Exploring the Mojave Wasteland in Fallout: New Vegas is a legendary experience, but sometimes the game's inherent jank or a particularly brutal Deathclaw encounter calls for a little bit of "outside help." Whether you are looking to fix a broken quest, test out a high-level build, or simply rain down infinite mini-nukes, the developer console is your most powerful tool.

Before diving in, keep one thing in mind: using console commands will disable Steam achievements for your current session. If you want to keep earning them, simply enter your commands, save the game, exit to desktop, and relaunch. Your save will still have the changes, but achievements will be re-enabled.

How to Open the Console

To access the command line, press the tilde key (~) located just below the Esc key on most US keyboards. If you are using a UK keyboard, it is usually the grave accent (`) key. The game will pause, and a small cursor will appear in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Essential Survival and Utility Commands

These are the bread-and-butter commands that every Courier should know. They are perfect for getting unstuck from geometry or surviving a cazador swarm.

  • tgm: Toggles God Mode. You get infinite health, ammo, and carry weight. You also don't need to reload.
  • tdm: Demi-god Mode. Gives you infinite health but you still have to manage your ammo.
  • tcl: Toggle Collision. This lets you walk through walls and fly. Essential if you get stuck in a rock or a building.
  • tmm 1: Reveals all map markers. If you want to see them but not fast travel to them yet, use tmm 1,0,1.
  • unlock: Unlocks any door, terminal, or safe. You must open the console, click on the object with your mouse until its ID appears, and then type the command.
  • resurrect: Brings a dead NPC back to life. Useful if a quest-giver accidentally wanders into a pack of Legion assassins.

Customizing Your Courier

If you realized twenty hours in that you should have put more points into Science instead of Survival, these commands allow you to rebuild your character on the fly.

Leveling and XP

  • player.setlevel [number]: Instantly sets your character to the desired level.
  • player.rewardxp [number]: Adds a specific amount of experience points.
  • player.advlevel: Gives you exactly enough XP to reach the next level.

Skills and S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

To modify your stats, use the following syntax: player.setav [stat] [value].

  • Example: player.setav Science 100 makes you a master hacker.
  • Example: player.setav Luck 10 ensures the casinos in New Vegas will hate you.
  • player.addperk [PerkID]: Gives you a specific perk. For example, player.addperk 00031db7 grants Light Step, so you stop blowing yourself up on floor traps.

Spawning Caps and Iconic Gear

Let’s be honest: sometimes you just need a few thousand caps to buy that shiny anti-materiel rifle from the Gun Runners. The command for adding items is player.additem [ItemID] [Amount].

Currency and Essentials

  • Bottle Caps: player.additem 000000f 5000 (Adds 5,000 caps)
  • Stimpaks: player.additem 00015169 50
  • Doctor's Bag: player.additem 00004351 10

Powerful Weapon IDs

  • Anti-Materiel Rifle: player.additem 0008f21c 1
  • Ranger Sequoia: player.additem 00129a44 1
  • Alien Blaster: player.additem 00004322 1
  • Euclid's C-Finder: player.additem 0014eb3c 1 (Requires the Archimedes II quest to be active to function properly)

Iconic Armor IDs

  • NCR Ranger Combat Armor: player.additem 00129254 1
  • T-45d Power Armor: player.additem 00014e13 1 (Note: You still need the Power Armor Training perk, which you can add using set pccanusepowerarmor 1)

Manipulating the World and NPCs

Sometimes the Mojave needs a little push to stay interesting. These commands affect the world around you and the people in it.

  • killall: Kills every hostile and non-essential NPC in your immediate vicinity. Use with extreme caution as it can break quests if an essential NPC isn't flagged correctly.
  • tcai: Toggles Combat AI. NPCs will stand around and let you hit them without fighting back.
  • tai: Toggles all AI. Everyone in the world simply freezes in place.
  • set timescale to [number]: Controls how fast time passes. The default is 30. Setting it to 1 makes time pass at real-world speed.
  • sexchange: Changes your character's gender instantly.
  • showracemenu: Re-opens the character customization screen so you can change your face and race without starting a new game.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

If you find that your commands aren't working, ensure you have selected the correct target. When you click an object or NPC while the console is open, an ID (like "00012345") should appear at the top center of the screen. This tells the game that your next command, like kill or disable, should apply specifically to that object.

Additionally, be careful with the caqs command. While it stands for "Complete All Quest Stages," it actually completes every single quest in the entire game simultaneously. This is almost guaranteed to break your save file and result in a chaotic ending slide, so only use it if you are just messing around and don't plan on continuing that specific playthrough.

Using the console is a great way to extend the life of Fallout: New Vegas, whether you are a modder testing a new build or a casual player looking to skip the grind. Just remember to save often and save in new slots!