Spec Ops: The Line

Spec Ops
Spec Ops: Rangers Lead the Way	1998
Spec Ops II: Green Berets	1999
Spec Ops: The Line	2012

General information

Official game site

Official forums

Spec Ops Wiki - A wiki for the series

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums for game series

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Direct2Drive
GamersGate
Gamesplanet
GameStop
Humble Store
Mac App Store
Steam

All Windows and Linux versions require Steam.

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Launch game with -nostartupmovies parameter

Game data[edit]

Configuration files location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\SpecOps-TheLine\SRGame\Config\
OS X	$HOME/Library/Application Support/Spec Ops The Line/GameDocuments/My Games/SpecOps-TheLine/SRGame/Config/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/yager/specops/GameDocuments/My Games/SpecOps-TheLine/SRGame/Config/

This game supports the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Configuration files are encrypted except for the Apple OS X Steam port configuration files, which are unencrypted.

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Steam	<Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/50300/remote/

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings[edit]

In-game video settings.

Graphics option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		4:3 and 16:10 are letterboxed; use Flawless Widescreen.^[1]
Multi-monitor		Use Flawless Widescreen
Ultra-widescreen		Use Flawless Widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)	Default FoV is 72°, can be set up to 95° using Flawless Widescreen.
Windowed	Set in options or use `-windowed` parameter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Default is 4x. See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Can be forced through the AMD Control Center. Nvidia users can force MSAA through the Nvidia Inspector using 0x080100C5 compatibility flag (Make sure to delete 0x00000005 in the "Antialiasing-Behavior Flags" field otherwise it won't work) or force FXAA through the Nvidia Control Panel.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Some players report increased performance with Vsync enabled.^{[citation needed]}
60 FPS
120+ FPS

Anisotropic filtering (AF)[edit]

Changing Anisotropic Filtering level

Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\SpecOps-TheLine\SRGame\Config\.
Decrypt SREngine.ini.
Find line MaxAnisotropy=4 and change AF value to 16.
Save your changes.

Limit Frame Rate[edit]

Limit Frame Rate

Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\SpecOps-TheLine\SRGame\Config\.
Decrypt SREngine.ini.
Look for [Engine.Engine] class and edit MaxSmoothedFrameRate= to your preference.
Save and re-encrypt SREngine.ini.

Input settings[edit]

In-game keyboard/mouse settings.

In-game gamepad settings.

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping		Multiple actions under one key (eg sprint/cover/context actions).
Mouse acceleration		See Mouse acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback

Mouse acceleration[edit]

Disable mouse acceleration

Go to the Configuration file location.
Decrypt SRInput.ini.
Find m_ViewAccelEnabled=true change it to false.
Save and re-encrypt SRInput.ini.

Change general sensitivity[edit]

Change general sensitivity

Go to the Configuration file location.
Decrypt SRInput.ini.
Find MouseSensitivity=60.0 and change it to a lower value according to your preferences (most people find 30.0 a good value).
Save and re-encrypt SRInput.ini.

Change aim sensitivity[edit]

Change aim sensitivity

Go to the Configuration file location.
Decrypt SRInput.ini.
Find m_targetingModeMouseViewScalePct=0.6 change it to 1.0. That way it will only scale with FOV which is good for muscle memory.
Save and re-encrypt SRInput.ini.

Disable mouse smoothing[edit]

Change aim sensitivity

Go to the Configuration file location.
Decrypt SRInput.ini.
Find bEnableMouseSmoothing=true change it to false.
Save and re-encrypt SRInput.ini.

Audio settings[edit]

In-game audio settings.

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Speech, SFX, Voice chat.
Surround sound		Up to 7.1 output.^[2]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	CC	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Spanish
Russian
Turkish				A Turkish fan patch is available here.

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
LAN play		Versus, Co-op
Online play		Versus, Co-op

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed[edit]

D3DERR_INVALIDCALL error[edit]

Launch the game in windowed mode^[3]

No sound during cutscenes[edit]

Fix binkw32.dll^[4]

Download the Bink Video 1.99r DLL.
Extract the contents to <path-to-game>\Binaries\Win32

Disable HDMI output^[5]

Go into "control panel" -> "hardware and sound" -> "device manager"
Search under "audio, video and game controller" for the graphic cards audio device
for AMD: "AMD High Definition Audio Device")-> open the properties -> open the "driver" tab -> deactivate the device

Set stereo sound^[6]

Open Windows audio panel (right click on the speaker icon on the bottom right of the screen)
Configure your playback device
Set 2 channels

Crashing and low frame rate[edit]

Install NVIDIA PhysX^{[citation needed]}

Install the latest NVIDIA PhysX System Software.
Right click Spec Ops: The Line in the Steam games list.
Click on Properties.
Under Local Files, select Verify Integrity of Game Cache.

Reset configuration files

Launch the game at least once.
Navigate to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games.
Delete the SpecOps-TheLine folder.

This will reset all game settings, but save games will preserved.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
OpenGL	2.0	OS X and Linux only.
Shader Model support	3
64-bit executable		OS X only.

Middleware[edit]

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX
Audio	FMOD
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Multiplayer	Steamworks

Edit encrypted configuration files[edit]

Use Rick's tools^[7]

Download the decrypter.
Unzip it in a handy folder. Such as %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\SpecOps-TheLine\SRGame\Config\.
Open the file you need to edit with Gibbed.SpecOpsTheLine.IniDecrypt.exe (drag-and-drop).
Make the changes you want in the now unencrypted file.
Save the file.
Open the modified file with Gibbed.SpecOpsTheLine.IniEncrypt.exe, thus re-encrypting it.

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP3	Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz	2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	3 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	6 GB	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2600XT Nvidia GeForce 8600 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	ATI Radeon HD 4850 Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX 512 MB of VRAM

References

[1] wsgf (@wsgf) | Twitter

[2] PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up

[3] Game crashes on startup - Steam Users' Forums

[4] No Sound in Cutscenes - Page 3 - Steam Users' Forums

[5] Fix for no sound in cutscenes - Steam Users' Forums

[6] No Sound in Cutscenes - Page 3 - Steam Users' Forums

[7] Spec Ops: The Line encrypted ini files • XeNTaX forums

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Developers

	Yager Development
Multiplayer	Darkside Game Studios
OS X	Virtual Programming
Linux	Virtual Programming
Publishers
	2K Games
OS X	Digital Tribe
Engines
	Unreal Engine 3
Release dates
Windows	June 26, 2012
OS X	November 7, 2013
Linux	May 14, 2015