How to fix fallout 3 freezing and crashing (worked for me win7 64 bit)

[Spruu]

So you're limiting it to 2 threads, is this fix just for quad-core users? Anyone have any luck with this using a dual-core CPU?

I'll test it out tonight. I loved the game until it just started crashing left and right. I still "finished" it but skipped a lot and haven't touched any of the DLC's because of the problems I was having.

Tried the above fixes but I'm still getting a lot of freezes. It's almost 100% interiors that seem to do it. I'm not sure I've ever froze up while outside. Uneven lighting also seem to be a factor. There are a few troublesome spots that I got through by looking at the floor, but that may have just been luck.

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium Edition with an Intel i7 CPU. Graphics card is a GeForce GTX 260.

[Strike_You]

Originally Posted by GoldenShadow

Will this fix work on Oblivion since its the same engine? I have been playing that recently for the first time (on sale) and it crashes to desktop a lot.

What are you playing it on?

I have never had a crash to desktop (or any crash) with Oblivion so I would continue to look for another issue .. although it wouldnt hurt to try

[ErrantConstruct]

I'm curious, how many people are having these freezing problems on Windows 7? I got a response to a support email I sent to Bethesda saying that the game wasn't tested for Windows 7 and there for not supported. Sure enough when I checked the Steam system requirements it only lists Vista and XP. It hadn't occurred to me that that might be the problem since its not that old a game. Thought I'd ask and see if the issues are simply an unsupported OS or if Bethesda is simply blowing smoke.

[Strike_You]

Originally Posted by ErrantConstruct

I'm curious, how many people are having these freezing problems on Windows 7? I got a response to a support email I sent to Bethesda saying that the game wasn't tested for Windows 7 and there for not supported. Sure enough when I checked the Steam system requirements it only lists Vista and XP. It hadn't occurred to me that that might be the problem since its not that old a game. Thought I'd ask and see if the issues are simply an unsupported OS or if Bethesda is simply blowing smoke.

I am running on Windows 7 Pro 64bit w/ an i7. like many, when I went into a small house the game would freeze (sound still playing) .... the OP's ini edit fixed my problem which has to do with this game and quad core procs.

it could be a mix of Windows 7 and Quad Core procs unless someone has had this issue with Vista or XP .. in that case it would be safe to say its just quad core procs

[HoodedMiracle]

I can't find it on mine. Any idea why?

Windows, 64-bit, all that. >_>

I figured out what I was doing wrong. I was looking in the directory under the Steam folder. There are a few INIs in there for default, low, medium, and high settings. I was just editing them all and thinking I must be getting the right one somewhere. Then I looked under the MyDocuments/Games folder and found the right one. Works like a charm.

[Stoop!d Monkey]

Originally Posted by Spruu

So you're limiting it to 2 threads, is this fix just for quad-core users? Anyone have any luck with this using a dual-core CPU?

I'll test it out tonight. I loved the game until it just started crashing left and right. I still "finished" it but skipped a lot and haven't touched any of the DLC's because of the problems I was having.

The problem is happens for quad core
The fix is limiting the game to use 2 cores only!

If you have dual core you need to limit it to 1 core.

[Strike_You]

Originally Posted by HoodedMiracle

I can't find it on mine. Any idea why?

Windows, 64-bit, all that. >_>

Go to:


My documents - my games - fallout3 - "Fallout"

[TecnoBacon]

The one thing that gave me the best performance and stability was to turn off the blur shaders, these cause blurring during movement and I have determined that the lag in the process causes instability in the physics thread which is why the cores seem to cause the prob.

in the fallout.ini file

under section
[BlurShader]

find
bUseBlurShader=1

change to
bUseBlurShader=0

[Iron-Mike]

Does limiting the game to two 2 cores work in Vista 32-bit as well? Most of my crashes come from minimizing the game and then when I go to reopen it crashes or won't let me reopen.

This fix works for me in Vista too ^^

sweet

awesome thanks monkey dude seems to have fixed my random freezes! props for you my friend

[Marillion]

My thanks also, after trying many many many things. When I made this modification "*If the game still crashes write this iNumHWThreads=1". That was what seems to have worked for me. Good stuff.

Edit: Sigh, I guess I spoke too soon. Didn't solve the crashing problem after all.

I don't know if this is at all related, but I tried playing the game on my Win Pro 7 64-bit machine with an Athlon II x3 3.0 Ghz processor (3 cores, I did not press the wrong key), ATI HD 4200 (integrated graphics), 4GB RAM, and the first time I start the launcher it works fine, auto-detects settings and stuff, if I then close it down and opens it again it will crash directly at start, and will keep doing that until I verify game cache, and then it will just repeat again - first auto-detect and work fine, and then crash on the next launch.



Edit: Oh, that issue seem to have been because I have two sound cards in my computer, and the one I had set as the default device is a soundcard made mainly for recording and sequencing music, not playing games. When I changed to the integrated sound chip, the Fallout 3 Launcher stopped crashing.
I haven't had any such issues with other games than this one though.