Greetings, I have the GOTY edition on an XP machine. I installed the first disc and played the game for a while and just decided to add the DLC. My character is level 13 or 14, I had a sizeable stockpile of weapons and whatnot, and had developed my skills just to my liking. I didn't install the DLC initially because I wanted to prolong the experience.

The problem is that after a successful installation when I ran the game and loaded my most recent save my character had reset to level one, no perks, no items, nothing. The saves all claim to be of a particular level and whatnot, but when opened they take me to the correct location, but nothing else is as it should be. This problem persists over every save, all the way back to the beginning of the game.

Does anyone know what's up with this?

The problem is GFWL. When the DLC's install, it assumes that you log into it to play the game and GFWL, ever so kindly, moves your saves such that they'll only work when logged in.

1) Find your DLC stuff in C:\Users\{UserName}\Application Data\Local\Microsoft\Xlive\...\...\ (for XP, I think...?), then Ctrl+A, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V (move) all of the DLC files to Fallout 3\Data.
2) Rename Fallout3\Data\Xlive.dll to ';Xlive.dll'
3) Uninstall Games For Windows Live
4) Rename Xlive.dll or use FOMM's "Use fake Xlive.dll" feature.
5) Load DLC ESM's directly after Fallout3.ESM
6) Go to C:\Users\Documents and Settings\My Documents\My Games\Fallout3\, find a folder with GFWL saves and place those saves in your saves folder.
7) Never log in
8) Profit

Granted, I guess you could skip 1-4 and 8, but since you've a GOTY disc, you don't really need GFWL unless using it for something else.

Edit: If the filepaths are off, saves are .FOS and you need the DLC .BSA and .ESM files. Searching for those extensions should render the results you're after, but the latter two are initially in hidden folders.

Thanks for the reply! The xlive data folder is empty. I've included two screencaps of the searches you advised me to do. Oddly, it looks like everything is already neatly in the Fallout data directory. I gave links instead of embedding the images due to size.

http://imgur.com/G9UgI.jpg

http://imgur.com/gCWmt.jpg

*facepalm*

I was thinking about your advice and it occurred to me that something may have gone awry during the installation. I reinstalled Fallout entirely, this time to my C drive instead of the other hard drive and after moving my saves all was well. After playing for a bit I remembered that there was in fact one mod I had installed, "No Repair Needed." I don't like the way the weapons deteriorate from use, it's unrealistic, so I found the mod again and reinstalled it. I fire up the game and guess what? No items!

Let anyone else who finds themselves in my situation be aware that you need DLC specific "no repair" mods. Otherwise you will suffer the same irritating fate I suffered before realizing the error of my ways.

Thanks again for all the help. If it wasn't for your suggestions I would never have discovered what I did wrong.