Lockups every 2 minutes

[Vaedian]

Hello everyone,

 

I know this is the 5341234th thread about Fallout 3 lockups and I want to say, that I just spend the whole sunday and monday trying to get Fallout 3 to work with all those internet solutions. I know that the game worked on my PC about a year ago, but since even a complete reinstall of my system didn't help, I'm hoping to find some support here. Maybe something in the game has changed with a recent patch that I don't know about?

 

Ok, first my specs:

Intel Quadcore Q9550 @ 2.83Ghz

4GB DDR2 800

GeForce GTX260² v197.45

SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium

Vista64 Home Premium

Running Fallout 3 Retail UK Version 1.6/1.7

No Cracks involved

Not using the standard installation path

 

The symptoms:

I installed F3 on my old Windows-Installation, where it worked a year ago, because I figured a lot has changed (mod-wise) and it would be best to get everything up to date with a new game setup. Everything worked fine, except for the game crashing on startup when I DID NOT use FOSE. With the Script Extender I was able to start the game and play. I got out of the Vault, did the first quests and then it suddenly locked up randomly. I figured that it always happened in Silvers house in Springvale within a matter of seconds, but everywhere else after a few minutes as well.

 

My search for fixes:

- first I tried the usual candidates, deactivating mods until I reinstalled the game completly and tried to run it mostly vanilla (except for FOSE, otherwise it wouldn't start, probably something with LIVE)

- this didn't help, even the vanilla version locked up

- then I looked up FFDSHOW, which I hadn't installed at all ... I did install it and deactivated Audio/Video for Fallout 3... didn't work

- I tried deactivating my pagefile... didn't work

- I tried using older video drivers, of which some said it fixed their problems... didn't work

- I tried playing in Windowed-mode... didn't work

- I tried using ALchemy on F3... didn't work

- I tried increasing the process priority... didn't work

- I tried to set the speaker configuration to stereo... didn't work

- I tried setting the Fallout3.exe to use >2GB RAM with CFF Explorer... didn't work

- I tried switching between Version 1.6 and 1.7... didn't work

- I switched the installation path... didn't work

 

After that I figured I should reinstall my entire system, was about time for it anyway. So now I have nothing installed except for:

- Vista64 Home Premium (with all updates)

- Nvidia Drivers 197.45

- recently updated Sounddrivers

- Agnitum Outpost Firewall Pro 6.7.1

- Fallout 3 v1.7 without any mods/DLCs

 

... and it still locks up after a few minutes of gameplay outside the Vault. I have to add that it does not crash on startup anymore, not with FOSE nor without. So the new installation fixed something at least.

 

 

I figured, since it ran perfectly once, it can't be some BIOS setting or missing firmware update. I'm expecting something with the 1.7 patch or the Windows Updates since last year. My PC temperature is fine, I kept monitoring it all the time. Even after a complete system reboot the game would lock up in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds.

 

So yea, if anyone out there would be kind enough to give me a hint, I would be very grateful.

[Fonger]

1 - fose has nothing to do with live

 

2 - if game crashes without FOSE - then you are using a mod that requires FOSE

 

3 - not all mods have an esp

 

4 - try again - uninstall the game AND delete any surviving fallout folders.

 

5 - re-install - make certain you DO NOT USE the default location for the install.

 

6 - try the game - clearly now without any mods.

 

7 - now for even more fun, search FO3nexus for some mod that disables GWFL (for Fallout)

 

8 - install the 1.7 patch

[Vaedian]

Hey,

 

thanks for the reply, but...

 

FOSE is incompatible with Windows Live, so when running via fose_loader.exe, Live will be disabled.

It wasn't mod-related either, because it even crashed on a fresh installation with no mods/DLC installed.

 

I never use the standard installation path and changed it between the installations. Always a good idea.

 

It seems to be patch-related. I found a suggestion about Patch 1.1 breaking the quad-core support, making the system lock up randomly. I didn't give it much priority, because I thought they would have fixed it by now... but apparently they did not, or not completly. The fellow suggested to edit the Fallout.ini like this to limit F3 to two CPU cores:

 

Find the line:
bUseThreadedAI=0

Change it to:
bUseThreadedAI=1

Add another line after it and insert:
iNumHWThreads=2

 

I did that and since then the game is running flawlessly for a few hours without a single lockup. Even Silvers house in Springvale, which was a 100% freeze location everytime I tested it, works fine! If it keeps running like that your suggestion about trying it unpatched would have worked as well hehe. Right now I'm running on 1.6 with MMM, FWE, EVE and some other smaller mods. I'll try 1.7 for Zeta later this night and edit my post if it still works.

 

 

Edit: Yep, it's fixed. Even runs flawless with Patch 1.7 and Zeta now.