Saints Row: The Third

Saints Row: The Third

Developer(s)	Volition, Inc.
Publisher(s)	THQ JP CyberFront
First release date	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

Key points

Has issues running on AMD/ATI systems. Volition have been working on a patch since July 2012.

Availability

Source(s)	Store unlock	Notes
Steam
Amazon
Green Man Gaming

All versions require Steam.

Game data

Save game location

	Location
Default	Steam\userdata\%STEAMID%\55230\remote\

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Syncs to Steam Cloud.
GameSave Manager		In the database.

Video settings

Video Settings

Graphics option	Native	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Field of view (FOV)		check this
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Borderless fullscreen windowed Methods
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)

Input settings

Input Settings	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Controller support

Issues and Fixes

Bad Performance / Lag

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

• 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

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

• Disable your secondary monitor

Lag

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

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.

Game Controller Not Working

If you are using a game controller, such as a Xbox 360 Controller, then 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 game 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.

XInput Emulator x360ce

Using x360ce x86 worked for emulating a cheap saitek gamepad, but only after enabling "Hook Mode: All" in the x360ce options.

(tested for German steam version on win7 x64)

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

• 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.

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.
• On some Radeon cards, this may be due to the game failing at automatically configuring graphics settings. If this is the case, the game will also crash when you try to change display settings in-game. So, to force the game to skip autoconfig, open up display.ini in the SR3 main folder. Change "Preset" from -1 to a number between 1 and 4 (1 = ultra-low, 4 = ultra-high), and try starting the game again.

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

• 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

• 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

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

• Restart Steam.

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.

Launched With Advanced Graphics Options

This launcher contains various graphics options you can modify from outside of the game such as Anti-Aliasing, Ambient Occlusion, Shadow Map Size, and more. The download for the advanced launcher can be found on this forum post at the Steam Users' Forums [1].

Saints Row Modding Forum

Many mods and tools can be found at the Saints Row Mods forum.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit)	Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit)
Processor (CPU)	Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent	Quad Core Intel or AMD
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Video card (GPU)	NVIDIA GeForce 8800 ATI RADEON 3000 256 MB of VRAM (Tested, unofficial) 320 of VRAM	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 ATI Radeon HD 5000 256 MB of VRAM (Tested, unofficial) 1024 of VRAM
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB free space	10 GB free space
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible sound card	DirectX compatible sound card