Before I start with my problem, I have gotten Fallout 3 to work on this PC before. Auto detect set my graphics settings to Ultra High. I have uninstalled it since (this was about a year ago that I last played this game.) Upon re-installation I am beset with this error. I ended up giving up and decided to play Skyrim instead. But I got the same issues! Resolution drop menu totally blank, and similar if not exactly the same error messages when I try and click, "Play." It was at this point I decided I must have some sort of hardware issue and completely reset the C drive of my PC. (I have a separate drive, which does not have the OS on it.) And even after that, this is still an issue.
So, here is my problem.
When I open the Fallout 3 Launcher, it will pop up with a box that says,
"Fallout 3 will now detect your video hardware and set video options accordingly."
I click OK on the box, and Fallout 3 Launcher crashes, windows tries to solve the problem, but ends up leaving me with a box that says, "Close Program."
If I reopen the Launcher, it will not pop up with auto-detect. I tried clicking, "PLAY," but i get a pop up that says,
"Failed to initiate renderer. Your display doesn't support the selected resolution. Please set resolution in Fallout 3's Launcher under, 'Display settings."
So I reopen the Launcher. If I click "OPTIONS," the resolution drop menu box is empty. I can click, "windowed mode" and resolutions appear. I click OK, and press PLAY, but I get the same pop up notification, except this time it says,
"Failed to initiate renderer. Windowed mode not supported on this Adapter."
Basically the big problem is that the resolution drop menu is empty for full screen mode. If I was able to click any resolution I am confident the rest of the game would run smoothly. As for playing windowed mode, I wouldn't mind, but that won't seem to fly either.
I have searched through many forums for a solution to this problem to no avail. Some suggestions were:
1 Have your graphics driver fully updated - mine said it had the latest already.
2 Roll back graphics driver - my option to do this was greyed out.
3 Manually edit ini file to set resolution to what windows is already set to, in my case 1360 x 768 - same crash errors when I click PLAY in Launcher, resolution drop menu empty in Options.
4 Delete ini file so it is rewritten - causes auto-detect to initiate when I open Launcher, and Launcher crashes.
5 Reinstall the game - no changes.
6 Manually uninstall graphics driver, and windows, upon reboot, will automatically reinstall it - no changes.
7 Download a dll file to trick Launcher into thinking you have an NVidia graphics driver (I forget the exact specifics of this workaround...) - resolution drop menu still blank.
8 Run Fallout.exe with compatibility mode checked - tried various modes, vista, windows 7, windows xp, and no change. Tried running the launcher under a compatibility mode as well, no change.
Not suggested in any forums, I've tried opening Options and clicking "Default" in the "Detail" section, which initiated auto detect, and the Launcher crashes.
It was at this point I decided to give up and start playing Skyrim instead, which was already installed and had worked perfectly fine the last time I played it, maybe 6 months prior. Launcher opens. I click Play and I get the failed to initiate error. Reopen Launcher and go into OPTIONS and my resolution drop menu is blank here too...
It was at this point I decided I must have some sort of driver/hardware issue, so I reset the C drive on my PC. After a long reboot, I have reinstalled Fallout 3 and am still stuck with this problem... Please help.
P.S
As a note, the only difference I can think of between playing before when it all worked, and now that it does not, is that I am using a VGA cord to connect to my monitor/t.v. My HDMI cord broke, and I haven't gotten a new one yet... But I can't imagine that is the source of this issue. Although I do want to share any information that may be relevant. Since this seems to be some sort of a display issue, I thought to share about my HDMI cords demise, and the use of the ancient VGA cord.... Long live VGA?
I think not.
Here are my specs.
Windows 10
System Type x64-based PC
Processor AMD A10-7800 Radeon R7, 12 Compute Cores 4C+8G, 3500 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 12.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 10.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 7.27 GB
Total Virtual Memory 13.2 GB
Available Virtual Memory 9.75 GB
Page File Space 2.25 GB
Display Adapter AMD Radeon(TM) R7 Graphics
So, here is my problem.
When I open the Fallout 3 Launcher, it will pop up with a box that says,
"Fallout 3 will now detect your video hardware and set video options accordingly."
I click OK on the box, and Fallout 3 Launcher crashes, windows tries to solve the problem, but ends up leaving me with a box that says, "Close Program."
If I reopen the Launcher, it will not pop up with auto-detect. I tried clicking, "PLAY," but i get a pop up that says,
"Failed to initiate renderer. Your display doesn't support the selected resolution. Please set resolution in Fallout 3's Launcher under, 'Display settings."
So I reopen the Launcher. If I click "OPTIONS," the resolution drop menu box is empty. I can click, "windowed mode" and resolutions appear. I click OK, and press PLAY, but I get the same pop up notification, except this time it says,
"Failed to initiate renderer. Windowed mode not supported on this Adapter."
Basically the big problem is that the resolution drop menu is empty for full screen mode. If I was able to click any resolution I am confident the rest of the game would run smoothly. As for playing windowed mode, I wouldn't mind, but that won't seem to fly either.
I have searched through many forums for a solution to this problem to no avail. Some suggestions were:
1 Have your graphics driver fully updated - mine said it had the latest already.
2 Roll back graphics driver - my option to do this was greyed out.
3 Manually edit ini file to set resolution to what windows is already set to, in my case 1360 x 768 - same crash errors when I click PLAY in Launcher, resolution drop menu empty in Options.
4 Delete ini file so it is rewritten - causes auto-detect to initiate when I open Launcher, and Launcher crashes.
5 Reinstall the game - no changes.
6 Manually uninstall graphics driver, and windows, upon reboot, will automatically reinstall it - no changes.
7 Download a dll file to trick Launcher into thinking you have an NVidia graphics driver (I forget the exact specifics of this workaround...) - resolution drop menu still blank.
8 Run Fallout.exe with compatibility mode checked - tried various modes, vista, windows 7, windows xp, and no change. Tried running the launcher under a compatibility mode as well, no change.
Not suggested in any forums, I've tried opening Options and clicking "Default" in the "Detail" section, which initiated auto detect, and the Launcher crashes.
It was at this point I decided to give up and start playing Skyrim instead, which was already installed and had worked perfectly fine the last time I played it, maybe 6 months prior. Launcher opens. I click Play and I get the failed to initiate error. Reopen Launcher and go into OPTIONS and my resolution drop menu is blank here too...
It was at this point I decided I must have some sort of driver/hardware issue, so I reset the C drive on my PC. After a long reboot, I have reinstalled Fallout 3 and am still stuck with this problem... Please help.
P.S
As a note, the only difference I can think of between playing before when it all worked, and now that it does not, is that I am using a VGA cord to connect to my monitor/t.v. My HDMI cord broke, and I haven't gotten a new one yet... But I can't imagine that is the source of this issue. Although I do want to share any information that may be relevant. Since this seems to be some sort of a display issue, I thought to share about my HDMI cords demise, and the use of the ancient VGA cord.... Long live VGA?
I think not.
Here are my specs.
Windows 10
System Type x64-based PC
Processor AMD A10-7800 Radeon R7, 12 Compute Cores 4C+8G, 3500 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 12.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 10.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 7.27 GB
Total Virtual Memory 13.2 GB
Available Virtual Memory 9.75 GB
Page File Space 2.25 GB
Display Adapter AMD Radeon(TM) R7 Graphics