Fallout 3 Keeps Crashing

Snowee

New Member
Just bought this game today and after about five or ten minutes of play it will crash, every single time. I am running 64x vista with an HD 4870, my PC in general is new and high-end. I also realized this is a pretty common problem so I don't know if it's because of driver conflicts, registry files, or perhaps ffdshow.

So far I've tried reinstalling the game, uninstalling a K-Lite Codec pack and getting the latest video drivers.. nothing. Afterwards it started saying "winmm.dll was not found", even though it would eventually load the launcher. The only strange thing about my PC for the time being is that I'm using a CRT monitor via a DVI to VGA converter.

Is there a way to fix this? Or will I have to buy a x32 vista and do a dual-boot just so I can have some game compatibility on this machine. I'm really worried about this because it could persist onto other games. Another strange thing to note, I have two free mmos that I play. One crashes in a similar manner and the other plays fine.
 

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Ok, I thought there might be some issues running it on 64x vista (Ultimate for me), so I went to the usual places to "try it out" first. My game was crashing a lot, too. I got the latest patches and all. My friend has his installed (store-bought) on 32x and he's getting crashes as well. I'm running a GeForce GTX 280 and he's running a card a few lines behind me.

All I can say is: Wait on buying "new" games. Take it back, say it's incompatible with your system, get something else, and try the game again later after more patches and updated video drivers are available.


You could try contacting the game developer's tech support line. I heard from my friend they were extremely courteous and helpful when he was having issues installing the game. His crashes are far fewer and he didn't get as annoyed with it as me.
 

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if is registry problem or conflict, create another account and reinstall the game on it, also i'm not too sure if the game is 100% 64 bit compatible.
 

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    costume
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    intel core 2 Quad q9550 2.8 ghz
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    EVGA NFORCE 790i ULTRA SLI
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    4 GB ocz
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    nvidia 8800 gts 640 MB
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    xfi xtreme gamers
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    sceptre x24
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    1920x1080
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    seagate 1000 GB
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    pc power & cooling
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    HAF
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    2.5 mbit

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System One

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    Me
    CPU
    Athlon x2 7750 BE
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    Asus M4A78 Pro
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    2x2gb Kingston
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    Sapphire HD 4830
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    X-Fi Xtreme Music
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    Acer P221w and Acer 1916w
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    1680x1050 and 1440x900
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    2x80 GB Seagate 7200.10 in RAID0, 500 GB Seagate 7200.12
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    Antec Earthwatts 500W
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    Antec Sonata III
    Cooling
    AC Freezer 64 Pro and a couple of 120 mm case fans
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    Logitech G5 v2
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    Logitech Wave
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    10000/1000
I had problems where it would crash on loading - generally, if I made it out of the first 10 seconds of loading a saved game I played for hours on end.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System) Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree) 2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
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    Logitech MX Master (shared)
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    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
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    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
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    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
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    AMD A6-5350M APU
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    Lenovo
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    8 GB
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    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
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    Lenovo 15" Matte
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    1680 * 1050
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    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
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    Lenovo
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    Lenovo
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    Lenovo
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    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
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    Lenovo
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    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
Please help! I can't install fallout 3. Error code: (-5006: 0x8000ffff). I have vista 64 with all of the system requirements and more. I heard it could be a securom issue. I have a dvdrw drive with labelflash.(could be the problem?) I've tried everything from running fallout as an administrator, to copying it into a new folder. Has anyone else run into this problem? I'm not willing to use third party stuff, so any advice would be awesome!
 

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System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway LX 6200-01
    CPU
    AMD Phenom X4 9500 quad-core
    Memory
    8 GB DDR2
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9800/9800 GTX+
    Hard Drives
    750 GB
I did have securom issues too with fallout. Like it would say the original cd isn't inserted. I just tried it repeatedly and it worked, lol. Did you try it again and again? xD
 

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Word! bethesda finally e-mailed me back. They wanted a dxdiag file attached to the e-mail, so I assume they will look at what version of dx I have. I'm still worried about it. I just updated my dx from microsoft, so this problem could be on-going. I just downloaded a directx web thingy-I can't remember what it's called. I bought my pc like 10 days ago, so I thought that everything would be up to date. Also, before I downloaded updates, I was able to run games in dx9, now I my os won't show the "run in dx9" option. I'm puzzled. "Strange things are afoot at the Circle K."
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway LX 6200-01
    CPU
    AMD Phenom X4 9500 quad-core
    Memory
    8 GB DDR2
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9800/9800 GTX+
    Hard Drives
    750 GB
By the way I just wanted to let you guys know, I discovered the problem is my video card. The Sapphire HD 4870 is known to cause crashing because the card would.. "keep switching the GPU clock speed between 500 Mhz and 750 Mhz. This would cause the card to, at some point, stop responding as it couldn't cope with the switches."

At least that's what I've heard, I'm still looking into it.
So I guess vista's innocent, or is it...
 

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Hmmm - that may account for some of my crashes then too - cause my dual GTX 260s would run at very very low speeds (like 100 versus 636 for the GPU clock) when I was not doing anything graphically intensive....so it may have just needed me to let the intro run completely before I started loading a game lol...

so, in effect, it's my *impatience* that was causing the issue....
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System) Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree) 2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
I just wanted to let ya'all know that I got Fallout 3 installed and running. I found out what the problem was from the windows tech forum. If you have vista 64 like me, you to need to re-name the instalsheild folder to installsheild.old. I was confused about how to do this from the instructions I received from Bethesda. Their e-mail explained how to do it in vista 32, or xp, but not how to do it in 64.

1. Put the fallout disk in your drive.
2. Cancel the auto-play.
3. Click on Computer.
4. Double click on OS(C:).
5. Double-click on Program Files(86)
6. Click on the Installsheild folder.
7. Re-neme the folder to: Installshield.old.

Thanks snowee for your input, and archie123 for the threads.
Keep it real and support vista!
Games!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway LX 6200-01
    CPU
    AMD Phenom X4 9500 quad-core
    Memory
    8 GB DDR2
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9800/9800 GTX+
    Hard Drives
    750 GB
By the way, Fallout 3 has been running perfectly on my pc. No crashes for 4+ hours. No crashes yet, as a matter of fact. Maybe we've all underestimated Vista 64.
Thanks again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway LX 6200-01
    CPU
    AMD Phenom X4 9500 quad-core
    Memory
    8 GB DDR2
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9800/9800 GTX+
    Hard Drives
    750 GB
Here's a fix someone posted at the bethsoft forums for those using Asus videocards:


Quote:
I have an ASUS 8800GT video card and was experiencing the CTD on New Game bug like so many others here. Also, like so many others, I tried all of the various solutions others posted (clean boots, codec updates, ect.) and had no success getting the game to start. I was quite frustrated and a very sad panda.

During the course of my own trouble shooting routine, I discovered that the game would load and run properly after the ASUS Smart Doctor and GamerOSD applications were uninstalled.

While it's not an perfect solution, I do hope it helps some of you running what is turning out to be a fun game.
I have 2x9800GTXs in SLI and I couldn't get past starting a NEW game. This fixed that.
 

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I bought the game on Saturday and found out it crashed straight away. Disabling all non essential apps solved the problem so I am thinking conflicts.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers Trust Graphics Tablet
I will re-phrase what I ment, all non essential OS apps, Antivirus, firewall the lot. I know that fallout 3 will crash if the spybot search and destroy teatimer app is running. I have not used the game online so disableing your firewall etc if you are online is done at your own risk.;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers Trust Graphics Tablet
I will re-phrase what I ment, all non essential OS apps, Antivirus, firewall the lot. I know that fallout 3 will crash if the spybot search and destroy teatimer app is running. I have not used the game online so disableing your firewall etc if you are online is done at your own risk.;)

Yes you are correct that the firewall is dangerouse, but sometimes the antivirus can cause games and other programes alike to either slow or crash.
 

My Computer

Fallout 3 won’t work at all for some reason!
On the launcher screen when I click play, the game will attempt to load. It’s a black screen with the hour glass cursor in the middle. Then the game crashes to my desktop and the error message says “An error has been encountered and the program needs to shut down.” I have tried so many different solutions but non have worked.

I have Windows XP and a radeon 9600 video card.

Is anyone having the same problem or know how to fix?
What the hell is going on! I haven’t even got to see the introduction of the game.
Please help!
 

My Computer

got it on steam and found the save game button is well worth using, even fully patched it crashes a lot, as for using a radeon 9600 card, check the minium specs as it might be more than that :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 6000+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2A HDMI
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Geforce 8800 512Mb GDDR3
    Sound Card
    On board 5.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SyncMaster 2232bw
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500GB Sata II Hard drives running in RAID 0 Freecom 500GB external USB
    PSU
    Coolermaster 600Watt Quiet
    Case
    Coolermaster Elite Case
    Cooling
    default fans
    Mouse
    Razer Diamond back
    Keyboard
    MS split keyboard
    Internet Speed
    http://www.speedtest.net/result/489957372.png
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