Radio stutter fix for Fallout 3 PC

[WittyInfidel]

If you're anything like me, you had your PipBoy radio mess up on you in some way. You can tell when the music from GNR and Enclave skips, pops, and generally becomes irritating.

Many people think this is because you have not completed the GNR quest to install another dish. Or others think it's part of the "atmosphere" lending itself to a post-apocalyptic setting.

Well, both are wrong. The small tabletop radios will continue to play fine, but your PipBoy puts out sub-par sound.

Seems in an update somewhere (I think in Broken Steel) it corrupts the codec for Windows Vista and possibly Windows 7. Your PipBoy plays in mp3 format, but the small radios play the same song in .wav And it seems one of the updates makes it to where mp3 music cannot play correctly. Bethesda is aware of this, but has made no move to correct it.

This mod causes the program to switch the music on your PipBoy over to the .wav format, helping it come in crystal clear.

Be aware, however, this will not work with other radio station mods that play mp3 music. This works by switching the music to .wav format. Other songs still in mp3 will play, but will continue to skip, pop, and stutter like before. It works for the music that was already in game only.

http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9719

Simply download the one file here (found in the "files" tab), extract to your DATA file in your Fallout 3 folder, and enjoy. It's that simple.

I claim no credit whatsoever for this. I just found it not long ago, and wished to pass it along. Call it my good deed for the day.

Enjoy having music again while playing.

 

[SimuLord]

I found that when the music popped and otherwise misbehaved on my Pipboy, it was a sign that there was a tabletop radio somewhere in the cell that was tuned to the same station (as in GNR since from the moment I leave Vault 101 it's tuned thus). Finding the offending radio and turning it off fixed the problem.

Of course, this made for a lot of quest-within-a-quest "find the radio" play. Quite fun, actually.

 

[WittyInfidel]

Giving one bump for justice.

*bump*

 

[DigitalSushi]

I found that when the music popped and otherwise misbehaved on my Pipboy, it was a sign that there was a tabletop radio somewhere in the cell that was tuned to the same station (as in GNR since from the moment I leave Vault 101 it's tuned thus). Finding the offending radio and turning it off fixed the problem.

Of course, this made for a lot of quest-within-a-quest "find the radio" play. Quite fun, actually.

That is part of the charm of Fallout 3, doing your own quest and roleplaying whatever you want, Rei on this site is excellent at this and goes into incredible detail about it.

I also do roleplaying but not on her level, I like to walk around the wasteland in Tenpenny's suit going "tally ho, pip pip" "Righto righto", I'd like to think that hopefully my gentle British accent will sway the hearts and minds of the ruthless wasteland.

 

[WittyInfidel]

I guess that taking a glitch and turning it into an amusing RP session could be fun.

Still, giving the link to anybody who wished it fixed.

 

[zhemis]

Yeah that music bugged me so much. I'd have to turn the radio off after awhile and I hated to because I enjoyed it so much. Without it, the game is kind of boring. I spent hours with community 'fixes' that didn't work and instructions that didn't work. I updated my codecs for vista and it worked better. Some songs are crackly and this is the way they are. The stuttering isn't atmosphere, it's awful.

 

[Shydun Afaya]

This fixed my radio problem. God bless! I missed hearing music on that game. Makes me want to start playing all over again.