Fallout: New Vegas - Impressions and stuff

[CeeKay]

Yeah, karma is odd.

[The Grue]

Yeah, karma is a bitch.

FTFY

[MaxSteele]

I think the reason for the karma design is regardless of how likeable / non-likeable you are to a faction, you're still stealing from them.  I don't really agree with it either, but I can understand why they went that route.

[CeeKay]

It's not really stealing if they're all dead.

[hepcat]

It's not really stealing if they're all dead.

is that a game mechanic?

[TK-421]

EDIT: OMG!! Why can't I remap certain keys? I'd like my mouse thumb to be reload and my middle mouse to be USE. Come on!!

You can remap keys to mouse buttons  BUT it is done from the mouse menu and not the key mapping menu.  Took me a while to figure that out.

[hepcat]

EDIT: OMG!! Why can't I remap certain keys? I'd like my mouse thumb to be reload and my middle mouse to be USE. Come on!!

You can remap keys to mouse buttons  BUT it is done from the mouse menu and not the key mapping menu.  Took me a while to figure that out.

click on the link DEVICE which is located on the bottom right when you go into controls.  took me some time to figure that one out as well.

[Arkon]

don't know if this has been posted yet, but it helps big time apparently...

FROM IGN POSTER

All I can say is wow.

I was running pretty smooth most of the time but there were times when I would go from 60 FPS to 30 and bounce around in between.

Lowest I got was one area that was always at 25 FPS...Well fellas after this fix that 25 FPS section is stuck on 60!

First download this file:

d3d9.dll

Just place that file in your C: ---> Program Files (86) ---> Steam ---> SteamApps ---> Common ---> Fallout New Vegas Folder.

Start the game and if it worked it will go through your hardware/video settings again. (BTW they may not be accurate) so just put everything on High/Ultra and enjoy!



Here is some additional info from an old friend who used to visit this board...We will call him Mr. L

What the d3d9.dll is doing is forcing the game to forget about DX10/11 and just strictly focus on dx9

The only possible problem (and I have only seen 2 mention it) is if you are stuck in a infinite splash screen loop, to just use your own d3d9.dll instead of the one provided on the bethesda page. Again this is rare as just about everyone has said this has worked for them.

Not to sound like an idiot, but where would I download this file?

[CeeKay]

It's not really stealing if they're all dead.

is that a game mechanic?

Probably not.  I don't think the game gets into that minor detail.

[Sarkus]

Not to sound like an idiot, but where would I download this file?

Follow this link.  I applied this fix today and have been very impressed with the results.

http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1123460-potential-fix-for-npc-slowdown/

[Daehawk]

EDIT: OMG!! Why can't I remap certain keys? I'd like my mouse thumb to be reload and my middle mouse to be USE. Come on!!

You can remap keys to mouse buttons  BUT it is done from the mouse menu and not the key mapping menu.  Took me a while to figure that out.

click on the link DEVICE which is located on the bottom right when you go into controls.  took me some time to figure that one out as well.

Woohoooo thanks!

[TiLT]

Speaking from personal experience with Direct3D development, I'd be careful replacing that file. It takes the version of Direct3D that the developers have been developing on (most likely) and replaces it with what I assume is an earlier version. This can have very bad results, mostly for stability. If the game tries to do something that this version of the DLL doesn't support, or if a function has changed its parameters or return values in a version change, things can and will go wrong.

[CeeKay]

I'll have to check out that fix, it's been smooth but I haven't had any major combats yet.

[CeeKay]

I think I'm also going to bite the bullet and grab the game guide. I figure it will be fun reading.

[Caine]

I think I'm also going to bite the bullet and grab the game guide. I figure it will be fun reading.

it's pretty well written and great to get a handle on all of the changes they made. I wish I had had the guide before I started out as I would have chosen different skills and traits.  It has a good section on hardcore mode and the usual character builds. It's too bad I couldn't sneak it in to work as I would love to read up during the  slow times.

Amazon last had the hardcover version for under $20 so you might want to start there.

[CeeKay]

It's at 20 bucks right now, I may just grab it on the way home. 15 bucks extra isnt that much to me, I spend that much on myself at Chipotle for dinner.

[CeeKay]

picked it up.  one of the first things I did was spoil the reward for Hardcore mode.  yeah, it's lame enough I'm going to turn off hardcore mode and just enjoy the game:

Spoiler for hardcore mode 'special' reward:

an achievement or trophy, in the PC's case a Steam achievement

on another note the game updated again, this time a 18 meg patch.

[vizionblind]

picked it up.  one of the first things I did was spoil the reward for Hardcore mode.  yeah, it's lame enough I'm going to turn off hardcore mode and just enjoy the game:

Spoiler for hardcore mode 'special' reward:

an achievement or trophy, in the PC's case a Steam achievement

on another note the game updated again, this time a 18 meg patch.

wow.....lame..... they could have at least have had

Spoiler for Hiden:

an avatar award or something

[Sarkus]

Speaking from personal experience with Direct3D development, I'd be careful replacing that file. It takes the version of Direct3D that the developers have been developing on (most likely) and replaces it with what I assume is an earlier version. This can have very bad results, mostly for stability. If the game tries to do something that this version of the DLL doesn't support, or if a function has changed its parameters or return values in a version change, things can and will go wrong.

It's being tested in a widespread way right now and it's a fix people used with previous versions of this game engine with great success.  Best of all, if it causes problems you simply delete the file. 

I guess what I'm saying is that this isn't something one person tried and liked - it has some history.

[MaxSteele]

picked it up.  one of the first things I did was spoil the reward for Hardcore mode.  yeah, it's lame enough I'm going to turn off hardcore mode and just enjoy the game:

Spoiler for hardcore mode 'special' reward:

an achievement or trophy, in the PC's case a Steam achievement

on another note the game updated again, this time a 18 meg patch.

wow.....lame..... they could have at least have had

Spoiler for Hiden:

an avatar award or something

Well, there's 3 different versions of the game.  A reward like what you said wouldn't really matter for the other 2 platforms.

I'm fine with the reward that it has.  I'm not playing hardcore for the reward.  I'm playing it for the extra challenge it presents.  And so far, I've been loving it.  There are a lot of items in the game that are really pointless without hardcore mode.  There's no reason for you to eat in the game ever.  In Fallout 3, I was able to just use stims to keep myself alive.  I never had to eat or drink.  Hardcore mode makes those water and food items useful.  The restrictions on fast travel make for a more interesting system as well.

[KePoW]

on another note the game updated again, this time a 18 meg patch.

Save issues are fixed in this second patch.

[ericb]

I didn't have a single crash when I was running in Windowed mode.  I switched to Full Screen for the first time tonight and crashed about 45 mins in.  It's either the patches today or running in full screen so I'm going to switch back to windowed and hope for the best.

[Turtle]

Part of the problem of hardcore mode right now is that, even though it's interesting, they can't really balance the game to make it an interesting level of "hardcore". As such, the sleep, food, water, etc... becomes just little time sink nuisances, rather than interesting elements.

For example, for ammo weight to matter, ammo would have to be heavy, and rare. Unfortunately, Fallout 3 and NV is balanced such that enemies have unlimited ammo since their AI never stops shooting.

I would love to see a mod completely rebalance the game for hardcore, but that would probably require more than just some blanket number adjustments.

[TiLT]

Woot, the game has now unlocked in Europe! I tried it for an hour and half before work today. Built a character with high charisma and intelligence, as well as the traits that give him better accuracy at the cost of firing speed, and better social skills at the cost of combat skills. Playing on hardcore.

Love it so far. It was very refreshing from a Fallout perspective to actually order some squirrel stew in a bar and eat it, where in Fallout 3 that would just have counted as junk in my inventory. Love the effects certain types of consumables have on the hunger/thirst/sleep counters too.

[The Grue]

Part of the problem of hardcore mode right now is that, even though it's interesting, they can't really balance the game to make it an interesting level of "hardcore". As such, the sleep, food, water, etc... becomes just little time sink nuisances, rather than interesting elements.

For example, for ammo weight to matter, ammo would have to be heavy, and rare. Unfortunately, Fallout 3 and NV is balanced such that enemies have unlimited ammo since their AI never stops shooting.

I would love to see a mod completely rebalance the game for hardcore, but that would probably require more than just some blanket number adjustments.

It's alright, I suppose.  Missiles take up 3 weight, so they are pretty substantial.  I think they had to balance the weight with how many bullets enemies can take to go down.  One thing in hardcore which affects the game a great deal is the fact that stims aren't instant heals.  No more pausing and then hitting a few stimpacks to get back to full health instantly.  Makes battles with tough enemies much harder (giant radscorpions, for instance).

[MaxSteele]

Part of the problem of hardcore mode right now is that, even though it's interesting, they can't really balance the game to make it an interesting level of "hardcore". As such, the sleep, food, water, etc... becomes just little time sink nuisances, rather than interesting elements.

For example, for ammo weight to matter, ammo would have to be heavy, and rare. Unfortunately, Fallout 3 and NV is balanced such that enemies have unlimited ammo since their AI never stops shooting.

I would love to see a mod completely rebalance the game for hardcore, but that would probably require more than just some blanket number adjustments.

I am 100% for everything in hardcore mode.  I don't feel it's a nuisance to have to eat, drink, and sleep.  Items that were worthless before now serve a purpose.  Before I'd never buy water or food.  I'd just stock up on stim packs and I was good.  Now I'm buying purified water whenever I can find it and cooking up gecko steaks on the campfire.

Ammo having weight is fine with me as well.  I haven't really been hindered by it, but I also know that because everything has weight, I've adjusted my character to being able to carry more.

Also, fast travel has always felt like cheating to me.  There is no risk involved bouncing around from location to location.  With hardcore mode, sleep, food, and water stats matter with fast travel and you can't travel further than those will let you.  Then once you do, you have to take care of those if you traveled a far distance.  You're still safe from encounters, but there's some consequence using fast travel with hardcore mode.

[Daehawk]

Looking through my strat guide...which i must say is full of typos.....I see no .233 ammo or pistol. Is my favorite pistol not in the game? If not I bet a mod puts it in soon...I hope.

[CeeKay]

Had my first crash in Primm. Looking around it seems like that area is buggy right now.

[frost]

Had my first crash in Primm. Looking around it seems like that area is buggy right now.

*Sigh*  I can't believe I'm going to open my mouth on this, but I haven't had one crash.  Everything has been running very well (minus minor stutter issues after conversations) on my rig; i7 920, 9gb ram, windows 7, and a GTX260.

[Turtle]

Looking through my strat guide...which i must say is full of typos.....I see no .233 ammo or pistol. Is my favorite pistol not in the game? If not I bet a mod puts it in soon...I hope.

Actually, there is a unique gun that's called, "That Gun" referring to the long standing inclusion of a pistol that fires rifle rounds. This one instead fires 5.56, I think, and looks quite a bit different from other guns.

[skystride]

I crashed at Primm roller coaster area too.  Only one crash after many hours played.  No other annoying bugs besides the auto save glitching up.

[CeeKay]

I crashed at Primm roller coaster area too.  Only one crash after many hours played.  No other annoying bugs besides the auto save glitching up.

I crashed twice in the same spot (crossing the bridge into town) so I reloaded an earlier save just in case the autosave I had was wanky.  I wasted too many stimpacks and a bunch of ammo wandering around in the time I put into that particular save anyways when I ran into a pack of ghouls.

[TiLT]

Speaking from personal experience with Direct3D development, I'd be careful replacing that file. It takes the version of Direct3D that the developers have been developing on (most likely) and replaces it with what I assume is an earlier version. This can have very bad results, mostly for stability. If the game tries to do something that this version of the DLL doesn't support, or if a function has changed its parameters or return values in a version change, things can and will go wrong.

It's being tested in a widespread way right now and it's a fix people used with previous versions of this game engine with great success.  Best of all, if it causes problems you simply delete the file. 

I guess what I'm saying is that this isn't something one person tried and liked - it has some history.

I just tried it myself after experiencing some choppiness while turning around in the game. Didn't improve anything, but I noticed the first graphical anomaly within a minute: With the alternative DLL-file, the game can't render the blur effect through transparent textures. Made a plant look like a box while I was in dialogue. Exited the game, deleted the DLL and tried again, and everything looked normal.

So in short: Avoid.

[Sarkus]

Speaking from personal experience with Direct3D development, I'd be careful replacing that file. It takes the version of Direct3D that the developers have been developing on (most likely) and replaces it with what I assume is an earlier version. This can have very bad results, mostly for stability. If the game tries to do something that this version of the DLL doesn't support, or if a function has changed its parameters or return values in a version change, things can and will go wrong.

It's being tested in a widespread way right now and it's a fix people used with previous versions of this game engine with great success.  Best of all, if it causes problems you simply delete the file. 

I guess what I'm saying is that this isn't something one person tried and liked - it has some history.

I just tried it myself after experiencing some choppiness while turning around in the game. Didn't improve anything, but I noticed the first graphical anomaly within a minute: With the alternative DLL-file, the game can't render the blur effect through transparent textures. Made a plant look like a box while I was in dialogue. Exited the game, deleted the DLL and tried again, and everything looked normal.

So in short: Avoid.

Didn't work for you, oh well.  Works fine for me and a lot of others both on the official forums and other boards.  Still worth trying for people who are having issues.

[CeeKay]

mods have started rolling out, so now the question is who is going to fix the game first, the devs or modders?

[TiLT]

Speaking from personal experience with Direct3D development, I'd be careful replacing that file. It takes the version of Direct3D that the developers have been developing on (most likely) and replaces it with what I assume is an earlier version. This can have very bad results, mostly for stability. If the game tries to do something that this version of the DLL doesn't support, or if a function has changed its parameters or return values in a version change, things can and will go wrong.

It's being tested in a widespread way right now and it's a fix people used with previous versions of this game engine with great success.  Best of all, if it causes problems you simply delete the file. 

I guess what I'm saying is that this isn't something one person tried and liked - it has some history.

I just tried it myself after experiencing some choppiness while turning around in the game. Didn't improve anything, but I noticed the first graphical anomaly within a minute: With the alternative DLL-file, the game can't render the blur effect through transparent textures. Made a plant look like a box while I was in dialogue. Exited the game, deleted the DLL and tried again, and everything looked normal.

So in short: Avoid.

Didn't work for you, oh well.  Works fine for me and a lot of others both on the official forums and other boards.  Still worth trying for people who are having issues.

What I'm saying is that it causes changes in the graphics rendering that people may not want. So if people get faster framerates with it, it's probably because they've essentially turned down the detail level without being aware of it.,

[lex]

man, those deathclaws and giant rad scorpions are tough.  The damage threshold thing is killer

I'm starting to get crashes after about 10 hours of play.  It gets extremely choppy too when there's a lot of monsters on the screen.

Does anyone else have the Mysterious Stranger Perk?  I'm finding him annoying because whenever he shows up it stays in VATS mode way after he's done his thing and I can't move while my face is being chewed off by all the other monsters.  Hopefully there's a way to fix that.

that aside, I'm enjoying the game, but it's not spectacular.

[Turtle]

I have the Miss Fortune perk though, not sure if she's any different than the Stranger, she basically does the same thing.

However, it seems like she only shows up when my health is low and the enemy is right in my face. She definitely does quite a bit of damage and shoots a lot more.

[The Grue]

I have the Miss Fortune perk though, not sure if she's any different than the Stranger, she basically does the same thing.

However, it seems like she only shows up when my health is low and the enemy is right in my face. She definitely does quite a bit of damage and shoots a lot more.

I took her as well.  I don't think she is tied to health as I have had her appear when my health is fine.  I think it is more tied to there being like 4 or 5 of them and 1 of you in the fight.

[CeeKay]

Is it tge same Stranger from FO3, or one more appropriately themed for the west?