New Computers Playing Older Games, Multi-Core Computer Adjustments Needed Options

[mALX]

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I purchased Fallout 3 for the PC, my first time having the PC game. (Always played it on the XBox 360 before that).

When I loaded up the game on my new PC, and the game scanned my equipment and automatically set itself at "Ultra" graphics - I was ecstatic! Couldn't wait to see how different the gameplay would be in Ultra!

It did look great, and was unbelievably fast going through doors/fast traveling (I tested it, though usually never use it).

Although the visual aspects of the game were like night and day better than they had been on the XBox 360; the game was almost unplayable for all the CTD's.

So I Googled that CTD problem, and learned that Multi-core PC's/64-bit/Windows 7 = these all came out after Fallout 3, which was made during the Windows XP era.

These PC's purchased to play our beloved games on "Ultra" settings - cannot play them because of those same powerful assets that make it capable of playing them.

The cure is out there on the internet; you have to access the ini and limit the cores used down to TWO, (or one if you are still having CTD's). There is also a .dll file you have to place in your Fallout 3 folder with the launcher; and you have to change the compatability to Windows XP 2.

Okay, so when you limit your PC to two cores, then you go to play the game: The game sees the difference immediately; and re-scans your set-up to determine the best settings your rig can handle.

Guess what? The game determines that your PC is no longer capable of playing Fallout 3 on Ultra, it is now only capable of playing the game on MEDIUM graphics !!!!!!


So after all that, and this huge rig ... I have to play the game on medium graphics?



GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!




So NOW, I am wondering if this is exactly what the issue was with my old PC and Oblivion! My old PC was customized specifically to play Oblivion on the highest settings, but could only play it on medium graphics. It was also Mulit-core (and Windows Vista); and had more than ample power for Oblivion.

So why it had to be put on medium graphics (and still stuttered all the time) really bothered me. So now I wonder if this is what the whole problem with my old PC was; that it was Multi-core and Oblivion was not capable of being played on that many cores.

I've never seen it discussed on any of the Oblivion forums; never seen any fixes for it (there were numerous posts about the Fallout 3 CTD problem).



And now that makes me really begin wondering if I will have the same issue with Fallout: New Vegas. Does anyone know?





This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 20 2015, 02:01 AM

[SubRosa]

I have never had to add any special .dll file to play Oblivion, FO3, or NV with my multi-core processor computers. For FO3 and NV all you have to do is put the following two lines in your Fallout.ini

CODE

bUseThreadedAI=1
iNumHWThreads=2

I never even had to do that with Oblivion.

You are not stuck with the game at Medium settings. You can manually set everything to max if you want. In the Launcher just click on the Advanced button, and there are bunch of tabs for different settings. Turn everything up as much as you want.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 20 2015, 03:44 AM

[mALX]

I have never had to add any special .dll file to play Oblivion, FO3, or NV with my multi-core processor computers. For FO3 and NV all you have to do is put the following two lines in your Fallout.ini

CODE

bUseThreadedAI=1
iNumHWThreads=2

I never even had to do that with Oblivion.

You are not stuck with the game at Medium settings. You can manually set everything to max if you want. In the Launcher just click on the Advanced button, and there are bunch of tabs for different settings. Turn everything up as much as you want.

Well, that is good to hear, and worrisome at the same time! I wonder what that .dll file was the guy on YouTube had everyone download and add to the Fallout 3 launch folder? Urk, I hope it wasn't something bad.

Whatever it was, my game played without a single crash afterward - until tonight, that is. Tonight it started showing an odd screen when entering doors (like a screen of skulls), and when talking to Moira it froze up repeatedly and then just now crashed - first time since the fix.

Thank you for your answer, SubRosa, I have a high regard for your advice and judgement, especially on these matters!

[SubRosa]

Well, that is good to hear, and worrisome at the same time! I wonder what that .dll file was the guy on YouTube had everyone download and add to the Fallout 3 launch folder? Urk, I hope it wasn't something bad.

I was thinking this morning at work, perhaps that that .dll file might be part of the Fallout Script Extender? That has a bunch of .dll files - all named fosexxx.dll - along with a bunch of other files.

Just to be safe, I would get rid of that .dll file until you are sure what it does.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jan 20 2015, 08:10 PM