CTD FIXED for Windows 7

[irbork]

Reinstall your PC's .net 3.0 distribution by going into Programs and Features, clicking Turn Windows Features On or Off, and then unchecking the .net 3.0 box. After closing the panel and allowing it to complete, do the same thing and recheck the box. Fallout 3 installs a BETA version of .net 3.0 which is not stable. Reinstalling gets it off your system.

 

In relation to the above note - it also helps to completely uninstall .net framework v3.5 from your PC (and leave it uninstalled as long as you want to play Fallout 3). It does not appear to be compatible with fallout 3, and will generate crashes even when .net 3.0 is installed correctly. If you have programs you need to use that require .net 3.5, the only workaround I can think of is to keep the redistributable package on your hard drive and reinstall it whenever you need to use those programs.

 

Reinstall your PC's visual C++ 2005 redistributables, both x86 and x64 if you are running windows vista x64. Link to the redistributables on the sidebar. Same reason as above - Fallout 3 uses a BETA version of the VC++ redist which is not stable. Reinstalling it gets it off your system.

 

Reset your controls to default at the game's main menu and get used to playing it like that. Curiously, many people have reported that this stops some crashes to desktop. No logical reason, just seems to work.

 

It helps whether you own an ATI or nvidia graphics card to set your desktop resolution to the same resolution as you play the game in. For whatever reason Fallout 3 doesn't much like running in especially higher resolutions than the desktop.

 

In FALLOUT.INI (located in Documents / My Games / Fallout3) find bUseThreadedAI=0, and change it to bUseThreadedAI=1. As well, add a new line below it that reads iNumHWThreads=2 . By default Fallout 3 tries to run as many threads as you have cores since it's a multithreaded game, but quite often has a tendency to hard lock on CPUs with more than 2 cores (eg. Phenom II X3, X4, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Extreme, Core i7)

 

An addendum to the above - even with this fix applied, having a quad core CPU in my PC causes crashes (confirmed by the use of a dual core CPU - crashes disappeared). The workaround is to use msconfig (click start, type msconfig into the search box, press enter), click on the Boot tab, click advanced options, check off "Number of processors:", and select 2, apply the change, then reboot. When you're done with fallout 3, do the same in reverse (uncheck "Number of processors:") and reboot again to use your extra cores.

 

In the compatibility options for the actual fallout3.exe file, select run in compatibility mode for Windows 2000, and check Disable Desktop Composition. Click Apply. Many people report that this helps, but compatibility with XP SP2 actually causes more problems, so they selected 2000 and it worked.

 

In your Steam options (if you use Steam), disable the in-game overlay. I suspect it's not fully compatible with the Windows Live overlay.

 

If you have any codec packages AT ALL installed, including those that may have come with a third party media player (such as winamp or anything used to play audio / video other than Windows Media Player), uninstall them. Fallout 3's internal MP3 codec appears to be much more stable when there simply isn't any other codecs present. Unfortunately, this means you'll have to watch your media on another PC, at least as long as you want to play Fallout 3.

 

Make sure the latest graphics drivers for your graphics card(s) are installed. Links at side. Reasons are fairly obvious (fix bugs in the actual gfx drivers).

 

 

 

Quote copied from a forum somewhere:

 

I have found the primary issues causing the CTD and other crashes. I’ve sent 3 e-mails

to Bethesda and no responses. My Computer Science Engineering department took a shot

it. I purchased 320 copies and gave them the weekend to figure it out. Here are some of

the results;

 

1.) Fallout 3 Installer installs an older version on C++ Visual 2005 that appears to

affect the way the vidcard driver communicates with the game.

 

2.) Fallout 3 Installer installs a Beta release of DOTNETFX3.0 (.NET Framework 3.0). For

users of .NET Framework 3.0 SP1 or even SP2 (Service Pack of the Framework not the OS),

upon restarting their system (when changes take place), their game will be quite unstable.

Users of .NET 3.5 or Vista should have even more random crashes.

 

3.) Fallout 3 Installer installs a non Plug’n Play DRM device manager (not driver but a

manager) that doesn’t like any 3rd party codecs (ie K-Lite, WinAMP, etc) and will usually

see a CTD when a Hardware codec comes online. This usually occurs when interactive audio

(client controlled speech) initializes (ie baby walking to daddy).

 

4. Fallout 3 Installer installs SecuROM Root kit as well as 8 hidden non Plug’n play

virtual drivers. Owners with more than one Optical drive or a sata drive may encounter

random drive access issues. Also, Imaging software or any software that may use its own

ASPI drive (ie NERO, Roxio, Daemon, ISO, etc.) will have one of the 8 virtual drivers

causing the system to do a random CTD. Reason why clients using a cracked EXE don’t

experience the same volume of CTD as those who bought the game. However, the SecuROM root

kits are still on the system and active. Once the SecuROM is also purged from the system,

60% of the crashes disappear. Unfortunately, they must remain on the system in order to

play the game as they are part of the EULA.

 

5.) Fallout 3 also has its own built in MP3 codec coupled to its DRM to protect MP3’s on

the DVD (in game). Unfortunately, the codec was never tested fully with hardware decoders

like those of an X-FI. This can be varied by the lack of a hardware audio switch in the

game options.

 

6.) Fallout 3 has 14 memory leaks that we found. Most are small, but there are a few that

are quite large. Some areas of the map, the memory counter just spins at over 100 MB/sec.

Most memory leaks are around 5 to 10 MB/sec.

 

7.) Fallout 3 video graphics buffer needs to be adjustable in the options and an automatic

cache purger installed for cards over 512 MBs as well as linked buffers from SLI and

crossfire cards. I’ve seen areas where names on the screen start to disappear and all you

see are “Input Text Here” instead of V.A.T.S. or range or etc. The cache doesn’t get dumped

on some maps. Most games dump their cache when a map reload occurs. This can be noticed when

fast reloads occurs from map changes. Most users will just see their graphics card run out of

memory (CTD and stuttering).

 

8.) Most games were fault free with a basic XP Pro SP2 reload, and only Critical updates

and latest stock drivers. Installed the game and played it error free for nearly 4 days.

Upon a system restart, lots of errors showed up. This means that Fallout 3 significantly

changes the operating system. Far beyond reasonable accounts as all you can do with the

system in not to play MP3’s, watch movies, make a CD or DVD, or play other games.

 

Hopefully, Bethesda will address the issues more than 100,000 people are having.