Fallout 3 Specific Issues

Live just updated, crashed Fallout.

Wrangler044 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:15:12 GMT

Yesterday Fallout 3 (GOTY) worked fine, I am in the sewers in Old Orney. Today Live had a update. Now Fallout crashed on any save, or travel to a new area. It's easy to conclude this problem is caused by the Live update, since there has been no other updates and it worked before the Live update. I am stuck in the sewers and can't leave or it crashes.

I have read some other posts on things to try.

Reboot - crashes the same

Windowed mode - crashes the same

Logged out and back in - crashes the same

AntiVirus disabled - crashes the same

Ran Windows Update - crashes the same

What are my options at this point?

Uh, Uninstallation fail

kailo1234 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:48:13 GMT

So I, knowing that just uninstalling Fallout 3 would still leave a whole lot of Files, therefore my mods i wanted to get rid of, I just emptied the Fallout 3 file into the recycling bin, and emptied it. You see, to use many mods for DLCS you must put the Anchorage, Broken Steel, Zeta, and so on you must put them into the Data folder, so when I deleted the files the esm's were as well. So I for some reason i cant uninstall, and then Reinstall them, anyone know a solution?

Games for Windows Live doesn't open in Fallout 3

Passa91 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:34:02 GMT

Hi,

I've had a very frustrating problem with Fallout 3. When I first got the game a while ago, I installed it on XP, it worked fine, GFWL loaded up fine, all was well. I patched to 1.5 and bam, clicking 'Live' in the menu resulted in nothing happening. This is despite GFWL still working fine in The Club.

I was miffed but lived with it, despite losing the main feature advantage I had over people with say, pirated versions. I recently installed Windows 7 on this machine and again installed Fallout 3. Once again, it worked fine at 1.0 (but GWFL didn't prompt me to update). Again, after updating to either 1.7 UK or 1.7 US, GFWL stops working. I checked my error logs and everytime I load the game, I have this error corresponding to "XLive":

Title Fallout3.exe (1.7.0.3) XLive 3.1.0099.0 (WGX_XLIVE_V3.01_RTM.091106-1035) C:\Windows\system32\xlive.dll
0x80004005

Games for Windows - LIVE DLL
C:\Windows\system32\msidcrl40.dll 5.000.737.6

Any ideas on how to solve this would be fantastic. I want achievements. I want DLC. Thanks :)

How To - Fallout 3 Unable to Access DLC Solution (UPDATED)

eastmanblues — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:31:30 GMT

Fallout 3 Unable to Access DLC - A How To Guide

(This Guide has been edited for the Changes of GFWL 3.0)

For this we will use the example of Operation Anchorage for Fallout 3

When you are unable to access content for Fallout 3 downloaded via the marketplace, it usually means you are not signed in to the LIVE service while in the game.

Things to check

1. Verify that Fallout 3 is installed to the C: drive.

2. Verify that the GFWL Marketplace My Media tab shows the content as installed

3. Verify that you are signing in to the LIVE service in the game

4. Verify that you have started a game while signed in to the LIVE profile

5. Verify that you were connected to LIVE the first time the content loads in game.

If you are not signed in to LIVE you will not have ability to select “DOWNLOADS” from the Fallout 3 in game Menu

Once you have signed in to LIVE the “DOWNLOADS” options will be available.

Once you have signed in to LIVE select the “DOWNLOADS” option from the Fallout 3 in game menu. Select "New Content Available"

Once you have selected "New Content Available" This will show you the in Game Marketplace Pictured Below.

A Check mark will appear next to the content that is installed. This will confirm the content is read for use in Fallout 3

Content for Fallout 3

1. Operation Anchorage

2. The Pitt

3. Broken Steel

4. Point Lookout

5. Mothership Zeta

In Game Content

Operation Anchorage - Your will receive a radio signal and a quest "Aiding the Outcasts"
The Pitt - You will receive a radio signal (Wernher's Distress Call) and a quest "Into the Pitt"
Broken Steel - You will see a message on screen "Broken Steal Loading" followed by "Level Cap Raised to 30" Story continues after completing the main quest.
Point Lookout - You will receive a message about a new location you can travel to found on you Pipboy with quest added "The Local Flavor"
Mothership Zeta - You receive a weird radio signal - With quest "Not of this World"

Known Issues:

Sometimes the content will not appear correctly if Fallout 3 is installed on a drive other than C: - If this happens reinstall Fallout 3 on the C: or root drive (Can others confirm if this is an issue?)
Sometimes people will copy over their offline save files to their GFWL save folder. This can cause the content to act abnormally or not work at all. – If this has happened start a LIVE enabled save game.
Content will not enable until after the first time you have stepped out side of the Vault
Broken Steal may not work properly if the Project Purity Mission was started before loading (Revert to an earlier save)
Fallout 3 has regional differences for instance not all copies of the game support the latest patch or DLC. IE. Copies with the "Made In Singapore" may have issues connecting to live or accessing content.
Other Fallout 3 Issues Read Fallout 3 Issues FAQ

Are you still having trouble ?

Phone Support
Finally, if none of the above steps have helped you resolve your issue, and you are sure the issues is with LIVE and not covered on the forums, you can use the following steps to contact LIVE support via phone in North America only:

Please dial 1-877-274-4349 from 9 am EST (6 am PST) to 1 am EST (10 pm PST). Our technical support agents there will be more than happy to assist you.

Please let me know if you found this guide helpful I am going to try and improve it. If you have and suggestions let me know. Thanks!

Last edited by eastmanblues on August 11 ,2009 to conform with the changes for Games for Windows LIVE 3.0

Fallout 3 Steam version - CD version of DLC

Zekk Distor — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:07:52 GMT

Hello everyone, I have a problem installing the DLC, namely, it can't find my installation of Fallout 3. I just re-installed the game through Steam, purchased the add-ons on CD (because somehow I can't add credit with my creditcard and I couldn't be bothered to buy a gamercard thingie), but now it tells me it can't find the installation.

I've tried copying the .exe file (because that's the only thing you'll get on the CD) to the game folder, but it still won't work. How can I get this to work?

More specifically, it's the "The Pitt" and "Operation Anchorage" addon CD.

Issues validating / inserting Steam purchased Fallout 3 key into GFW and Steam

judasky — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:11:33 GMT

I can play the game just fine, but I noticed at first that I never had to insert a cd key to start playing the game. I also became aware later on that my live account wouldn't connect because I had no key installed. I never bothered to connect as it is an offline game so I caught this late.

Now I'm aware I need to insert my key into the game. I tried to insert it via steam and it says invalid. I made sure I didn't mistype it and tried again, didn't work.

Next I entered the game looking for an insert key option. Maybe I'm blind, I didn't see one.

I'm new to the whole games for windows live phenemenon, so I tried to see if there was an insert key option in the GFW menu inside of Fallout 3, I didn't see one.

Can anyone help a rookie out?

Wow. This isnt what I expected.

Reaperman911 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:31:25 GMT

Well, I got Mothership Zeta. It works fine, when Im logged in to windows Live. I think you guys should put on there that you will have to be logged in to use it. This will be the last time I ever use Windows Live for downloadable content. I thought by buying points and purchasing the DLC: Mothership Zeta it would be like when I purchased the hard copies in the store, boy was I wrong. I feel, somehow cheated out of my money, by buying points and expecting to get the same thing as the ones bought in the store. Im so displeased, Im having trouble putting it into words, and remain tactfull. When I buy it in the store, I can use it with all of my other mods, created through the geck and so on. Im just floored that a company like this can fish people in, and sell them something that offers them half the content at more than half the price. I am so pissed. . In fact, I will be writing a review of this on every site I usually frequent. Im big into writing mods and am an active member on Fallout Nexus, Ive posted over 38 items on that site, supporting products like the one you sell (and yes, just because its "points" you are selling it. You have to buy the "points") everything from minor mods, to new areas. And now Ive just spent money on a product that does nothing for me, but allow me tho play thru a small story, bravo! I could have watched the whole thing on youtube and it would have had the same effect. Its a shame, that you can market it as buying the add-on, but really, we're just checking it out. We can use it when we're logged in to your site. Thats like me selling my freind a bike, and telling him he can only use it on my property. Sad, pathetic, and misleading.

But thank you to the guys who helped me get it running. Eastmanblues & InGlocksWeTrust Tip of the hat!

To windows Live Thank you for insuring I never buy anything from you again, and tell my freinds to steer clear. Wag of the finger!

Still can't access Fallout 3 DLC

akashiver — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:24:34 GMT

I'm one of those people who downloaded Point Lookout and Broken Steel months ago, only to find out that the DLC content didn't appear in game. On the advice of tech support, I reinstalled the DLC and Live itself multiple times, got it to work briefly after a Live reinstall, only to have the DLC disappear the next time I loaded Fallout. After a while I gave up in frustration.

Now that Thanksgiving's coming up, though, I'd like to be able to play the games I paid for all those months ago. Or get a refund, so I can buy a game that works.

So here's my challenge. I only have 1 Live account/gamertag. I only have a c: drive. Live shows that I downloaded the games. They show up as downloaded content *in* the Fallout menu when I sign into Live from the Fallout menu. So why don't they show up in game?

Hardware Requirements?

LostKauz — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:28:26 GMT

First of all, I want to say hi to everyone. I would have asked a while ago but I was having "issues" with trying to Sign onto this Site with my WLID but that was another story. So now that I'm here let me get to my "problem".

I have thoroughly enjoyed Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360, so much I wanted to play it through again on my PC. I have been a Console “guy” for so long because of “issues” like this, so I was hoping for some help from the Community of Games for Windows Live.

I went out and got the Fallout 3 GOTY Edition only to find out my Hardware is a "little" under par. Playing in Vault 101 was okay but not great (slow response and heavy screen lag).

Here is what I have discovered so far from a Private Message (Xbox.com) with another PC User;

My current PC Set-UP is the following;

AMD Dual Core 64
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon X1250
Windows Vista (not that it matters though)

All of my Settings on the Game itself are set to the Lowest possible right now and it's okay when I was "indoors" (Vault 101) but once I got "outside" the "open world" it is really, really bad.

More Copy Pasta;

Vista Windows Experience Level

Processor - 4.8

RAM - 5.9
Graphics - 3.4
Gaming Graphics - 3.0 (boo right here)
Primary Hard Disk - 5.9

Overall it gets a 3.0. Fallout 3 Recommends 4.8 and Required 4.3. Can I simply get a new GPU to help things along?

FOOK 2 and Fallout 3 issue

THE RVB Church — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:04:03 GMT

I just downloaded FOOK 2 and was able to play it once and had no problems , then I tried to play again and I keep on getting a message saying that Fallout 3 has stopped working. Is there a way to fix this?

Installing to Windows 7 - How do I preserve my DLC?

Owen H Brown — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:58:22 GMT

Hello friends,

I am running FO3 on a 32bit Vista Upgrade OS through a dual core CPU designed for a 64 bit OS.

After turning my FO3 settings way down and STILL getting framerate drops I have decided that enough is enough. I shall install 64 bit Windows 7 and see if that improves my game experience.

However I am not very confident about it. You see, I DO NOT want to have to re-download (all) the DLCs, which I downloaded from GFWL. I was hoping you could assist me in achieving this.

Please tell me which DLC files I should back up, where they're located, and if a simple file transfer into the new Win 7 Installation will allow me to simply resume play where I left off. If I actually have to manually install the DLCs, how do I go about doing this without relying on GFWL?

Something which MAY also complicate things is that I used a mod to disable GFWL.

When I re-install FO3 should I use this mod again and THEN transfer the DLC, or should I install the DLC and then use the mod to disable GFWL?

I really have no idea, please help me!

The best Mod for Fallout 3, Hands down, ever!!!!!!

Reaperman911 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:43:27 GMT

I recently joined and downloaded Fook 2. It is a mod for the Fallout 3 world. If tou've nee playing Fallout 3 for a while and want a game that changes everything for the better, check this one out. You can download it for free on www.fookunity.com . This mod changed every thing from weapons to ammo types and even added things to the wastes (like hunting Parties, and bands of roaming Regulator Parties instead of "hit squads"). And for fans of the entire Fallout series, they added som special things. (ie super stimpacks, power fists now take power cells as in fallout 1 and 2, and many more. And power armor has night vision built into the helmets.) It does make the game a bit harder (finding the right ammo for your weapon can get tedious at times,) but it is offset by the common sense things they added. The repair system is a great improvement. You can now use scrap metal and wonderglue to repair certain things and even use the work bench to scrap and break down items.

Bottom line, after playing the game entirely through using Fook 2, Fallout 3 went from being a 4 star game to being a 5 star, all the way. CHECK THIS MOD OUT! YOU WONT BE DISSAPOINTED!

Stuck on 'downloading live profile'.

NorthernMasheli — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:29:36 GMT

(Funny how I only post when I have something to whine about.)

Like the title says, I'm stuck at downloading my live profile. I disabled my firewall, made sure the ports I need forwarded for GFWL are still being forwarded, and it's sat for at least an hour at bupkis. I'm trying to sign into my Live account after I changed the password, and I think I messed that up by deleting my profile from the game and trying to re-add it. Should it take more than an hour to download a Live profile onto the game?

Save Files

C Oblivious — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:37:17 GMT

I've clocked more than eight hours of Fallout 3 and enjoyed every second of it. But today when I wanted to play, it wouldn't register my save file. I signed into LIVE and everything. One thing that did change is I got a 360 and consequently got gold membership. Would that make my Fallout 3 savefiles unusable now? Or is it something else?

Games for windows live not updating

Blackdawn451 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:09:42 GMT

Every time I try to log onto GFWL, the client tells me that I need to update the version even though I made sure that I have the most up to date version from the GFWL website. I continue to install the update, and when it is finished, I install the update on the screen that pops up. When I restart Fallout 3, the same update message pops up. I have tried to manually update the GFWL client, Fallout 3 to v1.7, and I have allowed all ports that need forwarding according to GFWL support. None of this has worked. Anyone know a fix?

fallout 3 simply crashes

MASTER99X — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:11:47 GMT

This may be because i have windows 7, but when i install fallout 3 and then run it. It works. BUT!

Then when it says there is a an update for Live and I install it, the game crashes on restart. After that I will click run and it will black out the screen. Then the windows little circle shaped mouse loading icon thingy appears and the game crashes. It says that the game has stopped working. I can't figure out what is doing this.

Anyone that can give me assitance would be awesome

DLC help please.

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:42:05 GMT

i download fallout 3 dlc from gfwl program. how do i play it now? thank you

xbox dlc to pc?

Skillkill119 — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:41:58 GMT

i bought all the dlc for the xbox version of fallout 3 but is there a way to add them to my PC without repaying for them

Fallout 3 - freezing within minutes of starting the game - TEMPORARY SOLUTION

ICptJackSparrow — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:14:11 GMT

So, I'm not sure why, but over the last few days, Fallout 3 (no DLC's) has started to freeze on me, the screen just freezes the sound continues, but I've had to CTRL-ALT-DEL out of it.

It had gotten to the point of as soon as I start the game the more quickly it freezes. Let me explain, at first I could play normally, just like everyone else, then starting a few days ago it froze up on me. Then each time I started it, it froze faster, it got so bad it just wasn't even worth starting the game.

I checked all of my drivers, my hardware, etc.

Before I decided to re-install, I figured I would check to see if it was a known problem. After a ton of research on it this weekend, the only thing I could come up with was this solution:

From the Web:

The game engine has some issues with processors that have more than 2 cores. You can force the game to only use two of them and it will stop the freezing. I haven't had it freeze once since I did this several days ago.

Open up the fallout.ini file in: My Documents\My Games\Fallout3
Find the line:

bUseThreadedAI=0

change it to:

bUseThreadedAI=1

Add another line after it and insert:

iNumHWThreads=2

This will limit the game to 2 cores and prevent the engine bug from causing the game to freeze.

Oddly enough this seems to have fixed the problem for me, I played Fallout 3 for a good 8 hours today after applying this fix, and not a single thing wrong except maybe I noticed a tiny bit of lag as opposed to before, not noticing any lag at all.

So if anybody else needs this fix, here you go, and to anybody else, any idea what's up with this? I guess the later patches are the problem, but why did this not effect me until 3 days ago? I've been playing this game a lot lately, and that was the first time, and I KNOW FOR FACT nothing has changed on my system.

I'd say it was Windows 7 related, but this fix was to apply to Vista and the later XP service packs, so it isn't exlusive to W7.

archiveinvalidationproblems and how to uninstall it

Australias army — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:27:44 GMT

okay i downloaded archiveinvalidation and its a known problem that fo3 crashes if u dont move it some where i just want to uninstall it so i can play fo3

Windows Live Support

Reaperman911 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:52:27 GMT

I posted recently my dissapointment with Windows Live admin, that my problems were not going to be dealt with. I was mainly very dissapointed that I couldnt use the add-on I had bought for modding. Now, while I still cannot use the DLC for modding, I need to take back my statement about them not caring. I just got off the phone with a gentleman who was trying to do everything within his power to solve my problem. To the Admin, I may have spoken too hastily. My apologies. While, I had already found other means to solve my problem (by ordering the add-on thru another company) the help line was very courtious and informed. Just thought I should let everyone know, even though they arent responding, they are watching, and trying to be as helpful as possible.

Downloaded Mothership Zeta....Where?

Reaperman911 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:52:54 GMT

I bought points and downloaded Mothership Zeta, cant find it. Game wont load it. I purchased The Pitt, Operation: Anchorage, Broken Steel, and Point Lookout on disc, via Gamestop. This is my first, and possibly my last purchase through windows LIVE. Someone needs to tell me how to get this content running. I logged in, in the game, still nothing. It says its there, just cant access it. Some help, would be appreciated.

cd broken please help!!!

hotchizeetos — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:35:52 GMT

my cd is broken anyway i can play without disk or re-download it somewhere with my cd key?????

Broken Steel

BobotheBuilder — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:48:31 GMT

Im using Windows Live to download all the Fallout 3 mods. Ive already downloaded every other mod other Broken Steel without any problems. But for some reason it is stuck at 3.89MB or 1%. All The other mods I've downloaded are working fine with everything. How can I fix this?

Note: Im playing Fallout via Steam but the other mods work.

Need to Reformat, can DLC be backed up or does it need to be re-downloaded?

emperion9 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:59:21 GMT

I have purchased and downloaded all of the DLC for fallout 3 and have played them right through, now for unrelated reasons I would like to reformat my computer. Can I back up the DLC onto an external drive or do I have to download it again after the Format is completed?