The Sinking City

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The Sinking City
The Sinking City cover
Developers
Frogwares
Publishers
Frogwares
Former Bigben Interactive
Engines
Unreal Engine 4
Release dates
Windows June 27, 2019
Reception
Metacritic 71
OpenCritic 69
IGDB 70
Taxonomy
Monetization DLC
Microtransactions Cosmetic, Finite spend
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Adventure, Open world
Themes Detective/mystery, Interwar
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The Sinking City on HowLongToBeat
The Sinking City on IGDB
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The Sinking City on MobyGames
The Sinking City on Wikipedia

General information

Official wiki
The Sinking City subreddit
GOG.com Community Discussions
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Developer website Deluxe Edition is also available.[Note 1]
Windows
Gamesplanet
DRM details are not known
 Deluxe Edition is also available.
Windows
Origin
Icon overlay.png
 Included with EA Play Pro.
Deluxe Edition is also available.
Windows
Epic Games Store (unavailable)
Epic Games Launcher
 Necronomicon Edition was also available.
Windows

Version differences[edit]

Digital pre-orders included Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter, Chicago Organ Grinder, Extra Skill Point DLC, and 2 days of early access.
The Day One physical edition includes a printed map of Oakmont, the Investigator Pack and Chicago Organ Grinder DLC.
The Necronomicon Edition includes Worshipers of the Necronomicon and Investigator Pack DLC.
The Deluxe Edition includes Worshipers of the Necronomicon and Merciful Madness DLC.

Monetization[edit]

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Worshipers of the Necronomicon Extra side quests - Breaking News, Blood from A Stone, Mystic Tomes.[2] Completing the latter grants the Cultist outfit.
Windows
Merciful Madness Extra side quests, including Fool's Gold and Defunct Brain Cylinders. Previously exclusive to the Nintendo Switch version.[3]
Windows
Investigator Pack Daywear outfit, 21 crafting materials, first aid kit and antipsychotics always available at the Devil's Reef hotel.[2]
Windows
Chicago Organ Grinder A golden submachine gun available in the inventory from the start of the game.[2]
Windows
Extra Skill Point
Experience Boost 		An extra knowledge point and 500 XP available from the start of the game.[2]
Windows

Microtransactions[edit]

Type Notes
Cosmetic A character outfit sold as inexpensive DLC.
Finite spend A limited amount of experience available as inexpensive DLC.

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Remove the video files[4]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\TSCGame\Content\Movies\
  2. Remove or rename Start_video_Frog.mp4, UE4_Logo.mp4 and UE4_Logo_BB.mp4.
A game update may restore the files.
The image-based intros will remain, although easily skippable with button presses.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System Location
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\TSCGame\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/750130/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location[edit]

System Location
Windows %LOCALAPPDATA%\TSCGame\Saved\SaveGames\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/750130/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System Native Notes
Epic Games Store
GOG Galaxy
Origin
Steam Cloud

Video[edit]

Video settings.
Video settings.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Vert- gameplay. Pillarboxed cutscenes and dialogue scenes.[5]
Use the related mod for Hor+ scaling.
Ultra-widescreen
Vert- gameplay. Pillarboxed cutscenes and dialogue scenes.[6]
Use the related mod for Hor+ scaling.
4K Ultra HD
[7]
Field of view (FOV)
See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Scales with the Textures setting.[8]
Anti-aliasing (AA)
TAA with multiple quality options.[9] See Anti-aliasing (AA) for sharpening or SSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Limited to 62 by default. See High frame rate for more.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Field of view (FOV)[edit]

Use an external tool to fine-tune FOV[4]
  1. Download the FOV changer.
  2. Launch the game and wait for it to load.
  3. Run the tool and press the buttons to increase and decrease FOV as instructed.
Increase FOV by changing the way it's calculated[10]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Engine.ini in a text editor.
  3. Add the following lines:
[/Script/Engine.LocalPlayer]
AspectRatioAxisConstraint=AspectRatio_MaintainYFOV
A significant increase from the default 16:9 value.

High frame rate[edit]

Edit the config file[11]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open GameUserSettings.ini in a text editor.
  3. Locate FrameRateLimit=0.000000 and set the value to the desired FPS cap.

Anti-aliasing (AA)[edit]

Enable TAA sharpening through the config file[12]
This makes the game appear less blurry when anti-aliasing is on.
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Engine.ini in a text editor.
  3. Add the following lines:
[SystemSettings]
r.TemporalAACurrentFrameWeight=0.2
r.Tonemapper.Sharpen=1
Enable super-sampling through the config file[10]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Engine.ini in a text editor.
  3. Add the following lines:
[SystemSettings]
r.ScreenPercentage=150
The 150 stands for percentage of the base resolution, equal to 1.5x. Any other value above 100 can be used.

Bloom[edit]

Disable bloom through the config file[12]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Engine.ini in a text editor.
  3. Add the following lines:
[SystemSettings]
r.BloomQuality=0

Chromatic aberration[edit]

Disable chromatic aberration through the config file[13]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Engine.ini in a text editor.
  3. Add the following lines and save the file:
[SystemSettings]
r.SceneColorFringeQuality=0

Depth of field[edit]

Disable depth of field through the config file[14]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Engine.ini in a text editor.
  3. Add the following lines:
[SystemSettings]
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0

Film grain[edit]

Disable film grain through the config file[12]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Engine.ini in a text editor.
  3. Add the following lines:
[SystemSettings]
r.Tonemapper.Quality=0

Input[edit]

Controls settings.
Controls settings.
Gameplay settings.
Gameplay settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
[15]
Mouse sensitivity
Labeled Camera sensitivity.
Mouse input in menus
Backing out of settings menus is not possible with a mouse click.[16]
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Invert X and Y axis options.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
[17]
Controller sensitivity
Labeled Camera sensitivity.[17]
Controller Y-axis inversion
Invert X and Y axis options.[17]
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
[17]
Xbox button prompts
[17]
Impulse Trigger vibration
DualShock 4 controllers
Generic/other controllers
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
[17]
Haptic feedback
Vibration toggle.
Simultaneous controller+KB/M
[17]

Audio[edit]

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Master, SFX, music, voices, ambient, interface.
Surround sound
[18]
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language selection is only available from the main menu Gameplay settings.
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Arabic
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Turkish
Ukrainian

VR support[edit]

3D modes Native Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: The Sinking City - 3D-Vision Fix - Losti - V1.20.

Issues unresolved[edit]

Game stuttering[edit]

Multiple high-end hardware users have reported stuttering unrelated to FPS drops.[19][20][21][22] The developers acknowledged the issue.[23]

Issues fixed[edit]

Crashing at gun pickup[edit]

AMD users have reported crashing upon picking up the pistol at the starting location.

Set Post process to Low in the Video settings until after the pistol is picked up.[24]

Crashing at boat interaction[edit]

Pressing A on an Xbox 360 controller to get on the protagonist's small boat may cause the game to crash.[25]

Press X to get on and off the boat.[26]

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware[edit]

Middleware Notes
Physics PhysX

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7 10
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i3 3 GHz
AMD Phenom X6 3 GHz		 Intel Core i7-3770 3.5 GHz
AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz
AMD Ryzen 5 1400
System memory (RAM) 6 GB 8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 35 GB 40 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 760
ATI Radeon R9 380X
2 GB of VRAM
DirectX 11 compatible 		Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
AMD Radeon R9 290
4 GB of VRAM
DirectX 11 compatible
Shader model 5.0 support
A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

  1. ↑ Despite being listed as DRM-free on the storefront, the game uses an account-based DRM and requires installation and launching through the Frogwares Launcher.[1]
  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>/750130/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (750130) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. ↑ Verified by User:Aemony on 2020-07-01
    Verified myself by purchasing the game through the official website. The Frogwares Launcher looks to be a variant of the Xsolla Launcher, and is seemingly only used to launch and update The Sinking City. Launching the game outside of the launcher is not possible as the executables throws the error message: "Please use Frogwares Launcher to launch the game."
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 FAQ - last accessed on 2019-06-27
  3. ↑ [1] - last accessed on 2020-07-02
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-25
  5. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-25
    Tested at the custom resolutions of 3840x1080 and 5160x1080, screenshots compared to 16:9.
  6. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-25
    Tested at the native resolution of 2560x1080, screenshots compared to 16:9.
  7. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-25
    Tested at the custom resolution of 3840x2160.
  8. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-11-22
    r.MaxAnisotropy gets set from 0 to 8 depending on the quality setting, as seen in the console.
  9. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-26
    TAA is commonly used in Unreal Engine 4 games. The other things pointing at it are the blurriness of the image, config-forced TAA quality options affecting it, and config-forced FXAA removing the blur.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-26
  11. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-25
    Set to 120.000000 and saw it reflected in the game.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-26
    Screenshots taken and compared.
  13. ↑ Verified by User:Darktalon on 2019-12-17
  14. ↑ [2], Steam Discussion: Disable depth of field in dialogues?
  15. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-25
    No dedicated option and no acceleration in my testing at the lowest sensitivity.
  16. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-29
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-25
    Tested with an Xbox 360 Razer Onza controller.
  18. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-06-25
    The rear speakers were properly used.
  19. ↑ The Sinking City - PC Stuttering Issues + Benchmark Scene - last accessed on 2019-06-26
  20. ↑ (PC) Stuttering/hitching, any fix? - last accessed on 2019-06-26
  21. ↑ No longer get 60FPS? - last accessed on 2019-06-26
  22. ↑ Frame rate is not stable - last accessed on 2019-06-27
  23. ↑ The Sinking City - Official feedback thread - last accessed on 2019-06-28
  24. ↑ The Sinking City - Official feedback thread - user comments - last accessed on 2019-06-28
  25. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-07-03
    Tried and crashed to "Fatal error" 5 times with different boats, with an Xbox 360 Razer Onza controller.
  26. ↑ Verified by User:Rose on 2019-07-05
    This helps, although pressing A by mistake will still lead to a crash.