Game Not nitializing

[lemmings13]

Every time i try to start my game it never loads properly. It doesn't crash, but the main menu (where continue, new game, load game, etc. are at) doesn't even load. It just seems to freeze at the image of the brotherhood of steel guy. I also can't alt-tab out or exit by any means.

 

I have mods installed but i don't think that's the problem since I'm getting the same thing with New Vegas which i just did a clean reinstall of.

 

Help would be greatly appreciated, and I can post information about my load order, computer specs, etc. if needed.

 

 

Edit: Sorry about title, I pressed enter when I tried to press backspace while editing and don't know how to change it back now

[phoneyLogic]

What is your sytem?

What's your game version (patch etc)

Could be a codec problem as well.

We had this topic several times.

Maybe the forum search can help.

[lemmings13]

I'm running an AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition processor at 3.4 Ghz (stock speed), 4gb of ram, a Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4 motherboard, and a XFX Radeon HD 5770.

 

I've played the game extensively on maxed settings before my recent reinstall of my operating system so I'm sure it my system is more than capable.

 

Game is patched to v.1.7.0.3 (according to properties of .exe file). I'm running the GOTY so all 5 dlcs are also installed.

 

As for searching I didn't know what keywords to use so i tried a few quick searches like "main menu freeze" and "not initializing" but didn't come up with anything to help my cause.

 

Also, the game doesn't actually "freeze". It kinda just idles and the main menu buttons don't show up and there is no way to more to another window. Music continues to play and when i try to alt-tab the taskbar at the bottom will flicker bit i will not be able to do anything with it.

[lemmings13]

Still nothing... I've searched all over the place but no one seems to have encountered this issue, which is quite strange...

[Summermute]

Every time i try to start my game it never loads properly. It doesn't crash, but the main menu (where continue, new game, load game, etc. are at) doesn't even load. It just seems to freeze at the image of the brotherhood of steel guy. I also can't alt-tab out or exit by any means.

 

I have mods installed but i don't think that's the problem since I'm getting the same thing with New Vegas which i just did a clean reinstall of.

 

Help would be greatly appreciated, and I can post information about my load order, computer specs, etc. if needed.

 

 

Edit: Sorry about title, I pressed enter when I tried to press backspace while editing and don't know how to change it back now

 

I actually have the exact same problem. I can't alt-tab out of it either, but ctrl-alt-del and going through the Task Manager fixes it up easily enough.

It is confusing the hell out of me though. You are correct about it not being the mods, I have tried both with and without them, and there is no change. I had an idea that it could be to do with DarNifiedUI, which if I remember does make some minor changes to the Main Menu, but I tried completely uninstalling it, and reinstalling it, and got nothing.

On top of this, when you go to shut it down via the Task Manager, it crashes to desktop with the forever helpful message of "Fallout3 has stopped working", which of course gives us nothing. If we then choose to view the problem details it informs us that the "Problem Event Name: APPCRASH", which again is fairly useless.

I'm gonna look into this a bit more tonight, and I'll PM you if I find a solution anywhere. Information on your load order would help a great deal.

[dazzerfong]

There's several reasons for that:

 

1. Overheating (not so sure on that)

2. Corrupt plugin (if you edited it too much in FO3Edit or it has bad/ corrupted info).

3. Too many plugins (Exceeding 255 plugins, whether they're activated or not, results in stuff like this).

 

Hope this info helps, sorry if it doesn't.

[Summermute]

There's several reasons for that:

 

1. Overheating (not so sure on that)

2. Corrupt plugin (if you edited it too much in FO3Edit or it has bad/ corrupted info).

3. Too many plugins (Exceeding 255 plugins, whether they're activated or not, results in stuff like this).

 

Hope this info helps, sorry if it doesn't.

 

Thanks for the help, I've narrowed it down to a corrupt plugin, I only have about 70, so there's no where near too many, and I'm positive my computer's not overheating, it's only about 3 degrees in my room at the moment. :confused:

That and I know my computer doesn't run too hot anyway. :)

 

I'm thinking it has something to with FWE or WMP, as they were the last two mods I installed. I tried re-installing them, but that didn't help, so I'm going to reinstall the whole game, and then add each mod separately. Which I was hoping to avoid, but oh well. I have no plans tonight anyway. It's a Wednesday, and I am poor.

 

Thanks again for the help man, I appreciate it.

 

EDIT: I actually fixed the problem last night. I'd actually... er... done a couple of bongs beforehand, and can't remember exactly how I fixed it. So not sure if it's an achievement or not really, although it does work now, so that's something. :whistling:

I remember that I uninstalled, and then reinstalled FOMM, and reactivated the mods one at a time in what seemed to be the most logical order, the big game changing ones like FWE first, and relatively minor mods like Fallout Street Lights last. Can't quite recall the specifics though.

Hopefully that helps.

Edited December 3, 2010 by Summermute

[rainrtw]

I've had this exact same problem occasionally and coincidentally have about the same specs as lemmings13 does except with an Nvidia card.

Some of the time its happened from a corrupt plugin. Open FO3edit with all your plugins and check them all (tedious I know) to see if any of the fields on the right say something like "error data could not be verified" or something like that. I've had GECK mess up while saving a plugin in several times and then the mod has an entry with corrupt data like that.

That is just one thing that has seemed to cause this for me.

 

The second seems to be having a mesh in the data files with an infinite recursive link, in other words someone copied a data block from another mesh to a new one but did not rename it properly. So a part of the mesh calls on the root while the root calls on the part, or something like that. Anyway I am throwing that out there since it seems that assembling a compiled list of resources would be the last thing it does before giving you control over the menu, hence this crash might be from it finding a bogus mesh or pluging at the end of its load.

 

The last this happened to me however (just this morning in fact) I had no bogus plugins or meshes at all. It was pretty mysterious. Myself I always load the game through FOMM + FOSE and rarely ever open the actually launcher. The only time i open the launcher is to change graphics settings etc. Now when I have opened the launcher, changed something, then run the game it gives this bizare problem like you all describe, hanging just at the point where it should give you a menu.

Myself I MUST restart my computer after every single time I open the launcher... not a friggin clue why, but if I open the launcher to change any graphics settings I then must close it and restart my computer. Then I can run FOMM + FOSE to start the game normally, but if I try it all in the same session I get an infinite series of failing to initialize until I again open the launcher, set my setting, close it, and restart.

 

I really wish there was any solid definitive reason why this was happening but the best I can do is say what worked for me right now.