[SOLVED] - Read whole thread for info.

Like many of you, I am having the freezing of controls (keyboard and mouse) problem. This is Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition retail English DVD from Amazon. Inside the game, it says the version is 1.7.03 . All my other games run fine. This includes Half Life 2, Counter Strike Source, Battlefield 2, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, GRID, Far Cry, Far Cry 2, Stalker SoC, Stalker CS, Stalker CoP, and many others.

Game Observations:
The keyboard and mouse stop responding a few minutes into game.
The game keeps playing (with sound and video) without me in control (until character dies).
If I was pressing a key (like “W” or Forward) at the moment it loses control, the character keep walking forward (even up against a wall).
The first small part of a new game plays ok. Problems started around the Vault 101 Atrium.
Even if I reload my save, I could never get inside OverSeers office before it locked up again.
If I load the main menu, and click around on the main menu (Options, Load, etc.) just watching the little slides ... it eventually locks up.
Even after the Keyboard and Mouse stop responding, the Home button (for G4WL) still works (and the top interface appears)
When I go to Task Manger to kill the Process, sometimes is says “Not Responding” but other times is says “Running”

System Config:
Intel Core i7-930 Quad (2.8 Ghz – 8 Threads)
12 gigs ddr3-1333 Ram
ATI Radeon HD-5870
Realtek HD-Audio ALC888s (on-board)
WD 1tb 7200rpm (Black) HDD
Dell 24" UltraSharp u2410 LCD
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DxDiag reports no errors

What I tried that had no effect:
Complete Reinstalls
QuadCore fix – (Added these 2 lines to fallout.ini) bUseThreadedAI=1 and iNumHWThreads=2
Lower Video Settings to Low or Medium with no AA or AF
Turn off Anti-Virus, background tasks, Desktop gadgets
Run from Launcher or main fallout3.exe
Compatibility settings Windows XP SP2 & SP3, Vista & SP1
Compatibility settings Disable Desktop Comp., Disable Visual Themes, Run as Admin.
Turn off Vertical Sync via Options and also fallout.ini
Direct-X Updater from Microsoft.com (June 2010)
Tried with all Data Files selected or just Fallout3.esm
Windowed Mode
Setup G4WL (not that I need it … I just want to play Single player)
G4WL Disabler
Made sure Windows Control Panel Sound was set to anolog 2-channel Stereo
Upgraded AMD-ATI CCC 10.7 to 11.4
Uninstalled Realtek HD-Audio driver and installed generic Microsoft HD-Audio driver
Connected USB Gaming headphones (basically, like using a different Sound Card)
MadFilter codec replacement
Installed updated RealTek audio driver
RealTek HD Audio Mgr. - Made sure Virtual Surround is off
Windows Sound Control - Made sure all Enhanced Effects are Disabled
Windows Sound Control - Tried lowering Default format and various Exclusive Mode settings.
Turned off HyperThreading in BIOS
MSCONFIG: Turn down to only 2 true cores
MSCONFIG: Limit memory to 3072mb

I really don't think it's the RealTek card because the USB Headphones (audio card swap) didn't help.

The only thing that has even begun to work is for me was to turn OFF ALL SOUND via the fallout.ini . Then, once I reloaded any save around the Atrium, I was finally able to proceed into the office, open the secret passage-way, go down, talk to her, more police fight, finally exit to the outside, and look around a bit.

[Audio]
bEnableAudio=0

Maybe there are other missing parameter lines than can be added to help with sound compatibility? I have tried changing some Audio values in the fallout.ini without success (to keep sound on, but make it work) but it still freezes exactly the same.

It seems to be a problem with the sound (like maybe EAX) or with the G4WL connection.

I’m posting this to let everyone know what I figured out. Hopefully it will help a user or developer figure out what this problem is. If this game runs on Vista, it really should run on Windows 7 … there really isn’t that big of a difference … especially when the game runs on the Windows Direct-X platform.

I could have purchased Fallout 3 – New Vegas, but I wanted to start the story at the beginning. With the active Modding Community focus around this game, I find it hard to believe the core game engine appears to be unstable and in-compatible with my common hardware and an OS (Win-7) which is already very mature and widely deployed in the field.

Well, I think I am making some progress.

I think it might have something to do with the ambient music. On my main i7 system (see specs above) there is NEVER any music playing. However, where-ever there is suppose to be music playing (and it's not) is where the game locks up eventually. These are the first 3 places.

Main Menu (must stay in Main Menu for a while ... or it won't freeze)
Entering Vault 101 - Atrium
Vault 101 - Overseer's Office

I found this out by loading the game on my Intel Core2-Duo laptop (which works fine ... but video card isn't really powerful enough for this game). This laptop is running Windows-7 Pro 64-bit.

My Fallout 3 had crashes like mad, and the ONLY thing which helped was using Explorer Suite CFF Explorer to make the Fallout3.exe aware of more than 2 GB of RAM. Now Fallout 3 uses a lot more RAM and (almost) never crashes.

Thanks. I tried it, but it didn't seem to help. Restored old Fallout3.exe .

The game did finally start running better once I got out of Vault 101, and into Megaton. But I think that might be because there is no scripted ambient music there.

Right now, the fix for "no music ... and music events causing game to lockup" is:
Rename MainTitle.wav to MainTitle2.wav
Rename \Data\Music folder to Music2
Turn Music all the way down or off
Do Not play the radio, or especially not for long periods or when "music" tracks are suppose to be playing (can't hear them anyway)
... no ambient or radio music ever plays, but more importantly ... when it should play it doesn't freeze the controls.

I'm not sure if it's the RealTek card or general Win-7 codec problems causing this, but this fix works. Maybe changes in "Media Foundation" between Vista and Win-7?
So, if you do a basic retail GOTY install, and you don't get ambient music, or music on the Main Menu, try this fix.

Running Natively in Win7-64 on Intel i7-930 with 12gb RAM, ATI 5870
No fallout.ini changes (stock)
1920x1200 (16:10) High Settings with AA = none, AF = 4x, HDR, Full Screen
Game icon Compatibility Settings for FalloutLauncher.exe and Fallout3.exe
- Disable Visual Themes
- Disable Desktop Composition

Buggy game ... good thing it's good or I would have given up long ago.

The game is much more stable now with the above sound fix.
I can still tune-in to 3Dog or other station to listen a bit, but turn it off before the music starts. Oddly, in-game radios on desks work fine.
In the game options I have all the AutoSave options off and Music is turned all the way down.

The other thing that helps for me is to disable Microsoft Security Essentials - Real Time Scanning
-or-
Setup an Exception for the Fallout 3 folder and the 2 fallout3 EXEs (main and launcher)

I was playing with a tweaked fallout.ini lately (not the usual tweaks) but for the past couple of hours, I've be using the Original fallout.ini to see if it really makes a difference. It works for a while (30 minutes) but eventually locks up.

The Fallout.ini should be at \My Documents\My Games\Fallout3\
Take the default Fallout.ini, back it up to Fallout_Original.ini
Then, make these edits to the real Fallout.ini .
Note: These are the ONLY changes I made to the default Fallout.ini

Default:
uInterior Cell Buffer=3
uExterior Cell Buffer=36
iPreloadSizeLimit=26214400
bUseHardDriveCache=0

1GB of RAM:
uInterior Cell Buffer=6
uExterior Cell Buffer=72
iPreloadSizeLimit=52428800
bUseHardDriveCache=1

2GB or more of RAM: (I have 12gb, so I used this set)
uInterior Cell Buffer=12
uExterior Cell Buffer=144
iPreloadSizeLimit=104857600
bUseHardDriveCache=1

Next, if they aren't already set to 1 in your .ini file, change the following settings to 1 for some preloading goodness. These settings allow the game to preload textures and other files related to where you are. Load times might increase a little bit if you do so, but the change should noticeably reduce in-game hitching. I'm using all of these.

bBackgroundLoadLipFiles=1
bLoadBackgroundFaceGen=1
bBackgroundCellLoads=1
bLoadHelmetsInBackground=1
iBackgroundLoadLoading=1
bBackgroundPathing=1

If you happen to have a dual or quad core CPU, enable the following settings. These "Multithreading Tweaks" will help with loading and give slight boosts to performance. I'm using all of these.

bUseThreadedBlood=1
bUseThreadedMorpher=1
bUseThreadedTempEffects=1
bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1
bUseMultiThreadedTrees=1
bUseMultiThreadedFaceGen=1
iNumHavokThreads=5
iThreads=9
iOpenMPLevel=10

My game is very stable now.
I've played about 5 hours (many sessions) now without a single problem.

Basically, it came down to using all 4 fixes:
1. Music file Fixes
2. Turn down music volume Setting to off and turned off all 3 AutoSave types
3. MS-Security Essentials (Real Time Scanning) Disable Fix
4. Fallout.ini tweaks

Hope this helps someone.

Here is a Summary:

*************************************************************************************************************

Hardware Config:
Win7-64 on Intel i7-930 with 12gb RAM
ATI HD-5870
RealTek HD-Audio (on-board ALC888s)

Windows Obesrvations:
Using Aero theme WITH transitioning backgrounds
MS-Security Essentials Real-Time Scanning - ON but Exclude Fallout-3 Folder and both EXEs
CoreTemp and other gadgets left running
Windows Media Player is Default association and opens these kinds of files: .wav .mp3 and .ogg

Windows Settings:
RealTek HD Audio Mgr. - Stereo (2 channel) and Virtual Surround is OFF
Windows Sound Control - Enhanced Effects - None
Windows Sound Control - Format - Studio Quality: 24bit, 48,000 Hz (default)
Windows Sound Control - Both Exclusive Mode settings checked (default).
MS Security Essentials - Real-Time Scanning ON (but Exclude Fallout-3 Folder and both EXEs)
Desktop Gadgets - Left running

Game icon Compatibility Settings
For FalloutLauncher.exe
- Disable Visual Themes
- Disable Desktop Composition
For Fallout3.exe
- Disable Visual Themes
- Disable Desktop Composition

Game File System:
Installed to D:\Games\Fallout-3
Fallout.ini (various cell and quad-core tweaks ... see above)
Rename MainTitle.wav to MainTitle2.wav (prevents lockup if left on MainMenu too long)
Rename \Data\Music folder to Music2
- No music ever plays from PipBoy Radio, but more importantly ... when it should play, it doesn't freeze the controls.
- - No big loss because this machine has never played ambient music in game anyway

Game Config Settings:
1920x1200 (16:10)
Verical Sync - Full Screen
High Settings with AA = none, AF = 4x, HDR
DataFiles: All 6 selected for normal GOTY install (no mods)

Game MainMenu Settings:
All 3 Auto-Save Settings turned off.
Music turned all the way down or off
Not logged into G4WL/GFWL

In game PipBoy:
Generally, keep Radio off.
Seems to be OK to listen to 3Dog for a little while, but if he says "music" is starting, switch it off.

In Game:
If you come across a desk radio or flying-radio, it works completely with DJ and music