Fallout 3 patch 1.1

Fallout 3 patch 1.1 was released on December 15, 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and on January 13, 2009 for the Xbox 360 and PC. It updates Fallout 3 to version 1.1.0.35.

The Xbox 360 patch is available via Xbox Live and the PC update can be acquired via Games for Windows Live or the official website.

New features

 * Trophy support.
 * Added ability to remap your VATS and pip boy buttons.

Bug fixes

 * Friends notification no longer causes the game to pause.
 * Fixed occasional crashes during loading and waiting.
 * Friendly or neutral NPC health bars, when taking damage, no longer flicker repeatedly.
 * Fixed issue where certain NPCs would occasionally disappear from the game (Actually only partially fixed this issue as a number of NPCs, i.e. Lucky Harith, still disappear due to non-bug related matters).
 * Fixed issue where dead NPCs would occasionally come back to life.
 * Fixed rendering issue with the Gatling Laser gun's tracers.
 * Fixed issue where the haircut menu would occasionally not appear properly.
 * Fixed rare load/save issues that would cause NPCs to behave incorrectly.
 * Fixed issue where quest objectives would occasionally not update properly due to talking activators, intercoms and conversations.
 * Using Radaway from the Pip-Boy's Status Menu repeatedly no longer crashes the game.
 * Player no longer gets stuck in level up menu if their skills are maxed out.
 * Fixed issue where multiple followers would occasionally not load into an interior.
 * Fixed rare issue with getting stuck in VATS mode.
 * Fixed rare crash with fighting NPCs with corrupted data.
 * While using a 360 controller, the lockpick menu now rumbles properly.
 * Fixed rare crashes while loading and saving games.
 * Fixed rare issue where player would fall through the floor while in VATS.
 * Fixed issue where SLI mode was not properly detected with nvidia graphics cards.
 * The Mister Sandman perk no longer works with any children in the game.
 * Fixed occasional crash after scoring a critical hit in the head with a Railway Rifle.
 * Prevent NPCs from inadvertently dying from falling.
 * Fixed occasional issue where the controller would stop working properly.
 * Fixed crashes related to repeatedly equipping and dropping clothing and armor into the world.

Quest fixes

 * Fixed several instances where quest item stayed in inventory permanently after completing quests.
 * Fixed an issue where the distress message would occasionally not play in Trouble on the Homefront.
 * In The Waters of Life quest, the Citadel gate will open properly if the player fast travels away after exiting the Taft Tunnels but before reaching the Citadel gate with Doctor Li.
 * For the Big Trouble in Big Town quest, the broken protectrons in Big Town become active at the proper time.
 * In The American Dream quest, fixed specific issue which prevented the player from accessing their belongings in the locker by the door if they left the room first.
 * Fixed infinite caps exploit in Strictly Business quest.
 * Fixed rare instance where Dad would have no valid dialogue during The Waters of Life quest.
 * Prevent issue during the Finding the Garden of Eden quest where player would fade to black, instead of Raven Rock, while in combat with a follower.
 * Fixed several XP speech exploits with certain NPCs. (Like the Bittercup and Pappy speech exploit in Big Town.)
 * Fixed XP exploit with a robot in Fort Bannister.
 * Fixed issue where player's controls can become locked permanently during The American Dream.

Issues with the patch
Although the patch includes minor fixes, it introduces new issues. Game performance slightly degrades after applying this patch, even when under the same graphics settings as the previous version, as if the game suddenly becomes more CPU and GPU demanding, this seemed bizarre as there were no graphics improvements over the previous version. However, this would be only noticed by players whose specs only met the recommended requirements, whereas players with very fast gaming computers that far exceed those requirements probably won't feel the difference. After applying the patch, saved games will omit several items including and not limited to keys on your keyring on random occasions. Furthermore, the game will have an increased chance of freezing after loading an area. Also, there seems to be a problem with using old save files before the patch (This issue only occurs with certain PS3 users, but it is not specified). The old save files before the patch will not allow the player to save nor auto-save with the new patch installed. The problem is that the start screen after the patch has the word "Save" darkened, which makes it impossible to save with the old save files. It seems to be that the old save files before the patch are not compatible with the 1.10 patch. There is no known fix but to delete the patch in "Game Data Utility" and start the game without installing the patch. Some users have reported corrected the issues by performing the following actions:

1. Delete Game Data

2. Load previous save pre-patch

3. Create a new save over the save used to load

4. Create another new save

5. Create a new autosave

6. Reinstall patch

On the Xbox 360 version, Old Olney Sewer no longer has the prototype medic power armor. Instead of the two raiders and the BOS member there are only three skeletons. This seems to be only in certain cases, as some people have reported that the prototype medic armor is still there, even after the patch. Also on the 360, the patch did not fix freezes while loading certain areas (i.e. Springvale Elementary) in save games that had these problems before the patch. In other words, the patch will not fix old loading problems. Loading crashes still occur post patch games as well (i.e. megaton home)on the Xbox 360 (restarting console doesn't fix crashing). This still needs to be confirmed by another person. FWIW, in a play-through started pre-patch, but no visit to Old Olney until post-patch, the armor and raiders were present on Xbox 360 for (more than) one user.

On the PC version, the mouse acceleration in the main menus, as well as all in-game menus, has become considerably increased. Horizontal mouse acceleration was increased.

- on 15 January 2009 a fix for the mouse acceleration has been posted at the official Fallout 3 Forums: * Step 1: Open the Fallout.ini in the My Games/Fallout 3 folder (Don't forget to make a backup!) * Step 2: Add the following lines to the [Controls] section: fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0 fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0 fForegroundMouseBase=0 fForegroundMouseMult=0 * Increase the value of fForegroundMouseMult= if you want cursor acceleration e.g. 2.0 or 3.7 etc For some users with older computers, after installing the patch, the game will fail to start, resulting in the following error message: "This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem." This occurs only when trying to start the game via the STANDARD method through the Fallout Launcher. Using the Fallout.exe will run the game. However, this method bypasses the initial startup, and makes adjusting settings or using player mods inaccessible.

Uninstalling the game and reinstalling results in the same failure, and only opening the disc and running the "setup.exe" will start the reinstall process. Once the reinstall is complete, without the patch, the game will function properly. Re-patching results in the issue to re-occur. (One possible fix for this. After patching G4W LIVE in game and patching the game. Close the game and open your Fallout 3 folder. C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3. Then find and run the file GFWLiveSetupMin and let it patch itself. Let it install the .NET framework that comes with it 3.5. After installing this and patching this outside of the game you should be able to use the FalloutLauncher and current patches and windows Live. Tested with Direct2Drive version.)

On the PC version, the patch is known to greatly decrease a characters accuracy in VATS. In addition stability problems have been reported with more frequent crashes. It may also cause alt+tabbing in and out of the game to cease to work.