Fallout 3 Crash on Start Fix (Ordinal 43 Could Not Be Located error)

Fallout 3 received an update on October 13th, ridding the game of its GFWL Dependency. This should mean no mods out there like this are needed anymore!

There is no guarantee this will work for everyone, this is simply what fixed the game for both myself and my husband's copy of the game. If this does not fix the problem for you, there are other possible fixes elsewhere.

Just install both files, then start the game as normal. (It doesn't matter where you keep the files at; they are just to install GFWL).

The reason this error happens is because when the game was developed, it depended on GFWL (Games for Windows Live). It's been a decade and they still haven't fixed it.

Of course, GFWL isn't installed on Windows by default anymore. And for whatever reason, the file Microsoft provides that does install it, doesn't work for a lot of people, myself included. This mod provides a file that actually works, along with one other file that may or may not be needed. This could potentially fix the same issue with any other game that ran into this problem.

It took ages about an hour to find the files that fixed the issue for me, that's why I put this page together.

Disclaimer: there was one other file that came with what I found, but it had some kind of trojan-ware hidden inside. I left it out, but if you think you need the file just send me a DM. You've been warned.

Also I'm not entirely sure I'm allowed to upload Windows Install files to here, if I'm not then I'll take this down and reupload as a tutorial with links instead.