to a quest that would involve the player helping Paladin Danse overthrow Elder Maxson and become the new Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel.
• The female protagonist was originally supposed to be a soldier just like her husband, and the game even contains dialog that references her former military career. This was eventually cut when her backstory was reworked into a lawyer-turned-housewife. There is a mod to restore this concept.
• The Chinese Assault Rifle from Fallout 3 was originally supposed to reappear, but it was cut for unknown reasons. However, an approximation of it - the "Handmade Rifle" - appears in Nuka-World, used by the Nuka-World Raiders.
• Fire and ice-based weapons appear in the game, and have their damage classified under the "Energy" subtype. Originally, they were supposed to have their own individual damage types.
• Much like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, players would have been able to have Dogmeat accompany them along with a standard companion, rather than Dogmeat occupying the "companion" slot. It's not fully clear why this option was cut, but it appears to have been done late in development — all followers have dialogue where they comment on Dogmeat being injured in combat, NPCs that refer to your companions will comment on you having both Dogmeat and another companion with you, and in both instances their dialogue was recorded and remains in the game. The mod "Everyone's Best Friend" restores this feature.
• At first, joining the Brotherhood of Steel and Railroad would've given the player unique perks depending on their rank in each organization. For example, being an Initiate in the BoS would've given the player the "Initiate" perk, which would've let the player take 10% less damage from Feral Ghouls, Super Mutants, and Synths. They were eventually cut since Bethesda viewed the perk benefits as Game Breakers. The Railroad "Heavy" perk was folded into the "Institute Killer Weave" effect for Ballistic Weave, though.
• Several unmarked locations in the Commonwealth, like 35 Court and Holy Mission Congregation, were supposed to have map markers.
• An underwater combat system was originally designed for the cut quest "20 Leagues Under the Sea", which would've involved investigating an underwater Vault while using a harpoon gun. The harpoon gun (albeit heavily redesigned) reappears in the Far Harbor DLC.
• Numerous weapons planned for the game were cut, aside from the aforementioned harpoon gun and Chinese assault rifle. While the ball-peen hammer appears in the game as a junk item, it was originally intended as a melee weapon. There's also records for an untextured weapon called "scimitar", and a special receiver for a pipe gun that would've made it a pipe shotgun.
  • Far Harbor was supposed to have throwing weapons like those seen in New Vegas. The only known ones planned were throwing blades, harpoons, hatchets, saws, and bottles. A compound bow (and accompanying arrows) was also supposed to appear.
• One of the most notable examples of this was an Institute side quest made available after "The Battle of Bunker Hill." The quest's title - "The Replacement" - and its icon, which has Vault Boy meeting up with Vault Girl, suggests that it would have been about the player character meeting a Synth copy of their deceased spouse.
• There's a Minutemen main quest that was supposed to be made available right before "The Nuclear Option". Called "Off the Grid," it was supposed to be about Diamond City losing its power supply. The quest editor ID implies that the results of the quest would've involved the Minutemen taking direct control over the city after electricity was restored.
• One instance that inspired some derision from the fans was the dumbing down of the Combat Zone location. Voice files and unused scripts indicate that it was going to be a fully-fledged arena where the player could bet on fights or even choose to join the fights themselves. Unlike the Windhelm Pit in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (which was entirely cut) the Combat Zone is still in the game and serves the purpose of getting Cait as a companion, but besides this it functions as just another raider dungeon. Naturally, there is a mod that restores most of the cut functions.
• There's dialogue for companions reacting to seeing Super Mutants with sailor hats. Since the Super Mutants never wear this in-game, these lines are never said.

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