Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

I Am Alive

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
I Am Alive
I Am Alive cover
Developers
Ubisoft Shanghai
Darkworks
Publishers
Ubisoft
Engines
LEAD Engine[1]
Release dates
Windows September 6, 2012
Reception
Metacritic 66
IGDB 69
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action
Art styles Realistic
Themes Post-apocalyptic
I Am Alive on HowLongToBeat
I Am Alive on IGDB
I Am Alive on MobyGames
I Am Alive on Wikipedia

Key points

Game must be installed on the main drive to avoid issues. See Issues fixed.
Controller highly recommended due to mouse movement stutters.
Has an additional difficulty mode in Easy and has a new level select.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Requires online activation
TAGES Solidshield DRM.
Ubisoft Connect
Windows
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Ubisoft Store
Icon overlay.png
Included with Ubisoft+.
Windows

Monetization

Type Notes
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service Available via Ubisoft+.

Microtransactions

Type Notes
No microtransactions None

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files[2]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\data\Videos.
  2. Delete or rename Logo_ESRB.bik, Logo-Ubisoft.bik and Unreal_TechLogo.bik,

Disable shaders

Use Peixoto's patch[2]
  • Use Peixoto's patch to disable the depth of field, film grain, or black and white shaders.

Increased view distance

Use Flawless Widescreen[2]
  • Use Flawless Widescreen and enable View Distance fix in the game's profile (this will significantly impact performance).

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\IAmAlive\Save\IAA_Profile\profile.sav
<path-to-game>\src\System\UserSettings.ini[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/214250/pfx/[Note 2]
Some user settings are saved in profile.sav which is encrypted.[3]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\IAmAlive\Save\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/214250/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect
[4]

Video

Video settings.
Video settings.
Game settings.
Game settings.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Use Flawless Widescreen.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Use Flawless Widescreen.
Windowed
Can also be changed by changing StartupFullscreen value to False.[5]
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Up to 16x, but it is not applied to all surfaces, force in the GPU control panel instead.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Up to 8x MSAA and up to 16x CSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Frame rate is capped at 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Control settings.
Control settings.
Key mapping.
Key mapping.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Enter cannot be bound.
Mouse acceleration
On by default, can't be turned off.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Highly preferred over keyboard and mouse due to mouse movement stuttering. XInput support only. See Issues fixed.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
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
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music, sound FX and voice.
Surround sound
Auto configures up to 5.0 output.[6]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish
Fan translation, download.
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation: download (TriboGamer)
Russian
Fan translation: download
Spanish

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: I Am Alive and Helix Mod: I am Alive (Alternative).
vorpX
2D
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Note:Game is on oifficial list but not yet confirmed to be 3D.

Issues unresolved

Mouse movement stutters

Camera movement is stuttering very badly when using the mouse, while it is smooth when using a controller.
When the game is loading additional world data in the background it stops responding to mouse movement. Currently there isn't a fix available.

Issues fixed

No sound

Game launches, but no sound can be heard.
Install the game on the main drive[7]

Menu lag and low performance

Frequent freezing every few seconds.
Use DirectInput FPS fix
  1. Download the dinput8.dll from here
  2. Unpack it and put the dinput8.dll into the game folder where the IAmAlive_game.exe is (<path-to-game>\src\SYSTEM)
  3. After starting the game, alt-tab out of it and back in once (otherwise it won't register your keyboard now). Now it will no longer freeze every few seconds.
Disable HID Devices[citation needed]
  1. Disable all HID Compliant devices in the Device Manager (every device starting with HID Compliant under Human Interface section).[8]

Notes

Fix may disable the mouse and keyboard.

Checking systems and iamalive_game.exe not working

Appears to be caused by a startup validation process which can be disabled.[9]
Can also be caused by running on an unsupported operating system.[10]
SystemValidation[citation needed]
  1. Open UserSettings.ini and change the RunValidation value to false.[9]
[SystemValidation]
RunValidation=False
LastAdapterNumber=0

Controller not responding

Even with the in-game gamepad setting enabled, controller inputs do not go through.
Use Steam Big Picture
  • Launch the game from Steam Big Picture with the generic gamepad mapping.
  • If applicable, add the game as a non-Steam game to the library before launching through Big Picture. Executable is located at <path-to-game>\src\System.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok
Audio Wwise
Cutscenes Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) XP SP3, Vista SP1, 7
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 4 630
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
System memory (RAM) 1 GB (XP)
2 GB (Vista, 7)
Hard disk drive (HDD) 2 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Sound (audio device) DirectX 9.0c compatible


Notes

  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).
  2. 2.0 2.1 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>/214250/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (214250) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Gamespot - I Am Alive - What You Thought Is Probably Wrong - last accessed on 2021-07-07
    "I Am Alive might be considered an amalgam of different games, films, and books. The platform and action situations may remind you of other Ubisoft-published games like Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction because it uses the same LEAD engine as Conviction."
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Verified by User:Antrad on October 11, 2018
  3. I am Alive PC - Page 8 - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
  4. Cloud save support for games available on Ubisoft+ - last accessed on 2021-09-04
  5. Steam Community - last accessed on May 2023
  6. PC Gaming Surround Sound Round-up - last accessed on May 2023
  7. Steam Community - last accessed on May 2023
  8. https://steamcommunity.com/app/214250/discussions/0/864945276452100225/#p2
  9. 9.0 9.1 https://steamcommunity.com/app/214250/discussions/0/864945309941360825/
  10. I am Alive PC - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)