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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed cover
Developers
LucasArts
Windows Aspyr Media
macOS (OS X) Aspyr Media
Publishers
LucasArts
Disney Interactive Studios
Russia 1C Company
Engines
Ronin[1]
Release dates
Windows November 6, 2009
macOS (OS X) November 6, 2009
Reception
Metacritic 65
IGDB 71
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Hack and slash
Themes Sci-fi
Series Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on HowLongToBeat
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on IGDB
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed guide on StrategyWiki
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on MobyGames
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on Wikipedia
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Subseries of Star Wars
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2009
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II 2010

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Key points

The Ultimate Sith Edition is the only version available on PC and includes all DLCs released on consoles.[2]
Capped at 30 FPS. See higher frame rates.

General information

Aspyr Media support page (archived)
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SecuROM v7.40.0009 DRM disc check;[3] 2 DVDs Disc 2 is used for check.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Sold by Aspyr Media. Mac version but Steam keys unlock all platforms.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
GOG.com
DRM-free
Windows
Origin
Origin
Included with EA Play Pro. Currently only visible in the EA App's Browse menu.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
GamersGate (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Sold by Disney Interactive Studios.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Mac App Store (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
macOS (OS X)
Amazon.com (unavailable)
CD key
Included with Prime Gaming from June 29, 2023 to July 11, 2023[4]
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

GOG.com and Steam users are already patched to the latest version.
A computer restart is recommended before installing the patch.

Activate cloth simulation

Cloth simulation is disabled by default, leading to some visual bugs on the character's costumes.
Set ClothLevel[5]
  1. Go to configuration file(s) location.
  2. Edit Config.xml.
  3. Change <s id="ClothLevel">0</s> to <s id="ClothLevel">1</s>
  4. Save your changes. The game now runs with cloth physics activated.

Skip intro videos

Skip intro videos[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\FMV\
  2. Delete or rename FMV-GoldGuy-WMV9_HD_STEREO.bik and Aspyr.bik.
  3. Start the game.

Notes

For languages other than English FMV-GoldGuy_XX-WMV9_HD_STEREO.bik (where "XX" is replaced with adequate "FR", "DE", "IT", "PL", "RU" or "ES") also needs to be deleted or renamed.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\Aspyr\Star Wars The Force Unleashed\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\aspyr\star wars the force unleashed\[Note 1]
macOS (OS X) $HOME/Library/Preferences/com.aspyr.swtfu.steam.plist/
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32430/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Aspyr\Star Wars The Force Unleashed\
macOS (OS X) $HOME/Library/Application Support/Star Wars The Force Unleashed/SWTFU.BIN/
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32430/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Origin
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
If an option doesn't appear it can be forced by going to config.xml (see Game data). Make sure to mark the file as Read Only after making any changes.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Resolutions above 1920x1080 can be forced in the config.xml file. See the WSGF entry.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Use Unknownproject's solution.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS
Capped at 30 FPS; see High frame rate.
120+ FPS
Frame rate is tied to refresh rate if unlimited FPS cap fix is used; see High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

High frame rate

Use the patched .exe[citation needed]

Use the FPS cap fix. Available frame rate options are 40 FPS, 50 FPS, 60 FPS, and unlimited.

Notes

Some force-gripped objects and mechanical enemies will constantly move upwards (original game bug) not affecting humanoids grip, and when using the 50 and 60 FPS exes this effect can be even more pronounced.[6][7][8][9] There is no working fix for SWTFU.
All cutscenes, both pre-rendered and in-engine, will continue to run at 30 FPS.
May cause occasional crashes.[citation needed]

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Doesn't change on-screen prompts.
Mouse acceleration
Reverse mouse acceleration, can't be disabled.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Both axes can be inverted independently.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Launcher requires at least one mouse click or key press.
Controller remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Both axes can be inverted independently.
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Generic/other controllers
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input Device needs to be set to Xbox 360 Controller in launcher before being visible in-game.
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Game is advertised as supporting surround sound; however, surround sound support is heavily broken and results in background music only playing out of the front-left speaker. Only workaround is to set windows speaker settings to Stereo before playing, resulting in at least functional Stereo sound, all the game supports.[10][11]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
The original Star Wars theme and other pieces composed by John Williams are present throughout the game.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish
Also available in Steam version; see enabling unsupported languages.
Brazilian Portuguese
Translation.
Russian
Also available in Steam version; see enabling unsupported languages. Fan voice-over by «Mechanics VoiceOver», download.
Spanish

Enabling unsupported languages

Steam version of game includes Polish and Russian languages in game files disabled by default and without option to be enabled from Steam properties menu.
Edit the registry[12]
  1. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\aspyr\star wars the force unleashed\.
  2. Set language value to pl for Polish or ru for Russian.
  3. Right-click the star wars the force unleashed key and select Permissions.
  4. Click Advanced and then click Add.
  5. In the Enter the object names to select field type Everyone and then click OK.
  6. In the next window click the checkbox in the Deny column for Write Owner.
  7. Click OK in each of the three opened windows.
Alternate method[13]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>.
  2. Open installscript.vdf with a notepad.
  3. Locate the English section.
  4. Locate and replace en with either pl for Polish or ru for Russian.

Issues fixed

Missing Sounds in Raxus Prime and Death Star levels

The Steam and Origin versions of the game are missing sounds for the Raxus Prime and Death Star levels.
Replace Missing Sounds[14]
  1. Download the missing sounds fix.
  2. Decompress with 7-Zip.
  3. Extract files to <path-to-game>\LevelPacks\
  4. Overwrite all files when prompted.

Missing Sounds in Tie Factory level, specific to the French version

The French Steam version of the game is missing sounds for the Tie Factory level.
Replace Missing Sounds for the French version[15]
  1. Download the missing sounds fix.
  2. Decompress with 7-Zip.
  3. Extract files to <path-to-game>\LevelPacks\
  4. Overwrite all files when prompted.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c
Shader Model support 3.0
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
32-bit only.[16]

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok Also uses Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) for destructible environments.[1]
Audio Miles Sound System 7.2c
Cutscenes Bink Video 1.9g

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3, Vista SP2
Processor (CPU) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
AMD Athlon X2 5200+
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 30 GB
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon HD 2600
Nvidia GeForce 8600
256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Shader model 3.0 support
Sound (audio device) DirectX 9.0c compatible
Controller Microsoft Xbox 360 Wired Controller
Other Windows XP/Windows Vista compatible mouse and keyboard, 8X DVD-ROM drive
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.5.8, 10.6.2, 10.7, 10.8
Processor (CPU) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 25 GB + 1 GB Swap File
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon HD 2600
Nvidia GeForce 8600
256 MB of VRAM


Notes

  1. Applications writing to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE will be redirected to other locations based on various criterias, see the glossary page for more details.
  2. 2.0 2.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/32430/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (32430) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References