Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition

Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition

Developers
	Capcom
Windows	QLOC
Release dates
Windows	February 28, 2014
Reception
Metacritic	79
OpenCritic	80
IGDB	85
Taxonomy
Series	Resident Evil

Key points

The game was originally designed around a 30 FPS frame rate. Various issues, both minor and major, can occur when playing at 60 FPS. See Issues unresolved.

Some improved textures over previous versions. The Resident Evil 4 HD Project is highly recommended.

Mouse controls are hit-or-miss. While they work fine for some, others experience issues such as unresponsiveness, possibly to the extent of being unplayable. See mouse aiming problems for potential fixes. A controller is recommended.

Positional audio is hit-or-miss; many sound effects are mono.^{[citation needed]}

General information

Redident Evil Wiki

Steam Community Discussions

Modding forum

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GamersGate
Green Man Gaming
Steam

All versions require Steam DRM.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Soundtrack	Only available as a pre-order bonus.
Art Book	Only available as a pre-order bonus.

Essential improvements

Resident Evil 4 HD Project

Resident Evil 4 HD Project is a mod aiming to revise the textures of the game. It intends to be very faithful to the original look, as the creators even went to the real-life European locations to capture photos of the art and architecture. It also re-does effects such as lighting so that they make more logical sense, while fixing some of the environmental problems leftover in the game

Current version was released July 13, 2018, which basically covers the vast majority of the environments. A trailer with comparisons is here. These are still yet to come: Characters, enemies, background files, and some effects (blood, fire) and lighting retouchments. There is no release date for the next version.

For instructions on downloading and installing the HD Project, see here. Windows 10 users may encounter problems installing the HD Project using the provided .bat file. If so, see here.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Capcom\RE4\ <path-to-game>\BIO4\input.ini
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/254700/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\254700\remote\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/254700/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Menus and game are Vert-. Use Flawless Widescreen.
Ultra-widescreen			Menus and game are Vert-. Use Flawless Widescreen.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Default FOV is 50° (horizontal). See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use Borderless Gaming or other software.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		16 samples by default. See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Enabled by default. See Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS		Originally designed for 30 FPS; see Issues when running the game at 60 FPS.
120+ FPS		Frame rate can be set to 30 or 60 FPS. Game's speed is bound to the frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Field of view (FOV)

Even though Flawless Widescreen claims it supports Resident Evil 4, it does not work past patch 1.0.2; a modified plugin is required to support later versions.

Unofficial Flawless Widescreen FOV patch by λ

Install and open Flawless Widescreen. Install the Resident Evil 4 plugin and close the program. Go to the Flawless Widescreen installation folder. Go into the \PluginCache\FWS_Plugins\Modules\ResidentEvil4\Dependencies\Scripts\ folder. Download the modified ResidentEvil4.lua. Copy the modified ResidentEvil4.lua to Scripts\ and replace the existing file. Open Flawless Widescreen and adjust the FOV as needed.

Change FOV with Cheat Engine

This method is meant for 1.0.6, not 1.1.0. It will probably not work on 1.1.0, while the above method likely will. Download and install Cheat Engine, but be warned during installation: Cheat Engine is one of those types of programs where if you just install it blindly, you'll also install other unnecessary programs, so be sure to deselect checkboxes. Download the cheat table. Open the cheat table to load it in Cheat Engine. Start the game and Alt+Tab ↹ out. In Cheat Engine, click the flashing button in the top left corner. Select bio4.exe and click Open, then click Yes. At the bottom part of Cheat Engine, check the boxes on the left beside the character to show the values below. Check the boxes beside the camera views you wish to modify to freeze the values (e.g. FOV, Gun, Knife, etc.) Select one or more of them, then press ↵ Enter and type in a new FOV value.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Change sample rate[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open config.ini. Change anisotropy 16 to the desired value.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Disable Vsync[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open config.ini. Change vsync 1 to vsync 0.

Ambient Occlusion (AO)

Install the ambient occlusion mod (not for cutscenes)

Disable the game's anti-aliasing for the mod to work; however, you can add SMAA in with ReShade. Download this and extract to the game's Bin32 folder. Open d3d9.ini with notepad. Change the four paths to where RE4 is located. Notes This AO mod can be very taxing on the frame rate, and you may have to choose between AO and 60 FPS. If you choose AO due to the frame rate hit, then change it to 30 FPS in the game's settings. For more information, see this.

Brightness

It is recommended to set in-game brightness to the MAX level. Any value below the maximum will make the whites look like bright gray. Beyond that, lowering the brightness does not give you more detail (you’ll only get a duller image).

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		← Backspace cannot be bound due to being reserved for menu commands.
Mouse acceleration		Negative mouse acceleration if "Aiming Mode" set to "Classic". Positive mouse acceleration if "Aiming Mode" set to "Modern".
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Not supported on inventory screen.
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Also affects controller Y-axis.
Controller
Controller support		XInput and DirectInput.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		For DirectInput only, some menu related keys can't be rebound. For XInput, three presets to choose from.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts		Mainly main menus display keyboard buttons only. Some Xbox buttons are displayed mixed with generic ones when using DirectInput device. For DualShock Prompts see DualShock Button Prompts.

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

DualShock Button Prompts

This mod adds PlayStation buttons. Original post here.

Even though game does support DirectInput and button rebinding, game will show wrong buttons mixed with generic button prompts with DualShock 4. Use of XInput wrapper is required.

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Up to 7.0 output; Some SFX are positional, some are mono. Poor positional audio implementation.
Subtitles		Not for English.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		See Mute on focus lost.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Only certain parts have subtitles that can't be turned off.
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian
Spanish
Russian				Fan translation by «ZoG Forum Team».
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation: here, Fan audio: here.

Mute on focus lost

Set mute in background[citation needed]

Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Manual local installation may work better. Start the game once and close it to allow the configuration file of Special K to be created. Open <path-to-game>\Bin32\d3d9.ini or %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\bio4.exe\SpecialK.ini depending on the installation method you used. Change MuteInBackground=false to MuteInBackground=true under [Window.System].

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Resident Evil 4 Ultimate HD Edition.

Issues unresolved

Issues when running the game at 60 FPS

The game was originally designed around a 30 FPS frame rate. Various issues, both minor and major, can occur when playing at 60 FPS.

• The game engine cannot skip frames, which means if it can't maintain a capped 60 (or 30) FPS, it will run in slow motion.
• The minecart and the statue bridge QTEs were not re-timed for 60 FPS, so they require twice as many button presses in the same time frame.
• Some animations weren’t ported properly, such as the rifle and bow reloading, and appear jarring in contrast to the rest of the game.
• All effects generated by animated textures (flames, for example) are still running at 30 FPS.
• The frequency of certain effects and events, such as the speed in which water moves, are at 2x speed.
• Minor differences in the spawn behavior of some enemies/areas.
• The Black Knights' death animation runs twice as fast at 60 FPS.
• Leon's hitbox is bigger at 60 FPS and does not get reduced anymore by the Ditman glitch.

Issues fixed

Random slow downs

If you're playing the game and it suddenly slows down, load the map and exit.^{[citation needed]}

Mouse aiming problems

Some players have reported problems using the mouse to aim their weapon.^{[citation needed]} This can potentially be improved by changing the aim mode to "Modern" and adjusting the sensitivity level.

Can't pass QTEs

In some QTEs, such as when Leon is hanging on a ledge in Chapter 4, mashing the buttons as fast as you can might still not pass the QTE. This is because of botched 60 FPS support, requiring QTEs to be mashed faster.^{[citation needed]} Try changing it to 30FPS, or use Cheat Engine, attach the process, Speed Hack it to 0.5, thus giving you more time to press the button. After the QTE, simply exit Cheat Engine and continue the game. Another tip is to mash the button even before the prompt appears.

You can actually just press the buttons a bit slower as if you were using your thumb on a controller. You'll get the rhythm right eventually. It needs be a steady consistent rhythm too. Not crazy button mash fast, not too slow either.

Button prompts not showing

Game would not show you any prompts for context actions and in QTE's. To fix this you need to exit the game, switch your Windows input language(keyboard layout) to English and then start the game again.

Crashes

Stop "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service" Windows service[citation needed]
Crashes around after 15 minutes of gameplay in Windows 8 and 10. Open Task Manager. Go to Services. Identify "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service" (TabletInputService). Stop the service. Launch RE4.

Disable Bitdefender antivirus
Known affected areas are chapters' 1-3 "swamp area" and 3-1 "castle water room".

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Fullscreen mode defaults to 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.

Set screen refresh rate[citation needed]

Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Manual local installation may work better. Start the game once and close it to allow the configuration file of Special K to be created. Open <path-to-game>\Bin32\d3d9.ini or %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\bio4.exe\SpecialK.ini depending on the installation method you used. Change RefreshRate=-1 to RefreshRate=0 under [Render.FrameRate].

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Natural Gradient Mod

This mod is for those who dislike the default color filters. The in-game brightness options can also be raised to give the desired effect.

How to install Natural Gradient Mod

Back up the original gradients folder before using this mod. Download the modified gradients here. Extract the contents of the archive to <path-to-game>\BIO4\Gradients\, replacing the original gradient files. Now run the game and change the color filters from the Video Settings menu as desired. You should now see the new gradients taking effect. Notes Filters used in Natural Gradient Mod. Contrast boost GameCube/Wii color temperature GameCube/Wii color temperature with subtle contrast boost Horror filter, uses warmer red colors for a foreboding atmosphere.

Film Grain Removal Mod

This mod removes the film grain effect present in the game.

Now is compatible with the DualShock button mod, Just download this variant.

How to use Film Grain Removal mod

Back up the original 07000000.pack.lfs files before using this mod. Download the mod here. Go into <path-to-game>\BIO4\ImagePack\ (original textures) and <Steam-folder>\BIO4\ImagePackHD\ (HD textures) and delete their respective 07000000.pack.lfs file. Extract the contents of the mod and copy the modified 07000000.pack into the ImagePack and ImagePackHD folders. Now run the game. You should now be able to play the game without the film grain.

GameCube/PlayStation 2 Controller Layout Mod

This mod recreates the controller layout scheme of the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions when played on an XInput controller.

Not compatible with the Film Grain Removal Mod mod.

How to install GameCube/PlayStation 2 Controller Layout Mod
Download your desired controller layout from the following links: GameCube layout: Xbox 360, PlayStation. PlayStation layout: Xbox 360, PlayStation. Extra the contents of the rar file into <path-to-game>. Run the Install Buttons.bat file and allow the mod to install the files. The original files are backed up in the respective <path-to-game>\RE4HDTEX\Backup* folders.

Laser sight color

Laser sight color can be customized by manually editing the RGB values.

Change laser color

Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Capcom\RE4\. Open config.ini. Change laserR (red), laserG (green), laserB (blue), and laserA (transparency level of the dot) to the desired values from 0 to 255. For example, people with color blindness may wish to change the laser sight to blue, which makes it easier to see: laserR 0 laserG 0 laserB 255 laserA 255 Notes To return to factory settings (red laser sight), simply set laserA -1 and save.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	Vista, 7, 8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon X2 2.8 GHz	Intel Core 2 Quad 2.7 GHz AMD Phenom II X4 3.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	15 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 1 GB of VRAM
Controller	Xbox 360 Controller