Installing Fallout 3 DLC Is "Like Giving Birth"

Keane Ng

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Installing Fallout 3 DLC Is "Like Giving Birth"



PC gamers are reporting a number of issues with installing and playing the recently released Fallout 3 DLC, Operation: Anchorage [http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/Live/Pages/f3operationanchorage.aspx].

The problem seems to be that after you download and install the game, and even after the Games For Windows client has told you that it's been installed, the DLC doesn't seem to go into effect in-game. Technically, you should be able to wander to a certain spot in the Wasteland, whereupon you'll pick up a mysterious radio signal that will lead to the new content. For a number of players, however, that radio signal never shows up.

Users have figured out a backdoor solution to the problem, but it isn't exactly painless. As Fitzycent93 of the GFW Forums discovered [http://forums.gamesforwindows.com/p/1886/13855.aspx#13855], the Operation: Anchorage data is nestled in a folder buried on your hard drive for GFW's DLC. Once the folder's found, users will have to copy the files inside the Data folder in their Fallout 3 directory. Then, enter the game and select the Anchorage.esm file to run, and load your save. The radio signal near the Red Racer factory should show up and you'll be on your way to Anchorage. One catch, though: Achievements won't be unlocked because technically you won't be playing through the GFW interface.

Maximum PC [http://maximumpc.com/article/news/four_things_you_need_know_about_fallout_3s_operation_anchorage_dlc], who described the process as "like giving birth," pointed out that there were two other things that sour the affair even further. First, you'll need a GFW account to access the content to begin with, which is arguably a headache in and of itself (thought you could get away from dollar-to-Spacebux conversion rates, didn't you?). Secondly, if you didn't have a GFW account until now, your saves won't work. To get your saves to jive with the DLC, you'll have to copy them all and create a new folder for GFW to access.

According to Microsoft, this problem should be exclusive to people who have Fallout 3 and Games for Windows installed on two different hard drives. When the DLC is downloaded, it installs to the aforementioned folder in the GFW directory. If Fallout 3 is on, say, an external drive, there are apparently problems connecting the DLC to the game files, thus necessitating the janky copy-paste method described above.

Though one user has figured out a posted [http://forums.gamesforwindows.com/p/1980/14399.aspx#14399]. "This is all beside the fact that if I wanted to be online or in an online community I'd be playing WoW, not Fallout."

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paketep

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GFW sucks. GFW is the worst thing that has come out of Microsoft, with the only exception being Internet Explorer. Yeah, a lot of horrible things have come out of Microsoft, but GFW's designers clearly intended to hurt us with it.

I can't, for the life of me, understand how developers can accept and implement these APIs knowing full well how miserable they make us gamers. The suitcases from Microsoft must indeed be full of $100 notes.

Microsoft should come out and say it out loud: "we hate PC, we prefer everybody playing in the 360 because we make a ton of money more, and we're going to keep harassing PC gamers until we make move all of them to the console".

No more of the "we love the PC, we value the platform" BS. Specially not after Ensemble's absurd murder.
 

VZLANemesis

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...once more, a case where downloading and intalling pirated/hacked versions is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier than the more official DRM-ish way

They should all try to go with the more Steam-y approach and give more content for free in order to increase sales
 

AceDiamond

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Ha. You and your PC users with your problems.

In all seriousness I've yet to hear anybody I personally know with a PC version of the game complain about this.

This leads me to believe the vast majority is doing it wrong
 

theultimateend

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AceDiamond said:
This leads me to believe the vast majority is doing it wrong
Yeah you know when the vast majority aren't getting it that it is obviously their fault.

On the other side of it I was kind of expecting this. Typically Bethesda has some issues with their addons. If not for the unofficial patches people made for their expansions stuff for Oblivion it would be unplayable for many people.
 

Vlane

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theultimateend said:
AceDiamond said:
This leads me to believe the vast majority is doing it wrong
Yeah you know when the vast majority aren't getting it that it is obviously their fault.

On the other side of it I was kind of expecting this. Typically Bethesda has some issues with their addons. If not for the unofficial patches people made for their expansions stuff for Oblivion it would be unplayable for many people.
They don't only have issues with their addons though.
 

mokes310

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So, like giving birth, there's a chance you could die? Would that be death by radiation or boredom?
 

theultimateend

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Vlane said:
theultimateend said:
AceDiamond said:
This leads me to believe the vast majority is doing it wrong
Yeah you know when the vast majority aren't getting it that it is obviously their fault.

On the other side of it I was kind of expecting this. Typically Bethesda has some issues with their addons. If not for the unofficial patches people made for their expansions stuff for Oblivion it would be unplayable for many people.
They don't only have issues with their addons though.
Well the thing about installing stuff is that just because you can install something so it works doesn't mean you are installing it in the way the company wants you to.

I mean I could plug a toaster into my asshole, now if somehow that generates power to the toaster for me but not a bunch of other people it's not their fault necessarily because not once did the toaster company say that was the proper way to do things.

Not to say this is accurate of this particular situation but "My friends got it working" is usually a poor justification for other people doing something wrong.
 

pantsoffdanceoff

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paketep said:
GFW sucks. GFW is the worst thing that has come out of Microsoft, with the only exception being Internet Explorer. Yeah, a lot of horrible things have come out of Microsoft, but GFW's designers clearly intended to hurt us with it.

I can't, for the life of me, understand how developers can accept and implement these APIs knowing full well how miserable they make us gamers. The suitcases from Microsoft must indeed be full of $100 notes.

Microsoft should come out and say it out loud: "we hate PC, we prefer everybody playing in the 360 because we make a ton of money more, and we're going to keep harassing PC gamers until we make move all of them to the console".

No more of the "we love the PC, we value the platform" BS. Specially not after Ensemble's absurd murder.
I agree M$ has obviously decided that PC Gamers should give up and go buy an Xbox 360.
 

cleverlymadeup

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paketep said:
GFW sucks. GFW is the worst thing that has come out of Microsoft, with the only exception being Internet Explorer. Yeah, a lot of horrible things have come out of Microsoft, but GFW's designers clearly intended to hurt us with it.
hey come on i'm sure that vista, bob, clippy and windows me would like to say something about how much they suck

tho gaming for windows is pretty bad
 

DaxStrife

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Nov 29, 2007
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Uh, any idea what to do if we uninstalled GFW (to make the game run faster), and installed a hack that makes it run without? Couldn't Bethesda just release this as an .esp file anyway and cut out the middle-man?
I own a legit, bought copy by the way... I just didn't like that useless gimp (referring to GFW of course) hogging system resources.
 

DeadlyYellow

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orannis62 said:
Jester Lord said:
Im kind of happy i got the ps3 version now.
Why? The PS3 doesn't get the DLC at all.
You make it sound like a bad thing. After experiencing the ending I can find little motivation to actually play it anymore.
 

Avatar Roku

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DeadlyYellow said:
orannis62 said:
Jester Lord said:
Im kind of happy i got the ps3 version now.
Why? The PS3 doesn't get the DLC at all.
You make it sound like a bad thing. After experiencing the ending I can find little motivation to actually play it anymore.
Just seemed weird that he was saying that it was a good thing he got the PS3 version because he didn't have to deal with this, even though he doesn't get the DLC at all. Oh, and FYI, I've played it through twice and am planning another playthrough, so to each their own.