FC3: Tips and Tricks

[Binnatics]

Did you actually enter the part that I would call the 'living quarters' of Citra and here primary guards? Or just the part that's behind that towards the place where you fight the demon? I do remember having entered the last bI 'tI've ever been in the living quarters besides mission-related.

[fragger]

Citra's living quarters is where I entered the complex, which is beyond the area where you fight the demon. It's a bit of a hike to get in - you need to go all the way along the outside of the complex, almost all the way out to the very end of the land, which is where Citra lives. No guards were there either :)

[Binnatics]

Cool. Nice find! :) :-X

[mandru]

 :-X

[fragger]

I've already discovered that it isn't possible to enter the hotel where Vaas tries to burn you and Liza, either before or after that scene, at least not from ground level, so I decided to try getting in from the roof. To get on the roof, I took a hang glider from high up on the long ridge that runs past the place, flew to the hotel and landed on top of it.

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There are a number of big gaps in the roof such as this one, which appear to provide access to the interior:

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But when I tried to drop in I couldn't. There are invisible floors running above the holes so that instead of dropping down, I simply walked right over them, apparently on thin air.

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I tried the same thing with a few other holes but no dice. I've been doing this prior to reaching the part of the game where Vaas has his indoor barbeque, which meant that the scaffolding out the front was still intact, which afforded a partial way down to the ground. In fact, it's the only way down.

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So I got part of the way down from the roof. The two upper levels of scaffolding can be reached by dropping down onto them one after the other, but the lower levels of it are directly below one another and thus unreachable. The only way to get further down was to drop the rest of the way to the ground, which looked to be sufficiently high to result in a fatal fall. I dropped down anyway expecting to die, but by landing on the steps outside the front door I managed to survive, although it cost me a couple of health bars. I don't know if it's possible to get down after Vaas' fireworks since all the scaffolding collapses during the escape sequence, but I'm going to try the whole thing again after I've done that part of the game and see what happens.

Here's the room where all the flaming fun starts, as seen from the top of the external scaffolding. But of course I couldn't get in there thanks to the usual invisible wall.

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Now I want to see what else I can land on top of. The hang glider that is found at the northern end of the ridge, the one outside the abandoned weather station, looks to be at a sufficiently high launching point to reach almost any point on the north island, excepting maybe the other, more distant, high points. I know I can fly all the way to the south island from there.

[fragger]

POSTSCRIPT: If you want to try this, mark the hotel with a waypoint first if you can. From where the hang gliders are located further along the ridge you won't be able to see where the hotel is. I waypointed the hotel while I could still see it from the part of the ridge that runs closest to it. The hotel doesn't show up very well on the map - it appears to show only the front wall, so it looks like a thin line. Anywhere near the hotel is good enough for a waypoint though, at least to get you to the right area. When you get close enough to your waypoint you'll see the hotel. It's a short and tricky landing area though, a bit like landing on an aircraft carrier - touch down too late and you might fall off the end of the deck :-()

[mandru]

Nice find fragger. +1  :-X

The warehouse where you have the final confrontation with Vaas can also be landed on with a glider and has the large open holes in the roof but invisible walls keep you out.  Walking out onto the gaping hole and dropping a C-4 charge (or planting a landmine or tossed rock) leaves it hanging there in the air instead of falling in.

Because I use the command line godmode cheat for all my intensive exploring I don't have to worry about falling either from the hang glider to the roof or from the roof to the ground.  So that's pretty gutsy doing it all commando.  :-D

While using godmode if you come in high enough to avoid the repulsion fields over Thurston Town, Hoyt's Compound or other similar areas you can also drop off the glider and land on various rooftops that are otherwise inaccessible as long as you don't engage the wingsuit or parachute.  :)

[Binnatics]

Good find indeed. Too bad it's inaccessible. Wonder what the difference will be after the burning scene :-X :)

[PZ]

Nice exploration, gents!  +1  :-X

[mandru]

I cracked the invisible walls on the hotel but to do so (in spite of Scotty's constant protestations on Star Trek) "I had to change the laws of physics."  ;)

There is a quirk in the game's edge detection properties when using the flying suit.  I've often encountered a glitch where when using the flying suit I bump into and fly through the surface of a face of a cliff and get stuck either falling towards the game's set gravity center or I'll hang there unable to get back out without traveling to an unlocked safe point.

Using a ledge on the hill behind the hotel I was able to engage the wing suit and pass through the brick face of the hotel's back.  Once inside I had to hit the cancel wing suit key or I would have flown straight through and out the front.

At the point I was able to stop inside on my first attempt I could explore the path between that lowest spot at the bottom of the stair well (where you fall to twice actually) as the building is burning around you with the clock ticking and up to the broken open walled rooms in the upper right corner (when looking from the front of the hotel) that are protected behind the invisible barrier.

I noticed when coming up the stairs and crossing one landing there on the floor is actually one of the red valve handles you have to shoot off to release the water from the pipes to quench flames so that you can pass.  The way back to the room where Liza is rescued is blocked by materials that fell through from either the floor or ceiling above.  I was unable to navigate beyond that point.  It's possible that using the flying suit glitch I could enter the building at a different point and reach that room but I've not given it a shot yet.

I had to use quick travel to get back out after I'd had a look around.

[fragger]

Thanks for the kudos, chaps :) And well done mandru, here's +1 back at you :-X

The way back to the room where Liza is rescued is blocked by materials that fell through from either the floor or ceiling above.  I was unable to navigate beyond that point.  It's possible that using the flying suit glitch I could enter the building at a different point and reach that room but I've not given it a shot yet.

I'm wondering if you could get to Liza's room before Vaas burns the place. Trouble is, you don't get the wingsuit until well after the burning hotel sequence so it may not be possible, unless as you said mandru you try entering via wingsuit through a different part of the building. Unless there's a cheat to get the wingsuit early?

I didn't know about that wingsuit glitch. I think that trick may only w@&k with the wingsuit, not with a hang glider. I haven't tried it but I think the glider would probably just bump into the wall and spill me to the ground.

So that's pretty gutsy doing it all commando.  :-D

:-D

I could have just fast travelled my way out of trouble but I wanted to see if the drop was survivable. I was quite surprised to find that it was :)

[PZ]

...Unless there's a cheat to get the wingsuit early?

I know some of the mods give you the wing suit from the beginning - I think I have it using Ziggy's

[mandru]

Thanks for the kudos.  :)

[Art Blade]

nice, and nice. 1+1 =  :-X :-X from me, too :-D

[fragger]

Thank you Art :)

[mandru]

 ^-^

[nexor]

Slap on the back for mandru and fragger  :-X

[mandru]

Thanks for the kudos.  :)

I'd have been equally as happy with a giggle or at least one good groan over my comment:

I cracked the invisible walls on the hotel but to do so (in spite of Scotty's constant protestations on Star Trek) "I had to change the laws of physics."  ;)

I worked on getting the words to that sucker just right for at least 30 minutes.  >:D


I hate taking any credit for this.  What am I saying kudos are kudos!  But this item is fragger's discovery.  :bow

I just have a some small skill (amplified by persistence and insane amounts of time on my hands) at thrashing around and digging things up (after beating a game) searching for the loose corners the designers would prefer stay hidden. 

[Art Blade]

keep digging, mandru :-D

[fragger]

Indeed mandru, you've turned up some real gems :-X :) And don't feel bad about taking any credit. I may have landed on the roof, but you found a way to get in! And I did get a good chuckle from that Scotty line :-() :-()

Thanks for the kudo, nex :)

[nexor]

Thanks for the kudo, nex

I gave a slap    :-D   if I can pass on kudo's how do I do that  ???

[fragger]

I dunno, but I hope you never find out :-\\



:)

[Art Blade]

 :-()

[nexor]

Ok, then give someone a kudo    ::)

[fragger]

 :-D OK - here you go +1