Fallout 3 GOTY freezes on Win11

[Arkangel]

I played FO3 GOTY for some time on Windows 10 with no problem. I built a new PC and installed Windows 11 Pro. FO3 starts okay and runs but every so often it freezes and I can't get out of it. I can do Ctrl-Alt-Del and open the Task Manager but it and anything else open is in the background hidden by FO3 which is running fullscreen.
The freeze happens at different times so I haven't detected any patteern with it.
Any ideas?

[Seven7]

W11 is crapware, especially - for retrogaming. but you ALREDY know it

so, DXVK + LAV Filters + some tricks to prevent M$crapware interfere with game

[Tenkillsmore]

Sorry to hear that, I have 11 and over 120 hrs played with zero problems. AMD Ryzen 7 8700 F 4.1.GHZ Geforce RTX 4060 T I 8 GB 16 GB DDR5 1 TB PCIE GEN 4 SSD

[Seven7]

Originally posted by Tenkillsmore:

Sorry to hear that, I have 11 and over 120 hrs played with zero problems. AMD Ryzen 7 8700 F 4.1.GHZ Geforce RTX 4060 T I 8 GB 16 GB DDR5 1 TB PCIE GEN 4 SSD

Good!
Ryzen F don't have Integrated iGPU (and completely broken Intel iGPUs) - so you don't have most problems
and you defenitely properly setup your system and install correct version of nVidia videodriver with fix for broken DX9 support, before playing games
and there not much apps that can freeze GEN4 SSD especially if it connected via M2 or PCIx directly, not via SATA-PCIx brifge.

[Arkangel]

Originally posted by Seven7:

Originally posted by Tenkillsmore:

Sorry to hear that, I have 11 and over 120 hrs played with zero problems. AMD Ryzen 7 8700 F 4.1.GHZ Geforce RTX 4060 T I 8 GB 16 GB DDR5 1 TB PCIE GEN 4 SSD

Good!
Ryzen F don't have Integrated iGPU (and completely broken Intel iGPUs) - so you don't have most problems
and you defenitely properly setup your system and install correct version of nVidia videodriver with fix for broken DX9 support, before playing games
and there not much apps that can freeze GEN4 SSD especially if it connected via M2 or PCIx directly, not via SATA-PCIx brifge. :winter2019coolyul:

Define "properly setup your system" if you would please. The driver in use is the latest from Nvidia. so not sure what to think about your comment of correct version with fix for broken DX9 support.
I've played around with resolution in the game and have it at the lowest. My monitor is a 35" curved with a resolution of 3440x1440. FO4 plays just fine with no lockups at the games highest res so trying to figure out the video settings for FO3.
I tried a windowed setting but the window went below the bottom of the screen so that didn't seem to be the answer.

[Arkangel]

Originally posted by Tenkillsmore:

Sorry to hear that, I have 11 and over 120 hrs played with zero problems. AMD Ryzen 7 8700 F 4.1.GHZ Geforce RTX 4060 T I 8 GB 16 GB DDR5 1 TB PCIE GEN 4 SSD

Mine is Intel i9-12900K, 32GB DDR5, 500GB, HDD for games (not C:) is Intel 256GB M.2 SSD, Geforce RTX 3050. Can't see any problem there to cause FO3 to freeze and not let me kill it because I can't bring Task Mgr to the front.

[bladerunner97]

No problems here on WIN 11. Have you modded the game at all? Cos sometimes conflicts, mismatched or improperly set-up mods can cause freezes.

Intel i9-9900K CPU overclocked @ 4.90GHz : 64GB DDR4 RAM : 2TB M.2 SSD for software\games : 11GB Nvidia RTX 2080Ti : Latest Nvidia drivers.

[Bandy]

Originally posted by Arkangel:

Define "properly setup your system" if you would please. The driver in use is the latest from Nvidia. so not sure what to think about your comment of correct version with fix for broken DX9 support. ...

Well, the "latest" nvidia drivers have been crashing many games, at least since December, and some devs recommend rolling back to vers from Dec. Truth, search and you will find.
I doubt this is your issue, but keep it in mind.

Try installing these, because windoze11 will not have the older versions for old games:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170#visual-studio-2015-2017-2019-and-2022
And if that doesn't solve, then read up...
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework

[Arkangel]

Originally posted by bladerunner97:

No problems here on WIN 11. Have you modded the game at all? Cos sometimes conflicts, mismatched or improperly set-up mods can cause freezes.

Intel i9-9900K CPU overclocked @ 4.90GHz : 64GB DDR4 RAM : 2TB M.2 SSD for software\games : 11GB Nvidia RTX 2080Ti : Latest Nvidia drivers.

Nope, no mods, bone stock.

[Seven7]

Originally posted by Arkangel:

Originally posted by Seven7:

Good!
Ryzen F don't have Integrated iGPU (and completely broken Intel iGPUs) - so you don't have most problems
and you defenitely properly setup your system and install correct version of nVidia videodriver with fix for broken DX9 support, before playing games
and there not much apps that can freeze GEN4 SSD especially if it connected via M2 or PCIx directly, not via SATA-PCIx brifge.

Define "properly setup your system" if you would please. The driver in use is the latest from Nvidia. so not sure what to think about your comment of correct version with fix for broken DX9 support.
I've played around with resolution in the game and have it at the lowest. My monitor is a 35" curved with a resolution of 3440x1440. FO4 plays just fine with no lockups at the games highest res so trying to figure out the video settings for FO3.
I tried a windowed setting but the window went below the bottom of the screen so that didn't seem to be the answer.

FO4 use newer Gamebrio engine - Creation Kit where most problem solved

so, you confirm that use fixed nVidia drivers - there was broken release that broke DX9 and even DX10 games on W11 and some W10 builds
and you do setup your system - install proper versios of drivers, DX vc++ and other thrid party frameworks...

i9-12900K = iGPU Intel UHD770 = need "proper setup" in nVidia panel to switch from iGPU to GPU, OR use Intel HD bypass (for Widows up to W10) or DXVK for W11, otherwithe some old DX9 games have problem to run

old games relased before 2010...2012 have problem with ultrawide monitors 1440 from very beginning, when first monitorst was released - quite a lot of games that do not have built-in support for monitors with resolutions multiples of 1440 - you have to use all sorts of tricks, from running in a borderless window to manually editing configuration files and for some even patched dll and exe...

and your UW monitor are above 60GHz - FO4 support 120, but have problem on 144 and up, F3 NOT know about even 75GHz that was thig for high-end monitors for designers and CAD-engeneers back in 2000-2008 (becouse it costs as whole gaming PC or more back in time)

most peoples here WITHOUT ANY problem use "safe hardware" that NEVER have much problem - CPU without iGPU + nVidia GPU + they know thing or two about hardware, software and PC-gaming and easyly set proper settings

i9-9900K - iGPU Intel UHD630 (i have laptop with SAME iGPU and NEVER have problems with Gamebryo games start from Morrowind up to FO4 - just set to using nVidia from default iGPU)

on W11 here dozen new background processes & apps, and old apps like DX9 games not "know" how to share, so it try monopolyze = freezes

games use dirty tricks to improve performance (it was necessary when they were released) but now performance is not a problem, and non-standard tricks conflict with both security systems and new methods of interaction between the application, services, drivers - back in W10 1803 the interaction between NTcore, HAL, PCIx and USB bus was changed, and before that in 2016 - interaction with sound devices and WiFi, BT - and after each such change there were many questions on the game forums before methods of properly configuring both the system and games to bypass the consequences of such changes were found, formalized in manuals and attached topics... sometimes the developers released patches, sometimes - the community...

sorry for TL;DR

[bladerunner97]

Originally posted by Arkangel:

Nope, no mods, bone stock.

Have you set GPU preference to your RTX 3050 in System > Display > Graphics for Fallout3.exe to High Performance mode? You should probably do that for most games.

You could also set Power management mode for Fallout 3 in NCP to Prefer maximum performance. I also limit the game to 96 FPS in NCP.

[Bandy]

Originally posted by bladerunner97:

I also limit the game to 96 FPS in NCP.

Well, the game engine tops out at and is only stable at 60 frames, well known. Limiting it to 96 is, doing nothing.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/22370/discussions/0/1489987634002999803/

[bladerunner97]

Originally posted by Bandy:

Originally posted by bladerunner97:

I also limit the game to 96 FPS in NCP.

Well, the game engine tops out at and is only stable at 60 frames, well known. Limiting it to 96 is, doing nothing.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/22370/discussions/0/1489987634002999803/

Well, Steam and FRAPS both say different and I have had no trouble AT ALL with stability. G-SYNC probably helps.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3473988619
End of line >...

[Arkangel]

I got the problem fixed! It turns out that the cause was not my PCIe GPU or its driver but rather the motherboards Intel GPU. Apparently even when using a 3rd party GPU, the game still detects the motherboard's GPU and acts accordingly.
I found the fix by accident while looking at another thread here. The Intel fix is available on Nexus Mods so I got it and installed it and voila, no more freezing of the game. Yay!

[Bandy]

Originally posted by Arkangel:

I got the problem fixed! It turns out that the cause was not my PCIe GPU or its driver but rather the motherboards Intel GPU. Apparently even when using a 3rd party GPU, the game still detects the motherboard's GPU and acts accordingly....

Happy to hear, but yeah, that is a common troubleshooting step to be aware of, happens often and not the game's problem, it's a windows problem AFAIK

[FVM$]

I have no idea, but I use Winblows 11 and it runs just fine. I haven't even patched it.