Fallout 3 is an immersive Post Apocalyptic Role Playing Game where humanity struggles to survive in a radioactive, mutated wasteland of the United States. Following suite with Bethseda's previous Elder Scrolls titles, they explore a Sci-Fi genre and upgrade the same engine used in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion while retaining our favorite Role Playing aspects to keep us playing for 100's of hours.

Naturally I wanted to see if Fallout 3 would run in Linux. Follow my guide and lets see if it will run for you as well...



Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Fallout 3 in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the Retail version of Fallout 3. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained

Mint 16 32-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.2
Wine: 1.7.15

Installing Wine

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"


Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.15
Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging

Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right


Click Next

Downloading Wine


Extracting

Downloading Gecko


Installed


Also try newer Wine 1.7.28 for better results

Wine 1.7.15 is installed and you can close this window

PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
click Install


Click "Install a non-listed program"


Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next


Name your virtual drive: fallout3
Click Next


Check all three options:

• Use another version of Wine
• Configure Wine
• Install some libraries

Click Next


Select Wine 1.7.15 (or newer 1.7.28)
Click Next


Note: If you are running a 64-bit system, PlayOnLinux will prompt if you want to use a 64-bit or 32-bit virtual drive.
Always select 32-bit virtual drive.

Configure Wine

Applications Tab
Windows Verion: Windows 7
Click Apply


Graphics Tab
Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop Size: 1024x768
Click OK


Installing Packages

Check the following packages:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_cc580
• POL_Install_dxfullsetup
• POL_Install_msvc80
• POL_Install_quartz
• POL_Install_vcrun2005

Click Next


Installing Fallout 3

Click "Select another file"
Click Next


Click Browse


Navigate to your Retail DVD
Select "Setup.exe"
Click Open


Click Next


Click Next


Check "I accept the terms of the license agreement"
Click Next


Click Next


Click Install


Installing


Uncheck both options
Click Finish


PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select "FalloutLauncher.exe"
Click Next


Name your shortcut: Fallout 3
Click Next


Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next


Configure PlayOnLinux

Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure


General Tab
Wine Version: 1.7.15
Note: Click the + to download other versions of Wine. Click the down-arrow to select other versions of Wine


Display Tab
Direct Draw Renderer: opengl
Video memory size: The amount of memory on your video card
Offscreen rendering mode: fbo


Installing Patch

Go to: Fallout 3 1.7 English Patch


Download 1.7 patch
Save it on your Desktop
Click Save


Back to PlayOnLinux Configure

Miscellaneous Tab
Click "Run a .exe file in this virtual drive"


Navigate to your desktop
Select "Fallout3_1.7_English_US.exe
Click Open


Click OK


Installing


Note: When the patch is done the Fallout 3 Launcher will automatically launch

First Launch

Hardware Detect




Click Options


Select Aspect Ratio


Select Resolution
Note: Select the same resolution as your Linux desktop for the game to appear full-screen
Click OK


Click Play and the game should crash.

Windows Live dll

Go to: http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?xlive
Click "Download zip-file"


Navigate to your desktop
Click Save


Double-click the zip file and open in Archive Manager

Select xlive.dll
Click Extract


Navigate to: /home/username/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/fallout3/drive_c/windows/system32/
Note: enter your "login" in place of "username"
Click Extract


If it asks to overwrite, click Yes

Launch Fallout 3

Back to PlayOnLinux
Select Fallout 3
Click Run

Fallout 3 Launcher
Click Play


Optimization

Click Settings


Click Display


Use the slider to gain performance in Fallout 3
Slide right to increase view of objects
Slide left to decrease view of objects


Conclusion:
Fallout 3 ran pretty smoothly on my GeForce 550 Ti. A few stutters here and there and "touchy" mouse behavior in the dialog boxes. But really good frame rates outside in the streaming world of Fallout. Experiment with newer versions of Wine 1.7.28

IMPORTANT!
If Fallout 3 crashes every once in a while, its because of the in-game music. Go to the Fallout 3 game folder and rename the music folder. This will disable in-game music, but will also protect your game from crashing.