Alright, so I've finally registered just to start YET ANOTHER CTD topic. And I apologize for that, but I figured it was worth a shot. I know there's plenty of good people on this forum who will try and help me out.

As it stands, my computer just desperately and drastically HATES Beth's Fallout engine. It all started with my recent reinstall of Fallout 3 a few days ago. Crashed usually within 15 minutes, and always a sure thing. The types of crashes varied from lock-ups ending in Windows Error Report dialogs to full on hardware crashes. Black screen or still video that would brick my rig completely, forcing me to restart.

I've tried plenty of fixes from updating all my drivers to disabling some hardware acceleration to forcing Fallout to use 2 cores (as opposed to my three).

Now, after getting my copy of New Vegas (non-steam, hard copy), I make it through the beginning, even manage to wander around, talk to Victor and Easy. Unfortunately, upon trying to enter the Saloon it's a straight up CTD. My girlfriend, while playing it earlier, crashed right around the Petrol Station on the hill outside Doc's place. Hard crash forcing a restart for her, while mine was an Error Report dialog.

I'm completely at a loss on fixing this issue. They're totally random, but often during new area loads, I've found. I'm assuming the random crashes while just wandering the world map are from streaming loads, as well. If anyone has some advice on some fixes or tweaks that might help, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Computer Specs:
OS: WinXP x32 SP3
Mobo: Mid-level Gigabyte M68M-S2
Processor: AMD3 Athlon Tri-core @ 2.6Ghz
Ram: 1gb DDR2 (sad, I know, but we're working on that.)
Video: NVidia 8500GT 512MB (again, sad, but it holds up well enough)

Also, this is my secondary comp. Technically my girlfriends. I've yet to even try New Vegas on my own computer, that one has beyond good enough specs and used to run Fallout 3 like a dream, but still had plenty of random crashing issues. I'll report back on how that one goes and see if the issues still continue on a completely different hardware setup. If they do, than golly gee whiz, Batman; this engine just hates me.

Edi 1t: I completely forgot to mention my OS. I'm on Windows XP, Service Pack 3.

Edit 2: Alright, so something interesting occurred. Twice now it's crashed while entering the Prospector's Saloon. Right before my second attempt, I entered the General Store with no problems. pvssyd to Chet, did some bartering, worked all as it should: Beautifully. But went right next door to the saloon and it crashed about half-way through loading the area.

So my questions to anyone out there: Has anyone replicated area load crashes like this? Specifically in the same area?
I know the engine is buggy. I've had area load crashes ever since Morrowind. Always random, but never in the same spot. And even if I don't go straight for the saloon, I never get more than half an hour of gameplay.

there is no deterministic factor in these crashes, i once was able to fix similar crashes i had when i entered buildings by using fast travel to another location, save there, and reload the game again from this save - then i could go back and enter the buildings i used to crash

I remember using a similar quick fix when I was deep into Fallout3. The problem with that is that I just left the Doc's house. My time stamp isn't even over 30 minutes of play time. I've started the game, left his house after some looting (cause I'm a terrible person) and managed to walk as far as the Saloon. Haven't even thought of leaving town yet.

When was the last time this computer was formated?

I know people HATE this, but sometimes a good format and reload will work wonders.

please stop with these non technical hilarious hints it only shows that you have no idea about the inner works of software at all

when you say "format" i guess you mean "run a defrag software", because formating will delete the whole disk

this goes along the line with people who say "update your drivers!" "reinstall" etc