Where do I need to place my save files? : Fallout 3

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 2:12 pm

Right, so here's the situation. I've been experiencing the common crashes that Game of the Year Edition Steam users suffer. The game crashes a few minutes into gameplay, I'm not sure if the problem is solved, but for some reason, I can't load my save files from the Start Menu. I know that I still have my save files but the problem is I don't know what folder I'm supposed to have them in for them to register.

I currently have them in: /Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Fallout 3 goty/Fallout3/Saves

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:13 am

Why are you insisting on logging into G4WL? Just curious. Microsoft's site should have the G4WL save file path.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:43 am

G4WL?

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:58 pm

Is your Fallout 3 showing up in "Games Explorer?" My Oblivion and Skyrim showed up in the list, but not Fallout 3.

Start/WinLogo > All Programs > Games > Games Explorer. Getting Fallout 3 to show up in that list may be a necessary step . . .

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 5:04 am

G4WL?

Ahhh, perhaps you need to acquire and install the latest version of Games for Windows LIVE then. Fallout 3 requires the latest version for Windows 7 & 8 users, possibly for Vista users.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:42 pm

No, Fallout 3 isn't showing up in Games Explorer. How would I go about doing this?

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:47 pm

I already have Games for Windows LIVE, I had to get it for Halo 2

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 5:14 pm

If you already have G4WL and are logging into LIVE through the Fallout 3 launcher, your old save games will not be available. If you do not log into LIVE your old save games should be available to play.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:18 am

There is supposed to be a way to login to LIVE and play your old save games but then they will no longer be managed by the Steam cloud service. Do you really want to move them and disable Steam cloud functionality for your saves?

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 10:09 am

I'm not logging into LIVE when I launch the game, I got it through Steam.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 2:07 pm

There is supposed to be a way to login to LIVE and play your old save games but then they will no longer be managed by the Steam cloud service. Do you really want to move them and disable Steam cloud functionality for your saves?

I only use one computer for Steam, so cloud functionality is not a priority.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:27 am

Originally when I saved a game on Fallout 3, it went to My Documents/My Games/Fallout3/Saves and they wouldn't load.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:45 pm

So you already owned the disc version and recently bought the Steam version?

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:10 am

No, I bought it directly off of Steam. I don't have the disk version. It just saved there for some reason.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 5:29 am

Well sorry about all the pvssyr then. I thought you wanted to try to load up your Steam saves into G4WL. Steam not saving the files in the correct location never dawned on me as a possibility.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:24 am

Documents > My Documents > My Games > Fallout3 > Saves

(Win7 Style)

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:41 am

That's where they were when they didn't load at all.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 9:37 am

~~Oh, wait, I figured out the problem. When they weren't loading, they were in another file Steam created named after my username.~~

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:06 am

Are you sure you weren't logged into G4WL when they wouldn't load? It is possible you have set G4WL to automatically log you in and if you are logged into them it appears to disable Steam cloud save functionality. Of course there could be some other setting within Steam causing the issue as well . . .

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:41 pm

Ahhh yes, your "My Documents" folder is different for each user account on your system.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:12 pm

Disregard my last statement, it appears that the file the game relies on when loading and when saving are totally different files. ie, the files to load must be drawn from Saves\, while when saving, it saves it in another file within the Saves\ file titled after my G4WL account name so it can't be loaded later. It does appear however that the game auto logs me into G4WL

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:57 pm

So if you want the Steam saves to load you cannot be logged into G4WL, but if you want G4WL to manage your saves you have to login to them. Is that the result?

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 10:07 am

Disregard my last statement, it appears that the file the game relies on when loading and when saving are totally different files. ie, the files to load must be drawn from Saves\, while when saving, it saves it in another file within the Saves\ file titled after my G4WL account name so it can't be loaded later. It does appear however that the game auto logs me into G4WL

As someone with the FO3 GOTY disc set I thought the G4WL functionality was stripped out of the Steam version

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:47 pm

As someone with the FO3 GOTY disc set I thought the G4WL functionality was stripped out of the Steam version

Windows 7 & 8 Steam version users must have the latest version of G4WL in order to play without crashing (at least for the crashing/lockups caused by xlive.dll). We don't have to login to play, but it is an option.

» Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:48 pm

So if you want the Steam saves to load you cannot be logged into G4WL, but if you want G4WL to manage your saves you have to login to them. Is that the result?

That appears to be true as far as I can tell. So is there a way to prevent the G4WL from logging me in when I start the game so I can use the Steam saves? (Though I'm not sure if these saves are Steam saves since they were saved as a result of G4WL management, being placed in a separate file. I'm a bit confused myself. Where does Steam load the save files from?)