Fallout 1 and 2 shuts my computer off

K

KJap 275

First time out of the vault
Hi everybody,

I looked around in the forums but I couldn't find anybody with the same problem as mine (I apologize if this problem has already been addressed). There plenty of stuff here about fallout crashing XP users to the desktop but my problem is a little different. Basically when I'm in the middle of playing Fallout 1 or 2, the screen goes dark for around 2 seconds then my computer shuts off. I then have to turn my computer back on. This is a pretty surreal experience for me since this has never really happened to me before. I tried everything I could think of including reinstalling the games with humongous installation, using and not using the CD while playing, compatibility mode for windows 98 (it worked for me back then) but no avail.

I would not mind that much if he game just crashes back into the desktop but it's another story if I have to waste 2 minutes to get back into playing the game. Not to mention I'm pretty damn tired of having to do the same quests at the den (Fallout 2) or have my computer shut off when I'm traveling to vault 15 from SHADY FREAKING SANDS. The computer shuts off literally within five minutes after starting the game and it only occurs during gameplay (although I've had it once to where I had no problems with Fallout 1 for 2 hours).

As for the technical details of my computer (it's a dell laptop), my operating system is Windows XP with service pack 2 (it came with it). I have Intel 2 gig processor, 2 gb of ram, and an ATI Radeon X 300 (64 mb) video card. I can easily play system intensive games like Dawn of War and Rome Total War with both on higher settings. As for the games, I got them both in a bundle pack years ago, I don't know what version Fallout 1 was (I think it was the latest version) but Fallout 2 was 1.02. I tried playing both these games with and without mods but I still get the same result with my computer shutting off.

I've had these games for years and I haven't played them in a while. With the news of Fallout 3, I guess I just remember how fun these games were. I got Fallout 1 and 2 in bundle pack I think around 1999 and I used Windows 98 and I never had any problems with them. I'm sure that you all agree with me in that these games are truly masterpieces and have been essential to the evolution of gaming and it's a real shame for me at least that I can't experience the sheer awesomeness that Fallout brings.

So if anyone can help me or direct me on what I can I can do I would be very grateful. Once again I want to apologize if this problem has already been addressed in the forums, I couldn't find anything on the pages or the search option.
 
Sounds like overheating, but that doesn't make sense if you can play Dawn of War without those problems.

Hrmph. Have you tried playing the game on another computer?
Also, have you tried turning down hardware acceleration for both audio and video in DirectX?
 
Hi Sander, thanks for the quick reply. I have not done the things you said and I will definitely give them I try. The only problem is that I'm not really sure how to turn down the hardware acceleration for audio and video for direct x. I searched the forums and the random pages that I looked at only had people saying to turn down direct x but not showing how to do that. Am I supposed to do it like in the way this webpage says
http://www.deskshare.com/Resources/articles/dmc_turnoffhardwareacceleration.aspx. Or does it involve directx diagnostic tool (I'm not sure how to use this program). So if you could could you explain to me exactly what you want me to do or better yet direct me to a thread that actually shows step by step the process that is required. I'm sorry if this request might piss you off but I have to admit I'm a complete dumb ass when it comes to stuff like this.
 
Start up the directx diagnostic tool, which you can start up by clicking the start menu, selecting 'run' and typing in dxdiag. Then scroll to the video tab (and the audio tab) and turn down the hardware acceleration slider.
 
Ok well I booted up directx diagnostic tool like you said but I don't have any video or audio tabs. I do have a sound tab that has a slider in which I can turn down the hardware sound acceleration (it's currently on full acceleration) but I don't see any options for changing video acceleration. The tabs that I have are system, directx files, display, sound, music, input, network and more help. The version that I'm using is DxDiag 5.03.2600.2108 if that helps.
 
You need the display tab for the video acceleration.
 
Ok well I'm looking at the display tab and there are a 3 buttons in which I can change stuff. The first button is for direct draw acceleration (which is on enable) and the text on the button says "disable" (basically press the button to turn it off). The next option is direct3d acceleration and the text on this button is also "disable." The last option is for AGP texture acceleration which is also enabled. There are 2 other buttons on the screen with one saying "test direct draw" and the other for "test direct 3d."

So my question is do I turn them all off or am I supposed to leave one enabled.
 
You can try disabling them all, for starters. If that fixes the problem, then you can test it out a bit with enabling one of them but not the others if you feel like it.

Also, don't forget to turn that stuff back on if you're going to play a newer game that does require hardware acceleration.
 
Ok well it looks like I have all the knowledge I need to be able to effectively experiment. This will probably take me a while to see if this does indeed solve the problem. I will update on this thread probably tomorrow. In the mean time I would like to thank you sander for helping me out. Even if my computer continues to shut down I really do appreciate you taking the time out and helping me step by step.
 
May also want to look at the event viewer.

Start-> Control Panel-> Administrative Tools-> Event Viewer

Then look at System and Application Events, and look for ones that occurred when the system crashed. If necessary cause a crash and see what gets listed topmost.

9/10 the problems get listed here, and usually it gives a good clue as to what the problem is. Doubt it's FO, more likely video related. I've had quirks that have only affected old games, and they turned out to be due to some corrupt legacy drivers/files.
 
I had a similar problem with the game ADOM and my portable hotplate... er, IBM laptop R30. Kinda surprised me as ADOM is a terminal-graphics DOS game, so why should it crash a friggin 900MhZ computer? Well the answer is that many older programs are programmed "inefficiently" for windows XP and while they run they don't run effeciently, so the processor heats up and causes an over-temperature shutdown. For ADOM the solution was a shell for it called ADOM-Sage but there is no such program for Fallout. I'd try a notebook cooler if I were you.
 
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