Fallout 3 GOTY constant freezing

[Zero]

Weird, I played about 100 hrs worth of the original FO3 (from a downloaded iso no less) and had maybe a handful fo crashes.

On the same system with different OS (Win 7 this time), my recent install of FO3 GOTY (legit retail disc) keeps freezing every 5 minutes. I can Ctrl-Alt-Del out and end the task, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern to the cause of the crashes. I've checked my GPU temps and they're fine, no visual artifacting either, just random freezing.

Is GOTY unstable? I so badly want to blame SecureROM... Anyone else experiencing instability?

[sumpwa]

Fallout 3 problems tend to be associated with audio codecs you recently installed, such as ffdshow.

[Zero]

I'll check out adding FO3 to ffdshow's exceptions list, thanks.

[Zero]

Originally Posted by Zero

I'll check out adding FO3 to ffdshow's exceptions list, thanks.

No dice, still freezes just as much. Appaently there may be an issue with Windows 7 as Bethesda's forums is littered with threads about it:

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/in...p?showforum=36

[Zero]

I managed to get a couple solid hours of gameplay last night without freezing.

Not sure what resolved the issue (or even that it's resolved) but this s what I tried (mostly in order):

-put Fallout3.exe in ffdshow's exclusions list
-uninstalled Cats 9.10, rebooted into safe mode, ran Driver Sweeper, restarted and reinstalled Cats 9.10
-uninstalled Fallout 3, reinstalled Fallout3 (original), patched to 1.7, installed GOTY disc 2 for DLC, reapplied patch 1.7
-disabled Aero effects
-disabled secondary monitor (which sucks because I can't look at my map while walking arund now without activating the pipboy)
-downloaded G4WL 3 from the official website and installed on top of existing G4WL that came with Fallout3

Also noticed the second GPU on my 4870x2 would not properly downclock when idling (always stuck at 750/900), may be some Cats issue at the root of it.

Oh I didn't know we had PC support section, so if a mod would kindly move my thread there, I'd appreciate it. Hope this helps, I'll play some more and report back if the freezing pops up again.

[Zero]

Played for about 3 hrs today. One freeze just now, as I was shooting a sentry bot. Problem isn't gone but it's definitely a lot better.

[Android1]

Try the quad-core fix.

[kn00tcn]

the 2nd core issue was gone around 9.6 (it only does it on boot right? launch a game & exit fixes it?)

[Zero]

I added those two entries to the INI file and it's helped stability somewhat. Played a couple hours again until I got a crash to desktop (but no freezing). At least it's not every few minutes.