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Ran pretty well. Amazing game.
Crashes every 40 minutes or so
Apart from the occasional crashing, a solid experience.
One of the best games in the series with the worst engine in the series. Works fine but crashes too often nowadays to be enjoyable
10w TDP
Crashes every 30 to 40 minutes
Occasionally game would not launch at all. I would have to check the files then it would start. I tried to play the game despite its very frequent crashes and even with autosaves its just unbearable for me to keep playing. I just wanted to play for nostalgia reasons.
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 mangohud %command%
Fallout 3 on Linux. It just works! Unlike on Windows.....
There are occasional crashes, but no worse than under Windows. It is a Bethesda engine game afterall.
Rarely crashes, but does happen. I would say it matches Windows
Works just as well as Windows. No issues installing or starting. It can crash, but no more than it would on Windows. 10/10 experience
Works perfectly for me when switched to experimental. No crashes or bugs reported as of now.
Multiple reports of crashes and lag when not switched to a different compatibility. Don't try to run out of box.
DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 %command%
Experience frequent crashes after about 30 mins playing. Solution was to use proton 3.16 to install direct x and then switch to proton experimental afterwards. Aswell as used launch option DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 %command% to limit fps to 60. Finally i used Lutris to launch the game via the steam install and these combination of fixes eliminated the crashing entirely.
After applying various fixes the game works perfectly.
Works out of the box
Actually easier to set up than on windows
protontricks 22370 quartz lavfilters
Radio station songs via the Pip-Boy randomly replaced by silence (low volume clicking audible while they should be playing), fixed by using protontricks to install quartz and lavfilters.
Fallout 3 has many bugs, I recommend also installing Mod organiser 2 via the modorganizer2-linux-installer script and used it to install the Updated Unofficial Fallout 3 patch and recommended anciliary mods from nexusmods which greatly enhance the game.
DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60
Uncapping fps will crash the game eventually
It honestly surprises me how backwards compatibility in wine is much better than window's is, you can freely alt+tab, switch audio sources, shut down the game properly(unlike win11), and it only gets better. I can say that this is the most stable experience i've ever had with a fallout game on linux.
PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60
When attempting to launch using Proton 8.0 or newer, the game would fail to launch on a black screen with an error stating something about 'turning Windows features on/off'.
Had to launch the game with an older Proton version 3.16-9 so that Direct X would install properly. Then, switched to Proton version 6.3-8. Game runs perfectly now after fixing the mouse acceleration issue.
To Fix Mouse Acceleration:
Edit the file FALLOUT.INI located in prefix game's folder (.../22370/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/My Documents/My Games/Fallout3/).
In [Controls] section, add:
fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0 fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0 fForegroundMouseBase=0 fForegroundMouseMult=0
Issue with mouse acceleration
Works perfect out of the box on Ubuntu 22.04
Unsure if this effects Windows too, but very rarely a bleep sound occurs that sounds like a old-school Gameboy Pokemon in place of a character's dialog.
In 100+ play hours, only 2 crashes.
MANGOHUD_CONFIG=fps_limit=60
If you have shitty monitor you'll get huge VRR flicker, turn off gsync and such
Having played almost all the DLC and the main game I've had two crashes so far
It works perfectly. During first start you'll get some error about net runtime or something like that, but just wait, it'll start the launcher regardless.
I haven't tried it without the 60fps cap, but given it's a Bethesda game it'll probably not work on high fps.
MANGOHUD_CONFIG=fps_limit=60
Game going above 60fps was causing very frequent crashes, you need to cap it to 60 or below using an utility like Mangohud or Gamescope. I used Mangohud since Gamescope refuses to work on my current setup.
About 1-3 hours, the game will just crash. Combat usually, but unsure if VATS was the culprit.
I tinkered to try and stop the crashes, but I'm unsure what's causing them.
Some journal text
MANGOHUD_CONFIG="fps_limit=60, no_display" mangohud %command%
Limit FPS to 60 or less to avoid random crashes.
Need to cap FPS to 60 or less to avoid random crashes.
Originally set proton to experimental and installed but wouldn't launch, during install did produce a pop-up box along lines of go to settings and "turn Windows features on or off".
Based on other comments I set compatibility to much older version 3.7 or 3.16 to properly install DX which went well and after which could change to later versions and experimental.
iNumHWThreads=2 bUseThreadedAI=1 in FALLOUT.ini
had without the ini changes periodical freezes
locked at 40 or 45 fps, your choice. Stays under 10W constantly and drops to low 10s very rarely
Use touchscreen to select resolution/graphics options
Very stable once Proton Experimental is used, made it though the entire Operation Anchorage DLC with no issue, exploration with no crashes
Crashes every 5-30 minutes. Tried various proton and protonGE versions with no better results
Tried launch commands listed from users below, but none seem to fix frequent crashes. Very frustrating experience
crashing very often. not playable.
all fixes were tested. no one helped. german version maybe?
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
Copied xlive.dll to Windows folder.
Micro stutter
Game might crash sometimes. This also happened on the Windows and XBox 360 version.
Copied xlive.dll to .../SteamLibrary/steamapps/compatdata/22370/pfx/drive_c/windows/syswow64. Otherwise the game does not start after Launcher.
Changed / added two parameters for more stability to .../SteamLibrary/steamapps/compatdata/22370/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Documents/My Games/Fallout3:
bUseThreadedAI=1
iNumHWThreads=2
On rolling release, at least - if you can play this modded on Windows, you can play this modded on Linux with no loss of function
gamemoderun DXVK_FRAME_RATE=100 %command%
This game REQUIRES numerous config changes to even function on modern hardware, even on Windows.
Change FALLOUT.INI to disable mouse acceleration. fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0 fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0 fForegroundMouseBase=0 fForegroundMouseMult=0
Not a single crash and max framerate allowed by the engine with about 30 mods and an ENB installed. I use Vortex installed with my system's own WINE package to manage mods.
Follow guide mentioned in report a couple down from me - it works.
For those that haven't modded this since before Oct '21 - AnniversaryPatcher is required for FOSE mods (almost all) because FOSE is incompatible with current game version from '21. Patcher downgrades version to work with FOSE + includes 4GB aware all-in-one. Once patched, LAUNCH GAME THROUGH FALLOUT3.EXE, not fose_loader.exe - latter doesn't work anymore. Easiest to run patcher through system WINE, not Proton.
To allow Vortex to read game folder, make a folder on disk that is symlinked to game folder (Fallout 3 goty). Vortex can't understand folders starting with a period (.steam).
Game engine can only safely handle 100 FPS with no issues. Use DXVK_FRAME_RATE=100 to limit frame rate.
SO frustrating. Works perfectly with a small ini tweak... but crashes far too often to play. Gutted, hoping more info posted here soon!
Added the mouse acceleration lines to the ini file
Runs perfectly... but crashes every few minutes. Tweaked all the in-game graphical settings available. I haven't worked out how to install protontricks, or any of the recommended MODs, given Borealis being a collapsible container and little guidance found online.
PROTON_FORCE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE=1 %command%
When using sleep/wake audio would break often
Used the unofficial essential fixes from https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Fallout_3 I included a video tutorial I made that shows how to apply those fixes :)
Followed the guide in this thread, plus, installed FSR
Crashes upon launching windowed mode
Some of my problems were, I belive, caused by using a Maxwell GPU & proprietary drivers, but was able to get working anyways.
Game works fine as long as i don´t use Wayland (when using wayland i get random crashes). So stick to X11 for stable performance.
#Radio fix Use protontricks to install quartz and lavfilters.
had to add xlive.dll (google) to basegame directory, probably only necissary for german version
DXVK_FRAME_RATE=60 %command%
Needed to cap the frames to 60, otherwise the game's speed matches the amount of FPS and it causes audio issues. Runs fine after this tweak.
gamemoderun %command%
Edit FALLOUT.INI In [Controls] you need to add: fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0 fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0 fForegroundMouseBase=0 fForegroundMouseMult=0 to make your mouse work properly
After playing Fallout 3 both on linux and windows i enjoy linux playthrough more because of less effort i need to put into launching game compared to windows 10
