Talk: Shalebridge

This talk page is only for discussing improvements to the page "Shalebridge."

For general discussion or to share stories about the topic of this article, please visit our discussion boards.
Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~) after each of your entries.
Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
Do not edit other people's entries.

For general conversation on this topic, please visit our discussion boards.

Freeze[]

My game didn't freeze or have issues re-entering the tunnels after searching an invader ant... and I've retested it without being able to get a freeze or crash too. Do you have any mods running that might be causing those issues? Bloodwars 00:16, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

I have encountered the problem on 360, so the issue is not related to mods. I have also discovered that searching the invader ants is not the cause of the problem, or at least not the only one. When I visited the friendly ant colony, I avoided searching the invaders and I could leave and reenter without problem. After I had visited the other colony and killed the queen, I could return once, but when I returned after a few days, I encountered the same bug where the game freezes in the loading screen. You'd think Bethesda would prioritize something like this above getting rid of exploits that only are beneficial to the player...--Mehbah 18:10, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

My game just had this happen on 360. If I hadn't been able to revert to a previous autosave my game would have been pooched pretty hardcore. Then I would have gone out and started shooting people. See? Video games don't make people violent. Video game bugs do. LOL

So is this a 360 bug only? I'm not freezing, but I'm on a PC (geforce 9800gt, dual core intel). Bloodwars 00:16, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

This does not make any sense. I just tried to re-enter the tunnels for the second time, and I got the bug. I am VERY certain that I did not cause the message last time, since I had the damn article on my laptop screen as I went through. I wonder how this could still happen..--Melankh 21:15, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Same happened with me two times (XBox360). First time into the tunnels I made sure not to inspect the invader ants, taking only the book from the Ant Researcher and returning 73 hours later to see if he respawned. Crash. Tried again after first killing the Queen in Shalebridge Hill to remove invaders entirely, got the book from Ant Researcher, waited 73 hours, re-entered, crashed.

Perhaps inspecting anything will cause the problem? I'm inclined to think the error is possibly from the Ant Researcher respawning. DONAR 11:19, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I was thinking the same thing. I've never seen him alive and I was able to enter before he should have respawned. Or maybe it could be related to the invader ants and their respawning?--Mehbah 11:25, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I've literally just been trying to workaround the glitch as follows;

Entered Shalebridge Tunnels (full stealth, no interaction, no attacks, no inspecting) went in as far as the Ant Researcher, turned, exited and immediately re-entered. No crash. Exited.

As above, but waited an hour upon exiting and re-entered. No crash. Exited.

As above but waited 3 days and 1 hour before re-entering. No crash. Continued in to examine Ant Researcher/Invader Ants, game froze while I was inside the tunnel (not the usual freeze during loading screen).

if someone else can get the game to crash consistently even without interacting with anything in the Tunnel, we can probably update the Main Page to advise player to avoid the Tunnels entirely until Bethesda fix it.DONAR 11:52, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I had a save where I went to Shalebridge, killed the hostiles, took the book, used the stimpak, and left. Upon return several days later, it froze. I was never in the enemy ants' nest. I'm going to mess around with it a bit, see if I can't make something work. If it is related to the researcher, maybe moving his corpse somewhere (like the entrance?) would help. PositronicSpleen 17:41, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I've encountered the glitch on one character by accidentally entering the 'hill' area before the tunnels: after my first entrance into the tunnels, I couldn't re-enter without freezing. Maybe it occurs when the game loads the other tunnel? This could also suggest that by interacting with the invader ants or entering the tunnels it loads the hills area, which somehow breaks the tunnel? XXCrocmonXx 19:57, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

I have done the same exact thing - cleared out Shalebridge Hill first of the Ant Queen and all the underlings, then went over to the Shalebridge Tunnels, did everything there except inject the eggs. Bug still occurs. I then tried it again (Same behavior) except this time I went to the tunnels first instead of the hill. Exited, re-entered, and the bug came up. Not sure if it tries to "read" the state of the Shalebridge Hill cell or not as it loads in the tunnels (My guess would be it reads whether or not the Ant Queen in the other ant hill has been killed, not necessarily the whole cell or whether the PC visited it or not), but from the looks of what I tested, and from the looks of the tons of discussion on this page regarding said bug, I've come to the conclusion that you should just take and do everything you want there, forget about injecting the eggs (As you won't be able to come back to it later) and just never visit there again. At least exiting the tunnels doesn't freeze the whole Wasteland area around the tunnels... That would be worse. --24.90.156.106 19:52, October 25, 2009 (UTC)

(360 GOTY) I had the crash, and came here looking for help. When I reloaded, I killed everything in the tunnels, and did not experience the crash. I suspect that there are too many ants being rendered at once for the 360's hardware to handle. Or maybe there's a problem with the ant model itself. Pir8p3t3 (talk) 01:46, November 19, 2012 (UTC)

Wow...[]

This is a very paranoid article... it's weird because I never had any trouble like that with the colonies or anything. No freezes or nothing. Could it be that someone's game froze while playing that part and they were a bit over-enthusiastic about it while editing the article ? (PS3, by the way) --Penumbra 21:49, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I have found a work around, simply wait in Megaton for 74 hrs then return to Shalebridge. Since doing it this way I have not had any crashes on the 360. The ant researcher was dead in the water when my game was crashing, moved him out of the water and waited in Megaton solved my crashes.(Note: 73 hrs crashes game but 74 does not) --A Test Monkey

I just entered the tunnels for the first time, never been to this part of the map before.. anyway i went in, killed and searched the invader ants, searched the compost heap, took the science book from the dead researcher and moved his corpse onto dry ground. Ive pretty much done everything the article tells me not to do lol. But yeh, it crashed on the loading screen when i tried to re-enter, so i'll be able to test this work around extensivly.

Its a shame this place is so bugged, it looks like an interesting little side quest. Its different at the very least..--

Edit: It still crashed for me.92.10.83.213 21:42, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

It seems (going by this talk page) that the bug only affects the 360 version. And yes, it freezes on my 360 to. Fat Man Spoon 22:05, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Possibly another solution for those out there: Make sure there are no ants left anywhere in the tunnel. What do i mean by this? I noticed that after i killed the invader ants, there would be friendly ants that would pop up as visible on my compass indicator but I could not target them in VATS or see them on the screen. They were "clipped" into walls and even into the pile of ant waste to the east of the pool. Every time i had clipped ants, i would crash (on 360). Eventually, i just killed every ant along the way to the ant researcher. Made sure there were no clipped ants (even throwing a grenade on a wall with a clipped ant to kill it) then started farming the science book. Never had a crash after that. Wait 73 hours or more though. (NFB)--169.231.35.98 05:02, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

The above solution worked for me. My process was as follows, after several failures using other methods. I loaded up the save prior to entering either tunnel. Then I went into "Hill" first, yes that's correct. I proceeded to shoot up the joint and took out everything in there including the queen, however, I did not loot anyone or anything. I left, saved, and went into "Tunnel". I proceeded to shoot up that joint and took out everything that moved, save one that clipped into the compost heap and I couldn't kill. I left, read the book, saved, waited, saved and came back in. There was the one forager and the scientist, killed them both, and its been smooth sailing ever since. Nothing special, just run in, kill him, loot his corpse including his armor, run out, read the book wait, wash-rinse-repeat. Worked for me 20-some books and counting. Hope the same for you--Pontiac 05:00, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

What I did was:

1. Saved just before i entered the tunnel for the first time

2. Go inside the tunnel

3. Make sure everything is killed everything inside

4. Looted the book, and nothing else

4. Go outside

5. Wait for 75+ hours.

6. Repeat from #1.

And it worked! I'm happy! --L3art 15:39, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Above steps 1-6 worked for me. I looted everything else as well. No freezing, and don't have to save once its working. Only been to tunnels, allowed friendly ants to kill all invaders then killed all friendly ants. After waiting 75+ hours all corpses have disappeared and there is no sign of the glitch, even if I loot and interact with everything (all containers looted and 25 Science Books). On the other hand, if I don't kill all the ants, only killing and looting the researcher and nothing else, I still get random freezes on the loading screen. I recommend killing all the friendly ants, some of them are on a ledge that can be reached via a ramp made of rocks in the large lit cavern near the entrance, they make loud walking sounds when alive and all should be reachable. Being forced to guess, I think the bug lays with the friendly ants (they're unique to this location, with unique smaller ant models and name), or unlikely else their nectar regeneration, and either way killing all of them seems to solve the problem. It could be that its their clipping mentioned elsewhere that causes the freeze. XBOX360 --Firstblood 87.75.167.189 18:38, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Those![]

If you ask me, this place used to be an addition to the "Those!" quest. The caves can be considered a safer place to work for Lesko, and it's far away from humans. In the cave, the ants are smaller and friendly, easier for Lesko to handle. Lesko might even have suggested killing the rival ant queen to make his work easier. Also, the fact that you can use a Stimpack on the eggs might suggest you may have assisted Lesko at some previous build of the game. Perhaps the Ant Researcher (or what ever) might in fact be a remnant, a possible merc scientist assisting Lesko after the latter moved in (assuming he did, like the with the fire ants). Possibly, ofc. Perhaps the buggy state of this place may have been the result of the area being incomplete. --Radnus 81.205.186.16 14:42, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Above worked for me too. Went to hill first, killed queen, went back to tunnels killed everything there. So far I've looted the researcher about 36 times.

Frozen loading screen - Trigger unknown[]

The trigger of this bug is not related to the looting of the ants : the bug will occur regardless of your actions even if you don' t get the message that you get when you loot the first ant and even if you don' t loot the place: this means that looting the ants simply can' t be the trigger. I think the whole cell is bugged because every savegame i create in the cell is corrupted and freezes on loading screen. If you plan to visit this place more than once (to get more copies of the science book or for touristic scouting purposes) here' s what worked for me: when you exit to the wasteland, the game will freeze if you attempt to return inside the tunnel. You need to change cell first: go to Megaton or Tempenny Tower or Rivet City (a safe place) and wait three days. When you return to Shalebridge you will find the giant ants out of the tunnels (that's the signal that the whole area respawned with all its enemies, the signal that it is again shiny new for you). At this point you should be able to enter again the tunnels and eventually get another copy of the science book. Feel free to loot the ants and follow the unmarked quest because that is not the trigger of the glitch. You have to remember when you exit that if you attempt to reenter, the game will probabily freeze: avoid such attempt and wait 3 days in another cell (Megaton, Tempenny Tower etc.). Don' t wait out of the tunnels because, if you do, the exterior Shalebridge cell (wasteland) won' t respawn correctly (you can notice that by the fact that no enemies will spawn in the zone)and the bug will occur upon attempting to enter the tunnels again. I' ve tested several times this method on the xbox 360. I can' t assure it works for everyone but you should give it a try if no other method works for you. This place is obviously the location of an unmarked, well let' s say unfinished not implemented quest, that' s why it's so buggy (every unmarked unfinished quest in the game carries tons of bugs...let's think of Paladine Hoss for example in Falls Church) I hope i could be of any help and please, sorry for my english ^_^ --82.55.140.211 00:50, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Make a video[]

Can someone make a video to show how to exploit the ant researcher glitch properly (without the game freezing)? Maybe just a shalebridge walkthrough.Tehuberleetmaster 21:01, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Cleaned up page[]

Still needs work, particularly with actually replicating bugs and addressing them as to whether they are extensions of other bugs. There was a fair bit of repetition and so many important warnings this page was hard to read. Separated a lot of the bugs into their own locations as it makes it easier to pinpoint where they are, but tried to make it clear that this place still owns the suck. --Mctaff350 03:36, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Should the note at the beginning of the article that says "Note: It is recommended that players skip this area, as there are no great rewards for exploring it, apart from the Big Book Of Science." even be there? It seems to be someones opinion and doesn't belong on the page. Dweller93 13:52, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Never mind I removed it. Dweller93 13:52, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I think you did the right thing, really. The warning certainly did look like an opinion. Perhaps a better warning would be in order, if someone wants to think of one. I'm too tired. Mctaff350 03:36, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Just a quick question: on the main article page Shalebridge is listed as a cave, however, in-game it has the settlement symbol; does anything need to be changed or was it intentionally done like that according to The Vault's standards? --05:14, 9 July 2009 (UTC)Chapadust

E74'ed[]

I am not saying that this is the cause, I'm just sharing the info... anyone can decide any relation or not on their own ;)

My less than a year old Elite E74'ed while doing the glitch. I figured since the E74 is related to video hardware and many have suggested the freeze is related to video, that I'd mention that it happened.

I haven't tried the glitch while leaving the Shalebridge cell entirely, scared to try it again actually ;) I know I have gotten it to work in the past, sometimes working, sometimes not, where I thought I did everything the same. I had tried it around L7 and got 4 or 5 copies of the book but then got stuck on freeze into the tunnels so I deleted all of the Shalebridge related saves and didn't go back until now at L19... where I froze on my 2nd or 3rd book, deleted the last save, retried, E74'ed

Just FYI ;)

-Q

Ants are the cause of most "bugs"?[]

I believe ants are what cause most bugs for me in the whole game (ok...maybe not just me). Usually I get a random crash after a few hours. Whenever I went to shalebridge or grayditch my game started crashing every 10~30mins (sometimes even less). That is also true when I find ants in random places across the wastes. Maybe this matter could be looked into by the experts? I mean, it has to be related somehow, imho. Anyways, I've done some googling around and gathered up some info:

Most crashing happens when:

Ant becomes visible (enters field of view - is rendered) - (video related?)

Looting (ants or anything) - (no idea)

Moving around through areas that contain ants or ant corpses (i.e. entering or exiting a house in grayditch or tunnel in shalebridge)(video related? - or maybe physics since corpses are "thrown" when respawning in any area...also, "thrown" corpses sometimes get clipped)

Being torched by fire ants (happens mostly with me - possibly video related)

Others (random - i.e. just walking around) - (no idea)

Crashes were mixed between CTDs, black screens, messed up video after close up, freezings etc. As with me, its always a black screen (no way out of it save rebooting), reason why I think it's some video issue here. My specs are mostly medium, and I suppose lag isn't related to the matter since I had these crashes in both lagged and "lagless" situations. Crashes also happened to people regardless of PC performance or the console it was running on.

Note: I don't know how useful this is, for my understanding of these situations is really simplistic, as I don't know much about computers and whatnot. What I intend here is to present the little I know about this matter and hope it helps somehow. And sorry about my english :/
201.26.101.101 04:48, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

I did EXACTLY OPPOSITE of what this page said to do and got no freezing problems so far, but after 5-6 re-enters the forager ants somehow got out of the tunnels, and were also smaller then they were in the tunnels too, this happened on the xbox 360 version, I'll keep a picture for proof.--71.196.190.116 18:46, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

I tried this section out on my 360 today and wasn't getting locked up during the loading screen but instead was getting severe clipping issues inside the cave. The researcher himself vanished and was still running around and trying to attack me. Firing any sort of gun at him made no difference but when I swung the Shishkebab at him it locked up instantly, leaving my controller vibrating just as if I'd hit a valid enemy. It really seems like the clipping is what causes the crashes with the load crashes likely happening because something loads into a completely impossible spot after it clips there during the first trip into the cave. Solsund 05:04, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

Freezes only on 360???[]

Has anyone had a freeze on a console other than 360??? I'm on PS3 and have had no problems.

360 Freeze Under New Circumstances[]

My science is already at 100, so I have no reason to re-enter these tunnels once I hvae looted them the first time, so I thought I would be good for it. Just to be safe, I saved before I entered the tunnels. While I was inside, everything was going fine until I injected the huge egg clutch with a stimpack. As soon as I took a step back from the injected egg clutch, I froze. This was my first time in the cave, and I had been exploring it for some time before the freeze. --98.180.4.125 21:13, October 10, 2009 (UTC)

Shalebridge AREA on PS3[]

I went over to the Shalebridge Ant Tunnels and killed the ant queen and when I tried to leave the game stayed at the loading screen and the music stopped and the little dial kept on turning. But it just wouldnt load. I went back to a game save from before i entered the tunnel and everytime I try to leave the Shalebridge area the game freezes. Even when I try to teleport the loading screen pulls up and the dial keeps turnin' but the music just aint' playin'. It just won't load. I can't go back to a previous game save because i would have to do Operation: Anchorage all over again and that took me a while. What do I do?

leave the arrea on foot enter a different place and leave it again fast travel from there. otherwise goin all the way back too anchorage is the only option.

Freezing is unrelated to game conditions (bugs, shalebridge, monkeys)[]

This friggin game has frozen at the load screen on me and friends at multiple spots in the game including: twice at different stages during the Water of Life and one I can't remember. Each time it crashes I lose hours and it just ruins the experience for me.

then turn on auto save, i find it hard too belief you mannage too play hours without getting an auto-save. read the articles about the freeze and the offered ways too fix it and you should be fine, this is the discussion page not the complain page. 98.245.72.181 20:57, October 14, 2009 (UTC)

ID[]

Whats the ID of the friendly ants? I'm getting this for computer soon and I want a couple inhabiting my house. On a related note, wadsworth won't kill them, will he? JerichoRCDF 23:07, December 8, 2009 (UTC)

The following moved from main article[]

It can stay here. The current entry on the article page is sufficient.--Gothemasticator 09:49, January 5, 2010 (UTC)

Shalebridge Tunnels specific bugs[]

In old versions, do NOT loot any of the invader ants, as it will trigger a message that makes the game freeze upon reentry of the tunnels. This includes loading a save made within the tunnels, and it is thus possible to make a playthrough impossible to continue, should all saves be made within the tunnels after receiving the message, unless there are backup saves.

Shalebridge Hill specific bugs[]

The Queen Lair has only minor loot, 10mm Pistol, 10mm ammo, shotgun shells and 5.56mm ammo. The 5.56mm ammo is bugged however so don't try to pick it up or you will experience critical error (no visible error seen when picking it up in the PS3 version or 360 version, however, it seems to crash the application consistently for some PC users). (with the 1.1 patch this seems to be fixed) A Scoped .44 magnum with ammo can be found near a rotting Brahmin corpse.
Followers that follow you into the hill tend to get stuck at the entrance due to spawning in the ground. Clover, especially has issues with this and seems to die after a few minutes if left there. Also, Star Paladin Cross does this sometimes when entering the hill. Just walk away from the entrance, and your companion will spawn back up onto ground (if not killed from being underground too long).

Other Bugs[]

In the PS3 version, NPC Star Paladin Cross won't follow you into either the tunnel or the hill. However, she will suddenly appear inside after you travel in a ways and have no problems following you after that. Fawkes also displays this behavior, which puts forth the possibility that any of the humanoid NPCs will behave in this manner as well (Charon should follow you just fine).
After injecting the stimpaks into the hive and then killing the Ant Queen, there is a chance you cannot enter the tunnel anymore. This issue has been spotted on Xbox 360 version. The game will freeze on loading screen when you attempt to enter the tunnels after the enemy queen is dead.
- The trigger for this bug appears to be "inspecting" (attempting to loot) the invader ants' corpses ("It appears this ant is from..." message). Upon exiting the tunnels, it will always freeze upon returning. Best course of action is to NOT interact with the corpses when killed. Though sometimes the game may freeze even if you don't.
The game can also freeze by looting the two Yao guai's in the area.
The Ant Researcher seems to be falling through the ground an awful lot if you kill him near the pool, lead him away or decapitate him (PS3 confirmed). This is, of course, if you find him actually alive.
On the 360 version if you attempt to access the 'Ant Compost Heap' in the forager ant tunnel and receive the message "With the rival queen ant dead, these forager ants should be able to make necter faster", it will trigger the freezing bug. Now if you exit the tunnel and try to re-enter, the game will occasionally of the time at the loading screen on re-entry. (confirmed) (only ocasionally on PS3)
Freezing issues will probably occur due to one killing all of the Invader Ants before the Forager Ants die. When this happens, you can't target the Forager Ants with VATS, which seems to activate the glitch upon reentry to the cave. If you wish to return, make sure to kill the Forager Ants first.
After extensive testing: Ants appear to be the cause of at least one type of crash. To solve this, changing mode to Very Easy and Sneak Attacking with an energy weapon to turn them into dust. Ant bodies appear to cause framerate issues. (User tried a shotgun to kill all of them which caused the XBox 360 framerate to drop below 10fps.)
Ant Queen may be glitched into the wall, shooting at her causes her to move to her spawn location (This was directly behind the User and gave her a bit of an advantage, Experienced on PC)

Bug fix[]

Game of the Year Edition experienced no "bugs/glitches" in this area (1 confirmed case on PS3). This glitch fix has also been confirmed for the 360 by Lionmaster15 23:39, October 17, 2010 (UTC).

Solve the Bug for Everyone(checked 360 basic, Game of the Year, and pc basic version; prior to this all of these would freeze upon entering this zone):

The zone freezing or crashing seems to be entirely based off of graphics and the cpu having trouble registering all the movements during elapsed time of ants stuck in the wall. What basically happens is the first time you zone in ants may fall through the ground which is all and good and your computer(or console) can handle the calculations on a second to second basis. Now if you were to leave and wait for to long of a period when you re-enter the game attempts to take the current ants through thier movements while you were gone. This causes a huge problem for all the ants that were off the map as your computer now has to run through all the calculations to see what the ant would have done. My guess is that somewhere there is an unbuffered variable in the programming and when it tries to run ten thousand computations at once some will be forgotten and the zone does not load correctly(this is my theory after hours of testing based off of pretty complete programing knowledge). So to fix this your first time in the zone do these things.

1. If the first ant you see agros zone out and find the other entrance to the tunnels(aka the good side). You entered the evil side of the tunnels. There are two entrances.

2. Run all the way to the back while sneaking.

3. Kill all green ants in the final room leaving any enemy ants alive. If you kill any enemy ants load your last save and try again.

4. Once the back room is clear of green ants move through the rest of the good side and kill all remaining good ants. The hall way ants should now not respawn(they will respawn without zonning if enough good ants are alive and the enemy ants are dead). If the hall ants continue to respawn you will have to start over.

5. Now that you know the hall way ants are not respawning you can kill the red marked(evil) ants.

6. Loot the book off the scientists body.

7. Start tracking down green marked(good) ants that are off map. Once you find one get as close as possible to the marker and stand there(sometimes up to 15 minutes). This will cause your computer to focus on that ants calculations and will eventually correct the off map bug. Once the ant pops above ground kill it then zone out to the wastelands(if you do not return to the wastelands after every 10-15 minutes you run the risk of screwing this up).

8. Return to the tunnel without allowing any time to pass(especially do not use the wait feature). Return to step 7 until you are 99% possative all green marked ants on this side of the zone are dead (run along all walls to see if any green marks show up on your compass, sometimes the ants are very far off map). There are generally between 2 and 4 off map ants.

9. Once you think you have killed all the green ants return two more times, without any time deley; checking carefully for any other green markers(you zone and rezone as this seems to move ants slightly closer to the surface each time).

10. Now that you have all green ants dead return to the wastelands and wait 73 hours. When you return go to the back room and the scientist will be alive and 90% of the time runs from you, the other 10% he might attack(on very hard). A single VATS to the head with most weapons kills him fast. If you need money collect any loot he has as well since its basically hassle free cash. At this point the scientist should be the only NPC you run into on the forager ants side of the tunnels so you simply have to kill him and run back out and wait again.

Notes: As long as you wait in the wastelands the area NPCs do not respawn so even when you leave the ant tunnels you still do not have to worry about encounters. Takes 3-4 hours to get 50-60 books. A very low perception may require some extra hassle as you may not always see ants that are off the map. Enjoy!

__

I'd just like to say that I followed the steps above exactly, and after almost 6 months of trying on and off I finally found a method that works. Bug fixed!! HUGE thanks.

I am currently experiencing problems loading saves within Shalebridge Tunnels. I bought The Game of The Year Edition hoping that would fix the problem but they still will not load. I only have 2 saves for this character (one auto and one regular) and they are both from within the tunnel. I really don't want to lose this playthrough. Anything that might fix the bug is greatly appreciated.--69.120.205.245 20:59, October 5, 2012 (UTC)

Queen's lair: Missing shotgun?[]

I had a really hard, long look around the queen's lair and can't find a shotgun (combat or sawed-off) to go with the shells there. All the other rounds have matching firearms. Either someone at forgot to add a shotgun or I'm just not looking in the right place. If someone finds it, let me know and/or fix the page. Arisian 01:47, August 14, 2010 (UTC)

No shotgun exists on the ground in that cell (ShalebridgeCavern01 - shown as Shalebridge Hill on the map). I'm not familiar with the area so I'm gonna do a quick check to see if there's corpses that might have a shotgun, but I see a lot of other weapons just lying out in the open in that cell, so probably not. Kris mailbox 03:08, August 14, 2010 (UTC)

No corpses either, the only containers are Ant Refuse Piles, and there are no NPCs at all in the cell. Kris mailbox 03:11, August 14, 2010 (UTC)

Amount of ants in areas?[]

Can someone please tell me how many ants are in the hills and tunnels? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.170.234.199 (talk • contribs). Please sign your posts with ~~~~!

Bugs, exploits and cheats[]

I can't understand this whole thing around that bug, which occurs by reentering a cleared area.
What's the intention of reentering the tunnels? Because it's possible?

Seems, like most people want to do it to get multiple science-skill-books – from a "respawning" researcher.

Sorry, but I don't see much difference between using something like an exploit (same person reincarnates every three days with always the same book in its backpack and must be killed for it) and cheating that book a sixty times or taking the short way and cheating the skill directly.
Would take 3 to 4 minutes, not 3 to 4 hours… (Not calculated the time, some people do need to get the workaround.)

Btw, I've installed the original game with patch and add-ons from the GOTY-DVD.
I first entered the tunnels … killed no single green ant … shot three red ants, after they did kill two green ones … found the researcher and looted him … injected the clutch with a stimulation … and left.
Then entered the hills … killed ALL there … and left.
OK, didn't try to reenter the tunnels – because I don't think, that I would see some effects by the stimulation right now (or ever).

--CompleCCity 03:29, November 27, 2011 (UTC)

Rolling pin in refuse pile - xbox 360[]

I am currently experiencing problems loading saves within Shalebridge Tunnels. I bought The Game of The Year Edition hoping that would fix the problem but they still will not load. I only have 2 saves for this character (one auto and one regular) and they are both from within the tunnel. I really don't want to lose this playthrough. Anything that might fix the bug is greatly appreciated.--Duckncover (talk) 21:17, October 5, 2012 (UTC)

XBOX 360 lock up.[]

360- June 2278. Agreed.The glitch has to be the unique ,small, mutated ants. Kill them all. Game locks up if not and I was never able to get back into the tunnel to benefit from the injection.

Kill all hostile & friendly mutated ants that show on indicator.
Take big book of science from dead researcher in the pool
Leave cell for 72+ hours
On return the test that the cell has reset will be hostile ants on the surface.Kill them
Enter the tunnels to find no ants, and hostile researcher walking about by the pool.
Kill researcher and take book. You can sometimes find additional items on the researcher. Bobby pins.
Now remove all ammo and guns
Leave cell for 72+ hours and repeat.Game now never locks up.

( If not approached in hidden sneak mode the researcher can sometimes appear in the inaccessible tunnels still furhter to the north.In which case leave and wait a further 72+ hours) --1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 05:19, June 8, 2013 (UTC)

xbox 360- Trial 2 March 2281[]

After applying the above method it is possible to apply Stims to the Ant egg pile as well as continually harvest ant nectar from the compost heap without any sign of lock up or glitches even though no mutated small ants are seen.

The message from the Ant Compost is encouraging and says Ants are composting a Potent Compound although no mutated ants have been sighted.
The average 9 day rate of turnover of 1 visit every 3 days without a glitch or freeze problem entering or leaving.
3 Big Books of Science, plus 1 - 2 Bobby pins, from the Researcher.
4 Ant nectars from the Ant Compost heap
For the loss of 1 Stim into the Ant Egg Pile every third visit.
If the Researcher appears walking about in the tunnel further to the north , just beyond the pool, and cannot be reached, wait until his wanderings comes to within a few feet of the low archway, shoot him , then throw a grenade in, and it will blow out parts of his body which can then be used to obtain the science book and possible Bobby pin. --1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 19:21, June 14, 2013 (UTC)

October 1st 2281. The ant trials still run without a glitch or a lockup.--1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 09:55, June 21, 2013 (UTC)

xbox 360 and the GOTY version freeze.[]

xbox 360 GOTY version and earlier. Shalebridge mutated forager ant tunnel will freeze on entry if any one of three conditons are met.

On entry

Enter the mutated forager ant cavern as far as the the archway where the first hostile invader ant can be seen. Touch nothing. Leave and the game will always freeze on entry.
If the enemy ant queen in the invader ant nest is killed first as a random entry.There is them no way into the mutated ant nest. The game will always freeze at the entrance.
If a single mutated ant is left alive in the researchers tunnel you will be unable to get back in no matter how hard you try your saves and reloads, or leaving the cell area and waiting before returning. The game will always freeze on entry.

Inside

You save while in the caves with an ant clearly visible in the save screen.That save cannot be reloaded.

To continue with the game

If you kill all mutated and invader ants access is normal and the reaction with the compost heap and the ant egg pile will work as though mutated ants are present in producing the rare compound (Ant nectar) and a living, hostile, researcher, continues to spawn ever 72 hours with the Big Book of science so nothing is lost. All you have to do is what is normally done. Give the ant egg pile 1 Stimpack to stimulate growth and in turn collect 4 ant nectar from the compost heap over a 2 visit 6 day period.
The 72 hours wait betweeen visits must be spent outside of the Shalebridge cell for the re-spawn to work.
There is just the live, hostile, research worker to kill to get the book. Since he is always hostile there is no loss of Karma.
This crash/freeze is different to any other crash in the game since there is never a way back into the mutated ant caven while a mutated ant is still present.--1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 17:37, July 1, 2013 (UTC)

Just when you think you know it all

xbox 360 GOTY version with Formatted disk and reload.
Killed at mutated ants
Killed all RED ants
Killed competitor Queen
Gained access every 3rd day as above.
On the third visit the mutated ants had re-spawned at the entrance but I was still able to access the Ant heap to collect nectar and the alive research worker with the Big Book of Science. No lockup .Yet! --1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 19:48, August 1, 2013 (UTC)
I have 3 Mutated Forager Ants left alive by the entrance. Every 73 hours the Compost heap generates 2 nectar along with the 6 Ant Refuse Piles that generate useful items and acts as though the lower cave still contains Mutaged Forager Ants.

--1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 18:38, August 4, 2013 (UTC)

xbox GOTY. Forager ants will respawn[]

XBOX 360 GOTY. Kill all the Mutated Forager ants to allow repeated access to the Tunnel, Researcher, The Big Book of Science,and Ant Nectar.

On the third visit 3 mutated forager ants had re -spawned.
These ants do not seem to cause a crash or a lock up. 40 visits all OK. The mutated ants circuit between the entrance where they search for a vanishing point at the junction of the dark entrance dirt spill.They undertake a circular route through the LHS Tunnel back to the entrance and at times no green lines can can be seen on the indictator.
None are ever seen near the Ant Researcher even though the Compost Pile restocks with nectar.--1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 14:03, August 13, 2013 (UTC)

Not sure about half of what you said, but the mutated forager ants do not respawn. 69.l25 (talk) 16:19, August 13, 2013 (UTC)

It`s good to see we still have players.
You are using an XBOX 360 ? right.
Apart from killing all the red and green bars that showed life on the fist visit I used frag grenades into the side tunnels and left the tunnel with no red or green bars showing. On the third visit I has 3 green bars show up with three forager ants walking up the slope to the entrance. I expected the game to lock up or freeze but it never did.
From comment (69.l25|talk]]) 16:19, August 13, 2013 UTC) it may not be necessary to kill all the mutated ants to prevent the game from freezing on the xbox. Maybe its only necessary to kill all the ants in the Researchers cell.--1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 08:02, August 14, 2013 (UTC)

Just to confirm. The xbox 360 game freeze at Ant Tunnel to Shalebridge tunnels[]

To re-cap.xbox360 Freezing problems.4 xboxes and 3 game editions. Now on GOTY

First visit to the Mutated Forager Ant Tunnel.
No ants seen to walk up the slope to the exit.
3 Invader Ants killed by Mutated Ants
Rival colony note read.
5 Mutated Forager Ants found dead.
Dead Researchers looted for BBS.
Ant compost heap looted for nectar and other items
Refuse pile looted for Ant nectar and other items
Large Ant egg pile injected with Stim.
10mm SMG and 2 boxes of Ammo removed.

Leave research cave.

4 Mutated Ants alive by Researcher.
6 Mutated Ants alive in outer tunnel

Leave Tunnel and leave Shalebridge cell- 3 days

Return.

Game Freezes

Unable to gain access to Mutated Ant Tunnel as per comments going back as far as 2009 * Game will not load. This can however be resolved as per previous method. What might not yet be resolved is how many mutated Ants need to be killed and where.--1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 09:22, August 14, 2013 (UTC)

Before reading the article, or having any previous information, I resurrected the researcher (after looting him), he attacked the ants, and they attacked him and he was dead. SO the ants actually defend themselves.-H-5.117.249.17 16:25, October 7, 2015 (UTC)