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 never had to change the compatibility settings for FO3 or NV, nor Oblivion or even Morrowind. The two .ini line tweaks are literally all I had to do to fix the crashes in FO3.

Just so you know, you usually do not have to deal with even making .ini tweaks to play games on computers. Fallout 3 is weird, in that it is literally the same game engine as Oblivion and Morrowind (and for that matter Skyrim), and it is the only one of those four that you have to do that with. I am not really sure if you need the ini tweak with FONV. I just added it to play it safe when I first installed NV.

Most games - even old ones - you just install and play. The ones that cause problems are the games that are really old, from before Windows 95. Those ancient games made for Dos - like the original Doom - are the ones that require a lot of effort to get working. The good news is you can often buy again cheap from Gog.com. They include brand new installers made for them to work on new computers, which removes all the hassle. I have rebought many games from Gog this way, like the original Tomb Raider, Pirates Gold, Pod, and so on.