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Shadow of the Tomb Raider

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider cover
Developers
Eidos-Montréal
Crystal Dynamics
Windows Nixxes Software[1]
macOS (OS X) Feral Interactive[2]
Linux Feral Interactive[2]
Publishers
2023-present Crystal Dynamics
2018-2023 Square Enix
OS X, Linux Feral Interactive
Engines
Foundation
Release dates
Windows September 14, 2018
macOS (OS X) November 5, 2019[3]
Linux November 5, 2019[3]
Reception
Metacritic 77
OpenCritic 80
IGDB 80
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, DLC
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Adventure
Art styles Realistic
Themes Contemporary, North America, South America, Supernatural
Series Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider on HowLongToBeat
Shadow of the Tomb Raider on IGDB
Shadow of the Tomb Raider on MobyGames
Shadow of the Tomb Raider on Wikipedia
Tomb Raider (1996) 1996
Tomb Raider II 1997
Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft 1998
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation 1999
Tomb Raider Chronicles 2000
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness 2003
Tomb Raider: Legend 2006
Tomb Raider: Anniversary 2007
Tomb Raider: Underworld 2008
Lara Croft (series)
Tomb Raider (2013) 2013
Lara Croft GO 2015
Rise of the Tomb Raider 2016
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 2018
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered 2024

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a singleplayer third-person action and adventure game in the Tomb Raider series.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider was developed by both Eidos-Montréal and Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. The game was ported to Windows by Nixxes Software and ported to both Linux and MacOS by Feral Interactive, who also published these Linux and MacOS ports.

The Windows version received a post-launch update in March 2019 that added support for ray traced shadows and DLSS 1.0.[4] Around the end of 2021, around one-and-a-half year after the last patch released, several patches were released upgrading the DLSS implementation to to the significantly improved version 2.3.2.0. Additionally an improved shadow denoiser for ray traced shadows, improved ray traced shadows on higher settings, fixes for compatibility issues with Intel GPU-hardware, updated multiplayer infrastructure to use Epic Online Services (without the need for an Epic account), removed Denuvo from the game, and several bug- and crash-fixes were implemented.[5] In September 2022, another update was released for the game, introducing support for XeSS.[6]

Key points

DirectX 12 is the recommended graphics API for the best performance.[7][8][9]

General information

Official forum
Square Enix Support Center
Steam Community Discussions
GeForce.com Graphics and Performance Guide

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
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Windows
Publisher website (unavailable)
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Digital Deluxe Edition, Croft Edition also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Epic Games Store
Epic Games Launcher
Definitive Edition.
Windows
GamersGate
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Croft Edition also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Digital Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Definitive Edition.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Definitive Edition.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Definitive Edition.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Digital Deluxe Edition, Croft Edition also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Mac App Store
Icon overlay.png
macOS (OS X)
Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM was removed from the Steam version on October 18, 2021.[10]
A demo is available on Steam.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Season Pass
Windows
Official Wallpaper Available by pre-ordering any edition of the game.
Windows
Skills Booster Pack Available by pre-ordering any edition of the game.
Windows
The Forge Included in Season Pass.
Windows
The Pillar Included in Season Pass.
Windows
Spectre Gear Included in Season Pass, Croft Edition and The Forge.
Windows
Golden Eagle Gear Included in Season Pass, Croft Edition and The Pillar.
Windows
Croft Edition Extras Included in the Croft edition.
Windows
Deluxe Extras Included in the Digital Deluxe edition.
Windows

Essential improvements

Skip launcher and fix Steam overlay

Use the -nolauncher command line argument[11]

Game data

In-game gameplay settings.
In-game gameplay settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Eidos Montreal\Shadow of the Tomb Raider\
macOS (OS X) $HOME/Library/Application Support/Feral Interactive/Shadow of the Tomb Raider/
Linux $XDG_DATA_HOME/feral-interactive/Shadow of the Tomb Raider/preferences
$XDG_DATA_HOME/feral-interactive/Shadow of the Tomb Raider/SaveData/<user-id>/profile.dat
Any manual changes to the config files will be reset if settings are changed in-game.
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 %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Shadow of the Tomb Raider\<user-id>\
macOS (OS X)
Linux $XDG_DATA_HOME/feral-interactive/Shadow of the Tomb Raider/SaveData/<user-id>/save*.dat

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Epic Games Launcher
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Steam cloud save files are not cross-platform. That is, Steam won't synchronize save files, for example, from Windows when you're running the game on Linux or Mac. You can manually copy files across different platforms and try to load, but it might unlock random Steam achievements on load.

Video

In-game display settings.
In-game display settings.
In-game graphics settings.
In-game graphics settings.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Hor+ scaling. 32:9 resolutions do not show up in game settings or in launcher. Can be set in config. From build 449 and upwards, which updated DLSS to a V2.3, all resolutions are supported with DLSS enabled.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Cheat Engine fix available; however, it only takes effect when Lara is walking and does not work with her running animation.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Disable Exclusive Fullscreen.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Up to 16x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
SMAA, TAA, SMAAT2x, SMAA4x
High-fidelity upscaling
DLSS 2.3, XeSS 1.1
Game can be modded to have DLSS work as FSR 2, see DLSS2FSR
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Triple Buffering
Half Refresh Rate option also available.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
HDR must be enabled in Windows.
Ray tracing (RT)
Ray traced shadows available on Windows only.
Supports VRS on supported hardware.
SMAA4x uses MSAA 4x, SMAA and TAA.[8]

DLSS2FSR

Expose the DLSS option to use modded FSR2 for non RTX users[12]

WARNING: IF YOU HAVE AN NVAPI FILE ALREADY IN SYSTEM32, BACK IT UP BEFORE USING THIS MOD.

  1. Download the SOTTR-DLSS2FSR zip file and extract all the contents.
  2. Put the NVAPI64.dll file into System32 Directly, IF THERE EXISTS AN NVAPI FILE SAVE IT BEFORE REPLACEMENT.
  3. Put all the other files into the <path-to-game>.
  4. Launch the EnableSignatureOverride.reg file and confirm the option.
  5. Start the game, and confirm any windows that may appear.
  6. Select DLSS and choose the desired preset.

Notes

This may or may not affect the game's multiplayer, I have not tested it.
You can further adjust settings through the Nvngx.ini file.
Works in both DirectX11 and DirectX12

Input

In-game gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game mouse settings.
In-game remapping settings.
In-game remapping settings.

Audio

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

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music, Dialogs and Effects.
Surround sound
Up to 7.1. Also supports spatial sound, e.g., Dolby Atmos.
Subtitles
White subtitles or colored subtitles by person.
Closed captions
Separate option for deaf support.
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
Several Peruvian songs are licensed.

Localizations

All languages have an option to turn on native voices for some characters to improve immersion.
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Also available the variant known as English (KSA), for Arabic countries.[15]
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Hungarian
Fan translation, #1, #2.
Italian
Japanese
Not shown on Steam store page, but can be chosen in-game.
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Not shown on Steam store page, but can be chosen in-game.
Turkish
Fan translation.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
Online play
2 Co-op
Only the Challenge Tombs of DLCs.

Connection types

VR support

In-game Tobii eye tracking settings.
In-game Tobii eye tracking settings.
3D modes State Notes
Native 3D
Side by side.
Nvidia 3D Vision
vorpX
G3D, DirectVR
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking
Supports: Aim at Gaze, Character Awareness, Extended View - Eye & Head Tracking, Survival Instinct Awareness, Throw at Gaze, Trap Awareness (game pad only).

Issues fixed

Some elements of the game do not work in higher frame rate

The following issues happen when running the game on higher frame rate:

  • Cannot spin the blocks with numbers in Ix Chel and Chak Chel chamber (Windows only)
  • In-game cutscene freezes when talking to the old man for the 1st time during Price of Survival's DLC quest called The Dragon and The Prince (Native Linux version)
Cap the frame rate at 60 FPS[16]

Stabilize the frame rate in native Linux version

The game may require increasing the shader cache size in order to provide a better frame rate as by default both Mesa and NVIDIA's proprietary driver libraries use 1 GB by default which won't be enough. This can be done using the following environment variables for specific vendors into the command line (On Steam it must end with %command% in order to pass it through):

Set the shader cache size to 2GB with environment variable[17]
  • MESA_SHADER_CACHE_MAX_SIZE=2G - When using Mesa for AMD/Intel
  • __GL_SHADER_DISK_CACHE_SIZE=2000000000 - NVIDIA's driver (470 or newer)

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11, 12 Toggleable from launcher or settings.
Metal support
Vulkan
Linux only.
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Wwise
Interface Scaleform
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer Epic Online Services [10]

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i3-3220
AMD FX-8350
System memory (RAM) 8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 40 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 660
AMD Radeon HD 7770
2 GB of VRAM
DirectX 11 compatible
A 64-bit operating system is required.
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.15
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 40 GB
Video card (GPU) AMD Radeon R9 M290
Intel Iris Graphics 540
2 GB (AMD), 1.5 GB (Intel) of VRAM
A 64-bit operating system is required.
Linux
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Ubuntu 18.04
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i3-4130 3.4 GHz
System memory (RAM) 8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 40 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 680
AMD Radeon R9 285
2 GB of VRAM
A 64-bit operating system is required.

References

  1. Nixxes - SHADOW OF THE TOMB RAIDER - last accessed on May 2023
  2. 2.0 2.1 Shadow of the Tomb Raider coming to macOS and Linux in 2019 - Feral News - last accessed on 2018-11-20
  3. 3.0 3.1 Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition destined for macOS and Linux on 5 November - Feral News - last accessed on 2019-10-15
  4. Shadow of the Tomb Raider Finally Got Its RTX and DLSS Patch on PC - last accessed on 2022-08-15
  5. PC Patch Notes for patch Shadow of the Tomb Raider, build 1.0.453.0 (Patch #20) - last accessed on 2022-08-15
  6. Update notes for Sept. 27, 2022 - last accessed on 2022-09-27
  7. Imgur - Shadow of the Tomb Raider Display Settings - last accessed on 2018-09-20
    "DirectX 12 is our recommended graphics API for the best performance and to allow the use of the latest hardware features.

    DirectX 11 is available for use on older operating systems or graphics hardware.
    "
  8. 8.0 8.1 Digital Foundry - Shadow of the Tomb Raider PC Analysis (YouTube) - last accessed on 2018-09-20
  9. Computer Base - Shadow of the Tomb Raider im Test: DirectX 12 wirkt, aber schnell muss die GPU trotzdem sein 2/3 (German) - last accessed on 2018-09-20
  10. 10.0 10.1 https://steamdb.info/patchnotes/7533035/
  11. Disable / ignore launcher. - last accessed on 2022-08-15
  12. Verified by User:Mine18 on 2023-12-16
    Tested on RX 590 and confirmed Working.
  13. Xbox one Trigger Rumble supported in the game! - last accessed on May 2023
  14. Shadow of the Tomb Raider - [21-09-2018] PC Patch Notes for patch 1.0.230.9 (Patch #2) - last accessed on 2018-09-21
  15. question to developer: why only Arabic or English are available in copies of game "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" purchased in Arabic countries? - last accessed on 2023-01-15
  16. Stuck/Bug Ix Chel Chak Chel puzzle doors :: Shadow of the Tomb Raider General Discussions - last accessed on 2019-07-26
  17. Verified by User:Kenji Kusanagi on 2022-12-01
    Discovered while benchmarking the game with default 1 GB and 2 GB. Note that increasing it beyond that barely makes any difference