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A few months before we met, I bumped into a guy named Sinclair who claimed his buddy caught some kind of disease. I thought he was wasting my time until he said his partner broke out in blue boils. They dug up information about a cure at a place called Med-Tek Research. They even managed to grab the building's lockdown security codes. Unfortunately, Sinclair's buddy died before they were able to break into the facility. I mean, there's no way that's a coincidence, right? Med-Tek has to be the place.MacCready

Long Road Ahead is MacCready's companion quest in Fallout 4.

Quick walkthrough[]

Companion Quest: Long Road Ahead 
Gain MacCready's approval. 
Speak to MacCready and accept his quest. 
Take MacCready to the Mass Pike Interchange
Kill Winlock & Barnes
Speak to MacCready. 
Continue traveling with MacCready. 
Reach 750 affinity points with MacCready and talk with him. 
Take MacCready to and enter the Med-Tek Research building. 
Locate the executive terminal. 
Override the containment lockdown. 
Enter Med-Tek sub-level. 
Retrieve the cure for MacCready. 
Speak to MacCready. 
Bring the cure to Daisy in Goodneighbor
Reward: 250+ XP 

Detailed walkthrough[]

When traveling with MacCready long enough for his affinity rating to reach between 250 and 500, MacCready will talk to the Sole Survivor and tell them about Winlock and Barnes, and how he wants the Sole Survivor to go to the Mass Pike Interchange and kill them. This will start Long Road ahead, and Mass Pike Interchange will be marked on the map (MacCready's affection gains will cap at 499 until the Gunners portion of this quest is completed).

When Mass Pike Interchange is reached, both Winlock and Barnes will be on the interchange itself, so locating one of the nearby lifts is necessary; traveling through fast travel will bring you to a lift north of the interchange, saving the time to find one. Resistance in the interchange is fairly heavy, with 10-15 normal Gunners, a commander, and one assaultron. Either of them may also be using a set of T-60 power armor at higher levels. After both Winlock and Barnes are killed, MacCready will talk to the Sole Survivor and say that it relieves him to see the two responsible for harassing him for leaving the Gunners be killed, and return the caps the Sole Survivor used to hire him. Actually taking MacCready himself to Mass Pike Interchange is not required.

After MacCready's affinity reaches 750, the second part of the quest will begin. MacCready will talk to the Sole Survivor again and tell them about his son Duncan, and how he has a disease that will ultimately kill him. He then asks the Sole Survivor to visit Med-Tek Research, where a cure for the ailment may be found, and that he has the containment override password. When there, the cure is believed to be housed in the lower levels, which requires reaching the top floors of the facility to the executive terminals to override the containment. Overall resistance is fairly low, as the feral ghoul occupants (including a glowing one) are spread out across a wide area.

After finding the cure, located in the lowest sections of the facility, MacCready then tells the Sole Survivor to bring the cure to Daisy in Goodneighbor, where she will send it on a caravan out of the Commonwealth. After giving Daisy the cure, the quest will be complete. MacCready's affinity gains will cap at 999 until the Med-Tek Research portion of this quest is completed.

Quest stages[]

Quest stages
StageStatusDescriptionLog Entry
60 Travel to the Mass Pike InterchangeMacCready has asked me to travel to the Mass Pike Interchange to hunt down and kill Winlock and Barnes, the two Gunners that were threatening him in Goodneighbor.
80 Kill Winlock and BarnesI've arrived at the Mass Pike Interchange to hunt down and kill Winlock and Barnes, the two Gunners that were threatening MacCready in Goodneighbor.
110 Speak to MacCready
120 Continue Traveling with MacCreadyWinlock and Barnes are both dead. They should no longer pose a threat to MacCready.
130 Bring MacCready to Med-Tek ResearchMacCready confided in me that his son is extremely ill and needs a cure that can only be found within a place called Med-Tek Research. I should bring him there as soon as possible.
140 Enter Med-Tek ResearchMacCready and I have arrived at Med-Tek Research. I should proceed inside and help him locate the cure for his son's disease.
150 Locate the Executive Terminal
160 Override Containment LockdownMacCready has given me the password to the Executive Terminal inside of Med-Tek Research. I should use it to cancel the facility's containment alert.
170 Enter Med-Tek Sub-Level
180 Retrieve cure for MacCready
190 Speak to MacCready
200 Bring cure to Daisy in GoodneighborMacCready and I have recovered the cure from Med-Tek Research. The final step is for both of us to bring it to Daisy in Goodneighbor so she can pass it along to MacCready's son.
255Quest finishedQuest completeMacCready and I have given the cure to Daisy in Goodneighbor. She said she'll have no trouble getting it quickly into MacCready's son's hands.
355Quest failedQuest failed

Notes[]

  • There is actually a stage 210 for this quest. According to the console command "SQS", the stage 200 is marked done before McCready speaks to Daisy about the cure. Stage 210 will be marked done after speaking to her.
  • Keep in mind that there is a password for a terminal in Covenant called Jacob's password. If this is in the player character's inventory when they enter the Med-Tek Research building, MacCready may not give them the password for the executive terminal on the top floor, instead of waiting until he gets to the terminal.
  • It is possible for MacCready to never give the password if he's occupied/separated from the player character when first reaching the terminal. This can be caused by MacCready falling through the hole in the floor to the lower level. To prevent this, save before heading near the executive room, and make sure to complete the fight without becoming separated from MacCready. Going back to the terminal later with MacCready will not result in receiving the password if this has occurred.
    • Both issues can be resolved on PC by using the console command player.additem 001965f8 to add the correct password to one's inventory.
  • After one enters the sublevels and enters the room full of cells, it may seem impossible to proceed lower at first glance. There is a ramp leading down through the floor in one of the cells on the south side.
  • Once he idolizes the Sole Survivor, MacCready will give them a wooden soldier toy as a token of his affection. This item will be automatically added to the junk category instead of miscellaneous, so care should be taken to not scrap it by accident if the player character wishes to keep it.
  • If Daisy only wants to trade and offers no special dialogue options, make sure that MacCready stands in the store next to Daisy. MacCready has a tendency to sandbox upon entering Goodneighbor. Commanding him to stand in front of Daisy's counter resolves this.
  • If one picked up the Prevent before starting the quest, once inside Med-Tek, use console command player.drop 4e700 1 to drop it on the floor in front of MacCready, pick it up, and then the quest moves on.

Bugs[]

  • Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Winlock may be encountered in an inaccessible area, on top of the upper freeway platform, rendering the mission unable to complete. [verified]
    • Playstation 4Playstation 4 Possible fix: Move south, one then can access the upper deck by a collapsed structure forming a ramp, and jumping a small gap from girder to girder to finally reach Winlock.
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Having already cleared Mass Pike Interchange the quest may not start when bringing MacCready there.[verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One Winlock and Barnes may not be hostile to the player character at Mass Pike Interchange, even after they kill all of the other Gunners at that location. Even if the player kills either Winlock or Barnes, the other may not be hostile.[verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One MacCready will add the location of Med-Tek Research to the player's Pip-Boy. However when selecting 'Show On Map' for the quest objective 'Bring MacCready to Med-Tek Research' the map will not center on the location. There will also be no objective marker to direct the player to the location (this bug will not affect the quest's progression, once the Sole Survivor reaches Med-Tek Research it will progress to the next step of the quest).[verified]
  • Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One "Locate the Executive Terminal" will sometimes not update when the player reaches the terminal. Which also means MacCready will not give the player character the password. [verified]
    • Reloading to a previous save may fix this.
    • Another possible fix is to use the console command SetStage COMMacCreadyQuest 160.
  • PCPC Playstation 4Playstation 4 Xbox OneXbox One If one picked up the Prevent even before making MacCready a companion, the easiest way to fix it is to do SetStage COMMacCreadyQuest 0; the Sole Survivor and MacCready will be partnered up, show him the Prevent, and take it back to Daisy. [verified]
  • PCPC A glowing one inside the room with the Prevent can spawn or walk too close to the terminal and door, prohibiting interaction with the terminal to open the door even though there is an intervening wall - the game will go through the animation of aligning with the terminal and begin to zoom in, then suddenly abort and return one's control. There are two possible solutions to this issue.[verified]
    • Reload from a save prior to entering the sub-level elevator and hope the offending ghoul doesn't trip the bug again.
    • Open the command console, focus on the door, then disable it. After clearing out the ghouls, enable the door and use the terminal to open it as intended to also open the shortcut exit. If the door is still disabled, the open prompt will not appear on the terminal and the shortcut cannot be opened.

Behind the scenes[]

MacCready has several cut dialogue lines which evidence a cut stage of this quest. After being hired, and presumably before attacking the Gunners, MacCready would task the Sole Survivor with finding a military-grade transmitter in order to contact several helpers to join them. These include several alternate lines presumably dependent on his affinity (though instead of the affinity system, they use a static three-state variable to check for his disposition).

  • "First thing I'm gonna need is a military grade transmitter. I've got some contacts out there that'll join us. I just need to give the word. Can you handle that?"
  • "Still waiting on that transmitter. Quit taking your sweet time."
  • "Still waiting on that transmitter. Without it, we're dead in the water."
  • "Could still use that transmitter if you find it, boss."
  • "I'll be damned... you found a transmitter. Gotta say I didn't expect you to come through."
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