Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

American McGee's Alice (2011)

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games

This page is for the 2011 remaster. For the original release, see American McGee's Alice.

American McGee's Alice (2011)
American McGee's Alice (2011) cover
Developers
Original game Rogue Entertainment
Remaster Spicy Horse
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Engines
id Tech 3
Release dates
Windows June 14, 2011
Reception
Metacritic 85
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Platform, Puzzle, Shooter
Art styles Stylized
Themes Fantasy, Horror, Victorian
Series American McGee's Alice
American McGee's Alice (2011) on IGDB
American McGee's Alice (2011) guide on StrategyWiki
American McGee's Alice (2011) on MobyGames
American McGee's Alice (2011) on Wikipedia
American McGee's Alice
American McGee's Alice 2000
American McGee's Alice (2011) 2011
Alice: Madness Returns 2011

This "remastered" version of American McGee's Alice features native widescreen resolutions, controller support, updated character textures, and compatibility fixes for modern systems. The visuals can be further improved with the Alice HD Texture Pack. This version does not contain the HD interface (HUD scaling and HD menu elements) nor high quality FMV cutscenes present in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.

This version of the game was exclusive to pre-ordering Alice: Madness Returns or purchasing its Complete Collection.

The developer console (~) from the original game is completely disabled in this remaster as a means to prevent cheating. However, this means modifying CVars and fine-tuning other settings in-game is no longer possible.[1]

Availability

This game was only available through pre-ordering Alice: Madness Returns or purchasing The Complete Collection, with the latter being no longer available outside of GameStop.com and Dell.com (available only in the USA).
A demo version of the original 2000 release for Windows can be downloaded here.

Essential improvements

Launch without Alice: Madness Returns

The 2011 remastered version of American McGee's Alice is normally launched through Alice: Madness Returns from its main menu for those who received this game through pre-ordering the latter or purchasing The Complete Collection.
Launch the game using the -RunningFromAlice2 command line argument[2]
This launch parameter should be added to <path-to-game>\Game\Alice1\bin\alice.exe, NOT <path-to-game>\Game\Alice2\Binaries\Win32\AliceMadnessReturns.exe. This is important, otherwise the command will not work.
Fix by using a hex editor[3]
  1. Open <path-to-game>\Game\Alice1\bin\alice.exe with a hex editor such as HxD.
  2. Search for the -RunningFromAlice2 text string.
  3. Replace the first byte (2D) with null (00).

Prevent Alice: Madness Returns from launching on exit

This game normally re-launches Alice: Madness Returns upon exit.
Move the Alice1 folder from <path-to-game>\Game to another location[4]
Fix by using a hex editor[3]
  1. Open <path-to-game>\Game\Alice1\bin\alice.exe with a hex editor such as HxD.
  2. Search for the ..\..\Alice2\Binaries\Win32\AliceMadnessReturns.exe text string.
  3. Replace the first byte (2E) with null (00).

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\American McGee's Alice\config.cfg

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\American McGee's Alice\save\

Video

General settings.
General settings.
Video settings.
Video settings.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
FMVs, HUD and menus are stretched out when playing in widescreen.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Set Camera Distance to maximum. HUD and menus stretched, but still playable.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of View (FOV)
Windowed
Can also be toggled with Alt+ Enter.
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.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Vsync is disabled by default and cannot be enabled in-game. See Vertical sync (Vsync) for a workaroound.
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Capped at 60 FPS by default. See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Enable Vsync[5]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open config.cfg with a text editor.
  3. In the Cvars section, add seta r_swapinterval "1" as a new line, then save the changes.

Level of detail

Default LOD settings can be overridden to make the game render highest quality models all the time.
Instructions[6]
  1. Run the game at least once, so the configuration file gets created.
  2. Open <path-to-game>\Base\config.cfg file with a text editor.
  3. Add lines seta r_lodbias "-2" and seta r_lodcurveerror "10000" in the Cvars section.
  4. Save the changes and run the game.

High frame rate

Remove frame-rate cap[7]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open config.cfg with a text editor.
  3. In the Cvars section, add seta com_maxfps "0" as a new line, then save the changes.
This can break animations such as Alice's eye blinking, which is noticeable in the settings menu.

Field of view (FOV)

Use Peixoto's patch[8]
If there are issues with taking screenshots or recording the game, remove the line HD=wide nofov from Peixoto\Scripts\Alice - Remaster.ini..
Hex editing
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Alice1\bin
  2. Open fgamex86.dll in a hex editor.
  3. Go to offset 0x15AC96.
  4. The stored value is FOV x2. The default value is 0xB4 = 180 = 90. So, e.g. to get an FOV of 107 (suitable for 16:9), write 0xD6, which is 214, therefore the in-game FOV will be 107.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
At the Save/Load screen, the A button is to load a file, X button is to save a file, and Y is to delete a save file.
Controller remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Handled through the game's Sensitivity setting.
Controller Y-axis inversion
Handled through the game's Invert Mouse setting.
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
Generic/other controllers
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music, Sound Effects
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
A3D 1.0 and 2.0, EAX and EAX 2.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Dutch
Use the Alice Dutch Patch.
French
German
Italian
Fan translation, download.
Also compatible with the original release.
Spanish

VR support

Issues unresolved

Chesire Help does not work

For reasons unknown, the summon Chesire function (bound to C by default) for hints or clues about the level Alice is currently in does not work in this remaster.

Issues fixed

Game runs at a low frame rate

The game may run poorly even on modern hardware.
Edit config.cfg[9]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open config.cfg with a text editor.
  3. In the Cvars section, add seta r_primitives "2" as a new line, then save the changes.

Enable EAX reverb

Install Creative ALchemy for the game[10]
  1. Download & install ALchemy.
  2. Launch ALchemy
  3. Add a new Profile, name it Alice
  4. Select "Use Game Path"
  5. Navigate to the executable's directory (For example C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Alice Madness Returns The Complete Collection\Game\Alice1\bin)
  6. Click "OK"
  7. Click The newly created profile and then click ">>" to enable it.
  8. Close ALchemy & launch the game
  9. Go to settings, audio, and set the sound driver to EAX2

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
OpenGL
[11]
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Alice HD Texture Pack

Install the Alice HD Texture Pack[12]
  1. Download the HD texture pack here, then extract its content somewhere conveniently accessible on the computer.
  2. Go to <path-to-game>\base, then move or delete the pak1_large.pk3 file. This is required for the game to load the HD textures.
  3. Copy the *.cfg and *.pk3 files from the HD texture pack into <path-to-game>\base.
  4. Now run the game. The game's visuals should be changed with those from the HD texture pack.
Further improves the overall look of the game. It is also compatible with the original 2000 release.
The mod's zzpak10_modHud.pk3 file does not work with the 2011 remastered version. However, the mod has been updated to include a new HD HUD with the base mod. Deleting this file is recommended when using this mod with the remastered version.[13]
Features an expanded tweaks/cheats menu and optional Overkill mod that adds more lighting effects and enemies. Can be omitted by not installing the z(Mod)OverKill.pk3 file. The cheats menu, however, does not work with the 2011 remastered version.[14]

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3
Processor (CPU) AMD Athlon X2 1.6 GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 8.5 GB
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon X1650
Nvidia GeForce 7600
256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible

References

  1. Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2020-05-08
  2. Verified by User:AmethystViper on October 23, 2018
    Was able to launch the 2011 remaster in a separate folder after uninstalling Alice: Madness Returns.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Based on: Patch to run the HD remake of American McGee’s Alice without going via Madness Return’s menus
  4. Verified by User:Keith on 2019-11-18
  5. RAGE Vsync issues - Page 3 - last accessed on 17 May 2023
  6. Quake 3 engine - Level of detail - last accessed on 2020-05-07
  7. Verified by User:AmethystViper on October 25, 2018
    Steam's FPS counter measured the game's frame-rate was running at 200+ FPS with the frame-rate uncapped and V-sync disabled via these config edits.
  8. Vogons.org - Peixoto's patches for a few old games - last accessed on May 2023
  9. RTCW Crash hard with HD3850 - Rage3D Discussion Area - last accessed on October 25, 2018
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLj9obfMppk
  11. Verified by User:Williamjcm on 2022-12-09
  12. Verified by User:AmethystViper on October 23, 2018
  13. Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2021-06-14
    Compare these screenshots of the vanilla version of the 2011 remastered version, then ones from the earlier build of the HD texture pack mod and the updated May 2021 build of the mod installed on the remastered version.
  14. Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2021-06-16