Prototype

Not to be confused with The Prototype.

Prototype

Developers
	Radical Entertainment
Publishers
	Activision
Engines
	Titanium
Release dates
Windows	June 9, 2009

Prototype
Prototype	2009
Prototype 2	2012

General information

Prototype Wiki

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 7 DRM.
Amazon.com
Humble Store
Steam		Not available in Germany.

Essential improvements

Hi-Res Textures

Replaces almost all of the old resolution textures with better ones (map, protagonist, etc).

Uses Texmod to apply all of the new textures.

The pack includes a custom Texmod that's able to make the game run if you have a CPU with more than 4 cores.

Install
Download Here Instructions on file

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/10150/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Prototype\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/10150/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video settings

Video settings.

Widescreen resolution

Some resolutions may not be supported. This fix makes the game run at your desktop resolution.

Replace prototypeenginef.dll
Backup prototypeenginef.dll in the installation folder. Download Prototype.all.Resolutions.and.higher.FOV.7z. Extract the desired prototypeenginef.dll to the installation folder and replace the original file.

Enable windowed mode temporarily to set desired resolution
In Steam, add windowed to the launch options. When its running, change the desired resolution in the options part of the main menu. Exit the game. In Steam, remove the windowed from the launch options. Start the game and enjoy your desired resolution.

Windowed

Force windowed mode[citation needed]
Download and run DxWnd. Click on Edit, then Add. Set the name and executable path. Set the window position and size. Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed. Click OK, then File and Save.

Audio settings

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Italian
Spanish
German				Fan translation, download.

VR support

Devices	State	Notes
3RD Space Gaming Vest

Issues unresolved

This section may require cleanup to meet basic quality standards. The specific problem is: Multiple contradictions and incorrect formatting. You can help by modifying the article. The discussion page may contain useful suggestions.

Low volume

In-game audio is very quiet except for cutscenes. There is no known solution.

Solution found.

The Game use native 5.1 there is no stereo Downmix. So in a Stereo setup you don't have the Center and Surround Speakers so the volume is very low except for Cutscenes (they are in Stereo).

Use an alternative Sound Driver like Razor Surround. It's simulating a Surround effect while using the Full Speaker Configuration.

If you have a Asus Xonar Card open the Xonar Control Center in the Mainmenu select 8 at Audio Channel and 2 at Analog out. Now The Asus driver makes the Downmix from any Surround Source.

I have tested both variants and use the Xonar solution because i have these card so no need to install any other thirdparty Software.

No shadows with AMD/ATI graphics cards

This game has a similar bug as with the sequel, where shadows are not rendered properly on AMD/ATI Radeon cards. This can provide sub-optimal graphical fidelity for many AMD/ATI users.

So far, no known fix for Prototype or the sequel exists.

• 

  Prototype on an Nvidia graphics card.

• 

  Prototype on an AMD/ATI graphics card.

Issues fixed

Black screen on Prototype start up

Override refresh rate[citation needed]
From the Start menu, Click on Run then type “dxdiag” Click on the “More Help” Tab then click the “Override Refresh Rate” Button. Set the refresh rate override value to 60.

Low frame rate

This is caused by the engine incorrectly overpolling the USB I/O in Windows.

Install a mod[citation needed]
Use DirectInput FPS Fix.

Disable unused HID devices[citation needed]
Open the Start screen/Start menu, type devmgmt.msc and press ↵ Enter. Select "Human Interface Devices". Disable all "HID-compliant consumer control device", you should not need to disable ANYTHING else. It is advised to re-enable the devices after the game has closed.

Sound stuttering, crackling

Having non-default sound quality settings can cause sound problems in this and some other games.

Set sound quality to 24 bit, 48000 Hz[citation needed]
See Sound problems (cracking, delays, missing music/effects, etc.)

Missing textures

Disable all Anti-aliasing[citation needed]
Disable Anti-aliasing (AA) in Prototype's video options Disable forced AA from the Nvidia control panel or ATI's Catalyst Control Panel.

Crashing after loading saved game

Start a new game first[citation needed]
Start a new game in another save slot. Exit to main menu and load your save.

Crash after starting or loading a game

The game may crash on a CPU with more than 8 threads.

Create Steam shortcut with limited core affinity
Create a new shortcut Set the shortcut target to cmd /C start "steam" /affinity 0xff "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe"

See the related Steam guide to limit process affinity

Increase the amount of memory available to the stack allocator

Before editing, make a backup of the prototypeenginef.dll file in case the modifications go wrong. Open https://hexed.it/ Click open file. Go to <path-to-game>. Open prototypeenginef.dll. In the Go To box on the right sidebar enter the offset 0x641CC0 and press enter. Click on the selected number 58 in the editor panel and type in the number 64. Click export and download the file. Replace the original prototypeenginef.dll with the downloaded file. Launch the game.

Turn off hyperthreading and all physical processing cores above 8 or turn off all but four logical cores.[citation needed]
Enter your computer's BIOS and turn off the hyperthreading CPU feature and all physical processing cores above 8 or turn off all but four logical cores. The specific procedure depends on your motherboard, thus you have to consult the manual of your motherboard if you're unsure how to do this.

Resolution stuck at 1280x800 on 2GB+ VRAM GPUs

Use the all resolution patch

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Fullscreen mode defaults to 100 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.

Doing this can help achieve a more stable fps while playing

Set screen refresh rate[citation needed]
Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Start the game once and close it immediately to allow the configuration file of Special K to be created. Open <path-to-game>\d3d9.ini or %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\prototypef.exe\SpecialK.ini depending on the installation method you used. Change RefreshRate=-1 to RefreshRate=0 under [Render.FrameRate].

For Nvidia users

You don't need Special K for this to work

Set screen refresh rate on Nvidia Control Panel
Go to "Manage 3D settings" and then "Program Settings" Click "Add" and search for "prototypef.exe" (if it doesn't appear click "Browse" to search manually) On "Vertical Sync" change it to "Fast" Click "Apply" and you're done.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9
Shader Model support	3

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Interface	Scaleform
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X1800 Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible

A 64-bit operating system is required.