Windows 10 no longer supports the G4WL download you can get from Microsoft and using the FOSE doesn't get you around the need for having the latest version of G4WL installed either. I got past all this by first copying the Fallout.default ini located in the Fallout 3 game directory to my Fallout 3 directory in Documents/My Games and renaming it to Fallout. Then I downloaded this and put in my game directory and ran it disabling the G4WL and doing nothing else that this program will do. Works like a charm.
Holy bologna, someone give this man a medal! Followed Crimson's little tutorial here and everything worked like a charm. Have good ol' FO3 modded and up and running on Win10 flawlessly. Thanks a ton for this one, friend.
This does not work. I cannot start Fallout 3 without GFWL, using FOSE catches an error with ordinal 43, and this mod cannot start without having ran FO3 at least once, as there is no default .ini file. Impossible to start on Windows 10, in 2018?
I only know of one way that worked for me on Windows 10; but it required me to purchase the game again -this time through GOG.com. (GOTY Edition).
No more GfWL and no other trouble; only had to rid myself of a mod that was causing regular CTD's; probably because I was using an old -even ancient and perhaps now obsolete- version of it.
This version of FO3 is a digital download, so no physical disc(s). But it's DRM free. Naturally it requires an account with GOG and a solid internet connection. I ran the ESM (and installed ESP) files through LOOT and cleaned the master files with FO3Edit.
All I can reiterate, is that it worked for me; so my personal experience is a positive one. Still, maybe I just got lucky -there are few guarantees, as I've often learned the hard way.
Seeing as this is the current top post, I will post this bit of info here. If you don't want to install GFWL, or it doesn't work for you; all you need to do is grab a copy of 'xlive.dll' from a DLL archival site (SDK xlive.dll files don't work) and place it into you install directory. This method should work as this is the only file this game seems to look for in terms of GFWL, This means that no files will need to be changed helping to preserve your INI tweaks and such.
Thank you crimsonblade..., I had already downloaded and installed this mod before doing what you wrote above, about copying the Fallout.default ini from the FO3 game directory and pasting it to the FO3 MyGames directory and then renaming it to Fallout dot ini, saving the present version to FalloutiniOLD. With just this mod activated the game would not load to the menu for starting a new game. After doing the copy-paste you recommended the game did load all the way to the menu for starting a new game. Wonderful. Now comes the reinstallation of all of the other mods I like to use, one problem to solve at a time. Difficult but worth it in order to play FO3 again.
The dumbest thing is, this worked. hours of tutorials and reading what could fix it, and for the love of saint f*#@, i should have just checked comments first. Kudos my man, you just saved me a massive headache.
Totally worked! Had to rename Fallout_default.ini to Fallout.ini before the disabler would work. Renamed it back to Fallout_default.ini after running the disabler and placed it back in my game folder. Bazinga! Up and running. Kudos for your fine work, sir.
So are you going to give updated directions for 2020 or are you just going to leave this outdated and nonfunctioning "setup" here? Because I've tried everything you said several times in the past few weeks and....nothing. Worse than nothing, it has now gotten to the point where if I even try to launch Fallout 3, not only will it not launch, but my whole system freezes and my PC lands up force powering off. Not only does this NOT work, definitely feels like it may break my entire PC. So are you going to update this or are we just completely screwed now?
Excellent Post!!! After nearly 3 hours of searching the internet and rolling thru dead links and outdated tutorials this worked like a charm. This appears to be the only solution also as I need my Steam copy to work again and it seems that Windows 10 won't install GFWL.
1. should you replace that file, or just copy it? 2. renaming it to Fallout doesn't work. it asks you to rename it to Fallout (2).ini should I do it? 3. the mod requires you to play the game in order to run the program... and I can't play the game... it needs a FALLOUT.INI
This worked you're a legend! I did also have something installed that detects the hardware as being older which may or may not be necessary with this, as well as the running as administrator/ service pack 2 crap.
Just confirming that this fix works fine in early 2021 with the Fallout 3 GOTY.
To re-write the fix more concisely. Copy the ?Fallout_default.ini from the game install folder (in my case it was E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 3 goty) to your My Documents\My Games\Fallout3 folder and rename it to Fallout.ini.
Backing up the existing Fallout.ini isn't a bad idea, rename it Fallout.ini-old or something. If you do happen to overwrite it, looks like it's not a problem anyway, as far as I can tell.
I dont Know why but for me it doesn't work... i tried everything posible. i also copied the Fallout_default.ini to the Fallout 3 folder in "Documents/MyGames" and i still got the error that it cant run the disabler without the matching .ini - File...
ty this is exactly what was missing in the previous instructions. Works perfectly now. Windows just keeps getting worse the more times that Microsoft keeps trying to fix what is and isn't broken. But I still won't switch to Macintosh Apple for my games.
I imagine that most people who land on this thread are trying to install Fallout 3 for TTW. Its been a long time since I've played Fallout and I'm over due. Decided that I wanted to try something new and some one on the NEXUS a while back highly recommended Tale of Two Wastelands. So you need to have both the latest version of FNV and the latest edition of FO3 GOTY and it must be patched to 1.7. Now FNV in my experience will install to just about any version of Windows Post XP. FO3 is another matter. Frankly its a nightmare on anything past Windows 7 unless you have done it before. The last time I played FO3 was sometime ago on a Windows 7 machine. I see plenty of people having trouble installing this game on Win8, 8.1 and Win10. The best way frankly is to get The GOG games version. Its cheap too. Maybe Like me you paid top dollar for the Limited Edition of GOTY edition and want to try and make it work before you buy it again. I have read various tutorials on this subject and there is a problem with most of them. The biggest problem with installing FO3 is: Games for Windows live. The Disc version had an application installer for GFWL. This does not install properly and you wont be able to run your game. There are links to the GFWL installer however its a web installer and the servers are no longer around. To solve this issue you need a file called xlive.dll. Its actually here on NEXUS: ( Games for Windows LIVE xLive.dll error fix ) In Various tutorials I have gone through there two different places where it is listed at. One is in the root of your FO3 install directory. The other is C:\Windows\System32. I put it in both. The other problem you will probably have installing this game even after you do this is errors related to compatibility and the installation path and a host of others. I copied The whole Disc 1 to a folder on my Desktop labeled " Fallout 3 " I then went to the Setup app and set compatibility to Windows 7. I then ran the setup file. This will take a while to install. Mostly it takes a lot of time setting up the temporary files. Once it gets past that it goes pretty quick. I also recommend you do not install to your programs folder as per the norm. This is especially true for a TTW install. Setup a games folder outside of any Windows directories. Put it on the root of your drive. If you can I would put it on another drive entirely. ((Example: D:\Bethesda Softwworks\Fallout 3)) If you got through all of that there is still the issue of installing The DLC's off of Disc 2. This was a Bear to figure out and its even less cooperative then the main game. What I did was Rip the contents of Disc 2 to another folder on my Desktop labeled " Fallout 3 DLC " Run the setup. Try it first without compatibility mode. It will hang for a while so be patient. If after 3 or 4 minutes it still does not start, then use the task manager to restart explorer. Then try running as administrator in Windows 7 compatibility mode. It will still hang for a bit but you will eventually get a prompt from windows asking if you want to run this program. Say yes of course. its slow going but it will go and just click through the prompts from the game installer. After this all you need to do is have the FO3 update 1.7 package and do the following: Make sure you have the xlive.dll files in the Win32 and in the root of your FO3 directory. Set The updater to Windows XP service pack 3 Compatibility mode. Run as administrator. It should just run and it should take a few seconds. Also remember that you need to have Disc 1 in the drive to run your game. Something really arcane which I forgot about. For TTW run the game once at default settings go into the opening sequence and close without saving when the game asks you what sex you are. Hope this helps someone.
Do not use this... it was a nice job 15 years ago (except the no usage instructions anywhere lol) but use this instead. It was updated a couple years ago and actually works.
If you've come here to install this, I recommend looking at Fallout Anniversary Patcher, it's better than this mod by miles and contains the functionality to completely patch out GFWL.
It doesn't work for me, I don't know why. The program tells me to select my Fallout 3 folder and when I do, it tells me that the folder I've selected is not my Fallout 3 folder.
Whenever I try to use the disabler it says it doesn't detect the fallout 3 file and makes me select it but, when I select it it says it is not the fallout 3 file. If someone has any idea why this is happening please help windows/ programfilesx86/steam/steamapps/common/fallout 3 goty/ fallout3 I either select the goty file or the main fallout 3 file and neither are accepted.
ApharisOmega wrote: Whenever I try to use the disabler it says it doesn't detect the fallout 3 file and makes me select it but, when I select it it says it is not the fallout 3 file. If someone has any idea why this is happening please help windows/ programfilesx86/steam/steamapps/common/fallout 3 goty/ fallout3 I either select the goty file or the main fallout 3 file and neither are accepted.
Was your game updated by Steam on Oct. 16? If yes, that is the reason and this is not needed. You have the game installed in the worst possible place on your harddrive. You will have nothing but trouble until the game is uninstalled and then reinstalled in a location other than "Program Files" There are instructions on Steam on how to do this.
Reading previous posts will also give you answers. Like the one just before yours.
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No more GfWL and no other trouble; only had to rid myself of a mod that was causing regular CTD's; probably because I was using an old -even ancient and perhaps now obsolete- version of it.
This version of FO3 is a digital download, so no physical disc(s). But it's DRM free.
Naturally it requires an account with GOG and a solid internet connection.
I ran the ESM (and installed ESP) files through LOOT and cleaned the master files with FO3Edit.
All I can reiterate, is that it worked for me; so my personal experience is a positive one.
Still, maybe I just got lucky -there are few guarantees, as I've often learned the hard way.
(Also its fallout_default.ini not fallout.default.ini)
Thanks
Thanks again :)
2. renaming it to Fallout doesn't work. it asks you to rename it to Fallout (2).ini should I do it?
3. the mod requires you to play the game in order to run the program... and I can't play the game... it needs a FALLOUT.INI
To re-write the fix more concisely. Copy the ?Fallout_default.ini from the game install folder (in my case it was E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 3 goty) to your My Documents\My Games\Fallout3 folder and rename it to Fallout.ini.
Backing up the existing Fallout.ini isn't a bad idea, rename it Fallout.ini-old or something. If you do happen to overwrite it, looks like it's not a problem anyway, as far as I can tell.
Pls help
Its been a long time since I've played Fallout and I'm over due. Decided that I wanted to try something new and some one on the NEXUS a while back highly recommended Tale of Two Wastelands. So you need to have both the latest version of FNV and the latest edition of FO3 GOTY and it must be patched to 1.7.
Now FNV in my experience will install to just about any version of Windows Post XP. FO3 is another matter. Frankly its a nightmare on anything past Windows 7 unless you have done it before. The last time I played FO3 was sometime ago on a Windows 7 machine. I see plenty of people having trouble installing this game on Win8, 8.1 and Win10. The best way frankly is to get The GOG games version. Its cheap too. Maybe Like me you paid top dollar for the Limited Edition of GOTY edition and want to try and make it work before you buy it again. I have read various tutorials on this subject and there is a problem with most of them. The biggest problem with installing FO3 is: Games for Windows live. The Disc version had an application installer for GFWL. This does not install properly and you wont be able to run your game. There are links to the GFWL installer however its a web installer and the servers are no longer around. To solve this issue you need a file called xlive.dll. Its actually here on NEXUS: ( Games for Windows LIVE xLive.dll error fix ) In Various tutorials I have gone through there two different places where it is listed at. One is in the root of your FO3 install directory. The other is C:\Windows\System32. I put it in both.
The other problem you will probably have installing this game even after you do this is errors related to compatibility and the installation path and a host of others. I copied The whole Disc 1 to a folder on my Desktop labeled " Fallout 3 " I then went to the Setup app and set compatibility to Windows 7. I then ran the setup file. This will take a while to install. Mostly it takes a lot of time setting up the temporary files. Once it gets past that it goes pretty quick. I also recommend you do not install to your programs folder as per the norm. This is especially true for a TTW install. Setup a games folder outside of any Windows directories. Put it on the root of your drive. If you can I would put it on another drive entirely. ((Example: D:\Bethesda Softwworks\Fallout 3)) If you got through all of that there is still the issue of installing The DLC's off of Disc 2. This was a Bear to figure out and its even less cooperative then the main game. What I did was Rip the contents of Disc 2 to another folder on my Desktop labeled " Fallout 3 DLC " Run the setup. Try it first without compatibility mode. It will hang for a while so be patient. If after 3 or 4 minutes it still does not start, then use the task manager to restart explorer. Then try running as administrator in Windows 7 compatibility mode. It will still hang for a bit but you will eventually get a prompt from windows asking if you want to run this program. Say yes of course. its slow going but it will go and just click through the prompts from the game installer. After this all you need to do is have the FO3 update 1.7 package and do the following: Make sure you have the xlive.dll files in the Win32 and in the root of your FO3 directory. Set The updater to Windows XP service pack 3 Compatibility mode. Run as administrator. It should just run and it should take a few seconds. Also remember that you need to have Disc 1 in the drive to run your game. Something really arcane which I forgot about. For TTW run the game once at default settings go into the opening sequence and close without saving when the game asks you what sex you are. Hope this helps someone.
Do not use this... it was a nice job 15 years ago (except the no usage instructions anywhere lol) but use this instead. It was updated a couple years ago and actually works.
Downloaded the xlive.dll offsite and it worked a treat.
[This is for the GOTY version, but I'm assuming that's the one you have.]
Copy and pasting the link below should direct you to a screenshot of my Main Menu in FO3; the GfWL button is not there.
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=10240A441C266944&sb=lastModifiedDateTime&sd=2&id=10240A441C266944%217257&parId=10240A441C266944%21119&o=OneUp
windows/ programfilesx86/steam/steamapps/common/fallout 3 goty/ fallout3
I either select the goty file or the main fallout 3 file and neither are accepted.
Was your game updated by Steam on Oct. 16? If yes, that is the reason and this is not needed.
You have the game installed in the worst possible place on your harddrive. You will have nothing but trouble until the game is uninstalled and then reinstalled in a location other than "Program Files" There are instructions on Steam on how to do this.
Reading previous posts will also give you answers. Like the one just before yours.