LadyCrimson

That's what I find so strange in my case. The more total hours I play, the more frequent on average the freezes become. ::scratchhead:: I only started noticing those after I began using a mod. When I don't have a mod checked, it goes away. Also with mods checked I get more slight graphic errors like gaps between my chr's wrist and hand in 1st person view. IIRC the Morrowind mods often did weird things like that too. Maybe something to do with the way it uses/copies the main file or whatever.

Right then, so noted! Glad I didn't wander into Vault11 then. That's the first one I 'discovered' too.

I assumed they were trying to consolidate the NV posts into a few thread categories. The spoilers were definitely jumping all over the place in the previous threads. (tho I think they still are a little, still...) I've getting close to lvl 13 now. Question: Are the Vaults something you can do as you discover them or are they quest related & I should leave them alone so I don't 'break' anything?

I'm actually half-tempted to start a separate game on childishly-easy difficulty and let the companions do most of the killing while I take home videos. For amusement value.

Reinstalled. Played fine for 10 minutes. Crashed. Load. Played for over an hour, going smooth...then crash. And yet I keep playing, hoping for those hour+ long chunks. Game addiction....we'll see.

All right, you all have convinced me. I'll give Boone another shot. He is definitely useful outdoors since he fires/kill things before I even notice (he's "got my back!"). Plus, y'know, I kinda like him. I'm a sucker for a tragic story, as well as a guy who really loves his beret. Also: While running & shooting this guy, I started to feel like I might be killing Spock's angry, half-Romulan cousin. My guilt passed quickly.

K...thanks. I'm never going to like Steam on principle or use it when I don't have to, but if those things work like (I think) they should, that'll go a long way to making me less annoyed when a game I really want insists on using it.

Ok...so maybe if I backup/make a disc when I first download it, so the backed up files are all new & shiny I'll feel comfortable. I'll try it. But the auto-patching still annoys me, if the patches are what are why I'm crashing more often now then when I first installed it. :/ I think there might be ways around that too, but I'm still not clear as to how, exactly. Gar.

Ok, so you back up all the fallout.exe files etc. which means you can restore them but is it truly a fresh install then? Am I making sense?

That doesn't reinstall the game tho, does it? I mean, I can back up my save games on my own just fine. But if I want to DELETE/uninstall the game, you can't back up the installer, can you?

I've decided the fact I have to re-download the entire game every time I want to reinstall a game purchased via Steam sucks. Sure on fast connection even a game like FO:NV only takes an hour or two but that's just asinine. Especially when a game has techincal issues and you may want to (or need to) reinstall the game repeatedly. Which means I think next time I'll go back to buying the disc and just using Steam to verify. Steam can kiss my arse. Sigh.

I was initially able to play for 4-6 hours at a time before a random freeze/crash might occur....for whatever reasons it's become pretty constant now, like every 5-20 minutes no matter what I do. Totally random...upon loading a game, while running, while fighting, whenever. I don't know if the .dll fix, installing new vid drivers/uninstalling them/reinstalling old vid drivers, too many saves or even the patches etc etc. has made things more unstable over the long run or what's going on. I don't mind occasional crashes in any game (as a pc gamer, used to that, haha) but that frequent makes it unplayable. Uninstalled the game and redownloading from Steam to see if that helps. If not I may give up myself, until the next big patch, assuming there is a big patch.

Since I like to often experiment a lot w/trying to kill things that are probably far above my level, a companion doesn't work too well. And yeah, confined indoor places would probably drive me nuts. Like I said, I know he's powerful with that rifle of his, often seeming to 1-shot from a distance if it's not a seriously badass monster but that's not enough for my 1st-run playstyle. heh PS I don't use VATS much either, remember, so my playstyle is a lot of running and gunning backwards across half the map in order to take on 6+ Legions. I find that confuses companions a lot.

Brunch: Toast w/blueberry preserves & some vanilla yogurt. Think I'll make a Boboli thin crust pizza tonight. Just pepperoni/jalapeno/onion.

FO:NV progress will be slowed down this week, because of the World Series. Yeah baby, go Giants. If I could afford/justify scalped ticket prices, I'd hop a train & go to one of the games. I threw on more blankets to the bed, because my wimpy Californian internal heat gauge hasn't been fond of the chilly house. In another month or so I'll be used to it & be running around in shorts again but the initial sudden change bothers me a lot more than it did when I was younger. hehe Edit: (later...) *shuffles furniture a bit* ... I've changed my mind. I can watch the WS game on the little TV in here while still playing FO:NV to a degree and occasionally Twittering @ the game on 2nd PC. Haha, I love being alive in this tech age.

Oh I'm sure you can keep them alive if you're trying. I just don't feel like trying. It alters how one approaches the game/fights & right now I just don't wanna. Maybe a 2nd playthru.

@sorophx I was able to make houses/caves/items w/NPC's etc. and plop them into the MW, but serious scripting for making a whole new quest area or something was beyond me. The other problem was the editor tends to be so resource-hoggy that it became frustrating. I'd hope that my rig could handle it better now, but I figure the editor has become more hoggy as well, so could be a wash. LOL

I changed the world base weight carrying capacity (and only the weight) because I don't really want a companion....and it feels they were supposed to be your traveling mules among other things...I did try Boone for a while & he's definitely good with a rifle but a couple hits in as many seconds from a Legion & he keeled over "unconscious" like a pantywaist. I couldn't click on him to make him take a stimpack or anything. At the moment I don't want to constantly predict/protect followers & I already read/spoiled myself on NPC storylines so...back to the hotel for him.

Having never played Fallout3, I did not realize GECK was essentially the same editor as the one from Morrowind. I mean, I'm sure it's somehow different, but from a user standpoint it feels pretty similar. I hope over the next six months some intrepid souls will make some interesting mods...something beyond color & stat editing and PoV/FoV & houses that most people do.

Yeah, they mentioned that on the Bethesda forums. They suspect it's from people using the .dll fix. Steam can't handle that for some reason... (Or so it was deducted there) Hm. I suppose that's possible. From searching I learned that it's a file Steam uses to communicate what installer programs it will run. Mainly this seems to be how/why Steam does a forced DirectX install and vcredist for every new game you install, and if you edit the file before first launching the game, you can keep it from doing that, if you wish. I don't see how those two things would be affected by the dll fix for a video card but maybe if the dll is changing directx parameters to fool the game or something...? Edit:at least I know it's not just me. Also, if you installed the game from discs the file isn't in the folder 'cause the disc has it's own 'installer' methods, so it's definitely a "steam" thing.

Not so much FNV related as Steam related: Under a games Properties/Local Files options, what does it mean to "verify integrity of game cache?" Whenever I go into online mode and click it for FNV (my only Steam game....) Steam always finds 1 file that "refuses to validate" and will be "reacquired". This doesn't feel right. Is it always like that/something Steam file related, or is it specific game related? It's always this file: \steam\steamapps\common\fallout new vegas\InstallScript.vdf

I've stopped picking up every little box of detergent/item in the game, but I still feel like I'm going back to towns every 15 minutes to sort/sell stuff. I don't have time for that. So screw tiny weight limits that drive OCD ppl like me insane....I used GECK to change the base weight number. Much better. Why I like PC gaming.

That nvidia driver update (260 vs. my 258) didn't do anything for me either. In fact it seemed to make it worse (when I removed the .dll fix to test)-crashed three times in about 10 minutes, which wasn't happening w/my previous driver. I realized my inconsistency with the .dll FPS fix was because I kept setting it back to the GTX275 when resetting resolution/other options, instead of leaving it at 7900 setting. Doh. Even with that tho, it runs smoothest if I turn grass-draw & Shadows off & no HDR. Still looks fine just less shiny. Turning off autosaves seems to help too, now that quicksave works. I noticed that as well, along with the random weird gunfire sounds I get.

Yes, I can't imagine why it takes me so much longer than average to get through a game...I can literally spend hours doing stupid things. .....I really wanted to make a video dropping the entire possible 1280+ off the big dinosaur statue but after dropping 100 in the room I got tired of clicking in the menu to command game to drop one by one (you then exit menu to let them all drop at once). If you choose 'all' it just drops one dino labeled with the number, instead. Bah.

I know, that's why he's appealing! ....seriously, I want a subtle romance option with someone. I don't care about whether they get into bed w/a visual sex scene (don't care to watch pixels do it, thanks) I just want the romance or tragic-romance options/influence. Then just be good friends and consider it subtle. Obviously I haven't done it yet, but that sounds more like non-existent than subtle.