All DLC Locks and CTD.

[skynet424]

Hi all,

Thought i would just ask why my game keeps CTD or Locking. I have all DLC Installed, loads of mods but never had this problem before, Point Lookout set off to collect the punga fruit from the bog just get there it locks, need to restart comp, broken steel if i fast travel it CTD, The pit when i go through the tunnel to get the signets and you go past the console it CTD, I have patch 1.7 Windows XP SP3, all mods used have never caused me a problem before, if anything since i last played it on a old P4 I never had problems now on the new one it is giving me a right headache......I tried the fake patch that failed, i did burn all the DLC's to disk but seem to be no probs with the disc, looking to buy the GOTY Edition if i cant figure this out....Many thanks in advance...Only two i have no problems with are Mothership Zeta and Operation Anchorage,,,,

[fap6000]

Ums the only thing related to CPU is that the newer multi core chips can cause freeze up situations. Something like that. Tweekguide talks about it near the end of the advanced tweeks @ http://www.tweakguid...Fallout3_1.html

 

GOTY edition is just a 1.7 version of fallout 3 with the DLC's. No reason why it would crash any less than what you got. If you owned a digital download copy of fallout 3 though an liked it, it might be a reason to get a hardcopy retail disc. That be about the only reason I'd buy fallout 3 twice, that being said I wouldn't have the digital download in the first place. I just like having a retail copy myself.

 

Problems

 

1. Crash to desktop

 

2. Locking up, screen freezy

 

3. Fast travel crash

 

 

Number 3 seems to be the only one to worry about, since it's directly related to corupted save games. This can be avoided by always picking load game at the main load screen when the game starts rather than the continue. Then further avoided from disabling the 3 autosaves inside the in-game options, and then also never quick saving. Most folks just roll back an load privious save games in an effort to save the corupted game. If you wanted to experiment though. Load the corupted save game, then run thru a door or fast travel, spin the camera around, then press Esc an load the save game a 2nd time. Make your way to a small mostly empty cell like a bathroom. Once yer in there open the console an type PCB (purge cell buffer), then press ESC an save the game. Reboot an load it again (double load it if you want) Then if you wanted to go further do the same thing only also dump out every container you ever put something in, like your loot, go to that empty cell, save it, reboot, disable all the mods, then load the save game, save it, then turn the mods back on an load it. This is all untested. If I get a corupted save game I just pretend they died, delete all the save games an start over with a new charicter.

 

Double loading save games isn't like an option everytime you want to play. The second load usually has better performance. Like say you were streaming music off the internet, well launch fallout, load the game, the music is going to be skipping or the frame rates, load it a second time an they both go smooth. This an as a measure to avoid coruption, usually the data has been loaded into the system cache the first load, then the second load is like just focused on the game data itself. Some folks also just kill themselfs shooting a nuke at their feet to acomplish the same thing. However without a longer death camera, then the second load is going to be an automatic load (game not paused from pressing Esc) an so one would think it would be more prone to coruption from the autoloading.

 

At least when you are running around in the wasteland desert itself, because it's like 1600x1600 cells or something insane like that. (I think we only use about 2-3 square miles thankfully) Most folks notice a sharp drop in performance FPS wise as they run further an further across the wasteland. Most say about 15 minutes to 30 minutes of that, an the get the FPS drop or frame stutter. This is from the cell buffer being full of junk pretty much. Besides pulling down the frame rate, the cell buffer in some situations has a chance of causing the game to go corupt. Certianly in games where players are using mods that add a lot more chaos, such as MMM-natural selection. That being said Purging the cell buffer can be just as dangerous, so I'll try to get into it a little further below. The actual wasteland is really the only place where PCB comes in handy. Try to think of it as a building which has 32,000 rooms in it, with each room being 192 ft by 192 ft. As you track across the wasteland depending on your LOD settings, more an more stuff is going to hang out inside the cell buffer. In cases of MMM-natural selection, tons of NPC combat data alive/dead stuff gets dumpped in there.

 

To get a safe PCB (purge cell buffer) all you really need is a doorway into another cell. Enter the door, then open the console an type PCB, hit enter an watch the poopy data go by. Then turn around an exit the door to force a reload on the cell only with a cell buffer ready for max performance. However there are not many times that you are out in the wasteland an there is a door nearby. Which is where the Groovatron mod come in, with it's fun stuff an many tools. Groovatron will allow you to place a teliport marker anywhere. So one of the many uses for it can be, while you are out in the desert, miles from a doorway. Press X to place a marker where you are standing, then press X again, teliport to the black room, open the console, PCB, watch the poopy data go by, press X teliport to the white room, spin the 3rd person camera around, press X an teliport back to the wasteland where you were standing. The teliport to the white room is just to make sure normal maps will load up when you get back into the desert. However this teliport PCB can reset the current weather in the cell, so things might look too dark or too bright, going thru a door is the only way to fix it. So maybe if it bothers you then fast travel to megaton or tenpeeny, enter them, then pcb an turn around an go back into the wasteland, which sets the weather, then hit X an teliport back to where you were. All that being said, Doorway PCB or even Teliport PCB are really a pain in the butt. I breaks the gameplay an such ruins the imersion.

 

In the Tweekguide it sort of downplays a few settings. bUseBackgroundFileLoader, bPreemptivelyUnloadCells, and bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel. By default they are set to =0 or off, but if you =1 them, then they are on. Which will get rid of just about 99% of any manual PCB one would need to do either for the performance reasons or as a means to avoid a bit of coruption. Because as you run around an play the game you are going here an there, an fast traveling a lot. With the tweeks in place the system automaticly gets rid of "poopy" cell buffers. This is only tested on my machine though, and such is experimentalz ouuuuuu :O

 

Okay so the only real other thing which isn't obvious as far as coruption is the system cache. In yer windows control panel, system, performance, advanced tab. Something like that, there are the settings for your system cache. I have two hard-drives so right now I'm using two system caches. Sometimes I change it. Also the system cache isn't allowed to be moved durring defragmenting. I always just pick the size windows suggests which is like double the amount of actual RAM you have. Anyhoo, Fallout 3 has a problem which can't be fixed. Over many hours of play the system cache is going to go corupt, thus causing the game to go corupt, and all the while you are running around while your game is crashing an you don't know it yet creating save games thus locking that coruption into the save an ruining it. But that's only if it doesn't CTD. Pretty easy to avoid this, just reboot the system every so often. I really only go for about 3-4 hours before I worry about it.

 

 

Problems 1 and 2 which are not cleared up from a possible problem from the multi core CPU thing. Would boil down to how clean the mods are. The order of the mods. If they were ever meant to be used together at all. (which is silly to assume) ha ha because none of the mods were built to work together, they were all built by different people. Anyhow this is fixed with FO3edit pretty much. Someone that's spent the time to learn FO3edit the hard or easy way can load any mod in any order along with any other mod, even if it directly conflicts. The reasons why is because folks that use FO3edit enough to actually know what they are doing are not using the generic patches for custom load orders. They are using custom made patches for custom load orders. Then also overrides as another way to fix things which couldn't be fixed by normal means. (what is normal anyway) Besides all that you also get the final say in the end result, which is mostly seen in the overall balance of the modded fallout 3 game. It's a ton of down an dirty work to actually do it, an have a 100% conflict free load order. So I kind of split up the workload. Install a few mods, fix them, and then test it for a while. For example if you had 40-80 tiny mods which you fixed, and then tested. Next you install FOOK2, well just that FOOK2 mod is going to take 16-20 hours to fix. The 40-80 tiny mods took 16-20 hours to fix as well give or take. So if you did all that at once you would go mad, besides having no quality control (testing) to seperate them. If the testing phase for the 40-80 mods was clean an I had no problems, then I installed FOOK2, fixed it, an then durring the testing I now have a problem, bam right there I know the problem is in FOOK2 rather than the other 80 mods. This way as I build a load order if there is a problem I start looking at the last few mods I installed, rather than the whole list. Anyway you can learn FO3edit the easy way with webinsized FO3edit guide by CSB @ http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9616