Difference between revisions of "Blur"

Revision as of 23:30, 24 September 2021

Key points

Game uses its own online account system^[1] and doesn't include VOIP, text chat or any other way to communicate with online players.

Frame rates over 60 FPS cause the game's audio to be distorted and broken (limit the frame rate to 60 FPS).

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM v7.41.0004 DRM
Steam (unavailable)

Online features require registering an account in-game.^[1]

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.2 for retail copies. Steam version is already patched.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files^[2]
Go to `<path-to-game>\UI\movies\` Delete or rename `atvi.bik` and `BizarreSplash.bik`.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\bizarre creations\blur\settings.xml
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/42640/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\bizarre creations\blur\save\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/42640/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Can also be toggled with `Alt`+`↵ Enter`.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Causes audio to be distorted and broken; cap the frame rate at 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Keyboard layout.

Controller layout.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Two layouts only.
Mouse acceleration		No mouse support.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput controllers only.
Full controller support		Only keyboard button prompts are displayed.
Controller remapping		Three layouts only.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		Add Blur to Steam as a non-Steam game and use the 'Gamepad' preset in the controller configuration. Vibration can be disabled via Steam Big Picture.
PlayStation button prompts
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Generic/other controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		See Haptic feedback.
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		Keyboard only.

Haptic feedback

Disable controller vibration^{[citation needed]}
See the Special K Unofficial Guide to install Special K. Start the game and press `Ctrl`+`⇧ Shift`+`← Backspace` to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand "Input Management", then "Gamepad". Enable "Disable ALL Rumble" and close the Control Panel. Press `Ctrl`+`⇧ Shift`+`O` to disable Special K's On-Screen Display.

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Effects, Music, Menu music.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		See Mute on focus lost.

Medium, and High audio settings will sound better, but the audio will cut sooner, and may not properly load. Can be fixed with a replacement dsound.dll from Creative ALchemy

Mute on focus lost

Mute in background^{[citation needed]}
See the Special K Unofficial Guide to install Special K. Start the game and press `Ctrl`+`⇧ Shift`+`← Backspace` to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand "Window Management", then "Input/Output Behavior". Enable "Mute Game" and close the Control Panel. Press `Ctrl`+`⇧ Shift`+`O` to disable Special K's On-Screen Display.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish				Local retail version only.
Spanish				Local retail version only.
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.

Network

Online features require registering an account in-game.^[1]

Servers seems to be still online as of February 3, 2020.

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play	4	Split-screen.
LAN play	20
Online play	20

Ports

No port information; you can edit this page to add it.

This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

VR support

3D modes	State	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision			Use Helix Mod: Blur for better 3D support.
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction. `Note:`Windowed mode may crash game !

Issues fixed

Black screen, degrading frame rate, freezes on launch, or loads endlessly

Install DirectPlay^[3]

Windows 8/8.1/10 removes important DirectX components, causing the framerate to degrade overtime. These components can be brought back by installing DirectPlay. More about DirectPlay here.

Go to Control Panel, and select 'Programs'.
Select 'Turn Windows features on and off'
Click on 'Legacy Components' and check the box 'DirectPlay'.
Select OK, once the installation is done, restart your computer.

Notes

It is recommended to reinstall the game after installing DirectPlay.

Resetting CPU Affinity

While the game is running, alt-tab, and open Task Manager. Make sure you click the 'More details' arrow to show the full Task Manager.
Go to the 'Details' tab, and find the process 'Blur.exe'
Right click the process, and select 'Set affinity'.
Uncheck the box for '<All Processors>', recheck 'CPU 0', and click OK.
Right click the 'Blur.exe' process again, and recheck the box for '<All Processors>', and click OK.

This has to be done every time the game is launched.

Changing CPU Affinity

Open the Task Manager, and go to the Details tab.
Right-click 'Blur.exe' and select 'Set Affinity'.
Disable CPU 0 and leave the other CPUs checked. Then hit OK.

This has to be done every time the game is launched.

Distorted audio quality

Frame rates over 60 FPS cause the game's audio to be distorted and broken.

Limit the Framerate to 60FPS^{[citation needed]}
See Frame rate capping.

Enable Vsync in Video options and set monitor on 60hz.^{[citation needed]}

Audio cuts out when game first loads

This issue only occurs with the Medium, and High audio setting.

Enable Compatibility Mode
Right click on either on 'Blur.exe', or the shortcut to the exe, and select 'Properties'. Click on the 'Compatibility' tab. Under the Compatibility mode section, check the box 'Run this program...', and select Windows 7. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Unable to play online

This is an issue which involves an inability to connect to online games, caused by Blur's overly strict reliance on port forwarding.

The only reliable way to play online is to use Virtual LAN software such as Hamachi or Tunngle, the latter of which had an active Blur community, but had to shut down its services in 30/04/2018 due to the EU GDPR. Nowadays there is a discord that hosts games over Radmin VPN.

Retail installer hangs

Retail copies of the game may get stuck during the install process, specifically before the installer starts copying files from the disc. This mostly is to occur on PCs running Windows 8/8.1/10.

Installing the game without the disk^[3]
Make a folder called 'BLUR_DVD' anywhere you choose in the computer. Open File Explorer, and view the files for BLUR_DVD. Select all of the files, copy, and paste them into the 'BLUR_DVD' folder. Once all the files have been copied over, select the 'Setup' folder, then the 'rsrc' folder. Select 'AUTORUN.exe' to start the installation

Mouse cursor always visible in game

Hide mouse cursor^{[citation needed]}
See the Special K Unofficial Guide to install Special K. Start the game and press `Ctrl`+`⇧ Shift`+`← Backspace` to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand "Input Management", then "Mouse Cursor". Enable "Hide When Not Moved" and set "Seconds Before Hiding" to "0". Close the Control Panel and press `Ctrl`+`⇧ Shift`+`O` to disable Special K's On-Screen Display.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
Shader Model support	3.0

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium D Dual Core 3.4 GHz	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	14 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT ATI Radeon X1600 XT 256 MB of VRAM Shader model 3.0 support	Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT ATI Radeon X1800 XT

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (42640) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 DRM ? :: Blur General Discussions
↑ How To : Disable Startup Videos - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Installing Blur for Windows 8/8.1/10 Complete Guide

[Proton_path_note-3] 1.0 ^1.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (42640) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[2] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[3] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[4] The app ID (42640) may differ in some cases.

[5] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[6] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[account-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 DRM ? :: Blur General Discussions

[2] How To : Disable Startup Videos - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)

[guide-4] 3.0 ^3.1 Installing Blur for Windows 8/8.1/10 Complete Guide

[1]

[2]

[Note 1]

[3]

@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 ===[[Glossary:Save game cloud syncing|Save game cloud syncing]]===
 {{Save game cloud syncing
-|discord                =
+|discord                   =
-|discord notes          =
+|discord notes             =
-|epic games store       =
+|epic games launcher       =
-|epic games store notes =
+|epic games launcher notes =
-|gog galaxy             =
+|gog galaxy                =
-|gog galaxy notes       =
+|gog galaxy notes          =
-|origin                 =
+|origin                    =
-|origin notes           =
+|origin notes              =
-|steam cloud            = false
+|steam cloud               = false
-|steam cloud notes      =
+|steam cloud notes         =
-|uplay                  =
+|ubisoft connect           =
-|uplay notes            =
+|ubisoft connect notes     =
-|xbox cloud             =
+|xbox cloud                =
-|xbox cloud notes       =
+|xbox cloud notes          =
 }}
-==Video settings==
+==Video==
 {{Image|Blur - graphics.jpg|Graphics settings.}}
-{{Video settings
+{{Video
 |wsgf link                  = https://www.wsgf.org/dr/blur
 |widescreen wsgf award      = silver
@@ Line 90: / Line 90: @@
 |windowed                   = true
 |windowed notes             = Can also be toggled with {{key|Alt|Enter}}.
-|borderless windowed        = hackable
+|borderless windowed        = false
-|borderless windowed notes  = Use [[Glossary:Borderless fullscreen windowed#Borderless Gaming|Borderless Gaming]].
+|borderless windowed notes  =
 |anisotropic                = false
 |anisotropic notes          =
@@ Line 108: / Line 108: @@
 }}
-==Input settings==
+==Input==
 {{Image|Blur - keyboard.jpg|Keyboard layout.}}
 {{Image|Blur - controller.jpg|Controller layout.}}
-{{Input settings
+{{Input
 |key remap                 = false
 |key remap notes           = Two layouts only.
@@ Line 183: / Line 183: @@
 }}
-==Audio settings==
+==Audio==
 {{Image|Blur - audio.jpg|Audio settings.}}
 {{Image|Blur - Advanced Audio.png|Audio settings.}}
-{{Audio settings
+{{Audio
 |separate volume          = true
 |separate volume notes    = Effects, Music, Menu music.

Developers

	Bizarre Creations
Publishers
	Activision
Engines
	Horizon
Release dates
Windows	May 25, 2010