This is'nt so much about fallout 3 as much as some games in general but this is the most friendly, helpfull forum i know so im gonna ask here first.
Basiclly the problem is 2-3 months ago when i played FO3 and OB i could play for half the day without a problem but 7 days ago when i started playing OB again i would have a killer headache and feel close to vomiting after an hour of playing the game.

I managed to fix the problem by turning the brightness of the game all the way down which got rid of most of the bright light in the game but when i went and started FO3 again i had the same problem of feeling really sick after an hour of playing.
I tryed turning the brightness all the way down but there was still a lot of bright lights left that continued to give me headaches.

These are the only two games that i have noticed that give me this problem, all my other ones from need for speed to mass effect and borderlands don't give me any sort of headache even after 6-8 hours of non-stop play.
My eye sight is to the point where i have to wear glasses when i go outside otherwise everything at any real distance is nothing but a blur, but it's not to the point where i need to wear them inside yet.

After talking to my parents we came up with two possible solutions, one being to wear my glasses while i play or two which is to turn the brightness on my tv down to dim the light in the game, but i wanna know if either will help at all since even right after it starts the headache lasts for nearly 2 hours after turning off the game, so i don't really wanna test either unless i know it'll get rid of the problem.

With vegas coming in about 2-3 months i wanna have some solution ready just in case it gives me the same problem, so if anyone could tell me if these solutions work or if theres something else i can do it would be really helpfull.
Also i play the PS3 version if that helps in any way.

A similar thing happened to me last year and I just needed a new prescription on my reading glasses. My eyesight had actually improved some how and my glasses were straining them.

I think in OB and FO3, more than those other games, you are reading a hell of a lot and it's not just dialogue, text on objects that is sometimes hard to read, text on enemies, looking at your pip-boy and so on. I'd try your glasses, but if they are for short sightedness helping you see further away, then you may need a new prescription just for reading/tv and the like. But I'd try the brightness thing aswell just a tad at the same time to be safe.

This is called Simulator sickness. I get it with BF1942, RoTT, and (unfortunately) Serious Sam. Best advice is to quit as soon as it starts; and come back 15- 20 minutes later. Some think its caused by the brain seeing movement, but not feeling movement in the inner ear. If you like Ginger... They say Ginger works better than Dramamine for motion sickness. (Don't know if it will help, but if you like the stuff, it can't hurt :shrug:)

* On the good side... Sim Sickness can sometimes go away with time and exposure; eventually you might not get sick playing (or at least not get sick as soon).

This happens to me sometimes but when it does, the headache is the most excruciating pain through my eyes and it lasts at least until the next day. When it happens I have to stay away from the game completely for a few days or even longer.

Don't play in a dark room and don't play when you're tired. Try and sit as far from your screen as you can. Force yourself to take a break every 15-20 minutes. Pause the game and get up and stretch or just look at various other things around your room for a couple minutes.

Thanks for the responses, i'll go try with my glasses and mess with my tv's brightness a bit see if it does any good.

Although i can't really use gizmo's solution since the headache starts after only 30 minutes of play and even if i quit playing right after it starts it'll still last nearly 2 hours, i also don't have easy access to ginger since we don't use many spices in my home and im not sure what dramamine is, also im not sure it sim sickness but is just a migraine caused by the lights in the game which might still go away after enough exposure to it but it would be really unpleasant to play until that happened, thanks for the response though.

I always play in a dark room and maybe 2-3 feet away from the screen due to the size limit of my room but it's never caused a problem before now and only with those two games, but i'll see if i can get a bit more distance since it'll be better then laying in pain while the headache goes away.

^This.

It's a form of motion sickness.
I get it sometimes too if I play for too long at one time.
It's the opposite of sea sickness...

In sea sickness, your inner ear detects movement, but your surroundings aren't moving. The brain tries to put the two signals together, and short circuits.
In sim sickness, your inner ear doesn't detect any movement, but your surroundings (or whatever you are focused on) appears to be moving. Same thing happens in the brain.

Like has been suggested before, take breaks, get up and walk around. Don't sit too close to your display, and don't play in a dark room.

You can do a Google search on "motion sickness", and there will be several sites that give tips on how to minimize the symptoms.

It would probably be a good idea to get your eyes checked then, you may need to adjust your prescription or how you use your glasses. Your symptoms sounds like they might be caused by simply eye strain.

try shaking your head alot as you play so you inner ear will feel movement


i'm no doctor but hey i could save your fallout life

First test is promising but not perfect, by laying back a bit in my bed i got an extra couple of feet bewteen me and my tv, wore my glasses while i played and took the brightness on my tv from 25 to 0 but anything lower just causes the dark bits to get darker and has no real effect on the bright bits, was still playing in a dark room since im kinda careful about wasting energy.

With all that done i managed to go 2 hours before starting to feel a bit of nausae and only had small headaches for a couple seconds during certain times such as squiting my eyes to search for stuff, when my pip boy light would reflect off a surface, and during the day when there is still a pretty bad glare off of some surfaces, the nausae is already starting to fad after maybe 10 minutes of down time should be gone in 15-20 minutes, also need to look straight though my glasses instead of trying to look though my perifral vision.

It seems that as long as i avoid looking at bright spots and squiting my eyes for extended periods of time i should be able to play for at least 2 hours before starting to feel somewhat ill as opposed to being completly unable to play after only an hour, maybe i'll try messing with a few other settings on my tv to see if i can get a bit more play time per sitting.

Thanks for all the responses which is one of the reasons i love this forum so much so many smart, helpful people.

Heres a few things you should do.

* Don't sit so close to the screen
* Make sure you get plenty of sleep before doing long hours of gaming.
* Drink plenty of fluid/water.
* Take a 15 minute break every hour

I'm no expert but looks to me you are a victim of motion sickness. When you get eye strain you also strain your brain and then you get headaches an this is very bad for you, maybe its because of the TV you have. A non-reflective LCD screen helps because it doesnt shine so much into your eyes my TV had a crappy screen that hurt my eyes when I looked at it for too long. I switched to a non-reflective screen and don't have that problem anymore, maybe its just me but it sure helped.

I've not read the entire thread, but I suggest wearing your glasses when you play.

I've heard of this kind of thing, a few of my friends get motion sickness from playing FPS games. I think what a few people have said about taking a short break when it starts is the best advice,

I got your ill feelings right here^^.

Turn up the ambient lighting in your room. 2 -3 feet away? Try a distance of about 7 feet or more. You're focusing too much on a single fixed plane, for too long. And take breaks. Set an alarm that goes off every 30 minutes. Get up, stretch, look around, go make that sandwich you told someone else to make for you....

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I though I'd point out that this problem has been posted several times before.

There appears to be something about Fallout 3 that causes Nausea and/or Headaches. I used to get headaches from this game, but never from any other game (like Oblivion or Morrowind, etc). I think I got used to it because with my last character I didn't get as many.

But this game does seem to cause nausea and headaches in some.