You'll Know It When It Happens is a main quest and achievement/trophy in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
Main Quest: You'll Know It When It Happens | |||||||||||||
Speak to Ranger Grant at Hoover Dam to prepare for the president's arrival. | |||||||||||||
(Optional) Search for clues. | |||||||||||||
(Optional) Talk to Allison Valentine in the Hoover Dam visitor center and find the bloodstain in the supply closet (requires 6 Perception) | (Optional) Hack the Hard-locked computer terminal in the visitor center lobby. | ||||||||||||
Speak to Grant before the president arrives. | |||||||||||||
Prevent President Kimball's assassination. | |||||||||||||
Locate and disarm the bomb planted on the president's vertibird (requires 50 Explosives/Repair) or pickpocket the detonator from the assassin disguised as an NCR engineer. | |||||||||||||
Locate and defeat the assassin disguised as an NCR Ranger on top of the sniper tower behind the stage. | |||||||||||||
Inform Grant about the foiled assassination attempt(s), ending the president's speech early. | Allow Kimball's speech to end uninterrupted. | ||||||||||||
Speak to Grant again. | |||||||||||||
Reward: 1000 XP NCR fame Achievement/trophy | |||||||||||||
Leads to: Eureka!/The House Always Wins VII/No Gods, No Masters | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
This quest is involved in three of the four faction quest arcs, where it is triggered by either Colonel Moore (during For the Republic, Part 2), Mr. House (during The House Always Wins VI), or Yes Man (during Wild Card: Finishing Touches). Supporting the Legion will give a similar quest that essentially plays as a mirror to this quest, Arizona Killer.
It is possible to automatically fail this quest before it triggers in certain circumstances. One's reputation with the NCR must be at least Accepted in order to progress this quest; if one has a neutral or negative reputation and is supporting either Mr. House or Yes Man, there will be no option to save the president and any dialogue box chosen during the respective quests mentioned above will automatically cause failure, as the player character will not be trusted by the NCR to help. Failing the quest in this manner will not lock out achieving either of those endings, though it's mentioned in both scenarios that the post-Hoover Dam outcomes will not be as positive.
Getting clearance[]
One will be directed to speak with Ranger Grant in order to make preparations. Speaking to him will trigger a waiting period, after which it will be time for the speech. He will allow the player character to make a security sweep before the speech begins. If the player character is not in good standing with the NCR, he will not give the Courier the itinerary for the speech and the player character will not be allowed to draw their weapons at any point without turning the NCR hostile. The Courier may ask Grant for access to all areas of the dam in order to do a proper search. At this point, the player character may either complete the optional objective or skip to the speech.
Searching for clues[]
Investigate the area for clues. There will be no waypoints to direct the player character, so they must locate them independently.
- On the second floor of the visitor center, one can talk to Allison Valentine, who is looking for her engineer friend who has been missing for several hours.
- The engineer's bloodstain can be found in the supply closet in the Hoover Dam visitor center, on the first floor behind the staircase. It requires a Perception of 6 to examine.
- Hack the computer terminal (one will need 50 Science) in the visitor center to discover an unauthorized access ID (Sgt. Macovitch). The terminal is unowned, so the soldiers will not become hostile.
Note: If one has Boone as a companion, walking up the ramp on the visitor center exterior towards Ranger Grant will cause him to say something about if he were the sniper, where he would shoot from. He'll tell the Courier three locations (the last two ideas of his are correct):
- The ridge to the left of the road.
- The tower behind the stage.
- The roof of the visitor center.
The speech[]
Once the Courier speaks to Ranger Grant again, the president's speech will begin. Kimball's vertibird, Bear Force One, will land on the roof of the visitor center. Kimball and four Rangers will disembark, then move to the stage for the speech. In order to hear the entire speech, each assassination attempt must be dealt with quickly and covertly. Alternatively, there are opportunities to scuttle the speech early to get the president to safety.
Keep in mind that even if the Courier has asked for and received clearance to enter "all areas" from Grant, entering the backstage area or going onto the stage with the president will cause the NCR to become hostile.
There are three different assassination attempts:
- A bomb is placed on the vertibird by a frumentarius disguised as an engineer;
- A sniper, dressed as an NCR Ranger, will appear atop the guard tower behind the stage set up for the speech;
- The engineer from before will run to the president and try to assassinate him with a knife. If the Courier speaks to Ranger Grant and tells him about any of the above two attempts, this can not be avoided.
If the player character has received this quest from Yes Man or Mr. House, the staircase leading to the roof of the visitor center will be locked. So long as one is in good standing with the NCR and has asked Ranger Grant for access to all areas, the player character can go up using the ladder on the outside of the building. Private Jensen will be guarding it, so an NCR disguise might be necessary to bypass him. A disguise can be found in the storage closet underneath the stairs in the visitor center. The player character can also talk their way past him with a Speech skill of 50. The same can happen if the Courier has a mixed relationship with the NCR even if one has attained this quest through the NCR.
Once on the roof, depending on how quickly one gets up there, they may see an engineer tamper with the vertibird. "Activating" the vertibird will result in the Courier examining it and revealing that a bomb has been planted on it. An Explosives or Repair skill of 50 is required to remove it. Failing that, one will need to get the detonator from the engineer. This can be done before or after the arrival of the sniper. He will head into the crowd watching the speech, so one will need to find him.
He can be found on the southern side of the podium. The engineer in question is the only one who will talk to the player character and is the only one who does not clap during the speech. He will also move around occasionally, as noted in some cases. If one has Rex in their company, he will detect the Legion engineer in the group, growling at him to point him out. Talking to the engineer will turn him hostile, thus canceling the speech. If the player character has the Animal Friend perk, they can take control of the search dog from the Ranger in front of the visitor center. The dog will also sniff out the disguised engineer.
Whether or not the Courier has been able to defuse the bomb, they will still need to stop the assassin at the guard tower. The player character will see him throw the real guard off the guard tower and take their place, unless the Courier is already there, in which case he will attack both the player character and the real guard on the spot. If the Courier missed the event, there are several ways to tell if the assassin has arrived. First and foremost, the Ranger's body will be on the ground in front of the tower. It can be examined to determine that the Ranger was killed recently, but cannot be looted until after the quest is completed. Second, the assassin, though dressed similarly, has a visible face. The Ranger wears a face wrap. Finally, the Ranger will remain in position near the radio on the tower, while the assassin will pace back and forth. About halfway through the speech, the assassin will line up his shot, firing after a few seconds.
Finally, the Legion engineer may attempt to stab Kimball personally. This won't happen if the Courier covertly disables the bomb since the engineer will still try to detonate it. Assuming he does attack, killing him will result in the final assassination attempt failing. Kimball will return to his vertibird and depart, completing the quest.
Alternate completion methods[]
There are a few other methods with which one can end this quest. Each of these methods yields a different ending to the quest. Note that, no matter which way the quest is solved (as long as NCR doesn't turn hostile), one will receive the Eureka! quest (if the Courier is siding with the NCR). All of them involve canceling or interrupting Kimball's speech.
- One can speak to the engineer before the vertibird even lands; he will respond aggressively, and the Courier can lead him to attack by expressing their suspicions and offering to call the MPs or take him away oneself. Kill him and the speech will be canceled, the vertibird leaves, and the quest is completed, even though Grant won't talk to the player character. The vertibird at least needs to be visible for this to work, as the engineer will simply respond as any other engineer would prior to its appearance.
- The player character can report the existence of either the bomb or the assassin to Grant, provided one has dealt with one or both already. The player character does not need to disarm the bomb to report it in, merely find it, but they will need to kill the assassin to report him in. Once reported, Grant will cancel the speech and usher Kimball to safety by various means.
- If both the sniper and the bomb have been dealt with, it will trigger a scripted event where the engineer attempts to stab Kimball, only to be killed by the Rangers.
- Disabling the bomb and reporting it without getting rid of the assassin will cause him to take a shot at Kimball, only to miss and hit a Ranger instead. Kimball will flee to safety. This is an easy way to obtain the NCR Ranger combat armor, provided one is sneaky enough to loot it without being seen. The NCR soldiers will turn hostile if they catch the Courier. One can also use an NCR disguise to get on stage without suspicion.
- Reporting the assassin without disabling the bomb will cause Grant to sweep the area again, causing him to find the bomb and defuse it. The engineer will also try to kill Kimball, so be ready to kill him first, as nobody in the crowd will stop him.
- If the player character talks to the assassin on the tower after he pushes the ranger off, they can question him about it. He will then suggest going down there, but if the Courier tells him not to, he will turn hostile. After he is dead, if one reports to Ranger Grant via the radio on the tower, tell him what happened and he will evacuate the president. As long as one has not completed the optional objective with the dead engineer, the engineer won't stab Kimball and the bomb won't go off. Kimball will then fly off and the quest will mark complete. This can be done even if the bomb has not been defused.
- The Courier can pickpocket the engineer and steal the redundant failsafe detonator that he has in his pocket. After that, they can show their findings to Grant. He will send two Rangers to arrest the engineer. Before the Rangers come to arrest him, it is scripted that the engineer will take a knife and kill one of the Rangers before another shoots him dead. The speech will be canceled and the quest will be successfully completed.
- If one does not want to report to Ranger Grant and/or does not want to kill the Legion sniper. The Courier can first defuse the bomb on the vertibird, then go on to the stage where Kimball delivers his speech. The NCR will turn hostile but the quest would not fail. After that, the ongoing speech will be cut and the president will flee safely.
- Notice that despite that the NCR turning hostile, the reputation with them will be unaffected. So it is recommended to finish this quest alone when using this method to avoid companions ruining the player character's NCR fame.
- The simplest way to complete this quest is to disable the bomb placed on the vertibird, do not report it to Ranger Grant, and subsequently kill the Legion sniper. The speech will go on normally, and the engineer won't try to assassinate the president with a knife, assuming the bomb is still in place.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- When playing in Hardcore mode, all Hardcore meters will be set to zero when skipping to the morning of the speech after talking to Grant.
- If the player character fails the quest by letting the president die, they are still given the next quest (Eureka!) unless they have failed the Don't Tread on the Bear! quest. The same occurs to the quest For the Republic, Part 2.
- The official Prima Games strategy guide does not account for the third assassination attempt - wherein a Legion operative disguised as an NCR engineer rushes the stage with a knife. One will not be able to hear President Kimball finish his speech if they report their findings to Ranger Grant early.
- The Legion sniper is treated as a member of the NCR faction until the moment where he kills the Ranger on the tower or turns hostile (if the Courier is there to intercept him). If they kill him prior to the Ranger's scripted death, it will result in NCR infamy and garner the hostility of nearby troops. The same applies to the Legion engineer if the Courier attacks him without finding the evidence and reporting it first.
- It is possible to keep the NCR sniper alive. If the player character reaches the top of the tower shortly after the president arrives and begins to speak, they will see a hostile NCR sniper appear and show he is, in fact, a Legion sniper. After the player character and the real NCR sniper deal with him, they can use the radio to terminate the president's speech. Now, one should prepare to snipe the Legion engineer, (if one lacks a long-distance weapon, use the enemy's sniper rifle) he will draw his knife out and try to kill the president. This must be done quickly as no one in the crowd will attempt to stop him. Then one will not need to worry about the bomb, because no one will detonate it.
- While in the crowd or at the top of the visitor center, do not draw any weapons until the Legion sniper appears, or everyone may turn hostile. This only applies if one does not have sufficient fame with the NCR.
- If the player character climbs the tower and speaks to the disguised Legion sniper before the scripted death of the NCR sniper on the tower, they can enter a dialogue with him but there is no option to expose him. The scripted death of the NCR sniper will not occur if the player character stays on the tower. Eventually, the Legion sniper will enter a crouch and approach the edge of the tower, at which point he will successfully assassinate Kimball. At this time the player character can kill him and not make the NCR hostile, the nearby NCR sniper not reacting to his death except for a grunt.
- If the player character gets to the vertibird landing area before it lands, they can observe the engineer planting the bomb on it immediately after it touches down. The same engineer can be observed later joining the crowd listening to the speech which will allow the Courier to already be aware which individual is the Legion agent.
- The player character can pickpocket the redundant failsafe detonator from the engineer on the platform before the vertibird has even landed. The engineer won't stop them, even if they are in the [Detected] state. The bomb will not be visible in his inventory, but he will still plant it afterward. The knife the engineer uses to try to kill the president isn't in his inventory either.
- If the engineer tries to assassinate the president, he will have a knife in his hand after he is killed by the Rangers, but it won't be in his inventory.
- If one changes into a set of faction armor during the speech and in doing so change one's reputation with NCR to neutral or negative, drawing a weapon may turn all soldiers nearby hostile.
- If one causes the NCR to become hostile while performing this quest, it fails. Based on Mr. House's dialogue, the assassination is prevented anyway, as they call off the speech due to the chaos caused by the Courier.
- If one deals with all three assassination attempts without informing Grant and without interrupting the speech, President Kimball will finish his speech, say thank you, and then continue talking, making some colorful remarks without realizing that the microphone is still on.
- It is also possible to skip the entire quest yet still complete it. If the Courier takes out their weapon as the president's vertibird lands while standing near Ranger Grant, then puts away their weapon, the note that one should return to Colonel Moore to let her know that the president has safely left will appear.
- If the player character reports to Grant and tells him about the sniper assassin in person, he will speak to them with a distortion in his voice as though they had contacted him over the radio. The opposite also occurs if one reports the bomb on the vertibird over the radio, he will speak without the radio distortion.
- Even if the assassin doesn't attack, he can still be killed afterward for no Karma loss, without turning anyone hostile, gaining 30 XP.
- Stepping into the backstage area will cause the NCR Rangers to turn hostile. The Courier will be warned first, but if Kimball is already speaking, the Rangers will be inaudible. The Rangers will also turn hostile if any companion passes through the area. ED-E could potentially fly into the area as the Courier heads to the tower.
- After Kimball is hustled onto the vertibird and it flies away, the player character can run toward Boulder City where the vertibird will still be visible in the air. Firing on it several times with an anti-materiel rifle will blow it up (and debris will rain down, usually landing between Ranger station Alpha and Camp Golf) but the quest will still complete.
- When the two Rangers apprehend the engineer in the crowd, the death of the first Ranger is scripted. Killing the engineer before he can attack will prevent the second Ranger's death. The knife the engineer uses cannot be looted from his corpse.
- If one goes up the ladder to the vertibird or the Legion sniper during Kimball's speech he may just stop talking and stand there. Although one can not hear him talking if they go back down, he will still be considered giving his speech and after a minute or two he will just say "Okay, let's get the fuck out of here" and go to his vertibird and make his exit.
- If one destroys the vertibird when Kimball is giving his speech, he would run away to the second floor of the visitor center and then explode, failing the quest.
- It is possible that the player character may not have a positive reputation with the NCR and as a result will not be granted access to the president's vertibird. If this is the case, one can either use a Speech check of 50 with Private Jenson, or may take equip the NCR engineer jumpsuit to gain to access to the vertibird. This may be necessary if one has a neutral or shunned reputation with the NCR potentially due to a faction armor bug in which the player's reputation is reset.
Behind the scenes[]
- After killing the Legion sniper on the guard post and using the radio to report to Grant, one of the dialogue options ("Everything's fine up here, thank you. How are you?") is a reference to a line spoken by Harrison Ford's character Han Solo in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope when he is questioned by Imperials over the intercom.
- A majority of this quest was implemented by Charles Staples.[1]
- The quest name is a reference to a song by the popular singer Frank Sinatra, You'll Know When It Happens similar to many other quests in Fallout: New Vegas.
Bugs[]
- The solution is to go to the Dam's Visitor's Center, walk to the desk, and wait for Grant to come to talk to you.
- You can also use the kill and resurrect commands on Ranger Grant, then use the command setstage 00131f08 10 and Grant should then initiate dialogue.
- The more elegant solution to this shy Ranger Grant problem is to get close to him, open the console, target him via the mouse or via command prid 0013721f then enter, then type disable and enter then enable and enter. It gets him to lose the shyness and doesn't cause auto fails of related quests via killing the character and the game catching wind of it. Don't forget to exit the entire game and re-load if on PC to re-enable achievements after using the console.
After Colonel Moore instructs you to speak with Ranger Grant in the Visitor's Center and starting this quest. If you speak with him before he initiates dialogue the quest will be broken and cannot continue further.[verified]
- Another solution is to speak with Grant to begin the Vertibird arrival, then go to the roof and assassinate the engineer without being seen (otherwise the NCR will become hostile). The Vertibird will land and immediately take off. You will not be able to report to Grant, but the quest will be flagged as complete.
- Yet another solution is to ignore the Engineer initially. Instead, discover the Legion sniper and go to the tower to talk to him and expose him. Use the radio to report to Grant. You have plenty of time to run back to the stairs leading up to the Visitor's Center and intercept the engineer as he runs down to attack the President. Once the engineer is killed, just wait for the President and his security detail to go up to the Vertibird via the exterior ladder, and fly off. You do not need to have personally discovered the bomb on the Vertibird (which should have presumably been placed), recovered the detonator from the Engineer's body, nor make additional reports to Grant. This is possibly the intended solution if someone has a limited reputation with the NCR and cannot go up to the Vertibird landing pad without making the NCR hostile.
President Kimball and his escorts sometimes fail to board the Vertibird for departure, regardless of the method of quest completion. They will either stand next to the vertibird or mysteriously explode within the Visitor's Center.[verified]
- Note: If you are unable to find Ranger Grant on the roof of the observation deck, sometimes he may be found waiting by the Visitor's Center staircase outside. If this happens you must revert to a previous save from before entering the building and speaking to Colonel Moore.
Sometimes, even though you start the quest by speaking with Grant after you investigate the closet and check the terminal, going up onto the observation deck will not trigger the Vertibird landing and Ranger Grant will not initiate dialogue any more.[verified]
- Wild Card: Finishing Touches after starting this quest, you won't be able to talk to Ranger Grant (only one dialogue option - Goodbye) and thus unable to start the event. Your only option is to finish Finishing Touches and let the president die.[verified]
- On the PC, opening the console, selecting Ranger Grant and using the kill command followed by the resurrect command is also a possible fix.
- If you approach him from behind seems to fix this bug, as it makes him start the conversation.
- Shooting either he or an NCR ranger near him will cause him to run back to the Vertibird. His security will open fire on you but will stop if you move so far away. Kimball will leave in his Vertibird, and the legion dressed as an NCR engineer will be gunned down as he tries to attack Kimball. Within a few seconds after his departure, you will have completed the mission.
If you start - Though there are three assassination attempts, not all of them may be triggered during the quest. The bomb on the Vertibird will usually go off unless you deal with it, but the sniper and assassin in the crowd may not act.[verified]
- If you disarm the bomb on the Vertibird and then immediately run to the tower where the sniper spawns, climbing the ladder to the top of the tower may initiate the following sequence. When you reach the top, you will hear the scream of someone falling, but the Ranger sniper is still there alone and fine. If you wait through the speech on the tower with the Ranger sniper, nothing happens until the very end of the speech where a shot will ring out, President Kimball will disappear, the Ranger sniper on the tower (next to you) will disappear, and you will fail the quest (the only dialogue option when talking to Colonel Moore afterward is to tell her that the President was killed by a sniper).[verified]
- If President Kimball finishes his speech and successfully makes his way back up to his Vertibird, he may start walking endlessly against the ledge of the roof of the visitor center away from the Vertibird, and never leave. To fix this, talk to Ranger Grant regarding the bomb or the sniper, and this will initiate the escape sequence for President Kimball, forcing him to depart in his Vertibird.[verified]
- After killing the sniper, report back to Ranger Grant. His first dialogue will be normal but his second sounds like it's coming through an intercom.[verified]
- If you receive the quest from the NCR questline, you can request Ranger Grant to have full access, and it should be granted. As soon as you're ready to start up the quest, go outside and speak with Grant and tell him you're finished preparing. Immediately go onto the roof of the building, there should be a couple of NCR troops awaiting the President, and one engineer leaning against the side of the doorway leading to the visitor area. If you have a good sneak skill, you can hide on the other side of the wall. After the Vertibird lands, and the closest NCR troop goes downstairs, the assassin in disguise will start walking toward the back of the Vertibird. If you're hidden and you use a silenced weapon, you can kill the assassin before he places the bomb. This will cause everyone in the crowd to panic, as well as the President when he exits. A short time later, he should take back off and it will say that you successfully finished the quest.[verified]
- It is possible that before reporting to the Ranger for the first time, many members of the audience will be stripped bare of all of their clothing and will stand there in their underwear during the speech.[verified]
- Sometimes the Engineer glitches and never runs towards the stage: the mission is still accomplished and you may see the Engineer still 'watching' the speech later on in the game.[verified]
- The PS3's lockup bug where the machine freezes up after extended periods in the open wasteland is especially prevalent during this quest. Simply restart the machine and reload the autosave and re-attempt the quest to get around this.[verified]
- When you try to pickpocket the engineer and take his detonator and keys, without disabling the bomb in the president's Vertibird, it still would explode. even after you protect the President from the sniper and the assassin. the trick of this glitch is to kill the engineer right after the Vertibird landed, causing the President to flee safely before he is able to start his speech.[verified]
- When you start the quest talk to Ranger Grant outside tell him you are ready then run to the tower behind the stage climb the ladder then climb down and it should say quest completed.[verified]
- It is possible that Kimball's Vertibird may land and then suddenly take off. After this, the quest will be rendered complete without you having to stop any assassination attempts.[verified]
- After initiating the dialogue where Ranger Grant tells you to get some rest before the President arrives, the game may crash after fading out. (Possible fix) Wait to a certain time (i.e. 10:00 PM) then talk to Ranger Grant to proceed with the quest. (Waiting until 10 PM confirmed fix on PC) (Possible fix) Wait for multiple one-hour increments. If waiting is disabled, find a bed and sleep in one-hour increments.[verified]
- When the Vertibird is flying to come over to the base to land. Press X and you'll complete the quest without having to protect him.[verified]
- patch 1.4.0.525, since doing so will despawn it on the spot. This also forced the rangers to evacuate the President and complete the mission.[verified] It is possible that when climbing the ladder to the tower with the sniper assassin while having ED-E as a companion, that all NCR troops will become hostile to ED-E. Easily fixed by telling ED-E to go back to the Lucky 38 as of
- Sometimes the Legion engineer won't attempt to stab Kimball.[verified]
- Black Mountain, causing it to fail instantly after being taken (since the Courier is not allowed to leave the Dam area).[verified] It is possible to encounter Grant outside the Hoover Dam area when he gives this quest, such as
- When the engineer rushes to stab Kimball, attempting to kill him before the Ranger dies will cause Kimball to glitch and continuously run in place. This makes him unable to retreat back to his Vertibird and the quest impossible to complete, forcing the player to reload the save.[verified]
- Sometimes if you intercept the bomb then rush to the guard tower, President Kimball will not start his speech and render you unable to complete the quest.[verified]
- Sometimes, if you kill the engineer, Ranger Grant will freeze with his face in a grit-teeth glare and will not be able to be interacted with anymore, nor will he move or do anything. Kimball will also run back to his Vertibird and take off successfully and safely regardless of whether or not you've disarmed the bomb.[verified]
- To get to the roof, open console commands, and type movetoqt. This will send you next to President Kimball. If he does not start his speech, you can pickpocket the Engineer in the crowd. He is carrying a bomb. Report it to Ranger Grant and make sure Kimball gets to his aircraft safely. After he departs, you will have successfully finished the quest.
After talking to Ranger Grant, the president will arrive and all the doors will say [key required], and you will be stuck in the Hoover Dam building.[verified]
- resurrect on him.[verified] Talking to Ranger Grant will only have the option "I need to prepare first" making it impossible to finish the quest. This can be fix by open console commands and type
- If the player's reputation with the NCR is Soft-hearted Devil, once arriving at the dam, all armed NCR soldiers will attack you, killing any of these soldiers will instantly fail the mission.[verified]
- SetObjectiveDisplayed 00136166 65 1 [verified] If the president has fled but everyone is stuck thinking he's still in danger use console command
- If you head into the Supply Closet after talking to Allison Valentine, you will sometimes experience a glitch where your game will freeze and if you reload the auto-save it will tell you to report back to Cassandra Moore saying that the President has been killed.[verified]
- It is possible for the game to glitch after disarming the bomb and killing the sniper. The engineer will not attack, and Kimball will not move and Grant will not speak to you after the speech ends (no matter how long you wait). A workaround is to take out the engineer (VATS may be necessary, as bullets will sometimes pass right through him). Kimball will then run toward the Vertibird, although several characters may glitch and block his path, forcing you to push them out of the way and allow him to pass. If Kimball makes it to the Vertibird, it will take off as normal, although Grant will still not speak to you.[verified]
References[]
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