Hello, I have been searching for days for a user with the same problem as me, but i didn't find any. So sorry if it has already been asked (this is my first post here ).

Now, the problem. i recently installed Fallout 3 GOTY. Everything was working just fine, with almost eveything at high. there was absolutely no lag. But as soon as I start to talk to Three Dog at GNR, (the first time to get to GNR, when you have to kill the behemoth) my game starts to lag horribly. I can't even play, it gets to about 2fps. It is not a radio stutter. my pip-boy's radio isn't even on. I tried putting my graphics at low, even minimum, but it still lags. One weird thing, the main menu (when i press Esc.) doesn't lag at all, only the game. So when this happened for the first time, i tried loading an older save BEFORE i met Three dog, but it lags also (it's affecting all my saves).I also tried to make the conversation with Three Dog and going out of the GNR as fast as i could, thinking it was this building making my game lagging, but it started to lag while loading to go outside... What could cause that? it's sad because i was really getting into it , and now i can't even play for 3 minutes without my game starting to lag like it never lagged...

Thank you!

Do you have any mods installed? That is the first place to look for any problems.

Did Windows update recently update your video card drivers?

Using the same save slot? That's a problem in this game over time. Overwrite a save slot maybe 5 times before you make a new one. Never load an Autosave, in fact turn those features off. Sometimes just making a new slot and then loading that will get things going.

Now, it is more than likely the Rumble that is causing this, although you should have seen this sooner.

See the INI section here for how to fix that.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1465357-installing-fallout-3-with-windows-78-and-xp/

Yes follow the steps in the link CCNA gave you they resolve most of the issues with this game.

If still having issues you may want to try the Fallout Stutter Remover http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/8886/?

take note that mod needs FOSE (Fallout Script Extender) http://fose.silverlock.org/

The stutter remover can help with reducing some issues with performance and stuttering but it will not fix all of them, especially if your pc hardware is quite old or if your are having driver or codecs issues.

Also having more information about your PC specs would help us a lot with finding a solution for you.

Hello guys and thank you for the solutions, but i discovered that Fallout 3 itself isn't the problem, because it now does that to all my games! all my games now lag after 3-4 minutes of gameplay, dropping from 40fps+ to between 2-5fps.(cod4, BF3, Minecraft, Metro2033, Fallout, etc...) i updated my NVIDIA driver, but nothing changed.

For the interested, here are the specs i found about my computer (sorry i'm not too familiar with all the names and everything) :

Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q8200 2.33 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS

4Gb RAM

Windows Vista Family Premium edition 64-bits

(it is not the best, i know , but it does the job)

I am currently updating Windows, i hope it will change something. and even if it isn't with fallout anymore, if you guys have any ideas what's going on, i'll be happy to know it!

Could be heat related.

When was the last time you blew the dust out of your case? Your PC is really a vacuum cleaner and that is where all the dust in your house went. Take the PC outside, you will thank me later, and blow out the dust using a can of compressed air. Compressed air has a lung irritant in it so people do not huff the propellant, so that and the dust means this is best done outside. If you don't have the air, then take the case side off and point a floor fan at the innards. See if it runs longer.

Also, see if the video card is fully seated, it may have heat creeped out of the slot over time.

Lastly, your PC's power supply may be going south. Might want to see about replacing that.

you're probably right, last time i blew off the dust on my computer was few months ago , and i can see a lot of dust behind it. tomorrow i will go buy a can and i'll try all you said, Hope this will work. For the video card, i'll check this too at the same time .

For the Power supply, how do I know if it's the problem? is there tests or something i can do?

Well first check to see if the can of air fixes the issue.

If the PC is a brand name and still has the original Operating system on than it likely has PC Doctor on it. That program can run quite a bit of Diagnostic tests on the system. I doubt it can test the power supply but it might be able to tell if the components are getting enough power.

What you can do when you finished cleaning the case is to check the connections and make sure all the cables are seated correctly.

Ok thank you i'll check this ''PC Doctor'' you mentioned! hopefully good news tomorrow !!