Computer games, unfortunately, are not ideal programs. They are also characterized by certain vagaries in certain cases. Even if you buy a licensed copy, for example, Fallout 3, there is no absolute guarantee that you can run this project without problems. Naturally, the likelihood of their occurrence becomes much lower than if you were using the pirated version, but here the cause may already be your hardware, as well as the configuration and settings of your system. In general, if your Fallout 3 does not start even from a licensed disk, then you should go through some popular points that allow you to solve this problem quickly and painlessly.
System requirements
Very often people forget that their computer was new and cutting-edge five years ago, and now it is average, if not completely bad. And if your Fallout 3 does not start, do not immediately blame the game or the developers. Perhaps the problem lies in your computer. In order to find out the true reason, you need to go to the developer's site and find the official system requirements for the game there. After that, you can either manually or using a special program that collects information about the computer, get data about your hardware, its configuration. Then compare the requirements and the available data by points, paying particular attention to the processor, RAM and video card. And if for any of these points your computer is weaker than the minimum system requirements, the issue is resolved. It's just that your computer is not powerful enough for you to play this RPG, so your Fallout 3 does not start. Here is the only way out - an upgrade that will allow you to play not only in Fallout 3, but also in other modern games.
Graphics Card Driver Updates
A video card, or rather, its drivers, is very often a headache for any gamer. It is possible that your copy of Fallout 3 does not start because your drivers are out of date. Even if you recently updated them, you better go to the website of the manufacturer of your video card, find it in the list and check the relevance of the drivers. It is likely that a new version has appeared that you should download and install in order to run Fallout 3. Naturally, this is not a 100% guarantee of solving the problem, so you should know about other methods. In most cases, you do not need to know why Fallout 3 does not start - it will be easier to follow the instructions and understand how to solve the problem. And do not persistently seek its causes.
Windows 2000 compatible
The previous mention that the cause of the problem is not so important is addressed primarily to this solution. And this helps especially if you use the Steam client to enter the game. The fact is that if your copy of Fallout 3 (Steam) does not start, you need to create a game shortcut on the desktop, and in the properties select the launch in compatibility mode and select the Windows 2000 system. It is difficult to say why, but this method is very common works, and this game starts functioning quite normally if you run it under the artificial shell of Win2000. Accordingly, from now on, you will need to start the game only from this shortcut, if this solution helped you. But what if not? If you still have the same problem with Fallout 3 - the game does not start even on a powerful computer, with the latest video card drivers, as well as in compatibility mode?
Spd file association
Another solution to this problem is as follows: you will need to remove the association of the spd files . Such files are found in the game folder, but on many computers they are already associated with some program that is capable of playing them. In some cases, this blocks these files in the game itself, so it crashes already in the first stages of launch. To get rid of this problem, you need to disable the association of spd files with the program to which they are attached - most often this happens, for example, QuickTime Player. This is done quite easily through the control panel, after which the game should work as it should.
Distribution
Installing various distribution applications can also help with Fallout 3, as well as other computer games. Gone are the days when the installation of the game consisted exclusively in unpacking the archive or launching the installer. In addition to the game itself, you also need to install the distribution kit - special programs that are designed to accompany the work of the game itself. Without them, Fallout 3 will fail or will not start at all. Therefore, you need to find the installers of all modern popular distributions, such as DirectX, VCRedist, Visual C ++, net.Framework and so on, install the latest versions on your computer, and you will notice how many games will start to function much better, and those that generally did not start, they will work quietly and will not bother you anymore. Thus, the distribution can solve many of your problems, and not just the issue of launching Fallout 3. Naturally, there is a likelihood that this solution will not help. Then you should already contact technical support so that your issue is resolved privately.