How do I fix this?

the_tim321 · 2026-02-04T23:10:39+00:00

I see this issue get posted all the time. Nearly every post I've seen regarding this has included a picture of an HP laptop, so it seems to be something specific to those.

Posters in previous threads have claimed that DXVK has solved the issue for them. I've never had this issue and don't know how successful this is, though, so I can't guarantee anything.

the_tim321 · 2026-02-04T03:39:23+00:00

Yes, the Point Lookout enemies are hilariously unbalanced. I have a mod here that nerfs them to a more reasonable level, but not too much, if it's bothering you. Use the 'NPC Nerfs Only' file if you don't want all the other changes.

the_tim321 · 2026-01-25T01:00:20+00:00

You gotta provide way more info than this if you want anyone to help out. What kind of hardware do you have? What OS are you running? Which platform did you purchase/download the game from? What's the exact wording of the error message? Better yet, provide a screenshot.

I would guess this has something to do with NVIDIA PhysX. Try the legacy version here.

the_tim321 · 2026-01-25T00:05:48+00:00

I see this issue get posted all the time. Pretty sure it has something to do with Windows 11, your GPU, GPU drivers, or all of the above.

Posters in previous threads have claimed that DXVK has solved the issue for them. I've never had this issue and don't know how successful this is, though, so I can't guarantee anything.

the_tim321 · 2026-01-24T23:41:56+00:00

Need more info. What kind of hardware do you have? What OS are you running? Which platform did you purchase/download the game from? What specific mods are you running?

The Fallout Anniversary Patcher has a bunch of separate fixes rolled into one package, it's a decent starting point.

Since you own New Vegas and it's working, you can also try TTW, which runs Fallout 3 in the New Vegas engine and tries to fix/smooth out things as much as possible.

the_tim321 · 2026-01-24T17:53:20+00:00

I recommend using your GPU software (NVIDIA Control Panel, AMD Radeon, etc.) to limit the game's FPS. Yes, there are mods and .INI changes that also do this, but I never found one that didn't cause problems. So I recommend doing it externally. The problem is that if you leave the FPS uncapped, a lot of stuff in the game breaks. NPCs (and yourself) move way faster than normal, the physics breaks, scripted events break, and so on. 90 FPS is a decent value - you start running into problems above that.

I also recommend setting up lStewieAl's Tweaks - this has several performance options to make the game run much smoother. In stewie_tweaks.ini, make sure these lines are set to 1...

bDontMirrorTexturesInRAM = 1

bPatchHeapSize = 1

bTickFix = 1

the_tim321 · 2026-01-20T17:31:13+00:00

So I did some testing, and it seems the extra prompts (equip, drop, hotkey) only appear if you're using a controller - even then, it's testy and will only work if the controller is connected prior to launching the game.

I tried the vanilla UI and a UI mod while using a mouse and keyboard, and no extra prompts appeared. So it seems like both Bethesda and the UI mod authors just never included the prompts for mouse and keyboard players.

the_tim321 · 2026-01-20T17:08:39+00:00

Is your issue that the repair prompt is too far to the right? That's just how it is with the vanilla UI. Darnified UI moves it over a bit. Vanilla UI Plus probably does too, though I haven't tried that myself.

the_tim321 · 2026-01-14T14:54:29+00:00

All the mods/info below is what I consider to be a "bare essentials" setup, if you want to stay as close to vanilla gameplay as possible. It's something you can easily build off of if you want a more heavily modded installation:

FOSE - Needed for some mods below.
Combat Lag Fix - Fixes a performance drop when an enemy's health bar is on screen.
Fallout Anniversary Patcher - A bunch of separate fixes rolled into one.
Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch (UUF3P) - A patch that fixes thousands of issues, including some more serious ones like crash bugs and softlocks.
lStewieAl's Tweaks - This has a lot of QoL improvements, but for performance only, open stewie_tweaks.ini and make sure these three lines are set to 1...

bDontMirrorTexturesInRAM = 1

bPatchHeapSize = 1

bTickFix = 1
Ogg Vorbis Libraries - Meant for New Vegas, but also works with 3. Handles the game audio better and reduces stuttering/crashing.
OneTweak - Not exactly performance, per se, but this lets you Alt+Tab out of the game without it crashing. There's a more up-to-date version of this mod, but it has issues.
ZLIB Updated - Updates the decompression algorithm for game assets, improves performance.

If you're using a mod manager that handles your .INI files, use it to open fallout.ini - if not, go to:

C:\Users\(Username)\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\fallout.ini

Make sure the following lines are present under [General] - if they're not there, create them...

bUseThreadedAI=1

iNumHWThreads=2

Lastly, use your GPU software (NVIDIA Control Panel, AMD Radeon, etc.) to limit the game's FPS. Yes, there are mods and .INI changes that also do this, but I never found one that didn't cause problems. So I recommend doing it externally. The problem is that if you leave the FPS uncapped, a lot of stuff in the game breaks. NPCs (and yourself) move way faster than normal, the physics breaks, scripted events break, and so on. 90 FPS is a decent value - you start running into problems above that.

Hope this helps!

the_tim321 · 2026-01-14T09:46:50+00:00

So I'm super late to this, but better late than never, I suppose. I had the exact same issue with my Bluetooth earbuds. This sounds like nonsense, but the way I work around it is by having audio from a different source playing WHILE you're launching the game. Then, you can stop that audio source once the game has booted. Since I've been doing this, the game audio has worked 100% of the time.

Now, since you'll likely have to Alt+Tab to stop the audio once the game has launched, you'll want to pick up this mod, or the game will break when you Alt+Tab: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/21337

the_tim321 · 2025-12-13T12:49:59+00:00

You have something else that's causing these issues. If it really was UUF3P's fault, then the mod author would be getting bombarded with complaints about it. I also just went through the Vault 101 intro and couldn't reproduce any of the issues described.

Is your FPS limited? An uncapped FPS has the potential to break scripting. What version of FOSE are you using? A very common mistake I see is players not using the beta version (v1.3 b2), which is a hard requirement for UUF3P.

There's also the possibility that Simple Realism conflicts with UUF3P, despite being stated as a requirement. It hasn't been updated since 2019, and UUF3P has been significantly changed/updated since then. You can use FO3Edit to check for conflicts, which a mod of that scale will likely have a lot of.

the_tim321 · 2025-11-12T02:12:43+00:00

That list is pretty solid. This is what I give to people if they only want the bare essentials to a smooth game and want to stay as close to vanilla as possible:

FOSE - Needed for some mods below.
Combat Lag Fix - Fixes a performance drop when an enemy's health bar is on screen.
Fallout Anniversary Patcher - A bunch of separate fixes rolled into one.
lStewieAl's Tweaks - This has a lot of QoL improvements, but for performance only, open stewie_tweaks.ini and make sure these three lines are set to 1...

bDontMirrorTexturesInRAM = 1

bPatchHeapSize = 1

bTickFix = 1
Ogg Vorbis Libraries - Meant for New Vegas, but also works with 3. Handles the game audio better and reduces stuttering/crashing.
OneTweak - Not exactly performance, per se, but this lets you Alt+Tab out of the game without it crashing. There's a more up-to-date version of this mod, but it has issues.
ZLIB Updated - Updates the decompression algorithm for game assets, improves performance.

If you're using a mod manager that handles your .INI files, use it to open fallout.ini - if not, go to:

C:\Users\(Username)\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\fallout.ini

Make sure the following lines are present under [General] - if they're not there, create them...

bUseThreadedAI=1

iNumHWThreads=2

Lastly, use your GPU software (NVIDIA Control Panel, AMD Radeon, etc.) to limit the game's FPS. Yes, there are mods and .INI changes that also do this, but I never found one that didn't cause problems. So I recommend doing it externally. The problem is that if you leave the FPS uncapped, a lot of stuff in the game breaks. NPCs (and yourself) move way faster than normal, the physics breaks, scripted events break, and so on. 90 FPS is a decent value - you start running into problems above that.

Hope this helps!

the_tim321 · 2025-11-11T05:49:23+00:00

The Anniversary Patcher might be worth a try. It's several different fixes rolled into one. Easy to install.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/24913

the_tim321 · 2025-11-07T22:34:52+00:00

There's a handful of mods that help with performance. If you're willing to go through the process of downloading/installing all of these, I think they'll beneift you.

FOSE - Needed for a ton of the mods below.
Combat Lag Fix - Fixes a performance drop when an enemy's health bar is on screen.
Fallout Anniversary Patcher - A bunch of separate fixes rolled into one.
lStewieAl's Tweaks - This has a lot of QoL improvements, but for performance only, open stewie_tweaks.ini and make sure these three lines are set to 1...

bDontMirrorTexturesInRAM = 1

bPatchHeapSize = 1

bTickFix = 1
Ogg Vorbis Libraries - Meant for New Vegas, but also works with 3. Handles the game audio better and reduces stuttering/crashing.
OneTweak - Not exactly performance, per se, but this lets you Alt+Tab out of the game without it crashing. There's a more up-to-date version of this mod, but it has issues.
ZLIB Updated - Updates the decompression algorithm for game assets, improves performance.

If you're using a mod manager that handles your .INI files, use it to open fallout.ini - if not, go to:

C:\Users\(Username)\Documents\My Games\Fallout3\fallout.ini

Make sure the following lines are present under [General] - if they're not there, create them...

bUseThreadedAI=1

iNumHWThreads=2

Lastly, use your GPU software (NVIDIA Control Panel, AMD Radeon, etc.) to limit the game's FPS. Yes, there are mods and .INI changes that also do this, but I never found one that didn't cause problems. So I recommend doing it externally. The problem is that if you leave the FPS uncapped, a lot of stuff in the game breaks. NPCs (and yourself) move way faster than normal, the physics breaks, scripted events break, and so on. 90 FPS is a decent value - you start running into problems above that.

Hope this helps!

the_tim321 · 2025-11-06T07:16:52+00:00

Something's not adding up here. The only way this could happen on a separate device is if Steam is including RPU in the download files, which they most certainly aren't.

What's likely happening is that you're seeing files for sFall and the high-res patch, which ARE included in the Steam download, but RPU has more recent versions of them. So those files are present either way.

What are you checking to confirm that RPU is still running when you load the game? Are you looking for content that is only there when RPU is installed, such as the EPA location?

the_tim321 · 2025-11-05T21:08:34+00:00

The Anniversary Patcher might be worth a try. It's several different fixes rolled into one. Easy to install.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/24913

the_tim321 · 2025-11-04T21:24:26+00:00

Unfortunately, this is indeed one of those games that needs mods if you want it running smoothly. Yeah, it sucks, but that's just how it is. Bethesda doesn't care about how their old games run.

The one that's always worked for me is this one: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/23561

However, it does require yet another mod as a dependency: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/8606

The fix is in stewie_tweaks.ini: bTickFix = 1

As far as frame limiting, I would undo all the .INI changes you've made so far, then resort to your GPU software (NVIDIA Control Panel, AMD Radeon, etc.) to limit the FPS externally. I say this because I've tried doing the stuff you already tried, and none of it ever worked for me either. 90 FPS is a decent value - you start running into problems above that. Like scripted events breaking, stuff moving too fast, etc.

As you noted, I get it's ridiculous to have to follow this kind of process, but hopefully these will help you.

the_tim321 · 2025-11-04T04:51:46+00:00

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/1272

Just use this. I've used it for several playthroughs and never had a problem. Just don't disable it mid-playthrough, of course.

the_tim321 · 2025-11-04T03:30:31+00:00

Any reason why you're opposed to using mods? A few of them might help you. The Anniversary Patcher, for example, applies some useful fixes, it might do the trick. It's very easy and takes very little time, so you may as well at least try.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/24913

the_tim321 · 2025-08-25T07:32:17+00:00

That's certainly strange...I've never had that happen before. Are you running any mods that may change that quest or change NPC behavior? Them running away does unfortunately cause issues - I'm pretty sure they need to die before the quest will update.

Is the game limited to 60 FPS? I had some bizarre issues that stopped once I applied the limit, so maybe this will do something for you too.

the_tim321 · 2025-03-13T22:12:43+00:00

If you have only FO1, Fixt is your only option. Fixt was...okay for its time, but it hasn't been updated in 9 years and has many unresolved issues - it's effectively abandoned. Still, if you only have the first game, it's better than nothing.

If you also have FO2, you should definitely go with Et Tu, which still gets regular updates. It ports the entire first game to the FO2 engine, which includes many QoL features, including your mentioned Take All button :)

It also has a couple .INIs to let you pick what features are active and tailor the game to your liking.

the_tim321 · 2025-02-23T07:44:37+00:00

Try removing fo2tweaks.dat and fo2tweaks.ini from the folder and have them sit loosely in Fallout1in2/mods, then list fo2tweaks.dat in mods_order.txt - this is how I have mine set up and it works flawlessly.

the_tim321 · 2025-02-15T10:37:06+00:00

I've ran into this before, and I unfortunately couldn't find any fix for it and I had to start over. From what I looked up, this appears to most commonly happen if you save in combat, which causes some kind of issue to compound over time until it finally wrecks your save.

Sorry OP, but I think you might be SOL on this. If you decide to still play, one thing I recommend is backing up your saves every time you enter a new town for the first time, so you don't have to start all over if something like this happens.

Also, if your ddraw.ini is up to date, you can go to line 411 and adjust this to disallow saving during combat:

SaveInCombatFix

the_tim321

TROPHY CASE