Fallout freezes

SupaCat · Post by **SupaCat** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:40 pm

So I decided to buy the game. However, as soon as I left the vault, the game started crashing. I soon found a patch that should have fixed these problems. It didn't. Then I found another thing, apparently 'the latest update' in the form of WinRAR. Since then I've been able to play the game for a half-hour, sometimes 5 minutes. After this time the game simply freezes!

Most of the time a simple Ctrl-alt-delete does the trick, but this is really annoying since I paid € 44 for this game. If there are tricks to bypass this, please do tell.

SupaCat · Post by **SupaCat** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 4:58 am

Right, I've been searching the web like crazy and found some possible sollutions to this problem that is apparently very common.

1.
'Heres what I did to fix:
Go into FALLOUT.INI (make sure you back it up before any changes)

Scroll down to the section called [Audio]
find:
iAudioCacheSize=2056
iMaxSizeForCachedSound=256

Change them to higher values... I changed mine to: (Note that I kept the sizes within a multiple of 2)
iAudioCacheSize=8192
iMaxSizeForCachedSound=1028

Now I have no problems.'

2.
'This is how I resolved my freezing issues:

I did have an older version of the K-Lite Codec pack installed on my machine for a long time but it didn't interfere with Obilivion but yet seems to be the probably cause for Fallout3. So I uninstalled the older version of the K-Lite Codec pack, searched for the updated version which was K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 4.2.5, installed it, restart my machine and BAAAAAAAAAAAM!!! NO MORE FREEZES!!! I thought HOLY SHAZZBUT!!!! Didn't think it would work, so I tried playing the game and it stayed stable to the 3-4 hours that I've played it until I decided to exit to see if it would freeze like the other times. After several relaunches and exits, I can finally say that the game is running fine now. I've also noticed that when I play the game in window-mode I can see in my taskbar next to the clock that sometimes ffdshow logo would pop-up at certain points in the game. Obviously this is from the codec pack that I had recently updated and it didn't interfere with my game. I know for some users this is not the case but I hope that this does help those who've had the same frustrations. PIPBOY 3000 FTW!!!'

Anyway, I'm going to try the sound folder thingy first... But if you think these sollutions will mess up my system or if you have other sollutions, please do tell. I'm posting these sollutions since it's a common problem.

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 9:59 am

I'm not that suprised that updating/removing codecs can make game stable. For example, Silent Hill 2 is very sensitive about codecs downloaded from third party source, thus ending very laggy game.

I'm only suprised that Bethesda didn't take such thing in account.

SupaCat · Post by **SupaCat** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 2:39 pm

I can finally play!!! I used solution 2 and now it plays like a charm. In 6 hours play only 2 crashes, which were easily solved. So for everyone out there with the same problem, Solution 2 (from the previous posts) is the way to go!

From these first hours of playing I can say (for now at least) that I was terribly wrong about this game and it is really good. It has been a long time since an RPG got me playing for 4 hours non stop.

stanolis · Post by **stanolis** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:04 pm

good news for you.

on my 360, it keeps freezing south of bethesda, but now i just stay away from that area and everything seems good. i clipped through the floor in DC. i had to restart my game about 5 times yesterday. slightly peeved. sorry, just venting.

file read error · Post by **file read error** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:20 am

For me the game freezes/crashes every once in a while. It's inconsistent - sometimes it doesn't crash for 6 hours, then a streak of 5 crashes in a single hour happens... I'm going to try the sound solution, as most of those crashes occur in the exact moment when someone is going to talk. The speech starts but its subtitle doesn't appear and the game doesn't react any longer, then the speech is cut off in the middle and the game exits to Windows.
There are some other crash bugs for me though: sometimes a saved game fails to load - before the loading process is complete the game freezes solid. This will usually always happen for that specific savegame, forcing me to go back to an older one... what the **** might be wrong with those saves?
And there was one time when not only the game froze up but everything else with it. I was trying to snipe some mutants over a river by using VATS, but when trying to change my target nothing reacted any more. Alt-F4, Strg-Esc, Windows hotkey... all of those failed to do anything and the game didn't exit to windows either. However, I then found out even the Num Lock key didn't work any longer, which usually indicates a fatal bug! After randomly hitting keys for a while, I got this: [url="http://img-a3.pe.imagevz.net/photo2/11/31/60855e2279fbf7c3e91c848ae461/1-8bab5820e2aa44558f3497d41b781e26.jpg"]http://img-a3.pe.imagevz.net/photo2/11/31/60855e2279fbf7c3e91c848ae461/1-8bab5820e2aa44558f3497d41b781e26.jpg[/url]
It might be a problem with my graphics card, as the blue screen of death mentioned a file called "nv4_disp.dll". I also read somewhere around the net that the 8800 GT series of nvidia cards (which is what I'm using) is known to cause problems when playing Fallout 3.

However, all of that didn't shut me out from playing (and enjoying) the game. The matter is much worse for my father who is always crashing instantly now! Case of point: somehow he managed to make his way into Grayditch before everything started going nuts, but then he needed FIVE tries to finally enter Wilkes house (four times it crashed to desktop on loading the interior) and after exiting it again the game would crash as soon as he tried to turn his view around, as many as ten times in a row, making the game completely unplayable!

SupaCat · Post by **SupaCat** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:51 pm

I've seen this problem on my explorations back when I had my problem. You have propably have the problem with in-door areas. The guy who had this problem said something of saving before going into a house and then grab everything you can as quickly you can, go out and repeat. Search the Bethesda Forums, I think it was there I saw it.
Other than that, try to update audio and video and such. If you have packard Bell, you can simply insert your productionnumber.

Let your dad try sollution 2.

file read error · Post by **file read error** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:01 am

Let your dad try sollution 2.

Uh... I don't know squat about codecs, how would anyone of us have that specific codec anyway? If it has something to do with oblivion or similar games, I have to say we don't own those games (and therefore we can't have codecs that come with those games). Also, the game is crashing in outdoor areas for my dad too, I really believe it's the graphics card: yesterday he showed me his crash. He was trying to run around in Grayditch and suddenly (when he was just attacking ants) the screen display froze but the game sounds were still playing. We could hear the character getting blasted by ants but the screen didn't display anything of that although the game seemed to still be there in the background. After some time it exited to desktop.

SupaCat · Post by **SupaCat** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:10 pm

Seriously, sollution 2 will fix your dads game. I don't really know what you mean with codecs, but what I meant with the production key was the one that is on the back of your driverthingy (used to know the name

).

If you're really sure it's his graphics card there I believe 2 things you can do
1.Follow the way I recommended in my previous post (simply go to your computercompany site and search for updates there [which worked when I tried to play Brothers In arms])

or, less easy,

2.simply buy a new card

I don't know much about computers, but if I was your dad, I would update my cards from the companysite that made your computer (this is a plus for whatever game you're playing) and then go for sollution 2 (which is in my opinion also a plus for whatever you're playing).

However, there are alot of people who will give a much better sollution.
Post your problems on tech support and post the 'DxDiag', which I believe you'll find by doing 'perform' or something like that in your start menu. Then simply type dxdiag, save in notebook and copy as much as you can into your posts. (don't know the correct names since my computer is dutch).

file read error · Post by **file read error** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:01 pm

You said solution 2 was the following:

'This is how I resolved my freezing issues:

I did have an older version of the K-Lite Codec pack installed on my machine for a long time but it didn't interfere with Obilivion but yet seems to be the probably cause for Fallout3. So I uninstalled the older version of the K-Lite Codec pack, searched for the updated version which was K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 4.2.5, installed it, restart my machine and BAAAAAAAAAAAM!!! NO MORE FREEZES!!! I thought HOLY SHAZZBUT!!!! Didn't think it would work, so I tried playing the game and it stayed stable to the 3-4 hours that I've played it until I decided to exit to see if it would freeze like the other times. After several relaunches and exits, I can finally say that the game is running fine now. I've also noticed that when I play the game in window-mode I can see in my taskbar next to the clock that sometimes ffdshow logo would pop-up at certain points in the game. Obviously this is from the codec pack that I had recently updated and it didn't interfere with my game. I know for some users this is not the case but I hope that this does help those who've had the same frustrations. PIPBOY 3000 FTW!!!'

This solution is talking about this codec and that codec, and you're asking me what I mean with codecs??? I thought you had used that solution! Or did you refer to another solution that you posted somewhere else?

Updating the card drivers didn't change anything, and wouldn't you know, a new card would cost around 500 €. No matter how much this game is crashing, there's no way in hell we're paying 12 times its price only to be able to play - the card is working fine with almost any other game (GTA4 being the exception, but for that one I put the blame on Rockstar Games and not on the card)!

SupaCat · Post by **SupaCat** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:21 pm

file read error wrote: You said solution 2 was the following:

This solution is talking about this codec and that codec, and you're asking me what I mean with codecs??? I thought you had used that solution! Or did you refer to another solution that you posted somewhere else?

First of all, it has been 2 months ago since I saw the word. I didn't care about the word codec, I just wanted to make my game work. I pretty much installed the "codec" that was told in the quote (told in my second post) without much consideration. Hey, I had a backup from my computer and what could possibly go wrong? It was better than nothing. BTW: I didn't have the codec told in the quote, but it isn't about the one you have now, but about the one you're going to have if you install (K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 4.2.5). Btw: have you gone to the bethesda site?

Second of all, lose the attitude.

EDIT: have you patched your game?
http://www.gamingnewslink.com/2008/10/2 ... on-errors/

file read error · Post by **file read error** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:32 pm

Uh, okay... but as I said, I don't know what those codecs do and I don't want to ruin my PC (or have my dad's PC ruined) by installing them over something else (I suppose they would remove older versions when installing them). Yes, I've been at the Bethesda site and downloaded the patch (didn't notice any changes since then, as I've never had an UAE after closing the game); are there other downloads that might be useful?

SupaCat · Post by **SupaCat** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:34 pm

Take the link I posted in my previous post. Didn't help for me, but you never know. Also, the pack allows you to keep your previous Codec, so you basicly can't go wrong.

file read error · Post by **file read error** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:43 pm

Don't know how many people know this already, but I just found out a new patch for Fallout 3 came out today! Maybe it will finally fix those crash bugs?