Fallout 3 problems...

[homercles337]

I recently downloaded Fallout 3 from Steam, but im having some odd performance issues. The game plays great, but once in a while it deteriorates to a slide show. No reason (ie, heavy graphics load). Its really becoming rather infuriating. I have degraded the resolution to the lowest possible and disabled all AA/AF. Nonetheless, i still get the occasional slide show. From 40+ fps to 1-2 fps. Oblivion never had this problem--not even close. Any suggestions? Here is the rig:

XP Pro SP2
4400+ X2
4 GB (realized to 3.3 via 32-bit)
8800 GT 512

 

[Zenoth]

Everyone is currently experiencing that problem, just take a look at the Bethesda forums under the PC issues section of Fallout 3, and you'll understand. Not to mention freezes and crashes which by the way also occur on the console versions. I myself am also experiencing that, and it even happens indoors sometimes (Museum of History is one example out of many).

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Everyone is currently experiencing that problem, just take a look at the Bethesda forums under the PC issues section of Fallout 3, and you'll understand. Not to mention freezes and crashes which by the way also occur on the console versions. I myself am also experiencing that, and it even happens indoors sometimes (Museum of History is one example out of many).

I have been on those forums since 2002. I tried to get info over there an just encountered asshatery. I got a warning (the first in 6 years) for calling out the asshats. So if you could tell me what is going on i would appreciate it. Better yet, what can i do to get rid of the slide show option?

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Everyone is currently experiencing that problem, just take a look at the Bethesda forums under the PC issues section of Fallout 3, and you'll understand. Not to mention freezes and crashes which by the way also occur on the console versions. I myself am also experiencing that, and it even happens indoors sometimes (Museum of History is one example out of many).

I have been on those forums since 2002. I tried to get info over there an just encountered asshatery. I got a warning (the first in 6 years) for calling out the asshats. So if you could tell me what is going on i would appreciate it. Better yet, what can i do to get rid of the slide show option?

I certainly don't want to sound rude or impolite, but I cannot possible explain you why it's doing that, I wish I could really, what's "going on" could only be explained by the developers and I doubt they'd be willing to go on roof tops and making the world know how they managed to let go those technical mishaps that create problems for literally thousands of Fallout 3 players on all platforms.

I fear that the only thing we can do is to wait for a patch, it's exactly what I'm doing because not only do I see seemingly unexplainable and very sudden slow-downs but it freezes and hangs the whole OS, and I need to hard-reset when it happens (and it occurs in each and every single play sessions I've had since I started my character, I even re-installed the OS anew, avoiding third party codecs and only using WHQL drivers and no over-clocking whatsoever, but it's still doing it).

In my case it's not as bad as you however, perhaps because overall my system is noticeably better, so when it drops down it doesn't reach as low as 1 or 2 FPS, but instead I get around 10 to around 15, when it was around 35 to 45 just a second before it happened. But it's basically the same problem of course, as I said everyone (well, perhaps not everyone, but at least a vast number of players, both using Steam and PC retail, and even on Consoles) is having the issue.

And I just really don't know how to get rid of it, I've tried too many things, but no go.

 

[skace]

I've never seen my FPS drop to 1 or 2. However I have Vista 64 and 8GB of ram, which is pretty different from the norm.

I do know that steam in the Fallout 3 engine causes some serious framerate lag, lowest I've gotten is 20 FPS while looking at Steam.

 

[udneekgnim]

if it only lasts for a second or two, then your PC is loading in a new area / spawning NPCs / NPCs fighting in the background

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Everyone is currently experiencing that problem, just take a look at the Bethesda forums under the PC issues section of Fallout 3, and you'll understand. Not to mention freezes and crashes which by the way also occur on the console versions. I myself am also experiencing that, and it even happens indoors sometimes (Museum of History is one example out of many).

I wouldn't go so far as to say "everyone", I haven't noticed this issue.
My rig has similar specs to the OP's, except I'm on Vista Home Premium.

I'm not using the Steam version, though.

 

[Albatross]

turn off the radio

 

[SergeC]

...Never experienced anything like this. Sounds frustrating, though. Great game.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: albatross
turn off the radio

Wait. What? Really?

 

[MTDEW]

Mine didnt drop to 1-2fps, more like 20fps after playing for awhile with AA turned on.
I turned off my AA and it hasnt happened since.
No biggie for me since im playing in 1920x1200 anyway.

Maybe try tweaking the iPreloadSizeLimit, uInterior Cell Buffer and uExterior Cell Buffer settings in the Fallout.ini using the tweak guide may resolve this for you. (its a guess of course)

Only trouble ive really had is the pip boy radio skipping while playing music on my x-fi, so just dont listen to it while playing.

Game is so good, im more than willing to ignore the minor issues ive seen on my setup.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: albatross
turn off the radio

Wait. What? Really?

Worth a shot, I only used mine for a few minutes near the start of the game.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog


Worth a shot, I only used mine for a few minutes near the start of the game.

Yup and then it starts becoming very, very annoying. In the beginning, I had the impression that the radio sounds are actual music in game. Thank god it wasn't.

 

[imported_Hanspfall]

I've noticed this when I go into VATS sometimes, and have found that by tabbing out to the desktop and then tabbing back in it "resets" to normal speed. Why it does this I've no clue.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: albatross
turn off the radio

Wait. What? Really?

Worth a shot, I only used mine for a few minutes near the start of the game.

Radio off, problem still exists.

 

[Eeezee]

My system is pretty spiffy, and I get this problem sometimes too. It usually happens outdoors when I'm trying to frequently quicksave.

I play in windowed mode, so tabbing out is trivial and I do it all the time, responding to e-mail, IMs, etc., so that might help? Who knows

I got really sick of the radio after listening to it for too long. I wish it had more variety. I also wish you could set up your own radio station - this seems like such an obvious feature to have in a game where you have a radio everywhere you go, especially in the PC version!

 

[NoSoup4You]

I've probably logged 25 hours in Fallout 3 already and I've never seen anything like what the OP is reporting. I'll consider myself lucky. I did have some problems with intermittent crashes originally, but they've all but totally disappeared recently to the point where the game is at least as stable as Oblivion ever was.

That sucks that other people aren't experiencing the same thing. This game has so much to offer, imo, and I can't imagine how frustrated I'd be if I was having the same problems. Hopefully Bethesda comes through with a patch in this case.