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Hello all. First off, I'm not that frequent of a gamer, so it isn't until recently that I first played Fallout 1. LOVE IT!!

I've been going at it for quite a few days and am doing quite well. I did stumble upon a huge, game-ending problem and I don't know if there is a fix.

I went through Necropolis, got the chip and gave it to the Overseer. WHEEE!! Later, I went to The Hub to try out some of the caravan missions and read that I'd get a lot of XP for speaking with the master merchant about supplying water. Did that and I went on with the game. I was almost done with the Brotherhood missions, all that was left was to search for "Area 51" section mentioned by General Maxson, and all of a sudden, my game was over due to not getting the chip. I tried to go back to Necropolis and get the chip, but it's gone. I went back to Vault 13 and the Overseer still says I need the chip? My last save was 31 days left when I reloaded the game.

Am I doomed to not finish the game? There's still Boneyard, the Military base and the cathedral. I'm really wanting to complete this, but I don't know if I can and starting over seems too harsh considering how much work I put in.

Has anyone had this problem? I doubt it, but I figured I'd ask.
Thanks in advanced for any info.

Hello and welcome to the forums.

Do you have any save games before you entered Necropolis (or before getting the Water Chip)? Maybe you can try getting the chip again and going back to Vault 13 and talk with the Overseer again?

Or maybe try waiting up till the next day after giving the Water chip to the Overseer and talk to him again about the mutant threat? Hopefully, it might complete the quest.

Sorry that I cannot be of much help as I didn't encounter this bug before.

Sending the water caravan to the Vault although you've already delivered the chip might have resetted the get the water chip quest. You might gain another 100 days for finishing the game by sending an additional water caravan. Delivering the chip isn't necessary to finish the game successfully, it only gives you more time to finish the main quest, stopping the mutant threat by "visiting" the area 51 and the cathedral south of the boneyard.
If sending another water caravan doesn't add extra time 31 days should be enough time to get to the military base and handle the stuff there (if you're currently in a town buy explosives and stimpacks for faster healing with your money) if you've already done the cathedral south of the boneyard, even doing both might be possible within 31 days since only travelling takes time, exploring or using stimpacks doesn't, you don't have to waste time by resting or reading books.

I'll try those. Thanks.

I went back to try and get the chip again, nothing. I also tried a few other things, but nothing has worked so far. The traveling is what's killing me.

Good idea with trying to get an additional 100 days. I'll try that next.

If you don't mind "cheating", one option could be using mod or editor to get around the problem. [url="http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/dload.php?action=file&file_id=566"]Here[/url] is one trainer that has ability to lock the "Days Left". Though I can't promise that it works, as I have never tried it.

Second way is trickier, and only usable if you don't mind to sacrifice couple of minutes to this. If I remember correctly, Fallout 1 has similiar saving system as Fallout 2. So here are the instructions

1. Load a game where you haven't yet returned the water chip
2. Find the chip if you don't have it already
3. Go to any town and place the chip to any container (shelf, locker etc.) and leave the town.
4. Save the game (be sure it's not the same slot with the bugged gamed) and note the slot number you used. For future reference, I call that slot Slot B from now on.
5. Note the slot number of the bugged game (the save where you have already returned the chip). This slot is going to be called Slot A
6. By using My Computer, go to the Fallout 1 folder, and the find the place where the saved games are stored.
7. Go to the folder corresponding Slot A, and find the file corresponding the specific part of the town where you left the chip. Take a backup from this file to somewhere safe (desktop for example)
8. Go to the folder of Slot B, find the same file, and copy it to Slot A folder. Replace if asked
9. Start the game, load the game from Slot A, and you should find the chip from the place you put it earlier. Get the chip and leave the town. Save
10. Quite the game, and copy the backup of the file you took earlier back to Slot A.

Now you can start the game again, and load the game from Slot A and voilá! You have chip again and you should be able to return the chip to the Overseer again.

dc11gtr wrote:I'll try those. Thanks.

I went back to try and get the chip again, nothing. I also tried a few other things, but nothing has worked so far. The traveling is what's killing me.

Good idea with trying to get an additional 100 days. I'll try that next.

It seems to me that you haven't the latest patch installed. If so, it's definitely not a good idea to send a water supply caravan to Vault 13: in older version of Fallout there is an overall time limit of 500 days (if I remember correctly) to finish the game or your Vault will be invaded by Master's supermutants. Yes, you buy yourself another 100 days to find the water chip by sending a water caravan (and maybe 200 days by sending two caravans - I'm not sure) but this reduces game's time limit to 400/300(?) days.
I understand that this isn't exactly your problem, however, since the Overseer continues to tell you about the water chip. If I got it right, you've got the chip, brought it to Overseer and left. Than, you went to hub and sent a water caravan and my guess is that this is the root of your problem - it was meant to send a caravan before you find the chip, not after that. Maybe this is a reason for a bug in the game.
I'm only guessing, however, so sorry if I wasted your time.

Kipi wrote:
Second way is trickier, and only usable if you don't mind to sacrifice couple of minutes to this. If I remember correctly, Fallout 1 has similiar saving system as Fallout 2. So here are the instructions

1. Load a game where you haven't yet returned the water chip
2. Find the chip if you don't have it already
3. Go to any town and place the chip to any container (shelf, locker etc.) and leave the town.
4. Save the game (be sure it's not the same slot with the bugged gamed) and note the slot number you used. For future reference, I call that slot Slot B from now on.
5. Note the slot number of the bugged game (the save where you have already returned the chip). This slot is going to be called Slot A
6. By using My Computer, go to the Fallout 1 folder, and the find the place where the saved games are stored.
7. Go to the folder corresponding Slot A, and find the file corresponding the specific part of the town where you left the chip. Take a backup from this file to somewhere safe (desktop for example)
8. Go to the folder of Slot B, find the same file, and copy it to Slot A folder. Replace if asked
9. Start the game, load the game from Slot A, and you should find the chip from the place you put it earlier. Get the chip and leave the town. Save
10. Quite the game, and copy the backup of the file you took earlier back to Slot A.

Now you can start the game again, and load the game from Slot A and voilá! You have chip again and you should be able to return the chip to the Overseer again.

Kipi thank you so much -- it worked! I'm playing Fallout for the first time to prep myself for Fallout 3 (I know I don't *have* to play the previous games, but I like knowing the history of a series) -- I came across the same problem as the OP. I thought I had the latest patch installed... My main menu says 1.2 in the lower corner...

I sent the water caravans up after I'd already delivered the chip, was happy to get that 1K xp, but later discovered that it reset my water chip quest. I was *very* lucky to have saved a game file a couple tiles outside of Vault 13 (before turning in the chip), so it was just a matter of going a short distance to the Vault entrance and placing the chip in the skellie with the yellow backpack, right outside the vault. I followed your instructions and was able to complete the quest (again).

I also got the 7.5K xp again too.

I'm going to put up my vault entrance file with the water chip in the corpse with the backpack at Filefront, so anyone else with this problem and no previous saves available can drop it into one of their own savegame files.


Fallout 1 Water Chip Quest fix

If anyone tries this, please let me know how it works.

Edit: I went back to the water merchants and came across the same issue as before: as soon as you even talk to the merchant master, the water chip quest gets reset. If you want to do any caravan runs with the water merchants, make sure you unlock that part before you fix your game, so you can just check in with the caravan driver and avoid the merchant master. Beyond that, I finished the military base quest and turned in the water chip quest again, and it did *not* reset the mutant threat quests which normally follow after.

AFAIK, patch 1.3.3 or 1.3.4 fixes these particular bugs, but I believe you have to start a new game. At least, I tried patching and then ended up not being able to load any of my old saved games...