Fallout 3 - GFWL problem?

Man of Honour
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Was anyone else experienced any problems connecting to GFWL in Fallout 3? I'm a good way through now but only recently realised I could grab some achievements. However, when I click on "Live" from main menu the screen just hangs and nothing happens. Clicking Live again clears the hang. Just wondered if there is anything I haven't done.

Using latest patch and yes it is a genuine Retail version.
 
I've had the problem you described with the toolbar appearing to "hang" until I pressed ESCAPE and then Live again on the menu. I'm using the DVD retail with the latest patch and latest GfWL client though with VM playing up yesterday as well I wasn't sure if it was an ISP issue or GfWL.
 
I really wouldn't bother mate, GFWL seems to cause more problems than it solves.

Had loads of trouble with it when i tried to use it on my FO3 (retail too), gave up in the end :/
 
What's the point? I can't even figure out why a completly single-player game like F3 has GFWL in the first place. In fact, I'd recommend removing it... Out of spite!
 
GFWL is only on my compputer for the dlc for FO3, i fins it an incredibly unecessary program. i have nto worked out what it is actually for? just to make me wait for it to sign in before i can play? im too impatiant for that
 
Was anyone else experienced any problems connecting to GFWL in Fallout 3? I'm a good way through now but only recently realised I could grab some achievements. However, when I click on "Live" from main menu the screen just hangs and nothing happens. Clicking Live again clears the hang. Just wondered if there is anything I haven't done.

Using latest patch and yes it is a genuine Retail version.
Do you have an Open NAT ? (look in the GFWL guide button under Network Status) if not thats your problem which is caused by most EU ISP's (BT are a big culprit here) without telling you reset your NAT status from Open to Closed failing that check out the GFWL tech support staffed by MS for your answer.

http://forums.gamesforwindows.com/44.aspx

When you first click the LIVE menu it should first of all bring up a box to enter your LIVE access key then after you enter this once only in future you connect to LIVE automatically (if you checked the box) provided you are using a GFWL online profile if your using an Offline GFWL profile then that can cause issues if you try to connect to GFWL.

Fallout3 does work flawlessly with LIVE but the only reason you need it is to earn the Achievements which can be added onto your Gamertag and allow the DLC to run without crashing to the desktop. Other GFWL titles do so much more like free cross platform play vs 360 players (only 3 titles support this at this time but more are planned) as well as ingame messaging & GFWL hosted MP.
 
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This is what your Network Status should look like. The red boxes are obviously where I covered my IP etc etc. To reach this screen you need to do the following:

1: Hit Home on the keyboard or the Guide button on your 360 controller.

2: Navigate to: Settings on the far right.

3: Then navigate to Network Information to see the info below.
29kw0pl.jpg


For UPnP to function properly on Vista you must have both the SSDP Discovery Service & UPnP Device Host Service started and set to auto (many PC gamers disable them for some reason but it controls the port forwarding on Vista so you cannot port forward if its disabled!!).

Then you may also need to have the following ports forwarded for GFWL to function fully and also ensure that your Firewall allows both the game.exe & GFWL through it. Again, many EU ISP's have very strict settings which prevent GFWL from functioning properly.

TCP 80
UDP 88
UDP 3074
TCP 3074
UDP 53
TCP 53

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/908874
http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-gb/support/pages/default.aspx

The reason for this is that certain routers & or ISP's disable some if not all of them unless you manually add the entries. PC gamers blame MS for everything and say GFWL is crap (its not crap at all) etc etc but the truth is that most EU ISP's keep resetting forwarded port's & or have router firewall's which prevent GFWL from functioning properly. This is all childs play and takes a few moments to setup anyone can ask me if they have any issues I do not mind helping but this should sort you out otherwise ask away here!

1 major reason why you should persevere is that even though Fallout3 is only a SP game and only uses GFWL for achievements & DLC there are many other PC games which use a lot more of GFWL functionality so when you setup your PC for GFWL once and get it working properly your set to enjoy the other features which upcoming major PC games like DIRT2 (due next month & Bioshock2 due in Feb 2010) will utilise. Right now there are several PC games which use the MP components of GFWL & or other features like co-op or free cross platform play vs X360 players:

Gears Of War (PC is the best version and MP is still pretty active)

Lost Planet Extreme Colonies Edition (free cross platform play versus X360 players and always plenty of MP opponents)

Halo2 (best version although its now very dated but MP is very active and still fun to play)

Street Fighter 4 (You can buy all the DLC via GFWL)

Battlestations Pacific (You can buy all the DLC via GFWL)

Grand Theft Auto 4

DOW2

Red Faction Guerilla

And about another 17 GFWL titles with many more due next year:
http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-US/Live/Pages/catalog.aspx
 
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I don't get anything when hitting the Home key. Going by what's been said above, I may leave it but will look into the SSDP Discovery Service & UPnP Device Host Services you mention.

Thanks
 
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