Fallout 3 stability

[Stereophile]

Is Fallout 3 stable on your system ?

And by stable, I don't mean performance, but if and how often it crashes or freezes.

 

[Pnanasnoic]

Sir, your thread title is an oxymoron.
Fo3 crashes every 5-15 minutes for me. It's like a house of cards.

 

[Stereophile]

Sir, your thread title is an oxymoron.
Fo3 crashes every 5-15 minutes for me. It's like a house of cards.

I'm in the same boat. Please click option 4 .

 

[Parrothead]

I was crashing ever 15-20 minutes till I replaced my codecs. Completely stable since then.

 

[cpt.whistlepants]

1 crash since the game came out.

 

[RustedAngel]

I've had 3-4 crashes so far, about one for every 5-7 hours of play. Not horrible, but not great IMO.

 

[SPARTAN VI]

Never crashed in game for me. Prior to the patch, it crashed on exit often, no big deal. Also when I'm modding, I jump in and out of the game rapidly to see how my mod looks or works in-game and notice every now and then it would crash mid-main menu. Chalk that up to just me jumping back and forth between FO3 and going to Photoshop/Nifskope constantly.

Vista 32-bit by the way.

 

[Wally]

Only ever crashed once, on quit to desktop, so I'm not counting it. 64-bit Vista.

 

[Freezebyte]

My sidebar randomly glitches for some reason in Vista, but it doesn't happen to often luckily, and so far only one crash

 

[Wrench]

Vista 64 here was locking up when you exited but turning off the UAC fixed it. Aside from that it runs great.

 

[dopefishzzz]

No crashes but some annoying slowdowns on a pretty fast machine.

C2D @ 3.7 + 4870 1GB

 

[Silus]

Only ever crashed once, on quit to desktop, so I'm not counting it. 64-bit Vista.

Exactly the same for me. I got the "Fallout3 stopped responding" message, after I quit the game and that's pretty much it. It's been rock solid for me. 64-bit Vista aswell.

 

[Nenu]

Been playing for 4 or 5 days now and only had 1 crash as I was exiting the game after a VERY long session.
Its been a flawless experience for me.

ps in case it helps:
running [email protected], 4GB Ram, X38 mobo, 8800GT 20% overclocked, Auzentech Prelude.
180.43 video driver for most of the week, 180.48 works fine too.

 

[tuksonrider]

Only crashes when I exit to desktop once in awhile, even after the patch.

64bit Vista
4gb
4870 512mb (OC 790/1100) v8.11 WHQL Drivers
Q6600 (OC 3.0GHz)

 

[Climber]

My sidebar randomly glitches for some reason in Vista, but it doesn't happen to often luckily, and so far only one crash

Close your sidebar in vista while playing.

I've had a couple crashes during an alt-tab or on an exit, but nothing to remotely hinder my 70+ hours of gameplay.

Vista 64 bit

 

[JohnleMVP]

It only crashed like 2-3 times for me in like ~40 hours of play.

 

[BladeVenom]

Froze up for awhile once. So no real problems.

 

[RustedAngel]

I'm on Vista 64 too, and have been impressed with how stable it is and the level of support available in general. I can still remember a few years ago when it felt like you couldn't get anything to work right on a 64 bit OS.

Fallout 3 runs plenty fast for me, just every once in a while it will freeze/stop responding. Seems to happen really frequently if I go into a new house/environment crouched. I will try the patch and see if that helps.

 

[Kangg]

No issues whatsoever here. Vista 64 bit.

 

[kadozer]

Never froze after I got the latest K-lite codec pack. In game 4x AA, 15 samples blah blah blah. I read somewhere on Bethseda forums the crashes/freezes are related to how often you save, so disabling all the default saves helps.

 

[Khanmots]

Never froze after I got the latest K-lite codec pack. In game 4x AA, 15 samples blah blah blah. I read somewhere on Bethseda forums the crashes/freezes are related to how often you save, so disabling all the default saves helps.

lol, can't be. I've had like 2 crashes, and I have nearly 300 manual saves... XD

 

[kadozer]

lol, can't be. I've had like 2 crashes, and I have nearly 300 manual saves... XD

Dunno how truthful it is. Its probably more than 1 source that is causing the crashes just the messenger, but it did work for me.

 

[Nenu]

I'm on save 353 and no in game crashes yet.
This game loads and saves really quick, not heard that mentioned anywhere, but its a small blessing.

 

[cereal_killer24]

No issues what so ever. Only problem i had was frame rate issues when i tried to turn up settings on 8800gtx.

 

[strid3r]

About ~25 hours with 1 crash when entering a house (never happened again). Some of my stuttering issues went away when I enabled V-sync on both the game and drivers.

 

[Kidfinger]

I just beat this last night. It took me so damn long because I would get a crash about every 30 minutes. it got so bad that I was saving about every 5 to 10 minutes. All that trouble for a meh game and a meh ending...

 

[Time2Kill]

I can't play the game so I can't comment.

I only get about 4fps on my system no matter what I do which is odd as the first 15 minutes of the game played fine.

Tried new video/audio drivers, patched the game, uninstall/reinstall, tried the ifps lock to 60 and 30 fix, turning the graphics as low as they will go, disabled ffdshow, no luck whatsoever.

Glad I wasted money on this....

 

[djgizmo]

For me, I can't play F03 in full screen mode, only window mode. Played about halfway through so far and it's a shame that I can't play full screen.

Patch didn't help, neither did turning off AA / AF. No clue why it bombs out in full screen.

 

[rls669]

Crashes frequently when fullscreen, hasn't crashed once windowed at my desktop res.

 

[eloj]

I'm about 37 hours into the game and here's the crash log I began keeping after the first 10 crashes or so.

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.12
  Application Timestamp:	48d194b3
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.12
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48d194b3
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00248523
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160


Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.12
  Application Timestamp:	48d194b3
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	00000000
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160


Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.12
  Application Timestamp:	48d194b3
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.12
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48d194b3
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	0024ffd6
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	d3d9.dll
  Fault Module Version:	6.0.6001.18000
  Fault Module Timestamp:	4791a65d
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	0004bc24
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

  Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	00150014
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00250056
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00250056
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	00000000
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

  Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	416b5f6d
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00250056
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00250056
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409


Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00250056
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

2008-11-09 12:04 - 12:39

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	c36dfffa
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

2008-11-09 12:39 - 13:38

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	c36dfffa
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
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2008-11-09 13:38 - 14:54

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	00000000
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

2008-11-09 14:54 - 14:56

Process locked when trying to load automatic save from before previous
crash.

2008-11-09 14:56 - 15:05

Session completed OK.

2008-11-15 13:30 - 13:56

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00250056
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

2008-11-15 14:00 - 14:31

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00250056
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
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2008-11-15 14:31 - 14:50

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	00000000
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
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2008-11-15 16:00 - 17:56

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	416b5f6d
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

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2008-11-15 20:42 - 20:49

<clipboard lost>

2008-11-15 20:49 - 20:55

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	00250056
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
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2008-11-15 20:55 - 22:03

<clipboard lost>

2008-11-15 22:03 - 23:27

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Offset:	003cd1f6
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
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2008-11-15 23:27 - 00:27


Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.15
  Fault Module Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Exception Offset:	00bf0101
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
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2008-11-16 18:30 - 18:54

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	BEX
  Application Name:	Fallout3.exe
  Application Version:	1.0.0.15
  Application Timestamp:	48ea1bd1
  Fault Module Name:	StackHash_fd00
  Fault Module Version:	0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp:	00000000
  Exception Offset:	3f800000
  Exception Code:	c0000005
  Exception Data:	00000008
  OS Version:	6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:	1053
  Additional Information 1:	fd00
  Additional Information 2:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
  Additional Information 3:	fd00
  Additional Information 4:	ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Read our privacy statement:
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[LEVESQUE]

Not a single crash, not even on Tranquility Lane, and I've beaten the game 2 times, and done all the side quests. Before the patch, I got 1 small bug while exiting the game, saying that the game didn't closed propely, but that's all. But never did it again after the patch.

I really don't know what people do with their computers, but mine is rock-solid and stable while playing at 2560X1600, max settings.

Vista 64, Core i7 920, 6Gb RAM, Asus P6T Deluxe, 4870x2.

 

[Version_3]

Not a single crash here.

 

[tokey]

I didnt get any crashes untill i patched it now it crashes on me every once in a great while but nothing too annoying

 

[Stereophile]

The first two weeks I was playing, I'd get occasional crashes on exit, but the game ran well and was giving me no serious problems. Then I reformatted and reinstalled windows, while using the same graphics/sound drivers, and it freezes up every 5-10 minutes.

Here's some interesting info:

I get the same error. It appears that even their Patches need some sort of testing before release too. I’ve tried the patch on the US version of the DVD as well as the updated exe from SecuROM. Get the same error on both. The patch does appear to modify some files in the Windows System folder through the Command BOX; however, it doesn’t do anything to the Game exe or anything in the directory.

I have found the primary issues causing the CTD and other crashes. I’ve sent 3 e-mails to Bethesda and no responses. My Computer Science Engineering department took a shot it. I purchased 320 copies and gave them the weekend to figure it out. Here are some of the results;

1.) Fallout 3 Installer installs an older version on C++ Visual 2005 that appears to affect the way the vidcard driver communicates with the game.

2.) Fallout 3 Installer installs a Beta release of DOTNETFX3.0 (.NET Framework 3.0). For users of .NET Framework 3.0 SP1 or even SP2 (Service Pack of the Framework not the OS), upon restarting their system (when changes take place), their game will be quite unstable. Users of .NET 3.5 or Vista should have even more random crashes.

3.) Fallout 3 Installer installs a non Plug’n Play DRM device manager (not driver but a manager) that doesn’t like any 3rd party codecs (ie K-Lite, WinAMP, etc) and will usually see a CTD when a Hardware codec comes online. This usually occurs when interactive audio (client controlled speech) initializes (ie baby walking to daddy).

4. Fallout 3 Installer installs SecuROM Root kit as well as 8 hidden non Plug’n play virtual drivers. Owners with more than one Optical drive or a sata drive may encounter random drive access issues. Also, Imaging software or any software that may use its own ASPI drive (ie NERO, Roxio, Daemon, ISO, etc.) will have one of the 8 virtual drivers causing the system to do a random CTD. Reason why clients using a cracked EXE don’t experience the same volume of CTD as those who bought the game. However, the SecuROM root kits are still on the system and active. Once the SecuROM is also purged from the system, 60% of the crashes disappear. Unfortunately, they must remain on the system in order to play the game as they are part of the EULA.

5.) Fallout 3 also has its own built in MP3 codec coupled to its DRM to protect MP3’s on the DVD (in game). Unfortunately, the codec was never tested fully with hardware decoders like those of an X-FI. This can be varied by the lack of a hardware audio switch in the game options.

6.) Fallout 3 has 14 memory leaks that we found. Most are small, but there are a few that are quite large. Some areas of the map, the memory counter just spins at over 100 MB/sec. Most memory leaks are around 5 to 10 MB/sec.

7.) Fallout 3 video graphics buffer needs to be adjustable in the options and an automatic cache purger installed for cards over 512 MBs as well as linked buffers from SLI and crossfire cards. I’ve seen areas where names on the screen start to disappear and all you see are “Input Text Here” instead of V.A.T.S. or range or etc. The cache doesn’t get dumped on some maps. Most games dump their cache when a map reload occurs. This can be noticed when fast reloads occurs from map changes. Most users will just see their graphics card run out of memory (CTD and stuttering).

8.) Most games were fault free with a basic XP Pro SP2 reload, and only Critical updates and latest stock drivers. Installed the game and played it error free for nearly 4 days. Upon a system restart, lots of errors showed up. This means that Fallout 3 significantly changes the operating system. Far beyond reasonable accounts as all you can do with the system in not to play MP3’s, watch movies, make a CD or DVD, or play other games.

http://www.gamingnewslink.com/2008/11/07/fallout-3-patch-10015-download-and-patch-changes/

It's my opinion this game needed another month or two in the oven and got rushed out for the holiday season. Very strange it worked fine on my system and then freezes constantly after a scratch windows install.

 

[stoney_titan]

Personally, this game has run better and faster then most games I have ever played. I can load a save from windows in like 10 secs. Which is something I have never been able to do with any other game. And no crashes.

Having that said, I couldn't get Gears of War to play worth a horse's ass on my PC. I know how frustrating it is.

 

[Luthorcrow]

The game crashes a lot for me. The last game I played that was as buggy as this was BF2. The patch provided no relief.

Fortunately most of the crash issues have been around fast travel. Generally a restart on the PC or playing in a different for a while solves it. I did have a persistent crash occurring when attempting to travel to Rivet City at one point. I eventually had to use the console to wrap myself to the location, saved and restarted the PC and the problem finally went away.

It has negatively impacted my gaming experience but not to the point of hating the game. What does bother me is that they have been so slow to patch these problems. I understand the business relate of rushing a game to market but so far they have released one patch that addressed almost nothing.

 

[eggrock]

Occasional CTDs and LONG pauses during some quicksaves (nearly always at night). Nothing too frequent.

 

[TheGooch69]

There's no "I have the console version" option.

I may pick it up for the PC though. I have it for Xbox360 but been too busy to give it the attention it needs.

 

[Shady240]

completely stable here. vista ultimate x64 and all.

 

[htphm42]

I think I've fix my crashing problem. I just did a reinstall of the game, and its been playing smoothly ever since. Cross my finger that it won't start crashing again.