God does not want me to play Fallout 3.

[KeithTalent]

I've tried everything and nothing has worked:

1. Both the Steam and DVD versions of the game (I own both now).

2. Community patch version 1.20.

3. Updated all drivers available.

4. Replaced my RAM as there was a weird error in one stick from Memtest; now all good brand new RAM (no other game gave me issues with the old RAM though).

5. Ran the game in most of the compatibility modes for Vista and XP.

6. Opened all permissions and always ran as Administrator.

I think that's everything, but the game still freezes after the opening cinematics. There is a weird flashing square in the top right corner of the game and that never seems to go away. So anyway, seems like this game was a complete waste of money unless anyone has any suggestions.

This game has given me so many headaches I will never give Bethesda another dime.

KT

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Fallout 3 sucked anyhow.

 

[KentState]

Do you have a Xbox 360? Might be the only "cheap" option at this point.

 

[KeithTalent]

Nah, I do have a PS3, but I don't really play games on consoles, particularly this type of game, plus I've already invested enough in the stupid game.

KT

 

[power_hour]

interesting thread title, made me remember that quote from Star Trek (can't recall exactly which movie) by Cpt. Kirk " ~ What does God need with a space ship?" ...

Anyway, back to your issue.

If it were me and I really am tired of troubleshooting Windows problems (partially because of all the crapware we load on and how easily the registry becomes a messs ...

Option # 1 - backup your OS (Ghost or whatever)

1. Reinstall the OS + latest updates + only Fallout and test it (this will confirm if the game will run)

Option # 2 - buy another drive and then do the above

Bottom line is something is preventing the game from running. IF you know your rig will run the game then you know your current OS is buggered. If it fails to run with a clean build then your hardware is suspect.

And then once you got your rig running right, switch to a RAID # 0 config with that second drive if you can or keep as a spare.

Best of luck.

 

[Elcs]

I've heard that Fallout 3 'can' be temperamental with multicore systems. Try setting the program to use one core only as soon as possible or via a batch file.

Might work.

 

[KeithTalent]

I've heard that Fallout 3 'can' be temperamental with multicore systems. Try setting the program to use one core only as soon as possible or via a batch file.

Might work.

Hmm, ok. I thought there were only issues with quads, but I'll try to figure out how to set it to only one core. :hmm:

KT

 

[nyker96]

freeze in cinematic you say? I actually ran into such a thing with another game, it was because the game uses Media player to play the cut scenes and my media player which I don't use was never used before. If this is the case for you, easy fix, just run the windows media player on any random file, the first time they require you check some boxes, do some setups etc. play a few videos to make sure the windows media player works, then you all set. The game's cut scene should work flawlessly after that.

 

[KeithTalent]

By the way I do have another drive in my rig with Vista on it, so I suppose I could give that a shot.

KT

 

[s44]

What, you finished ME2 already?

 

[KeithTalent]

What, you finished ME2 already?

Heh, nope. It's sitting there on Steam with all of the DLC, but I wanted to try a few other games first. Completed Mafia II, played Borderlands a bit (that game kind of gives me a headache) and now was going to give FO3 a try, but apparently that is not in the cards.

KT

 

[raasco]

Do you have a aftermarket sound card? I have a issue with Bioshock where conflicts with my SB audio card and it will not launch if I have sound enabled. If you do have a sound card I would try launching without sound. Right click game in steam library-properties-set launch options-type "-nosound" without quotes then ok.

 

[KeithTalent]

Hmmm I do have an X-Fi; I'll give that a shot, thanks.

KT

 

[marmasatt]

Dude, it's not even worth it. I played like 4 hours and while the atmosphere was quite good, shooting 8 ft tall scorpions like 5 times and still not having them die, gets old pretty quickly...

 

[Imp]

Hmm... I had similar issues with Metro 2033 after putting in a new AMD 6850. It crashed, complete BSOD (with Windows 7 Grrrr!), during the logo/movies.

I only ever crash in Fallout Vegas at the pop-up menu, while still on the desktop, or in-game. Best I can recommend is a reinstall of Direct X from the Steam -> Fallout:NV -> redist -> DirectX folder. Check around to see if you can bypass the opening cinematics (delete/relocate logo movies from main folder?).

I'm running an X-fi Xtrememusic with bare Creative drivers, no issues.

Also, try the 'verify local content' option under Properties when you right-click the game in Steam. If it's just 1 file busted, no issue (apparently its a .cfg file it can't verify).

 

[BladeVenom]

I think that's everything, but the game still freezes after the opening cinematics.

Did you try disabling Visual Themes and Disable Desktop Composition for the game?

 

[Dorkenstein]

Using any codec packs?

 

[Lumathix]

Fallout 3 sucked anyhow.

Wrong.

 

[Maximilian]

I dont know what the problem is sorry but i can say fallout 3 is totally worth it!

 

[KeithTalent]

Ok, just tried everything else suggested (aside from the separate drive/OS re-install because I don't have the time right now) and no dice. Disabling Visual Themes and Disable Desktop Composition did eliminate the weird, flashing square in the top right-hand corner of the screen, but it still froze after the opening.

No idea about the codec pack; don't recall installing one. :hmm:

KT

 

[Dorkenstein]

Any mods installed? Might also be an *.ini issue.

 

[Modular]

What drivers are you running?

Edit: The game is totally worth it IMO. I really enjoyed it. It did take me some time to get all the way through it, but it's totally worth it.

 

[shortylickens]

I've heard that Fallout 3 'can' be temperamental with multicore systems. Try setting the program to use one core only as soon as possible or via a batch file.

Might work.

That just caused the game to occasionally crash while running around. It wouldnt prevent the program from working at all.

Fallout 3 has to be one of the most buggy games I've ever seen. Just started up a new game today, gonna do all the DLC before running the main quest.
So far, so good. But expecting major issues later.

 

[spittledip]

Fallout 3 crashewd about 3 times on my old 939 4200x2 machine and I put probably 60 hours into the game. On my Intel quad system it crashes often. However, this is most likely due to not migrating the game properly, so it is user laziness, not a problem of the game itself. I meant to try to have it use only 2 cores but I forgot. I had already gone through the entire map anyway on the old system, so no real reason to waste time troubleshoot.

Good luck! I would try the using only 2 cores thing if I were you.

p.s.- this game is great and is worth the trouble in my mind.. that is once you get it stable.

 

[KeithTalent]

Any mods installed? Might also be an *.ini issue.

None that I am aware of. I've done fresh installs of the game about 6 times now.

What drivers are you running?

All most recent. I updated everything in an attempt to get this running.

KT