Saints Row: The Third

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Saints Row: The Third

Developers   Volition, Inc.

Publishers   THQ   Deep Silver

Engines   CTG

Release dates Windows November 15, 2011

Saints Row

Saints Row 2	2009
Saints Row: The Third	2011
Gangstas in Space
Genkibowl VII
The Trouble With Clones
Saints Row IV	2013
Enter the Dominatrix
How the Saints Save Christmas
Saints Row: Gat out of Hell	2015

Key points

Some of the developers of the game in Volition are actively helping the community into releasing proper mod tools and fixing latest bugs

Has issues running on AMD/ATI systems.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums for game series

Official forums for game

Saints Row Mods forums

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys
Steam
Amazon.com
Green Man Gaming

All versions require Steam.

Version differences

The Full Package does not include the following DLC: Bloodsucker Pack, Unlockable Pack. These are available separately or as part of the Ultimate Franchise Pack.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files Go to Videos in the installation folder. Delete/move/rename logo_amd_hd.bik and logo_thq_and_voli_hd.bik.

Mods

Gentlemen of Steelport

This mod compilation by idolninja combines all the best mods from the Saints Row modding community. To download, go to idolninja's website.

Launcher With Advanced Graphics Options

Launcher with a nice GUI front end for display settings editing

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\display.ini

Save game data location

	Location
Windows	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\55230\remote\

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud
GameSave Manager

Video settings

Video Settings

Graphics option	Option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Field of view (FOV)		Use SR3 FOV Editor
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use Launcher with Advanced Graphic Options.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
High frame rate		No frame rate or refresh rate cap.

Input settings

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput controllers only.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller Y-axis inversion

Remove aim assist

Add mod file that removes aim assist Download this file Place it in the same folder as the game executable.

Audio settings

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Auto configures up to 5.1 output
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		2
Local co-op
LAN co-op
Online co-op		2

Issues fixed

Bad Performance / Lag

This issue mostly affects AMD/ATI graphics cards, but these tweaks may alleviate performance issues regardless of brand:

Bad Performance / Lag Play the game in DX9 Mode instead of DirectX 10 or 11 Lower the game resolution Lower the graphics settings from high to low! Specifically, try turning down Post Processing and Ambient occlusion! Update your video card drivers! New graphic card drivers (such as Catalyst) provide for increased frame rates and bug fixes tailored to specific games and just general optimization. Turn off VSYNC and AntiAliasing (AA)! Sometimes if you’re using SLI or CrossFire, it’s worth trying to play the game with one card instead of two. If using an AMD Processor with Bulldozer Architecture (FX-4100, 4170, 6100, 8150 etc.) Try using the Orochi-CEG tool. Restart your computer.

Stuttering / Freezing

Stuttering / Freezing The game is known to stutter/freeze randomly on systems that meet the recommended requirements. The effect of the stutter can be limited or stopped by disabling VSync. Disabling your secondary monitor may also help, but this fix needs testing.

Lag / Freeze in fullscreen with DirectX 10/11

Lag / Freeze in fullscreen with DirectX 10/11 Disable your secondary monitor

Lag

Lag A BIOS issue with gigabyte motherboards can be fixed by updating the BIOS from the website.

No Sound

No Sound Possible solutions: Turn off Hardware Sound Acceleration in DXDIAG (RUN > DXDIAG > SOUND > DirectX Features) Lower your Sample Rate Conversion Quality (or turn off Hardware Acceleration) through Sounds & Audio Devices in the Control Panel (Volume > Speaker Settings > Advanced > Performance) Anyone using a 7.1 or 5.1 speaker configuration should try setting it to 2.1 in the Windows audio options.

Controller not working

Controller not working When using a controller you may encounter a problem with it not working, or working intermittently - most noticeable on the game map screen. Be sure to plug in the controller BEFORE you launch the game. If you have any other devices plugged into USB ports, then remove those too before playing. Should the controller become disconnected mid-game, restart the game with the controller plugged in to alleviate any issues. This game only supports XInput controllers; use x360ce for other controllers.

Flickering Red Dots

Flickering Red Dots This is an issue that may occur with nVidia graphics cards. To solve this: Open your nVidia control panel Navigate to Manage 3D settings Under the Program Settings tab, select Saints Row from the list of programs (You may need to add it, in which case select the Saintsrowthethird_dx11.exe) Change Anisotropic Filtering and Antialiasing to Application Controlled. You may also need to turn off Antialiasing Transparency, Gamma Correction, and Texture Filtering, as well. For non-nVidia graphics cards, please refer to your equivalent 3D control panel

Fail to Launch / Hangs / Freezes After Intro or Advertisement

Fail to Launch / Hangs / Freezes After Intro or Advertisement Set the compatibility mode to the game to “Windows XP” Run the game directly instead of using the generated shortcut Check your game cache / revalidate it to ensure you have okay files Run the game in DirectX 9 mode If you use multiple monitors, then disable one of them Exit any program that could mess with the game Run the game in a different, more common resolution Multiple monitors/display?--- Make sure main monitor is in main slot [bios displays on this screen] If you have Steam installed on an External Hard Drive try moving steam to an internal Hard Drive or to another Hard drive in general. If you have Saints Row installed on a hard drive other then C: try moving Saints Row to a new Steam Library on C: you can create a second steam library by launching steam with a -dev flag, clicking the new console tab, and following these directions, then exit steam, copy the folder, then relaunch and reinstall saints row to the new C: library you just copied it to.

Game Crashes on Loading Screen After Starting a New Game

Game Crashes on Loading Screen After Starting a New Game Start game in DirectX 9 mode and start a new game. After that you can play DirectX10/11 version. Try verifying the integrity of the game cache (right-click the game in the Steam library, select "Properties" then select the "Local Files" tab and click "Verify..."). Note that for many users Steam will always report that 1 file failed to validate and has to be replaced, even when you verify the game cache multiple times. Since this also happens to users who have no problems at all with the game, it is assumed to be something that is not affecting the game's performance. If you are running the game on a Mac, with Boot Camp, and using an HFS+ formatted drive, together with additional software (such as MacDrive) you will need to install it on a native NTFS drive. This also applies to all other THQ recent titles.

Crash on Radeon graphics cards On some Radeon cards, the game may fail to automatically configuring graphics settings. If this is the case, the game will also crash when you try to change display settings in-game. To force the game to skip autoconfig: Open <path-to-game>\display.ini Change Preset from -1 to a number from 1 to 4 where 1 is ultra low and 4 is ultra high Don't use auto-detect graphics settings in game

Seemingly Random Crashes in DirectX 11 Mode

Seemingly Random Crashes in DirectX 11 Mode One possible cause for crashes in DirectX 11 mode can be that the core voltage of the video card is set a little bit too low. In that case raising the core voltage by a very small amount can resolve the issue. Warning: Changing settings on your video card may void warranties and can potentially damage the card.

Launcher is blank

Launcher is blank Download an alternate launcher such as this one. If you have Steam installed on an External Hard Drive try moving steam to an internal Hard Drive.

Co-op Mode not connecting

Co-op Mode not connecting Make sure you have privacy to "Open to all" Download Tunngle, sign up for a free account and join one of the Saints Row: The Third servers. Make sure your friend downloads it and joins the same server, should fix all problems.

Missing saved games or insufficient space

Missing saved games or insufficient space Symptom: Saved games are missing despite being in the correct folder, and Saints Row claims there's not enough storage space. Restart Steam.

Lag in Co-op Through a LAN Connection

Lag in Co-op Through a LAN Connection This is caused by one person having a much lower frame rate than the other (eg. A is getting 20 FPS, B is getting 50 FPS) To fix this, simply get the person with the lower FPS to lower their video settings.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	7
Processor (CPU)	Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent	Quad Core Intel or AMD
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI RADEON 3000 NVIDIA GeForce 8800 256 MB of VRAM (Tested, unofficial) 320 MB of VRAM	ATI Radeon HD 5000 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 1024 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible sound card