For some absurd reason, Fallout 3 has not come to Game Pass despite Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Bethesda. Even so, the news may have you picking it up for the first time, or loading it up for your 24th playthrough. Either way, we all like to be able to skip ahead sometimes.

It’s no secret that the main quest in Fallout 3 leaves a lot to be desired. The world itself is so big and interesting that the quest for your father quickly becomes stale and a chore. Well, did you know there’s a way to skip a lot of the main quest without encountering glitches? Here’s how.

The main quest has you complete three quests that eventually lead you to your father’s location. Following In His Footsteps, Galaxy News Radio, and Scientific Pursuits. That’s three quests out of the 12 main objectives dedicated solely to finding pops. Well, your dad is always in the same location, so you can skip a quarter of the main quest if you want to just get on with it.

Normally, after you’ve stepped out of Vault 101 into the blinding sunlight of the Capitol Wasteland, you’re tasked with heading to Megaton to search for clues. There, you can either pay Moriarty for information or hack his computer to learn where your dad went after his escape.

Next, Galaxy News Radio by way of Super Mutant infested Washington D.C. This quest will see you going to the Washington Memorial to fix an antenna. It’s dangerous, you’re probably underleveled for it, and it’s a bit boring, to be honest.

After this, you get sent off to Rivet City, a half-sunk boat out on the Potomac River. Here you’ll venture into the ship’s bowels to find Doctor Li in her science lab. She’ll send you off to Project Purity at the Washington Memorial, also infested with Super Mutants. Therein you’ll find holodisks your dad left, finally leading you to his actual location.

Your Dad’s Location

Off to Smith Casey’s garage you go. Go in, clear out a few Mole Rats, head into the basement, and jack yourself into the Matrix.

The thing is, your dad is there the whole time, sat in his little pod, deep in the Tranquility Lane simulation. This location isn’t locked or made inaccessible by an invisible wall, it’s just out of the way enough that hardly anyone accidentally finds it before that point in the main quest. As soon as you leave Vault 101 you could head straight on over to Smith Casey’s garage and find your dad in Vault 112 below.

If you skip the Galaxy News Radio part of the quest by going straight to Rivet City or finding your dad, Three Dog - the charming and slightly annoying host of the radio - will give you a different reward for fixing his antenna, check it out.

If you’ve never played the game before, it’s obviously best that you actually play through the story properly, as it is designed to familiarise you with the metro, speech challenges, combat, and key characters. It paints a picture of a world that has turned its back on collective science and power in favor of individual gain - an awful wasteland, basically. But, for those of you who have played the main quest a hundred times over, give this skip a go.