The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

This page may require cleanup to meet basic quality standards. The specific problem is: Fixes need proper formatting and can be simplified. You can help by modifying the article. The discussion page may contain useful suggestions.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Developers
	Edmund McMillen
	Nicalis
Release dates
Windows	November 4, 2014
macOS (OS X)	November 4, 2014
Linux	November 4, 2014

The Binding of Isaac
The Binding of Isaac	2011
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth	2014
The Legend of Bum-Bo	2019

This page is for the 2014 remake. For the original game, see The Binding of Isaac.

General information

Official website

Community Wiki

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Humble Store
Steam

All versions require Steam.

Game data

Configuration file(s) and save game data location

Template:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/rowTemplate:Game data/row

System	Location
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/250900/pfx/

This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game cloud syncing

Currently there are problems with save game syncing on OS X.

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

300px

General settings.

Audio settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		2	Co-op Second player plays with a random follower, not a full character. On pressing start the main player loses 1 heart container for the second player. Upon death, or the second player leaving the game again, the container is returned. A controller is needed for co-op.
LAN play
Online play

Issues fixed

Improve performance on old hardware

From r/BindingOfIsaac

In case you are suffering from speed issues because of slow graphics hardware, or if some shaders don't work for you, you can disable certain effects. In the resources directory (in the game installation) create a file "config.ini" with the following content. On Mac you have to right-click on the app bundle, select "View Package Contents", go into Contents/Resources/resources, then create the file there.

Instructions

This will disable most special effects. If you only want to disable certain effects, you can do so by replacing 0 by 1 for some options. I would recommend leaving the EnableLighting option on because it adds a lot to the game's atmosphere.

Another tweak mentioned by others: edit the MaxRenderScale value in options.ini (in your save data directory) to 1. This also gives quite a speed boost. This will make the scrolling more choppy and add some artifacts to scaled sprites, so you might want to change it back in case your experience isn't improved by it.

Crash on game initialization

Some people are not able to start the game right now. Usually the "Preparing to start game window" pops up and nothing happens. The log looks like this

Instructions

Most likely some OpenGL extensions are not supported by your graphics card or driver. There is nothing we can do about that at the time being.

• Try installing the most recent graphics drivers. Sometimes it helps to uninstall the drivers included with the operating system and installing the ones directly from the vendor site (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel ...).
• If you have both an integrated on-board graphics chip, and a discrete graphics card, make sure running the game on the discrete graphics card.

Important! Binding of Isaac: Rebirth needs OpenGL 2.0 support, OpenGL 3.0 is recommended. If your graphics card does not support OpenGL 2.0, you are probably out of luck.

Another common reason for the game to crash at startup is that the game files are broken. You can tell the Steam client to automatically check the game files for errors and re-download broken ones. Right click on "The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth" in your games list, select "Properties", "Local Files", "Verify Integrity Of Game Cache..."

Keyboard getting stuck randomly

This seems to mostly happen on the Logitech G110 keyboard, but others might be affected, too. Try to disable controller hotplugging. You can disable gamepad hotplugging by changing "ControllerHotplug=1" to "ControllerHotplug=0" in the Options.ini file, which is located in your save data folder. Look at the top of this page for instructions on how to locate the save data folder on your PC.

Some wireless keyboards might have the same problem, as there is a limit amount of combinations of keypresses these keyboards can transmit. You could alter the controls until this is not a problem anymore.

Sound effects not working

A common issue seems to be that the music is working, but the sound effects are either missing or only coming from one side of your Stereo speakers. You can try different settings for your speakers, e.g. switch from Surround to Stereo mode or vice versa. What could also work is using a different version of the OpenAL libraries.

1. Install the OpenAL libraries from http://www.openal.org/creative-installers/oalinst.zip
2. Go to your game folder by right-clicking on "The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth", then selecting "Properties", "Local Files", "Browse Local Files..."
3. Delete or rename OpenAL32.dll

If the instructions above solve your sound effects problem, we would appreciate a short mail to isaac@nicalis.com.

Speed issues, unstable frame rate

For some players the game is running either too fast or too slow, on systems where performance is not the issue. If you are experiencing this, try disabling VSync by changing "VSync=1" to "VSync=0" in the Options.ini file, which is located in your save data folder. Look at the top of this page for instructions on how to locate the save data folder on your PC.

Audio noise for hardware connected on USB

If you experience crackling, or otherwise scrambled audio, and your audio hardware is connected via USB, it might be that the gamepad hotplugging is interfering with your USB. You can disable gamepad hotplugging by changing "ControllerHotplug=1" to "ControllerHotplug=0" in the Options.ini file, which is located in your save data folder. Look at the top of this page for instructions on how to locate the save data folder on your PC. What also might help is to avoid connecting your audio hardware (speakers, headphones, headset, microphone) via USB, if that is an option for you.

Motion sickness caused by the camera

You can switch to a different camera mode by changing "CameraStyle=1" to "CameraStyle=2" in the Options.ini file, which is located in your save data folder. Look at the top of this page for instructions on how to locate the save data folder on your PC.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
OpenGL	2.0

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	OpenAL
Cutscenes	Theora

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	Vista, 7, 8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo	2.4 GHz Quad Core 2.0 or higher
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	449 MB
Video card (GPU)	"Discreet video card"	Intel HD Graphics 4000 ATI Radeon HD 4650 Nvidia GeForce 2xx-Series

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.8	10.9
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo	2.4 GHz Dual Core 2.0 or higher
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	449 MB
Video card (GPU)	"Discreet video card"	Intel HD Graphics 4000 ATI Radeon HD 4650 Nvidia GeForce 2xx-Series

Linux
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Any distribution
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo	2.4 GHz Dual Core 2.0
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	449 MB
Video card (GPU)	"Discreet video card"