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Alan Wake

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Alan Wake
Alan Wake cover
Developers
Remedy Entertainment
Windows Nitro Games
Publishers
Remedy Entertainment
Engines
MAX-FX
Release dates
Windows February 16, 2012
Alan Wake on Wikipedia
Alan Wake
Alan Wake 2012
Alan Wake's American Nightmare 2012
Alan Wake Remastered 2021
Alan Wake II 2023

General information

Official website
Official forums
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Steam Play Compatibility

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Epic Games Store
Epic Games Launcher
Windows
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Collector's Edition also available.
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Collector's Edition also available.
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Collector's Edition also available
Windows
Humble Store
DRM-free
Collector's Edition also available.
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Collector's Edition, Franchise also available.
Windows
The bonus content of the Collector's Edition can be found in the installation folder of the game.
Game was briefly pulled for a time between May 15, 2017 to October 25, 2018 due to music licensing issues.

DLC and expansion packs

Base game includes all DLC released for the Xbox 360 version.
Name Notes
Bonus Materials Available for free.
Windows
Collector's Edition Extras
Windows

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\data\videos\
  2. Delete or rename startup_mgs.bik and startup_remedy.bik

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Remedy\AlanWake\
Steam <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\108710\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/108710/pfx/[Note 1]
resolution.xml controls screen resolution as well as debugging information.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Remedy\AlanWake\
Steam <Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\108710\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/108710/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Approx. 100 MB available.
Settings will sync, except graphics settings.

Video settings

Graphics settings.
Graphics settings.
Advanced options for graphics.
Advanced options for graphics.

Template:Video settings

Field of view (FOV)

Suggested values by aspect ratio:
Aspect Ratio FOV
16:9, 16:10, 15:9 FOV 11
21:9 (2560x1080) FOV 13
15:4 (3840x1024) FOV 15
48:10 (5040x1050) FOV 19
48:9 (5760x1080) FOV 20

Input settings

Controls settings.
Controls settings.

Template:Input settings

Binding Enter or Backspace to actions

Edit keybinds.xml[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open keybinds.xml.
  3. For the action you want to set to Enter use key="0x1c", or use key="0x0e" to set to ← Backspace.

Audio settings

Template:Audio settings

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
Czech
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Includes localization for Spain and Latin American countries.[1]
Latin American Spanish
Includes localization for Spain and Latin American countries.[1]
Turkish
Fan translation. Details missing—please edit this page and add it.
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation

Latin American Spanish localization

Features its own dubbing.
Configure the game in Latin American Spanish[2]
  1. Download the language pack.
  2. Extract the files to <path-to-game>/data/.
  3. Right-click on Alan Wake - Properties.
  4. Click Set Launch Options on the General tab.
  5. Enter this command: -locale=esm

VR support

3D modes State GG3D Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
Use Helix Mod: Alan Wake for better 3D support.
TriDef 3D

Issues unresolved

Commentary audio volume too high

The volume for audio commentary cannot be changed and may be too high for some users. It was lowered slightly in 1.02 to be "more sensible".

Issues fixed

Everything is black and white on Intel graphics

This glitch causes all the graphics in the game to appear white, black and dark grey, while all the lighting and shadows seem to work.
This occurs on (even slightly) older Intel graphics drivers (confirmed with the one that ships with Apple's Boot Camp drivers for Windows 8).
Update graphics driver[citation needed]
Download and install the appropriate driver for your graphics adapter and OS from Intel's Download Center.

"No World Loaded" error

This is caused by a corrupted download.
Fix corrupted files[citation needed]
Use the Steam client's "Verify Integrity of Game Cache" option or redownload the game installer from GOG.com.

Nvidia Control Panel forced anisotropic filtering disables "darkness effect"

On Nvidia cards, if anisotropic filtering is forced through Nvidia Control Panel, "darkness effect" post processing (swirls, blur) is missing. Issue is solved by changing AF in Nvidia Control Panel to application controlled and enabling 16x anisotropic filtering in the game options.

Black cutscenes

Use the ingame Vsync and force Vsync through drivers[3]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9, 10
Shader Model support 3.0, 4.0
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok
Audio FMOD [1]

Disabling blur effects

Turn all blur effects off[citation needed]

Start the game with the command line parameter -noblur.

Command line parameters

Set these parameters to change certain hidden settings or force different options at start-up.[4]

Command Description
-hX Screen height (e.g. -h720).
-wX Screen width (e.g. -w1280).
-window Force windowed.
-novsync Disables Vsync.
-showfps Shows frame rate counter.
-forcesurround Forces 5.1 speaker mode.
-forcestereo Forces stereo speaker mode.
-nosound Disables sound.
-cleancloud Deletes save games and settings for Alan Wake from the Steam Cloud.
-noblur Disables the in-game vector blur.
-locale=xx Forces a selected locale.
-rigidcamera Modifies mouse aim behavior.
-directaiming Removes all mouse acceleration, also enables -rigidcamera.
-sensscale mouse sensitivity multiplier (e.g. -sensscale=0.123)
-nativekeys Fixes Windows language bar or input language disappearance.
-developermenu Unlocks all episodes and allows you to play at Nightmare difficulty without completing the game first on lower difficulties.
-freecamera Pressing the right thumb stick enables/disables freecamera mode. There is no keyboard switch.

Difficulty

Normal difficulty on the PC version is the same as the Hard difficulty in the console version.[5]

Unpacking game files for modding

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qinph0o9dr6yv4a/AWTool.7z?dl=0

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP2
Processor (CPU) Intel Dual Core 2.0 GHz
AMD Dual Core 2.8 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 8 GB
Video card (GPU) 512 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Sound (audio device) DirectX compatible sound card

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/108710/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (108710) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References