F.E.A.R.
2: Project Origin
12/17/2008
***********************************************************************
About This Document:
Thank you for purchasing F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
This README file contains last-minute information about
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin and other information about the program not
found in the game manual. It also includes information that pertains
to general problems and questions you may have concerning the game or
your computer. Should you experience any problems with the game,
please refer to this file first before contacting technical support for
assistance. If you cannot find an answer to your problem in this
document, then please refer to sections II, III and IV below for
additional options.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. NOTES ON COMPATIBILITY
II. KNOWN ISSUES
III. FAQ
IV. CONTACTING Warner Brothers Games; EULA
I. NOTES ON COMPATIBILITY
==========================
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is designed to function with
Windows(R) XP/Vista compatible graphics and sound cards. Drivers for these
devices are provided by Windows(R) itself or the respective card
manufacturers and may occasionally result in compatibility problems beyond
our control.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin does not support Windows(R) 95, Windows(R) 98,
Windows(R) ME or Windows 2000.
If you experience any problems, it is always recommended that you
obtain the latest drivers for your hardware. Driver updates resolve
the overwhelming majority of compatibility issues. Most hardware
vendors make their drivers available on their web site. If you are
unsure of a web site URL for a particular hardware vendor, you may
want to try accessing one of the popular Windows(R) software update
sites.
Additionally, a brief list of manufacturer web sites appears below
for your reference.
WEB LINKS
ATI: http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html
Creative: http://support.creative.com
NVIDIA(R): http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
II. KNOWN ISSUES
=================
The following items are known issues with the release version of the game.
General
* This application is not compatible with the /3GB setting in the windows boot.ini
file. This setting will cause the game to blue screen crash if specified.
* Selecting a display resolution that is supported by your video card but not your
monitor will result in a black screen. If this occurs, use ALT-F4 to quit the
application, and then relaunch the application in Safe Mode (instructions below) to
select a resolution supported by your monitor.
* Forcing Anistropic Filtering to 16x in your video card driver settings may cause
visual anomalies when playing.
* F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin does not support integrated video chipsets. A
dedicated Video Card is necessary to play F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.
*Running the game using Crossfire (AMD�s solution for using two video cards at
once) can result in significant graphical corruption. Disabling Catalyst AI in the
Catalyst Control Center should clear up this corruption. We are currently
communicating with AMD regarding this issue.
*If this error is seen when running the game - Error copying file gameclient.dll -
please close Steam, relaunch Steam, and relaunch the game.
*Running the game using Crossfire (AMD�s solution for using two video cards at
once) shows little to no performance improvement over using one AMD video card. We
are currently communicating with AMD regarding this issue.
Safe Mode-
Safe Mode is made available to users as a means of working around and isolating
problems with video display and audio playback. Launching the game in Safe Mode
does the following-
� Sets display resolution to 640x480
� Sets all advanced performance options to minimum
� Disables all sound and sound filters
� Disables music
� Disables all movies
To launch the game in Safe mode using the Steam* version, please do the following-
1. Launch Steam.exe
2. In Steam, go to My Games
3. Right Click F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
4. Go to Properties
5. Under the General tab, click button labeled Set Launch Options
6. In the text field in the Set Launch Options window, type the following
without quotes-
�-safemode�
To exit safe mode, the program must be restarted without �safemode.
To launch the game in safe mode using the Installshield* version, please do the
following-
1. Find the game in the Start Menu under All Programs|WBGames|Monolith Productions|
F.E.A.R. 2 - Project Origin|F.E.A.R. 2 - Project Origin - Safe Mode. Select this
option.
2. When asked if you want to enter Safe Mode, click Yes
To exit safe mode, the program must be restarted using the option in the Start Menu
found in All Programs|WBGames|Monolith Productions|F.E.A.R. 2 - Project Origin
called F.E.A.R. 2 - Project Origin.
*How to tell which version you are running - If a 3rd party application called
Steam, which is clearly labeled as such, is used to install and run the game, then
you are running the Steam version. If the first window of the installer is titled
"F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin - InstallShield Wizard", then you are running the
InstallShield version.
Sound Acceleration Error
If you receive an error when starting the game stating �Sound Acceleration Error.
Please refer to the readme.txt for instructions on setting up the sound hardware on
your computer�, please perform the following steps.
Make sure sound hardware is installed.
XP - Go to Start|Control Panel|System. Go to the Hardware tab. Click the Device
Manager button. Under Sound, Video and game controllers, make sure audio hardware
is present and does not show any errors. If there are errors, please resolve them
using Device Manager or the Add Hardware Wizard found in Control Panel.
Vista � Go to Start|Control Panel. Open Device Manager. Under Sound, Video and
game controllers, make sure audio hardware is present and does not show any errors.
If there are errors, please resolve them using Device Manager or Add Hardware found
in Control Panel.
Verify hardware acceleration is enabled (XP only)
Go to Start|Control Panel|Sound and Audio Devices. Then select the Audio tab.
Click the Advanced button under the Sound playback section. Then select the
Performance Tab. Under Audio Playback, Hardware Acceleration, move the slider to
be more than none.
Unsupported Video Card Error.
The current video card is unsupported. Please see the readme.txt file for more
information.
If this message is seen, it means that your video card is insufficient, or you are
trying to run the game in an unsupported manner, such as through Remote Desktop.
Please make sure that your video card meets or exceeds the minimum system
specifications noted in the manual.
Installing Steam or attempting to run game for the first time from a Standard or
Limited account fails.
Log in to an administrator account to install Steam and run the game for the first
time to finish installing components on which the game depends.
Steam failed to initialize. Please make sure your Steam installation is valid.
This error means that the game could not find and start Steam on your system. You
may need to re-install Steam and the game in order to resolve the issue. Please
see https://support.steampowered.com/ for more information on resolving your steam
installation issue.
Other Sound Errors:
* If the in-game sounds, music and dialogue (voices) do not play, or there are
problems with the quality of these sounds, then please try updating audio hardware
drivers. Please see the instructions below.
Make sure that you have the latest drivers available for your sound hardware
installed. These can usually be found on the manufacturer's website. Before
installing the driver, uninstall the audio device using the Device Manager. If
possible, run a "driver cleaner" application to fully clean out any extra pieces of
the driver and/or leftover files of another sound card's drivers. Do NOT allow
Windows to install its default driver when asked. Instead, only install the driver
you downloaded from the manufacturer's website.
* Please note that since this game uses an MP3 codec for sound, 3rd party codec
packs such as the ACE Mega CoDecS Pack may cause unpredictable audio performance.
If you have a codec pack installed and still have sound issues after trying all of
the steps listed above, then you will need to disable installed codecs from the
CoDecS Dashboard settings screen before running the game. Please note which Codecs
are being disabled so those Codecs can be enabled at a later time
* If 3d sounds seem to be change volume wildly (i.e. looking directly at an object
will make it sound quieter than when it is to the side), then you may have your
speaker configuration set up incorrectly. For instance, if you're listening in
headphones but have the speaker configuration set to Surround 5.1, then a lot of
sounds will be sent to speakers that don't exist. You can change the speaker
configuration in your sound card's applications (such as Creative's AudioHQ or
Surround Mixer) or in the Control Panel.
* On some Realtek audio chipsets, audio originating from certain positions relative
to the player are far quieter than they should be. This is experienced when using
a two speaker configuration, such as headphones. Realtek has been made aware of
the issue. A workaround that will resolve this issue is to lower the audio
hardware acceleration. To change this, go to Control Panel � Sounds and Audio
Devices � Volume Tab. Under this section, Speaker Settings are found at the
bottom. Click Advanced, then go to the Performance tab. Reduce Hardware
Acceleration down to Basic.
* If sounds that are originating in front of you sound as if they are coming from
behind, and if these sounds seem distorted, and you are playing in 5.1, 7.1 or any
other surround configuration, then you may need to turn off CMSS in your EAX(TM)
console. CMSS is used to create a multi-channel version of a stereo source.
Unfortunately, it can cause issues like this when using it on sounds that are
already designed to be in Surround. Note that sometimes you can choose not to
install the EAX(TM) Console when installing your sound card, so you may have to
reinstall the driver in order to get this application.
* Hardware conflicts with some RAID servers have been reported. If you're
experiencing very poor frame-rates and are running a RAID as your primary hard-
drive, then disable sound hardware acceleration in the Windows control panel, or
in DxDiag. Disabling sound hardware acceleration inside the game will not
alleviate the problem in these cases.
General Troubleshooting
* If problems of any kind are encountered, please make sure that all applications
that are running in the background such as virus scanners, desktop Utilities
(menus/toolbars), media players, and chat programs are disabled before running
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.
* Please download the latest Windows(R) service pack before playing.
* Striking the Shift key five times may cause the 'Sticky Key' feature to become
enabled in Windows(R). If this happens, the feature will task switch to a desktop
dialogue box with options related to this feature, including one to disable it
entirely.
III. FAQ
================
Q. The game is a bit slow or choppy. How do I increase my performance?
DETAIL SETTINGS and DISPLAY RESOLUTION
If poor performance is being experienced, try selecting Auto-Detect in the
Performance menu under Options in the Main Menu. This will set your detail and
effects settings to defaults for your configuration.
If problems are still being seen, go to Options � Performance � Advanced Options
from the Main Menu to find all of the performance settings that can be edited by
the user. Try adjusting these down to achieve better performance.
For more detailed settings instructions on how to optimize settings for your
computer, please try the following-
In order to get the best game play experience, it is not recommended to run
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin at high resolutions. You should avoid resolutions above
1024x768 for 4:3 displays, 1280x768 for 16:10 displays, and 1280x720 for 16:9
displays on any current generation card. Instead, use the full-screen anti-aliasing
(FSAA) option under the Advanced Options menu. This helps improve the visual
quality of the final scene without dramatically increasing the amount of work that
must be performed.
For manual control of specific detail and effects settings, go to Options �
Performance � Advanced Options. In this menu, specific detail and effects
settings can be edited to adjust quality level, or adjusted on/off where
applicable. Editing these functions may affect in game performance.
UPGRADING
If you are dissatisfied with the level of detail that your system can handle, then
you may wish to consider upgrading. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin performance is most
affected by your video card, followed closely by the CPU speed and the amount of
installed memory in your machine. A high end video card and CPU will usually result
in considerable frame rate improvements, while installing more RAM will result in
shorter load times and less hitching during game play.
IV. CONTACTING Warner Brothers Games; END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA)
=======================================================
END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
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F.E.A.R.2: PROJECT ORIGIN software � 2009 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Developed
by Monolith Productions, Inc. Monolith and the Monolith Logo are trademarks of
Monolith Productions, Inc. Uses Bink Video. Copyright � 1997 - 2009 by RAD Game
Tools, Inc. Havok� � Copyright 1999 - 2009 Havok.com Inc. (and its Licensors). See
www.havok.com for details. Portions of this software are included under license �
2009 Scaleform Corporation. MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology licensed from
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trademarks of and � Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
WB GAMES LOGO, WB SHIELD: � & � Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
(s09)
