Talk:Batman: Arkham Asylum

I have the Epic Store version of this game. I read the guide on this wiki on how to patch the EXE but when I tried to find 25 00 00 08 00 31 86 80 with HxD, there were no results. Is there really no way to patch the Epic Store version?

Oh wait, I found out about this https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/186peaBdlZpSo37UwrsZufHT7Db2WgSI1 & it seems to be working. I haven't tried out the DLC yet though.

Tried running the game on my 4K display. Even with the config set to 3840x2160, it refuses to boot at any higher than 1920x1080. Using a GTX 1070 on this one.

OK, doing a complete uninstall/reinstall and wiping my config folder seems to have fixed it.

Try the BAA Advanced Launcher. It could have better Video settings for modern systems.

So.. some of my findings (in offline mode, because reasons)

• The game still has a GFWL logic (you can see this when you try to delete saves), that somebody clumsily wrapped with Steam API
• It has no clue of wherever the save is. Querying and writing is handled by Steam process
• The key file is remotecache.vdf:

• if you modify saves with Steam running, when they get passed to the game they'll be "damaged"
• if you delete it with Steam running... nothing change (it's probably even stored in memory)
• if you delete it (and restart Steam), a new one is created. But the only file mentioned is profile.bin, and game can't see anything else

You can do something by:

• making sure there are the specific save#.sgd entries of the save game files you need in the remotecache.vdf (they have to be created manually in-game)
• then Steam has to be closed
• do what you have to do
• Reopen steam (and here I believe here it mercifully updates hashes and all)
• profit. Maybe.

Or perhaps you can trick the vdf file. "size" is the size in bytes. "sha" is the SHA-1 hash. "time" and "localtime" look suspiciously similar to unix time

In online mode some additional variables come into play (like -the game that queries- Steam that queries cloud before everything)..
and I guess the trick explained in the article may be the only hope

EDIT: I wonder if this Steam update couldn't have solved something

So, I was just checking for PhysX problems... when I realized there have been big discussions for AA too years ago.
And the lowest common denominator for both is the wholehearted Nvidia Corporation..

Anyway, speaking of the first.. it seems that with some tinkering you could hack PhysX to work on CPU (wouldn't that already be an option?)

(after hours of thinking)I realized everything in there referred to Direct2Drive leaked version and that "perfect patch" (which should be a rough translation of 完美保护光驱补丁) BmStartApp.exe was just a crack made by somebody nicknamed ilhan for a group called TL.. nothing for us there.
Though, I have yet to find abt.rar. It would be interesting to look at

And the .ini tweaks are still very useful (albeit with some glitches), especially considering a high IPC cpu is required otherwise to not lag (PhysX 2.x should still be widely single-thread ^{[citation needed]})

And better not to mention the secondary dedicated hardware PhysX fiasco where the detection of everything belonging to ATI forced software path (which is not game specific and would be nice to talk of in another occasion)

Btw I believe the game is using version 2.8.1 because if you open NxCooking and PhysXExtensions dlls with an hex editor you can find some references to pdb files located in a folder designated with that number.

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The other problem being in-game AntiAliasing impossible to use with (you didn't say?) ATI gpus.
It's not like you couldn't force it through usual methods (be it Catalyst Control Center or just post-processing d3d9.dll based injectors) but performance (or quality in the later case) is not comparable

Another weirdness was that even owners of a GeForce 6 or 7 couldn't were ruled out the privileged MSAA technique

Of course both manufacturers accused each other of either laziness or unfair competition..

Meanwhile hacks to patch vendor id check emerged. Profit. And they all lived happily ever after until the following TWIMTBP game

as noted by Alexrd, DRM switching shouldn't be a plus..

but i feel that Steam is objectively better than GFWL
what's your opinion?

DRM is DRM is DRM, I don't think we should set any hierarchy, even if I do agree that Steam is objectively better in its permissiveness.

My thoughts exactly, except for the part of Steam being "objectively better". It's just another form of DRM with another set of limitations. To argue that a certain type of DRM is better than another is, in my opinion, an oxymoron. Specially when in this case an online connection is now required in order to install (like any other Steamworks game). It wasn't the case with GfWL.

Steam's limitations are, objectively speaking, less strict than most other forms of DRM. Offline mode works for most people, albeit apparently it's very buggy for others, and there are some games which don't require the Steam client to run (we actually have a list of those games available here at the PCGW). Then there's the fact that you can install all of your games on an infinite number of computers, there are rarely (nowadays at least) times at which Steam prevents you from playing your games, and then, from a subjective standpoint, Steam provides a number of useful features.

As for the online connection for installation, of course it's required. Where else are you going to get the game? It has to be downloaded, it can't just appear out of thin air. I'm probably just misunderstanding your comment, though.

Downloading and installing are two completely different things. Making the installation of the game limited to someone who has an online connection (Steam) is more limiting than not making it a requirement(GfWL). Not saying GfWL is good, only that Steam is not objectively better. Again, to me it's an oxymoron to call DRM better.

P.S: Both my posts were regarding this game alone, not others.

Well.. assuming internet connection is a real problem where you live (or any other reason why you couldn't access the net), you won't care about DRM switching and you will still install your game from CD and play the orginal, unpatched game

If instead you have a working connection, well.. what i see is the following:
GFWL is only a DRM (and has its days numbered..). Steam, like previously said it's a DRM, ok, but even an added service. Besides achievements (which are present on GFWL too) you have a nicely done matchmaking, cloud save games, pausable game updates and.. Dunno.. Other little things.. (better sales?)

If you had to be imprisoned and you had to choose, what would you prefer? A decadent prison or your home?

It's irrelevant to the topic if an internet connection requirement is a problem to me or if you have a preference to Steam. The fact is that both Steam and GfWL are DRM (no matter how many superfluous services they also provide, both create limitations to the end user) and just because one was replaced by the other doesn't make it a plus. Their removal would, but that's not the case here.

I also don't understand how your comparison between a decadent prison and my home can be correlated to this.

It was like saying: you are still imprisoned, but the arresting conditions are better (and you care less about your freedom restrictions)

Anyway, i see your points, so i think we could leave the {{ii}}

Whether or not one form of DRM is objectively better is irrelevant. It just takes one instance where it doesn't work right (and there's still such cases with Steam) to render the discussion moot.