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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist cover
Developers
Ubisoft Toronto
Publishers
Ubisoft
Russia Noviy Disk[1]
Engines
LEAD Engine
Release dates
Windows August 20, 2013
Reception
Metacritic 82
IGDB 78
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, DLC
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person, First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Stealth
Art styles Realistic
Themes Contemporary, Africa, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America
Series Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist on HowLongToBeat
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist on IGDB
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist on MobyGames
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist on Wikipedia
Splinter Cell
Subseries of Tom Clancy
Splinter Cell 2003
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow 2004
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory 2005
Splinter Cell: Double Agent 2006
Splinter Cell: Conviction 2010
Splinter Cell: Blacklist 2013

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a singleplayer and multiplayer third-person and first-person action and stealth game in the Splinter Cell series.

The game's online services were shut down on October 1, 2022.[2] The mobile app required to unlock some in-game upgrades is no longer available.

General information

Port Report
Splinter Cell Wiki
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
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Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
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Windows
Green Man Gaming
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Windows
Humble Store
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Windows
Steam
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Windows
Ubisoft Store
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Included with Ubisoft+.
Windows
GamersGate (unavailable)
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Deluxe Edition.
Windows
Origin (unavailable)
Origin
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition.
Windows
All versions require Ubisoft Connect DRM.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
High Power Pack Included with Deluxe Edition.
Windows
Homeland Included with Deluxe Edition.
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest official patch is v1.03, but requires patches 1.01 and 1.02 to be installed first. They are available from Ubisoft's (archived) support page and Patches-Scrolls.

Skip intro videos

Delete or rename video files[3]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\data\Videos.
  2. Delete or rename Copyright.bik, Disclaimer.bik, ESRB.bik, Logo_Clancy_01.bik, Logo_MiddleWare_01.bik, Logo_Ubisoft.bik, and Logo_Ubisoft_Clancy.bik.

Game data

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

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Ubisoft\Blacklist\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/235600/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <Ubisoft-Connect-folder>\savegames\<user-id>\91\
<Ubisoft-Connect-folder>\savegames\<user-id>\449\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/235600/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Origin
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect

Video

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

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
See this page.
Ultra-widescreen
See this page.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
75°. Use BlackList Fov Changer DX11. Higher Fov will create some graphical glitches
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Up to 16 samples, might not work on certain systems.[4]
Anti-aliasing (AA)
FXAA, up to 4x MSAA, 2x2 Grid or 2x2 Rotated Grid SSAA, and up to 4x TXAA (Nvidia only).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS
High frame rates can cause undesired side effects.[5] The multiplayer mode is capped at 60 FPS. See also The game is stuck at 60 Hz.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Bloom

Disable bloom[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open videoSettings.ini in a text editor.
  3. Change UseBloom=1 to UseBloom=0.

Motion blur

Disable motion blur[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open videoSettings.ini in a text editor.
  3. Change UseMotionBlur=1 to UseMotionBlur=0.

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
In-game keyboard/mouse settings.
In-game keyboard/mouse settings.
In-game gamepad settings.
In-game gamepad settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Negative Mouse Acceleration. Use RInput, or change UseDIMouse=True found in the [Init] section in <path-to-game>\src\system\Blacklist.ini.
Mouse sensitivity
Separate sliders for 1st and 3rd person.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Can only toggle between 3 pre-set layouts (multiplayer only).
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Generic/other controllers
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

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

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music and SFX only.
Surround sound
5.1 only.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
It is locked out of use by Ubisoft for unknown reasons.
Czech
Danish
Dutch
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Norwegian
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
Online play
8 Versus, Co-op
Online services shut down on October 1, 2022.[2]
Co-op: Fourth Echelon (4E) Missions only (2 players).

Connection types

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP 80, 443
UDP 3658, 13000-13032
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Native 3D
Nvidia 3D Vision
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX
2D
Officially supported game.
Note: Game is on official list but profile is not yet confirmed to be 3D.

Issues fixed

Game does not launch

When launching the game, there is a brief command prompt window that disappears, and the game does not launch.
Move or delete Systemdetection.dll[6]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\src\SYSTEM.
  2. Move or delete Systemdetection.dll.

Game crashes without message after 20-30min

Run the game with the -offline -offline_mode command line arguments.

Display mode resets to windowed every time

Edit configuration file
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open videoSettings.ini with a text editor.
  3. Find and change WindowStyleFinal value to 2 for borderless mode or 0 for exclusive fullscreen.
  4. Save the file.
Launch the game via Ubisoft Connect only to prevent Steam from restoring the value to 1.

The game is stuck at 60 Hz

Edit videoSettings.ini[7]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open videoSettings.ini
  3. Find and change the MaxRefreshRate to the desired refresh rate.
  4. Save the file.

Bad performance or unstable frame rate

Turn off video settings[8]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open videoSettings.ini
  3. Find and change the Occlusion_Off value to 0.
  4. For additional performance improvements, find and change UseMotionBlur value to 0.
  5. To ensure the changes take effect without the game overwriting it, set the file to read-only.
Correct Eyefinity settings in config files[9]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open videoSettings.ini
  3. Find and change the EyefinityMode value to 0.
Change DirectX version used for rendering to DX9[10]
Below are possible solutions to an error marked with offset 00422c5c (DX11) or 006be09c (DX9) in the Windows Event Viewer.
Set firewall rules[11][12]
  1. Edit firewall rules.
  2. Make sure that following applications can access the Internet:
Launch the game as administrator[13]
Open Ubisoft Connect and switch it to Offline mode (this prevents online play)[14]

Crashes instantly at start up

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open videoSettings.ini.
  3. Change WindowStyleFinal=1 (fullscreen) to WindowStyleFinal=2 (for borderless windowed) or WindowStyleFinal=0 (for windowed).

Can not switch to DirectX 9 mode

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Set DirectX 9 in the video menus and exit the game.
  2. Restart the Ubisoft Connect client to prevent reverting to DirectX 11.

Can not connect to other players when purchased from different distribution platforms

Install the latest patch[15]

Offline save games no longer working

{{Fixbox|description=Instructions|ref=[16]|fix=

  1. Locate the Ubisoft Connect installation folder, usually found within Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher.
  2. Go to savegames\<user-id>.
  3. Inside of it, sort the folders by date modified, and copy the most recent sc6_save.sav files from inside one of the folders (usually folder 91) to folder 449).
  4. Launch the game, the save game should be intact and working. Make a small change, purchase, gear customization to check whether or not it was successful.

Start the game in online mode[17]

Cannot connect with a friend in lobby

Manually set firewall rules[18]
Disable all network adapters other than the main Internet connection[19]

Above solution can fix connection problems and also cause the system to show firewall "allow access" alert if you didn't set the firewall rule manually already.

High frame rate issues

The physics and logic of the game are linked to 60 FPS, so playing at high fps can cause problems.
Limit the framerate to 60 FPS[citation needed]

RAW input

Use RInput
  1. Download RInput
  2. Run RInput.exe with the command line argument containing the name of the game's executable (i.e. "...\RInput 1.44\RInput.exe" Blacklist_DX11_game.exe).
Add Blacklist_game.exe instead of Blacklist_DX11_game.exe if the game runs in DirectX 9 mode.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c, 11
Shader Model support 3, 5
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics Havok
Audio XAudio2 [20]
Interface Scaleform
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer Net-Z, Rendez-Vous, Ubisoft Connect

Mods

Chaos Theory Gameplay Tweak

A rebalance mod via ini files that changes some of the gameplay mechanics, to make it feel similar to older Splinter Cell games such as Chaos Theory, such as a challenging stealth tweak, suit tweaks, better stealth suit look for the maxed stealth suit, etc.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3
Processor (CPU) Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.53 GHz
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 25 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
ATI Radeon HD 3870
512 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Shader model 4 support


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 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>/235600/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (235600) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Official website (Russian) - last accessed on 2023-07-31
  2. 2.0 2.1 Decommissioning of online services for older Ubisoft games (October 2022 update) - last accessed on 2022-08-31
  3. Verified by User:SargeCassidy on 2022-01-30
  4. https://imgur.com/a/ejHNGWC
  5. Splinter Cell: Blacklist - Side effects of high frame rate - last accessed on May 2023
  6. [missing title] - last accessed on [unknown]
  7. [1]
  8. Splinter cell black list low fps and lag fix? | Forums
  9. Found possible crash fix - last accessed on 2020-09-29
  10. Verified by User:Suicide machine on 2020-10-03
  11. ANOSMIA review - last accessed on 2020-10-03
  12. Game is crashing? Here is the crash fix! - last accessed on 2020-10-03
  13. Verified by User:Suicide machine on 2020-10-03
    Also might reduce issues, but doesn't always solve them.
  14. Verified by User:Suicide machine on 2020-10-03
  15. PC Version: Auto-Patch Installer Issue | Forums - last accessed on 2024-02-25 (archived)
  16. Blacklist save's gone PC - Ubisoft forums - last accessed on May 2023
  17. Uplay Offiline Mode - Starts the game from beginning - Ubisoft forums - last accessed on 2024-02-25 (archived)
  18. Verified by User:Deton24 on 2021-03-30
    Disabling other network adapters like Hamachi and Radmin VPN caused the OS to show firewall alert, which didn't happen immediately after game launch as normally supposed to. Previously I played the game on coop few years ago on the same system, and apparently the firewall rule for the game has had been deleted
  19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3QvFGExQTk
  20. Imgur - last accessed on May 2023