FO3: Crashage! Wonder if Steam version works? : Fallout 3

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 5:11 pm

I recently installed Fallout 3 for the first time in two years. I would love to play it, but of course it keeps crashing because it's on Games For Windows Live (piece of crap). I've done all the research and tweaks that can be done:

(Windows 7 64 bit)

Edited the .ini

Set affinity to 1 core

Lowered all of my video settings

Turned AA and Antis off

Updated my sound drivers

Got latest patch from Bethesda

Win xp compatibility mode

I don't know how much more I can tweak it...I think the crashes are more from GFWL at this point, which got me thinking: I wonder if I bought the Fallout 3 GOTY from Steam would it run any better?

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 2:39 pm

Did you install the latest Games for Windows client?

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/pc/downloadclient

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 1:17 pm

Yes, I had already done that too. Forgot to mention it in my OP.

» Sun Jun 30, 2013 1:13 am

One thing I think is interesting: I had set the number of cpu cores for FO3 to use to 2 one time and 1 the last time, using>windows task mgr>process tab>right click fallout3.exe>set affinity>unchecked "all cores" and chose core 0> closed all that, and thought I was done. But when I double check it at a later time, ALL the cores have rechecked themselves.

Do you think I would have the same problem if I bought it on Steam? Thanks for your help, btw.

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 3:58 pm

It might be worth trying http://fose.silverlock.org/ first - it disables GFWL

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 8:05 pm

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to go check it out. Crossing fingers!

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 2:44 pm

Good luck

A 4GB patch like http://fallout3.nexusmods.com/mods/6510/? might also help with stability.

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 11:40 pm

When you edited the INI, did you use the tweaks to tell the game to use multicores, then only use two of them? In other words, did you make the following tweaks?

Also, if you did do the above, do not set the Affinity to one core, because in combo with above, the game is guaranteed to crash.

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 8:35 pm

Did not do anything to the fallout pref file/files?. I didn't see anything like this when I googled for fixes that showed any fallout pref edits.

Turn off the Autosave features, even if you do not load them.

In the Fallout Prefs files, both of them, find this line and make it look like this

bGamePadRumble=0

And make sure your Controls section looks like this in all the files? Which files? Are there more than one files to be edited?, you have to add the mouse stuff (OK, the always Run is a choice......)

[Controls]
bAlwaysRunByDefault=1 (this is set by the game, leave it alone)
bBackground Mouse=0
bBackground Keyboard=1
fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0
fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0
fForegroundMouseBase=0
fForegroundMouseMult=0

Finally, make these changes to both INI files:

Open up the fallout.ini file in: My Documents\My Games\Fallout3
Find the line:
bUseThreadedAI=0
change it to:
bUseThreadedAI=1
Add another line after it and insert:
iNumHWThreads=2

This will limit the game to 2 cores and prevent the engine bug from causing the game to freeze.

Also, if you did do the above, do not set the Affinity to one core, because in combo with above, the game is guaranteed to crash.

Did all the above to the fallout.ini file.

So your saying that the fallout.ini edits concerning the cores, will take place automatically when I load game and changing the number of cores in the Affinity setting is redundant. In other words, leave Affinity to "All Cores"?

BTW, will any of the above edits conflict with FOSE, because I installed that today?

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 3:01 pm

Gardenia,

You do not need to make any changes in the Affinity settings. You do need to make the changes in the fallout.ini file. Make sure you change the correct file. It is not the .ini in the Fallout3 folder that has Fallout.exe.

I am not sure of the location in Windows 7, but you can find the path if you look in the forums. You will know you have the correct one because FalloutPrefs.ini will be in the same folder. These edits will not interfer with FOSE.

If you were to get the game from Steam, you would still have to add the 1.7 patch and the GFWL update and the .ini edits.

Hopefully, you did not install the game to the default location but you instructed the installer to install the game to a location other than "Program FIles".

» Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:41 am

It wouldn't make any difference, the Steam version still needs GFWL.

That's not a permanent setting for any program. As soon as you reboot your system your changes are lost. There is a utility that will allow you to assign specific cores to specific programs, but Windows itself doesn't do that.

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 1:36 pm

Done everything you listed. Will report back if I crash.

Also did all this. Thanks for the help everyone. If I didn't love Fallout 3 so much, I'd just uninstall and throw it in the garbage. This game played great for me in 2009/2010 but not anymore.

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 5:00 pm

It's pretty odd the way it crashes. Sometimes I'll get to play for an hour and a half until it crashes, then sometimes I only get to play for 5 minutes.

That's what just happened now. I wonder if I uninstalled and reinstalled clean would I have better luck.

The only useful bit of info I can offer now, is once it crashes if I reload the game the crashes come even quicker. It's not my video card/cpu temps. They're perfect. Oh well. Any ideas from here?

» Sat Jun 29, 2013 3:42 pm

Do you have any mods?

Also, see this about the 4GB enabler. Don't worry about the stutter remover stuff yet. What you want to do is:

Enable 4GB addressing

Run in Windowed Mode.

If it runs better, there is a mod to remove the border. You may even try not running in Windowed once the 4GB is done. But, there is a mod to remove the window border.

See this for what I am talking about. Note, he records in 1080, so take advantage of it, set the youtube video to 720 or 1080 and full screen and you can read everything he is clicking on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tONiXNbwSt0