Fallout 3 GOTY edition doesn't start

I can start the launcher, but when I press play the game closes instead of running. Any one have an idea what the problem might be or away around it? Or any idea for something I can try would be appreciated.

By the way, I bought it through steam, no mods are installed (so it is "vanilla" GOTY edition), and I am using Windows 8.

My computer is a "Vision Computer" with an nVidia graphics card

I have tried both restarting the computer, and reinstalling the game. Both several times


This is a summarized version of this guide


Please try these steps in the order listed. After each step, test to see if it's working.

  1. Update Games for Windows Live. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

  2. Disable Games for Windows Live.

    Download this disabler

  3. Edit your INI file

    a. Open My Documents\my games\Fallout3\FALLOUT.INI in notepad

    b. Change bUseThreadedAI=0 to bUseThreadedAI=1

    c. On the very next line type: iNumHWThreads=2

    d. Save and exit notepad

  4. Download and install the Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch

There are other options to fix less likely causes of your problem. If this doesn't work let me know and I'll post some more obscure remedies.