Fallout 3 Freezes Randomly for 1-2 Minutes

[R216]

Hey Guys,

 

Im kinda desperate and would really appreciate if someone could help me.

 

Im running Fallout 3 1.7 with several mods. Loadorder follows at the end.

 

My System:

Win 7 Pro x64

Quad Core AMD Phenom II X4

Asus M4A785TD-V Evo

ATI Radeon HD 5770

4 GB RAM DDR3

 

My Problem is as follows:

 

My game randomly freezes on me. Music continues to play in the background (only ambient music and whatever sound I was just hearing will finish.

The Game isn't crashing or anything, it just stays like that for 1-2 Minutes and then I can just continue to play. This happens after about 3-5 Minutes

and then the time between the freezes decreases with time. The game also has these freezes when I change zones, after 1-2 Minutes the loading

screen appears and then I can just continue after loading the new Zone has finished.

 

I have tried several fixes that are supposed to help but haven't helped so far, here's a list:

Quad Core Fix, I still have it in my ini file, but it doesn't do s***

Stutter Remover, still using it, same as above

Maximized Window, tried it, didn't help, not using it anymore

I tried disabling G4WL, not sure if it even worked but it didn't change anything

I uninstalled and then Installed G4WL, didn't change anything either

One thing that is strange is that I don't see the G4WL menus (the one on the top or bottom of the game) even after installing the newest version,

so maybe thats the problem (It's also no use to try to get into those menus via the Home or Pos1 buttons), so if anyone has an idea here that

could help

 

aside from that I have tried several other things that I found in forums, sadly to no avail.

 

If you need more information to help me please say so and I will kindly provide them.

 

So if anyone has an idea how to fix this it would really save my day. One thing I should mention is that I have played the game perfectly on the exact same

rig about one and a half year back, however the OS and obviously drivers and so on were different back then. The way the problem presents itself also has me

convinced that it isn't a hardware issue, since I can play on max details, heavily modded with frames constant on 60 (except when loading a new area for the first 4-5 secs).

 

Loadorder:

 

[X] Fallout3.esm

[X] Anchorage.esm

[X] ThePitt.esm

[X] BrokenSteel.esm

[X] PointLookout.esm

[X] Zeta.esm

[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch.esm

[X] CRAFT.esm

[X] CALIBR.esm

[X] Project Beauty.esm

[X] EVE.esm

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - Main File.esm

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod.esm

[X] SeducingWomen.esm

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - Alternate Travel.esp

[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Operation Anchorage.esp

[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - The Pitt.esp

[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Broken Steel.esp

[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Point Lookout.esp

[X] Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Mothership Zeta.esp

[X] DarNifiedUIF3.esp

[X] Project Beauty- Broken Steel.esp

[X] Project Beauty- Point Lookout.esp

[X] YearlingsGlasses.esp

[X] UPP - Pack 1.esp

[X] UPP - Pack 2.esp

[X] UPP - Quest Perks.esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - Main File.esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Anchorage.esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC The Pitt.esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Broken Steel.esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Point Lookout.esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Mothership Zeta.esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - Optional Restore Tracers.esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - Optional Restore Tracers (automatics only).esp

[X] FO3 Wanderers Edition - Project Beauty.esp

[X] WeaponModKits.esp

[X] WeaponModKits - FWE Master Release.esp

[X] WeaponModKits - OperationAnchorage.esp

[X] WeaponModKits - ThePitt.esp

[X] WeaponModKits - BrokenSteel.esp

[X] WeaponModKits - PointLookout.esp

[X] WeaponModKits - Zeta.esp

[X] EVE.esp

[X] EVE Operation Anchorage.esp

[X] EVE - FWE Master Release.esp

[X] EVE Anchorage - FWE DLC Anchorage.esp

[X] EVE - FWE with WeaponModKits.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - DLC Anchorage.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - DLC The Pitt.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - DLC Broken Steel.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - DLC Point Lookout.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - DLC Zeta.esp

[ ] Mart's Mutant Mod - Zones Respawn.esp

[ ] Mart's Mutant Mod - Tougher Traders.esp

[ ] Mart's Mutant Mod - Natural Selection.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - Master Menu Module.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - Project Beauty.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - FWE Master Release.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - FWE Master Release + DLCs.esp

[X] Mart's Mutant Mod - FWE Master Release + Project Beauty.esp

[X] SeducedDLC03.esp

[X] SeducingWomen_patch_156.esp

[X] Fellout-Full.esp

[X] Merged Patch 1.esp

[prensa]

R216 - Hello!

 

Really does sound like the Fallout 3 multi core bug & I see you're using a Quad Core.

 

Does the game freeze mainly in small interiors, locking up & then CTDing?

 

Fallout 3 has trouble with multi core computers, mainly with ones that have more than two cores & use hyperthreading.

 

You say you've applied the fix, are you sure you changed the correct .ini?

 

You need to edit the right Fallout 3 .ini file, NOT the Fallout_default.ini in your Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3 folder.

 

The one you want to change is:

 

For XP:

 

My Documents\My Games\Fallout3\

 

For Vista & Win7:

 

Documents\My Games\Fallout3

 

The file you want will be called:

 

FALLOUT.ini

 

Open the .ini with Notepad & change this line:

 

bUseThreadedAI=0

 

to:

 

bUseThreadedAI=1

 

& insert this line under it:

 

iNumHWThreads=2

 

Save & close your ini.

 

By the way, I don't use FWE but from the FOIP readme for the FWE/MMM patch:

 

"The Mart's Mutant Mod - FWE Master Release.esp automatically includes ALL optional MMM addons, including the in-game menu, except for the DLC plugins."

 

& the load order example at the bottom of this page:

https://sites.google.com/site/fo3wanderersedition/installation

 

So you don't need:

 

Mart's Mutant Mod - Master Menu Module.esp

 

It's job seems to be done by Mart's Mutant Mod - FWE Master Release.esp.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Prensa

[R216]

Thanks for your time,

 

however I did edit the correct ini file, just to be sure I edited all three (the two found in My Games as well as the one in the Fallout 3 install directory).

I rechecked (you never know) and the lines are just as you posted them.

 

The freezes occur everywhere and the game doesn't CTD but simply freezes and then resumes working after some time.

 

I will deactivate the MMM Menu file in the loadorder, however I fear that this isn't causing my Problems.

 

If anything else comes to mind, please let me know.

 

Assuming this is the Quad Core bug and it is simply presenting itself in a strange way, is there another way to make it work?

Simply changing the core affinity via parameters or the TaskManager doesn't help, I've already tried that.

 

EDIT: Changeing the loadorder and disabling the MMM Menu hasn't changed anything, started a new game to be sure and the freezes still occur. :(

Edited July 29, 2011 by R216

[prensa]

R216 - Hello!

 

Freezing but then coming back?

 

No, that does seem different to the multi core bug. Multi core bug freezing normally stays locked & has to be ended by task manager if it does not CTD.

 

Do you have ffdShow installed? A lot of programs use it (like video players, editors, burners etc).

 

It can cause issues with Fallout 3.

 

All you need to do with ffdShow is add Fallout 3 to it's exceptions list.

 

Go to the Start menu - All programs & locate ffdShow folder.

 

Within that open "ffdShow Audio decoder configuration" & a window will open.

 

Within that left click on Directshow control.

 

Tick the box "Don't use ffdshow in:" then click on the Edit box to it's right.

 

In the window that comes up, if Fallout3.exe is not listed, click on the Add button & navigate

 

to the folder where your Fallout3.exe is located & select it. Click OK at the bottom.

 

Click Apply on the main ffdShow just to be sure then Ok to close that.

 

Repeat the above for "ffdShow Video decoder configuration" that can be found in that same place.

 

Does this freezing happen with all your mods turned off?

 

If it works fine with just Fallout 3 then you will know it is a mod issue.

 

If that's the case, turn your mods back on one at a time checking between in game to see if the issue returns.

 

As soon as the problem rears it's head again you'll have your culprit.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Prensa

[R216]

To be sure I just uninstalled my Klite Codec pack, so no more ffdshow filters for my PC.

 

I even Uninstalled and Reinstalled Fallout 3 to be sure that there is nothing left of any mod. (I reapplied the Quad Core fix to my ini file, just to be on the safe side)

I have the GOTY edition and installed the 5 DLCs from Bethesda.

 

Even with this basic installation the freeze still occurs. I really have no Idea what could cause this, every other game I tried works just fine.

Oh and G4WL now works as intended, but that hasn't changed anything with this freeze.

 

One thing I did realize:

 

When I start a new game the loadingscreen appears instantly, just as I'm used to.

However when I then want to change the Zone ingame (e.g. go into the Atrium of V101)

the game freezes for about 20-30 seconds and THEN the loadingscreen appears.

Probably part of my problem, but I couldn't narrow it down just by that.

 

Sry that I can't give you more information, thanks for the help nonetheless.

[prensa]

R216 - Hello!

 

At least we know it's not mod casused if it happens with just Fallout 3 & the DLCs.

 

Did you ever use any .ini tweaks? Because this sounds a bit like a loading from hard drive issue.

 

When you reinstalled, did you delete your old .ini & let Fallout recreate it from scratch? Because they can be left behind after uninstalls.

 

If not, delete the old .ini & Fallout will recreate it & you can apply just the multi core fix after.

 

Are you forcing Anti aliasing via your graphics card control center? If so turn that off & use the AA through Fallout's settings.

 

Are you using Triple Buffering (in your graphics control center)? If so turn it off.

 

Have you done the obvious hard drive things like defrag & "Check for errors"?

 

I know it's basic but Fallout 3 is big & if it's fragmented that can slow it down.

 

One bad sector where it's installed can slso cause trouble, so an error check is worth a shot (can't hurt).

 

In case you don't know, right click on the drive you have Fallout 3 installed on, select - Properties - Tools & under Error checking click on Check Now.

 

In the box that comes up, click on Scan for & attempt recovery of bad sectors.

 

This process can take some time depending on the size of your drive so do it when you have plenty of time to leave your computer.

 

Check to make sure you have nothing major running when you play Fallout 3, it's a big program & likes it's space. Routine Virus scans during it can cause trouble too.

 

You say you use stutter remover, you are running FOSE to launch Fallout 3 right? Because without FOSE, Stutter remover won't work.

 

Have you tried this:

 

Fake Fullscreen Mode Windowed - Alt Tab Fix

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16001

 

Sorry if I covered a few basic things but I find it's best when trying to track things like this to dot the i's & cross the t's!

 

Hope this helps!

 

Prensa

[R216]

I have deleted the .ini File and let the game create it anew. Added the Quad-Core Fix after that.

Also checked my graphicsdriver for AA and TB settings, they were disabled and still are.

I defragmented the HD and ran an error check, came out clean.

 

I was using the stutter remover with FOSE, however since I reinstalled the game I am using neither.

 

I just did a testrun and the Freeze still occured, although I had the feeling that it took longer this time (but that could be my imagination, or false hope^^).

 

I used the maximized Window tool in the past, but haven't tried it again since then (didn't help at that time), I will try it, and edit the result into this post.

 

Edit: Ok so the MaxWindow did nothing, however I think I was able to recognize a pattern to my freezes. It has something to do with the GNR Radio station.

I believe that the freezes occur every time when the programm "changes", e.g. from 3Dog sayin something to a song, vice versa or from a song to another song.

If you know anything connected to sound, I would be glad to try that, in the meantime I will try out something different that I used in FNV.

 

Edit 2: Ok the trick from FNV didn't work. Is there a way to disable GNR? I am quite certain now that this is the problem, or is there some way to resolve this otherwise?

 

FINAL EDIT: Ok I solved the Problem. The culprit was a codec called Vodei/Vodei MP. God knows where that one came from. Anyways, thanks a lot for the help. Gosh I'm so happy :D

Edited July 31, 2011 by R216

[prensa]

R216 - Hello!

 

"Ok I solved the Problem. The culprit was a codec called Vodei/Vodei MP. God knows where that one came from. Anyways, thanks a lot for the help. Gosh I'm so happy"

 

Great! :)

 

Thanks for coming back & reporting the cause, it mght help others.

 

Sounds like you already have a program to deal with codecs but just in case, this is really good:

 

InstalledCodec

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/installed_codec.html

 

Nice & simple program that can be used to disable/enable any codec on your computer.

 

It can also sort them by name, type & date. The date is particularly useful as if your sounds are suddenly messed up you can quickly work out wich new codec is the cause.

 

It does not even have to be installed, just works as a stand alone.

 

Glad you got to the bottom of it!

 

Prensa