Win7 Pro - FO3 'Stops Working' when starting a new game

[KarlMonster]

Yes, I know that there are already threads about this symptom. I've tried all those fixes and still nothing.

It worked (with glitches) in Win XP. This is a clean install of x64 Windows 7 Professional and it has yet to be able to start a new game. It runs the music and slideshow, and I can adjust settings, but then Windows 7 gives the error that Fallout 3 has stopped working. I followed multiple suggestions from the Steam forums (and some other forums) but have found no solutions yet. First my system;

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale @3.0 GHz - not OC'ed during install or troubleshooting
ASUS Rampage Extreme Motherboard
4 Gb DDR3
ASUS EAH4870x2 video card
Bigfoot Networks Killer (M1) NIC
(ASUS) Creative Labs X-Fi sound

Updates/patches: All ASUS Motherboard drivers and utilities are installed for x64 Win 7 - but not the latest BIOS, that should not be an issue. Windows 7 is fully updated. Microsoft .NET 3.5 sp1 installed - and I installed .NET 4.0 client (assuming that it is backward compatible, that shouldn't hurt anything right?) Installed the latest Direct X redistributable. Installed the latest Catalyst driver suite from ATi. Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 and 2008 are fully updated. Additionally I downloaded and installed packages of x86 and x64 codecs both from CCCP and K-Lite. Fallout 3 was listed as an exception for ffdshow in all cases, and none solved the problem.

I have tried tweaking the compatability options for FO3 including WinXP compatibility mode, including 'disable visual themes' and 'desktop composition'. I have also reduced graphical settings, tried windowed mode, made sure only one display is enabled, and even added lines to the Fallout.ini in case multi threading was an issue. And adjusted Windows compatabilities and tried to run it as administrator.

It still wont go.

When I first installed FO3, there was a hang during the setup. I may or may not have fixed any issues related to that, with the patching and fixes that I listed above. Its still worth mentioning that uncomfortable hang for troubleshooting purposes. Anyone know how I can get FO3 to run the 'first install setup' a second time just to be sure that its done properly?

As I understand it, the reason why the codecs like ffdshow are a fix (for some who have similar symptoms) is related to the very first thing that FO3 will do: play a long introductory cutscene. I understand that there is an issue about which codecs are used, or should I say that Win 7 allows to be used. That makes sense to me - except that installing codecs did not work for me.

I'd be interested if anyone could tell me how to reduce the merit of the Windows 7 codecs. Failing that, where can I put a saved game from XP in Windows 7 so that FO3 will load my saved game instead of starting new. I've *GOT* to go kill me some Talons.

Thank you

[KarlMonster]

Fixed it. Sorta.

When trying codec bundles again, I realised that I had missed the patch for the K-Lite Mega package that brought it up to their version 5.9.5. So I installed that patch and Fallout3 still didn't work.

But it didn't work in a slightly different way. That is to say that I got the same 'stop working' error, but it was slightly different from all the other 'stop working' errors in a slight way that only someone who had watched the error pop up on 20 different occasions in less than a day would notice.

So I decided that the codec patch was working, but there was some other thing that was creating a problem. I've also seen people say that they found a combination of Nero and Spybot to also be fatal to Fallout 3. I didn't have Spybot, and I uninstalled the Nero Essentials install after I burned the Windows 7 Professional ISO onto a DVD - so neither of those were a problem. After a little googling, I found out about another program that caused a problem on someone else's Win 7 Fallout3: ASUS' Gamer OSD.

In my opinion Gamer OSD is a strange application that I have little use for (I'm starting to feel the same way about Windows 7). Its a multifunction app that interacts with the ASUS EAH4870x2 card, can take screenshots and blah de blah de blah. When I uninstalled that, I got a message saying that an other application needed it for full functionality. But Fallout 3 did start a new game.

And there was much rejoicing.
(YAY!)

[Evolution']

its the x-fi, use AC3filter and under system tab change output to use wave instead of directx and it'll work fine but for me sometimes sound goes out of sync for a few seconds

i own the pc version with the first 3 dlc's and problems with sound p""**d me of so much i bought the goty edition on 360 instead lol

[yorKer]

I was having a bajillion crashes on Win7 Pro myself. I assumed it was one of my many mods, but one day I launched the game on its own instead of through my steam shortcut, and I haven't crashed since. So if you run the game with the Steam overlay, try it without as well.

I haven't needed to install any extra codecs on my end to get the game running smooth, but every case is different.

[Zeta333]

Im wondering how you launch the game without steam, also if i cant get that to work, has there been any word from steam on fixing this issue? if they cant make the game work we should be refunded the price that we payed for the game.

[MonkeySeeker]

Im wondering how you launch the game without steam,

Just go to the Fallout 3 folder and run the FalloutLauncher.exe directly.

Usually located in #:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\

[Zeta333]

Iv launched the game without steam, and in every possible compatibility mode and nothing.