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[Chiggs]

You're gonna tease us like that without hooking up some of those commands?

I did a few ini tweaks already, but that was mainly to try and get the game to stop crashing. Haven't really messed with the visuals yet, though a bump in shadows especially would certainly be welcome in this game.

Basically, do a search for "threads" or "thread" in the ini file. Change anything you see that's 0 to 1. Change Havok threads to 5.

For SLI users go into the renderinfo file and see if the game is even set for SLI, if it's not, change it. This is from HardOCP.

 

[TheExodu5]

Anyone try to run this on anything close to a P4 3.0ghz with a 6800GT?

I'm hoping to upgrade my PC soon, but I'd like to play through the game now.

Shouldn't run any worse than Oblivion, I think.

 

[got2bekidding]

n/m wrong room. FFS me.....

 

[Zeliard]

Basically, do a search for "threads" or "thread" in the ini file. Change anything you see that's 0 to 1. Change Havok threads to 5.

For SLI users go into the renderinfo file and see if the game is even set for SLI, if it's not, change it. This is from HardOCP.

Actually, that's what I'd already done to try and stop crashes. Changed the various multithreading values to 1. Not sure if I changed the Havok one, though, so that's good to know.

What's the command you tweaked to bump up the shadows?

 

[Chiggs]

What's the command you tweaked to bump up the shadows?

There's no singular one; however, if you go through the file itself, you will see a good deal of shadow settings that are set to low numbers or 0. Change those. The same can also be said for water reflections.

Honestly, I'm just using the Oblivion tweak guide.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html

 

[Metalmurphy]

I can't imagine no crosshair being anything but irritating.

The game already uses heavy auto-aim. It's really not necessary.

 

[Zeliard]

There's no singular one; however, if you go through the file itself, you will see a good deal of shadow settings that are set to low numbers or 0. Change those. The same can also be said for water reflections.

Honestly, I'm just using the Oblivion tweak guide.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html

Ah yeah, that makes sense. Many of the values should be the same. Shit, I wish I still had Oblivion installed, because I had changed a fuckton of ini settings there and got the game to look and run a lot better, even with graphics mods on top of it.

Good to know that Koroush Ghazi (the Tweakguides guy) is at work on a Fallout 3 tweakguide. Guy's been pretty invaluable when it comes to this sort of thing.

 

[PotatoeMasher]

Shouldn't run any worse than Oblivion, I think.

I'll probably give it a try then as Oblivion ran well back in the day. If it sucks I'll just wait and play it after I upgrade.

 

[SlasherJPC]

I played this game and then immediatly stopped and put Fable 2 back in. Only because I was blown away by how much there is to do in Fallout 3 just after escaping the vault and I need to finish fable 2 otherwise I'll get sucked into this game for eternity and no game will touch my system for a bit.

Damn I was impressed.

 

[lsslave]

I played this game and then immediatly stopped and put Fable 2 back in. Only because I was blown away by how much there is to do in Fallout 3 just after escaping the vault and I need to finish fable 2 otherwise I'll get sucked into this game for eternity and no game will touch my system for a bit.

Damn I was impressed.

So much to do, yes, so easy to get lost? WAY too easy ;.;

 

[Grimm Fandango]

Is SecuROM included in the PC version? I thought it wasn't.

But some Amazon reviews say otherwise (not saying I believe them at all but just to be sure...)

 

[Zeliard]

I played this game and then immediatly stopped and put Fable 2 back in. Only because I was blown away by how much there is to do in Fallout 3 just after escaping the vault and I need to finish fable 2 otherwise I'll get sucked into this game for eternity and no game will touch my system for a bit.

Damn I was impressed.

Yeah, I'm sort of playing Fable 2 and Fallout 3 simultaneously. It's pretty overwhelming (in a good way), especially since I've barely scratched the surface of both.

 

[Zzoram]

You're gonna tease us like that without hooking up some of those commands?

I did a few ini tweaks already, but that was mainly to try and get the game to stop crashing. Haven't really messed with the visuals yet, though a bump in shadows especially would certainly be welcome in this game.

Ya, I'd like instructions for how to get more shadows, better draw distances, etc.

 

[dralla]

gonna go pick this up soon, worth the extra 20 bucks for the collectors edition?

 

[Zeliard]

Ya, I'd like instructions for how to get more shadows, better draw distances, etc.

The draw distance is already so huge, though. It's massive. I don't know if I've ever seen superior draw distance, even in Crysis. Shadows, though, definitely need a good bump. They're either non-existent or barely visible, and that's at the highest frontend settings for them.

 

[MattKeil]

The game already uses heavy auto-aim. It's really not necessary.

I like a designated center of the screen and something that turns red over enemies and stays green over friendlies. If it provides information, it can stay in my HUD.

 

[Zzoram]

The draw distance is already so huge, though. It's massive. I don't know if I've ever seen superior draw distance, even in Crysis. Shadows, though, definitely need a good bump. They're either non-existent or barely visible, and that's at the highest frontend settings for them.

The game maxed out only has 6 shadows at a time :lol

 

[stewacide]

Thinking about buying Fallout 3, but I want to know how much of the game I'll miss by not replaying it? (I can never bring myself to replay games I've finished)

I like how with Fable II and Mass Effect (the only other RPGs I've ever played to completion) the 'alternate endings" were really just cut-scenes tacked on to the end. But from what I've read of Fallout 3 it's possible to miss entire cities depending on your choices?!?! This sounds terrible to me.

Perhaps a better question would be: to those who played Oblivion, did you re-play the game, or were you satisfied with the one playthrough?

 

[GDJustin]

You missed one

Spoiler

in Simms' bedroom in Megaton.

Thanks - I went back and got it. Glad it's the strength one, too. I'm such a loot whore that it gives me serious OCD when I'm on a lengthy mission and by the end I can't take all the bandit weapons with me to vendor. I've already given up on taking/selling armor since it's so heavy - encumbers me way too fast.

My encumbrance is 200, and taking out all non-essential items and storing them in my house, my gear still puts me at 100/200 :/

I could open up 30 by leaving the fat boy at home... but fuck that! Who knows what I'm going to be going up against? I need that thing.

Via intense training I've already gotten Agil and Int up to 9, so I guess I'll use my next few Intense Training perks for STR, and hope that gets me by until I open up the +50 carrying weight perk.

 

[Zzoram]

Thinking about buying Fallout 3, but I want to know how much of the game I'll miss by not replaying it? (I can never bring myself to replay games I've finished)

I like how with Fable II and Mass Effect (the only other RPGs I've ever played to completion) the 'alternate endings" were really just cut-scenes tacked on to the end. But from what I've read of Fallout 3 it's possible to miss entire cities depending on your choices?!?! This sounds terrible to me.

Perhaps a better question would be: to those who played Oblivion, did you re-play the game, or were you satisfied with the one playthrough?

There's only really one city you can miss I think, and that's only if you choose to blow it up. I think you can just do all the quests in it first, then blow it up.

Also, the "endings" of this game are a mishmash of cutscenes explaining the consequences of your actions apparently. There are however ~2-3 ways to do every quest, but it's probably pretty obvious what the different results are, and I'm sure a lot of these results are superficial, and only occasionally have consequences. One playthrough will still be a great experience, and ~20-30 hours with mild side questiong, longer if you really explore.

 

[straydog1980]

Thinking about buying Fallout 3, but I want to know how much of the game I'll miss by not replaying it? (I can never bring myself to replay games I've finished)

I like how with Fable II and Mass Effect (the only other RPGs I've ever played to completion) the 'alternate endings" were really just cut-scenes tacked on to the end. But from what I've read of Fallout 3 it's possible to miss entire cities depending on your choices?!?! This sounds terrible to me.

Perhaps a better question would be: to those who played Oblivion, did you re-play the game, or were you satisfied with the one playthrough?

As for Oblivion, I'm still playing through that game, and won't put it down until I'm satisfied I've done everything I want to do. But with Oblivion, you can continue once the main story is complete.

In Fallout 3, the game ends once the main story arc is completed. That means if you limit yourself to one playthrough you are potentially robbing yourself of lots and lots of extras that you won't be able to see.

If you really want just one playthrough, I would recommend doing all the side quests you intend to do before completing the main story. The draw in this game isn't all the different endings, but all the different possibilities you have at your disposal when making in-game decisions.

 

[Zeliard]

The game maxed out only has 6 shadows at a time :lol

That limit is so puzzling. I can understand it for consoles to get the game to stream properly and get some decent FPS, but why does that limit exist for PCs? A lot of people here, including myself, can completely max the game out as it is and run it well. I know there's a ton of geometry in the game in the Wasteland, but there's still no reason it shouldn't have the option of casting more (or even any in some instances) shadows on the PC.

 

[Chiggs]

Ya, I'd like instructions for how to get more shadows, better draw distances, etc.

I linked to the Oblivion guide. Start on page 9. I've now dropped the res to 1600 X 1000, but I'm playing with way better shadows and detailed distant landscapes. 35-40fps outside at worst.

The Gamebryo Engine is a turd.

The game maxed out only has 6 shadows at a time :lol

I believe it's ten (in the ini, at least).

 

[dark10x]

What exactly do you mean by FPS skipping? At the birthday party, with all the character models, my framerate dropped to 30-40 and the game felt really choppy. I thought it was perhaps because I was running in Windowed mode, but maybe it was this skipping you were referring to. Maybe I'll try fullscreen...I hope I can get the constant 60fps you're talking about. I just got out of the vault, and it's a smooth 60fps...I'm just afraid running into 10 character models on-screen will kill the framerate again.

Hmm, that's a different issue. For me, the game always reported 60 fps (both my own eyes and FRAPs could tell me that much), but there was a CONSTANT "skipping" effect as you turned the camera and moved around. I doubt most would notice it, but it really annoyed the shit out of me. Turns out that changing the setting completely solved that issue.

It MIGHT help you as well, however, as that skipping combined with a lower framerate could be REALLY ugly. Try it and see. It won't increase your framerate, but it will make everything seem smoother in motion.

I can't find where fallout3.ini resides. There are a bunch of config files to play with graphical settings, however, and I wonder if we can't raise some of those to make our games look better for higher end machines. Anyway, which file am I supposed to mod here, darkx10?

The fallout3.ini file is located in your Fallout 3 settings folder that is in your "My Games" folder. Look under the current windows user "My Documents" folder and you'll find My Games. I'm curious, though. Load up your game as is and try spinning the camera. See if you notice any of the skipping I was talking about. Then, make the change, and see if it looks smoother. For me, the difference was night and day to the point where I can't imagine this happened on all machines. How could they ship a game with such a wierd issue that can be fixed with a simple INI modification?

But no. The scavenger said hello and my character calmly asked if they could repair weapons. Nothing at all about the fact that I had only just seen the sky for the first time 5 minutes earlier. Broken immersion, right there.

Yes, that has always bothered me with open ended games. I'm not entirely sure that there is a good solution to this aside from limiting the possbilities available to the player. I would personally prefer a more limited and focused game (like Deus Ex) where you really aren't entirely free to just go off and do ANYTHING, but you still have the ability to approach scenarios you encounter in different ways. That wouldn't really jive with what Fallout offered, though.

 

[Rodeo Clown]

Rivet City question:

Spoiler

Is Pinkerton alive? Where the hell is he?

 

[Zzoram]

Hmm, that's a different issue. For me, the game always reported 60 fps (both my own eyes and FRAPs could tell me that much), but there was a CONSTANT "skipping" effect as you turned the camera and moved around. I doubt most would notice it, but it really annoyed the shit out of me. Turns out that changing the setting completely solved that issue.

It MIGHT help you as well, however, as that skipping combined with a lower framerate could be REALLY ugly. Try it and see. It won't increase your framerate, but it will make everything seem smoother in motion.

What setting?

 

[dark10x]

What setting?

This...

I was looking for "FPS" related search strings in the fallout3.ini file and tried switching...

iFPSClamp=0

...to...

iFPSClamp=60

Works beautifully.

 

[got2bekidding]

I have a question about an item.

Spoiler

Stealth Boys. Other than the obvious Sneak + Stealth Field perks, what are they good for and how long do they last?

 

[Zzoram]

Question about getting in to Paradise Falls

Spoiler

Can you get in just with Speech, or do you have to have negative Karma?

 

[Lé Blade Runner]

I'm going to pick the game up tomorrow. The waiting is killing me!

 

[Zeliard]

I linked to the Oblivion guide. Start on page 9. I've now dropped the res to 1600 X 1000, but I'm playing with way better shadows and detailed distant landscapes. 35-40fps outside at worst.

The Gamebryo Engine is a turd.

Do you know how much impact just the shadow tweaking itself had on your FPS?

 

[MrPing1000]

Rivet City question:

Spoiler

Is Pinkerton alive? Where the hell is he?

Spoiler

He's not in the main city, theres a black woman in the city that will tell you where he is, or u can find him yourself. It involves swimming.

 

[theBishop]

Anyone played the PS3 version yet? IGN made the differences sound like some minor, very-patchable issues. Gamespot painted a somewhat more dire picture.

Care to weigh in?

 

[Zzoram]

Anyone played the PS3 version yet? IGN made the differences sound like some minor, very-patchable issues. Gamespot painted a somewhat more dire picture.

Care to weigh in?

A few people here got the PS3 version and seemed to think it was ok. I think all of these issues are cases of looking at the games side by side. If you don't, you won't even notice.

 

[theBishop]

A few people here got the PS3 version and seemed to think it was ok. I think all of these issues are cases of looking at the games side by side. If you don't, you won't even notice.

Except for this PSN notification bug. Ever since in-game XMB was added, I leave those things on.

 

[Zzoram]

Except for this PSN notification bug. Ever since in-game XMB was added, I leave those things on.

It's not a huge deal, and will probably be patched anyways.

 

[vumpler]

I did a search and didn't find anything.

Who is it you talk to for the XP exploit? I heard theres a guy when you have 50 speech you can just go to him and keep getting xp.

Do enemies scale in this game? In otherwords if I am level 20 are the rats at the beginning of the game more difficult than they were on the first stage?

 

[Az987]

Wtf i cant figure out how to lockpick.. i know it said find the sweet spot with the pin but i cant seem to do it... dammit, am i retarded??


Im loving the game so far, i think it has amazing graphics. But it keeps freezing on me.. its gotta be my crappy xbox though, Saints Row 2 does the same thing.

 

[vumpler]

The fleshlight is built into the pipboy. For pc its holding down tab.

It's more like a nightlight. I wish it actually did a Doom 3ish projecting light outward. It reminds me of one of those small light bulbs that scientists strap to their forehead to work in the dark. It only seems to light up my weapon.

 

[Acid08]

This is one dark fucking game. At night, and even in the day sometimes, it's hard for me to see anything. Great game so far though. This thread is moving kinda slow :/.

 

[Chiggs]

Do you know how much impact just the shadow tweaking itself had on your FPS?

Significant. Probably around 15fps.

Edit: Misread the question. No, I really don't.

 

[Tek]

That means too many people are busy playing it.

I got the game at the Midnight Launch and I've played it for like 3 minutes. Work is kicking my ass right now..

:-(

So many games and not enough time....

 

[Darklord]

If I can play Oblivion at almost max and Bioshock at high, could I run this ok?

 

[Teknoman]

If I can play Oblivion at almost max and Bioshock at high, could I run this ok?

Was just about to post this.

Also has it been confirmed whether or not mods will work with STEAM downloaded versions?

 

[MattKeil]

I have a question about an item.

Spoiler

Stealth Boys. Other than the obvious Sneak + Stealth Field perks, what are they good for and how long do they last?

They're good for exactly that. They're cloaking devices. They last about two minutes, maybe a bit less.

Spoiler

He's not in the main city, theres a black woman in the city that will tell you where he is, or u can find him yourself. It involves swimming.

Or

Spoiler

if you get your lockpick up to 100 you can pick the lock on the door above water and get in that way.

Do enemies scale in this game? In otherwords if I am level 20 are the rats at the beginning of the game more difficult than they were on the first stage?

Not the way Oblivion did. Armed opponents like raiders get slightly better weapons, but they remain about the same level they were before. I'm level 20 and can kill just about anything less than a radscorpion in one shot. Raiders have magnums and assault rifles now instead of 10mm pistols and sawed-off shotguns, but they're one-shot kills for a high level character. Really the only thing that's a serious threat to me now is a deathclaw.

 

[Zeliard]

It's more like a nightlight. I wish it actually did a Doom 3ish projecting light outward. It reminds me of one of those small light bulbs that scientists strap to their forehead to work in the dark. It only seems to light up my weapon.

Not the case for me. It lights up the entire area around me, quite significantly too. If it was just a projecting light, it would be less effective since it would essentially just be lighting what's right in front of you rather than what's all around you, as it currently does.

 

[Chiggs]

How could they ship a game with such a wierd issue that can be fixed with a simple INI modification?

But it's not that simple. Your machine HAS to maintain 60fps or you'll get a fairly negative side effect: the game will start moving in slow-mo. The opposite of this is if you were to set the clamp at 40, but your machine was rendering faster, the game would start speeding up.

 

[GDJustin]

Wtf i cant figure out how to lockpick.. i know it said find the sweet spot with the pin but i cant seem to do it... dammit, am i retarded??

I was having the same problem - the game's lockpicking tutorial/explanation was terrible. But once I figured out how you're supposed to lockpick, it's become much easier. Lemme try and explain:

- Left stick moves the Bobby pin. Right stick moves the screwdriver.

- If you move the screwdriver and the bobby pin starts to "give" (ie controller shakes, the pin moves around onscreen, etc.) then you don't have the pin in the right spot. Move the pin to the left or the right, and try again. You should see the lock either get closer to unlocking, or farther from unlocking.

From there you can make fine pin adjustments via trial & error.

 

[MMaRsu]

uhm lol I think I skipped alot of story in one go woops! A spoiler.. 6 hours in.

Spoiler

Just rescued my dad from Vault 112. I was just discovering having done no story missions after Tenpenny tower, so I didn't go and look for dad at that radio station. Then all of a sudden I see this garage and I'm just exploring and shit, suddenly I'm in this crazy world ( nicely done btw ) and I rescued my dad. Strange.

So did I skip a whole bunch of story missions or? so lol.. its cool that its non linear though

Anyone try to run this on anything close to a P4 3.0ghz with a 6800GT?

I'm hoping to upgrade my PC soon, but I'd like to play through the game now.

Perfectly playable. I'm playing this on a p4 1.5ghz, 1gb ram and a 6600GT, lowest graphics but it still runs pretty well. You should have no problem if you have some ram

Were can I get power training btw? When I left the first vault I killed some guy in awesome brotherhood armor or whatever it's called, but I can't use it cause I need Power Training.

 

[RoyalSimonBoobs]

Loving the game.

My story thus far only goes to megaton but I'm wrapping it in tags because I think the path I took makes the game overly easy and some might not want to be spoiled by it (although I'm sure half of you have already done what I did anyway).

Spoiler

Started two games, one as a goodie two shoes the other as a dick. Even going so far as to name my dick character Asshole, my father loved the name so I kept it. Anyway, when I got to megaton there was a caravan sitting outside. I ended up killing the two guys and took a scoped magnum off of one of the guards.

When entering megaton the sheriff approached and I promptly proclaimed that I was the new sheriff in town. I backed up this claim by getting a critical hit on his cranium which caused his head to explode in to gooey chunks, complete with eyeballs which rolled all the way down a hill. One settler decided to take me on after questioning my abilities as the new sheriff but I ended up quelling that argument pretty quick with a double tap to the head. I took the sheriff's Chinese Assualt Rifle and headed around town seeing what else I could shoot.

I ended up in some repair building that had plans for a "Rock-it launcher". Killed the chick that had those (with a little girl watching no less) and stole everything I could from the shop. The good stuff included: a real rocket launcher, shotgun, assault rifle, grenade, mine, and plenty of ammo. I also got enough parts to make the "Rock-it launcher" which I created immediately. After taking out the chick who owned the store some mercenary tried to take me out but with all the loot I had he was taken down quickly.

I then headed to the bar where I entered just looking for a drink, but was met with about 6 townsfolk who decided it would be best if I was no longer sheriff. This screenshot explains how that story ended up: http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot0li8.jpg. Those two dudes came back to sit down as soon as I put my gun away. I'm sure they realized that I was just doing my job as sheriff.

Overall I'm loving the game now that I've turned in to such a dick. I was enjoying it before, but I got to about the same point with my "good" character and I didn't even have any ammo left. Now I'm stocked for battle and I don't even need to worry about killing everyone in megaton by blowing up the bomb because, if things keep going as they are now, I'll just do it myself.