Forum:Fallout 3 PS3 breakthrough

One of the first thing PS3 users should know is there are several PS3 versions of Fallout 3, and this does effect your overall gameplay. On the side binding of the gamecase there is a gamecode. The gamecode version you want is BLUS30455 Canadian English(French) version. The American BLUS30451 seems to be an extremely buggy version, as well BLUS30455 is the only GOTY edition that recieved a patch update when installed, due to a problem with the PSN notifier with this version. And note BLUS30455 is an English version game with French included as some have questioned the DLC for the standard version BLUS30234GH as the bracketed (french) in the PS Store download(Fallout3 Greatest Hits Red Box which also runs extremely well on PS3). The saved characters can be loaded from the American version BLUS30451 to The Canadian version BLUS30455, once installed and patched. It will actually load in as a side by side with the other Fallout 3 game as they are actually different. Althought I recommend just uninstalling the 30451 version and leaving the saved games. Once the 30455 version is installed and patched you should be able to load then resave your characters, this upgrades the saved files to the 1.01 version. Note you cannot load a 30455 Cnd. ver. 1.00/1.01 to a 30451 Amer. vers. 1.00.

The following adjustments are for the game and the PS3 to help with gameplay. These are adjustments I made for the American Version BLUS30451 to improve gameplay, but will benefit any edition.

In-Game settings, you want to disable 2 of the 3 save options, so it saves on 'travel', while 'wait' and 'rest' are unchecked, this should reduce game lag due to oversaving. Travel includes when you pass through doors. Try to keep saved games to under 6 as they can get rather large as the game progresses. Remember to manually save, this also helps with game lag for some reason. Timing is preferencial. If you start to experience excessive lag ingame, save and quit to PS3 menu, restart and reload this should fix the problem. If the game appears to lock-up wait a couple minutes to see if it is just badly lagged and unfreezes, save and quit, then restart and reload, the problem should be gone. Patients is a virtue. In the game settings, under audio put the music bar all the way down to 0, music glitches have been experienced. Lastly, to experience the fullness of the game and incorporate all storylines and rewards properly, invest some time into reading area and character notes, as some items or storylines become unavailable if a specific dialogue or order is not completed properly. Wiki seems to have quite well organized notes for these such needs.

PS3 wise, you should make the following adjustments and perform the following maintenance.

Adjustments can be made to the PS3 that should help with gameplay. Although if your entertainment system does benefit alter the settings as required.

First, turn off the PSN notifier as it has a known issue in-game. To do this goto Settings, System Settings, and goto Notification Messages. Set to Do Not Display. As well the one just under in the menu, listed, Display [What's New], set to Off. Second, adjust the game settings in the PS menu. Found under Settings, Game Settings. Turn off both the PS Upscaler and Smoothing. Third, adjust the Display setting in the PS menu. Goto Settings, Display Settings. At the bottom of the list, Turn Off, Deep Color Output(HDMI) setting. Lastly, adjust the PS Sound. Goto Settings, Sound Settings, and Turn Off, Audio Multi-Output.

These maintenance steps shouldn't need to be performed to often.

Firstly, and not to be used excessively as it will contribute to wear and tear, is to run the fan function. This will blow out dust and make sure the PS3 cooling fan is working correctly. The steps will vary slightly depending on the type of PS3 you have. Shut off the PS3 completely. If you have an on/off button on the rear of the PS3 turn it to off. If you do not have the rear on/off switch unplug the PS3. Press and hold the disc-tray eject button, turn the switch to on or plug in the PS3, while still holding the eject button. You should hear the PS3 fan start to spin up at this point. Remove your finger and allow the fan cycle to complete. Again, power off the PS3 depending on the above method, wait a couple seconds and power it back up. Start the PS3 to make sure everything's in order, then shut down for the next step. (Please note the following step may require you hook-up the PS3 with the composite video output to complete.) Secondly, is to uncorrupt your PS3 drive files. This must be done using these steps, as this menu option is only available here and not in the standard PS3 settings menu. Press and hold the power button, the PS3 should power up, beep once ,pause, then beep again before shutting down. Hold the button until it shuts off. Lift your finger and press and hold the power button again, it will beep, pause then beep twice, at the end of the second beep lift your finger. If you do not get these results, repeat. Your TV should now display a message to connect your controller and to push the PS button. A menu with 6 options should come up now, choose option "3". Restore File System, this does not destroy your files, only uncorrupts the drive, in PC terms a Defrag. Verify the selected option "3". The PS3 should restart and display its drive findings and that it will restore, X for OK. Allow it to restore your PS3, times will vary. It will shutdown and restart the PS3 normally when completed.

The above steps done in combination should result in a more enjoyable game, but ultimately it is the game version that will effect this. If you have the 30451 GOTY, trade it in if you can and make sure to get the 30455 GOTY disc edition, or the FO3 standard edition BLUS30234. Check the lower side binding of the case. I do wish to apologize for not having the UK version of the game to include in my tests.

Additional Notes and Findings.

Music, sound and lag. It bothered me greatly that I could not solve the music problem and still found that when multiple audio sounds were present that occassional lag spikes would occur. I decided to look further into the sound as well as music setting. After altering the music setting I found the game actually performed differently with alternate settings. After extensive hours and testing I finally found that setting music to ATRAC at 320Bps/48KHz seemed to work quite well with little to no lag and no freeze ups at all. Although I did also find AAC at 320Bps/48KHz seemed to work almost as well I did get alot of small freeze ups that would last less than a second at a time but seemed to happen quite often. Atrac set to 352Kps also suffered from the small freezes but kicked out of game completely on a lock up. I did find the ATRAC 320Kps/44.1/88.2/... with bitmapping set to #2 also worked quite well, but froze completly after 43 minutes of playtime otherwise it was flawless.

Try the ATRAC/320/48(under music setting) I had also enabled AAC under Sound, Audio Output Settings, using manual to add it.

Carinth