Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Fallout 3

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Revision as of 10:02, 4 September 2014 by Garrett (talk | contribs) (added GOTY discussions)
Fallout 3
Cover image missing, please upload it
Developers
Bethesda Game Studios
Publishers
Bethesda Softworks
Engines
Gamebryo
Release dates
Windows October 28, 2008
Fallout 3 on Wikipedia

Warnings

For Games for Windows - LIVE on Windows 8 or later, install the latest Games for Windows - LIVE software.
Fallout
Fallout 1997
Fallout 2 1998
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel 2001
Fallout 3 2008
Fallout: New Vegas 2010
Fallout 4 2015
Fallout Shelter 2016
Fallout 4 VR 2017
Fallout 76 2018

Key points

Runs better on Windows 7 and newer with the multiple core CPU fix.
Shares many similarities with Fallout: New Vegas in terms of its engine and performance.
Extensive modding community.

General information

Steam Community Discussions (Game of the Year Edition)
Steam Community Discussions
Steam Users' Forums for game series
No Humans Allowed Forums for game
Fallout 3 Nexus - the most popular host for almost all Fallout 3 mods.

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Steam
Icon overlay.png
A Game of the Year Edition is also available.
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
Ubisoft Store
DRM details are not known
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
All versions require Games for Windows - LIVE.

Version differences

The Game of the Year Edition includes all DLC, and is the best choice for price and modding capability.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Operation Anchorage
Windows
Broken Steel
Windows
The Pitt
Windows
Mothership Zeta
Windows
Point Lookout
Windows

Essential improvements

Mods

Nexus Mod Manager - the best mod manager for Fallout 3, making the process of installing mods much easier.

Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch

Fixes many of the bugs which official Bethesda patches never solved
Free registration required to download.

NTCore 4GB Patch

Improves performance for any 64-bit operating system with more than 2 GB RAM by allowing the game to access up to 4GB RAM.
This patch may remove GFWL!

Fallout 3 Script Extender (FOSE)

Russian and Polish DVD retail copies, Direct2Drive copies, and the unpatched game (1.0.0.12) are all unsupported.
Disables GFWL when run.
Used by many Fallout 3 mods to extend the scripting capabilities of Fallout 3's game engine.

Play without Games for Windows - LIVE

Games for Windows Live can be disabled as an alternative to using a local profile.
Instructions

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/22300/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

Template:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/22300/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect

Save games missing

If logged into Games for Windows LIVE, the game will save the save files under the currently logged-in username. If logged out of the service, the game will be unable to locate the saves.

Instructions

If you restart the game, your saves should be detected.

Video settings

Video settings.

Template:Video settings

Most graphics options are accessible on the main launcher screen.

Multi-monitor

Adds support for multi-monitor displays.
Displays HUD on the middle display.
Instructions
Relevant multi-monitor resolutions:
3840x1024 5040x1050
iSafeZoneXWide=610 iSafeZoneXWide=770
iSafeZoneYWide=15 iSafeZoneYWide=15
iSafeZoneX=610 iSafeZoneX=770

Field of view (FOV)

Instructions

These values use the 5:4 aspect ratio as a baseline FOV:

Aspect Ratio FOV Value
4:3 79.9000
16:9 105.3000
15:9 99.0000
16:10 95.2000

Input settings

Input settings.

Template:Input settings

Mouse acceleration

Instructions

Audio settings

Audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

May require DirectSound3D restoration software to restore proper audio functionality on Vista and newer Windows operating systems.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish

Issues fixed

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game. It can be found here.

Game crashes randomly

Caused by problems with multi-core CPUs on Windows 7 and newer.
Instructions
Instructions

Game keeps minimizing

Caused by the cursor being active in the background (and clicking Icons, Links, Buttons etc.)
Instructions

Crash when starting new game or loading save

Instructions
Instructions
Instructions
Instructions

Pip-Boy radio skipping or stuttering

Commonly caused by an issue with current MP3 codec, the format used exclusively by songs played through PipBoy radio.
The music may not be stuttering when the game is minimized, with the song played normally.
Instructions
Instructions
More info about the problem can be found here and here.

Game crashes on start-up

Instructions
Instructions
Instructions

Game hangs on closing

Instructions

Crash when leaving Rivet City Marketplace

Happens when first entering the Rivet City marketplace to learn the history and then leaving through the door to the stairwell.
Instructions

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP, Vista
Processor (CPU) 2.4 GHz Intel Pentium 4
System memory (RAM) 1 GB (XP)
2 GB (Vista)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 8 GB
Video card (GPU) nVidia 6800
ATi X850
256 MB of VRAM

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/22300/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (22300) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References