This is just downright irritating now. My copy of Fallout 3 (GOTY, steam download) was a little tetchy, so I decided to delete the local content and redownload it. Now it just outright won't start, even though I manually deleted all the other folders relating to it before redownloading it through steam. I'm attempting to run it Vanilla. no mods, no tweaks, just the 1.7 patch and all the DLCs. What occurs is that the game will start, steam'll go "Hey! this is your CD key!" down in the bottom right, as it usually does, then it'll just crash at the main menu when it tries to look through the "Slides". I've found the crash to be completely repeatable on my system, even though it's already added to FFDshow's "Do not touch" list, run as Admin, run in compatability mode, and run without steam (Because Steam loads through the Fallout3Launcher.exe, not Fallout3.exe itself) I did recently go through, clear off a load of crap drivers and reinstall newer versions and the like, but that shouldn't have affected this one game, should it? Everything else is working exactly the same since I did that. (Yes. I know Fallout 3's reputation for being about as stable as a needle balanced in a Hurricane. But this is the first time I've ever had this kind of crap happen.)
I've not had experiance with the steam version of Fallout 3, but I do know from other games that where not developed specifically for Steam that you do need to fiddle around with the steam settings for the game. The 2 "Goto" option that I always try first is switching off the steam cloud and the steam community checkboxes. After that - have steam create a desktop shortcut, and then (while steam is already open) run the game from the desktop icon. If however its more of a pure graphics problem, then.... umm....well..... good luck and try not to break your keyboard/hand/face
Considering the crash always seems to be in the same place (Starting menu, the four title slides, it manages the first, crashes on what I think is attempting to load the second) I've just set steam to redownload the Fallout3.esm, the Textures.bsa, and MenuVoices.bsa, to make sure it's not those causing any issues. Frustrating thing is that I've only started having issues with Fo3 ever since going from my little Athlon64 X2 to this Phenom II X4. Still, here's to hoping it'll work. I want to get the joy of watching someone's head fly off in several different pieces.
I've had the same issue initially and just couldn't figure it out, brand new vanilla install freshly updated no mods and wouldn't start up... codec fix and all that didn't help either. Honestly I just wiped it out, redownloaded and reinstalled and idk wtf but it's worked fine ever since.
check into installing/updating games for windows live. thats one of the common suggestions i ran into when i was having problems launching the game. i had the game installed and running fine on my system. then the cooler on my 5870 took a dump so i switched to a spare card...a 4670....in the interm. the game then wouldnt launch. reinstalled drivers, no go. reinstalled game, no go. after many frustrating hours, i changed the graphics from "high" (where the game had "auto detected" to) to "medium" and voila! since you also ran into a problem only after switching hardware, it might be worth a shot to try turning the settings down (maybe even all the way down) just to see if the game will run.
I eventually found the source of the problem: Fallout 3 had been kind enough to write it's .ini files into Users\Tundra\Documents\My Games. Not D:\My Documents\My Games where it should've done. Hence it was trying to boot up on the old INI files from the previous installation (That looked exactly the same.) and crashing out. Still, cheers for the suggestions people, it's nice to see people are willing to help out, even with this problem child of a game!
Ah, shame I didn't see this thread earlier as this is what I would have suggested! This also happens with a load of other games......... *SUPREME COMMANDER 2*
Glad to hear it! I won't argue that it is a problem child of game, it is (for me) one of the best games I have played. Think I may even play some again myself this weekend.
Awesome, I didn't even think of the configs! Yet, despite all their problems Fallout 3 and NV are some of the FPSRPG's into which I've dumped the most of my life... over 180 hours when I finished every nook & cranny of FO3, and 150 logged on NV up to date with the 2 DLC's. No regrets.
Indeed. I find that Fallout 3, with all DLC's, the Energy Visuals Enhanced mod, Mart's Mutant mod, CASM and DarNified UI is one of the best games I've played. Mostly-stable, too, so long as you perform a clean install before chucking all of the mods in there.
i jumped on the FO3 train a little late and havnt even completed all there is to do. i absolutely love the core game and will continue to play it for some time. just last week, however, i started my first DLC, point lookout, and i have to say im not impressed at all. i dont like the feel or most of the characters in the area...and the quests dont draw me in like the core game quests do. i feel like im grinding. i hope the rest of the DLCs are better than this...
Point lookout is a little boring in relation to ones such as Operation Anchorage (Although the Microwave Emitter from Point Lookout is so, so helpful for Mothership Zeta), I found the Pitt a good one, as well as Broken Steel (If only because it lets you continue past the end of the game.)
good to hear. i have a few things to wrap up with point lookout then i can move on. already have the microwave emitter and yes im really glad broken steel came out. i actually finished the main story line of the core game before installing my DLC and was sorely disappointed at the ending. broken steel fixed me right up
The Microwave emmiter is so awesome, because while it only does that 43 damage: It ignores all Damage Resistances when it does it, so even Power-Armour'd enemies get done over. So for Mothership Zeta, it's awesome.
Mothership Zeta was by far my favourite, great change of atmosphere. Broken Steel is definitely the first to play though. Slightly off-topic but not, I find it incredibly stupid that New Vegas didn't get its first DLC like Broken Steel, continuing the game past the ending. Having to reload a save to get into the DLC's completely broke the flow.
Especially with the current one it doesn't make sense story wise.You're hunting down the man who tried to kill you or deciding which faction you'll help rule Vegas and so you decide to take what must be a several month long trip to Utah. From a story point of view it would make much more sense if you did this after the main arc.
I started again... I often see if I can get High/Low Karma endings on games like Fallout so Dead Money (as shite as it was) was open when I hit level 26 really... By that point I didn't mind. Although the new DLC - Honest Hearts... 3.5 hours to complete it... *coughs* excuse me? That's not DLC. That's £7.95 for awful!
