Fallout 3 on Windows 7 (64 bit)

"Again, thank you for the timely response and helpful advice."

No worries, mate ....

Oops - sorry for the confusion. I was just elaborating in relation to my PC when mentioning AsRock.

That is the mfg of my motherboard, so does not apply to you.

"I simply went ahead and deleted and uninstalled the Intel driver and just let Windows install a default driver. "

Just to sort out the terminology. You don't delete drivers, (or were you referring deleting to the Intel installer ?). After uninstalling drivers always reboot before installing a new version.

• The drivers Windows installs after uninstalling other graphics drivers and rebooting are generic VGA drivers and would not give the best performance from your Intel HD graphics.
• Windows Updates will likely offer to install Intel HD graphics through the 'optional' updates, but I still prefer doing any graphics driver install manually from a downloaded installer, so reinstall the Intel HD graphics drivers from ASUS , or experiment with a newer driver directly from Intel.

With the Intel graphics drivers I'd be inclined to try the most recent from Intel as it's probably less

critical than 'on board' chips or laptop graphics cards as the graphics is in the cpu, so there is not much chance of something peculiar with the mfg's setup requiring their drivers.

• Something I overlooked before - You have setup your laptops power options for High Performance ?

"is running .NET 3.5.1. Is this outdated?"

• I believe so. I updated to .NET 4.0 some time ago. I don't recall what for, but likely a game that

required it. It may be that Windows Updates has brought yours up to .NET 4 without changing the

version number. I uninstalled the original .NET 3.5 before installing .NET. 4 from the download.

Mine still says .NET 4.0, but no doubt is up to 4.5 .

I don't really think the Steam version should be a problem.

Does the Steam version still use the dread GFWL ? It not that alone would be enough to stick with

the Steam version.

It's getting more difficult to run used games all the time as they are getting very tight with the

registration process - one reason Steam is popular with developers. The whole industry is very

A-retentive in that regard.

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Thank you, BossDweebe, for such a timely response. 

I was unable to distinguish between the two graphics drivers you speak of; should I download the driver ASUS provides on their website? If so, then I'm afraid they only offer the same driver that came installed on the laptop: the Intel HD 4000 graphics driver. While I was trying to toy around with them, I simply went ahead and deleted and uninstalled the Intel driver and just let Windows install a default driver. This had no noticeable effect on my gameplay.

I installed the Codec pack, and I am now able to get the loading time to increase to about 7-8 seconds, only for it to crash again. Seems like maybe I'm getting closer to the end of this puzzle, considering you have found a way to make it work for you. I'm almost positive that the Intel HD 4000 is the issue here, as it seems to come up with every other person who is having the same problem: integrated graphics.

The compatibility I had set was for Windows XP Service Pack 3, but I went ahead and switched it over to Vista. No change their either.

Here's something interesting: the laptop is running .NET 3.5.1. Is this outdated? You say you have .NET 4 installed, and even when I download the .NET 4 installer, it says I am all the way up to date. Am I missing something here, or is .NET 4 the 3.5.1 version? I've installed every Windows Update I can find, and it's not updating it to version 4.

I'm going to check the RAM allocation tomorrow, just wanted to check in and give you the results I have so far. Hopefully we are getting closer to solving this dilemma. If you could find a link to the second graphics driver you're speaking of, that would be great. I was unable to find it using a simple Google search using the brand you suggested (the AsRock driver). It just so happens that a used games store down the road from me has Fallout 3: GOTY on a disc, so I'm going to try and install that soon to see if Steam can be eliminated as a problem.

Again, thank you for the timely response and helpful advice.

What a surprise - I just tried FO3 on the HD4000 for the first time, and it will actually run,

with some lag, with all settings still on max @1920X1080 / Win7 64bit

(only ran around for about 3 min though) .

This integrated graphics is getting pretty good these days, eh! What!

Can't really add to what you have tried except maybe the Windows 7 Codec pack.

It solves the ffdshow issue  -

Windows 7 Codec Pack for Windows Media Player WMP12 and Media Center

-The only other thing that comes to mind is if ASUS have their own drivers for the HD4000,

and the drivers are causing the problem. Just a long shot though as I've used both drivers from

Intel and AsRock (motherboard) for my PC and have not noticed any difference, but I've not done

more than experiment with various games to test the HD4000.

-Or,  have you setup a Page File, or have you disabled the Page File that should

have been automatically by Windows ?

• I'm using Compatibility for Vista sp1, but can't verify if any compatibility setting actually helps

(From memory the game may crash even more often without compatibility).

I just set it early on as one of the many options for this great but badly bugged game.

I don't use the Launcher. No real need to once the game is setup.

• Didn't need the DX9 file, but apparently it works for some.
• Not using the Steam version, so didn't need to stuff around with .NET, but do have .NET 4 installed

and updated via Windows Updates.

-Even when you do get it up and running save often. FO3 will never play nice and just when you think

it's not likely to crash....

-New Vegas is much better optomised though. It crashes far less often and doesn't need the hoop

jumping to stop freezing, etc.

"Intel 4000 HD Graphics (2.00 GB, likely shared memory)"

Definitely fully shared. No dedicated VRAM at all. The HD4000 graphics is part of your Intel cpu.

I don't know how laptops operate, and apparently they have differences from one mfg to to another, but check in the BIOS to verify how the shared RAM is setup. On my PC the settings

for the HD4000 is in the North Bridge options. You may have an option for Auto, which theoretically

will make the 2GB available, but you may want to try using a fixed amount. I assume there would

be an option to select 2GB (my PC only allows for 1GB ).

"However, this motherboard (as far as I can tell from a picture of it online) does not contain any PCI slots to install a dedicated card,"

Even laptops with a dedicated card cannot be upgraded ( not cost effective re - labor),

as apparently the cards are soldered in.

• Not one to 'lecture' on the weakness of laptops for gaming, but there are a lot of people with

lesser integrated options, such as the early on board chips and Intel HD ,  who don't understand the serious limitations of their machines.

I blame the marketing depts. for laptops, even PC's in this regard. There's 'gaming' and then there's

AAA games. Different worlds.

• One reason for my surprise that FO3 would run is some other games with similar specs won't,

so in many cases it is more to do with the way the game looks for a graphics adapter than if

the HD4000 is capable - eg - Bioshock 2 vs Bioshock . B2 should run at least with a couple of

lower settings, but the game will not accept HD4000.

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