Alan Wake - what are the 3D recommended settings?
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This is Bioshock 2 all over again. I get excited because the Dev says "Oh yeah it will look great in s3d," then have my expectations crushed because I buy the game on launch day and realize I've been swindled. /wallbash.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wallbash:' />
This is Bioshock 2 all over again. I get excited because the Dev says "Oh yeah it will look great in s3d," then have my expectations crushed because I buy the game on launch day and realize I've been swindled. /wallbash.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wallbash:' />

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#16
Posted 02/17/2012 06:38 PM   
Disabling the following shaders using Helix's mod seems to work well. (The enumeration on your machine might be different, so check the CRC)

Vertex shaders:
18:513D819A (head shadow)
37:5C0A11E5 (bloom)
96:6658893C (flares)
157:CB3A1356 (shadows)
189:57FE04AA (shadows)
209:DA02BDA3 (searchlight)

Pixel shaders:
16:45bcf51c
820:340558f3
824:bcc56af6

Shader override doesn't work for vertex shaders, so use the "Debug" version of the d3d9.dll and add the shaders to the skip list manually.
Disabling the following shaders using Helix's mod seems to work well. (The enumeration on your machine might be different, so check the CRC)



Vertex shaders:

18:513D819A (head shadow)

37:5C0A11E5 (bloom)

96:6658893C (flares)

157:CB3A1356 (shadows)

189:57FE04AA (shadows)

209:DA02BDA3 (searchlight)



Pixel shaders:

16:45bcf51c

820:340558f3

824:bcc56af6



Shader override doesn't work for vertex shaders, so use the "Debug" version of the d3d9.dll and add the shaders to the skip list manually.

#17
Posted 02/18/2012 12:47 AM   
@ironfelix: Thank You for that important information!
Didn't expect that Helix's tool would work with Alan Wake as it is designed for DirectX 9 and Alan Wake was originally anounced as a showcase title for DirectX 10. How does the game look without shadows and light effects? Is it still playable without these central gameplay elements? Helix even managed to fix (not only remove) the shadows in Kingdoms of Amalur. Maybe there is still hope for that game...

@Artox: If I remember correctly You also use iZ3D. Is it possible to play Alan Wake with iZ3D? iZ3D offers in it's profiles the option "render shadows in mono". This helped in some cases with wrong rendered shadows. Did You try this option with Alan Wake?
@ironfelix: Thank You for that important information!

Didn't expect that Helix's tool would work with Alan Wake as it is designed for DirectX 9 and Alan Wake was originally anounced as a showcase title for DirectX 10. How does the game look without shadows and light effects? Is it still playable without these central gameplay elements? Helix even managed to fix (not only remove) the shadows in Kingdoms of Amalur. Maybe there is still hope for that game...



@Artox: If I remember correctly You also use iZ3D. Is it possible to play Alan Wake with iZ3D? iZ3D offers in it's profiles the option "render shadows in mono". This helped in some cases with wrong rendered shadows. Did You try this option with Alan Wake?

My original display name is 3d4dd - for some reason Nvidia changed it..?!

#18
Posted 02/18/2012 08:26 AM   
[quote name='ironfelix' date='17 February 2012 - 04:47 PM' timestamp='1329526027' post='1370949']
Disabling the following shaders using Helix's mod seems to work well. (The enumeration on your machine might be different, so check the CRC)

Vertex shaders:
18:513D819A (head shadow)
37:5C0A11E5 (bloom)
96:6658893C (flares)
157:CB3A1356 (shadows)
189:57FE04AA (shadows)
209:DA02BDA3 (searchlight)

Pixel shaders:
16:45bcf51c
820:340558f3
824:bcc56af6

Shader override doesn't work for vertex shaders, so use the "Debug" version of the d3d9.dll and add the shaders to the skip list manually.
[/quote]


Care to elaborate further? I have no idea how to use Helix's mod. Maybe upload the file plz???
[quote name='ironfelix' date='17 February 2012 - 04:47 PM' timestamp='1329526027' post='1370949']

Disabling the following shaders using Helix's mod seems to work well. (The enumeration on your machine might be different, so check the CRC)



Vertex shaders:

18:513D819A (head shadow)

37:5C0A11E5 (bloom)

96:6658893C (flares)

157:CB3A1356 (shadows)

189:57FE04AA (shadows)

209:DA02BDA3 (searchlight)



Pixel shaders:

16:45bcf51c

820:340558f3

824:bcc56af6



Shader override doesn't work for vertex shaders, so use the "Debug" version of the d3d9.dll and add the shaders to the skip list manually.







Care to elaborate further? I have no idea how to use Helix's mod. Maybe upload the file plz???

#19
Posted 02/18/2012 08:35 AM   
[quote name='ironfelix' date='18 February 2012 - 02:47 AM' timestamp='1329526027' post='1370949']
Disabling the following shaders using Helix's mod seems to work well. (The enumeration on your machine might be different, so check the CRC)
[/quote]

Some of these shaders seem key to the games atmosphere. Care to post a jps shot of how it looks like without them? You know, a couple of taken around, pop a flare in the middle and alt-F1 it. :)
[quote name='ironfelix' date='18 February 2012 - 02:47 AM' timestamp='1329526027' post='1370949']

Disabling the following shaders using Helix's mod seems to work well. (The enumeration on your machine might be different, so check the CRC)





Some of these shaders seem key to the games atmosphere. Care to post a jps shot of how it looks like without them? You know, a couple of taken around, pop a flare in the middle and alt-F1 it. :)

#20
Posted 02/18/2012 09:20 AM   
[quote name='3d4dd' date='18 February 2012 - 11:26 AM' timestamp='1329553595' post='1371058']
Didn't expect that Helix's tool would work with Alan Wake as it is designed for DirectX 9 and Alan Wake was originally anounced as a showcase title for DirectX 10. How does the game look without shadows and light effects? Is it still playable without these central gameplay elements? Helix even managed to fix (not only remove) the shadows in Kingdoms of Amalur. Maybe there is still hope for that game...
[/quote]
This game is DX9.
Maybe they will add DX10 in future, but at present it's completely a dx9 game.
Also this game didn't designed for use in 3D mode, too many effects don't contain depth information.
And I can't fix some of those effects, just put them at approximate depth.
[quote name='3d4dd' date='18 February 2012 - 11:26 AM' timestamp='1329553595' post='1371058']

Didn't expect that Helix's tool would work with Alan Wake as it is designed for DirectX 9 and Alan Wake was originally anounced as a showcase title for DirectX 10. How does the game look without shadows and light effects? Is it still playable without these central gameplay elements? Helix even managed to fix (not only remove) the shadows in Kingdoms of Amalur. Maybe there is still hope for that game...



This game is DX9.

Maybe they will add DX10 in future, but at present it's completely a dx9 game.

Also this game didn't designed for use in 3D mode, too many effects don't contain depth information.

And I can't fix some of those effects, just put them at approximate depth.

#21
Posted 02/18/2012 09:22 AM   
I for one am actually going to ask for a refund from Steam due to false advertising, as stereoscopic support is the only reason I bought this game.
I for one am actually going to ask for a refund from Steam due to false advertising, as stereoscopic support is the only reason I bought this game.

#22
Posted 02/18/2012 11:26 AM   
I know that this won't apply to most people here but the game is actually pretty good in 3d on the Sony HMZ-T1. I guess it is because of the way the HMZ works but I only notice slight issues with it. The lighting looks fine and the shadows look fine. There are just some minor artifacts that appear on certain surfaces. Now it doesn't look as clean in 3d as Skyrim or
Batman but it is very playable. I've spent about 5 hours with it. Now obviously the developers didn't test the game using an HMZ so there is no excuse for their specifically claiming that the game would work well with 3dvision.
I know that this won't apply to most people here but the game is actually pretty good in 3d on the Sony HMZ-T1. I guess it is because of the way the HMZ works but I only notice slight issues with it. The lighting looks fine and the shadows look fine. There are just some minor artifacts that appear on certain surfaces. Now it doesn't look as clean in 3d as Skyrim or

Batman but it is very playable. I've spent about 5 hours with it. Now obviously the developers didn't test the game using an HMZ so there is no excuse for their specifically claiming that the game would work well with 3dvision.

#23
Posted 02/18/2012 03:40 PM   
[quote name='-=HeliX=-' date='18 February 2012 - 09:22 AM' timestamp='1329556941' post='1371065']
This game is DX9.
Maybe they will add DX10 in future, but at present it's completely a dx9 game.
[/quote]

It's hard to believe since it doesn't look like it's dx9 - especially water.
Moreover, the official recommended requirements list dx10 compatible card.
But after reading some articles it seems that you are right - it seems it is a dx9 game. /blink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' />

@ironfelix I would also love to see some screens without shadows and light effects.

@nVidia When are we going to learn the official 3D compatibility of Alan Wake?

EDIT: I've just found Andrew's post on Steam:

[quote]Hi All

We are aware of the 3D Vision issues with Alan Wake. To be honest, we dont have a rating for the game and did not message the title is being amazing in 3D.

Our next major driver release will rate the game Poor because of the issues in it.

We are hopeful the developer will address the issues in the game.

Andrew Fear
3D Vision product manager
NVIDIA Corporation [/quote]

Well, thanx for this at least. Now I know I can play it in 2D and I won't be pissed in a couple of weeks when I learn that it supports 3D.
[quote name='-=HeliX=-' date='18 February 2012 - 09:22 AM' timestamp='1329556941' post='1371065']

This game is DX9.

Maybe they will add DX10 in future, but at present it's completely a dx9 game.





It's hard to believe since it doesn't look like it's dx9 - especially water.

Moreover, the official recommended requirements list dx10 compatible card.

But after reading some articles it seems that you are right - it seems it is a dx9 game. /blink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':blink:' />



@ironfelix I would also love to see some screens without shadows and light effects.



@nVidia When are we going to learn the official 3D compatibility of Alan Wake?



EDIT: I've just found Andrew's post on Steam:



Hi All



We are aware of the 3D Vision issues with Alan Wake. To be honest, we dont have a rating for the game and did not message the title is being amazing in 3D.



Our next major driver release will rate the game Poor because of the issues in it.



We are hopeful the developer will address the issues in the game.



Andrew Fear

3D Vision product manager

NVIDIA Corporation




Well, thanx for this at least. Now I know I can play it in 2D and I won't be pissed in a couple of weeks when I learn that it supports 3D.

#24
Posted 02/18/2012 05:20 PM   
[quote name='WarTapes' date='18 February 2012 - 12:20 PM' timestamp='1329585659' post='1371160']
.....

@nVidia When are we going to learn the official 3D compatibility of Alan Wake?
[/quote]

Andrew stated in the other thread on Alan Wake that it will be recieving a poor rating.
[quote name='WarTapes' date='18 February 2012 - 12:20 PM' timestamp='1329585659' post='1371160']

.....



@nVidia When are we going to learn the official 3D compatibility of Alan Wake?





Andrew stated in the other thread on Alan Wake that it will be recieving a poor rating.

#25
Posted 02/18/2012 05:34 PM   
You won't get $h1t for a refund from steam. I tried that once and they laughed at me. Once bought you own it.
You won't get $h1t for a refund from steam. I tried that once and they laughed at me. Once bought you own it.

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#26
Posted 02/18/2012 06:01 PM   
Now, coming back to my original question, what settings would you recommend to make the best outcome in 3D?

(I don't think I'm gonna play it in 3D if Remedy changes nothing, but in case...)

Here's a list of settings with the description for newbies like me from Steam:

[quote]RESOLUTION - Resolution can be adjusted freely based on what your graphics card / monitor tells our game it can do. The game supports different aspect ratios too. Increasing resolution is fairly GPU-heavy as the game also increases the resolution of many of the internal rendering buffers.

Alan Wake needs a minimum 1024x768 resolution to run. When you first run the game, it tries to run in your desktop resolution unless you have a very slow system (there is a very light-weight automatic performance detection on the first run).

If you have low performance we recommend you run the game at 1280x720 or 1024x768.


VSYNC - You can enable or disable the vertical sync. Disabling it causes the game to render "as fast as it can" meaning your frame rate may go up, but also will cause the game to "tear" and the frame rate to feel more uneven.


GRAPHICS QUALITY - Low, Medium, High or Custom. A few pre-defined settings for different performance levels.


ANTIALIASING - 2x, 4x, 8x - defines the full screen MSAA level. 8x is pretty expensive for the GPU. Best performance & visual compromise is 4x setting and FXAA set to high. Antialiasing can't be disabled in Alan Wake, as the engine has been designed so that AA is on at all times. If you disable it from e.g. driver's control panel, the game will likely work but you will see visual artifacts.


FXAA - Off, Low, High. FXAA is a complementary post-processing anti-alias technique. It's not really expensive, but should be turned off on low-end systems. High uses a slightly slower, better quality technique.


ANISOTROPIC FILTERING - Off, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x - sets the texture filter mode. Makes the textures look sharper/nicer.


SHADOW QUALITY - Low, Medium, High. Low is meant for older, low end systems. This setting really affects CPU and GPU performance. Low renders one shadow region less and the shadow draw distance is small. Medium corresponds approximately to what the Xbox360 build does, and high has increased resolution and filtering.


SSAO Quality - Off, Low, High - Screen Space Ambient Occlusion is a post-processing effect that makes objects look like they fit better in the scene by shadowing the edges. Needs purely GPU power. High uses better quality effect and takes quite a lot of power, Low can look a bit noisy at times.


BACKDROP QUALITY - Low, Medium, High - affects the rendering quality of the game world's backdrop beyond draw distance (see below). A good compromise on a medium PC may be lowering draw distance but keeping this setting at medium or high, as the performance effect is not huge, but the Low quality backdrop can look a bit blocky.


GODRAY QUALITY - Off, High. God Rays from the sun are on only during daytime scenes. On a low end graphics card this can take a lot of performance for little visual benefit - it's a cool but rather subtle effect. This setting has no effect on performance or visuals during night time.


VOLUMETRIC LIGHT QUALITY - Low, High. Filtering and resolution of the Volumetric light effects in the game. This is a night time setting only. High makes lights look really pretty and is not massively expensive for the GPU to render.


DRAW DISTANCE - Slider that affects the landscape and object draw distance. It also affects the landscape tessellation distance which is a CPU intensive process. Minimum is 650m, max is 1500m during daytime and 1000m during night time. This slider has a large effect on CPU power in the game, but also affects GPU performance. Recommend turning to minimum for low end systems.


LOD DISTANCE - Slider that changes the distance when objects change from lower level of detail models to the high detail models. It also affects how far small objects are rendered. This can have a rather big impact on performance, both CPU and GPU power. Recommend turning to low on slow systems.


FOV (under control options) - Slider that affects the FOV factor compared to the default FOV. The FOV in the game is affected by aspect ratio as well as many in-game events (sprinting, boosting), thus this has to be a multiplier rather than a fixed angle setting. Our default FOV in 16:9 is about 80 degrees. Increasing the FOV requires more processing power both from the CPU and GPU - a larger area with possibly more visible objects is rendered.[/quote]

What settings would you recommend?
Now, coming back to my original question, what settings would you recommend to make the best outcome in 3D?



(I don't think I'm gonna play it in 3D if Remedy changes nothing, but in case...)



Here's a list of settings with the description for newbies like me from Steam:



RESOLUTION - Resolution can be adjusted freely based on what your graphics card / monitor tells our game it can do. The game supports different aspect ratios too. Increasing resolution is fairly GPU-heavy as the game also increases the resolution of many of the internal rendering buffers.



Alan Wake needs a minimum 1024x768 resolution to run. When you first run the game, it tries to run in your desktop resolution unless you have a very slow system (there is a very light-weight automatic performance detection on the first run).



If you have low performance we recommend you run the game at 1280x720 or 1024x768.





VSYNC - You can enable or disable the vertical sync. Disabling it causes the game to render "as fast as it can" meaning your frame rate may go up, but also will cause the game to "tear" and the frame rate to feel more uneven.





GRAPHICS QUALITY - Low, Medium, High or Custom. A few pre-defined settings for different performance levels.





ANTIALIASING - 2x, 4x, 8x - defines the full screen MSAA level. 8x is pretty expensive for the GPU. Best performance & visual compromise is 4x setting and FXAA set to high. Antialiasing can't be disabled in Alan Wake, as the engine has been designed so that AA is on at all times. If you disable it from e.g. driver's control panel, the game will likely work but you will see visual artifacts.





FXAA - Off, Low, High. FXAA is a complementary post-processing anti-alias technique. It's not really expensive, but should be turned off on low-end systems. High uses a slightly slower, better quality technique.





ANISOTROPIC FILTERING - Off, 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x - sets the texture filter mode. Makes the textures look sharper/nicer.





SHADOW QUALITY - Low, Medium, High. Low is meant for older, low end systems. This setting really affects CPU and GPU performance. Low renders one shadow region less and the shadow draw distance is small. Medium corresponds approximately to what the Xbox360 build does, and high has increased resolution and filtering.





SSAO Quality - Off, Low, High - Screen Space Ambient Occlusion is a post-processing effect that makes objects look like they fit better in the scene by shadowing the edges. Needs purely GPU power. High uses better quality effect and takes quite a lot of power, Low can look a bit noisy at times.





BACKDROP QUALITY - Low, Medium, High - affects the rendering quality of the game world's backdrop beyond draw distance (see below). A good compromise on a medium PC may be lowering draw distance but keeping this setting at medium or high, as the performance effect is not huge, but the Low quality backdrop can look a bit blocky.





GODRAY QUALITY - Off, High. God Rays from the sun are on only during daytime scenes. On a low end graphics card this can take a lot of performance for little visual benefit - it's a cool but rather subtle effect. This setting has no effect on performance or visuals during night time.





VOLUMETRIC LIGHT QUALITY - Low, High. Filtering and resolution of the Volumetric light effects in the game. This is a night time setting only. High makes lights look really pretty and is not massively expensive for the GPU to render.





DRAW DISTANCE - Slider that affects the landscape and object draw distance. It also affects the landscape tessellation distance which is a CPU intensive process. Minimum is 650m, max is 1500m during daytime and 1000m during night time. This slider has a large effect on CPU power in the game, but also affects GPU performance. Recommend turning to minimum for low end systems.





LOD DISTANCE - Slider that changes the distance when objects change from lower level of detail models to the high detail models. It also affects how far small objects are rendered. This can have a rather big impact on performance, both CPU and GPU power. Recommend turning to low on slow systems.





FOV (under control options) - Slider that affects the FOV factor compared to the default FOV. The FOV in the game is affected by aspect ratio as well as many in-game events (sprinting, boosting), thus this has to be a multiplier rather than a fixed angle setting. Our default FOV in 16:9 is about 80 degrees. Increasing the FOV requires more processing power both from the CPU and GPU - a larger area with possibly more visible objects is rendered.




What settings would you recommend?

#27
Posted 02/18/2012 06:26 PM   
A dev mentioned in a thread that they would come out with a fix for another thing, so there might be a patch that effects 3D eventually.
A dev mentioned in a thread that they would come out with a fix for another thing, so there might be a patch that effects 3D eventually.

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#28
Posted 02/19/2012 02:49 AM   
Found this on the Steam forum page for this page that was posted by someone from Remedy on things they are going to work on:

"Longer term we will hope to look at things like improving Stereo3D, grass draw distance and offering Latam Spanish localization."

Maybe it's just me but that doesn't inspire much confidence. It's pretty obvious that no attempt was made to make anything work in 3D. I think they just turned on 3D with the engine in its current state and called it a day.

Steam gave me a cookie cutter response on my request for a refund and asked me to ask for support from the developers. I am still trying to get a refund from this game, however, and responded back to them stating how they misled those of us expecting "working" 3D. I know my chances of getting a refund are almost nil but it was worth a shot anyway.

I posted my displeasure in the thread where they announced what they were working on. What I have there now is the nice version as I am really ticked off over this fiasco. It's nothing like the Witcher 2 situation because I knew that problem would eventually get fixed and I have way more faith in CD Projekt than Remedy.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2551847&page=2
Found this on the Steam forum page for this page that was posted by someone from Remedy on things they are going to work on:



"Longer term we will hope to look at things like improving Stereo3D, grass draw distance and offering Latam Spanish localization."



Maybe it's just me but that doesn't inspire much confidence. It's pretty obvious that no attempt was made to make anything work in 3D. I think they just turned on 3D with the engine in its current state and called it a day.



Steam gave me a cookie cutter response on my request for a refund and asked me to ask for support from the developers. I am still trying to get a refund from this game, however, and responded back to them stating how they misled those of us expecting "working" 3D. I know my chances of getting a refund are almost nil but it was worth a shot anyway.



I posted my displeasure in the thread where they announced what they were working on. What I have there now is the nice version as I am really ticked off over this fiasco. It's nothing like the Witcher 2 situation because I knew that problem would eventually get fixed and I have way more faith in CD Projekt than Remedy.



http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2551847&page=2

#29
Posted 02/19/2012 09:09 AM   
Yeah sorry to hear you guys getting burned like this, I was totally off as I expected it to have native 3D support from their lead-up promotion (picture of 3D/eyefinity setup) of the game and the listed specs (works with 3D Vision 2 etc). I think your best bet is to pursue refund with Steam. They won't give you your money back, but they can/will give you Steam bucks toward another future purchase. They have also offered refunds in the past on games with really poor launches where the product was non-functional or not what was advertised, I forget the last time, maybe it was Rage?
Yeah sorry to hear you guys getting burned like this, I was totally off as I expected it to have native 3D support from their lead-up promotion (picture of 3D/eyefinity setup) of the game and the listed specs (works with 3D Vision 2 etc). I think your best bet is to pursue refund with Steam. They won't give you your money back, but they can/will give you Steam bucks toward another future purchase. They have also offered refunds in the past on games with really poor launches where the product was non-functional or not what was advertised, I forget the last time, maybe it was Rage?

-=HeliX=- Mod 3DV Game Fixes
My 3D Vision Games List Ratings

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#30
Posted 02/19/2012 03:48 PM   
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