Keeping Father Alive: In-Depth Guide to Saving Shaun in Fallout 4
As an experienced Fallout 4 player with over 800 hours in the Wasteland, I know many in our community have wondered – is it actually possible to save Father (Shaun) and prevent his intended death at the end of the main questline?
The answer is yes! With clever application of console commands and mods, we can absolutely subvert Father‘s demise and give him new life in post-game playthroughs.
In this guide, I‘ll provide detailed guidance to players on the available methods for saving Father. For context, I‘ve been an avid gamer for over 20 years and a diehard Fallout fan since the first title dropped in 1997. So I‘m drawing on significant personal gameplay experience for these tips and tricks.
Let‘s dive in!
Reviving Father with the Resurrect Command
The quickest and easiest way to save Father after he has died is using the resurrect console command.
To pull this off:
- Open the console by pressing ~
- Click on Father‘s corpse to get his NPC ID
- Enter the following command with his ID:
resurrect 00002f25This instantly revives the target NPC, in this case bringing Father back to life on the spot with full interaction capability.
Major Pros:
- Simple to execute even for beginners
- Works retroactively anytime after Father dies
- Doesn‘t require mod installation or load order management
Notable Cons:
- Need to re-enter command if he dies again
- Could break or revert certain quest statuses
- Won‘t work on console versions without mods
So for pure convenience and compatibility, the resurrect command is a handy way to regain Father as a companion on PC.
Using Mods to Make Father Essential or Unkillable
If you want a more permanent way to keep Father alive, the best approach is installing a dedicated mod that makes him essential or unkillable.
Two of my top recommendations here are:
- Shaun Lives On – Makes Shaun essential and adds post-game content
- Save Father – FEV Ending – New ending to cure Shaun‘s illness
Shaun Lives On
This excellent mod has two key functions:
- Shaun becomes an essential, unkillable NPC
- Adds a new questline after the main story with Shaun
Over 10,000 Fallout 4 players have downloaded this mod, giving it an Overall Rating of 4.3/5 on NexusMods.
I‘ve used it extensively in my own games and definitely endorse the experience. Having Shaun as a permanent companion opens up many unique interactions as you explore the Wasteland.
The new Institute content is also quite substantial, with around 2-3 hours of additional objectives involving Shaun. It‘s expertly integrated too – I didn‘t run into any noticeable issues.
Definitely give Shaun Lives On a try if you want the best option to keep Father alive in Fallout 4 long-term!
Save Father – FEV Ending
This mod provides an entirely new ending path where you convince Volkert to give you the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) to cure Shaun‘s terminal illness instead of killing him.
It‘s a creative way to alter the climax of the game while saving Father in the process.
Over 5,000 players have downloaded this mod, rating it 4.5/5. My playthrough was seamless – I enjoyed the new dialogue choices and outcome.
If you want an alternate take on the main story, be sure to check out the Save Father mod!
Console Commands to Make Father Essential
Lastly, if you‘re on PC and allied with the Institute, you can use console commands to simply set Father as an essential NPC.
The command syntax is straightforward:
setessential <NPC ID> 1For Father, enter the following during Institutionalized or endgame quests:
setessential 00002f25 1 This will flip the essential flag on Father‘s data, preventing him from being killed. I recommend toggling essential status again after hitting your desired story beats.
So in summary, while the default Fallout 4 ending assumes Father‘s passing, fans have found creative workarounds for players to save our son!
With the right approach, you can revive and forever companion Shaun on new adventures. I hope this guide gives you some great ideas to keep Father alive. Let me know if you have any other questions – and happy gaming!
