Fallout 3 on MBP SR

[ct04]

Hi guys,

Before I start, just wanted to say that I've searched the forums for answers already, and I think I have a unique issue.

I have a late Feb MBP, 2.4 ghz and 2gb of ram with the nvidia 8600m gt (256 mb of RAM, although Windows insists that it has 512...). I've installed the latest drivers available from laptopvideo2go, which I believe are 178.24 (not at home right now to check). I'm running Windows XP SP2, and it's a relatively clean install; no internet access, the only thing that's gone on there is drivers and games--and I've defragged religiously.

From what I understand, my MBP should be powerful enough to run Oblivion at High settings, even with AA and Anisotropic filtering on (low, but on). It should be powerful enough to run Fallout 3 at Medium, too, based on what I've heard. And in general, it runs modern games pretty well; I played Mass Effect with the detail settings cranked pretty high and I rarely encountered any slowdown.

However, the Oblivion / Fallout engine just seems to kill my computer; Oblivion was crochety at best, requiring some serious fine-tuning, and if I want more than 30 fps consistently I need to run it at medium or lower. Fallout, on the other hand... well, it just doesn't run unless everything's set to low, no AA, no anisotropic. What's weird is that when it's set to medium, no AA/Aniso, it starts out running smooth, but after about 10 minutes just slooooooows down--we're talking like 30 fps dropping to 15 (this is a guess, I haven't console'd it yet, but I can if it would help people diagnose my issue). The game autodetects to high, with AA and Anisotropic filtering both turned on high...

So essentially I'm confuzzled. Oblivion was the first thing to go on my MBP, and it had this issue, so it's not a problem with the Windows install. I had a few issues installing bootcamp drivers; should I try to reinstall the whole set? I've uninstalled and reinstalled my video drivers... in short, I'm trying everything to get Fallout 3 to run not at barest minimum settings, because it sounds like people with my exact config are running it fine on medium / medium-high! I've ordered another 2gb of RAM for my computer... any other suggestions? I run my MBP on a cooling pad, turn everything else in Windows off, etc.

Would really appreciate any insights or help you guys might have

 

[Keleko]

It may be a long shot, but do you have the August DirectX 9.0c installed?

It might also be useful to put SP3 on, though it shouldn't make any difference for a game. I'm using XP SP3 on my MBP and Fallout 3 runs just fine. I have 2.5GHz with 512MB for the 8600 graphics. It runs Fallout at 1920x1200 with High detail settings and no AA (at that resolution, you don't need AA).

I believe I'm using 177.92 drivers. I haven't seen a need to update from that right now.

 

[ct04]

oh man. pathetically enough, I'm not sure how recent my version of directx is--I will try updating that. with my luck I've been running 9.0a or something stupid like that.

although, at the same time, that doesn't explain my issues with oblivion, which theoretically my computer should be well able to play

i'll also try regressing to 177.92

thanks! and if anyone else has suggestions i'd still love to hear them...

 

[Keleko]

It almost sounds like a heating problem going on with Oblivion. But, if Mass Effect plays just fine, then I don't know what to tell you... I played Mass Effect on just slightly better hardware than you have with similar speed. Oblivion plays just fine on my system, too.

Here's a thought... Does Mass Effect still work just fine?

 

[ct04]

AH! that's what I wanted to bring up. When Fallout 3 slows down--I hear the fans slow down! the mbp stays just as hot, but the fans spin way down. and now that i think about it, same for oblivion. when i play f3 on low quality, that fan spin-down doesn't happen!

but not for mass effect--so... maybe sth about the game engine is tricking my computer into spinning the fans back down? because mass effect ran on full fans, high heat...

thanks for your help keleko--i tried to get an answer for this back in march when i finally was playing oblivion, but at that point everyone had started in with the "d00d ur hardware is teh suxx0rz if you can't play Oblivion" so...

 

[Keleko]

I do hear the fans spin up and down in Fallout, but it never slows down for me. I played Oblivion when it first came out, so I haven't really tried it on my MBP.

I don't have my MBP on a cooling pad. What happens if you don't use yours and try out Fallout/Oblivion? Yes, that sounds backwards, but it at least duplicates how I play...

 

[ct04]

tried the no cooling pad--nothing. directx 9.0c all up to date. changed video drivers... nada.

i did confirm that the game runs fine for about 10-15 minutes, and all of a sudden just slows to a crawl. hoping its a low-ram problem and the 2 gigs i just ordered will clear it up... but then again, xp only allocates 2 gigs to any program, so i dunno how much better it can get.

thanks for the help keleko, looks like this one is either an issue w/ my mac or my install of windows.

 

[Keleko]

I do have 4GB in my Mac. I played it on my previous PC with 2GB, and it worked fine then.

It sounds like what happens is things get hot and then the hardware downclocks things to cool it. It might also be one of the defective 8600 chips that are part of the recall...

 

[masse]

I'm about to get this game. I'd really like to upgrade my graphics drivers...but I can't seem to get the newer driver to install.

How exactly do you go about updating it? I know they are on laptopvideo2go, but I can't get it to install (says hardware not supported).

Any ideas?

 

[Keleko]

Download the install zip and the separate INF file. Replace the INF file in the zip with the one you download separately. That separate INF file has the list needed to add support for the chip in your system.

 

[Nerck]

Same problem here...

I have the exact same problem. The game seems to run fine for awhile, and then the frame rate drops like crazy, until it's just about unplayable. This happens whether I'm running on the high, medium, or low settings.

I have the same setup you do, with the same updated drivers. I'm considering reinstalling boot camp, but because it seems to just happen on this game I'm not sure that will change anything.

If you do get it worked out, please post here! I'd love a solution so I can actually play this game.

 

[Nerck]

One more thing

Oh, and I have 4 gig of ram installed, and that didn't help me at all. So I'm thinking the ram isn't our problem.

 

[Optimus]

Make sure you have your Boot Camp HD partitiones as NTFS and have at least 5-10Gb of free space. Made all the difference for me with graphic hungry games. FAT32 is a real performance killer when it comes to newer games.

 

[masse]

Fallout 3 runs on high quality with 4X AA and 8X AF at about 30-40 frames depending on surroundings. Perfectly playable for an RPG. In 1024 resolution.

Ultra quality (I really can't tell the difference between ultra and high) gives about 10 frames and is not playable.

 

[David L]

more fallout 3 woes

just got macbook pro 2.53 (late 2008) did bootcamp install vista home premium loaded all updates put fallout disc in and when installer runs states has a "side by side configeration" error so I can't even look at fallout 3
Any Suggestions
nb completely clean install this was first program attempted to load thanks

 

[Nerck]

The only thing that seems to work is to run it in windowed mode. It will still randomly slow to a crawl though, and I have to exit and restart the game to get a normal frame rate. Really disappointed as it seems others don't have the same problem.

 

[Guiyon]

just got macbook pro 2.53 (late 2008) did bootcamp install vista home premium loaded all updates put fallout disc in and when installer runs states has a "side by side configeration" error so I can't even look at fallout 3
Any Suggestions
nb completely clean install this was first program attempted to load thanks

I had the same exact problem; for some reason the Autorun fails miserably on Vista. The easiest way to go is to just go to My Computer, right click the CD drive and select "Explore..." and then double click "Setup.exe" and install it manually.