Fallout 3 stops responding to input with audio enabled in Windows 8.1

fallout-3technical-issueswindows 8.1

When playing Fallout 3, after about 5 minutes the mouse/keyboard stops responding to input, but the game is still running. If I disable the audio output using bEnableAudio=0 the game runs fine, albeit without audio.

The game is a Steam copy, and all updates are installed. I have also tried changing bUseThreadedAI=0 to 1, and added iNumHWThreads=2 but no luck. Installed codecs are K-Lite Codec Pack Mega 10.2.0

My PC specs are:

  • Acer V3-772G with Windows 8.1 64bit,
  • NVidia GTX 760M,
  • Realtek ALC282 Audio onboard,
  • 16GB ram,
  • Intel i7 4702MQ CPU

Has anyone else experienced the same or similar issues?

Best Answer

As always Microsoft in coalition with Bethesda make the best puzzles. My Windows 8.1 Pro N by default doesn't have Windows Media Player. After install of Windows Media Player the game is working perfectly.

Install instructions for Fallout 3 on Windows 8.1

  1. Install lates K-lite codecs
  2. Install Fallout 3 and lates updates
  3. Install Windows Live Client
  4. Install Windows Media Player
  5. Right click this file and open notepad: Documents\My Games\Fallout3\FALLOUT.INI
  6. Find (control+F) bUseThreadedAI=0
  7. Change to bUseThreadedAI=1
  8. Immediately after this line, ADD this new line: iNumHWThreads=2

Links: Windows Live Client, Windows Media Player

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