Finding Steele prevents gaining SDUs from DLCs?

Borderlands General Discussion
#1

I copied this years ago from the old forums:

The ideal playthrough @Lips posted is a pretty solid way to do it; I played through using that method once and it was a nice experience. Since then, I’ve modified it a little to satisfy the completionist in me:

1. Follow the ideal playthrough in PT1 main story.
2. Complete Prove Yourself in PT1 for the skill point.
3. Play Dr. Ned in PT1 up to rescuing the Claptrap for the backpack SDU (avoid all side missions except the Claptrap Rescue).
4. Complete Robolution in PT1 for the backpack SDU and skill point (again, avoid all side missions except the Claptrap Rescue).
5. If you’re a glutton for punishment or really want 72 slots at the end, play Knoxx in PT1 up to the Claptrap Rescue (again, avoiding all other side missions) and farm it until you get your Backpack SDU.
6. Fire up PT2. Jump right into Ned and complete up to the Claptrap Rescue.
7. Do the same for Robolution (stop at the Claptrap, instead of completing the the whole thing).
*8.The reason for doing these two is that once you find Steele in the main game, these Claptraps won’t reward you with an SDU. Ever.
9. This will put you at a point where you can pretty much skip every side mission in the main game. So run through the PT2 main game, avoiding side missions almost entirely.
10. Complete Knoxx PT2.
11. Complete Prove Yourself PT2 for the skill point.
12. Finish Robolution for the skill point.
13. At this point, do whatever the hell you want.

That’s how I did my last few characters. You’re a bit overleveled right at the beginning of PT2, but skipping the side missions lets the game catch up with you pretty quickly.

I should say that I am in PT 1 and running the GotY Edition. If I understand it correctly, I have to stop the main game before running into Steele on the Eridian Promontory, and do the DLCs, up to the Claptrap rescues—otherwise, I cannot get the SDUs from those DLC missions? If this is correct, it seems like a bug that wasn’t addressed. Also, if correct, it seems like a great way to prevent players from enjoying the natural flow of the game!

Is this the case, or is the author, above, mistaken? (Or, am I simply not understanding what this guy wrote?)

I’m actually on the Promontory right now, just before running into Steele.

#2

There’s a whole thread on this topic already. IIRC it seems that some of these work differently in the remaster.

#3

There are several. They contradict each other. They widely lack authority and clarity.

#4

@Kurtdawg13 - do you remember that SDU testing thread from after the Remaster came out?

#5

I’m not entirely sure but I think I’ve heard multiple times that this is fixed in the Remaster/Enhanced edition.

I’d wait until somebody actually played more than 20 hours of the Remaster/Enhanced to chip in though, just in case the hearsay is wrong.

#6

Let me fire it up and see.
edit:
ok, yes you can still get the 72 slots by farming the SDU’s. I have more characters on the Enhanced than the original. I only have Lilith and Roland on GOTY. When the enhanced hit, I started Mordi and have him at level cap with 72 backpack slots. so its confirmed.

I have 441 hours on the Enhanced. :grin:

#7

Do you remember if any of them are still blocked if you advance through the ‘Find Steele’ part of the story on Pt.2?

#8

that I do not recall and would not waste a characters progression just to see. That is a lot of wasted time.

#9

I know there was some extensive discussion about it, but I can’t remember the location/details.

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#10

this?

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#11

Thanks, yes! @iamwileecoyote - this is the authoritative thread you were looking for.

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#12

Now I’ve read this glitch actually affects PT 2—not PT 1.

Getting to the Claptrap Rescue in Dr. Ned’s isn’t that involved, if you run past the meandering hordes. Getting to the Rescue in Robolution requires either a bit of fighting or learning to grenade-jump a particular shortcut.

No longer feeling that a SDU is worth the hassle.

#13

If you’re hellbent on getting 72 slots (I always am), then what I like to do is complete, but not turn in, the 5 Claptraps in PT2 that award SDUs (Safehouse, Lost Cave, New Haven, Tetanus, Scrapyard), then go do the Ned and Claptrap DLCs. I use the SDUs to overstuff my backpack, which (from anecdotal evidence, nothing scientific) seems to increase the odds that the vanilla Claptraps will reward their SDUs.

Additionally, in regards to the GotY, from what I’ve seen, they fixed the Robolution Claptrap but not the Ned Claptrap in regards to the Find Steele issue in PT2. I still get them both early on to be safe.

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#14

No longer hellbent. Once I realized getting to the Robolution Claptrap would entail wrecking storyline continuity, I gave up. Maybe I could have done the grenade jumping trick, but I wasn’t feeling that, either.

I just realized the matter is a PT 2 problem, not a PT 1 problem.

Speaking of PT 2, the vanilla Claptraps still hand out SDUs? I just ran Sledge’s Safehouse and got a lousy grenade. I naturally assumed SDUs weren’t going to be a thing in PT 2.

You know, it’s all just a confusing mess.

#15

They’re not guaranteed drops like in PT1. The 5 Claptraps I mentioned in my last post have a chance to drop the Backpack SDU, so you can dashboard/read-only farm them if you want the max slots.

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#16

The first 5 or so have a chance to reward a SDU. I didn’t believe this before, but on a recent farm for the Lost Cavern one I was having a rough time until I overstuffed my backpack. I’d save up some side missions and accept those rewards to stuff your backpack, then turn in the Claptrap missions.

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#17

“Dashboard/read-only” farm?

#18

It’s how you reset your game without it saving progress. If you turn in a mission and then exit the game session through the main menu it will save your progress and you won’t be able to turn that mission in again. So, to avoid that you can return to the home XBOX/Playstation screen and then close the game. When you boot the game back up your mission can still be turned in.

You can also do the same thing on PC by Alt+F4’ing the game, but a faster way to farm missions without rebooting the game every time is setting your save file to read-only, in stasis. Once you get your drop or whatever you set your save back to normal and then quit through menu.

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#19

Are there any hard stats for SDU drops in PT 2?

I find it hard to justify playing the same battles over and over for only a sliver of a chance to get another SDU after PT 1.

#20

Not that I remember seeing. I only farmed a couple of the easy ones and, with a full/over-stuffed backpack, I don’t think it ever took more than 5 tries to get the SDU. YMMV on that - it is all RNG-based after all.

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