Fallout: New Vegas Frame Rate Woes
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Fallout 3 was possibly one of the best games of all time and it left fans all over the world wanting more. Fallout: New Vegas was that ‘more’, providing an exciting new location, new weapons and a new plot. It’s easily one of the most anticipated games of the year, but while some are roaming the Mojave wasteland, others have been plagued with endless technical problems that keep them from leaving the Vault*.
One of the key problems that many problems that has been affecting both PC and Xbox gamers has been unbearable frame rate drops. Many gamers (including yours truly) have been afflicted by a drastic drop in the game’s FPS when human models are on screen, when the character is outside, or any number of weird conditions. The frame rate drops make the game almost unplayable and I’ve decided to put the game aside until Obsidian and Bethesda patch the game.
And it’s not just a hardware issue. Many PC gamers with powerful rigs are reporting the framerate drops on the lowest settings. And the “you have a crappy computer” argument doesn’t apply to the Xbox 360, which is a controlled hardware platform. Besides, Fallout: New Vegas’ graphics are basically that of Fallout 3 – a two-year old game.
But awful framerates aren’t the only issue. Gamers of all platforms are having issues. PC gamers are having issues with save games, which Steam is backing up to The Cloud. The game in general also has scripting and questing issues. And, like seemingly ALL games based on the Gamebryo engine, it has a wide number of “weird things” going on. Videos of dogs walking backwards and NPC heads rotating around and around like something out of The Exorcist have appeared on YouTube.
But fear not, humble Couriers. The developers are promising a fix. Pete Hines, irresistible front man for publisher Bethesda says that each platform will be getting its own patch to fix the various issues.
Have you been having Fallout NV issues? Are you still going through the game? Will you be waiting for a patch? Tell us your take in the comments section.
* – Yes, I know you don’t start in a Vault in F:NV. I was speaking proverbially. Smartass.
Got Fallout: New Vegas yet? Read our Fallout: New Vegas review? See – Fallout: New Vegas Review [We Spend Some Quality Time With New Vegas To See If A Trip To The Strip Is Worth the Cost of Admission]
Update: If you’re playing the PC version of F:NV and having the framerate issue, try this unofficial workaround posted on the Fallout Forums (link). Looks like the framerate drop with human NPCs is caused by something that Obsidian did with the facial animations. The workaround works for me.
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Yeah I’ve had framerate issues, and my pc can more than handle this game
I remember Fallout 3 running a lot smoother on my PC, so I expect this one to run at least similar to it. I could use a patch, Bethesda. But thanks for releasing such a great follow-up! I love what I’ve played so far!
I’m pretty ***** that I receive an unplayable game after throwing away $50 out of my wallet. It makes absolutely no sense to me. My laptop can play Medal of Honor on fairly high settings, with a few toned down to medium for maximum framerate performance. Fallout New Vegas is in no way playable on my system. My laptop is not terrible at all. It recommended that I set the video settings to medium. I have a Core i7 with an nVidia GT 330m. The game suffers from terrible framerates even when EVERY single setting is set the lowest possible choice, even resolution. I hope for a fix soon… I was really looking forward to playing this game.
I am experiencing notable frame rate issues on the PS3 release too. I thought perhaps my PS3 was on the fritz since Bethesda is likely using the same engine as FO3, so why so many issues? Also had a wild coyote attack me with half his body stuck in a bolder. After I slashed him with my Machete, my character was stuck in one spot and I could only turn directions without being able to move anywhere. Fortunately, I had saved the game just before that, and from now on I am saving the game often just to be safe. Never had such issues with FO3, but then again I didn’t start playing that one until after it had been out for a while. So much for preordering. Otherwise, I am very satisfied with the game and it is really a great follow up to Fallout 3. The frame rate issues are very occasional in PS3 and bearable.
“One of the key problems that many problems that has been”
Uh… What?
I’m loving the game and would be playing many hours of it – if it weren’t for the fact that the framerate frequently drops to levels that render the game simply unplayable. I’ve tried dropping to minimum settings, to no avail, on a system that ran Fallout 3 without problems at very high settings. I can’t wait for the patch though, so that I can dive right back in!
The framerate issues for me are when people are on screen. There can be 1000 scorpions or 500 bighorners and I’m running smooth as silk then as soon as one human appears in my crosshairs, the game just locks up. I have a 9800 GTX+, 3.2 GhZ AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition and 16 gigs of RAM, all overclocked, and I can play Fallout 3 on Ultra and Crysis on very high so it definitely needs fixed. Liking the game a lot so far, what I can play of it.
I have had really really bad refresh rates whenever turning azimuth, as well as bad framerate problems whenever a humanoid is on the screen, for PS3. It makes the game nearly impossible to play, especially when there is a fast opponent on the screen that just jumps around like crazy and is nigh-unhittable unless in VATS.
I really liked FO3, and am hoping for a patch soon. This is extremely disappointing that they would actually release a game that still has so many problems. Sony knows what to do! A good solid game is more important than release dates dammit!
AMD Phenom II x6, 4GB of RAM, ATI Radeon 5700, I’ve handled much more intensive games than this, and yet my FPS on this game is awful.
I ran Fallout 3 on the Highest setting with all the bells and whistles cranked on my current pc. 4 gbs of ram, a 3.0 ghz core 2 duo, and then a geforce GTS 250 with 1gb ram. THE GAME RAN FLAWLESSLY.
New Vegas is built on the same engine with zero leaps in grapic or texture quality. There is no excuse for how poorly this is running. Lag city and awful framerates. My machine should be able to eat this game up and spit it out on ultra settings. Save your arguments about individual pc specs not being up to par. Patchy-patch time, gents! :D
When is this patch coming?!
My PS3 copy is basically unplayable. It lags and freezes constantly when I am walking around/shooting things/talking to people.
Why release a game that is this bad, surely they gametested it? I was really looking forward to this but it is plagued by gamebreaking glitches! Grr!
I was a Fallout 3 fan, I love everything about that game, honestly, I don’t remember having as many issues with that as I have playing a week of F:NV
There was an update from Microsoft a few days after the game was released, I’m assuming this was maybe one of the patches, however, I didn’t notice any difference, my game was still glitchy, creatures were stuck in rocks, the road and mountain sides. My last session playing ended up in the game freezing during a normal walkthrough of a door, I reset my box and tried to load the last game, but got a corrupted data error, therefore making me start at my the previous save, which basically makes me start all over, I just didn’t have the energy to do it again. I actually started timing the load screen, 1:35 to 1:50, it’s like watching effing commercials on t.v. or something.
So I don’t have the patience to wait for another patch or quick fix, I’m mailing my copy of the limited edition game back to Bethesda, they can keep the comic, the playing cards and all the other memorabilia, because none of it left good memories for me.
I hate the frame rate issue :(
I have an AMD 1075T 3.0 Ghz six-core processor
Nvidia GTX 470
8GB DDR3 1333 Ram
And STILL I have fram rate issues, even on medium settings :/
I love the world of Fallout, and I can’t wait until they fix this issue.