Both Fallout 3: Game of the Year and Fallout: New Vegas crash when I try to create a new game

Solution 1:

Yes, yes, yes! Due to the addition of the Fallout New Vegas issue, I was able to Google that and find this .dll, which proved to be helpful in solving the issue.

Just download the d3d9.dll linked here: Alternate D3D9 Fix for ATI.

Thanks a ton to the author of this .dll. I can confirm that it fixed the problem with both Fallout games and hope it can solve the same problem for other gamers too.

Now I can jump into the Fallout world again.

Solution 2:

A few ideas:

• Install latest AMD drivers
• Reinstall latest DirectX
• I remember reading about problems with some tools from the graphics card manufacturers, try deinstalling those, if you have any.
• Try disabling Aero

You should also try searching the official forums, if anyone with a similar configuration has the same problem.

Solution 3:

Unlike the others here I don't really have a supposed solution, but instead a possible work-around(s), which I hope can help. I have listed 3 options below, but the bolded sentence in option 2 is the one which will probably work best.

Option 1: upgrade to 64-bit

Change your operating system to Windows 7 64-bit. Of course, nothing guarantees it will then work, but it just might - and I personally see no harm in such an upgrade (at least, not much harm).

You don't have to purchase Windows 7 again, all regular Windows 7 editions should include both the 32-bit and the 64-bit varieties. In today's world 64-bit is in general preferable, in my opinion, especially given your amount of RAM. There's no direct upgrade path from Windows 7 32-bit to 64-bit, but you can use the Windows Easy Transfer tool, which is pretty easy.

Option 2: play it in Windows XP

Windows 7 is not officially supported by Fallout 3, but Windows XP is, so I guess an obvious solution is to try and run it with XP! This gives you the following options:

1. Run Windows XP on an emulator. Many modern emulators don't critically degrade performance, just make sure you use an emulator which supports 3D acceleration. Windows XP Mode, for example, available for free for Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate, does not support acceleration as far as I know. Instead, try getting the open-source VirtualBox or the free VMWare Player, both of which should theoretically support the game, especially if you have a powerful machine. Notice that you need to have a valid XP installation - disc and serial number - to install it on the "guest" OS (the one being emulated).

2. Dual-boot Windows XP with your current operating system. This is probably the most fail-safe direction you can take to play the game. It requires some effort but there are plenty of guides available online on how to dual-boot, shouldn't be that big of a problem if you're keen on playing this great game. Again, you need a valid XP for that, but in that case success is basically guaranteed.

Be aware that if you use any of the above solutions, you would need to install Steam on that Windows XP as well, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Options 3: sue the bastards

Well I guess you should only pick this if you happen to have an expensive lawyer which isn't paid by the hour, but you can at least complain to Valve that the Steam store page is misleading: it only says XP/Vista is a minimum requirement, and does not explicitly say Windows 7 is unsupported, compared with the Doom 3 page, for example.