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#417
GRAPHICS:
General:
* 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 use the display option in the
configuration utility (CONFIG.EXE) to select a resolution supported by
your monitor.
* Launching the game in Windows(R) XP 64-Bit Edition with ATI Radeon Windows(R)
64-Bit edition Beta Drivers 3 may result in a black screen on launch. To work
around this issue, toggle your color quality settings in Windows(R) from 32
to 16-bit (or vice-versa) and then back again. This should allow the game to
launch normally.
* If you get a black screen on launch and have ACE Mega CoDecS Pack or similar
codec packs installed on your computer, 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.
* The Soft Shadows option will have no effect if the Full-Screen Anti-Aliasing
(FSAA) option is enabled. Also, you may notice odd rendering issues with
shadows in the game if you enable this option while FSAA is enabled
through the Windows(R) control panel.
ATI Radeon:
* Hitching may occur when a large number of new materials are loaded into video
memory at the same time. Please contact ATI for the latest information
regarding this issue. In the meantime, try turning texture resolution down to
Medium in the performance menu.
Nvidia:
* Some surfaces in the game may exhibit minor rendering problems when viewed
from certain angles. We are working with Nvidia to resolve this.
SOUND:
General:
* If the in-game sounds and dialogue (voices) do not play, or there are
problems with the quality of these sounds, then please try each of the
following steps (in order) before playing again. Note that you should only
try one solution at a time, since trying them all can greatly reduce the
overall sound quality of the game.
1. 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.
2. From your main installation folder (the default is
C:\Program Files\Monolith Productions\Condemned: Criminal Origins),
double-click on the file named WMFADist.exe, and then follow the
on-screen instructions. This will manually install the audio codec that
is required by the game.
3. From the in-game sound options menu, disable EAX(TM) and Hardware Sounds.
* 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 speech and sound
to drop out completely. 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.
* 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.
Creative:
* If you are using a Creative brand sound card and get poor framerates when
sound hardware acceleration is enabled, then check for a process called
"CtHelper"in the Windows(R) task manager. If it's there, terminate it and
try the game again. If this works, please contact Creative to learn
how to permanently disable CTHelper. If CTHelper is not present in the list
and the problem occurs anyway, then you will need to disable sound hardware
acceleration in the Sound section of the game's options menu, or in the
Windows control panel, or in DxDiag.
* If you are using an SBLive! card and notice strange clicking sounds in the
music after using Alt-tab to task switch out of the game to windows and then
back again. To fix the problem, just quit out of and restart the game
application.
PERIPHERALS:
* Logitech MX510
Users of this mouse may find it to be extremely sensitive in-game. Please use
the software supplied with your mouse to correct this issue.
* Saitek ST90
There have been reports of problems with mapping the buttons on this
joystick to the fire key in the game.
ADVANCED OPTIONS:
If you're encountering problems running the game, you can try
tweaking some advanced settings in the configuration utility
(config.exe). Please note that this is for advanced users only,
since tweaking these settings could very well create other problems
in the game.
DISABLE JOYSTICKS
Disables input from joysticks and game pads. Certain joysticks
and game pads may interfere with normal mouse or keyboard
control in the game. If you suspect this is occurring, checking
this box before running the game may resolve the problem.
DISABLE SOUND FILTERS
If this box is checked, sound filtering effects (reverb) will be
disabled. Only cards with EAX(TM) 2.0 support will benefit from this
feature. If you experience problems such as static when firing a
weapon in a particular area within a level, then you may need to
play with sound filtering disabled.
DISABLE HARDWARE SOUND
If this box is checked, this will disable DirectSound 3D sound support
and could cause performance issues.
RESTORE DEFAULTS
If this box is checked, all in-game options will be restored to the
default values. This can be useful if a particular option setting
is preventing you from restoring the defaults from the menu system.
IV. FAQ
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Q. How do I bind my gamepad/joystick buttons to actions?
Binding these buttons is handled on the Keyboard screen, just like binding
keys on the keyboard. From the main menu, select 'Options', then
'Controls' and finally 'Keyboard'. Click on the action you want to bind to a
button and then press the button.
Q. The game is a bit slow or choppy. How do I increase my performance?
DETAIL SETTINGS and DISPLAY RESOLUTION
In order to get the best game play experience, it is not recommended to
run Condemned: Criminal Origins at high resolutions. You should avoid
resolutions above 1024x768 on any current generation card. Instead, you
can use the full-screen anti-aliasing (FSAA) option under Graphics in 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.
Most players will also notice a significant increase in frame rate by
disabling the Vsync option in the display options screen. If this doesn’t
make enough of a difference, your next step should be to lower your
screen resolution to 800x600 or 640x480.
If performance is still a problem at this stage, try these additional
steps:
• Disable FSAA and Soft Shadows in the advanced options under Graphics.
• Use Trilinear Texture Filtering instead of Anisotropic.
• If you have less than 512MB of RAM or a video card with less than
128MB of RAM, use low or medium Texture Resolution.
UPGRADING
If you are dissatisfied with the level of detail that your system can
handle, then you may wish to consider upgrading. Condemned: Criminal Origins
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.