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Aliens: Colonial Marines

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Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens colonial marines cover.png
Developer(s) Gearbox Software
In association with:
Nerve Software
TimeGate Studios
Publisher(s) Sega
Engine Red Ring engine (Unreal Engine 3 with new renderer)
First release date February 12, 2013

Key points

Disadvantage Australian version does not contain .exe file, which is fixable.[1]
Disadvantage Includes framerate cap, which is fixable.
Advantage Patch from 18. March 2013 added better resolution textures, various visual improvements and tweaked AI. [2]

General information

More information Steam Community Discussions
More information Gearbox Software Forums - A:CM Technical Support
More information Forums at AvPGalaxy.net non PC-specific.

Contents

[edit] Availability

Source(s) Store unlock Notes
Steam Steamicon.png All versions register on Steam.
PlayStation Steamicon.png
GameFly Steamicon.png
GamersGate Steamicon.png
Green Man Gaming Steamicon.png
Origin Origin.png
Amazon Steamicon.png
Information All versions require Steam, including retail and digital distribution.[3]

[edit] Improvements

[edit] Disable intro videos

Fix Disable intro videos • Link

  1. Open %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini
  2. Locate line bForceNoMovies in [FullScreenMovie] section and change False to True.

[edit] Disable framerate limit

Fix Disable framerate limit by editing bSmoothFrameRate • Link

  1. Open %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini
  2. Locate line bSmoothFrameRate in [Engine.Engine] section and change TRUE to FALSE.

Fix Unlock 120 FPS by editing MaxSmoothedFrameRate[4] • Link

  1. Open %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\Engine\Config\BaseEngine\BaseEngine.ini
  2. Change line MinSmoothedFrameRate=22 to MinSmoothedFrameRate=62
  3. Change line MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62 to MaxSmoothedFrameRate=120

[edit] Game data

[edit] Save game location

  Location 
Configuration files location %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config

[edit] Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud Native Syncs save games.
GameSave Manager Hackable

[edit] Video settings

General settings.
Graphics option Native Notes 
Widescreen resolution Native  
Multi-monitor Hackable Notes on WSGF. 
Field of view (FOV) Native Slider in menu. For additional FoV see Field of view. 
Windowed Native  
Borderless fullscreen windowed Native Is called 'Full Window' in window mode settings. 
Anisotropic filtering (AF) Native Referred to as "Texture Detail" in Video settings. 
Anti-aliasing (AA) Native Only features FXAA. Forcing real AA can lead to problems. See No textures. 
Vertical sync (Vsync) Native

[edit] Field of view (FOV)

Advantage A slider is included, but no specific values are viewable.

Fix Further manual FOV adjustment by editing FOVOffset • Link

Information Note: FOVOffset is not the FOV, but the offset from default value. See screenshots for details.
  1. Open %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini
  2. Locate line FOVOffset=XX in [SystemSettings] section and change XX to your desired value.

  • Default FOV

  • FOV slider to the max: offset 30

  • Custom offset: 40

[edit] Input settings

Input Settings Native Notes 
Remapping Native    
Mouse acceleration Native  Patch from 18. March 2013 added mouse smoothing setting to the menu. [5] For manual setting via .ini file see Disable mouse smoothing. 
Advantage Support for Logitech G15 keyboard display. Shows current objective or challenge.

[edit] Disable mouse smoothing

Fix Edit bEnableMouseSmoothing • Link

  1. Open %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanInput.ini
  2. Locate line bEnableMouseSmoothing=True in [Engine.PlayerInput] section and change True to False.

[edit] Other improvements

[edit] Enhanced graphics with DirectX10 mod

Download and install mod from Mod DB.

Features:

  • DirectX 10 is enabled. Renderer is still DX9 with Shader Model 3. [6] [7]
  • Better light thanks to DX10 Realistic light-shadow effects lamps.
  • Weapons reflect better.
  • Realistic muzzle flash.
  • Fewer problems with Nvidia 3d 3d mode.
  • RAM usage is better for graphics (textures) light animations texture memory load times of textures and shadows.
  • Game will load faster.
  • Better bloom.
  • MSAA ON.
  • Play better with the controller better AIM is active.

[edit] Issues fixed

[edit] Steam failed to start - Missing executable

Fix Delete appcache folder[8] • Link

Disadvantage Does not work for some users.
  1. Navigate to Steam installation folder.
  2. Locate folder \appcache\ and delete it.
  3. Restart Steam.

[edit] Failed to start game (app already running) error

Information There is no universal fix, however these are confirmed to work for some users.

Fix Delete appcache folder and blob file[9] • Link

  1. Navigate to Steam installation folder.
  2. Locate folder \appcache\ and delete it.
  3. In Steam installation folder locate file AppUpdateStats.blob and delete it.
  4. Restart Steam, game should update itself.

Fix Launguage fix[10] • Link

  • Set Steam language to the same language as the game.
  • If that does not work, try changing also operating system language. [11]

[edit] Failed to start game (RU release doesn't work when English language is selected)

Information This solution is probably applicable to other non-English releases.

The game crashes to desktop after trademark screen, shows one of the error messages from previous issues.

Fix Copy INT folders from Russian version[12] • Link

  1. Set game language to Russian (within Steam select game Properties -> Language -> Русский(Russian))
  2. Wait until the game download localization files.
  3. Locate \Steam\steamapps\common\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Localization and \Steam\steamapps\common\Aliens Colonial Marines\Engine\Localization folders and copy their contents somewhere safe (You need only INT subfolders, they contain different files, don't mix them up!).
  4. Set game language to English.
  5. Wait until the game chop it's legs off (it removes said INT folders needed for game to function).
  6. Copy both INT subfolders you saved earlier back to \Steam\steamapps\common\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Localization and \Steam\steamapps\common\Aliens Colonial Marines\Engine\Localization accordingly.

[edit] Blue screen on AMD CPU

Disadvantage There seems to be problem with game running on AMD FX processors where game crashes to BSOD or freezes system. Issue is similar to Borderlands 2 BSOD and fix also works with Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Fix Update BIOS • Link

  • Update BIOS on your motherboard. [13]
Information Addition information and links to motherboards websites can be found at AMD knowledge base library.
Information Update procedure varies and can cause motherboard to malfunction when update is interrupted or applied incorrectly. Read carefully manual to your motherboard and instructions on screen when updating.
Information Information about Borderlands 2 BSOD issue can be found at Gearbox Software Support page.

[edit] No textures

Disadvantage Forcing anti-aliasing via drivers on nVidia GeForce cards will result in missing textures and black game scene.

Fix Disable anti-aliaising in graphics adapter[14] • Link

Disable anti-aliasing in the graphics adapter..

[edit] GPU detection fix

Disadvantage Game has problems with detecting some graphic adapters - mainly mobile GPUs and new graphics. Because of this, game can select wrong settings profile for your system. Guide created by saint.f from Steam Community Discussions. [15]

[edit] 1. Checking GPU detection

Fix Checking GPU detection • Link

1. Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Logs\ and open file Launch.log in text editor (notepad for example).

2. Locate line [0000.53] Log: Machine detected compatibility level: Composite: X. CPU: Y. GPU: Z. where X,Y and Z values are assigned grade of your system. Value of 5 is the highest grade for high end hardware.

  • If you have got powerful hardware and you are not getting high enough grades, follow guide in next fixbox. Otherwise you don't need to change anything.

[edit] 2. Adding your GPU to the hardware list

Fix Adding your GPU to the hardware list • Link

1. In file Launch.log locate these lines: 

[0000.53] Log: GPU stats:
[0000.53] Log: 	VendorID: 0000YYYY
[0000.53] Log: 	DeviceID: 0000XXXX
[0000.53] Log: 	DriverVersion: <numbers>
[0000.53] Log: 	DeviceName: <GPU name>

2. Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\ and open PecanCompat.ini in text editor. There you can see entries for different graphics adapters.

3. Locate section for your vendor - search for VendorName= value.

4. Add line into your vendor section for your graphics adapter. Use information from Launch.log file like so: 0xYYYY=G,<GPU name> 

where:
YYYY        -  last four digits from VendorID
G           -  your desired hardware grade - 1 lowest, 5 highest
<GPU name>  -  string from DeviceName
  • Example 1: 
[0000.52] Log: GPU stats:
[0000.52] Log: DeviceID: 00001244 
[0000.52] Log: DeviceName: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

will result in 0x1244=5,NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

  • Example 2: 
[0000.53] Log: GPU stats:
[0000.53] Log: 	VendorID: 00001002
[0000.53] Log: 	DeviceID: 00006738
[0000.53] Log: 	DriverVersion: 8.17.10.1169
[0000.53] Log: 	DeviceName: AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series
will result in 0x6738=5,AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series

[edit] 3. Additional graphic enhancement for high-end hardware

Information This step is optional. It will force maximum quality level of detail for grade 5 hardware.

Fix Checking GPU detection • Link

1. Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\ and open PecanCompat.ini in text editor.

2. In section [AppCompatBucket5] search for these lines: 

TEXTUREGROUP_World=(LODBias=1)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldNormalMap=(LODBias=1)
TEXTUREGROUP_WorldSpecular=(LODBias=1)
3. Change ones to zeros and save the file. Additionally you can tweak some other options in this section.

[edit] No weapon

Information Gearbox is aware of the issue and recommend this as a quick fix: [16]

Fix No weapon fix • Link

  • Switch between weapons

[edit] Unresponsive controls

Information Problem with controls where in-game camera is always rotating and in menu cursor is always moving down. Demonstrated here.

Fix Unplug all USB game controllers[17] • Link

  • Unplug all USB game controllers, alternatively disable them in Device manager.

Fix .ini edit[18] • Link

  1. Open %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini
  2. Locate line AllowJoystickInput=1 in [WinDrv.WindowsClient] section and change 1 to 0.

[edit] System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Windows XP SP3 Windows XP SP3/Vista/Windows 7
Processor (CPU) 2 GHz Intel Dual Core Processor 2.3 GHz Intel Quad CoreProcessor
System memory (RAM) 2 GB 2 GB
Video card (GPU) NVIDIA GeForce 8500/ATI Radeon HD 2600 (256 minimum) NVIDIA GeForce GTX560/ATI Radeon HD 5850 (512 minimum)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 20 GB 20 GB
Information Although developer recommends 20GB of free space, download size is around 6GB.

References

  1. ↑ http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=243779
  2. ↑ http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=244511
  3. ↑ http://www.pcgamesn.com/article/aliens-colonial-marines-support-directx11-and-steamworks
  4. ↑ http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=25430&start=10
  5. ↑ http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=244511
  6. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/49540/discussions/0/846945411144877566/#c846945411155707855
  7. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/49540/discussions/0/846945579792507701/
  8. ↑ http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?p=3678068
  9. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/49540/discussions/0/846944689777796793/#c846944689777878332
  10. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/49540/discussions/0/846944689777796793/#c846944689779843905
  11. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/49540/discussions/0/846944689783271889/#c846944689783730011
  12. ↑ http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=244044&page=3
  13. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/49540/discussions/0/846944689780685209/
  14. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/49540/discussions/0/846944689770942510/
  15. ↑ http://steamcommunity.com/app/49540/discussions/0/846945579760601767/
  16. ↑ http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=244057
  17. ↑ http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=244225&page=2
  18. ↑ http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/showpost.php?p=3678678&postcount=13
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