Fallout 3 Windows 7 crash on startup, tried patch, xlive.dll fix, ffdshow does nothing

For the last time people, there is no patch or downloadable fix for the problem. Its either a hardware error, or its pot luck. Fallout 3 is a game that power house machines like playstations and xboxs cant run perfectly. There is no error with the dll files, playing around with them doesn't help.

And the company can get away with selling the pc version as they haven't done anything wrong, as with all pc games its in all sales agreements that they do not take responsibility for the buyer not owning a machine capable of running it, that includes operating system. And it works on Windows 7 provided that you have hardware without an intergrated graphics design. Point is if its not working for you its not the game designers fault, its yours for not having a machine that can handle an advanced game.

"Fallout 3 is a game that power house machines like playstations and xboxs cant run perfectly...

Point is if its not working for you its not the game designers fault, its yours for not having a machine that can handle an advanced game."

XBOX and PS3 are powerhouse machines ? Not ! ( I assume you meant to say 'XBOX's can run )

The consoles get different versions of games, with reduced graphics requirements.

Well they used to, but these days the publishers, in their mad cash grab, will often port the game from console to PC without making changes that require more processing power, leaving a lot of PC gamers disappointed as  they expect to get more eye candy than console users.

Note it's the publishers who deserve most of the contempt. The developers are out there

just trying to do their art, and craft a good game.

So you are, as with the OP, trying to run the FO3 on a laptop or PC with Integrated Graphics.

Yet, even now that you seem to have accepted that your machine is not up to the task you still call it 'pot luck'. It's nothing to do with luck.

(of course I am still guessing as I've seen no specifications for your machine).

It does have something to do with  the mfg of laptops who advertise their machine as a gaming laptop to the unwary. They use the term gaming very loosely.

The Intel HD3000 and HD4000 are a reasonable Integrated option, and are capable of running many high end games at med settings, depending on the resolution, but earlier Intel HD was really only  designed for video, and games that don't need much processing power.

A laptop that can keep up with a gaming PC costs roughly twice the amount of

money for equivalent gaming power (on a 15-17" screen vs a 23-24" screen).

The main reasons for this are

• Heat dissipation in a laptop is almost nil , so the cpu and gpu has to be down-clocked to produce less heat
• The power supply is also smaller and produces far fewer amps that a PC psu . This also relates to heat produced, but also size and weight.

It is also important to note that the minimum specs listed for a PC game are very  minimum.

This  translates to the game will run only at the lowest settings. Very few games list the

dedicated VRAM requirements, and just listing a couple of graphics card options does not tell the whole story, especially to the uninitiated.

Personally, after my first game or two on PC, I never bought a game that my machine could

not meet the 'recommended' specs for, because even that does not  guarantee max settings in some games.

This leads to another issue with FO3. This game was developed before laptops became so

popular, and at a time when most people didn't bother trying to play games, except for

very simple ones, on their laptop. Hopefully game publishers will get more real with the

system requirements listed on the box and add which Integrated Graphics the game will run on.

Don't believe that PC gamers with machines powerful enough to run high end games are happy with the status quo either. There are many, many problems with the computer 'industry', some difficult to avoid like software problems ( if you've never tried to code a program it's hard to imagine the number of things that can go wrong), but most revolve around the money men always wanting more, and more, and....

There are a lot of Carpetbaggers out there. But if you want to play high end PC games all

you can do is sigh deeply, or rant, or do one then the other, and move on.

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What do you mean "finally accepted", this is Microsoft answers it does occupy every waking moment of my life. And based on my experience with the game i would say sometimes it can just be down to chance, i tried running it on my crappy laptop (2GHZ, 3GB RAM) so yeah pretty low specs and nothing, then i tried running it on my desktop with an AMD manufacturered CPU with 3.50GHZ and 8GB RAM with windows XP installed on it a few months back, same result.

In the end you're right when you say that the problem is basicly down to the hardware in your machine, but from my experience this game hasn't decided to boot regardless.

Oh and no game designers are not accountable for the shortcomings of your machine, hence why retailers take no responsibility for the game not working after purchase. Its as simple as that, its your responsibility to check if the game works before buying it, not there's. And in the end this problem isn't down to graphical capabilities, that is a problem to face in game, this is down to all out incapability.

To quote my post accurately-

"Yet, even now that you seem to have accepted that your machine is not up to the task"

EDIT: -

"this is Microsoft answers it does occupy every waking moment of my life. "

I'll guess you left  a not out here. I should hope it doesn't occupy every waking moment.

Where is there an implication that this topic is so pervasive in anyone's life. ?

Honestly - Gaming on a PC takes a bit of dedication, and a lot of tolerance for stuffing around

with fixes (even more than general PC use, as if that ain't bad enough), and to keep up with the graphics advances a PC needs a graphics card upgrade about every two years, and a new machine about every four

(the hardcore, with more money than sense upgrade yearly, at least), so it takes a bit of coin.

The best option for casual gamers who just want to plug and play, and especially people who need a laptop vs a PC, is to get a PS3 or XBOX and laptop. The combination will cost less, or about the same as a gaming PC.

The difference between graphics on PS3 and PC is not really all that great.

It's better sure, but not hugely.  Using keyboard and mouse is good too.

(about $1100 USD to build a Mid-range gaming PC, excluding monitor and other peripherals.

A mid-range will run the vast majority of  games on max settings on a single 24" monitor).

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