You're standing in the middle of the Glowing Sea. Your Power Armor just hissed its last breath because you ran out of fusion cores. A Mythic Deathclaw is lumbering toward you. In that moment, the "pure" way to play Fallout 4 feels a lot less important than surviving. You need a fix. You need the console.
Fallout 4 console commands items are basically the secret keys to the kingdom. Bethesda games are famous for being "sandbox" RPGs, but sometimes the sand gets in your gears. Whether it’s a bugged quest item that won't spawn or just the desire to build a massive settlement without hunting for desk fans for ten hours, the console is your best friend.
It’s not just about cheating. It’s about control.
But here’s the thing: if you just start slapping codes into that little gray box without knowing what you're doing, you’re going to corrupt something. I’ve seen people lose 80-hour save files because they spawned 5,000 Nuka-Cola Quantums in a confined space. Physics engine go boom.
The Absolute Basics of the Command Console
To even start using Fallout 4 console commands items, you have to hit the tilde key (~). It’s usually right under the Esc key. If you're on a non-US keyboard, it might be the apostrophe or the grave accent key.
Once that window pops up, the game pauses. This is your safe space.
The most important command you will ever use is player.additem. It’s the bread and butter of the Commonwealth tinkerer. The syntax is dead simple: player.additem [Item ID] [Amount].
Don't use brackets. If you want 500 caps, you type player.additem 0000000f 500.
Fun fact: you don't actually need all those leading zeros. player.additem f 500 works just as well. The game knows what you mean.
Finding the ID for That One Specific Thing
Searching for IDs online is a pain. Most Wikis are great, but switching back and forth between your browser and the game is a recipe for a crash.
Use the help command.
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If you need a specific type of ammunition, type help "7.62" 4. The quotes are vital if the item name has a space or a number. The "4" at the end tells the game to filter for items. It’ll spit out a list of every item with "7.62" in the name.
Look for the "ALCH" (Alchemy/Food), "WEAP" (Weapon), or "AMMO" (Ammunition) tags. Beside them, you’ll see an eight-digit code. That’s your golden ticket.
Essential Item IDs You'll Actually Use
Most people aren't looking for obscure spoons or wooden blocks. You're looking for the stuff that makes the game playable.
Currency and Crafting
- Bottlecaps:
0000000f - Stimpaks:
00023736 - Bobby Pins:
0000000a(Because running out of these in a Master-lock room is the worst feeling in gaming). - Adhesive (Wonderglue):
00059b1e - Aluminum:
0006907a - Ceramic:
0006907b
Let's talk about Adhesive for a second. It is the literal glue holding the Commonwealth together. If you are building weapon mods, you will run out. Period. You could farm mutfruit, corn, and tatos to make vegetable starch, or you can just admit that you’ve done that three times already and give yourself 100 adhesive.
The Scrapping Nightmare and Shipment Codes
Building settlements is the most addictive part of Fallout 4 for some, and a total chore for others. If you’re in the "chore" camp but want a cool base, you need shipments.
Instead of adding individual pieces of wood, use the shipment codes.
A Shipment of Wood (250) is 001ec145.
A Shipment of Steel (250) is 001ec131.
When you add these to your inventory, they look like pieces of paper. Drop them into your workshop, and they magically transform into raw materials. It’s cleaner. It doesn't bloat your inventory weight as much as carrying 2,000 pounds of raw iron.
Legendary Items and the "Spawn" Method
This is where things get spicy. You can’t just "add" a Legendary Explosive Combat Shotgun. Legendary status is an "effect" applied to a base weapon.
First, you spawn the base weapon.
Combat Shotgun: 00148311
Then, you drop it on the ground. Open the console, click the shotgun with your mouse. You’ll see a hex code appear in the center of the screen. That’s the item’s unique reference ID.
Now type: amod 001e732d.
Boom. Explosive prefix added.
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If you want a "Wounding" Gatling Laser, use amod 001e7c20. Be careful with these. Giving yourself a "Never Ending" Fat Man sounds funny until you accidentally vaporize yourself and Diamond City because you forgot to let go of the trigger.
Power Armor Pieces and the Forgotten Frame
People always forget that Power Armor is two parts: the frame and the pieces. You can't just spawn a "suit."
If you want the legendary X-01 suit, you have to spawn each piece individually.
- X-01 Helmet:
00154ac2 - X-01 Torso:
00154ac5 - X-01 Left Arm:
00154ac3 - X-01 Right Arm:
00154ac4 - X-01 Left Leg:
00154ac7 - X-01 Right Leg:
00154ac8
And if you don't have a frame? player.placeatme 0002079e. This spawns a frame directly at your feet. Note: sometimes it spawns inside you. Take a step back before you hit enter.
The DLC Problem: Why Your Codes Might Not Work
I see this all the time on forums. Someone tries to spawn a Lever-Action Rifle from Far Harbor and gets an error.
DLC item IDs are not fixed.
The first two digits of a DLC item ID (like xx00083b) depend on your load order. If Far Harbor is your first DLC, those first two digits are 01. If it's the third, it's 03.
To find the correct prefix, type help "Lever" 4. Look at the code it gives you. Whatever those first two numbers are, those are the ones you use for every single item from that specific DLC. Nuka-World items usually start with 06 if you have all the major expansions installed.
Quest Items: Use With Extreme Caution
Sometimes a quest breaks. We’ve all been there. You kill the boss, but the key doesn't spawn. Or the "special" holotape falls through the floor textures into the infinite void.
You can use Fallout 4 console commands items to force the quest forward by giving yourself the item.
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But listen. If you spawn a quest item before the quest starts, you might soft-lock your game. The script expects you to "find" the item at a specific location to trigger the next dialogue. If you already have it in your pocket, the NPC might just stare at you blankly.
If you must spawn a quest item, always make a "Hard Save" first. Not a quicksave. A real, numbered save file you can go back to when things go sideways.
The Performance Impact of "Spawn Overload"
Bethesda's Creation Engine handles items as physical objects with gravity and collision.
If you type player.placeatme 0000000f 10000, you aren't just getting 10,000 caps. You are spawning 10,000 individual 3D gold coins that all have to bounce off each other and the floor.
Your frame rate will tank. Your game will likely freeze.
If you want a lot of something, use additem. It puts the number in your inventory as a variable. placeatme puts it in the world as an object. Know the difference. Your GPU will thank you.
Hidden Items You Weren't Meant to Have
There are items in the game files that aren't accessible through normal gameplay.
The most famous is the "Cell" or "Testing Room." Type coc QASMOKE.
This teleports you to a developer room containing every single item in the game in a series of crates. It’s like a Fallout shopping mall.
When you're done looting, you'll need to teleport out, because there are no doors. Type coc sanctuaryext to get back to Sanctuary.
There's also the "Deluxe" versions of items. Ever wanted the Institute's clean, white version of the Power Armor? It’s in the files. Want the "Mysterious Serum" that makes you basically invincible? 000ec4f5. Use it sparingly, or the game loses all challenge.
Taking Action: Your Console Command Checklist
If you’re ready to dive in, don't just wing it. Follow these steps to make sure your Commonwealth experience stays stable.
- Check your load order. Open your mod manager or the in-game "Add-ons" menu to see which DLCs are where. This saves you 20 minutes of frustration trying to figure out why your Nuka-Cola Quantum paddle ball won't spawn.
- Clean your inventory. Using commands to add thousands of items creates "save bloat." Keep your inventory manageable. If you spawn 500 combat rifles to give to your settlers, do it in batches.
- The "Click" Trick. When using commands like
inv(to see an NPC's inventory) orequipitem, make sure you have the console open and have clicked on the target. Their ID should appear at the top of the console. If you see "00000014," that’s YOU. Don’t accidentally delete yourself. - Use "Setav" for Carry Weight. If you are using item commands to get materials, you're going to be overencumbered immediately. Use
player.setav carryweight 9999. It’s a temporary buff that makes the logistics of cheating much easier. - Document your changes. If you change a global variable or add a unique item, remember what you did. If the game starts crashing three hours later, you’ll want to know which command might have triggered the instability.
The console is a tool. In the hands of a careful player, it fixes bugs and removes the "grind" that can sometimes sour the Fallout experience. Just remember: with great power comes the very real possibility of a "Desktop Crash." Save often. Shop responsibly.