Just found that before you posted. I'm going to install the full version and see what happens.

this dosent help i still get crashes when starting a new game and i tried disabling the codecs so thats not the problem

Nevermind, this broke something else. The music on the radio plays perfect, but now I can't hear the voices of the NPCs!

Unfortunately this didn't solve the issue.

I have been studying my particular issue closely however.

I've got aggro solved. things aggro me and I don't blue screen or CTD. However, it's when I actually clear the room of roaches and butch tries to re-initiate dialog with me, that is what seems to cause the crash. Why I don't know.

I did get the K-lite Full download. That seemed to install FFdshow codecs. I thought the purpose of this was to remove those as a problem. I did everything without a player, associated everything to windows media player and told FFdshow to only touch white listed programs. Don't know if that was enough.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

Totally solved my stuttering Pipboy music issue. I hope this solution works out for everyone else as well as it did for me.

Thank you!

This is the stray codec I had that came with my digital video camera:
asaudio.ax
This was causing massive crashes upon exiting the vault. After being renamed everything was fine.

I am sure that it works for SP3, I have not used it on mine. Just set a System Restore point first.

Because you used Full instead of Basic, and you mucked around with the options.

Uninstall full, install basic and DON'T TOUCH THE OPTIONS.

The radio crackling will be gone (Have had several people do this, and it works like a charm in every case).

I guess I should try this out as well then... mineaswell since the crackling is getting a bit loud to the point where it hurts my ears now. Even though I am redundant to installing such things as I know they are either hit or miss and could fix it or cause even more problems.

Let me know how it turns out.

I found that uninstalling DIVX player and codec and uninstalling a program called OpenAL made the game run for me.

I don't know if this helps but I've got no crashes or problems with Fallout 3 at all, and I've got CCCP installed.

i do get the music on the pipboy radio warbling/stuttering.

i always thought it was part of the game. and added to the authenticity of records at that time being scratched and dirty etc

im sure ive heard issues with k-lite and other games. every game ive got works perfectly because i dont fiddle installing stuff that isnt necessary or needed.
so im loathe to install this to clear up a radio channel which may or may not be working as intended, only to find that a game that was working perfectly before isnt now because of k-lite interfering.

I don't have this problem but here are some thoughts?

If Fallout 3 needs a codec, then it either installs it or it assumes the codec is there.

If the game is assuming the codec is there, it must be a codec that comes with Windows, or the latest Windows Media Player, or Internet Explorer. I recommend installing them even if you aren't going to use them as they might pull other fixes and config into the system. A codec pack from Microsoft might be another option. After installing Microsoft software, check for updates using Microsoft update.

If Fallout 3 was designed to install the codecs it needs, perhaps it was "fooled" into not installing the codec or the codec install failed without notice.

Its possible that various codecs functionality may overlap. I don't know but it is possible that codecs are selected algorithmically rather than being uniquely specified by the program. If the codec was uniquely identified, the problem would be an out of date version, configuration, or some other problem with the system.

If the codecs are selected algorithmically, then other codecs could interfere with your system. Codecs with overlapping functionality may not perform equally well in terms of capability or correctness. Installing a slew of third party codecs could result in future problems. Who wrote them? Do they have bugs? Are they up to date? Do they use obsolete interfaces or practices? Some software bugs can cause corruption of data in memory or use memory without freeing it when it is done. These can cause serious problems within the process. Malware could also be a problem.

Other programs you installed may have already installed some 3rd party codecs. It is possible that the codec packages mentioned on the forum update a 3rd party coded that was out of date or add another codec with similar functionality. This could improve the situation if the codec is being utilized when Fallout 3 is running.

I would not recommend installing a set of unknown codecs ? this should be a last resort. Try to update the normal windows media codecs. Try to update the 3rd party codecs you have with newer versions, preferably from the company that makes the codec. Delete/uninstall codecs you know you don't need. Look at the priority and configuration of all your audio and video codecs. Compare it to a clean install with IE and WMP (also with video card and audio drivers installed).

Look at other aspects of you system ? Directx, audio, video configuration, drivers.

Thats how I would go about it...

If you like installing special codecs and playing the media that requires them ... prepare to tweak.

Okey, so what I've gotten out of this thread so far is that most of you guys don't dig deep enough. File associations in itself can't contribute to changing a DirectShow filter merit. However, if you set the file association within the application (e.g. WinAmp or Windows Media Player), it might also change the filter merit. Thus, the problems lie with the game using the DirectShow filter with the highest merit, and not with file associations nor the merits themselves.

Problems with DirectShow merits is nothing new, it's been haunting us for a long time with many developers doing the same mistake in the past. So this whole situation is disturbing to say the least. Why oh why did Bethesda not think of this? Why does the game use DirectShow filters based on the highest merit? It's just plain stupid, and considering that there are hundreds of different filters and codecs out there it should be something the QA-team would have tested, right?

Anyway, you don't have to uninstall or disable any of the codecs. The best way is to use an application like DirectShow Filter Manager (http://www.free-codecs.com/DirectShow_Filter_Manager_download.htm) and change filter merits and debug which codec works and which do not, because Fallout 3 will use the filter that has the highest merit. Most likely it should work best with the "default" filter merits, but other filters might work better, or as in many cases just break the game by introducing stuttering, missing audio/video or even BSODs.

For more in-depth info on DirectShow merits: http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/articles/40395.aspx

I hope this helps shed some light on the true reasons behind this problematic but yet simple situation.

by the way I installed k-lite basic and theres no more crackles and pops! Thanks guys

I've been poking around in K-Lite, and have found you can change the merits in the 'Gspot Codec Info tool'. System>List Codecs and other filters>Rightclick>Set filter merit. (For those comfy enough to do so. [P.S.] It's just a slider bar.)

0x00200000 = Merit_Do_Not_Use
0x00400000 = Merit_Unlikely
0x00600000 = Merit_Normal
0x00800000 = Merit_Preferred

You can also 'batch disable' in the Codecs Tweak Utility. Just scroll down and select what you want to disable.

I thought this too. Until I ran dxdiag and turned off hardware acceleration on both sound cards (audigy and realtek on my mobo). Now the sound doesn't chop, load times are about half as long and crashes are much rarer and seem to happen at different times (ie for a different reason), I also have no hitching now. The game is pretty much playable for me finally.

So, I finally had the game crash on my old rig. I had noticed it was starting to load really slow the last couple days, almost acting like it was frozen, but would eventually load. (Older rig, to be expected.)

So I stared playing around with K-Lites tools. I used the 'fixed broken codecs' section in the Codec Tweak tool, and included the last option, (Midi sounds not ticked by default.) just for the hell of it. (Doubt it was the cause specifically, but hey, ya never know.)

I loaded up the game, and to my surprise, it loaded as fast as it does on this rig. So I exited the game, and restarted it. Yet again it loaded up very quickly in comparison. [P.S. I did a 3rd after a reboot and it still loaded quickly.) I noticed the little load "wheel" doesn't pause anymore, it continues to spin right up til the save loads.

P.S.

A64 3500
6800 Ultra
2GB

If your curious.

Those of you having problem with the audio have you tried updating your chipset and soundcard drivers?
If that doesn't help run dxdiag and lower hardware acceleration a notch in the sound tab at a time until it works.

Egosofts X3 Reunion board got a nice topic on how to fix your codec issues its for X3 but most of the same procedure applies.
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=113628
There are not just codecs, but also filters and splitters you have to think about.

Anyway from my own experience of past problems, Cyberlink Powerdvd has been causing problems and slowdowns with other games. Might be worth looking into if you have that installed.

Hi CCNA,

To shed some light on possible setups:

I use VLC player with builtin codecs, and have winamp. It was set to default play OGG files. My WMP cannot play OGG files by default, I assume installing K-Lite would solve that issue.
Are you sure that Fallout3 uses the WMP, and not MPlayer2 (default builtin win media player)?

My home policy is never to install codecs, and let one program handle it. Well, have to change that on this gaming box then. Will report if this works (could take a while, applying "audio fix" now). That audio fix could very well be obsolete, wish I'd read this post first :s

Is there a fix yet for not crashing at "new game" or no? Because I still can't even get past that point... and its really ticken me off.

No. I am not. I know you want to help people. That is not the issue. The issue is that it relieves Beth from doing something about it in the game itself. There are games without this issue, you know. Again, I think it is counterproductive, unless the game is unsupported (like Oblivion).

Man... This is awfull! That issue is not new to this engine. In fact it has been there since Oblivion, Heck, even Morrowind had it. Beth was never willing to fix it. Also, Gstaff didn't care at all. If he did then he would have provided a link to these alternative codecs. I have said it several times. The problem is the lack of communication. This is just another example of how not to address issues. And I am fairly sure that they won't do anything about it. I will fall from my chair if they actually would contact the authors of Nero (as an example) to work on a solution.

One would think installing K-Lite is the thing to do, but GStaff thinks otherwise.

Before they can start fixing, they need to know the cause. We are helping them find the cause right here. So, we can either proud ourselves in helping to create a patch that 1000's of people require, or sit back and wait. Ask yourself what you want to do, then do it.

Quite possible that this problem has occured in other Bethesda titles too. Maybe the remarks didn't make it to the guy/division/outsourced Indian developer that made this part of the code. That's one of many examples of bad communication in today's business world, and it does not only happen in the Gaming industry. Time will sory this out eventually. Not much comfort for us waiting for a fix now, I know...