hi folks this is how i got my steam fallout 3 game finally to work under windows 7 64 bit, on an acer i core 5, nvidia gf gt 540m, 6gb ram;

after struggling and reading most post this is how i did it,

first i downloaded the micr games wind live client, got registered etc;
then i downloaded the 1.7patch from bethesda
then i downloaded the d3d9.dll, dragged it from my downloaded files to the fallout game file, c/program files x86/steam/steamapps/fallout3, just put it in there.
this prevents that dx10 or dx11 kick in.
then i changed the fallout.ini file in the mygames folder: c/users/my name/mygames/fallout3 to restrict the core use
Find the line:
bUseThreadedAI=0
change it to:
bUseThreadedAI=1
Add another line after it and insert:
iNumHWThreads=2
dont forget to save! But important not to move youre mygames folder to a different location because every time you do a patch or update it will create the same folder again on his originally spot, with the originally ini file again, so the changes wont work. i even suggest if you ad a dlc or do another patch to check if it didnt change that file again.
after that i started the game, got the video and sound settings again and i accepted it for now(was put on med quality), went through the beginning screens till i had new game, save, load etc. clicked on live and logged in the mgfl. started new game and it was running perfectly. played for half an hour and started a new game without logging in the windows client, changed even the settings and it runs fine as well. been playing now for 6 hours without 1 freeze or crash.
hope this helps my fellow gamers with the same issues ;D

Hi,
I bought the GOTY edition on disk and installed it on my laptop but it was more trouble than fun. I play mainly on PC. Is there a similar solution for the disk installed game?
Ta

then i downloaded the d3d9.dll, dragged it from my downloaded files to the fallout game file, c/program files x86/steam/steamapps/fallout3, just put it in there.

Where you download this d3d9.dll?

I've tried your solution, and i've also tried changing the values in the fallout_default.ini in the ../steamapps/common/Fallout 3 -folder, but alas to no avail

Additionally i've tried disabling my second screen, as i've read that dual screens might trigger problems with the game as well, but that didn't help either.

My game crashes every time i try to start a new game, rendering the game utterly useless

Here are my system specs, please write if you need more!

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4
Processor: AMD Phenom II 955 BE @ 4 GHz
RAM: 2x2 GB + 2x4 GB 1600 MHz (OCZ and Kingston respectively)
Graphics: HIS 5870 1GB + ASUS 5830 1GB DirectCU (crossfire)
Storage: I've tried running the game both from my normal harddrive (WD Black 1TB), and from SSD (Crucial C300 64GB)
Power Supply: CMSP 850 watt
screens 2x1920x1080, one connected via HDMI and one via DVI.

I have no idea how to do any of this, could you record yourself doing it? Bandicam is a good program if you don't have fraps