Hey everybody...

I have this problem in my new laptop after few minutes the game hang but the sound keep playing and I read about it here in the forum also I searched google in hope for finding solution for it and the only solution that I found that I must change and add some lines in the Fallout.ini file; I did that and the problem gone but unfortunately I got bad performance in the game... not the case as before... the game was ruining smoothly without glitches or something like that until it hanged completely....

Here is the solution that I found:



By the way I run most recent games smoothly without any problems like Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 so please nobody tell me the problem related to my computer specs (the computer spec written blow)...

My game version: Fallout 3 Game of the Year
My laptop spec:
Windows: Windows 7 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i5 2.4 GHZ
Graphic Card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5145
Memory: 4 GB DDR3

Note: all drivers are up to date....

I hope I find solution without losing any performance....

I'm having a similar issue. I'm using the regular retail (not GOTY) version of Fallout 3. The game will freeze and the sound will keep playing.

I've downloaded the most recent patch for the game (and subsequently downloaded the Live Disabler from Fallout Nexus to take care of that lunacy), updated my Nvidia graphics, tried the above mentioned .ini multicore fix, downloaded the K-Lite codec pack and disabled ffdshow for Fallout3.exe, and after that didn't work, I tried the SHARK x64 components package to no avail. I checked the solutions page in the stickies section of the forums as well.

CPU: Intel i3 550 @ 3.20 GHZ
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 7 x64
Direct X version 10

Please tell me I missed something. I don't want to wait until the 19th to play more Fallout goodness.

I think the game has a big problem with windows 7 64 bit and the quad core processors and what I did was changing in fallout.ini and the game stooped crashing but I got bad performance in the game....

Try to change in the fallout.ini file maybe will fix the problem,,, either then that I hope we see another solution or fix for the problem from Bethesda...

Okie, you apparently know little to nothing about hardware, so here is a crash course.

1. Your GPU is a crap chip.
2. MW2 is NOT A DEMANDING GAME
3. Fallout 3 IS A DEMANDING GAME

MW2 is fundimentally different in how it works compaired to Fallout. MW2 loads the whole level, so there is no mid game loading. Also the model quality is limited for performance reasons.
Fallout 3 is a Sandbox game, meaning a huge world. Ther IS a lot of mid-game loading. There are several thousand objects on screen at any given time, so there is a lot more being rendered.

NEVER EVER EVER compair unrelated games when trying to see if your computer can run something well.

In short you get bad performance because your GPU svcks.

Did I use enough colors?


See my sig. I run Fallout flawlessly.

Errr....."The AMD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5145 is a renamed Mobility Radeon HD 4570 with slightly higher clock rates". It's gonna pull some medium settings in this game, so I'd say it's far from a crap chip.

If you mean doing this:



I've already tried that. Is there another way?

BTW, I forgot to mention I have a dual core and not a quad.

Bleh, stupid ATI confusing me again...

What are you talking about!!!!

Then what about crysis, Crysis warhead , Oblivion and many other modern games I run these games in frame-rate between 30-50 frame!!!!Of course under high settings.

GOD!!! so Fallout is the only DEMANDING GAME and all others are craps!!!

It seems you who does not know anything about hardware and I give you little advice, before you put your words go to google and search about this problem to know what the problem is about, the problem is very clear it is from the game in dealing with quad processor.

to developer: the game crash even under very low settings with quad enable in fallout.ini

Sorry my friend this is the only solution that I found for solving the problem.

This is slightly irritating. I can only get the game to run for a few minutes at a time. Why would Bethesda abandon their product so soon? Now it looks like I'll have to wait until New Vegas comes out. It'll be back to Oblivion until then, I guess. It just really pisses me off that they won't fix this problem, because there are a ton of other people out there that have the same problem I do with very similar specs.

The Crysis games are linear and do not load procedurally, but instead commit nearly all the level data to memory. The reason Crysis is such a demanding game is mostly due to the high resolution textures, so technically any computer with enough VRAM can run Crysis on high settings with little frames issues. Hell, my old x1300 would run Crysis on high.

Oblivion is an older game and not as demanding as Fallout 3. Fallout uses much higher resolution textures, as well as many engine updates.

I never said Fallout was the only demanding game, nor did I say the others were crap. I simply stated that Fallout is more demanding then Modern Warfare 2, so comparing your performance in one game to the other is apples and oranges.

OK let's put the problem and my diagnostics in points to be clear for everybody:
1- The game crashes even in very low settings and with all effects exist in the graphic options are disabled.
2- The game sometimes crash after few seconds after the game is loaded even in indoor areas.
3- After changing in fallout.ini the game runs without any crash the only problem is the performance.
4- (Before changing in fallout.ini) I run the game in high settings in frame rate not goes under 30 frame and higher in indoors areas.
5- (After changing in fallout.ini) I run the game in high settings in frame rate less then 25 frame and sometimes dramatically goes less than 15 with a lot of glitches.
6- I'm not the only one with this issue I find many by searching in google also you can find some in here in the forum.

Echonite: Oblivion was just an example due it was built by the same engine, I tried recently FarCry 2 which runs smoothly in my system without any problems and it also offers a big open world as fallout...

Weird. When I change the ini, the performance doesn't change at all, even when I put the settings on maximum (and it really doesn't have any visible bearing on the game anyway).

Have you tried running the game with the ini change and NOT on high settings?

Yes, I've tried every setting and the only difference is the graphics, the performance is the same and the crashes are just as frequent.

I tried disabling ffdshow, but it was already disabled for fallout3.exe, no luck there. Could there still be a codec problem?

So regardless of the settings, you are still getting the same ~25FPS?

this sounds familiar but I cant recall where ive heard it before...

I honestly don't know what FPS it runs at because I don't know how to check it ingame, but it runs as well as a console version (until it freezes that is).

To measure the framerate in games try to use fraps...

I ran Fraps and it indicated a solid 60 fps on Low settings. With Ultra settings I can pull about 49 - 56 fps.

Also, I noticed my game locks up the most frequently when someone speaks or if a notice (like when you look at an item or locker) pops up.

I do not know if this will help, but I have been playing fallout 3 for months on a quad core system (Q9650), with only rare crashes (half of which have obviously been overheating, like when I did not clear a mass of hair that had piled up on my fan intake).

I do turn off autosaves, which I had heard really helps game stability, but I do not know if that is just superstition or if no autosaves have really helped me.

I have been using the steam goty version, which also might or might not be significant.

I have not installed windows 7 yet, I am still using vista.

So, based on my experience, I think that if you are having a problem with your quad core system, it can not be soley because of you having 4 cores on your cpu.

I'm confident this issue is caused by sound. I've tried the k-lite (which I uninstalled) and shark007 codec fixes, but NOTHING works. I contacted Bethesda (yeah, that's how desperate I am), but they will probably just spin me around with some fancy rhetoric and not answer my inquiry. I thought about buying the game on Steam just to see if that works, but I'm doubting it. I've been all over the internet, trying all sorts of fixes, and I'm fairly pissed right now.

That's not true. I play both Oblivion and Fallout and I can get better performance with Fallout even with higher settings. For instance, I can't have any AA with Oblivion if I want to maintain an outdoor framerate around 20-30 FPS. With Fallout I can have 2x AA and I still get framerates from 35-40 outdoors. And Fallout contains alot more VWD objects than Oblivion does. Try to have a distance view in Oblivion like you do with Fallout and the game would grind to a halt. The texture resolutions used are almost exactly the same in both games as well, with an average file size of 512 x 512 pixels. It's true that there have been engine updates, but those have greatly increased performance, not reduced it.

Well that might be part of your problem right there, you're throwing too much at your video card. The 9500 isn't really a very good card, you shouldn't be trying to run the game at anything more than Medium settings with it. If you want to be able to see all the graphic bells and whistles, you need to upgrade to something like a 9800.

Did you read the whole post?

I disagree; I'm able to run the game superbly at about 49-58 fps in the highest setting until it crashes. Regardless, I've been testing the game on low settings (and I get the same results as on Ultra, the game crashes regardless of video settings).

Is there a way to disable the sound for diagnostic purposes? I can disable my sound device, but the game won't play at all then (the game requires a sound device to even start).

I did not install any codecs packs in my computer so I do not think the problem is related to the sound.. I will test the game in windows xp in the same computer and I will see what will gone be.