Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Developers
	LucasArts
Windows	Aspyr Media
macOS (OS X)	Aspyr Media
Publishers
	LucasArts
	Disney Interactive Studios
Russia	1C Company
Engines
	Ronin
Release dates
Windows	November 6, 2009
macOS (OS X)	November 6, 2009
Reception
Metacritic	65
IGDB	71
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Hack and slash
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Subseries of Star Wars
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed	2009
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II	2010

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) release of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a third-person hack and slash game in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed series.

The Ultimate Sith Edition is the only version available on PC and includes all DLCs released on consoles.

General information

Aspyr Media support page (archived)

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM v7.40.0009 DRM disc check; 2 DVDs Disc 2 is used for check.
Retail		2 DVDs.
EA app (unavailable)		No longer sold since June 13, 2022. Currently only available through EA Play Pro.
GamersGate (unavailable)		Sold by Aspyr Media. Mac version but Steam keys unlock all platforms.
GOG.com
Steam
GamersGate (unavailable)		Sold by Disney Interactive Studios.
Mac App Store (unavailable)
Amazon.com (unavailable)		Included with Prime Gaming from June 29, 2023 to July 11, 2023

Essential improvements

Patches

GOG.com and Steam users are already patched to the latest version.

• Patch 1.2 (Europe)
• Patch 1.2 (North America)
• Direct2Drive and other versions

A computer restart is recommended before installing the patch.

Activate cloth simulation

Cloth simulation is disabled by default, leading to some visual bugs on the character's costumes.

Set ClothLevel
Go to configuration file(s) location. Edit Config.xml. Change <s id="ClothLevel">0</s> to <s id="ClothLevel">1</s> Save your changes. The game now runs with cloth physics activated.

Skip intro videos

Skip intro videos[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\FMV. Delete or rename FMV-GoldGuy-WMV9_HD_STEREO.bik and Aspyr.bik. Start the game. Notes For languages other than English, FMV-GoldGuy_XX-WMV9_HD_STEREO.bik (where XX is replaced with adequate FR, DE, IT, PL, RU or ES) also needs to be deleted or renamed.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Aspyr\Star Wars The Force Unleashed\ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\aspyr\star wars the force unleashed\
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.aspyr.swtfu.steam.plist/
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32430/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Aspyr\Star Wars The Force Unleashed\
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Application Support/Star Wars The Force Unleashed/SWTFU.BIN/
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32430/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

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

Video

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			If an option does not appear, it can be forced by editing config.xml (see Game data). Make sure to mark the file as Read Only after making any changes.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD			Resolutions above 1920x1080 can be forced in the config.xml file. See the WSGF entry.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Use Unknownproject's solution.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS		Capped at 30 FPS; see High frame rate.
120+ FPS		Frame rate is tied to refresh rate if unlimited FPS cap fix is used; see High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

High frame rate

Use the patched .exe[citation needed]

Use the FPS cap fix. Available frame rate options are 40 FPS, 50 FPS, 60 FPS, and unlimited. Notes Some force-gripped objects and mechanical enemies will constantly move upwards (original game bug) not affecting humanoids grip, and when using the 50 and 60 FPS exes this effect can be even more pronounced. There is no known fix for this issue. All cutscenes, both pre-rendered and in-engine, will continue to run at 30 FPS. May cause occasional crashes.[citation needed]

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Doesn't change on-screen prompts.
Mouse acceleration		Reverse mouse acceleration, can't be disabled.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Both axes can be inverted independently.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Launcher requires at least one mouse click or key press.
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Both axes can be inverted independently.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

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

Additional information
Controller hotplugging		Input Device needs to be set to Xbox 360 Controller in launcher before being visible in-game.
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound		Game is advertised as supporting surround sound; however, surround sound support is heavily broken and results in background music only playing out of the front-left speaker. Only workaround is to set windows speaker settings to Stereo before playing, resulting in at least functional Stereo sound, all the game supports.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio		The original Star Wars theme and other pieces composed by John Williams are present throughout the game.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Fan translation; download v1.1
French
German
Italian
Polish				Also available in Steam version; see enabling unsupported languages.
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation by GameVicio; download.
Russian				Also available in Steam version; see enabling unsupported languages. Fan voice-over by Mechanics VoiceOver, download.
Spanish

Enabling unsupported languages

Steam version of game includes Polish and Russian languages in game files disabled by default and without option to be enabled from Steam properties menu.

Edit the registry

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\aspyr\star wars the force unleashed. Set language value to pl for Polish or ru for Russian. Right-click the star wars the force unleashed key and select Permissions. Click Advanced and then click Add. In the Enter the object names to select field, type Everyone and then click OK. In the next window, click the checkbox in the Deny column for Write Owner. Click OK in each of the three opened windows.

Alternate method
Go to <path-to-game>. Open installscript.vdf with a text editor. Locate the English section. Locate and replace en with either pl for Polish or ru for Russian.

Issues fixed

Missing sounds in Raxus Prime and Death Star levels

The Steam and Origin versions of the game are missing sounds for the Raxus Prime and Death Star levels.

Replace Missing Sounds
Download the missing sounds fix. Extract its contents to <path-to-game>\LevelPacks and overwrite all files when prompted.

Missing Sounds in TIE Factory level, specific to the French version

The French Steam version of the game is missing sounds for the TIE Factory level.

Replace Missing Sounds for the French version
Download the missing sounds fix. Extract its contents to <path-to-game>\LevelPacks and overwrite all files when prompted.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			32-bit only.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok Physics	Also uses Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) for destructible environments.
Audio	Miles Sound System	7.2c
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.9g

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP3, Vista SP2		7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon X2 5200+		Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz AMD Athlon X2 6000+
System memory (RAM)	2 GB		4 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	30 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2600 Nvidia GeForce 8600 256 MB of VRAM Shader model 3.0 support		Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT 512 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0c compatible
Controller	Microsoft Xbox 360 Wired Controller
Other	8X DVD-ROM drive

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.5.8, 10.6.2, 10.7, 10.8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	25 GB + 1 GB Swap File
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2600 Nvidia GeForce 8600 256 MB of VRAM