Solutions for F.E.A.R. 2 : Project Origin crashes, performance, display & language problems

There has been quite a few F.E.A.R. 2 related articles posted here on FILEnetworks Blog today & yesterday. As opposed to previous articles, this post aims to discuss possible solutions to problems you may encounter with the game. This includes display issues, random crashes, performance issues, language problems and various other errors. We’ve also given a few tips on how to increase game performance. Please note that this article is a work in progress – it will continuously be updated as new problems, solutions, downloads, tweaks and tips for FEAR 2 are discovered.

I’ve played the game for about 1 hour so far and have not had any crashes or any other major issue. The game seems to be pretty well optimized and performance was good even on my low/mid range Geforce 8800. It’s worth mentioning that the frame rate I got with final version was the same as the FPS i got with FEAR 2 Demo which was released earlier.

UPDATE (10/2): How to enable blood and gore in F.E.A.R. 2 : Project Origin

Some versions (German?) of FEAR 2 : Project Origin seem to have blood and gore turned off by default (there is no blood visible when you shoot soldiers or you cannot blow them to pieces :( ) and the option to turn it back on seem to be missing from the game menu. There is a simple workaround for this using a settings file from the FEAR 2 Demo. For a step by step guide on how to do this and required files, please refer to this article.

How to fix the missing x3daudio1_5.dll error message in FEAR 2?

This error is almost always caused by the proper version of Microsoft DirectX not being installed on Windows XP. FEAR 2 comes with a DirectX redistributable installer so it’s only a matter of running the setup. Navigate to \F.E.A.R. 2\Support\DirectX9 folder and execute dx9setup.

How to manually change game language by editing system registry

Sometimes, you may run into problems with in game audio and text language. For example the game may play Russian audio while you need to game to run with English audio. There is no in game option to change the language so use the steps below to manually change it by editing the system registry.

1. Open a new text file in Notepad, paste the following into the new text file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Monolith Productions\FEAR2\1.00.0000]
"Language"="LANG"

To set a language of your choice, replace “LANG” with any of the following codes:

cs - Czech
de - German
en - English
es - Spanish
fr - French
hu - Hungarian
it - Italian
ja - Japanese
pl - Polish
ru - Russian

For example, if you want the game to run in English, your text file should contain the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Monolith Productions\FEAR2\1.00.0000]
"Language"="en"

2. Now save the text file with the .reg extension (Choose File—> Save As –> Select ‘All Files’ from “Save as Type’ and save with the name filename.reg 

3. Now locate the .reg file you jus saved, right click it and select ‘Merge’. Press ok to the dialog box that pops up. Run the game. Note that if your game does not contain the desired language (if it’s not a Multilanguage version), audio stream will default to English.

How to manually change screen resolution and other game settings by editing FEAR 2 configuration files

FEAR 2 : Project Origin configuration files are stored in:
C:\users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\WBGames\FEAR2\settings.cfg file on Vista or \My Documents\WBGames\FEAR2\settings.cfg on XP. All you need to do is to edit this file using a text editor such as Notepad. (Note: Settings.cfg file in FEAR 2 build 1.0.2255.0 is located in a subfolder.)

For example, if you want to change screen resolution manually to 1024x768, change the following lines as below:

"ScreenHeight" "768.000000"
"ScreenWidth" "1024.000000" 

There are several similar options in the settings.cfg file which you can manually edit easily. Please proceed with caution as improper editing of this file can cause you game not to load properly or behave in unpredictable ways.

How to remove and disable the film grain effect in FEAR 2

You may already have noticed the film grain effect that is present at all times in FEAR 2 : Project Origin. There is no in game option to disable this effect. You can however download and use this mod to remove the film grain effect. Note: This hack sometimes disables full screen effects other than film grain. Using this on your first play through is not recommended.

UPDATE (11/2) How to remove black bars (vertical lines) on top and bottom of screen

You may seem black vertical lines on top and bottom of your screen if you play FEAR 2 : Project Origin at certain widescreen resolutions. As far as I know this issue only arises in some ATI graphics cards (EDIT: on some NVIDIA GPU as well) including multi GPU configurations. This occurs when you have forced anisotropic filtering through your display driver’s control panel. Set this to ‘application controlled’ (or whatever similar setting in your GPU control panel) and the problem should be solved.

General tips to minimize crash to desktop (CTD) errors, how to increase performance and best driver versions to use

Best video card drivers to use – NVIDIA GPUs

Finding the best video card driver for a game usually involves testing with various available beta and final driver versions. But in this case, NVIDIA video card users have a clear choice. NVIDIA have released ForceWare 182.05 Beta drivers which are the recommended version for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. These drivers supposedly give a 10% performance increase over current ForceWare 181.22 drivers (according to release notes). Additionally, ForceWare 182.05 installs the NVIDIA PhysX System Software 9.09.0203 – this will ensure you have the most stable & current PhysX engine for crash free Physics processing.

[Click Here] for ForceWare 182.05 drivers for Windows Vista and XP (32/64-bit) direct download links

Best video card drivers to use – ATI GPUs

ATI on the other hand have not released any new driver updates targeted at F.E.A.R. 2 : Project Origin. The most recent ATI driver available as of this moment is Catalyst 9.1. Although I don’t think there are any FEAR 2 specific enhancements present in Catalyst 9.1, upgrading to this version is highly recommended if you are an ATI GPU owner.

[Click Here] to download ATI Catalyst 9.1 with OpenGL 3.0 for Windows Vista and XP (32/64 bit). 

Motherboard and sound card driver updates

Even though many people don’t care, it’s important to keep your motherboard and sound card drivers up to date for optimal game experience. If you don’t know the make and model of your sound card/motherboard or don’t know where to find driver updates, we suggest you use 3DP Chip to automate the process. 3DP Chip can detect your hardware and then provide download links for their latest available driver version.

[Click Here] to download 3DP Chip for Windows Vista/XP

Does your PC meet the minimum system requirements?

No matter how hard you try, it would have little impact if your PC hardware does not meet the game’s minimum requirements. To play F.E.A.R 2, you need to have at least the following PC configuration:

• OS: Windows XP/Vista
• Processor: Pentium 4 @ 2.8 GHz (3.2 for Vista)/Athlon 64 3000+ (3200+ for Vista)
• Memory: 1 GB (1.5 GB for Vista)
• Hard Drive: 12 GB Free
• Video Memory: 256 MB Shader Model 2.0b (nVidia GeForce 6800/ATI X700)
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c

 

Feel free to drop a comment if you need help with anything specific or simply want to share your game experiences.

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