Alpha Protocol

Alpha Protocol

Developers
	Obsidian Entertainment
Publishers
	Sega
Engines
	Unreal Engine 3
Release dates
Windows	May 28, 2010
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Stealth, ARPG, Action
Themes	Asia, Europe, Middle East, Contemporary

Alpha Protocol is a singleplayer third-person stealth, ARPG and action game.

Currently, no PC version of the game comes with the console-exclusive pre-order DLC.

General information

Obsidian Entertainment forums

Alpha Protocol Wiki

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SoftAnchor DRM. Use patch 1.1 to remove.
GOG.com		Has updated modern system compatibility
Amazon.com (unavailable)
GamersGate (unavailable)
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Humble Store (unavailable)
Steam (unavailable)		The game comes with 2 executables, running Binaries\APGame.exe bypasses the Steam DRM

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.1 removes DRM and fixes various issues.

Skip intro videos

Delete or rename video files[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\APGame\Movies. Delete or rename slate_ap.sfd, slate_obsidian.sfd, and slate_sega.sfd.

Game data

In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/34010/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Alpha Protocol\Checkpoints\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/34010/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

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

Video

In-game general video settings.

In-game advanced video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Vert-
Multi-monitor			Use Widescreen Fixer to center the HUD.
Ultra-widescreen			See Ultra-widescreen.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Use Widescreen Fixer or see Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use DxWnd or GeDoSaTo
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Can be forced in the video card's Control Panel. Nvidia users see Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Ultra-widescreen

Enable Ultra-Widescreen
Use Widescreen Fixer Untick Automatically Detect Resolution. In Display Count Enter 3. Enter your desired resolution into Detected Resolution.

Field of view (FOV)

Add FOV hotkey

Go to <path-to-game>\APGame\Config\ Open DefaultInput.ini. Go to ; --- General bindings Add the line +Bindings=(Name="F11",Command="Fov 93") Press F11 during gameplay to activate your chosen FOV. Notes High FoV causes several issues Most of cutscenes show models before they should appear in view, making them appear out of nowhere or get stuck Sniper scope no longer zooms Player model in Service Record is small

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Modify APEngine.ini[citation needed]
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\APEngine.ini Change MaxAnisotropy to one of the following values: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

MSAA[citation needed]

Open Alpha Protocol driver profile via Nvidia Profile Inspector. Change Antialiasing compatibility to 0x00000041 Change Antialiasing - Mode to Override any application setting Change Antialiasing - Setting to 4x [4x Multisampling] or one of the other MSAA options. Apply changes. Notes Default Nvidia profile has wrong anti-aliasing compatibility bits for Alpha Protocol. Therefore, when MSAA forced through video driver in-game dialogue choices show missing.

SGSSAA[citation needed]
Open Alpha Protocol driver profile via Nvidia Profile Inspector. Change Antialiasing compatibility to 0x080002C1 Change Antialiasing - Mode to Override any application setting Change Antialiasing - Setting to 4x [4x Multisampling] Change Antialiasing - Transparency Supersampling to 4x Sparse Grid Supersampling Apply changes. SGSSAA can be set higher(8x) but it must always match the MSAA value.

High frame rate

Modify APEngine.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration files location. Open APEngine.ini. Change bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE to bSmoothFrameRate=FALSE May cause stuttering.

Input

In-game key map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput only. Must be enabled in-game.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

Generic/other controllers		Nintendo Switch Pro controller supported in GOG.com version only.
Button prompts

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Needs a workaround on Vista and later; see Surround Sound Support
Subtitles		Under Game settings.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Available for Steam version despite not being listed on the store page.
French
German
Italian
Polish				Available for Steam version despite not being listed on the store page.
Brazilian Portuguese				Translation.
Russian				Available for Steam version despite not being listed on the store page.
Spanish

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Alpha Protocol.
vorpX		G3D User created profile, read here, for more details how to get the game running.

Issues fixed

Can't activate (Error code: -1912029)

(Retail only) Install patch 1.1 to remove the activation requirement.

Game won't get past the launcher

Reinstall Nvidia PhysX Legacy System Software[citation needed]

Hitching / Stuttering

Modify APEngine.ini[citation needed]

Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config. Open APEngine.ini in a text editor. Set these lines to the following values: bSmoothFrameRate=True bUseBackgroundLevelStreaming=False UseTextureFileCache=True OnlyStreamInTextures=True OneFrameThreadLag=False UseVsync=True Set this line to match the monitor's refresh rate: MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62 Save the file On Nvidia GPUs, setting Vsync to "Fast" can help as well. Disable the in-game Vsync when doing this.

Jerky camera movement

Setting the graphics tweaks as previously mentioned will disable background streaming and make the jerky camera occur less often. Using and enabling a controller will all but eliminate it.[citation needed]

No text visible for dialog choices

This issue seems to occur when MSAA is enabled via video driver with default anti-aliasing compatibility bits.

See Anti-aliasing (AA) for the solution.[citation needed]

Motion Blur option doesn't work

Modify APEngine.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration files location. Open APEngine.ini. Adjust GlobalMotionBlurAmount=

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
Shader Model support	3.0

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX	2.8.1.15
Audio	OpenAL, XAudio2
Interface	SoftAnchor	Audit Dynamic Link Library - 1.2.2.0 Native HTML UI - 1.0.0.4
Cutscenes	Sofdec

Graphical tweaks

The graphics settings for Alpha Protocol are rather basic. There are some other settings which can be altered in the APEngine.ini file, found in the configuration files location.

Before editing the file, the read-only tag needs to be removed.

Editing the following settings should improve the game's graphics:

• Trilinear=True
• EnableHighPolyChars=True
• MaxShadowResolution=4096 (If you experience framerate issues, this can be lowered to 2048 or 1024)
• bEnableBranchingPCFShadows=True
• bEnableForegroundShadowsOnWorld=True
• bUseBackgroundLevelStreaming=False
• OnlyStreamInTextures=True
• OneFrameThreadLag=False

Audio tweaks

The sound settings for Alpha Protocol are very rudimentary. There are some other sound settings which can be altered in the APEngine.ini file, found in the configuration files location

Because the game has OpenAL support, the sound quality can be improved with a couple of changes within the ini file, especially when a hardware-based audio solution (e.g. Creative SoundBlaster) is used.

Before editing the file, the read-only tag needs to be removed.

• [ALAudio.ALAudioDevice]
• MaxChannels=32 (some hardware-based soundchips support up to 256 channels. Common settings are 48,64,96,128)
• UseEffectsProcessing=True
• TimeBetweenHWUpdates=15
• MinOggVorbisDurationGame=20
• MinOggVorbisDurationEditor=4
• DeviceName=Generic Hardware (changed from DeviceName=Generic Software; nearly all gaming soundcards support OpenAL via hardware-based emulation)

Surround Sound support

There are two primary methods for enabling Surround Sound.

Creative Labs / Soundblaster
If you use a hardware Creative Labs soundcard, you can use ALchemy. ALchemy Installer Edit the APEngine.ini file and change the line: DeviceName=Generic Software to DeviceName=Generic Hardware Add the game to the list within Creative ALchemy by pointing to <path-to-game>\Binaries.

Generic using OpenAL Soft
OpenAL Soft can be used to enable Surround Sound in a large variety of titles, including Alpha Protocol. OpenAL Soft Installation Edit the APEngine.ini file and change the line: DeviceName=Generic Software to DeviceName=OpenAL Soft

Some users report that changing Audio backend settings (installing ALchemy and/or changing DeviceName) results in the Dialogue UI being broken in-game.^{[citation needed]}

Additional information, installation, and troubleshooting steps can be found here No Surround Sound - Discussion

Alpha Protocol does not support EAX, so only Surround workarounds are needed

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon XP 2.0 GHz	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	12 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6800GT ATI Radeon X1300XT DirectX 9.0c compatible	Nvidia GeForce 9800 ATI Radeon HD 2900