Fallout 3 revisited

[Skybird]

Early last year I bought a new system , and as a consequence from having a quadcore then and using a x64 Windows, Fallout 3 did not run on it. I had freezes after some minutes, and graphical artifacts.

I then googled and stumbled over the ini-fix to prevent the game from using more than two cores, which healed the issues immediately. I was happy - and forgot it all on the same day.

Yesterday I digged it out again, installed it, pushed all sliders and everything to max, plus higher resolution (1680) - and was stunned by how differently and how superb the game looks despite its age! On my old rig I had to use lower resolution and sliders on medium, and advanced visual effects deactivated. But now - wowh, simply wowh.

Had no real idea what a good-looking game this is - still.

It's nice to have had a long, very long pause from it. It all feels new, and details are no longer remembered, but get newly discovered.

[Takeda Shingen]

Since you have F3 running well, you should also try out New Vegas. Identical system requirements and a damn fine game.

[Red October1984]

Both New Vegas and Fallout 3 are wonderful games. Glad you can run them.

[TwoGamers]

Very good games

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Since you have F3 running well, you should also try out New Vegas. Identical system requirements and a damn fine game.

The interest is there, but it is not strong enough to overcome my antipathy towards Steam. Skyrim is the only single exception, regarding Steam. But no more Steam-stuff for me.

Its the F3 Gold edition over here, with all four addons, so there is plenty of gametime ahead anyway.

[Skybird]

I'm going fishing.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Skybird

I'm going fishing.

At the irradiated Potomac?
Well, you might get lucky and catch a Mirelurk or bathing Super Mutant with your rod.

[Kloef]

Ah Fallout 3...i must have spend months just exploring. I played the story 4 times and started modding and spend even longer in the game

Then i bought all the add-ons after a year or so and i just loved it even more, this game is high in my top 10 list and sometimes i just think about it, especially the atmosphere in the game is something that sticks with you..

Even yesterday i was thinking of reinstalling it, but all that deja-vu is too much after playing for so long and so much..

New Vegas is a pretty good game but F3 is way better, the story in NV more in line with the older games but it could have been alot better at the end, but that's me..

Have fun playing it!

[soopaman2]

The multi core issues is the biggest bug in this game.

It would seriously kick the crap outta New Vegas if they didn't use the subway mazes to get around as an artificial way to expand the game area.

I liked the open land of Vegas, but FO3 and its storyline was a much better game.

Who doesn't giggle as they nuke Megaton? Then erupt into boisterous cackling as you talk to a mutated ghoul Moira Brown, like you don't know what happened?

[Hottentot]

Originally Posted by soopaman2

It would seriously kick the crap outta New Vegas if they didn't use the subway mazes to get around as an artificial way to expand the game area.

As opposed to the invisible walls in Vegas?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by soopaman2

The multi core issues is the biggest bug in this game.

Well, changing those two famous lines in the ini solved that problem for me - completely.

Ironically, the game runs more stavble on my (new rig now than it ever did on my old one under XP. In the old one, single core, it ocsasionally crashed, maybe every hour or so. I have not had a single CTD in the present.

P.S. Just in case somebody does not know the trick: find the fallout.ini, and alter this line:

bUseThreadedAI=0

change that 0 to be a 1.

Then add a line immediately after that:

iNumHWThreads=2

That'S it. It prevents the game from running hot and "stumbling" when becoming too fast (which causes the freezes). It limits the game to using only two cores.

To me, it solved all problems. I have complete and total stability, and not a single CTD since then.

[kiwi_2005]

After reading this thread it makes me want to reinstall FO3. When i first got the new pc one of the first games i bought was FO3 but i rushed through it, i was playing catch up with all the games i missed couldn't play before. Now if i reinstall i would play FO3 how its meant to be played.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by soopaman2

I liked the open land of Vegas, but FO3 and its storyline was a much better game.

I disagree completely. F3 was an excellent game, but it was like an Elder Scrolls game. That is, the 'storyline' was minimal; it is more of a 'pure' sandbox where the player decides action. It was, in TES fashion, a game where you make the story. As such, there are no appreciable consequences if you blow up Megaton, or if you sell Bumble into slavery, or if you kill Three Dog. The only thing you change is the outfits of the bounty hunters that show up in random encounters. Any 'factional' choices you make are marginalized as they are in Dawnguard. Untimately, no matter your choices, you must side with the BoS against the Enclave.

New Vegas is more of a traditional Fallout sandbox. There are heavy consequences to factional choices. You can, in fact, side with the Legion but no one will want anything to do with you, including most of your potential followers. Unlike the F3 DLCs, the New Vegas DLCs form a story arc of their own, rivaling the main quest in scope. In fact, New Vegas is so story driven that it actually has a finite ending, as opposed to the 'play on' end of F3 (with Broken Steel).

Now whether you prefer the Elder Scrolls style or the Fallout style is up to you. I like them both about equally. However, you cannot claim that the story was superior in F3 given that New Vegas was far more story-driven.

[Stealhead]

I would say that the primary difference between FO3 and FONV is that the story in 3 is very linear you have no real branching and there are there is no effect on your karma and really no factions to speak of.

With FONV the story is not linear and has several different possible out comes and there are actual effects to what faction you please or displease.You can make FONV as sandbox as FO3 by simply not completing the last quest.

FO3 is story driven it just has a linear story which is not effected by player actions in the game FONV is story driven it just branches and has much depth
and one must behave in a certain manner or side or not side with a certain faction to get the ending that they want.No Gods No Masters FTW.

Seems to me that with most RPGs the player makes alot of story for their creation I know that I do maybe I should start writing.

Some people buy FO3 or FONV or both or Skyrim and play it almost like a sim of sorts of a life to me that is what is great about Bethesda games they really allow you to do what you want.

[Drewcifer]

F3 means more to me I guess you would say, as it was the first one, (reviving the dead series) I put a alot of hours into it and the world and its landmarks still stick with me. That being said Morrowind still holds a special place in my heart too but when I want an Elder Scrolls fix I play Skyrim, just like when I want fallout I play NV. Further more I feel like the addition of Hardcore mode, and some other features really does make NV the better version.