Fallout 3 crashing help

[Quirkymeister]

Hello,
I bought a disc version of Fallout 3 for the PC today to get myself into the Fallout mindset before Fallout 4 comes out, and because I have only played brief bits of this installment on the PS3, and I think we all know in our hearts that the PC version of a Bethesda game is the 'real' one.

Anyway, I post this because the game runs fine, yet is also crash-tastic. I don't think it's an issue of my laptop not meeting the requirements; it meets them fine, and with the graphics turned up to high, there aren't any real issues with framerate, stuttering, texture problems or anything. However, no matter what graphical settings I have the game on, it freezes every 15 minutes or so, requiring me to reboot the game. This is very annoying.

I read somewhere that this is an issue with Windows 7.
What I ask is, has anyone else here encountered this problem, and does anyone know how to stop it crashing all the time? Is there a mod or patch or something that can be downloaded to fix the issue?

Thanks for your consideration.

 

[Phasmal]

Hello,
I bought a disc version of Fallout 3 for the PC today to get myself into the Fallout mindset before Fallout 4 comes out, and because I have only played brief bits of this installment on the PS3, and I think we all know in our hearts that the PC version of a Bethesda game is the 'real' one.

Anyway, I post this because the game runs fine, yet is also crash-tastic. I don't think it's an issue of my laptop not meeting the requirements; it meets them fine, and with the graphics turned up to high, there aren't any real issues with framerate, stuttering, texture problems or anything. However, no matter what graphical settings I have the game on, it freezes every 15 minutes or so, requiring me to reboot the game. This is very annoying.

I read somewhere that this is an issue with Windows 7.
What I ask is, has anyone else here encountered this problem, and does anyone know how to stop it crashing all the time? Is there a mod or patch or something that can be downloaded to fix the issue?

Thanks for your consideration.

I had the same problem, the fix is detailed here.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1328904.html
Give it a try, it worked for me. Hope that helps!

 

[Quirkymeister]

W

Hello,
I bought a disc version of Fallout 3 for the PC today to get myself into the Fallout mindset before Fallout 4 comes out, and because I have only played brief bits of this installment on the PS3, and I think we all know in our hearts that the PC version of a Bethesda game is the 'real' one.

Anyway, I post this because the game runs fine, yet is also crash-tastic. I don't think it's an issue of my laptop not meeting the requirements; it meets them fine, and with the graphics turned up to high, there aren't any real issues with framerate, stuttering, texture problems or anything. However, no matter what graphical settings I have the game on, it freezes every 15 minutes or so, requiring me to reboot the game. This is very annoying.

I read somewhere that this is an issue with Windows 7.
What I ask is, has anyone else here encountered this problem, and does anyone know how to stop it crashing all the time? Is there a mod or patch or something that can be downloaded to fix the issue?

Thanks for your consideration.

I had the same problem, the fix is detailed here.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1328904.html
Give it a try, it worked for me. Hope that helps!

I tried that. Everything seems to have sorted itself out now, in that I played for over half an hour without the game freezing, which I'll take as the problem being fixed.
Thanks.

 

[Muspelheim]

Fallout 3 is one of those games that doesn't behave itself very well overall, and particularly not on newer systems and later Windows types. But there are always a few tweaks that will reduce crashes.
Your laptop is not the problem (most likely), it's the game stumbling on its many moving parts most of the time. The best way to reduce crashes are the usual ones, like keeping drivers up to date and keeping the system neat and tidy.

One thing that usually helps: if possible, don't install the game on the system hard drive. Most games don't like it very much, either, so it's a good habit to get in to.

Here are a few more tips, particularly if you want to add a few mods down the line: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=149946772

Mods don't exactly help the stability, but a lot of the modding utilities mentioned in the guide above have a few extra utilities that might help.

Despite all of it, F3 will still crash now and then. It's a damn diva of a game, still worth the trouble somehow. Make sure to keep saving, just in case. Hard saves (Where you save from the ESC-menu rather than the quicksave button) are a lot more reliable, quick saves have a tendency to corrupt.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Hello,
I bought a disc version of Fallout 3 for the PC today to get myself into the Fallout mindset before Fallout 4 comes out

Anyway, I post this because the game runs fine, yet is also crash-tastic.

Well the good news is that this is preparing you nicely for the Fallout 4 launch experience.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Hello,
I bought a disc version of Fallout 3 for the PC today to get myself into the Fallout mindset before Fallout 4 comes out

Anyway, I post this because the game runs fine, yet is also crash-tastic.

Well the good news is that this is preparing you nicely for the Fallout 4 launch experience.

It'd be a helluva funny swerve if Bethesda released Fallout 4 with only minor bugs. It'll never happen but I'd laugh my ass off if it did.