# Fallout 3



## Carey7090

Has anyone out there got any info on the system requirements for Fallout 3? I know they've stated several times that system reqs will be given closer to launch. But I've seen tid bits of minimum reqs. on Best Buys website and Gamestops site. Anyone else out there possible have better info?


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## Carey7090

I guess no one out there knows.


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## tosh9i

I wish. I was searching for hours trying to find the "system requirements". However, it seems like they haven't released it yet. One month away from release, and Bethesda still hasn't revealed the system req. Is this some sort of marketing strategy because it sucks.


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## Carey7090

No, they're trying to get people to buy it on the consoles. The survival edition on PS3 has already sold out. There are more console gamers than there are PC gamers. And console gamings numbers keep growing more and more every year. PC gaming is shrinking. Most PC games are usually also ported to consoles. Many people than buy them on a console, since most people don't have a computer that can run a game on high settings.


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## Aus_Karlos

Bethesda have speculated that minimum required processor is Dual Core 2.2ghz and recommended 3.2ghz.
No word as of yet about RAM or GPU.


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## tosh9i

Aus_Karlos said:


> Bethesda have speculated that minimum required processor is Dual Core 2.2ghz and recommended 3.2ghz.
> No word as of yet about RAM or GPU.


Well, I guess I can forget about purchasing it. I'm still using a single core. And to think, I've been looking forward to getting it for the past two years, eagerly awaiting its release.


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## Aus_Karlos

As long as your GPU is a Nvidia 8 series or higher some of the physics load is taken off of the CPU and the GPU does it. Thanks to AGIEA Phyx going under and Nvidia buying them out to incorporate it into the new drivers.


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## Carey7090

I've currently got a Core 2 Duo running at 3GHz, and a 8800GTS, 1GB RAM. But I'm returning this system, it had bios issues on the first day out of the box...not exactly something I wanna hold onto. I believe I solved the issue after putting on the bios on the mobos CD. Plus the other gig stick is faulty which I believe is what caused the whole mess to begin with. I'd much rather return this, get a refund and buy something a bit better. I'll be spending about 1200-1400. I may build my own, but I don't have a lot of time or patience for that anymore. So I'll probably look around at different stores, so far it looks like getting an HP will be the best bet as far as customization goes. I found one that's Quad core 2.66GHz, 3GB RAM, 9800GT 512MB, 500GB HD. It's not entirely better than my current system, since the 9800GT isn't as good as the 8800GTS which is marginally better according to reviews. But it'll run Fallout 3....hopefully lol.

Bethesda has said Fallout 3's specs. will be similar to what Oblivion was for its time. Which I guess would be fair to say that it'll need solid rig to run at full.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

hmm i wonder if ill be able to run it


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## Carey7090

If you're specs. are 2.2Ghz CPU or above, than you're covered on the CPU. Video card is probably somewhere in the 8000 series, if what I've heard is right, than it'll be the 8600GT on the low end. All of what I've stated is NOT official by any means, just what I've heard and all of it is minimum reqs. 2GB RAM however is what I've heard to be recommended. If you can't run it on PC, than get it on a console...it will be well worth I believe. I hope I'll have my new system by then...I'd rather have it on PC.



1 g0t 0wn3d said:


> hmm i wonder if ill be able to run it


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeah im hoping i get a job soon (highschool) and ill get an 8800 loll


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## Carey7090

I'm debating on whether or not I should get it on a console or on PC. There seems to be little differince between the two. Unless of course the PC version lets you use cheats. Kinda like how Oblivion on PC, you can use cheats but you can't on a console. Since you can't toggle the console on a console (if that makes any sense lol).


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

yeah lol i dont know which one to get it for ether


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## Carey7090

I might just get it on 360, and just forget about getting a new PC. Because that's the only game I can think of that I would be playing on PC for this year. Plus it'll save me 1500 lol.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d

lol yeah but that = fast email ftw 

XD i like my comp plays GRID maxed XD thats the newest thing i have right now


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## Carey7090

I'm still a bit unsure, I'd rather build my own...but if it's only gonna be for one game than it just seems like waste lol. We'll see though.


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## Carey7090

Just pre-ordered mine on 360. No use waiting for official PC specs. even when I know my PC won't be able to handle it on highest settings. Coming down to the wire on its release and still no specs. . I'm guessing they'll be release a week before it ships, if that.


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## lionellionheart

So...after anxiously waiting for the release date and clearing out my afternoon to play it, I can't install Fallout 3. I'm running windows vista on a Mac thru boot camp. The system meets the requirements no problem. But, try to run the Fallout dvd and I get a message informing me that there is a problem with the "side-by-side configuration" and that I should check the "application event log for more information". Anyone have any idea what is going on, and how to fix it??? Please and thank you.


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## efxman

God, I'm in the same boat. I have no idea what the system requirements are for this game and have been chomping at the bit to play it. All I get is "Windows has encountered an error and must shut down." I can't even load the ******* because it won't even get that far. As soon as I hit "Play" it just dies on me. ***????


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## tosh9i

System Requirements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_3#Bethesda_Softworks


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## Surreal Killa

efxman said:


> God, I'm in the same boat. I have no idea what the system requirements are for this game and have been chomping at the bit to play it. All I get is "Windows has encountered an error and must shut down." I can't even load the ******* because it won't even get that far. As soon as I hit "Play" it just dies on me. ***????


My problem exactly. Anyone know how to remedy this?


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## tosh9i

Aside from the bugs, is Fallout 3 any fun? Or, should I buy something else? How long do you think it would take to finish the game? Would it keep me busy for 3 days like Halo, or would it take about a month to complete?


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## efxman

Ok, I found that my system wasn't up to snuff after speaking to their tech support. Apparently I needed near 2 gigs of mem. An Ati express 850 or better graphics card, and I had to buy a new power supply to handle the output of the new card. Definitely uncool. I was badly in need of an upgrade anyway but if my machine can handle WoW why the hell shouldn't it be able to tackle Fallout 3????? Surely the 3d can't be THAT good???


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## lionellionheart

Got it up and running later that day and have been enamored ever since. Simple fix for my situation; just right click the dvd under My Computer and manually run setup. Doh! 
Anyway, yes, it's awesome. Yes, the 3D is that good. The game is just great. Water looks fantastic, even displaces when you get in. Lighting effects underground are wonderfully spooky. I went into an abandoned house with light streaming in thru the boarded up windows, hearing rad roaches scuttle around upstairs. Ah! Good stuff. Bethesda really did it. VATS animations are very entertaining, dialogue options are often quite funny, and the random encounters that made travel in the first two so unpredictable are thankfully still in the game. Nothing like being sniped from a nearby building as you're out for a sunday stroll. 
Depending on how you play it, it's either going to take you a long time, or not at all. I'm not the type to rush from objective to objective, fast traveling and reloading the game when I get caught off guard. If you take walks, do some side quests, creeping thru the ruins like you might actually die if you step on a landmine, it's going to last a long time. Thankfully, very unlike Halo. Here's a free tip before I go: sleeping for 7 hours at a stretch will leave you "well rested" which gives you +10% XP for the next 12 hours. Very cool, and that's not in the manual. Peace yall!


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## Mohegan

Bought Fallout 3 today. 
Installation went smoothly. Pulled up start up window. When the game started up the hourglass icon appeared and the program froze. Had to close it through task manager. Tried downloading the patch, and directx newest update. Nothing.
Only thing I can think of is my video card is too big of a piece a ****. Which I've been trying to avoid thinking about. I'm not the most computer savvy person around, and I'm not sure how my video card compares to the actual requirements. It's a Radeon 9700. I'm guessing that may be the issue. Tech support isn't open till Monday. So until then..I get to go insane. Anyone have any suggestions?


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## mephistophilus

tosh9i said:


> Aside from the bugs, is Fallout 3 any fun? Or, should I buy something else? How long do you think it would take to finish the game? Would it keep me busy for 3 days like Halo, or would it take about a month to complete?


i wouldnt buy it. its just a bog standard fps with standard graphics also has a poor story and a stupid ending full of plot holes. even on the pc it feels very much like a console game


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## tosh9i

mephistophilus said:


> i wouldnt buy it. its just a bog standard fps with standard graphics also has a poor story and a stupid ending full of plot holes. even on the pc it feels very much like a console game


Does that you mean that you've already finished the game?


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## Carey7090

It's not a bad game. People seem to forget that they used the Gamebryo engine which was used all the way back for Elder Srolls III: Morrowind. To be honest seeing how far they've come with the gamebryo engine is pretty damn impressive. Personally I think the world is quite immersive. It' doesn't quite feel like Oblivion as some people seemed to have expected, but it does have that open world feel. There are lots of different places to explore, granted not as many as Oblivion, but it will keep you busy for quite some time. I beat it in about a week, granted I didn't zoom thru the main story. Overall I've put in 83 hours of gameplay. Quite a few different endings. And VATS doesn't ruin the game like people had speculated, it actually is necessary in some situations plus I think it helps improve the combat. When you fight in real time, it's pretty dry and not very satisfying. It is a buggy game though, I was kind of dissappointed by that. But most bugs aren't gameplay ruining, however I did encounted one MAJOR bug which really killed the game, not all the models loaded correctly or they didn't load at all and lines were branching off from some models and blocking my view which I gotta say pissed me off. To be honest the amount of bugs is a bit more than I expected from Bethesda, Oblivion didn't seem this buggy to me. 
It's a game you can play again for the endings. However I don't see myself playing it from beginning to end anytime soon, I'm kinda tired of it after having put in 83 hours on it lol. Oh and the map is kinda small, I think I may have 3-5 locations that I haven't found. But there's a lot of open and empty space. You really do get the feeling that you're in a wasteland in the middle of a post-apocalyptic world. 
To be honest, I think the negative reviews seem to be from fans of the first two games and of course they're complaining about it being in first person and not a birds eye view angel amongst other things. Other people seem to think Fallout 3 was going to be like Oblivion, which makes no sense to me since Oblivion is a completely different game set in a completely different world. Others like to ***** and moan about the color pallete not being balanced. But you know what, it's a wasteland the entire country was destoryed by atomic warfare I don't think much of anything living is going to be around so of COURSE it's going to look dead with lots of brown, grey and black. It's not a terrible game, but it's not fantastic game. It's worth $60, I think. It's not worth shelling out an additional $10 or more for the other editions.



tosh9i said:


> Does that you mean that you've already finished the game?


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## tosh9i

Thanks for the review Carey. For now, I think I'll just try Oblivion.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.php?p=14550041&postcount=2


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## McNinja

my friend with a 2ghz dual core 
7600gt
2 gb 667 mhz ram
can run fallout 3 looks pretty good too


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## Carey7090

Well I would highly recommend you play Oblivion before Fallout, so that is a good choice assuming you haven't played Oblivion before. Playing Oblivion will give you more appreciation for how far the Gamebryo engine has come, when you play Fallout 3. And give you a great appreciation for how far Bethesda has come with their games. Oblivion is definitely worth picking up at that price, a steal really lol. Oblivion has also got a very lush world filled with trees, grass and bushes. It's starting to look dated though, the graphics and physics seem a bit old now, after having played newer games. If you haven't picked up Morrowind, I'd recommend it as well. You could probably find that for 10-15 bucks online ....maybe less. The graphics however are extremely dated, but the world is gigantic, much bigger than Oblivion and lots of different environment you'll get more than what you pay for out of Morrowind...it's so damn big I once got lost for 2 days. Of course at the time I didn't know how to pull up the map, since I accidentally clicked the "X" on the map window.
To be honest I personally think the only game this year that is worth its weight in gold is GTA IV. I'm still playing that game even to this day and I've had it since launch.



tosh9i said:


> Thanks for the review Carey. For now, I think I'll just try Oblivion.
> 
> http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.php?p=14550041&postcount=2


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## McNinja

I've played Eleder scrolls 3 Morrowwind (beat the game 3 times over including the faction work) 100+ hours per play through

beat Oblivion 4 times over (faction work too) 130+ hours per playthrough

I am thoroughly impressed with fallout 3! I've been playing other games lately but I kinda played through the game and beat it. I'm gonna be evil this time though. it can go by pretty quick it was around 50+ hours but I only scratched the surface of a lot of the game.

Ohh did you guys know that GTA 4 for PC (dated december 2nd) will have a video editor with it.


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## Laurie52

I bought Morrowind two years ago (it was released in 2002) and was very impressed with it being as open ended as it is. My computer then, was a P4 2ghz with a intergrated chipset...and the game still ran well enough for me. 

But it had its complainers too expecting it to be something like more like Daggerfall. But Bethesda wanted to showcase its new engine and make it far more open and "do anything" experience. Since they kept it "single player", even if you don't play the main quest, there are factions, quests and stuff to do to keep you busy for a very long time. What made this so successful was Bethesda released a TES Construction Set with the game for modders to use and run with it. So thanks to this, the amount of mods, conversions and "stuff" made for this game is astounding. Especially if you have the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions which added meshes/textures/animations not available to make with the "vanilla" Morrowind. 

Morrowind by itself can be bought for as low as $10. Morrowind GOTY runs about $15.

When Oblivion came out, it was considered one of the most graphics intensive games at the time. Some aspects were changed from Morrowind which cause some complaints from some. Some things simpler while others were improvements (depending on your POV) You can ride horses while exploring/travelling (like Daggerfall) While in Morrowind, you do an extraordinary amount of walking/running while exploring. Combat was improved from that used in Morrowind (although there is a mod to change this) What keeps this game going is also comes with its own TES Construction Set to mod with. With its own huge selection of mods, conversions et al to choose from. 

I just bought Oblivion by itself for $30. The expansions are about $20 or less depending where you go. Oblivion GOTY comes with Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles expansions. I see this one for $50 or just abit less depending where you go. Even after two years, the graphics are "eye candy" and it runs quite well on my present Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2ghz. Even with its "workstation" Nividia 8300 gs card. 

So, when Fallout 3 was announced, fans of the Fallout series and Oblivion were looking forward to it. The fans were hoping a similar construction set to be included but Bethesda have not released one yet (although the tools are "there"...). HOWEVER, that has not stopped Oblivion modders from making stuff for it using their construction set. I have seen a few already showing up under their own fansites. So any complaints about being too "empty" or not enough NPCs or places to go or buy from et.c.. I am sure there will be eventually a mod to fit Fallout 3's players needs. Just give them time. 

I am going to wait until the price goes down a little more before buying my copy. Yeah, a friend has Fallout 3 and he says it demands a lot from you as a player. He also has his complaints about it too. But says it is very realistic where you have to learn to husband resources and ammo to survive.


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## mephistophilus

tosh9i said:


> Does that you mean that you've already finished the game?


nah. a friend of mine played to the end

i didnt make it past character creation


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## pikemc

I just bought and installed fallout 3, fully understanding I was probably at the lowest end of acceptable pc spec. Regardless, It installed ok, but it won't start. I presume its because my graphics card isn't good enough. It failed the system requirements lab test, but said it passed all the parts to the minimum attributes of the video card required. My spec is below, is it impossible to run fallout 3 with this spec? Cheers



CPU
Minimum: 2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
You Have: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3000+
PASS 
CPU Speed
Minimum: 2.4 GHz
You Have: 1.81 GHz Performance Rated at 3.00 GHz
PASS 
System RAM
Minimum: 1GB System RAM (XP)/ 2GB System RAM (Vista)
You Have: 1.2 GB
PASS 
Operating System
Minimum: Windows XP/Vista
You Have: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Build Service Pack 32600)
PASS 
Video Card
Minimum: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better/ATI X850 or better)
You Have: RADEON 9550 (RADEON 9550 AGP (0x4153))
FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement. Upgrade to a more powerful video card will make all your applications look better. Click the 'We Recommend' button to see some great options.	
Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 256 MB , You have - 256 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Vertex Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 2.0
Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 2.0

Video Card Driver Version (DirectX)
Your driver version number is: 6.14.10.6497
FYI: Your video card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper video card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product.	
Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: Realtek AC97 Audio
PASS 
Sound Card Driver Version
Your driver version number is: 5.10
FYI: Your sound card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper sound card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product.


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## McNinja

hey pikemc maybe this card will help AGP x4 or x8 3450
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121273R


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