Gears 5

Gears 5

Developers
	The Coalition
Publishers
	Xbox Game Studios
Engines
	Unreal Engine 4
Release dates
Windows	September 10, 2019
Reception
Metacritic	82
OpenCritic	85
IGDB	88
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC, Expansion pack
Microtransactions	Loot box
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Post-apocalyptic, Sci-fi
Series	Gears of War

Gears of War
Gears of War	2007
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition	2016
Gears of War 4	2016
Gears POP!	2019
Gears 5	2019
Gears Tactics	2020

Key points

Includes in-game benchmark with detailed summary. Video settings are explained along with visual previews and expected performance impact.

General information

Official forum

Official support page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Amazon.com		Game of the Year Edition
Microsoft Store		Xbox Game Pass for PC, Xbox Play Anywhere Game of the Year Edition
Steam		Game of the Year Edition also available.

All versions require an Xbox Live account and Arxan Anti-Tamper DRM. Microsoft Store version is not available in China.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Ultimate Edition	Includes Halo: Reach Character Pack and Boost: 30 Day Bonus Included with the Game of the Year Edition.
Ultra-HD Texture Pack	Free
Hivebusters expansion	Included with the Game of the Year Edition.

Version differences

Gears 5 Standard Edition

The base game.

Gears 5 Game of the Year Edition

Includes the base game, Ultimate Edition pack, and Hivebusters expansion.

Essential Improvements

Skip intro videos

Note: It is strongly recommended to back up GearGame.b2index before applying this fix, as the altered file sometimes results in the game refusing to launch.

Instructions

Go to <path-to-game>\Gears5\GearGame\Content\B2 Open GearGame.b2index in a hex editor, such as HxD. Search for Coalition_MSStudios.bk2 and replace any letter inside it. For example: Cdalition_MSStudios.bk2 Search for TheCoalitionLogo.bk2 and do the same as the previous step. Notes This has to be reapplied after every title update. This may only work on the Steam version due to the Microsoft Store's version of the game having anti-tamper files. IMPORTANT: It is essential that the same number of letters remains the same, otherwise the game will crash.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Steam	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Gears5\Saved\Config\PC\
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Gears5\Saved\Config\PC\ %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.HalifaxBaseGame_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Settings\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1097840/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Steam	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\1097840\remote\
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.HalifaxBaseGame_8wekyb3d8bbwe\SystemAppData\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1097840/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

In-game Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		Game assumes you're on an 21:9 ultrawide ratio for menus and cutscenes, meaning that menus get cut off by bezels and cutscenes and some animations are Vert-. HUD can be moved towards the center, but not enough, and the closest option leaves the edges at about half way on the side monitors.
Ultra-widescreen		Cutscenes are Vert- when using the "fill" option.
4K Ultra HD		Ultra texture pack is an optional download from inside the game on Windows Store or DLC on Steam.
Field of view (FOV)		60-100°, default 80°.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Exclusive fullscreen not available.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		2x, 4x, 8x, 16x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		TAA. SSAA available via resolution scaling. Increasing the "Sharpening" setting can reduce some of the blur.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Framerate can be unlimited or limited between 30-144.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		Uses OS setting for HDR.
Ray tracing (RT)		On Xbox Series X uses GPU software ray tracing, not hardware ray tracing. RT unknown for PC.
Color blind mode		Settings for protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia.

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 4 page for more details.

The included dynamic resolution allows users to select a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS, 60 FPS, or 90 FPS, and effectively scales visual fidelity to match the selected level of performance.

Input

In-game Controller General Configuration.

In-game Controller Remapping.

In-game Keyboard Configuration.

In-game Mouse Configuration.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Negative mouse acceleration from mouse smoothing which doesn't properly disable even if turned off in settings.[citation needed]
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		In accessibility options.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		Xbox Adaptive Controller is supported.
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

In-game Audio Settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, effects, character dialogue, cinematics and environmental volume.
Surround sound		Also supports Dolby Atmos.
Subtitles		Speaker names displayed, size adjustable.
Closed captions		Enabled with subtitles. Available for dialogue and some environmental effects.
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Turkish

Change language

The game lacks an option in-game to change language.

Change language of the game
Go to the configuration file(s) location and open GameUserSettings.ini. In the section GearGameUserSettings change PreferredLanguageCode=EN to PreferredLanguageCode=DE for German voice-overs for example.

Network

In-game Matchmaking Servers Window.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		3	Co-op Split Screen Co-op
LAN play		10	Co-op, Versus Co-op modes require online connection.
Online play		10	Co-op, Versus Supports crossplay with Xbox One, and Series X/S.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer		Used for campaign co-op.
Dedicated		Used for multiplayer.
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues unresolved

Low resolution textures

On some configurations, the game may suddenly only show low resolution textures, no matter the actual texture fidelity settings. Only a restart of the game fixes this.

This is mostly a campaign issue and happens when the VRAM is close to being fully used (enable "Show Stats" in video settings) and a level transition, checkpoint reload or cut-scene takes place, causing the VRAM to go over its budget. Lowering the various VRAM related settings can help to somewhat prolong the issue.

Despite the drop in texture resolution, the VRAM usage does not decrease, instead the performance will also become worse.

Hivebusters resets upgrades and checkpoints

Continuing the Hivebusters dlc after quitting in the middle of a chapter resets both the chapter progress as well as the player upgrades.

Issues fixed

Voices are muffled

While using a Logitech Headset on PC, voices are muffled.
Close the game Go to the configuration file(s) location and open GameUserSettings.ini. Find the line with sg.AudioQuality=3 in the section ScalabilityGroups. Change the 3 to 0.

Stuck while loading the main menu

If you're still connected to your modem but don't have internet or the game is having server issues; the game WILL NOT identify the lack of internet; it will simply keep retrying to communicate with the servers; causing an infinte loading screen. This is why you have to either phisically remove the ethernet cable, or disable your wi-fi or ethernet through adapter settings in windows.

Open Network and Sharing center in windows. Click on Change Adapter settings. Right click and disable your currently used adapter for connecting to the internet, either Ethernet or WI-FI. Restart the game. Starting the game in offline mode will delete your checkpoint progress and start you at the beginning of the chapter you were playing. After 24hrs offline you will be required to connect to your xbox live acount; failing to do so will not allow you to play the game nor access the main menu with error "Unable to connect to xbox live acount, please connect online in order to continue".

HDR not working

HDR not able to be toggled in settings
Unplug non-HDR displays. Launch game again.

Can't connect with message: you are not connected to the gears of war services

Delete Generic Credentials
Search for “Credential Manager” in your Windows search bar Once open, navigate to “Windows Credentials”. In the "Generic Credentials" section, delete all credentials starting with Xbl*. After this fix you will be required to access your xbox live acount when launching the game again.

Other information

In-game General Settings.

In-game Accessibility Settings.

In-game Mature Settings.

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	12	Uses D3D11On12 mapping layer for Windows 7.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok
Audio	Dolby Atmos, Ogg Vorbis, Wwise
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Anti-cheat	Easy Anti-Cheat

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7 SP1	10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i3 AMD FX-6000 series	Intel Core i5 AMD Ryzen 3
System memory (RAM)	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	80 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 AMD Radeon R9 280 2 GB of VRAM DirectX 12 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 AMD Radeon RX 570 4 GB of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.