Hello first time post here. I'm having a problem after purchasing NV off of steam. The game refuses to start. I press "play" and the launcher briefly starts then closes and nothing happens. I sent a ticket to valve and after telling me to do things I had already attempted they sent me here. This is a fresh un-modded copy with NO dlc packs and fully updated.

Things I have tried:
re-verify game cache (at least 4-5 times)
re-downloaded entire game
setup DEP to "opt-out" mode for both falloutNV.exe and falloutNVlauncher.exe
attempted to run from falloutNV.exe and falloutNVlauncher.exe (exact same issue as from steam)
experimented with d3d9.dll fix
deleted and re-dl all ini files (including the ini in my docs)
Ran both setup exec packs for directX and C++ from fallout new vegas redist folder
fully updated GPU drivers and .NET framework and all service packs

Things to note:
InstallScript.vdf never verifies but I'm led to believe this has no effect on the actual game. I have not been able to access ANY part of the game from the options or the launcher. I do not use active scan anti-virus. All other programs and windows behaves normally. Any help would be appreciated.

Specs:
WIndows XP
GTS 250
2 gb RAM

Edit: Whoops I forgot to mention that I also disabled steam overlay and steam cloud stuff for fallout NV. I also did the obligatory delete .blob file.

Dunno if it helps - Just throwing suggestions out there - pay no mind if you already have tried
Have you made sure you're up to date on your directX 10?
Is there a specific error when it stops responding?
Can you post a DXDIAG?
Are there any known issues with your type of video card?
When you do a fresh install through steam, do you also delete the folder in your documents before reinstalling?

Far more typically for a forum such as this one, new members want to skip right past the most important single part in a PC used for games, and glorify the overkill of twelveteen unnecessary cores in the CPU (games almost never use more than two cores anyway, and more than four is plain silly). In your case, you did name a GPU, but not any CPU.

The minimum *is* a dual core CPU, not a single core . .