Serious Sam 4

Serious Sam 4

Developers
	Croteam
Publishers
	Devolver Digital
Engines
	Serious Engine 2017
Release dates
Windows	September 24, 2020
macOS (OS X)	TBA
Linux	TBA
Reception
Metacritic	68
OpenCritic	70
IGDB	74
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, FPS
Vehicles	Industrial, Motorcycle, Robot
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Europe, Sci-fi
Series	Serious Sam

Serious Sam 4 is a singleplayer and multiplayer sci-fi FPS game developed by Croteam and published by Devolver Digital. Despite being the fourth main entry in the Serious Sam series, Serious Sam 4 is a direct prequel to Serious Sam 3: BFE, making it the second-earliest game in the series' chronology after Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope. Serious Sam 4 runs on the latest version of Croteam's Serious Engine, which was upgraded with new graphical capabilities and the ability to support over 100,000 enemies on-screen at once. Although it was initially stated that the game could be played in co-op with up to 16 players, this limit was reduced to 4 some time before release.

Serious Sam 4 was announced on April 18, 2018 as Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass, though this subtitle was later dropped for localization reasons. It was re-announced without the subtitle in May 2020 with a release date of August, but was delayed to September 24, where it was released for Windows on Steam and GOG.com simultaneously. It was plagued with issues at launch, with players experiencing crashes, performance issues, and graphical bugs. Reviews were divided; many praised its adherence to the series' classic formula, but criticized a perceived lack of polish that had arisen from a seemingly-rushed release. However, the most severe bugs were fixed in patches in the following days and weeks.

As of October 2020, Croteam continues to develop the game by fixing bugs, improving gameplay elements, and implementing features requested by the community.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
		Deluxe Edition also available.
GOG.com		Deluxe Edition also available.
Microsoft Store		Included with Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Humble Store
Steam		Deluxe Edition also available.

Version differences

Pre-ordering any version of the game granted the Classic Tommy Gun weapon skin that replaces the Assault Rifle in-game if enabled in the menu.

The Standard Edition is the base game.

The Deluxe Edition includes the base game, the Classic Tommy Gun weapon skin, the game's Digital Soundtrack, and a Digital Artbook. Owners of the Standard Edition can upgrade to the Deluxe Edition for the cost of the difference between the two editions.

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Steam	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\257420\local\SeriousSam4.ini
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/257420/pfx/

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
Windows	<path-to-game>\UserData\<user-id>\SeriousSam4\
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Steam	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\257420\remote\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/257420/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Graphics Options

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Cutscenes are pillarboxed.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		60 to 120 degrees.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		FXAA, MSAA up to 8X and SSAA up to 4X.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Framerate Cap option supports "25", "30", "60", "90", "120", "144", and "Unlimited".
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

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  Performance Options

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  CPU Settings

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  GPU Settings

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  GPU Memory Settings

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  Color Options

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  Advanced Options

All reflection settings only affect planar reflections, which are only used in Netricsa enemy/NPC preview screens. Actual gameplay only uses Cubemaps.

Most of the higher GPU settings automatically enable MSAA which doesn't apply to majority of the scene, having negligible impact on visual quality for moderate performance cost.

Remove shadow edge artifacts

Disable shadow dithering[citation needed]

By default shadow edges are dithered to make their appearance smoother at a lower performance cost. Disabling dithering may increase performance impact. Go to performance settings. Select GPU Speed and click on Customize. Set Shadow Dithering Radius to 0. Shadow edge quality may be boosted additionally (at an additional cost) with following console command: shb_bAllowAnisotropicShadows = 1 Alternative method that can achieve soft shadow edges at an extreme performance cost is to combine dithering with SSAA (not recommended).

Disable texture streaming

Disable texture streaming[citation needed]
Loading time may increase to improve performance. Some systems may not have enough memory for this fix to work. Some in-game cutscenes will have faster texture pop in. Open the console. Paste the following options: texs_ctMaxUnloadsPerFrame = 0 texs_ctTooMuchLoadingTextures = -1 sim_fWorldPrecachingStreamingLoadingDoneThreshold = -1

Increase thread count

Force the game to make use of logical CPU cores by increasing thread count
By default thread count equals to number of physical CPU cores and the game is very CPU bound. May slightly boost performance. May increase stuttering. Not recommended by developers. Open the console. Paste the following command, replacing X with total core count (physical + logical) of Your CPU: thr_iMaxWorkerThreads = X

Disable boot logo

Skip developers logo on boot[citation needed]
Open the console. Paste the following command: men_bShowIntroCutscene = 0

Change max menu framerate

Increase fps limit in menus[citation needed]
Game defaults to 66fps limit in menus. Launch the game with following parameter, replacing X with desired maximum menu framerate limit: +men_iMaxAllowedFPS X

Input

"Configure Keys" Options

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		"Mouse Smoothing". Disabled by default.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers

Generic/other controllers

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

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  Keyboard and Mouse Options

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  Controller "Configure Button" Options

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  Controller Layout Options

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  Controller Options

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  Game Options

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  Motion Sickness Options

Audio

Sound Options

Text Language Options

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		"Master Volume", "Effects Volume", "Music Volume", "Voice Volume".
Surround sound		Game defaults to amount of output channels defined in windows audio device settings with no way of overriding.
Subtitles		Default "Auto" option may not show subtitles.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Forced ON with no way to override.
EAX support		Built in software emulation (only available with software mixer enabled)
Royalty free audio

Disable dynamic range compression

Disable loudness equalization[citation needed]
Game by default compresses dynamic range (loud sounds are made quieter and quiet sounds are made louder), this only affects software mixer. Open the console. Paste the following command: sfx_bUseCompressor = 0

Disable software audio mixer

Enable direct hardware audio output[citation needed]
Software audio mixer handles processing game audio effects. Disabling software mixer introduces couple of minor audio bugs like looping footstep sounds and breaks attenuation(distance volume fade) for some scripted sounds like NPC voice overs or gates. Disabling software mixer unlocks audio output above 44.1KHz Open the console. Paste the following command: sfx_bSoftwareMixer = 0

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian				Fan voice-over by «Mechanics VoiceOver», download
Spanish
Turkish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play

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  Multiplayer Options

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  Voice Options

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11, 12	As of 1.04 version of the game DX11 is being recommended as optimal API for most users.
Vulkan		As of 1.04 version of the game DX11 is being recommended as optimal API for most users.

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

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10
Processor (CPU)	2.5 GHz Quad Core	3.3 GHz Octa Core
System memory (RAM)	8 GB	16 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	40 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GTX 780/970/1050 AMD Radeon HD 7950/R9 280/RX 470 3 GB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080/RTX 2060 AMD Radeon RX Vega 64/RX 5700 8 GB of VRAM DirectX 12 compatible

A 64-bit operating system is required.

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)