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Far Cry

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Far Cry
Far Cry cover
Developers
Crytek
Publishers
Ubisoft
Russia Buka Entertainment
Retail re-release Sold Out Software
Engines
CryEngine
Release dates
Windows March 23, 2004[1]
Reception
Metacritic 89
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres FPS
Themes Contemporary
Series Far Cry
Far Cry on HowLongToBeat
Far Cry on IGDB
Far Cry guide on StrategyWiki
Far Cry on MobyGames
Far Cry on Wikipedia
Far Cry
Far Cry 2004
Far Cry 2 2008
Far Cry 3 2012
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon 2013
Far Cry 4 2014
Far Cry Primal 2016
Far Cry 5 2018
Far Cry New Dawn 2019
Far Cry 6 2021

Key points

64-bit version is available for separate download. See Patches.
Water reflections are broken on Windows Vista and later. Use SilentPatch on modern systems.

General information

Ubisoft Forums
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Crymods - Active community website with extensive mod database.
Far Cry Addon Mod (FCAM) - Various improvements to graphical and gameplay elements.
Far Cry Multiplayer Community Patch LRv3 - Modification which fixes in-game server browser among other changes.

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
SafeDisc V3 DRM[Note 1]. Not in every region[citation needed]. Early copies do not require a CD key. 5 CDs or 1 DVD.
Windows
Amazon.com
DRM-free
Windows
Epic Games Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Not available in Germany.
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
DRM-free
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Ubisoft Store
Icon overlay.png
Included with Ubisoft+.
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Demo

A free demo is available here.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch v1.4 (32-bit only) - The latest patch available for the game. On non GOG versions, a bug you may encounter is that the AI can see you through walls and kill you, use Unofficial Patch 1.41 to fix it.
64-bit Upgrade Patch - Upgrades the game to take advantage of 64-bit architectures, allowing for higher frame rates and other optimizations. Both 64 bit patches are NOT intended to be installed over the latest 1.4 patch (which all digital versions include), the effect this could have on gameplay is completely unpredictable.
64-bit Enhanced Content Patch - Adds exclusive features such as higher resolution textures and objects as well as increased viewing distances in some cases. 64-bit Upgrade Patch required. Game may exit may to desktop on Rebellion level near lighthouse. You can finish the fragment using 32 bit binary - saves are cross compatible.

Skip intro videos

Instructions[4]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>.
  2. From there navigate to Languages/Movies/[Language installed]
  3. Replace the files Crytek.bik, sandbox.bik, and Ubi.bik with empty files.

Notes

The 64-bit patch will change the file format from .bik to .avi. To skip them delete or rename new files with the inclusion of AMD64.

Unofficial Patch 1.41

The GameFront link has game and PunkBuster server info as well.

Fixes issues with AI, bugs and other stuff founds within the 1.4 patch.
Serve as a replacement to the official patch.

SilentPatch

Fixes the water reflections for landmasses not working on Vista and newer systems
Fixes the in-game Vsync option and common crashes
Implements the -64bit command line argument to launch 64-bit version directly from Steam
How to install[5]

Extract the contents of SilentPatchFarCry.zip to <path-to-game>.

Tent AI Bug Fix

Fixes AI seeing through tents.
Standalone version of GOG fix. (Is not required for the GOG version due to a hotfix added.)

FarOut Widescreen

Integrates Unofficial Patch 1.41, SilentPatch and Tent AI Bug Fix. Can be selected during setup.
Widescreen support for FarCry, from 4:3 up to 48:9.
Fixed FOV to prevent textures stretching.
Use the -mod:FarOut_Widescreen command line argument to launch modded version directly from Steam, once installed. This argument is absolutely required for FarOut Widescreen to work.

Far Cry Fix

32-bit version can be found here.
Includes the 64-bit exclusive patches.
Adds Quick saving and loading (assigned to the F5 and F9 keys).
Includes widescreen FMVs.
Large file size due to included videos.
FMVs are from the console port, Far Cry Classic, which has altered levels. Cutscenes will have some inconsistencies with the PC version.

Far Cry Multiplayer Community Patch LRv3

Multiplayer patch which reincorporates an in-game server list among other changes at the menu and options.
Several new in-game panels for player and server-administration, automatic map-downloading, leaderboards, widescreen support, built-in auto-updater, new game modes, mapping features and modifiable weapon balance and game logic.
Built-in multiplayer anti-cheat engine (PunkBuster support dropped by Even Balance).
Server Side Mod (SSM) which includes additional config commands and files to customize game server behaviour.
Single player portion removed from main menu. (Load Far Cry with FCLoader → 1.40 / 1.33 for single player)
Incompatible with most other community mods and fixes due to client-side file integrity check upon boot.

Add Quicksave/Quickload

Instructions[6]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>.
  2. Create a new text document and add the following lines:
    • Input:BindCommandToKey("\\save_game","F5",1);
    • Input:BindCommandToKey("\\load_game","F9",1);
  3. Rename the text document to playercfg.lua.

Notes

It's recommended to load your save from the main menu instead of using quickload, otherwise the AI acts odd and will be alerted very easily.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\[Note 2]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/13520/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Profiles\player\<user-id>\savegames[Note 2]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/13520/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game cloud syncing

Video

Video settings.
Video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Vert-. Use Far Cry Widescreen Fix or FarOut Widescreen.
Multi-monitor
Vert-. Use Far Cry Widescreen Fix or FarOut Widescreen.
Ultra-widescreen
Vert-. Use Far Cry Widescreen Fix or FarOut Widescreen.
4K Ultra HD
Vert-. Use Far Cry Widescreen Fix or FarOut Widescreen.
Field of view (FOV)
Use FarOut Widescreen or Far Cry Widescreen Fix and set FOVFactor = 1.0 to desired value in the FarCry.WidescreenFix.ini
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Use Far Cry Widescreen Fix while in windowed mode.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Up to 8x. Force 16x in the graphic card's control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Up to 8x MSAA. Also Sparse Grid SuperSampling AA is available via Nvidia Inspector with 0x000000C1 flag (works when HDR is on!), or you can combine both SGSSAA and Nvidia DSR by selecting 4x multiplier (if your monitor is Full HD for example) in Nvidia control panel (very demanding, but results in superior image quality compared to other AA methods).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Use SilentPatch[5]
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
No frame rate cap. High FPS speeds up the load times considerably compared to 60 FPS cap. However, the AI's aiming becomes more difficult to play against at high framerates, and physics can be glitched (especially when climbing out of ladders).
High dynamic range display (HDR)
HDR Rendering is available after patch v1.3 with the console command \r_hdrrendering 7. You can change the number to whatever looks best to you. Rendered image uses SDR color space. In-game HDR option refers only to HDR Rendering.

Input

Control settings.
Control settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Both mouse acceleration and mouse smoothing.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse sensitivity can be decreased below the minimum value by editing game.cfg while the game is not running.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Controller types

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Options go up to 5.1, but outputs to up to 7.0 speaker configurations.[7] May require DirectSound 3D restoration software.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 2, EAX 3[8][9]
See the description of this video on how to reenable EAX 2 on non-Creative hardware for use with DSOAL; this allows OpenAL Soft HRTF to be used. May not work on some versions of Windows 10. DSOAL doesn't work with 64 bit binary. If you encounter sound disappearing after long gameplay using 64 bit, simply restart the game.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
Czech
Retail only. link #1 or link #2 or link #3
French
German
Italian
Only available in the retail version. See here for the Steam version translation.
Polish
Retail only, download. original version, videos. (It was heavily criticized by the players for a poor choice of actors, most notably the main character, and the actors playing their roles badly. The original version also had errors in localization, with a limping translation and some dialogues not playing.[10])
Russian
Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish
Only available in retail. Download this file for digital versions with voices and text, or download this file for texts only with original voice overs.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
Use NucleusCoop
LAN play
32
Online play
32 Official master list has been shut down on October 6, 2015. Community server browser available with FarCry Multiplayer Community Patch LRv3. Direct IP connect is also possible to servers on versions < 1.33/1.40 with a modified CryNetwork.dll file on the server-side.

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
A full guide on how to setup a dedicated server can be found at <path-to-game>
Self-hosting
Direct IP
Direct IP connect for versions < 1.4 requires a console command. Type \connect <ip address of server:port>.

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 40000-42999
UDP 41005, 41006, 44000, 49001
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State GG3D Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
TriDef 3D
vorpX
G3D, DirectVR
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Issues unresolved

Blurry rock textures

After applying the 64-bit Enhanced Content Patch, the mountain rock textures appear extremely blurry in-game.
Workaround: Replace the new textures with the old ones. Open \Levels\Pier\Level2.pak (it's a zip file) and open the leveldata.xml inside. Here we can see the new AMD textures:
 <SurfaceType Bumpmap="" DetailScaleX="0.029999999" DetailScaleY="0.029999999" DetailTexture="textures\_amd64\cliff_terrain.dds" Material="mat_rock" Name="Rock_X" ProjAxis="X" ProjectAxis="0" >
  <DetailObjects>   </DetailObjects>
 </SurfaceType>
 <SurfaceType Bumpmap="" DetailScaleX="0.029999999" DetailScaleY="0.029999999" DetailTexture="textures\_amd64\cliff_terrain.dds" Material="mat_rock" Name="Rock_Y" ProjAxis="Y" ProjectAxis="1" >
  <DetailObjects>   </DetailObjects>
 </SurfaceType>

Just replace with the textures from the original leveldata.xml in level.pak:

 <SurfaceType Bumpmap="" DetailScaleX="0.079999998" DetailScaleY="0.079999998" DetailTexture="Textures\TERRAIN\detail\grnd077_color.dds" Material="mat_rock" Name="Rock_X" ProjAxis="X" ProjectAxis="0" >
  <DetailObjects>   </DetailObjects>
 </SurfaceType>
 <SurfaceType Bumpmap="" DetailScaleX="0.079999998" DetailScaleY="0.079999998" DetailTexture="Textures\TERRAIN\detail\grnd077_color.dds" Material="mat_rock" Name="Rock_Y" ProjAxis="Y" ProjectAxis="1" >
  <DetailObjects>   </DetailObjects>
 </SurfaceType>

Tested on the beginning of the Pier map and the mountains are back to vanilla. More testing is needed to see if the blurry rocks happen somewhere else or there's another blurry texture.

Issues fixed

TweakGuides has created a comprehensive guide for fixing issues in this game. It can be found here.

Mouse not working

Instructions
  1. Try resetting the control settings to defaults in the options menu of the game.

AI can see you through walls and kill you

The patch 1.4 (32 bit only) introduces this bug.
This has been fixed in the GOG.com version.
Use Tent AI Bug Fix[11]

Game hangs on splash screen with very high lighting

When setting the Lighting Quality option in-game to Very High you may experience a freeze every time you launch the game. This is easily resolved:
Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Open system.cfg with your text editor of choice.
  3. Modify the parameter r_ShadersPrecache to 0
  4. Launch the game and set the Lighting Quality option to Very High.

Notes

You may need to restart Uplay after closing the game from task manager to launch the game again
Alternatively you can just set the option to a maximum of High instead of Very High to resolve the issue.

Broken water reflections

Reflections on water are broken by default in Windows Vista and higher. Foliage and other objects are reflected, but landmasses are missing altogether.[12][13]
Install SilentPatch[5]

Heavy in-game stuttering

Install 64-bit Upgrade Patch, FarOut Widescreen, SilentPatch, then run X64 version and turn on V-Sync
If your game doesn't launch after installing widescreen, delete FarCry64.WidescreenFix.asi from Bin64 (the game still has native widescreen support)
Stuttering straight when you load the game should be gone after you reload your checkpoint 2-3 times, or after some time.
Enable shader cache
The shader cache is automatically disabled when installing "Far Cry Fix", so you have to re-enable it manually doing the following
  1. Go to the installation folder.
  2. Open system.cfg with your text editor of choice.
  3. Modify the parameter r_ShadersPrecache to 1
  4. Modify the parameter r_ShadersSave to 1
  5. Save the file and launch the game
You can still expect struttering now and then when compiling shaders, but generally the gameplay is MUCH smoother

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0b
OpenGL 2 Experimental renderer. Cannot be selected via in-game options. See Enable the OpenGL renderer.
Shader Model support 1.1, 2, 3
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
64-bit needs to be downloaded separately. See Patches.

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio FMOD
Cutscenes Bink Video
Anti-cheat PunkBuster

Enable the OpenGL renderer

Modify the system.cfg file[14]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>
  2. Open system.cfg with Notepad or other text editor.
  3. Change the value of r_driver to "OpenGL"
  4. Save the file and launch the game.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98SE, ME
Processor (CPU) AMD Athlon 1 GHz
Intel Pentium III 1 GHz
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 4 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 2
ATI Radeon 8500
64 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0b compatible
Sound (audio device)
*Supported video cards at time of retail release: NVIDIA GeForce 2/3/4/FX families ( NVIDIA based cards must have ForceWare drivers 53.03 or later; GeForce 2 and GeForce 4 MX cards do not support all graphics features). ATI Radeon 8500/9000 families (ATI Radeon 9500-9800 XT recommended; ATI-based cards must have Catalyst drivers 3.9 or higher).


Notes

  1. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[2] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[3]
  2. 2.0 2.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  3. 3.0 3.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/13520/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (13520) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Ubisoft - Golden Day Ahead for Far Cry (retrieved) - last accessed on 2023-11-23
    "Far Cry is scheduled to release on March 23, and in anticipation for the Far Cry launch, Ubisoft has commissioned two more action-packed single-player demos to release in March."
  2. Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
  3. Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
  4. TweakGuides.com - Far Cry Tweak Guide - last accessed on May 2023
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Verified by User:Blackbird on 2018-04-10
    Works.
  6. Verified by User:Zach Fett on 2022-04-16
  7. PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up - last accessed on May 2023
  8. EAX Featured Game: Far Cry - Creative.com (retrieved) - last accessed on May 2023
  9. EAX Showcase: Far Cry™ - SoundBlaster.com (retrieved) - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  10. Encyklopedia polskiego dubbingu
  11. [citation needed]
  12. Far Cry - Missing Landmass Reflections on Water - YouTube - last accessed on May 2023
  13. VOGONS • View topic - Far Cry - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  14. TweakGuides.com - Far Cry Tweak Guide - last accessed on May 2023