Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is a third-person action and vehicle combat game developed and published by FromSoftware in Japan with Bandai Namco Entertainment acting as publisher for the international release. It is the sixteenth installment within the Armored Core series and the first entry to be released on PC.

The game was released on August 25, 2023 via Steam.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Collector's Edition; download code only.^[1]
GamersGate		Deluxe Edition also available.
		Deluxe Edition also available.
Green Man Gaming		Deluxe Edition also available.
Humble Store		Deluxe Edition also available.
Steam		Deluxe Edition also available.

All versions require Steam and Arxan Anti-Tamper DRM.^[2]

Version differences

The Deluxe Edition includes the game, the digital artbook, and the original soundtrack.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
No microtransactions	The game does not contain microtransactions.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
MELANDER C3 G13 Special Customization “TENDERFOOT”	Pre-order bonus that grants AC Data "TENDERFOOT" and early access to AC frame "MELANDER C3". The AC Data is no longer obtainable, but the MELANDER C3 frame can be obtained for free during chapter 4.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\ArmoredCore6\GraphicsConfig.xml
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1888160/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\ArmoredCore6\<user-id>\AC60000.sl2
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1888160/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics settings

Advanced graphics settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Supports up to 32:9. Cutscenes and menus are limited to 21:9.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Mods.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Scales with Texture Quality setting.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Low setting uses FXAA, High uses TAA.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Options for 30, 60, 90, 120 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		Available only in Fullscreen mode.
Ray tracing (RT)		Garage only.

Depth of field

Depth of field set to Maximum is overly aggressive and even blurs objects that are close to the camera resulting in a soft overall image.

Turning down Depth of Field setting^[3]^[4]^[5]
Launch the game and navigate to System→Graphics Settings→Quality Settings (Detailed) from the main menu. Set the Depth of Field setting to anything lower than Maximum.

Input

Camera settings

Input device settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		X-axis can also be inverted.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Sticks can't be remapped. 3 different presets are also available.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		X-axis can also be inverted.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		DualSense also supported.
PlayStation button prompts
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes	Wired, Wireless (Bluetooth)

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

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

Keyboard and mouse remapping
Controller remapping

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sliders for Master, Music, Sound Effect, and Voice.
Surround sound		Up to 5.1.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Works only in Fullscreen mode.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

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

Network

Network settings

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play	2-6	Versus Lobbies can have up to 9 people. Extra personnel will spectate.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	80, 443, 27015-27050, 10600
UDP	3478, 4379, 4380, 27000-27100

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues unresolved

Random frame pacing issues and frame rate drops

The game appears to suffer from a weird frame pacing bug, particularly in the "Destroy the Weaponized Mining Ship" mission where heavy camera shaking and explosions are present. In the very same mission, the game also suffers from frame rate dips despite not being GPU limited.^[6]^[7]

Potential fixes for stutter and frame rate drops^{[citation needed]}

Disable CPU0 in Task Manager by going to Details→Right clicking armoredcore6.exe→Set Affinity→Unchecking CPU0^[8]

Disabling EAC (offline play) by backing up the original start_protected_game.exe→creating a copy of armoredcore6.exe→renaming this copy as start_protected_game.exe

Disabling Hyperthreading/SMT and/or E-cores in Intel 12th Gen+ CPUs in BIOS/UEFI.^[9]

Disabling Hardware GPU Scheduling in Display→Graphics Settings.^[10]

NVIDIA users can manually switch PhysX to GPU in Nvidia Control Panel along with the CPU0 fix.^[11]

Other information

Game settings

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	12

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok	^[12]
Audio	Wwise	^[12]
Interface	Scaleform	^[12]
Cutscenes	Bink Video	^[12]
Anti-cheat	Easy Anti-Cheat	^[2]

Mods

Camera Tweaks

Expands the FOV of the in-game camera, and moves the camera point further back, allowing for a wider view.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10	10, 11
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i7-4790K Intel Core i5-8400 AMD Ryzen 7 1800X AMD Ryzen 5 2600	Intel Core i7-7700 Intel Core i5-10400 AMD Ryzen 7 2700X AMD Ryzen 5 3600
System memory (RAM)	12 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	60 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 AMD Radeon RX 480 4 GB of VRAM DirectX 12 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 AMD Radeon RX 590 Intel Arc A750 6 GB (Nvidia), 8 GB (AMD, Intel) of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.

These minimum and recommended requirements are for ray tracing off. The minimum and recommended requirements for ray tracing on can be found here.

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.
- Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1888160/.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (1888160) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ [1] - last accessed on 2023-05-04
"A physical version of the Game is available for the chosen platform, except for the PC version for which a Steam Digital code will be provided in the collector box."
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™ on Steam - last accessed on 2023-04-27
"Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Arxan, Easy Anti-Cheat"
↑ "High" Depth of Field vs. "Maximum" Depth of Field comparison - Imgsli - last accessed on 2023-08-28
↑ Verified by User:Citronus on 2023-08-28
↑ Verified by User:Jigen123 on 2023-08-28
↑ Screenshots of the both issues for reference - last accessed on 2023-08-30
↑ Reddit(u/Neo_Nethshan) - Armored core 6 stutter and low fps on rtx 3060 i5 11400f in STRIDER mission. None of the CPU0 fixes to disabling hyperthreading worked for me - last accessed on 2023-08-30
↑ Fix for performance issues (stutter with older CPUs) - last accessed on 2023-08-30
↑ Smoothing out frametimes: disable e-cores and hyperthreading - last accessed on 2023-08-30
↑ I FOUND A FIX FOR THE CPU 0 PROBLEM!!! - last accessed on 2023-08-30
↑ [missing title] - last accessed on 2023-09-10
↑ ^12.0 ^12.1 ^12.2 ^12.3 Verified by User:Fds29 on 2023-08-25
Examined the game data.

[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.
Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1888160/.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (1888160) 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] Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1888160/.

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

[5] The app ID (1888160) may differ in some cases.

[6] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

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

[1] [1] - last accessed on 2023-05-04
"A physical version of the Game is available for the chosen platform, except for the PC version for which a Steam Digital code will be provided in the collector box."

[drmnotice-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™ on Steam - last accessed on 2023-04-27
"Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Arxan, Easy Anti-Cheat"

[4] "High" Depth of Field vs. "Maximum" Depth of Field comparison - Imgsli - last accessed on 2023-08-28

[5] Verified by User:Citronus on 2023-08-28

[6] Verified by User:Jigen123 on 2023-08-28

[7] Screenshots of the both issues for reference - last accessed on 2023-08-30

[8] Reddit(u/Neo_Nethshan) - Armored core 6 stutter and low fps on rtx 3060 i5 11400f in STRIDER mission. None of the CPU0 fixes to disabling hyperthreading worked for me - last accessed on 2023-08-30

[9] Fix for performance issues (stutter with older CPUs) - last accessed on 2023-08-30

[10] Smoothing out frametimes: disable e-cores and hyperthreading - last accessed on 2023-08-30

[11] I FOUND A FIX FOR THE CPU 0 PROBLEM!!! - last accessed on 2023-08-30

[12] [missing title] - last accessed on 2023-09-10

[middlewarecheck-13] 12.0 ^12.1 ^12.2 ^12.3 Verified by User:Fds29 on 2023-08-25
Examined the game data.

[1]

[2]

[Note 1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

Developers

	FromSoftware
Publishers
	Bandai Namco Entertainment
Japan	FromSoftware
Release dates
Windows	August 25, 2023
Reception
Metacritic	86
OpenCritic	85
IGDB	87
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Vehicle combat
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Sci-fi