Talk:F.E.A.R.

I feel like this page isn't clear on what GOG version does with SecuROM DRM. In the notes it says:

"Multiplayer executable creates dormant SecuROM files.[2]"

but then below it says:

"The GOG install removes SecuROM, GameSpy, and Punkbuster. GOG is 15.6 GB [136 files], Steam is 16.5 GB [161 files].[3]"

This doesn't add up, especially if you pull out the later posts in the GOG forum thread about this issue:

by AB2012:

Not properly no (last update was 2015). I mean the expansions are playable as long as you don't have certain software like Process Monitor running, but it's not exactly ideal for a 'DRM-Free' game to constantly scan other applications memory then refuse to run depending on what it 'likes'. The expansions also stutter more than the base game, quite possibly because of all this unnecessary SecuROM memory scanning overhead still left in there.

It isn't "dormant" but a bizarre broken version of SecuROM in the expansions that still affects some users.

If it is anything like other DRM-free SecuROM titles on GOG then the copy protection of SecuROM is disabled, but other components such as its anti-tamper functionality may remain.

From the perspective of PCGW, we have historically only regarded the copy protection as DRM, as the main goal of a "DRM-free" title is to be able to copy and play it freely without any additional barriers to do so.

UPDATE: I solved the problem day after it happened. I simply set compatibility mode with Windows XP SP3 and that did it. Game started working well. All tho checkpoint saving or manual saving takes a bit longer than it should but still, it worked.

So yeah, I did not had this problem on previous Windows, like Windows 7 or XP, but on Windows 10 sometimes FEAR just crashes back to desktop while saving the progress automatically on the checkpoint. For example, I had a crash in the moment after you meet that fat guy second time, when he is hiding with holding cactus above his head. And so, after you talk to him and move down the corridor, game starting to save the progress and then it freezes and crashes without any error whatsoever. I don't know why this is happening, but again, like I said, I did not had this problem back in the days on previous Windows OS. Is there any solution to this?

Be sure to have applied the 4 GB/LAA patch: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/F.E.A.R.#4_GB_patch

Last I looked into this game, it could easily run past the 2 GB RAM limit of 32-bit games on modern machines at higher resolutions.

Well, here is the thing. I'm playing this game on old PC with 2 GB RAM and 256 MB VRAM and with processor with 2 cores in 3 GHz. Windows 10 on this PC loads from SSD while everything else is located on HDD. So I guess that the problem is in Windows 10. But I already beat the game. I just set a compatibility mode with Windows XP SP3 and that did it. Heck, I already beat the second game with no problems whatsoever. So yeah, you kinda replied to my comment too late.

Why was the small subtitles fix removed between this revision https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/w/index.php?title=F.E.A.R.&oldid=1260212#Small_subtitles and this revision https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/w/index.php?title=F.E.A.R.&oldid=1260213#Small_subtitles ?

I'd add it back myself but I have no experience with editing pages.

Not sure, but wasn't it replaced with this?: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/F.E.A.R.#Text_scaling_patch See also https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/w/index.php?title=F.E.A.R.&diff=1260212&oldid=1260210 which is the commit just before he removed the small subtitle fix and apparently moved it to the essential fixes section, which is mentioned in the commit message at https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/w/index.php?title=F.E.A.R.&oldid=1260213#Small_subtitles

Seems so. Thanks for point that out.

Nice to be of help :)

Correct. Sorry for slow reply. I think I used the initial small subtitles fix first, but my HUD was still tiny on my display. When I found the fix for it, I saw it contained a subtitled fix of its own. So essentially it's two fixes in one, so I removed the subtitles fix in favor of the overall HUD fix which does both. Maybe we should add a little clarification on the page that it fixes subtitles also?

Just pushed an edit with more clarification and clearer steps for the fix :3

Looks well improved to me, nice work.

The large address aware patches prevent the steam releases of the games from launching, throwing an error instead. This should be noted.

Thanks for the tip, I've included it.

Have you tried to apply it on Steamless version of the .exe file?

The DirectInput FPS Fix for the main game also works for the Expansion if the fix's dll is copied into the /FearXP folder. Worked for me on the GOG Version of FEAR Platinum.

Earlier this year I was able to play F.E.A.R with the Steam overlay and MSI Afterburner's Overly to look at performance. No longer can I. I tried everything. What gives? Google gives two results with no solutions.

Simple guess - try launching Steam AND/OR MSI Afterburner as administrator. As far as I remember - FEAR's exe starts with administrative rights, so Overlays from programs that don't have the same rights may not be able to hook into it.

There performance issues aren't limited to Logitech devices - I've had the frame rate to permanently drop to extremely low levels and I have never owned any Logitech peripherals.

In-game FSAA disables soft shadows. Nvidia control panel doesn't allow overriding program settings. I got AA working with the main game using Nvidia Inspector, but not with the expansions. The method used resulted in poor performance, the game was dropping below 60fps in the introduction sequence and runs far better in 4K (HUD is too small unfortunately) than in 1920 x 1080 with AA based on my testing. I did not enable supersampling unlike in the guide.

https://www.forum-3dcenter.org/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=9609522&postcount=3737

http://www.moddb.com/mods/fear-resurrection
https://web.archive.org/web/20081210155127/http://www.projectorigincommunity.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-863.html / https://web.archive.org/web/20081018205848/http://lithfaq.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=114&p=3167
https://web.archive.org/web/20090904130208/http://lithfaq.com/forums/sound-channels-and-getting-rid-of-a-sound-issue-basic-t11.html