Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Fallout 3 in Windows 7

11 views
Skip to first unread message

Chuck Michael

unread,
Mar 13, 2010, 10:53:34 AM3/13/10
to
I played, with no problem, Fallout 3 on my old XP machine. I just got a new
Windows 7 machine, didn't like the on board video, installed a gForce 9800
GT card and can not play Fallout 3.

I've tried it patched, unpatched, the default high quality graphics and
manually setting low quality graphics. The game always stop responding in
the baby room. I've tried every hint I can find on the internet; download
the latest LiveGames For Windows, install this, uninstall that, etc.

Always locks up. Not always in the same place.

Can anybody help?

Chuck

Zootal

unread,
Mar 13, 2010, 4:58:27 PM3/13/10
to
"Chuck Michael" <mym...@comcast.net> wrote in
news:ksadnRkeBbZiKQbW...@giganews.com:

Try running in a window instead of fullscreen. This can help with the
lockup problem.

Fallout3 locks up on a regular basis for me, on both XP and Win7. If worse
comes to worse, you might try to find a load game that is past the baby
room. I'm not terribly optimistic this will help in the long run, as if it
locks up there it will lock up in other places. At least this will get you
going a bit longer.

IMNSHO, they screwed up bigtime with the lockup problem, and never fixed
it. I'm not sure if they don't care, or if they can't figure out how to fix
it. It doesn't seem to happen to enough people for them to bother doing
anything more about it :(

Chuck Michael

unread,
Mar 14, 2010, 8:07:43 AM3/14/10
to

"Zootal" <nos...@spam.zootal.nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9D3A8E385BEBEno...@216.196.97.131...

I'll try windowed mode, guess that is the only thing I haven't tried yet. I
was totally unprepared for this since I never had a problem with my old
machine.

Chuck

Chuck Michael

unread,
Mar 14, 2010, 8:16:23 AM3/14/10
to

> Try running in a window instead of fullscreen. This can help with the
> lockup problem.
>

Still locked up. Only difference is, in windowed mode I also lost the mouse
which made it harder to shut the program down. I wonder if that can be a
clue.

Chuck

Zootal

unread,
Mar 14, 2010, 2:47:14 PM3/14/10
to
"Chuck Michael" <mym...@comcast.net> wrote in
news:2-adnX8oyMuISQHW...@giganews.com:

Welcome to our world. I never finished Fallout 3 because of the lockup bug.
Nothing I tried fixed it, and it just got too irritating to play it.

I'm reminded of the "bad game" commercial going around on TV right now. I
feel that way when I try to play FO3.

JC

unread,
Mar 15, 2010, 1:59:54 AM3/15/10
to

"Chuck Michael" <mym...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:ksadnRkeBbZiKQbW...@giganews.com...

You probably already tried updating the video driver, but if not then be
aware that the version of the driver in the box with the video card is
probably the worst one that will ever exist. Later drivers are often far
better.

The other hint is that you lost control of the mouse. This can also be
symptomatic of video driver problems.

Fallout 3 ususally runs for me without significant lockup problems, although
I must admit I've had a lot of them in the last couple of days.

JC

Chuck Michael

unread,
Mar 15, 2010, 4:47:43 PM3/15/10
to
> You probably already tried updating the video driver, but if not then be
> aware that the version of the driver in the box with the video card is
> probably the worst one that will ever exist. Later drivers are often far
> better.
>
> The other hint is that you lost control of the mouse. This can also be
> symptomatic of video driver problems.
>
> Fallout 3 ususally runs for me without significant lockup problems,
> although I must admit I've had a lot of them in the last couple of days.
>
> JC

I thought I had updated but I did it again, just to be sure. It still
locked up quickly but this time I retained the mouse in windowed mode.

I'm starting to wish that I hadn't bought a new computer.

Chuck

Chuck Michael

unread,
Mar 15, 2010, 7:08:23 PM3/15/10
to
I think I got it working.

I followed instructions for getting Fallout 3 to work with a quad core
(which I don't think I have). A change and an addition in the ini file. I
got past the baby room without a lock up. And with high quality.

Now I shall update and try again.

I hope it keeps working.

Chuck

Chuck Michael

unread,
Mar 16, 2010, 4:22:08 PM3/16/10
to

"Chuck Michael" <chuck....@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:uOudnZEE1YJ0IAPW...@giganews.com...

Played for an hour today with no problems. Yea!

Chuck

JC

unread,
Mar 16, 2010, 6:54:14 PM3/16/10
to

"Chuck Michael" <chuck....@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:N5ydnZZEvfrvdQLW...@giganews.com...
I'm glad you got it going. I play Fallout 3 on a quad core too, but its been
so long since I installed it that I can't remember if I did an INI tweak or
not. I must check it out and see if I get an improvement as well.

JC

JC

unread,
Mar 20, 2010, 7:41:27 PM3/20/10
to

"Chuck Michael" <chuck....@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:uOudnZEE1YJ0IAPW...@giganews.com...
Very interesting. I checked if I had made the quad core ini changes and I
had not - so I made the changes and played for a few days. I am now getting
zero in game lockups, which is pretty good. But now I get a lockup on exit
100% of the time, and it is unrecoverable without using the task manager
(Oblivion also had problems on exit, but it was just a crash rather than a
lockup). Previously I never got a lockup on exit for Fallout 3.

So I'll leave the quad core ini changes in place as the gameplay is better,
but I wonder if there is a way to refine the tweak to keep stable game play
but fix the lockup on exit. Anyone have any ideas ?

JC

Chuck Michael

unread,
Mar 21, 2010, 4:11:55 PM3/21/10
to

"JC" <conn...@nospam.com.au> wrote in message
news:4ba55d27$0$32748$afc3...@news.optusnet.com.au...

Strange thing is, I don't have a quad core. It just makes it run. I have
no lockup on exit. I'm happy that it is working but I wish I knew why.

Chuck

Negrodaumus

unread,
Mar 29, 2010, 2:31:12 PM3/29/10
to
I feel your pain.

This is one of the major reasons why I abandoned PC games in favour of
console games. I haven't encountered any problems with the PS3 version.

her...@btinternet.com.invalid

unread,
Apr 16, 2010, 5:21:17 AM4/16/10
to
In article <Pl6sn.93734$Dv7....@newsfe17.iad>,
Negrodaumus <lan...@bluebottle.com> wrote:

I've run it on a MacBook Pro in Windows 7 using BootCamp. Try changing
the screen resolution.

Chuck Michael

unread,
Apr 18, 2010, 7:34:24 PM4/18/10
to

<her...@btinternet.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:herwin-02795F....@news.altopia.com...

Turned out all I needed to do was change the ini file to ignore quad core,
which I don't have - only duel core, and it runs fine.

Chuck

0 new messages