Eternal Outcast Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I've recently gotten Fallout 3 for PC after having played it for a long time on the 360 because the console started crapping out and I need my fallout fix. The game runs just about perfectly up until I try to open the first door on the way out of 101. My computer locks up and everything freezes except for the music, which stays normal. After about a minute the game returns to normal. This repeats at every door on the way out and every door that leads to a fairly large area once I'm out of the vault. For example, it won't happen if I enter Craterside Supply, but it will once I leave to Megaton. Moving from Megaton to the Capitol Wasteland and back will cause it to happen each time I use the door. Lastly if I'm in one of these large areas it will occur roughly every 5-10 minutes. I've reinstalled several times in multiple locations and without any mods installed and nothing seems to help. I've upgraded all my drivers and patched the game to 1.4 (passed on 1.5 because I heard it was horrible). I'm running on 4 gigs of ram, Nvidea GeForce 9400 GT and a Core 2 Duo E4400 © DC 2.0 GHz. The game is currently installed in C:\Users\Public\Games\Fallout 3 but the problem occurred when it was installed in the default location as well. If anyone knows anything I could try to make this game playable on my PC please let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muppetsoup Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Weird... page file possibly? Where is it and how big?You might check your event viewer to see if there are any messages regarding virtual memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eternal Outcast Posted June 1, 2009 Author Share Posted June 1, 2009 The Page File is still on C: as I've never known a reason to change that, it's at 3625 MB The Event Viewer doesn't seem to list anything regarding virtual memory. Running the game windowed (no change to this bug) so I could view the task manager shows "Commit Size" as being steadily around 500 mb for the game. The only thing I notice change during the lockups is that it's CPU usage shoots up to 50 while otherwise it's sitting at around 38. Oh, and don't know if it makes a difference, but running it as Admin doesn't help either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eternal Outcast Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 Been playing the game through the semi-crashes and I think I've found a pattern. The crashes occur every time GNR changes songs. I'm guessing other locations might be tied to ambient music changing based on location or looping. Updating my sound card drivers hasn't helped, and I assigned it to a single CPU instead of running on both in my dual core due to some other advice I've found. One weird thing is that while the songs play, hitting esc to open the menu will pause it, but alt tabbing from the menu causes the songs to play on my desktop. Another note, the songs after the lock ups start from the middle of them, as if they were playing while the system was frozen. I'm using a Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1600. I think I'm getting closer to a solution here and I really hope to be playing properly soon, because this is the only problem I seem to be having with this game even with several mods installed. Correction: My sound card seem to actually be Realtek High Definition Audio. There doesn't seem to be a number, probably because it's build into the PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wandik Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 as for long loading times, try to update graphic drivers. Or even try different ones, i was allways happy with latest Xtreme-G nVidia drivers. the sound issues might be caused by default sound hardware selection in your OS, if you have TV card, system could determine this is second sound card, and try to play FO3 through it... look into system - sound settings and select Realtek as default sound hardware. Then, update the drivers from the latest release, i thing Realtek makes big drivers bundle usable for most of their sound chips. You definitely should be able to find detailed sound hardware type description in your OS hardware manager... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muppetsoup Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 If you are using any mods that add songs to GNR, try disabling and see if the problem persists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eternal Outcast Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 Thanks for the help but so far nothing seems to have put a dent in the problem. I've gone so far as to uninstall and remove the TV card I had in addition to upgrading the drivers and the problem persists, even following another reinstall. I've also gone into the INI file and increased the cache. I'm guessing I might need a new sound card but I can't be sure. The way the music plays when the game is alt+tabbed even though I open the menu to stop the music before tabbing makes me think the music is overriding the game somehow, or something. I won't bump again unless something major changes but if anyone has any more advice or things I can try I'd appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted54170User Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I have a similar computer set up as you, not quite as new. Is most of your gaming time when it is cool, such as, in the evening? Are Summer temperatures raising your "in house temperature" twenty degrees higher in your area? Have you found out what is raising your CPU usage to 50% while running the game? Has your PC Operating system had its Legacy support system upgraded during Windows Update, 'lately'? DLC game mods may need Patch 1.5, but I have not been able to stabilize the game since I reinstalled it and loaded up the DLC LIVE sign in accounts and got back into the game. I copy My Games Folders save just so I have a back up of the Saves prior to where the problems start. I delete the saves which were the last to be played after any upgrades from Microsoft or after I added a new mod. I am going to reinstall the game Patch it to 1.0.0.15 again and see if I can play mods off my Nexus collection and Fileplanet collections again without problems. Since patching above the 1.0.0.15 patch Patch 1.4 gave me problems which have been mentioned all over the Tech support area numerous times. I got more CTD's and BSoD's then ever after signing on to Games for Windows LIVE and getting Patch 1.5 only added insult to injury. I am considering loading only the game in the standard mode this time. And if I want to play the DLC's I will reinstall and load only the Microsoft Games for Windows LIVE in its entirety. Maybe that way I will get some fun game time in instead of tiring myself out trying to Fix Microsofts old vehicle under the hood while they keep giving a new paint job. :whistling: Anyone seen the movie, "The Lawnmower Man" lately. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eternal Outcast Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 Though it is fairly hot around here atm, there is nothing I can really do to lower the temperature of the room the computer is in. Several electric fans keep the rooms circulation really high. Have you found out what is raising your CPU usage to 50% while running the game? Fallout3.exe goes up to 50% by itself when the "crashes" occur, otherwise it uses about 38%. Has your PC Operating system had its Legacy support system upgraded during Windows Update, 'lately'? I believe so, but I'm installing all the optional windows upgrades now just in case. DLC game mods may need Patch 1.5, but I have not been able to stabilize the game since I reinstalled it and loaded up the DLC LIVE sign in accounts and got back into the game. I have none of the DLC for the PC version yet because I haven't been able to resolve this issue. The problem occurs on a fresh install with no mods, non patched or patched to version 1.4. Haven't tested with other patches yet. I copy My Games Folders save just so I have a back up of the Saves prior to where the problems start. I delete the saves which were the last to be played after any upgrades from Microsoft or after I added a new mod. The first time the problem occurs on a new game is when opening the first door with a loading screen after being woken up by Amata during Escape! Oddly enough there is no problem during any of the "years later" transitions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted54170User Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 The first time the problem occurs on a new game is when opening the first door with a loading screen after being woken up by Amata during Escape! Oddly enough there is no problem during any of the "years later" transitions. Which do you have, "a CD-xxx player or a DVD xxxx player for your disk drive"?Have you updated the drivers for it? What your describing makes me think of disk stutter. That can be caused by the CD or DVD read/write transfer functions not being clear. Check your disk for finger prints, deep scratches, or burns. Also check to see if dust or dirt got in your Disk Player. I have cleaned out Disk player with a camera lense cleaner that has rubber bubble for a quick blast of air to clear out dust in my disc drive. I remember reading some info at one of forums about the the original drivers for the CD or DVD players needing an update to be able to read/write as quick as necessary for Fallout 3 to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.