Fallout 3 stops responding to input with audio enabled in Windows 8.1

Solution 1:

As always Microsoft in coalition with Bethesda make the best puzzles. My Windows 8.1 Pro N by default doesn't have Windows Media Player. After install of Windows Media Player the game is working perfectly.

Install instructions for Fallout 3 on Windows 8.1

1. Install lates K-lite codecs
2. Install Fallout 3 and lates updates
3. Install Windows Live Client
4. Install Windows Media Player
5. Right click this file and open notepad: Documents\My Games\Fallout3\FALLOUT.INI
6. Find (control+F) bUseThreadedAI=0
7. Change to bUseThreadedAI=1
8. Immediately after this line, ADD this new line: iNumHWThreads=2

Links: Windows Live Client, Windows Media Player

Solution 2:

It appears you need to update your audio codecs, I found (this thread) which appears to describe the same problem.

The thread suggests that these codecs will fix the problem:

- K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 8.8.5

- K-Lite Codec Pack 6.3.5 (64bit)

You can get the latest version of the codecs here

Or older versions here