1. Fallout 4 Brain Dead Quest
2. Fallout 4 Far Harbor Brain Dead Quest

Much like the enchanted blade Chillrend, success is a double-edged sword. When companies create beloved franchises that hold more adventures than their games can depict, fans will make up their own stories. Fan fiction, and story-based mods, tell tales that could have happened in games like Fallout or Elder Scrolls, but aren’t officially part of the game’s lore.

Having a huge fanbase that creates their own content means that sometimes a fan might have an idea similar to something that the game’s developer came up with independently. Recently a mod maker pointed out that a mission in Fallout 4 bears more than a passing resemblance to his mod. This raises uncomfortable legal and ethical questions about user-created content, particularly for a game like Fallout 4 which was marketed with the promise of an abundance of fan-made mods. We spoke with the developer of the Autumn Leaves mod which is at the center of this controversy.

The Brain Dead Quest is one of the Far Harbor Sidequests in the Far Harbor DLC.It is not tied to any specific faction. This quest can be found in one of two ways: You can either stumble upon it. So I, once again, broke the quest mechanics or the quest line. I got up the the point where I've ' investigate the crime scene', 'investigate avida ' and' investigate riggs'. And I've no speech options left, found all and any clues around the place and yeah unlocked everything even the Tresor. Nothing Nada. Pretty sure I broke the quest chain again or what so ever making this quest impossible. Home Guides Fallout 4: Far Harbor Thank you for printing this page from www.SuperCheats.com. Remember to come back to check for updates to this guide and much more content for Fallout 4: Far Harbor Fallout 4: Far Harbor Walkthrough and Guide.

The Fallout 4 DLC, Far Harbor has a quest called Brain Dead. In it the playable character is asked to help solve a murder mystery. The player soon discovers that the murder victim is actually a robot, who lived in a subterranean vault populated entirely by other robots. The killer must be one of the quirky robots who live in the vault, and the mystery can only be solved by interviewing the mechanical suspects, and gathering evidence from the crime scene.

Mysteries, vaults, and funny robots are all very common in the Fallout games; however the Brain Dead mission combines these elements together in a story that is extremely similar to the central plot of the fan-made mod Autumn Leaves which was developed for the previous Fallout game, New Vegas. Autumn Leaves became available to download in September 2015, while Fallout 4 was still in development. The Far Harbor content didn’t arrive until May of 2016.

Many fan-fiction writers, and mod makers hope that their contributions will be acknowledged by the game’s developer. Sometimes this results in companies like Fallout 4‘s developer, Bethesda Softworks, making overt references to fan projects in their games. However, Bethesda claims that Brain Dead isn’t a deliberate nod to Autumn Leaves, but was developed independently.

Despite this claim, the creator of Autumn Leaves has made a post on ModDB.com where he compares the two projects in detail, citing numerous examples of suspicious similarities. Guillaume Veer is the writer, scripter, level designer, and more for Autumn Leaves, and he says “…the strongest similarities are the way the quest unfolded, the general feel of the Vault and its central Atrium, the hushed atmosphere.”

According to Bethesda’s Global Vice President of PR, Pete Hines, “We love our mod community and would never disrespect them. I checked, and any similarities between the two are a complete coincidence.”

In Geek.com’s exclusive interview with Veer, he elaborated on the parallels between the two stories:

Fallout 4 Brain Dead Quest

“Both quests take place in an underground Vault exclusively inhabited by robots. Nothing THAT unusual, but it’s the starting point.” he said. “The main quest itself, which consists of investigating the murder by checking the crime scene, and speaking to every robot in the Vault. The mysterious death of the prime financier of the Vault, who – in both cases – worked alongside Vault-Tec to build the special place.”

He also cites the importance of robot voice modulators in the plot, and how both stories involve a plot twist where one robot impersonates another by using these voice modulators. There are thematic similarities, more subjective, but also quite numerous. As Veer says, “In both case, the underlying theme is the preservation of culture, in both, robots being its guardians.

Where Brain Dead is about painting (Santiago) and Cinema (Gilda, the actress, which is clearly a reference to Rita Hayworth, by the way), Autumn Leaves is mostly about literature, but also about paintwork and cinema (there is a screening room in Autumn Leaves).”

Brain Dead is not an integral part of Far Harbor’s story; it’s an optional mission that is tucked away in the Miscellaneous section of the Player’s quest log. We asked Veer if this was significant. He replied “In the sense that Brain Dead lasts one hour, and Autumn Leaves six hours, yes. They are very different in scope: had they intended to take more elements from it, they couldn’t have been able to take much more than they already had, considering how long Autumn Leaves is in comparison to Brain Dead. But that is still assuming they played it, and got inspiration from it.”

Regardless of whether or not some unethical narrative designer stole this particular mod’s story, the incident does force the modding community to wonder what their options are if they feel a designer plagiarizes a fan-made work.

We asked Veer about the user agreement for Fallout’s mod-making tool, the GECK. Veer admits that “In short, that Bethesda owns the Creation Kit and all the content produced with it.” although he adds, “I firmly believe that modders should have intellectual rights over the content they produce.”

At present the system seems balanced against the mod makers, who can labor for years on a mod. “On one side, you have people who produce free content, sometimes with stellar quality, without getting paid.” explains Veer, “On another side, you have a publisher, who is clearly getting benefits from a strong modding community, through the regular addition of new – free content – that doesn’t overshadow their own productions. And last, we have the players who are used to get free contents through mods. How do we find a balance between those three? Clearly, modders are getting the short end of the stick with this, but they know that their content will be free, from the first line of script written, to the last.

In mid 2015, Bethesda supported a plan that would have allowed mod-makers to receive pay for mods, though the game distributor Steam. However this feature was removed by Steam shortly after it was implemented. Veer says “There is one thing I deplore: throughout the last years’ controversies about paid mods, there was a clear lack of dialogue between the parties involved.”

Veer offers a possible solution to the idea of paid mods, “The answer I’d be tempted to give, is to create an online portal like Itch.io where people and customers should decide things like the respective revenue share, kind of like what Humble does with its bundles. It would be up to the modder to decide the minimal fee for downloading the mod, and even if these portal doesn’t net any revenue for Bethesda, they will still take full advantage from a thriving modding community – which is already the case today, anyway. It’s win-win for all the parties involved. Some recognition in the games’ credits would be very nice! For us modders, who are trying to get a job in the industry, it would be a tremendous boost.”

In a previous interview at Geek.com,Veer mentioned that he was considering a standalone version of Autumn Leaves. When asked if he still intends to pursue that he says, “I still do, more than ever. Though considering the User Agreement, I’m somewhat worried that Bethesda claims ownership of Autumn Leaves as a mod, hence the ownership of whatever I will try to do with it afterwards.”

Brain Dead

other NPCs

reward

Brain Dead is a murder-mystery side quest in the Fallout 4add-onFar Harbor.

Quick walkthroughEdit

Detailed walkthroughEdit

While roaming around Far Harbor, the Sole Survivor will be approached by a Miss Nanny named Pearl. She will then ask them if they're part of law enforcement, mentioning that there's been a terrible murder. Upon confirming, she will then ask the player character to follow her as the murder has taken place at Cliff's Edge Hotel.

Upon reaching the location she will mention that the residents have been rowdy and that she's had to get physical with some of them as they were getting too 'handsy.' She will then tell the Sole Survivor how the elevator is not working and thus they must take the long way around. She will then proceed to lead one through the hotel and back to an elevator, which is only to be used by the special guests. Through this path they will stumble upon several feral ghouls.

Once out of the elevator, the Sole Survivor will be prompted to speak to a Mister Handy named Maxwell through an intercom which is revealed to be vault door controls. Once done speaking they will be ushered in and escorted to the crime scene. The victim of the murder is presented as Ezra Parker, the owner of the hotel. Upon investigation of the crime scene, a bat, red paint to represent blood and the broken brain incubator will be discovered.

The Sole Survivor will then be asked by Maxwell to investigate the fellow robobrains living in the vault. The main characters that will be focused on are Julianna, Santiago and Keith, although one will eventually speak with everyone.

Questioning Juliana is rather fruitless, although talking to her husband reveals that he was a lead designer on the robobrain project, and also the one who convinced everyone to put their brains into the robot bodies. If one keeps talking to him about his research, they can eventually learn about the voice modulators which allow them to recreate their original voices.

Entering the McKinney residence will catch the couple apparently discussing the murder and a plan to run away, but it turns out they're just rehearsing lines from a script. Afterwards, Gilda will leave for the beach. Questioning Keith about the bat found at the murder scene will lead him to claim he's being framed, probably by the artist Santiago.

Speaking with Santiago gives the player character some speech checks in which they can convince him they're a fellow art lover. He will reveal that Julianna and Ezra had some huge argument in the overseer's office, but he does not know what it was about since he was trying to ignore the commotion. He will refer the player character to Gilda, the local gossip.

Gilda can be found on the vault's artificial beach behind the showers. Agree to hear one of her stories, and she'll be willing to tell the player character what Julianna and Ezra were arguing about. Apparently it was something regarding finances, and Julianna found something in the overseer's office that set her off. The argument started when Julianna accused Ezra of something, but Gilda isn't sure what.

After learning this, one will then have the objective to investigate the overseer's office, only to find it's locked. Speaking to Maxwell reveals that Ezra Parker had the key, which one can find on a desk in his room. There's not much to see in the office, but using the terminal and listening to the holotape will reveal that Ezra was embezzling funds from the vault construction fund, which is the reason the lower-class wing wasn't finished in time.

Talking with Bert, Julianna's husband, a speech check will be reveal that she's been acting very different - so much so that Bert is convinced that's not his wife. When confronted, Julianna will reveal that she is actually Ezra. Apparently Julianna discovered that Ezra had embezzled the money she gave him, and threatened to tell the others. On impulse, Ezra killed her, then moved the body downstairs, set up the crime scene and modified his voice modulator to impersonate her.

The Sole Survivor will then be given the decision to either take a bribe or continue on with the accusation which will result in a fight between Ezra and them. If the Survivor takes the bribe they can turn around and continue with the accusation, if they don't (the 'let him go' option) they will then begin Brain Dead Part 2.

Once beginning Brain Dead Part 2, the Sole Survivor will be given two choices: return to Maxwell immediately and tell him about Ezra, causing the robots to attack the murderer, or wait for Ezra to leave the vault. Once he's gone, return to Maxwell and tell him Ezra is the killer. At that point, the Sole Survivor can then tell Maxwell one of three lies: Ezra got away, they killed him, or it's over. No matter which choice they make, Maxwell will pay the player character for their work.

Quest stagesEdit

Brain DeadEdit

Fallout 4 Far Harbor Brain Dead Quest

Brain Dead, Part 2Edit

NotesEdit

• The quest can reach a deadlock if all the residents have been investigated, the overseer's office has been searched, etc. Be sure that the crime scene is fully examined, as a single finding can continue many strains of the quest - even when the killer may already be known.
  • Make sure that you have found the true nature of the 'blood' and picked up the murder weapon. If you are having trouble finding them, look to the right of the stage. Finding either or both items should end the deadlock and enable you to confront a suspect.
• Old Longfellow, MacCready, and Cait like taking the bribe from Ezra.
• Hancock, Strong and Codsworth dislike taking the bribe from Ezra.
• Nick Valentine hates taking the bribe from Ezra.
• Old Longfellow dislikes allowing Ezra to leave, even if one plans to kill him afterwards.
• Piper, being the investigative journalist that she is, will garner a fair amount of approval during the investigation. Like Nick Valentine, she also strongly disapproves of taking Ezra's bribe.
• Codsworth likes killing Ezra.
• Despite usually being opposed to stealing, Piper may quip that the hotel's rich inhabitants arguably would not miss some of their 'nifty tech' while exploring the vault.
• It is possible to start the quest without meeting Pearl. The Sole Survivor will need to explore the ruins of the hotel and try to open the vault door.
• The quest can be ended really quick by insisting on accusing Keith as the murderer, causing him to become hostile. After killing him, all the investigation tasks will be finished and the Sole Survivor will have to do the final talk with Maxwell. This prevents the player character from starting Part 2 and identifying the true killer.
  • One doesn't actually need to accuse him of murder, just ask more about himself a second time around, selecting questions about motive (but not the Charisma check assuming one has the letter). He will act as though the player character accused him and turn hostile (Curie likes it when he is killed).
• Strong dislikes it each time the player character flirts with Gilda Broscoe, and hates the Lover's Date option that lets the player character get the Lover's Embrace perk with her.

Behind the scenesEdit

In July 2016, the author of a Fallout: New Vegas mod called 'Autumn Leaves' claimed that much of Brain Dead was copied from his mod as both share similar details. Both are murder mysteries, both take place in a vault that is run by robots, they share many similar scenes and they have a similar interior design. The mod author, however, while believing that Bethesda did borrow much from the mod, also said they were okay with it, citing their own inspirations for their mod.^[1]

BugsEdit

• PC Killing Ezra too quickly after the final conversation and refusing to let him go may start the quest Brain Dead Part 2 after he is already dead. In that case the player isn't able to finish the second part of the quest and the quest marker will remain over Ezra's remains. To avoid this one should wait until the second part starts before finishing him. ^[verified]
• PCXbox One It is possible for Pearl to become stuck at the elevators, without saying the line about them being out of order. Reloading or activating the elevator in the basement will fix the issue. ^[verified]
• PC Maxwell may not answer after activating the vault door controls. Reload before going down the elevator. Then save just outside the elevator, after killing the ghouls. Next, enter the following in the console: ClearQuestAliases DLC03DialogueV118 followed by: SetQuestAliases DLC03DialogueV118. Finally, save, exit, and reload. The quest should continue when the vault door controls are activated.^[verified]
• PCXbox One When attempting to speak to Bert or Julianna Riggs, a message may appear saying they are both busy, and thus they cannot be interacted with. Killing their cat, Scruffy, will fix this issue. Doing so will not cause them to become hostile, but it can upset the player's companions, depending who's present.^{[verification needed]}

ReferencesEdit