I've had this copy of Fallout 3 GOTY Edition; I've tried to get into it before and quickly stopped because I decided it would need a very large amount of time to be set aside. This time I'm finally getting in all the way (there's kinda a clearing of games for me right now). But I have a few questions that I could use some help with:

-How do make best use of the map? It seems like it's is just designed for a flat level or single elevations but when you're in the city, it is still like this and I have no idea of what elevation I need to be on to get to a certain waypoint, NPC.

-I'm playing the PS3 version. This version has been regarded to be the buggiest of all; QUESTION: what particular bugs are there to be wary of in this version (especially game breakers & data corruption)

-I might just be speculating too much but should I be at least at a certain level before getting into the DLC to be reasonably capable or does this issue not occur?

as far as bugs go, i don't have specifics but i recently played new vegas on ps3 (which was apparently incredibly broken at launch) and only had minor problems/little quirks in pathfinding and whatever.

I played Fallout 3 on PS3 and there wasn't anything too bad. Just have multiple save files and save somewhat regularly. I had it completely lock up on me about a dozen or so times in the tons of hours I put into it. It is so fun that it never really bothered me.

For the map, if you switch to the 'local map' setting, it shows everything in your immediate vicinity. This is very useful for exploring the indoor locations, and the map marker will usually tell you where to go if you need to get to another floor. This setting is also good for finding hidden doors outside.

For the DLC, level cap isn't really an issue for Operation Anchorage. If anything, it's good to do that one fairly early to get some of the best gear in the game to help you out. The Pitt isn't too hard either so that can be tackled early on, as well. Broken Steel can get pretty harrowing near the end, so a higher level is recommended for that. Point Lookout is also kind of tough throughout. The inbred hillbilly mutants or whatever they are have a stupid amount of health and will take you out without much trouble. Mothership Zeta is kind of in between on difficulty from what I remember. Some of it was challenging but the new gear you get is pretty powerful.

Have fun, man! I would love to be able to do another full playthrough of both this and New Vegas, but I simply don't have the time to commit anymore. All I have now are fond memories.