So I've had something weird happen with Fallout 3 GOTY. Previously I've had problems with it crashing, but managed to fix that, then I started having FPS problems just recently, similar to ones I'd had on Team Fortress 2, but they went away in the latter after restarting the computer. However for Fallout 3 it began to simply not start.

I have the game on Steam, the computer is a Windows 7, HP Pavilion Elite HPE-141f. The problem I'm having is if I click the desktop shortcut or the link in Steam the initial opening window will appear, that is the little overlay with Play, Options, Data Files etc. If I click Play the window vanishes and that's it, nothing else happens. Everything stops. And to be clear it was working fine a couple months ago, and there've been no changes to the computer since. Not that I can remember anyways. And restarting the computer didn't help either. Any ideas?

1) Have you tried validating the Fallout 3 files using Steam?

2) A conflicting mod might be preventing the game from starting. Try disabling them one at a time until the game starts. Then, you'll know which mod is causing the problem.

3) There might be a problem with your settings file. It should be under My Documents --> My Games --> Fallout 3/FalloutPrefs.ini If you delete this file, the game will create a new one with default audio/video/control settings.

How do I validate files using Steam?

Nevermind, figured that out. Tried all those solutions, none of 'em worked. It's almost like the Play option is doing the same thing as the Exit option.

1. go to steam click game then click activate product then type in your CD key

2. right click your game and go to properties.

3. then go to local files and the click verifey integrity of game cache

None of those solutions seems to have worked. Rather than select mods I just turned them all off and it still didn't start. Tried deleting that folder, nothing worked. I've tried verifying the files, and it DID initially say there were 2 unverified ones, but it seems to have resolved that problem in subsequent checks.

Have you uninstalled Games for Windows Live? The Steam version of Fallout 3 requires it to run.

(Actually, it only requires the 'xlive.dll' file to be present in the Fallout 3 directory.)

If the game worked before OK, then stopped it's probably related to mods, in particular not installing or uninstalling them properly.

It can also be a corrupted save, so move the most recent save from your saves folder and try to launch the game again.

... Um, whoops. That is, uh, exactly what I did. How do I get it back?

Download it from the link below and install it.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/LIVE/PC/DownloadClient

If you decide you don't want to use Games for Windows Live, you can make a backup copy of "xlive.dll" after you install it (copy it to a temp directory or something). Then, uninstall Games for Windows Live and copy "xlive.dll" back to your Fallout 3 directory. (I think GFWL is a pain, because it creates a custom directory for your game saves and interferes with using mods),

Its that simple huh ? no need for the GFWL disabler then?

That would be nice to get rid of GFWL and all its components that take up space. I guess ill have to give that one a try.

It's working now, or as working as Fallout 3 gets. Now it's just freezing after about fifteen or twenty minutes. But that's a different topic. Thanks everyone!

Try this then ...

This tool might give you some insight as to your problem http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

1) Download Process Explorer from Microsoft (Sysinternals).
2) Run Process Explorer and go to File > Show Details for All Processes and enter your Admin credentials if necessary.
3) Run the game in windowed mode to ensure ease in switching between applications using Alt+Tab.
4) Once the game freezes/locks Alt+Tab to the Process Explorer window and right-click on Fallout3.exe (Do Not Suspend It!) and select Properties.
5) Go to the Threads tab and verify which one is consuming CPU cycles non-stop.