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12 January 2009

Fallout 3 Question: Will My Video Card Stand Up? [More:]

I am losing my battle against the consumption of Fallout 3. I've resisted up to now, and just played Halflife 2 to get that virtual "shoot em' up" jones off my back.

My question is this: I have an nVidia 8400 M GS video card, and am wondering if this will cut the mustard for the game. I think my other specs are okay - I've got 3Gigs of RAM, and a duo-core processor running at 1.66 each.

Tell me I can go fight mutants.
Fallout 3 specs are forgiving.

(Though I'm playing it on a PS3 myself.)
posted by Prospero 12 January | 21:03
That said, a (likely unnecessary) word of caution: though it's a very, very good game, and deserving of all the time you're willing to give it, it doesn't play like an FPS such as Halflife 2--it feels a lot like Fallout 1 and 2, except in 3D. The combat system is a hybrid of real-time and turn-based systems, and it's closer to turn-based.
posted by Prospero 12 January | 21:10
I completely gave up on playing games on PCs years ago. My thinking was if game designers were too damn lazy to write code to run on any reasonably modern computer, iow no more than 5 years old, then they could keep their damn game.
posted by Ardiril 12 January | 21:16
I'm wondering about this myself, LT... I *think* my system would run it fine, but after seeing it on BitterOldPunk's Xbox-big TV setup, my expectations for it are high.
posted by BoringPostcards 12 January | 21:53
I think my laptop has the guts for it, I was mostly concerned with the video aspect of it. I will hold on for now.
posted by Lipstick Thespian 12 January | 23:48
I'm running it on a GeForce 8600M GT and am having little or no video issues. It defaulted to high settings and I'm running it pretty close to 1080p resolution (I set it to that for use on a friends hdtv and have left it there). Otherwise I have a Core 2 duo 2.4Ghz and 2GB Ram.
posted by kodama 13 January | 00:08
buy an XBOX 360 for $199 and run it on that
posted by andrewzipp 13 January | 14:04
You should be able to play it well enough on your current video card. Will you have the occasional crash? Sure. But it recovers quick enough.

Fallout 3 runs on a similar engine to Bethesda's earlier massive sandbox of an RPG, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Oblivion was notorious for bringing lesser video cards to a film-strip quality standstill, so enterprising gamers came up with a client called Old-blivion that would keep graphic instructions meant for later video cards from hitting older model cards. Worked like a champ.

Something similar is afoot for Fallout 3, called the Fallback Project. In the meantime, there is this thread that contains some great advice for some settings that can be changed to keep your older card from failing to give you the Capital Wasteland adventure you deserve: http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=904034&st=0&start=0

(WARNING: There's a couple of spoilers in the tech discussions on that thread, so tread carefully.)
posted by grabbingsand 13 January | 15:03
Whoa. || This

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