*************************************************************************** ||||||| /|\ ||| ||| //||\\ ||| ||| ||||||||||| ///||\\\ ||||||| ||| ||| ||| //||||\\ ||| ||| ||||||||||| ||| ||| ||| /|||\ ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| || || ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| /||| ||||||| /|| ||\ ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| |||||/ ||||||| || || ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| |||||\ ||| /|||||||\ ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| \||| ||| ||||||||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| /|| ||\ |||||| |||||| \\||||// \\\ /// ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| ||| |||||| |||||| \\||// \\\|/// ||| \\\||/// -My first ASCII title ever! FALLOUT 3: Hacking FAQ v1.2 Author: DrAgRoS Dave Bosley Email: TubaDave2513 at gmail dot com (change at to @ and dot to . and take away the spaces) First Posted : 10/31/2008 *************************************************************************** This is a guide to the finer points of hacking terminals in Fallout 3. It includes tips and tricks that will enable you to easily hack every terminal in the game. *************************************************************************** Table of Contents: [I] Hacking? WTF is that? [I.1] Why is hacking useful? [I.2] Do i need to know how to hack to beat the game? [II] How to Hack [II.1] Getting Started [II.2] Hacking Requirements [II.3] Hacking Interface [II.4] Spotting the Best Word [II.5] Process of Elimination [II.6] If All Else Fails [II.7] The Bracket Trick [III] Special Thanks [IV] Version Info [V] Closing Stuff *************************************************************************** [I] Hacking? WTF is that? *************************************************************************** [I.1] Why is hacking useful? Computer terminals are scattered throughout the desecrated ruins of Washington D.C. in Fallout 3. Often times these terminals can do anything from open a safe or locked door to giving away a piece of the story you would not get otherwise. Without knowing how to hack properly you would be missing out on some of the best loot, the coolest weapons, the most fun secrets, and a good chunk of the story. So I'm here to teach you the process of hacking like a 1337 pro. *************************************************************************** [I.2] Do i need to know how to hack to beat the game? While it is not necessary to know how to hack to actually finish all of the story missions in Fallout 3, you really haven't truely beaten the game until you experience all this masterpiece has to offer. If you don't have the knowledge of hacking at your disposal, there is no way to get this experience. *************************************************************************** [II] How to Hack *************************************************************************** [II.1] Getting Started It's now time to get into the juicy bits of the hacking minigame in Fallout 3. At first glance, the green flickering screen with hundreds of random looking characters may be daunting, but once you understand how to use it properly it will be very simple to use. *************************************************************************** [II.2] Hacking Requirements All terminals in Fallout 3 have a difficulty, there are 5 in total. If you are able to hack the terminal or not is based on your science skill. The different difficulties are as follows: [Difficulty] [Science Skill Required] Very Easy 0 Easy 25 Average 50 Hard 75 Very Hard 100 Your science skill not only dictates what terminals you are able to hack, but it also determines how many passwords will be on the screen to choose from. (if anyone knows the math behind this please e-mail me at the address at the top of the page) *************************************************************************** [II.3] Hacking Interface The hacking interface is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------- ROBCO INDUSTRIES (TM) TERMLINK PROTOCOL | ENTER PASSWORD NOW | | 4 ATTEMPT(S) LEFT : [] [] [] [] | | 0xF92C %*-}'!.-[)#! 0xF9F8 :($-?!!}'%_( | 0xF938 (>!];-/\[=(, 0xFA04 /?;_;#"]!!:, | 0xF944 @PARTNERSHIP 0xFA10 %'%{.@@}#?|+ | 0xF950 S=\]%,*?++:] 0xFA1C ="||^<@-|PUR | 0xF96C #\--(??%=^\? 0xFA28 IFICATION(^S | 0xF978 ]$/!]'|]=}"| 0xFA34 ECLUSIONIST> | 0xF984 REPRIMANDING 0xFA40 .,"CONSTRUCT | 0xF980 :(%CIVILIZAT 0xFA4C ION@'_'=':'> | 0xF99C ION:(]=%?|{A 0xFA58 =!.;/'+.@'/D | 0xF908 PPRECIATION' 0xFA64 ISAPPEARING% | 0xF9A4 :*CONVERSATI 0xFA70 ,]%?<TRANSMI | 0xF9B0 ON=.:="+$@#< 0xFA7C SSION,}"/'}, | 0xF9BC ['<'%':}!%;+ 0xFA88 \"%\^?<(|APP | 0xF9C8 '('#'?,.%*!+ 0xFA94 REHENSIVE}<+ | 0xF9D4 =\.\?/(!|#?< 0xFAA0 "<\^+].^^'._ | 0xF9E0 |[)???@?%{CI 0xFAAC ;++}{=/'\ENC | 0xF9EC RCUMSTANCE_= 0xFAB8 OUNTERING*}; >[] | --------------------------------------------------------- ------ | | POWER ------ =========================================================================== There are 4 parts of the interface you need to understand to be a good hacker: ATTEMPT(S) LEFT - The boxes and the number seem to be redundant, but oh well... this line says how many tries you have until the Terminal locks up and you can't use it again. The Code Block - This is the big chunk of jumbled random characters and words that fill up the majority of the screen. In this block somewhere is the correct password, our job is to find out which one it is by process of elimination. Also included in this block are what I call "Bracket Tricks." These are special sections of code that can either give you back all mistaken attempts or remove a password choice from the block completely. For more information on this, see section II.7. Input/Output(I/O)-The arrow in the bottom right of the window that points to the blinking square is the Input/Output line. When you attempt a password, this is where it types it in. After an attempt, the password will move above the I/O and display how close you were to the correct answer. Power Button - The red button on the bottom of the screen is not just for show, it exits you out of the hacking terminal. The main reason to turn off the terminal in this screen is because if you don't know the answer on your last attempt, closing the terminal and opening it back up will generate a new puzzle for you with all of your attempts left. *************************************************************************** [II.4] Spotting the Best Word In the code block, anywhere that there is a letter, it is part of a possible password. When reading the words in the code block, you have to think of the whole thing as being one long line of characters. Words will be on more than one line at a time more often than they appear on a single line. If you look at the code block above there are 13 words that can possibly be passwords: PARTNERSHIPS REPRIMANDING CIVILIZATION APPRECIATION CONVERSATION CIRCUMSTANCE PURIFICATION SECLUSIONIST CONSTRUCTION DISAPPEARING TRANSMISSION APPREHENSIVE ENCOUNTERING The way the game tells you if you are close is by saying the number of correct characters that were in your guess. What this means is that if you got 5/12 of the letters correct 5 letters in the word you chose were in the same place as 5 letters in the actual answer. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5/12 CORRECT DOES NOT MEAN THAT 5 DIFFERENT LETTERS IN THE WORD YOU GUESSED ARE RIGHT!!! IT MEANS THAT 5 OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE WORD ARE THE RIGHT LETTER IN THE RIGHT PLACE!!!!!! A lot of people misunderstand this so I will go through solving the block that I typed in above step by step. The puzzle above came directly from a "very hard" terminal in Fallout 3 and I am solving it as I type this FAQ. The very first thing you have to do is pick a good starting word. The best way to do this is by looking at all of the words and determining what character combinations repeat the most. Look at prefixes, suffixes, the middles of the words, and figure out the most re-occuring theme among them. In this example: 4 words follow the "_ _ _ _ _ _ _ A T I O N" theme and one word ends in "TION" without the 'A' and one just ends in "ION." 3 words follow "_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I N G" 4 words have no real pattern that shows up. Because the larges group ends in "ATION," "TION," or "ION" I will choose APPRECIATION as my first word. *************************************************************************** [II.5] Process of Elimination The message for entering APPRECIATION read: >APPRECIATION >Entry denied >4/12 correct. >[] This means that 4 of the 12 letters in APPRECIATION were the correct letter and in the correct place. Now I need to find a word that shares ONLY 4 letters in the same place as APPRECIATION. Because "ATION" has 5 letters in it, that means the word does NOT end in "ATION" but that does not rule out "TION" or "ION." Here are the possibilities (the arrows point to letters that each have). APPRECIATION APPRECIATION TRANSMISSION CONSTRUCTION ^ ^^^ ^^^^ There are only 2 possibilities! That means that because we still have 3 chances, there is no way for us to fail hacking this terminal. I will try CONSTRUCTION first... >CONSTRUCTION >Entry denied >3/12 correct. CONSTRUCTION TRANSMISSION ^^^ Well that means that TRANSMISSION must be the password! >Entry accepted. Success! *************************************************************************** [II.6] If All Else Fails. That last attempt was a success, but what if you got to your last attempt and the answer was not certain? What do you do now? You have 3 options. #1) The Gamble Just eliminate as many choices as you can and make a guess between the remaining words. I do not suggest or recommend using this method in ANY situation. If you mess up, the terminal will lock and you can never open it unless you find an item that has the password on it. #2) Start Over Click the power button at the bottom of the interface and exit the terminal. As soon as you exit, you are able to try again just by entering the terminal again. Use this method if you have no possible way of doing method #3). #3) Bracket Tricks This method is a little more in-depth, so I will devote section II.7 to it alone. *************************************************************************** [II.7] The Bracket Trick Hidden in the code block you may be able to find what I like to refer to as a "Bracket Trick." A Bracket Trick is a collection of those random punctuation marks that appear between the words that are encased in a bracket of any kind. In the code block above, there is one hidden in there. The second column of the Code Block and the third row contains this line: 0xFA10 %'%{.@@}#?|+ The Bracket trick in this line is: {.@@} Every terminal has a chance to produce bracket tricks, but not every terminal will have one. Some may even have multiple tricks. To tell if you have found a Bracket Trick all you have to do is hover the cursor over the opening bracket. If the entire thing lights up, congratulations, you found it! A Bracket trick can be between a few different types of brackets: <____> [____] {____} (____) Any of these can be any size possible in the scope of the code block and they can be across many lines. A Bracket Trick will never contain a possible password. I have found that the best way to search a code blcok for tricks is to just move the cursor over every character and if something that is not a word lights up, you found one. Now that you know what they look like and how to find them easily you probably want to know why you want these. These have a random chance when clicked to either give you back all of your attempts or remove a possibility from the Code Block. The best time to use one is when you have 1 attempt remaining so you can possibly get back the highest number of attempts. *************************************************************************** [III] Special Thanks *************************************************************************** This is a quick thank you to all of the readers who sent me corrections, suggestions, help, or whatever. -Reaper III -for correcting me on how many attempts a bracket trick fixes. THANKS!!! *************************************************************************** [IV] Version Info *************************************************************************** 1.0 - First Publish, All you ever wanted to know about hacking but didn't! 1.1 - Fixed a little error on my part about how many attempts bracket tricks give back. 1.2 - Found another instance that I said bracket tricks only give 1 attempt back, which of course, is an error. *************************************************************************** [V] Closing Stuff *************************************************************************** I hope you all enjoy my very first FAQ! Please send any comments or corrections to my email at the top of the page. Happy Hacking! -Dave 'DrAgRoS' Bosley *************************************************************************** This guide is free for distribution, just don't call it your own or my lawyer may be knocking at your door! =D Fallout 3: Hacking Guide by DrAgRoS Version 1.1, Last Updated 2008-11-03 View/Download Original File Hosted by GameFAQs Return to Fallout 3 (PC) FAQs & Guides