Fallout Dedicated Graphics Problem

[Rastian]

My new laptop came in yesterday and I have been wanting to play Fallout 3 GOTY; however, the launcher only recognize the integrated graphics chip. To be more specific, this would be the Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600. I want it to use the dedicated gpu, an NVIDIA GeForce GT 755m, and I have been unable to find solutions anywhere. I have already used the Nvidia Control Panel and set both the fallout 3 launcher and the exe to use the dedicated graphics but that doesn't seem to work. How can I fix this?

These are my specs:
Operating System
Windows 8.1 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i3/i5/i7 4xxx @ 2.40GH
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
LENOVO VIQY0Y1 (U3E1)
Graphics
Generic PnP Monitor (1366x768@60Hz)
Intel HD Graphics 4600 (Lenovo)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M (Lenovo)
Storage
931GB Seagate ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB (SATA)
Optical Drives
MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ8DB
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[Rahbot]

there could be a switch on your laptop that switchs the video... My brother in laws laptop has one that does that... he has a intergrated Intel Video and then his Nvidia 555m... his switch is on the front right side next to another switch for blutooth and wifi... check yours and see if you got one other wise you have to go in your video settings on the desktop... I forget what intel calls it but it allows you to change from there also... his is a lenvo just like yours is.. so it should be about the same.

 

[bdiddytampa]

What is full model name of your laptop?

 

[Rastian]

What is full model name of your laptop?

It's the Lenovo Y510P

 

[Rastian]

there could be a switch on your laptop that switchs the video... My brother in laws laptop has one that does that... he has a intergrated Intel Video and then his Nvidia 555m... his switch is on the front right side next to another switch for blutooth and wifi... check yours and see if you got one other wise you have to go in your video settings on the desktop... I forget what intel calls it but it allows you to change from there also... his is a lenvo just like yours is.. so it should be about the same.

There isn't a physical switch on the laptop and the only thing I can think of is using Nvidia control panel to setup which gpu I want to use and I have already done that.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Do you have your drivers up to date?

 

[Rastian]

Do you have your drivers up to date?

Yes, as far as I know. I've been to the Nvidia website to make sure.

 

[bdiddytampa]

is your laptop the sli model? or is it a single card?

 

[Rastian]

is your laptop the sli model? or is it a single card?

I have the option to use a second graphics card in the ultrabay, but as of now I only have the one card with a cd drive in the ultrabay.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Are you trying to run Fallout 3 through Steam?

 

[Rastian]

Are you trying to run Fallout 3 through Steam?

Yes, I am. Is there a problem with the steam version?

 

[bdiddytampa]

No not at all, just needed the easiest way to guide you through something to try 🙂

1 - Go to your Steam library
2 - Right click on Fallout 3 and select Properties
3 - Click on the Local Files Tab
4 - Select "Browse Local Files"
5 - Find the file named "Fallout3" and just "Fallout3" there are a few others there with ".exe" and others
6 - Right Click the file named "Fallout3" and select Properties from the drop down menu
7 - Select the compatibility Tab
8 - Check the box next to "Disable desktop composition" (This will only disable this for when you run Fallout 3, so don't worry that this will change for everything)
9 - Click apply then exit out, and try to see if you can select your GPU now

Sometimes there is an issue with Win 8.1 using integrated no matter what when desktop composition is being used, and it can create a conflict with some games that will automatically select the integrated chip even though you don't want to use it, over riding anything else you may have. Hopefully this works, if it doesn't I'm gonna have to do a bit more digging and I may not get back to this until tomorrow :-/

 

[Rastian]

No not at all, just needed the easiest way to guide you through something to try 🙂

1 - Go to your Steam library
2 - Right click on Fallout 3 and select Properties
3 - Click on the Local Files Tab
4 - Select "Browse Local Files"
5 - Find the file named "Fallout3" and just "Fallout3" there are a few others there with ".exe" and others
6 - Right Click the file named "Fallout3" and select Properties from the drop down menu
7 - Select the compatibility Tab
8 - Check the box next to "Disable desktop composition" (This will only disable this for when you run Fallout 3, so don't worry that this will change for everything)
9 - Click apply then exit out, and try to see if you can select your GPU now

Sometimes there is an issue with Win 8.1 using integrated no matter what when desktop composition is being used, and it can create a conflict with some games that will automatically select the integrated chip even though you don't want to use it, over riding anything else you may have. Hopefully this works, if it doesn't I'm gonna have to do a bit more digging and I may not get back to this until tomorrow :-/

When clicking properties on the "Fallout3" file, not any exe, there is no compatibility tab.

Ignore that, I made a mistake and now understand what you mean.

 

[Rastian]

No not at all, just needed the easiest way to guide you through something to try 🙂

1 - Go to your Steam library
2 - Right click on Fallout 3 and select Properties
3 - Click on the Local Files Tab
4 - Select "Browse Local Files"
5 - Find the file named "Fallout3" and just "Fallout3" there are a few others there with ".exe" and others
6 - Right Click the file named "Fallout3" and select Properties from the drop down menu
7 - Select the compatibility Tab
8 - Check the box next to "Disable desktop composition" (This will only disable this for when you run Fallout 3, so don't worry that this will change for everything)
9 - Click apply then exit out, and try to see if you can select your GPU now

Sometimes there is an issue with Win 8.1 using integrated no matter what when desktop composition is being used, and it can create a conflict with some games that will automatically select the integrated chip even though you don't want to use it, over riding anything else you may have. Hopefully this works, if it doesn't I'm gonna have to do a bit more digging and I may not get back to this until tomorrow :-/

Sorry for the first messy reply. After checking the compatibility tab, I don't see any checkbox regarding desktop composition.

Edit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qrsr3dr1musara/Screenshot%202014-01-25%2020.53.48.png This is what I see.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Doesn't look anything like this?

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/25145i5F3000B130ED1E59/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1

 

[bdiddytampa]

Edit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qrsr3dr1musara/Screenshot%202014-01-25%2020.53.48.png This is what I see.

Crap, sorry dude, I'm doing this from a PC that isn't running Win 8, so I couldn't double check myself, that is a solution I found in a forum :-/ Gonna have to do some digging, I'll post back on here as soon as I find something.

 

[Rastian]

Edit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qrsr3dr1musara/Screenshot%202014-01-25%2020.53.48.png This is what I see.

Crap, sorry dude, I'm doing this from a PC that isn't running Win 8, so I couldn't double check myself, that is a solution I found in a forum :-/ Gonna have to do some digging, I'll post back on here as soon as I find something.

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it, I've been looking all day for fixes.

 

[bdiddytampa]

So how does it run when you play with the launcher saying it is using integrated?

 

[Rastian]

So how does it run when you play with the launcher saying it is using integrated?

Well, it defaults me to high settings with playable fps.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Do other games have the same problem? or is it just Fallout 3?

 

[Rastian]

Do other games have the same problem? or is it just Fallout 3?

Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Oblivion. All Bethesda games. Games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress 2 seem to be using it when I check.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Well sorry man, I'm stumped lol, I've been digging around off and on all evening and I can't find anything concrete. I've seen other people with problems similar, but they seem to get it fixed by setting the GPU in the NVidia control panel like you have done. I've asked a guru friend of mine to check some of his resources :-/ If we can't find anything by tomorrow I'd suggest reposting this question so you can move back to the top of the list and see if someone else in the Tom's forums can find something. I'll post back on here tomorrow to let you know either way 🙂

 

[Rastian]

Well sorry man, I'm stumped lol, I've been digging around off and on all evening and I can't find anything concrete. I've seen other people with problems similar, but they seem to get it fixed by setting the GPU in the NVidia control panel like you have done. I've asked a guru friend of mine to check some of his resources :-/ If we can't find anything by tomorrow I'd suggest reposting this question so you can move back to the top of the list and see if someone else in the Tom's forums can find something. I'll post back on here tomorrow to let you know either way 🙂

Again, thanks a lot for all the help anyway. I really appreciate it. I'll have to do some more looking myself as well.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Ok, so just one last thing to try, and this really is a shot in the dark lol. In your My Documents folder there should be a folder named "my games". In that folder should be a folder called "Fallout 3". This is where the preferences folder is located, it is called "FalloutPrefs". First I'm going to need you to save this file as a backup. Double click it and it should open into Notepad, go to File and select Save As. Doesn't matter what you name it, "FalloutPrefsBackup" or something, and remove the backup from that folder and put it somewhere else for the time being so it doesn't confuse the program. Now go back to the original config file and double click so it opens in the Notepad. Select everything and delete. Then copy and paste all of this in there:

[Display]
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=10
iTexMipMapSkip=0
iWaterMultisamples=4
bTransparencyMultisampling=1
fSpecularLODStartFade=2000
fShadowLODStartFade=1000
fLightLODStartFade=3500
bDrawShadows=1
iActorShadowCountInt=6
iActorShadowCountExt=6
iShadowFilter=2
iShadowMapResolution=1024
iAdapter=0
iSize W=1366
iSize H=768
iMultiSample=4
iMaxAnisotropy=15
iPresentInterval=1
bFull Screen=1
sD3DDevice="NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M"
iScreenShotIndex=0
fGamma=1.0000
[Grass]
b30GrassVS=0
fGrassStartFadeDistance=7000
[Imagespace]
iRadialBlurLevel=2
bDoDepthOfField=1
[Water]
bUseWaterRefractions=1
bUseWaterReflections=1
bForceHighDetailReflections=1
bAutoWaterSilhouetteReflections=0
bUseWaterDepth=1
bUseWaterDisplacements=1
iWaterReflectWidth=1024
iWaterReflectHeight=1024
bUseWaterReflectionBlur=1
iWaterBlurAmount=4
[TerrainManager]
fTreeLoadDistance=40000
fBlockLoadDistanceLow=50000
fSplitDistanceMult=1.5
[LOD]
fLODFadeOutMultActors=15
fLODFadeOutMultItems=15
fLODFadeOutMultObjects=15
[BlurShaderHDR]
bDoHighDynamicRange=1
[BlurShader]
bUseBlurShader=0
[Launcher]
bShowAllResolutions=1
uLastAspectRatio=3
[Controls]
Forward=0011FF13
Back=001FFF14
Slide Left=001EFF17
Slide Right=0020FF16
Use=00FF0011
Activate=0012FF0A
Block=00380110
Ready Item=0013FF0C
Crouch/Sneak=001DFF08
Run=002AFFFF
Always Run=003AFFFF
Auto Move=0010FFFF
Jump=0039FF0D
Toggle POV=0021020F
Menu Mode=000FFF0B
Rest=0014FF07
Vats=002FFF0E
Hotkey1=0002FFFF
Hotkey2=0003FFFF
Hotkey3=0004FFFF
Hotkey4=0005FFFF
Hotkey5=0006FFFF
Hotkey6=0007FFFF
Hotkey7=0008FFFF
Hotkey8=0009FFFF
QuickSave=003FFFFF
QuickLoad=0043FFFF
Grab=002CFF09
fXenonVertLookSpeed=1200.0000
fXenonHorizLookSpeed=1500.0000
bGamePadRumble=1
bInvertYValues=0
fMouseSensitivity=0.0020
[Audio]
fDefaultRadioVolume=0.5000
fDefaultMusicVolume=0.3000
fDefaultEffectsVolume=1.0000
fDefaultVoiceVolume=0.7500
fDefaultFootVolume=0.5000
fDefaultMasterVolume=1.0000
[GamePlay]
bShowQuestMarkers=1
iDifficulty=2
bDisableDynamicCrosshair=0
bSaveOnInteriorExteriorSwitch=1
bSaveOnTravel=1
bSaveOnWait=1
bSaveOnRest=1
bCrossHair=1
bGeneralSubtitles=0
bDialogueSubtitles=1
[Interface]
bHelpEnabled=1
fHudOpacity=1.0000
uPipboyColor=452952319
uHUDColor=452952319
bDisable360Controller=0

Not sure if this will work or not but give it a shot. If it doesn't work or completely fails lol, just copy and paste from your backup file back into this one and it will at least be back to where it was 🙂

 

[Rastian]

Well sorry man, I'm stumped lol, I've been digging around off and on all evening and I can't find anything concrete. I've seen other people with problems similar, but they seem to get it fixed by setting the GPU in the NVidia control panel like you have done. I've asked a guru friend of mine to check some of his resources :-/ If we can't find anything by tomorrow I'd suggest reposting this question so you can move back to the top of the list and see if someone else in the Tom's forums can find something. I'll post back on here tomorrow to let you know either way 🙂

Ok, so just one last thing to try, and this really is a shot in the dark lol. In your My Documents folder there should be a folder named "my games". In that folder should be a folder called "Fallout 3". This is where the preferences folder is located, it is called "FalloutPrefs". First I'm going to need you to save this file as a backup. Double click it and it should open into Notepad, go to File and select Save As. Doesn't matter what you name it, "FalloutPrefsBackup" or something, and remove the backup from that folder and put it somewhere else for the time being so it doesn't confuse the program. Now go back to the original config file and double click so it opens in the Notepad. Select everything and delete. Then copy and paste all of this in there:

[Display]
iMaxDecalsPerFrame=10
iTexMipMapSkip=0
iWaterMultisamples=4
bTransparencyMultisampling=1
fSpecularLODStartFade=2000
fShadowLODStartFade=1000
fLightLODStartFade=3500
bDrawShadows=1
iActorShadowCountInt=6
iActorShadowCountExt=6
iShadowFilter=2
iShadowMapResolution=1024
iAdapter=0
iSize W=1366
iSize H=768
iMultiSample=4
iMaxAnisotropy=15
iPresentInterval=1
bFull Screen=1
sD3DDevice="NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M"
iScreenShotIndex=0
fGamma=1.0000
[Grass]
b30GrassVS=0
fGrassStartFadeDistance=7000
[Imagespace]
iRadialBlurLevel=2
bDoDepthOfField=1
[Water]
bUseWaterRefractions=1
bUseWaterReflections=1
bForceHighDetailReflections=1
bAutoWaterSilhouetteReflections=0
bUseWaterDepth=1
bUseWaterDisplacements=1
iWaterReflectWidth=1024
iWaterReflectHeight=1024
bUseWaterReflectionBlur=1
iWaterBlurAmount=4
[TerrainManager]
fTreeLoadDistance=40000
fBlockLoadDistanceLow=50000
fSplitDistanceMult=1.5
[LOD]
fLODFadeOutMultActors=15
fLODFadeOutMultItems=15
fLODFadeOutMultObjects=15
[BlurShaderHDR]
bDoHighDynamicRange=1
[BlurShader]
bUseBlurShader=0
[Launcher]
bShowAllResolutions=1
uLastAspectRatio=3
[Controls]
Forward=0011FF13
Back=001FFF14
Slide Left=001EFF17
Slide Right=0020FF16
Use=00FF0011
Activate=0012FF0A
Block=00380110
Ready Item=0013FF0C
Crouch/Sneak=001DFF08
Run=002AFFFF
Always Run=003AFFFF
Auto Move=0010FFFF
Jump=0039FF0D
Toggle POV=0021020F
Menu Mode=000FFF0B
Rest=0014FF07
Vats=002FFF0E
Hotkey1=0002FFFF
Hotkey2=0003FFFF
Hotkey3=0004FFFF
Hotkey4=0005FFFF
Hotkey5=0006FFFF
Hotkey6=0007FFFF
Hotkey7=0008FFFF
Hotkey8=0009FFFF
QuickSave=003FFFFF
QuickLoad=0043FFFF
Grab=002CFF09
fXenonVertLookSpeed=1200.0000
fXenonHorizLookSpeed=1500.0000
bGamePadRumble=1
bInvertYValues=0
fMouseSensitivity=0.0020
[Audio]
fDefaultRadioVolume=0.5000
fDefaultMusicVolume=0.3000
fDefaultEffectsVolume=1.0000
fDefaultVoiceVolume=0.7500
fDefaultFootVolume=0.5000
fDefaultMasterVolume=1.0000
[GamePlay]
bShowQuestMarkers=1
iDifficulty=2
bDisableDynamicCrosshair=0
bSaveOnInteriorExteriorSwitch=1
bSaveOnTravel=1
bSaveOnWait=1
bSaveOnRest=1
bCrossHair=1
bGeneralSubtitles=0
bDialogueSubtitles=1
[Interface]
bHelpEnabled=1
fHudOpacity=1.0000
uPipboyColor=452952319
uHUDColor=452952319
bDisable360Controller=0

Not sure if this will work or not but give it a shot. If it doesn't work or completely fails lol, just copy and paste from your backup file back into this one and it will at least be back to where it was 🙂

Thanks, but earlier this morning when I started up to play a bit of Fallout, I checked and instead of it using the integrated chip, it was actually using the nvidia gpu. I am honestly not sure what happened or why it worked, but it does now and won't allow me to choose the Intel HD 4600 anymore, but I'm not complaining. Thanks again for all the help!