Fallout 3 is a popular action role playing open world video game which was first released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 back in October 2008. The game runs well on an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with Windows XP or Vista. If you have a physical copy of this game and want to play it on your Windows 10 computer then you will notice that you will experience several issues. This is because the game is not optimized to run on today’s latest hardware and software. There is however a workaround on how to run Fallout 3 on windows 10 which we will be showing you.
How To Run Fallout 3 On Windows 10
The recommended system requirements for this game are as follows
- Operating system: Windows XP/Vista
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- Memory: 2 GB System RAM
- Hard disk space: 7 GB
- Video: Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)
- Sound: DirectX 9.0c
- Controller support: Xbox 360 controller
Run the game as an administrator
One of the quickest ways to make this game run without any issues on your Windows 10 computer is to run it in administrator mode. Take note that the procedure listed below applies to the Steam version of the game.
- Go to the Fallout 3 folder within your Steam folder. The default location of the Fallout 3 folder: X:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 3 goty or X:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 3 (X being the letter corresponding to the partition of your computer’s hard drive that Windows is installed on).
- Right-click on the .EXE file for Fallout 3.
- Click on Properties in the resulting context menu.
- Navigate to the Compatibility tab.
- Enable the Run this program as an administrator option by checking the checkbox located directly beside it.
- Click on Apply.
- Click on OK.
Check if you can run Fallout 3 on Windows 10 without any issues.
Try running the game in compatibility mode
One of the main reasons as to why the game is having issues running on Windows 10 is because it was designed to run on Windows XP and Vista. It’s a good thing that Windows 10 has a feature that allows you to run apps in compatibility mode which is what you should try doing with this game.
- Go to the Fallout 3 folder within your Steam folder. The default location of the Fallout 3 folder: X:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 3 goty or X:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 3 (X being the letter corresponding to the partition of your computer’s hard drive that Windows is installed on).
- Right-click on the .EXE file for Fallout 3.
- Click on Properties.
- Navigate to the Compatibility tab.
- Enable the Run this program in compatibility mode for: option by checking the checkbox located directly beside it.
- Open the dropdown menu located directly underneath the Run this program in compatibility mode for: option and click on Windows XP (Service Pack 3) to select it.
- Click on Apply and then on OK.
Check if you can run Fallout 3 on Windows 10 without any issues.
Try installing the Games for Windows Live application
Fallout 3 will usually need the Games for Windows Live application installed in your computer.
- Download the installer for Games for Windows Live from the Microsoft website.
- Double click on the downloaded file once it is complete then follow the onscreen instructions and go through the installation wizard, at the end of which Games for Windows Live will be installed on your computer.
- Once the Games for Windows Live application has been installed, launch it.
- Games for Windows Live will automatically download all the files Fallout 3 needs to run on your computer.
Check if you can run Fallout 3 on Windows 10 without any issues.
Edit the falloutprefs.ini file
Because the game is designed to run on Windows XP/Vista you will need to edit the falloutprefs.ini file to make it run on Windows 10.
- Go to My Documents\My Games\Fallout3.
- Find the file titled falloutprefs.ini.
- Open the falloutprefs.ini file and double-click on it to open it in a new instance of Notepad.
- Locate bUseThreadedAI=0 within the contents of the file and change the 0 to a 1. If you don’t see bUseThreadedAI=0 anywhere in the entirety of the file’s contents, simply add bUseThreadedAI=1 in a new line within the file.
- In a new line within the file, type iNumHWThreads=2.
- Press Ctrl + S to save the changes and close the instance of Notepad.
Check if you can run Fallout 3 on Windows 10 without any issues.