[Bazerk83]

Ok.... so yes, another depressing, roll your eyes, shake your head CTD thread.

So why mission impossible? Obvious really, NOTHING is working.

Now I'm not expecting an ABSOLUTE cure for it to never ever crash again.... but I get about an hours play time out of this game (If I'm lucky) before a CTD and I'd like to have it running so that I can get 4-5 hours of gameplay instead, the more the better obviously.

So....

The Problem

Random crash to desktops whilst playing. Never whilst saving, Never whilst bringing up VATS, just random indoor/outdoor crashes.

The setup

M/b: ASUS M4N82 Deluxe nForce 980a SLI AM3
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 True Triple Core 2.8GHz
RAM: 4GB (2x2) Vitesta DDR2 800MHz
Graphics: x2 Nvidia GEForce GTX 260
PSU: BFG 800w ES-800 Quad 12v w/ 2.91 SLI support
Cooling: x6 1200rpm fans.
O/S: Windows 7 Professional
DirectX: 11
HDD Capacity: x2 Samsung SATA HDDs - 1.5TB & 1TB

So, it's safe to say I have a more than capable machine of handling this game at full specs. Ofcourse, I'm well aware that this doesn't make it at all impervious to Bethesdas retarded way of coding games. So with that said... let's get you up to speed.

Using FanSpeed, I've determined that my graphics card reaches a top temp of 59C-60C whilst playing the game. I know it's not an overheating problem because it's not always when there's a huge push for FPS i.e. multiple enemies, mass quantity of animation. It's just random, sometimes I could be walking through an empty tunnel, other times through the wasteland, it's non-specific.

Installations

Fallout 3
Fallout 3 Official patch
All official DLCs (Broken Steel, Point Lookout, The Pitt, Anchorage, Zeta)
Unofficial Fallout 3 patch
Unofficial Fallout 3 patch (each DLC)
FOMM
FOSE
Archive Invalidation Invalidated

MODS

FOOK 2 v1.0
Unique Perks Package
EVE - Energy Visuals Enchanced
Owned!
KillableKids
Animated Prostitution


The Loadout

Fallout3.esm
Anchorage.esm
ThePitt.esm
BrokenSteel.esm
PointLookout.esm
Zeta.esm
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch.esm
CALIBR
FOOK2 - Main.esm
FOOK2 - [DIK] DLC Improvement Kit
FOOK2 - [*censored*] World and Neighbourhood Kit.esm
FOOK2_NPCs_on_Jet_Fix.esp
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Operation Anchorage.esp
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - The Pitt.esp
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Broken Steel.esp
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Point Lookout.esp
Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Mothership Zeta.esp
FOOK2 - Main.esp
FOOK2 - [DIK] DLC Improvement Kit.esp
FOOK2 - Mothership Zeta.esp
FOOK2 - [EVE] Energy Visuals Enhanced.esp
UPP - Pack 1.esp
UPP - Pack 2.esp
UPP - Original Perks.esp
UPP - Quest Perks.esp
EVE Beta_0_9_4.esp
EVE Operation Anchorage.esp
Owned!.esp
Overhead3PCamera.esp
KillableKidsNormalHealthOptional.esp
bzBodySuits.esp
bzArmour.esp
Animy_prostitution.esp

"Fixes Applied"

- Installed .net framework 4 beta 2
- Added Fallout3.exe & fose_loader.exe to both audio and video compression exceptions lists in ffdshow
- Forced off vsync via Nvidia control panel
- Installed D3Ddecoder (vsync off)
- Tried multiple nvidia drivers (each time using correct uninstall/registry removal & reinstall method) drivers used include cd driver, 180.43, 181.71, 19.07.
- Installed newest chipset driver
- Reduced CPU core to dual via Fallout3.ini
- Forced off AA via Nvidia control panel
- moved pagefile to 2nd HDD (size unchanged)
- defragmented all HDDs
- cleared cache
- closed almost all background programs including AV
- Ran in XP SP2, Vista & Vista SP2 compatability modes as well as normal mode (Windows 7)

...I'm sure i'm forgetting some other things i've tried doing to resolve these issues but I've been battling with this all week and still no success.

The ONLY thing I hadn't done up until now, was install Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributible. I've now done that. Is this a major issue and do you think this one thing would fix my problem?


If you can come up with the solution to what seems to be the only person to have NONE of the above popular fixes work for him, then you my friend are a genius and a godsend and I will be forever grateful.

Please feel free to ask any questions that I may not have covered.

Thanks again to anyone who offers theirs advice, suggestions or ideas.

[csb]

I'm assuming you use Timeslip's Fallout Mod Manager, and that FOMM launches FOSE.

Your load order looks okay at a quick glance (except maybe moving Broken Steel to the last of the DLCs for its level 30 cap, but many mods override that anyway and reset it back to 20).

FOSE has been problematic for me in Vista, I get an immediate CTD with a .dll error (yay, more .dll Hell!), so I can't really comment on any FOSE-specific issues.

If you installed to the default location (in Program Files), you really should re-install to another location (C:\Games\Fallout3 seems popular ). Windows 7 has the same UAC security issues in the Program Files folder that Vista does. It's best to avoid them by installing elsewhere. Not to mention some other default directory weirdness.

Check TweakGuides.com and the Fallout3 Tweak Guide. Excellent resource, but probably not the solution to your CTD issues. I'm not sure about x64, but with nVidia drivers, even the newly-certified 190+ are buggy in Fallout3 (even though they say they addressed FO3 issues with the latest release), 186.17? The Tweak Guide has it ... something like that, is so far the most reliable nVidia driver for Fallout3 (and Oblivion) and probably others as well.

There are other things, like K-Lite (or another codec utility) to disable fddshow ... again, good to know, but probably not the cause in this case. Generally fddshow issues result in screen freezes that force the 3-fingered soluition.

That leaves ... mod incompatibilities. And boy, there are tons of those that can occur!

For that you need ElminsterAU's FO3Edit. It is a must-have utility for finding and fixing mod incompatibilities. You'll want Miax's great FO3Edit Guide - Web-enized to learn how to maximize FO3Edit as a troubleshooting tool.

Once you've run FO3Edit with a conflict detection filter, you'll want to look for major things that can crash FO3. Scripts are #1 -- Fallout3 usually doesn't degrade well from a failed script call. So if mod B loads after A and overrides A's custom script with its own ... it's a potential gamebreaker. Script conflicts are the worst ... because that usually entails having to unload a mod (unless you know scripting and want to create a custom script that incorporates the functionality of both -- or more -- mods' scripts and assign that to your merge patch in GECK).

Worldspace issues. Navmeshes, deleted content in one mod that a subsequent mod then tries to use in some fashion are also big killers. FO3Edit will help you find them all.

Hope this helps in resolving your CTD issues -- although there's always the getRandomCrash(int Random()) function that I suspect the devs left in for job security!

[Bazerk83]

csb, on Nov 19 2009, 09:56 PM, said:

I'm assuming you use Timeslip's Fallout Mod Manager, and that FOMM launches FOSE.

Your load order looks okay at a quick glance (except maybe moving Broken Steel to the last of the DLCs for its level 30 cap, but many mods override that anyway and reset it back to 20).

FOSE has been problematic for me in Vista, I get an immediate CTD with a .dll error (yay, more .dll Hell!), so I can't really comment on any FOSE-specific issues.

If you installed to the default location (in Program Files), you really should re-install to another location (C:\Games\Fallout3 seems popular ). Windows 7 has the same UAC security issues in the Program Files folder that Vista does. It's best to avoid them by installing elsewhere. Not to mention some other default directory weirdness.

Check TweakGuides.com and the Fallout3 Tweak Guide. Excellent resource, but probably not the solution to your CTD issues. I'm not sure about x64, but with nVidia drivers, even the newly-certified 190+ are buggy in Fallout3 (even though they say they addressed FO3 issues with the latest release), 186.17? The Tweak Guide has it ... something like that, is so far the most reliable nVidia driver for Fallout3 (and Oblivion) and probably others as well.

There are other things, like K-Lite (or another codec utility) to disable fddshow ... again, good to know, but probably not the cause in this case. Generally fddshow issues result in screen freezes that force the 3-fingered soluition.

That leaves ... mod incompatibilities. And boy, there are tons of those that can occur!

For that you need ElminsterAU's FO3Edit. It is a must-have utility for finding and fixing mod incompatibilities. You'll want Miax's great FO3Edit Guide - Web-enized to learn how to maximize FO3Edit as a troubleshooting tool.

Once you've run FO3Edit with a conflict detection filter, you'll want to look for major things that can crash FO3. Scripts are #1 -- Fallout3 usually doesn't degrade well from a failed script call. So if mod B loads after A and overrides A's custom script with its own ... it's a potential gamebreaker. Script conflicts are the worst ... because that usually entails having to unload a mod (unless you know scripting and want to create a custom script that incorporates the functionality of both -- or more -- mods' scripts and assign that to your merge patch in GECK).

Worldspace issues. Navmeshes, deleted content in one mod that a subsequent mod then tries to use in some fashion are also big killers. FO3Edit will help you find them all.

Hope this helps in resolving your CTD issues -- although there's always the getRandomCrash(int Random()) function that I suspect the devs left in for job security!

Wow, 1st of all thak you for such a thorough reply!

To respond to your post,

Yes I do use FOMM, I knew I was forgetting some obvious things. I don't have it running fose_loader though, i created a fose_loader shortcut and launch through that application shortcut, maybe that is the problem but it seems to load fine.

I'll move Broken Steel to last.

I didn't install to the default location, I never do with games, I always install to a custom directory on to a 2nd hdd

I have installed K-lite and added fallout 3.exe and fose exe to the audio/video exceptions list.

I'll definately check out FO3edit, it's high time I did it, should've really looked at it once I started using mods the first time. I'll need the guide obviously so thanks for that too

Also, I've since read up that installing the unofficial patch before installing mods causes crashes and I'm pretty sure I did that. So maybe one of these changes I haven't done yet will cure it.

I doubt I have many, if any, conflicts because compared to most I have very few mods.

Well anyway, thank you so much for making the effort to reply. You've given me some really good tips. I appreciate it

[erenoth02]

Ive got the same exact error always crashes when im going through doors Ive been quicksaving every time before i go through any door

Fallout 3 installed, through steam so obviously it has the latest uptates. No mods installed No DLC
Windows Vista x64 Ultimate
Geforce 9800 gx2
8 gig of memory
Amd phenom quad core 2.8
gigabyte extra durable motherboard

Obviously my computer can handle it, I have Oblivion installed with about 30 mods and all DLC's and ive never had a problem with it just for refrence

[csb]

erenoth:

In your Fallout3 Game Settings, try disabling the Autosave on Travel/Rest/Wait and see if that helps when you transition.