Fallout 3

Fallout 3

Developers
	Bethesda Game Studios
Publishers
	Bethesda Softworks
Engines
	Gamebryo (TES Engine)
Release dates
Windows	October 28, 2008
Reception
Metacritic	91
IGDB	89
Taxonomy
Monetization	DLC
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	ARPG, Open world, Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	North America, Post-apocalyptic, Sci-fi
Series	Fallout

Fallout
Fallout	1997
Fallout 2	1998
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel	2001
Fallout 3	2008
Fallout: New Vegas	2010
Fallout 4	2015
Fallout Shelter	2016
Fallout 4 VR	2017
Fallout 76	2018

Warnings

For Games for Windows - LIVE on Windows 8 or later, install the latest Games for Windows - LIVE software.

Key points

Steam version out-of-the-box on Windows 10 is prone to crashes and requires unofficial bug-fix and stability mods. GOG version is more stable out-of-the-box, however, bug-fix mods are still strongly recommended. See Essential Improvements and Modifications sections for more information.

Extensive modding community.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions (Game of the Year Edition)

Steam Community Discussions

Fallout 3 Nexus - the most popular host for Fallout 3 mods.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Launcher uses SecuROM 7 DRM disc check, run with Fallout3.exe to bypass. Some other copies use SafeDisc v4.85 DRM. Russian copies use StarForce 5 DRM.
Amazon.com		Game of the Year Edition is also available.
Bethesda.net		Game of the Year Edition
GamersGate		Game of the Year Edition is also available.
GOG.com		Game of the Year Edition, multi-core issues are fixed.
Green Man Gaming		Game of the Year Edition is also available.
Humble Store		Game of the Year Edition is also available.
Steam		Game of the Year Edition is also available.

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

All versions except GOG.com require Games for Windows - LIVE DRM. GFWL can be disabled by running the game through FOSE. Additionally, all non-retail copies except GOG.com require Steam DRM.

Version differences

The Game of the Year Edition includes the base game bundled with all five DLC expansion packs.

The German version only includes the German language and features censoring of blood/gore, however, the German GOG.com release is uncensored.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Operation: Anchorage
The Pitt
Broken Steel
Point Lookout
Mothership Zeta
Original Soundtrack

Essential improvements

Official Patches

The v 1.7 patch updates the game to the latest version. GOG.com and Steam versions are pre-patched. The Retail Game of the Year Edition will apply the patch during the DLC-disc installation.

Mod Manager

Mod managers simplify mod installation, among various additional features. Recommended to use one of the following.

Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM)

Basic mod manager with a simple user-interface, suitable for beginners.

Mod Organizer

Powerful mod manager with mod virtualization, keeping the game-installation folder vanilla.

Features a configuration editor.

Vortex

Official mod manager made by Nexus Mods.

Designed to make modding games as simple as possible for new users, while still providing enough control for more experienced users.

Unofficial Patches

Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch

Fixes hundreds of bugs not covered by the official patches.

Constantly updated and maintained (as of 2021).

If any of the 5 DLCs aren't present, an older bugged version will be installed.

Games for Windows - LIVE Disabler

Removes login delay, reducing startup time.

Requires Fallout 3 v1.1 or higher.

GFWL comes pre-removed on GOG version.

1. Ensure that the latest version of the Games for Windows - LIVE software is installed.
2. Launch the game once to allow the necessary config files to be created.
3. Download and run the Games for Windows LIVE Disabler.
4. To retrieve save games, move files from: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\Saves\<user-id>\ to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\Saves\
5. Use the 'Move DLC's' button to get DLC working again. Steam version of Game of the Year Edition owners do not need to move DLC.

General

Large Address Aware Enabler

Enables the game to more utilize more RAM than the initial pre-allotted amount.

Improves stability on systems with at least 3 GB of RAM.

Pre-patched on GOG version.

Windows 10 Fallout 3 Patcher

Configures fallout.ini (or creates it if non-existent) to run properly on Windows 10, and automatically applies multi-core CPU fix.

Increased Heap Allocation

Replaces in-game heap with a better-optimized version.

Decreases load-times, alleviates stutter and improves frame rate.

Requires Fallout 3 Script Extender.

Out-of-Memory Fix

Decreases overall RAM usage and eliminates errors caused when using large textures.

Ogg Vorbis Libraries

Released for Fallout: New Vegas, but also works on Fallout 3.

Updated sound libraries that optimize the game's audio decoding, fixes an audio memory leak, sound-related stuttering and boosts performance while reducing CPU strain.

Miscellaneous

Enable HBAO

Open the Nvidia Control panel and under Program Settings for Fallout3.exe switch Ambient Occlusion to Quality. GIF showing the difference.

Skip intro videos

File removal[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\Data\Video\ Delete or rename Fallout INTRO Vsk.bik.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\*.ini
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/22300/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\Saves\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/22300/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Save games missing

If logged into Games for Windows LIVE, the game will save in the Games for Windows LIVE folder corresponding to the currently logged-in username. If logged out of the service, the game will be unable to locate the saves.

Retrieve Missing Saves[citation needed]
Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\. Search in the subfolders for your latest saves. If you were not logged in while saving, the saves will be found in the Saves folder. If you were logged in, the saves will be under your Games for Windows LIVE folder. Copy the files out to either folder (your username if you plan on logging in each time, or the Saves folder if you do not).

Once you restart the game, your saves should now be detected.

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See Multi-monitor.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Install OneTweak followed by FOSE and enable the windowed mode in the launcher.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Set in launcher. Up to 15 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Set in launcher. Up to 8x MSAA. SGSSAA can be achieved on Nvidia systems with flag 0x000010C1.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Toggle in launcher is broken. Set iPresentInterval=0 in fallout.ini to disable.
60 FPS
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)		Rendered image uses SDR color space. In-game HDR option refers only to HDR Rendering.

Most graphics options are accessible on the main launcher screen.

Multi-monitor

Adds support for multi-monitor displays.

Displays HUD on the middle display.

Multi-monitor[citation needed]
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\FALLOUT.ini Find the following lines: iSafeZoneXWide=15 iSafeZoneYWide=15 iSafeZoneX=15

Relevant multi-monitor resolutions:

3840x1024	5040x1050
iSafeZoneXWide=610	iSafeZoneXWide=770
iSafeZoneYWide=15	iSafeZoneYWide=15
iSafeZoneX=610	iSafeZoneX=770

Field of view (FOV)

Edit Field of view (FOV)
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\FALLOUT.ini Find the section: [Display] Add these lines to the bottom of the section: fDefaultWorldFOV=75.0000 fDefault1stPersonFOV=55.0000 Change the FOV value based on your aspect ratio. The second line affects the FOV of the gun, so a lower value is recommended to avoid clipping. For example 66

These values use the 5:4 aspect ratio as a baseline FOV:

Aspect Ratio	FOV Value
4:3	79.9000
16:9	105.3000
15:9	99.0000
16:10	95.2000
21:9	80.0000

Enabling HBAO+ for Nvidia graphics cards

Note: Using Nvidia HBAO+ can break compatibility with ENB Series.

Use the Ambient Occlusion flag 0x00000005 with Quality or High Quality.

Using Ambient Occlusion flag 0x00000005

Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector. Under Profiles select Fallout 3. Under Ambient Occlusion compatibility insert the flag 0x00000005. Under Ambient Occlusion usage select Enabled. Under Ambient Occlusion setting select your quality of preference, but in order to use HBAO+ you must use Quality or High Quality. Click Apply changes. If you get an error saying access denied when applying the Ambient Occlusion setting, navigate to: "C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation" and delete the folder named "Drs". If there is no Drs folder then create it, this will fix the error.

Input

Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Enabled by default; see Mouse acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Native XInput controller support.
Full controller support		Partial support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Mouse acceleration

Disable mouse acceleration
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\fallout.ini Find the section: [Controls] Add the lines: fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0 fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0 fForegroundMouseBase=0 fForegroundMouseMult=0

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, footsteps, voice, effects and radio.
Surround sound		In-game Audio, up to 7.1 output Cutscene Audio is 2.0.
Subtitles		Shows one subtitle at a time.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		Use DSOAL to enable true binaural sound. Does not require a sound card.

May require DirectSound3D restoration software to restore proper audio functionality on Vista and later (Included in HRTF mod).

Localizations

The German version only includes the German language.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
French
German
Hungarian				Retail only, Download.
Italian
Polish				Retail only. Patch for digital release here. Only the base game is dubbed.
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish

VR support

3D modes	State	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision			Use Helix Mod: Fallout 3 for better 3D support.
TriDef 3D
vorpX		G3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Devices
3RD Space Gaming Vest

Issues fixed

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game. It can be found here.

Game crashes randomly

Multiple Core CPU Fix
The most common fix required for this game. Not required for the GOG.com version. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\FALLOUT.ini Change bUseThreadedAI=0 to bUseThreadedAI=1 Make a new line after it and add iNumHWThreads=2 If the game still crashes, try iNumHWThreads=1

Game crashes on start-up

Make sure you can log in GFWL[citation needed] In case of any problems, run Fallout 3 in compatibility mode - Windows XP SP3, and GFWL installer in Windows 7 copatibility mode.

Disable Other Monitors[citation needed]

If the game is crashing on start-up, disabling any other monitors in use could resolve this. Right-click on the desktop and select Screen Resolution from the context menu. In the Screen Resolution Control Panel, click on the drop down list labeled "Multiple Displays" and select "Show desktop only on 1" (or the monitor you wish to run the game on). Click apply then on the pop-up window click "Keep changes".

Change FalloutPrefs.ini to reference your current GPU[citation needed]

If fallout3.exe does nothing when trying to open it, your FalloutPrefs.ini may be referencing an old GPU. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winsat Open the entry named PrimaryAdapterString and copy the text, it should be something similar to AMD Radeon R9 200 Series for AMD cards Edit %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\falloutprefs.ini Change sD3DDevice to your PrimaryAdapterString It should look something like this sD3DDevice="AMD Radeon R9 200 Series"

Crash when starting new game or loading save

unsupported IGPs and windows 10 AU: use graphics bypass

Reset codecs
Check if renaming <path-to-game>\Data\Music or <path-to-game>\Data\Video solves the issue. If so, fix codecs.

Run as administrator[citation needed]

Game keeps minimizing

Caused by the cursor being active in the background (and clicking Icons, Links, Buttons etc.)

Disable Visual Themes and Desktop Composition[citation needed]

Certain non-conversation voices, such as museum exhibits and random speech, are too quiet

Editing the config file[citation needed]
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\fallout.ini Edit fFilterdBAttenuation=11.5 to 0

Pip-Boy radio skipping or stuttering

Commonly caused by an issue with current MP3 codec, the format used exclusively by songs played through Pip-Boy radio.

The music may not be stuttering when the game is minimized, with the song played normally.

Use DSOAL[citation needed]

Fix for Creative X-Fi soundcards[citation needed]

Try the Audio Codec fix for game crashes first, if your Pip-Boy radio still skips (test with the enclave channel) owners of a creative soundcard may find that this helps. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\fallout.ini Edit iAudioCacheSize=2048 to 4096. Install the latest ALchemy. Add Fallout 3 to Creative Alchemy: select Use Registry Path and point it to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout3\Installed Path. Do not install to subfolder. Settings should be: Buffers=10; Duration=5; Maximum Voice Count=128. Leave direct music enabled.

Use IndirectSound

Disable MP3 decoding in LAV Splitter Configuration
Might work with similar codec packs, for example ffdshow. Open LAV Splitter Configuration program by finding the shortcut in the Start Menu. In Input Formats tab, find mp3 codec and uncheck it.

Set LAV Audio as preferred DirectShow MP3 decoder
Might work with similar codec packs, for example ffdshow. Download and open CodecTweakTool. Go to Preferred decoders under Win7DSFilterTweaker. Under 32-bit decoders find MP3 and switch it to LAV Audio (or any other non-Microsoft decoder).

Crash when leaving Rivet City marketplace

Use UPDATED Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch version 1.3 or greater[citation needed]
See UUF3P Instructions

Use fixed Broken Steel patch[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\Data\ Replace the file Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch - Broken Steel.esp with the one found here

Game hangs on closing

Disable threaded audio[citation needed]
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\FALLOUT.ini Change bMultiThreadAudio=1 to bMultiThreadAudio=0

Game hangs a few seconds after loading

Disable Creative Alchemy if no Creative soundcard present[citation needed]
This might occur if you had a Creative soundcard installed at any point, then removed it. Run Creative ALchemy. Ensure that Fallout 3 is not in the "ALchemy-enabled Games" column.

Game becomes unresponsive after Alt+Tab ↹

Enable borderless fullscreen
Install One Tweak mod.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
Shader Model support	3

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok
Audio	DirectSound
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.7d

Modifications

Utilities

Fallout 3 Script Extender (FOSE)

Automatically disables Games for Windows - LIVE (GFWL) when run.

Extends the scripting capabilities of Fallout 3's game engine (required by many mods)

Russian and Polish DVD retail copies, Direct2Drive copies, and the unpatched game (1.0.0.12) are all unsupported.

Script Extender Plugins

The following mods require Fallout 3 Script Extender.

New Vegas Anti-Crash (NVAC)

Released for Fallout: New Vegas, but also works for Fallout 3.

Implements structured exception handling and sanity-checking to reduce frequency of game crashes.

Fallout 3 Tick Fix

Alleviates micro-stuttering.

Mod Limit Fix

Raises the game's 120 plugin limit to 255.

Can also cause an increase in FPS, remove game stutter and allow for faster loading times, especially when using a large number of mods.

Overhauls

Tale of Two Wastelands

Total conversion of Fallout 3 and its DLC to the Fallout: New Vegas engine, allowing both games to played on a single save file. along with the improvements New Vegas' engine brings in regards to stability and modding.

Said to include "more than 40,000" bug-fixes to both games.

Requires Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition and Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition. The mod is currently in beta and is generally considered stable. Installation guide by GamerPoets.

Due to the mod utilizing New Vegas' engine, mods made for Fallout 3 are inherently incompatible. Modders must make TTW-specific versions of their mods for them to be compatible and list them as such.

User Interface

Vanilla UI Plus (VUI+)

Fixes user interface bugs and inconsistencies.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon 64 4000+	Intel Core 2 Duo AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
System memory (RAM)	1 GB (XP) 2 GB (Vista)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	7 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X850 Nvidia GeForce 6800 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	ATI Radeon HD 3800 Nvidia GeForce 8800 512 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0c compatible

Fallout 3 is not optimized for Windows 7 and later.