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Serious Sam 3: BFE

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Serious Sam 3: BFE
Serious Sam 3: BFE cover
Developers
Croteam
Publishers
Devolver Digital
Russia 1C-SoftClub
Engines
Serious Engine 3.5
Release dates
Windows November 22, 2011
macOS (OS X) April 23, 2012
Linux November 9, 2012
Reception
Metacritic 72
IGDB 71
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, DLC
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person, Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Shooter
Art styles Realistic
Themes Egypt, Sci-fi
Series Serious Sam
Serious Sam 3: BFE on HowLongToBeat
Serious Sam 3: BFE on IGDB
Serious Sam 3: BFE guide on StrategyWiki
Serious Sam 3: BFE on MobyGames
Serious Sam 3: BFE on Wikipedia
Serious Sam: The First Encounter 2001
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter 2002
Serious Sam 2 2005
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter 2009
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter 2010
Serious Sam Double D 2011
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter 2011
Serious Sam 3: BFE 2011
Serious Sam: The Greek Encounter 2012
Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! 2012
Serious Sam VR (series)
Serious Sam Fusion 2017 EA
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour 2017
Serious Sam Classics: Revolution 2019
Serious Sam 4 2020
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem 2022
Serious Sam: Tormental 2022

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version 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.

Serious Sam 3: BFE is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person and third-person action and shooter game in the Serious Sam series.

General information

Official wiki
Serious Zone Community Forums
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
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Includes Serious Sam Double D.[citation needed]
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Humble Store
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Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Steam
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Gold Edition also available.
Custom DRM code can sabotage the game by spawning an invincible arachnoid in every level, and uncontrollably spinning the player in Under the Iron Cloud.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Amazon.co.uk (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
GamersGate (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
All versions require Steam DRM.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
DLC_3 Models Includes one multiplayer model (Brett Sanderson). Included with the Bonus Content DLC.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Sniper Scope for the Devestator Included with the Bonus Content DLC.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Jewel of the Nile Additional campaign
Part of the Gold Edition.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Console command men_bShowIntroCutscene[1]
  1. Run the game and open the console (~).
  2. Enter command men_bShowIntroCutscene=0

Mods

To use the installed mods, you must launch the moddable version of the game from your Steam library. While in the moddable version, achievements and leaderboards are disabled.
Serious Zone hosts a wide variety of mods and maps for Serious Sam 3: BFE, in addition to other games in the series.

No More Hitscan Enemies

Game data

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.
In-game advanced settings.
In-game advanced settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Steam <Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/41070/local/SeriousSam3.ini
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System Location
Steam <Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/41070/
The save games for the moddable version are separate, however can moved over as they are compatible with each other.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud
Approx. 477 MB available.

Video

In-game general video settings.
In-game general video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Use Widescreen Fixer to set HUD width limit.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
See 4K Ultra HD.
Field of view (FOV)
Slider, 60-120°.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Working using Borderless Gaming.
If forced, main menu will have mouse-hud misalignment. See Software Mouse Cursor
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
MSAA, FXAA, and SSAA
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
By default the menus are capped to 33 FPS. To uncap see Uncap Menu FPS
Ingame there is no frame rate or refresh rate cap.[2]
High dynamic range display (HDR)
According to SteamDB's search engine

Software mouse cursor for better borderless window support

Note: Using borderless gaming will result in mouse-hud misalignment. To fix this enable the software cursor as follows:
  • Open the console and type cursor than hit tab to autocomplete, than add =0. Alternatively type the full command: prj_bHardwareMouseCusor=0
  • Additionally the menus are capped at 33 fps this the cursor will be very laggy by default, see the next section.

Uncap Menu FPS

Note: The game warns that changing this from the default 33 may cause loading issues. Testing shows that on modern machines with a SSD this is not an issue.
  • Type menu and hit tab to autocomplete to : men_iMaxFPSInMenus=60 or replace 60 whatever value you desire (ideally match your refresh rate).

4K Ultra HD

Custom Resolution[citation needed]
Note: As of the latest patch the game natively supports 4k. This is still useful if you wish to use custom resolutions.

This fix will also work for other resolutions such as 1920x1200, 2560x1440 and other resolutions.

  1. Open the config file in <path-to-game>/Content/SeriousSam3/Config/ using a text editor.
  2. you should find gfx_pixResWidth/height and gfx_pixLastGoodResHeight/Width
  3. Now type your custom resolution, example,
 gfx_pixLastGoodResHeight = 2160;
 gfx_pixLastGoodResWidth = 3840;
 gfx_pixLastGoodWinHeight = 2160;
 gfx_pixLastGoodWinWidth = 3840;
 gfx_pixResHeight = 2160;
 gfx_pixResWidth = 3840;
 gfx_pixWinHeight = 2160;

4. Now save and set config to "Read Only" in properties.

Input

In-game general keyboard/mouse settings.
In-game general keyboard/mouse settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game general gamepad settings.
In-game general gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad layout settings.
In-game gamepad layout settings.
In-game gamepad button map settings.
In-game gamepad button map settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Some actions like Quick Save or Quick Load can not be remapped.
Mouse acceleration
Off by default in latest version. On in launch version, see Mouse Acceleration for details on how to toggle.
Mouse sensitivity
See also Use lower mouse sensitivity.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Also includes full built-in Steam Controller functionality.[3]
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
PlayStation button prompts
Light bar support
Use Aurora to add DS4 light bar support.
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes
Tracked motion controllers
Button/gesture prompts
Generic/other controllers
Button prompts Input settings icon - Generic Controller.svg
Additional information
Button prompts
Works with hotplug and updates live when switching from keyboard and controller.
Controller hotplugging
Does not work in Split-screen. Switching to a different controller from the first can stop the menu from working.
Haptic feedback
Also allows changing the vibration strength
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M
Steam Input
Steam Input API support
SCAPI actions are missing the crouch button. It needs to be bound using a legacy method to a keyboard key.
Official controller preset(s)
Steam Controller button prompts

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Auto configures up to 7.1 output[4]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Includes inaudible speech, such as screaming and growling. Enabled with the subtitles option set to On, not auto.
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
Use OpenAL Soft for binaural HRTF mixing.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Bulgarian
Simplified Chinese
Croatian
Fan translation, download.
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Fan made joke dub, download.
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation, download.
Russian
Spanish
Fan dub, download

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
4 Co-op, Versus
Split-screen. Supports multiple keyboard and mice.
LAN play
16 Co-op, Versus
Online play
16 Co-op, Versus

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Dedicated Server software is available under Tools in the Steam client.
Self-hosting
Direct IP
The the console type gam_strConnecToIP="x.x.x.x" replace the x's with the ip.

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 27015
UDP 27015
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
G3D
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking
Supports: Aim at Gaze, Clean UI, Dynamic Light, Extended View - Eye & Head Tracking, Flashlight Control, Interaction at Gaze. For Eye tracking features to work you must be playing the Serious Sam Fusion 2017 version of this game.
Novint Falcon

Issues fixed

Mouse Acceleration

  • Latest version: (version 3.0.3 / 261096 as of 2022) The game defaults to raw input, which does not support mouse acceleration. So even though the option remains on by default, it has no effect. In game this is shown in the mouse options by having the Mouse Acceleration option greyed out. You can turn off raw input, or make sure it's on by editing SeriousSam3.ini
    • Change this line to toggle raw input (Change to 0 to disable): inp_bRawInput = 1; _(version="2")
    • With Raw input off, mouse acceleration will be enabled by default. Use this console command entry to disable: prj_bMouseAcceleration=0
      • Note: The game does save most console commands to the .ini, but not this one. It also seems to ignore it in startup scripts, so there is no way to save this functionality, you'll have to run the command again after every startup. Better to just keep on raw input if you want mouse acceleration disabled.
      • Also Note: The game is still a bit unstable on modern machines, if it crashes it tends to revert your .ini to "safe" settings, which includes reverting any changes like these. So if you want them to stick, set your SeriousSam3.ini to read only so the game can't do this.
  • Launch version: No Raw input and Mouse acceleration is on by default in the launch version with the default mouse mode. You can toggle it off in the menu but the option is not remembered.

Keyboard/mouse not working

Use the console[citation needed]
Some background programs like antivirus (specifically ZoneAlarm and F-Secure) are known to cause this.
  1. Open the console with F1.
  2. Type in inp_bRawInput=0

Use lower mouse sensitivity

Use the console[citation needed]
  1. Open the console with F1.
  2. Type in prj_fMouseSensitivity
  3. This will show you the current value that the mouse sensitivity is set to. It should be set to 1 by default, or 0.5 if you have put the slider bar all the way to the left in the options menu.
  4. Enter prj_fMouseSensitivity=0.2
  5. This should lower the sensitivity even further. Play around with the numbers to get something you feel comfortable with. You can put in numbers like 0.25 or 0.05.

Chat message crash

Use the console[citation needed]
Due to bug in the engine, the game may crash if ccn_iMaxChatConsoleMessages is set to 0.
  1. Open the console with F1.
  2. Type in ccn_iMaxChatConsoleMessages=50 (default value)

Dynamic shadows flickering

Turn off Parallax Mapping[5]
  1. Open the console with F1.
  2. Type in sha_iParallaxMappingMethod=0 and then shaReloadShaders()
Alternative solution[6]
  1. Navigate the configuration file and open it with a text editor.
  2. Add shb_bVisibilityMesh = 0; at the end of it.
  3. Save the file.
  4. Right-lick on the file, click Properties, then mark it as Read Only.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c, 11 D3D9 is the default and most complete renderer on Windows. D3D11 is (beta/buggy). D3D12 (beta) is only in the Serious Sam Fusion 2017 version. D3D11 can be forced in this version through a console command: gfx_strAPI="Direct3D11" This will be save to the .ini for later launches.
OpenGL 2.0 Default on OS X, Linux. Can be forced on Windows via the console command: gfx_strAPI="OpenGL"
Vulkan 1.1 Only in the Serious Sam Fusion 2017 version
Shader Model support 3
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.
Linux

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio XAudio2, DirectSound, OpenAL
Multiplayer Steamworks

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP2
Processor (CPU) Intel Dual Core 2.0 GHz
AMD Dual Core 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 4 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 7800/7900/8600 series
ATI/AMD Radeon HD2600/3600 or 1800/X1900 series
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Sound (audio device) DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card
Due to future updates planning to remove DX9 support, Windows XP support will be likely lost with these updates.
macOS (OS X)
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.5.8, 10.6.3
Processor (CPU) Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 6 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GT 120/9600M/320M
ATI Radeon HD 4670
Linux
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Ubuntu 12.04
Processor (CPU) Intel Dual Core 2.8 GHz
AMD Dual Core 2.8 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 4 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 8600/9600 GT
ATI/AMD Radeon HD 2600/3600
OpenGL 2.1 compatible
Other (Graphic drivers: Nvidia 310, AMD 12.11)


References