For info only (sorry, no solutions here):

File types in Fallout3:
MP3 - radio music files
WAV - most of the environmental and "regular" sounds
OGG - voices

Re: The OGG codec - Fallout3 supplies an OGG decoder in the game install folder (the libvorbis files). That decoder is used for the voices. Whatever OGG decoder you may have installed in Windows MAKES NO DIFFERENCE, any Windows OGG decoder WILL NOT BE USED by the game. You can completely disable or uninstall any Windows OGG decoder and Fallout3 will still properly play the voices files, except in the case that the built-in OGG decoder has a problem running on your computer. Simply stated: You DO NOT need to have an installed Windows OGG codec. As far as I can tell, you cannot redirect the OGG files to play through an installed Windows OGG codec instead of the built-in OGG codec, the built-in OGG codec is apparently hard-coded into the game engine. Anyway, this only affects the character voices.

Re: The MP3 and WAV files - These apparently play through the DirectShow filter, whatever filter you have installed. I would think that the safest approach is to make sure that the Windows Media Player properly plays these type of files and that both MP3 and WAV file types be explicitly associated with the Windows Media Player so that the generic Windows codecs are used. You are certainly free to use whatever DirectShow filter you like for these file types however. The problem with MP3 files is that there is a very large number of MP3 codecs some of which don't work so well for every flavor of MP3 file or don't work so well on every computer.

Re: Crackling - This is a known hardware problem particularly with Creative soundcards in Vista, it can also be a problem in XP. It is usually related to the particular motherboard (and BIOS) that is used. The problem commonly is a conflict between the soundcard and the videocard and it is generally a motherboard PCI/PCIe timing problem. Motherboard manufacturers often have newer BIOSes that can fix the hardware timing problem and completely fix the crackling. It is also known that aggressive overclocking can cause this problem. For Creative cards the latest Vista driver (and the Alchemy package) seems to help eliminate most problems.

Adding the exceptions for FFDshow fixed my crash-on-exit-attempt problem I had.
Thanks guys!

Cool! I tried this... still waiting for a crash. I noticed oblivion.exe was already on the ffdshow list >.>

I'm confused with all of this. But do you think this problem has anything to do with broken codecs: I keep crashing when trying to go to that town after leaving the Vault. (I also tried that ffdshow fix for it, it gave me a couple steps pass from where I crashed)

None of the fixes posted help me

I was first able to play until the B-Day party - then it crashed - then I disabled autosave and was able to play for half an hour outside of the vault .. then it crashed again and since then I am unable to start a new game or continue a saved one .. so whatever it is - I am sick of it :/

it seems that i have found a solution for my CTD's:

firstly i didnt have any sound issues, sound was just fine. but the game still CTDed. i'm using my onboard Realtek High Definition Audio and in order to solve the crashes i just had to switch from HD-mode to AC97-mode in BIOS.

hope this helps anyone.

greetz uuzi

Just more information to help narrow down:

No Vodei in my PC.

Still playing in Bday party. Stuttering is too bad to go any further.

Used InstalledCodec and disabled Gabest codecs ( I think they are real media codecs brought in by K-lite 3.70).

Helped a lot, but after 30secs of walking around and engaging NPC's in conversation, the stutters are worst.

CTRL ALT DEL to check:

With no stutter / lag, the CPU load is about 3%. Whenever the stutters begin, the load is 50% constant ( I have a AMD X2 4200).

I next uninstalled the whole K-lite and the above is still same.

I'm thinking there are 2 issues:
1. Codec
2. Memory Leak

The question is: Why do they not include the codecs needed inside the game? Since .ogg it not a default audio format unless you run a Linux-distro it must be included, and if you ask me: Any media format is NEVER by default on any system. And a game should be able to run out of the box if you got the hardware.

Note: Will never uninstall K-Lite, otherwise how the heck am i suppose to wathc my movies?

No offense, dude, but it's pretty obvious you have no idea what you're talking about. I could write up a piece of code in less than 5 minutes to crash any video drivers you could come up with. Type mismatched outputs, OoB outputs, infinte loops, etc. Hell, I could just write something to instruct the driver to address your 7 milllionth gigabyte of video memory. That would sure crash it.

I suspect (again, no offense intended), that you don't really have a good idea of what a driver is. On the other hand, I've written actual drivers, and therefore have plenty of experience with both good drivers and bad drivers. In fact, one of my drivers would cause a BSOD anytime it tried to access a file >4 GB, because the product it was put into didn't support files larger than 4 GB, and I naively assumed that therefore, any input containing a file larger than 4 GB would be errorred out before my driver got to it. Not so much. Oops.



No OC on my computer. I bought top of the line components for my box precisely so I wouldn't have to. And avoided SLI/Crossfire, precisely because the current state of the drivers for those platforms (the drivers are still new and buggy, and as such, even when they don't create crashes, freezes, stuttering, etc, will often give FPS results lower than you'd experience with a single card without SLI/Crossfire, heh.)

Also, as my machine plays every other new FPS just fine, I really don't think FO3 is giving it any undue stress.



My gaming machine sits right below a window, in front of an A/C vent, which has been off for the past couple weeks, as I've been opening the window instead. The outside air here in Ohio has been less than 60 degrees lately, and when I was doing some extended gaming over the weekend, the outside air was in the 40's.

The ambient temp inside my case was probably less than 80 degrees while I was having these crashes every 40 minutes - 2 hours. It reads like a classic memory leak and/or infinite loop case. Either one will hang/crash drivers they access as either the memory needs of the engine gradually grow (based on the leaks) to outstrip the capabilities of the hardware, or every so often, the graphics engine encounters a case which results in an infinite loop, causing the graphics drivers with which it is communicating to stop responding. I don't know if console users are also experiencing this problem, which would help narrow down which of those two cases is more likely, but either way, I very much doubt it has anything to do with codecs (or hardware, or drivers).

It reads like a classic software issue inside Bethseda's graphics engine. While I applaud the community effort to try to figure this out, I'd wager my left testicle that the vast majority of the crash issues (and even the A/V crash issues) being experienced have nothing to do with codecs or anything else the community can troubleshoot. Bethseda needs to patch up their graphics engine.



Uh, no.

The problem for me seams to be Creative related..

Just out of curiosity i uninstalled all my creative drivers shut my rig down.. took out the xi-fi gamer card and turned on my on-board sound.

I now have no sound issues in Fallout 3 at all.. Time will tell on the freezing issue.

*edit*
I still have CCCP codec installed. with no changed except takeing out hardware.

So I uninstalled K-Lite this morning, and used Nightmares 'Codec reset utility' (On XP SP3, works fine if your concerned.)

I thought I had found a fix for slow load times yesterday, but it didn't last long.

This seems to have got it to load within 2 seconds again, and I'm not sure if it'll revert back later like yesterday, but I thought I'd mention it.

The more and more I see, the more I have to agree with others, I believe a lot of peoples issues are Codec/sound related. Not EVERYONE, but I'm sure many.

I have 127 codecs on my rig at the moment.

.RAM file Parser	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	9x8Resize	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	AC3 Parser Filter	Microsoft Corporation		mpg2splt.ax	ACELP.net Sipro Lab Audio Decoder	Sipro Lab Telecom Inc.		acelpdec.ax	ACM Wrapper	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Allocator Fix	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	ASF ACM Handler	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	ASF DIB Handler	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	ASF DJPEG Handler	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	ASF embedded stuff Handler	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	ASF ICM Handler	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	ASF JPEG Handler	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	ASF URL Handler	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	ASX file Parser	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	ASX v.2 file Parser	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	AVI Decompressor	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	AVI Draw	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	AVI Mux	Microsoft Corporation		qcap.dll	AVI Splitter	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	AVI/WAV File Source	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Bitmap Generate	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	Cinepak Codec by Radius Inc.	Radius Inc.	vidc.cvid	iccvid.dll	Color Space Converter	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	DSP Group TrueSpeech(TM) Audio CODEC	DSP GROUP, INC.	msacm.trspch	tssoft32.acm	DV Muxer	Microsoft Corporation		qdv.dll	DV Splitter	Microsoft Corporation		qdv.dll	DV Video Decoder	Microsoft Corporation		qdv.dll	DVD Navigator	Microsoft Corporation		qdvd.dll	File Source (Async.)	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	File Source (Netshow URL)	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	File Source (URL)	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	File stream renderer	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	File writer	Microsoft Corporation		qcap.dll	Frame Eater	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	Fraunhofer IIS MPEG Layer-3 Codec	Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen IIS	msacm.l3acm	l3codeca.acm	Full Screen Renderer	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	G.711 Codec	Microsoft Corporation		g711codc.ax	IMA ADPCM  Audio CODEC	Microsoft Corporation	msacm.imaadpcm	imaadp32.acm	Indeo codec by Intel		vidc.iv31	ir32_32.dll	Indeo codec by Intel		vidc.iv32	ir32_32.dll	Indeo? audio software	Intel Corporation		iac25_32.ax	Indeo? audio software	Intel Corporation	msacm.iac2	iac25_32.ax	Indeo? video 5.10	Intel Corporation	vidc.iv50	ir50_32.dll	Indeo? video 5.10 Compression Filter	Intel Corporation		ir50_32.dll	Indeo? video 5.10 Decompression Filter	Intel Corporation		ir50_32.dll	Infinite Pin Tee Filter	Microsoft Corporation		qcap.dll	Internal Script Command Renderer	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	ir41_32.ax	Intel Corporation	vidc.iv41	ir41_32.ax	iyuv_32.dll	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.iyuv	iyuv_32.dll	Line 21 Decoder	Microsoft Corporation		qdvd.dll	Line 21 Decoder 2	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Microsoft ADPCM Audio CODEC	Microsoft Corporation	msacm.msadpcm	msadp32.acm	Microsoft CCITT G.711 Audio CODEC	Microsoft Corporation	msacm.msg711	msg711.acm	Microsoft GSM 6.10  Audio CODEC	Microsoft Corporation	msacm.msgsm610	msgsm32.acm	Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Decompressor	Microsoft Corporation		mpg4ds32.ax	Microsoft RLE Codec	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.mrle	msrle32.dll	Microsoft Screen Video Decompressor	Microsoft Corporation		msscds32.ax	Microsoft Video 1	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.msvc	msvidc32.dll	MIDI Parser	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	MJPEG Decompressor	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	MPEG Audio Decoder	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	MPEG Layer-3 Decoder	Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen IIS		l3codecx.ax	MPEG Video Decoder	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	MPEG-2 Demultiplexer	Microsoft Corporation		mpg2splt.ax	MPEG-2 Sections and Tables	Microsoft Corporation		mpeg2data.ax	MPEG-2 Splitter	Microsoft Corporation		mpg2splt.ax	MPEG-2 Video Stream anolyzer	Microsoft Corporation		sbe.dll	MPEG-I Stream Splitter	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	msg723.acm	Microsoft Corporation	msacm.msg723	msg723.acm	msh261.drv	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.M261	msh261.drv	msh263.drv	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.I420	msh263.drv	msh263.drv	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.M263	msh263.drv	msyuv.dll	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.uyvy	msyuv.dll	msyuv.dll	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.yuy2	msyuv.dll	msyuv.dll	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.yvyu	msyuv.dll	Multi-file Parser	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	NSC file Parser	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	Null Renderer	Microsoft Corporation		qedit.dll	Overlay Mixer	Microsoft Corporation		qdvd.dll	Overlay Mixer2	Microsoft Corporation		qdvd.dll	QT Decompressor	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	QuickTime Movie Parser	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Record Queue	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	SAMI (CC) Parser	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	SampleGrabber	Microsoft Corporation		qedit.dll	Sipro Lab Telecom Audio Codec	Sipro Lab Telecom Inc.	msacm.sl_anet	sl_anet.acm	Smart Tee	Microsoft Corporation		qcap.dll	StreamBufferSink	Microsoft Corporation		sbe.dll	StreamBufferSource	Microsoft Corporation		sbe.dll	Stretch Video	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	tsbyuv.dll	Microsoft Corporation	vidc.yvu9	tsbyuv.dll	Uncompressed Domain Shot Detection Filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	VBI Surface Allocator	Microsoft Corporation		vbisurf.ax	VGA 16 Color Ditherer	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Video Mixing Renderer 9	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Video Port Manager	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Video Renderer	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Video Renderer	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	Wave Parser	Microsoft Corporation		quartz.dll	WIA Stream Snapshot Filter	MyCompanyName		wiasf.ax	Windows Media Audio Codec	Microsoft Corporation	msacm.msaudio1	msaud32.acm	Windows Media Audio Decoder	Microsoft Corporation		msadds32.ax	Windows Media Multiplexer	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	Windows Media source filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	Windows Media Update Filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll	Windows Media Video Decoder	Microsoft Corporation		wmvds32.ax	Windows Media Video Decoder	Microsoft Corporation		wmv8ds32.ax	WM ASF Reader	Microsoft Corporation		qasf.dll	WM ASF Writer	Microsoft Corporation		qasf.dll	WMT Audioanolyzer	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Black Frame Generator	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT DirectX Transform Wrapper	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT DV Extract	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Format Conversion	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Import Filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Interlacer	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Log Filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT MuxDeMux Filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Sample Information Filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Screen Capture filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Switch Filter	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT VIH2 Fix	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Virtual Renderer	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Virtual Source	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WMT Volume	Microsoft Corporation		wmm2filt.dll	WST Decoder	Microsoft Corporation		wstdecod.dll	XML Playlist	Microsoft Corporation		wmpasf.dll

With Vista 64 and X-fi I have had the most luck with K-lite Standard and no Alchemy.

Well I used the installedcodec app to troubleshoot and I narrowed one of my issues (CTD when People's Republic of America radio switches from the announcer to static) down to the Nero AAC parser codec on my machine. Once disabled, no CTD.

So... thanks for that!

The download from the first link contains malware SPR/PSW.NetPass.CF according to my antivirus program.

i cant figure out why the music on radio stations plays perfectly ok when youre stood next to an ingame radio, but warbles when you play it using your pipboy.

its the same music, and surely using the same codecs/filters??

I haven't read the whole thread, but I found out ArcSoft codecs cause trouble for the game.
Such as single digit FPS after the G.O.A.T. exam and very sluggish main menu control.

So disabling two codecs have solved my problems. The game has yet to crash for the first time.

ArcSoft 3GP Splitter
ArcSoft Audio Decoder HD

Thanks for the tip! Running Vista 32. Uninstalled VLC Media Player and it seems to have solved both the ingame freeze-crashes and game exit crashes I've had. Hat's off to you, sir.

When I started fussing around last night and installed K-Lite Standard, it had me uninstall an older ffdshow that I didn't know I had and then found a defective codec and fixed it.

Since then, my game has been perfectly stable. Will test today to see if results last, but something tells me one of the codecs fixed it up.

Vista x64/Nvidia GTX260/Nvidia 780i integrated sound (believe it is Realtek HD, but I might be wrong)

I can get a dxdiag from before/after the problems were fixed. I pulled one before I installed K-Lite, and I can pull another when I get home today. Comparing the differences may shed light on what caused the graphical errors (I made a post about it, lost in the sea by now!)

Hi

My pc has been rebooting a few minutes in from the start. I tweaked and installed uninstalled, tried most of the tips and tricks seen here but it still doesnt work.
So i thought to get my fix of gaming i'd go back to a good ol game like oblivion and now it chrashes too!!!!!!!!
What happened??
I reinstalled directx latest version, reinstalled my GPU drivers and still reboot on most my games (oblivion, splintercell)!!!
That never happened before installing fallout 3
Can it be overheating?? How can i know that?? Is my graphics card burned?? Can a game actually do that??? Can a file be corrupted by fallut install??

My specs

Intel core 2 duo
ATI X1900GT
1 gb ram
SEttings on medium

Having bugs on fallout is one thing but loosing all other games is beyond me!

thx for ur help

On my system, I was having a freeze/blank screen with radio audio loop on transition to some buildings in megaton (those buildings with a radio playing when you enter) and I tried all the codec stuff and it would work like one time, then screw up again. I then uninstalled an instance of openal I had installed for another game and hadn't had (gr?) a freeze since. my system is a 2.4 p4 1.5 gig ram 256 ati agp x1300 pro sb audigy 2zs. I play with medium settings and it works great for me. Openal seemed to be the culprit for me.

-Scott

I would check your temperatures (use a program that sits on top, I use nTune because I'm nVidia, no idea if ATI's come out with something similar). If not, I am suspicious that changing settings in Fallout 3 can corrupt codecs and/or expose corrupted codecs, because when I installed K-Lite it found and fixed a corrupted codec and now my Fallout is perfectly stable.

A card can fry, but only if it either stays at extreme temperature for a period of time (usually it would BSOD long before having actual hardware failure), or if an irregularity in the power supply (like a power surge) caused electrical havoc within the card. Highly unlikely. If heat is the culprit, go thru with canned air or a hand-vac and Q-tips and dust the crap out of the system, that should drop temps remarkably.


As for my earlier post, anyone know a good site to post a couple DxDiags at? (.txt format) Don't want to spam up the thread, but the codec comparison could aid.

For those of you who are experiencing the memory error (i.e. Exception Code: c0000005 Windows ntdll.dll or whatever its called), try this:

Download InstalledCodec and DISABLE all relating to Cyberlink DVD, the game should start perfectly (wasn't even starting for me and this program is often installed on many computers to play DVDs or the Codec is included with other software to playback DVDs without the actual program being on the computer, f.e. my burner on one computer uses it inside a third party media player).

This will allow the program to start without crashing to desktop (mine is the Steam version just to note).

Haven't tried anything else yet, so don't know if this will help intermittent crashes, but I've disabled Nero and the HiMAT too just in case.

Elliott

Thankyou for saving me.

♥

I personally narrowed it down to the Viscomsoft MPEG2 Audio decoder... runs like a dream now. Thanks!

Can i just ask a question?

Ive downloaded and run InstalledCodec and its came up with 156, if i disable all of them it might help?

Also im just getting BSOD?