Aliens: Colonial Marines

Aliens: Colonial Marines

Developers
	Gearbox Software
	Demiurge Studios
	Nerve Software
	TimeGate Studios
Publishers
	Sega
Russia	1C-SoftClub
Engines
	Unreal Engine 3
Release dates
Windows	February 12, 2013
Reception
Metacritic	45
IGDB	45
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Multiplayer
Series	Alien

Alien
Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure	1995
Alien Trilogy	1996
Aliens Online	1998
Aliens versus Predator (series)
Aliens: Colonial Marines	2013
Alien: Isolation	2014
Aliens: Fireteam Elite	2021
Aliens: Dark Descent	2023

Key points

Use ACM Overhaul to fix various issues with the game, AI, and balancing.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Gearbox Software Forums - A:CM Technical Support

Forums at AvPGalaxy.net non PC-specific.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Humble Store
Steam

All versions require Steam DRM.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Bug Hunt DLC
Reconnaissanse DLC
Movie Map Pack
Stasis Interrupted
Limited Edition Pack
Collector's Edition Pack
SHARP Sticks
Sawed-off Double Barrel Shotgun

Essential improvements

ACM Overhaul

Comprehensive overhaul mod that fixes AI, balancing, textures, and more.

ACM Overhaul does not contain all possible graphic corrections and corrections in aliens AI. If you want such fixes, download this file.

Changelog

Skip intro videos

Edit PecanEngine.ini

Edit %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini Change each instance of StartupMovies= to //StartupMovies= Save your changes and close the file. Another method is to simply edit your shortcut target and add a space at the end of the path, followed by -nomovie. This has the advantage of also bypassing the legal screen as well. Note, however that this method will also skip the in-game intro movies.

Improved Xenomorph AI

This results in improved wall and ceiling climbing for the xenomorphs.

The fix is also included in ACM Overhaul.

Edit two spelling mistakes on a line in DefaultEngine.ini

Edit <path-to-game>\PecanGame\Config\DefaultEngine.ini Find ClassRemapping=PecanGAme.PecanSeqAct_AttachXenoToTether -> PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachPawnToTeather and change it to ClassRemapping=PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachXenoToTether -> PecanGame.PecanSeqAct_AttachPawnToTether Save your changes and close the file. Notes The config line includes two spelling mistakes that the above fixes: PecanGAme instead of PecanGame AttachPawnToTeather instead of AttachPawnToTether

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/49540/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<Steam-folder>\userdata\<user-id>\49540\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/49540/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Save file and key bindings.

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen			Image is Vert-. FOV can be increased to compensate. For a conversion from 16:9 to 21:9, increasing the FOV slider by 3 notches gives the closest approximation of a 1:1 Hor+ increase. See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Slider in menu. For additional values, see Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Is called 'Full Window' in window mode settings.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Referred to as "Texture Detail" in Video settings.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Only features FXAA. Forcing other AA can lead to problems.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Capped at 62 FPS. See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Field of view (FOV)

A slider is included, but no specific values are viewable.

Further manual FOV adjustment by editing FOVOffset[citation needed]
Note: FOVOffset is not the FOV, but the offset from default value. See screenshots for details. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini Locate line FOVOffset=XX in [SystemSettings] section and change XX to your desired value.

• 

  Default FOV

• 

  FOV slider to the max: offset 30

• 

  Custom offset: 40

High frame rate

Disable frame rate smoothing[citation needed]
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini Locate line bSmoothFrameRate in [Engine.Engine] section and change TRUE to FALSE.

Input

Controls settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

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

Support for Logitech G15 keyboard display. Shows current objective or challenge.

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				RU version may need a workaround to play in English.
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian
Polish
Russian				Only available in Russia.
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		4	Use Nucleus Co-op.
LAN play		Multiplayer requires creating an online lobby. If a connection to Steam is lost, players will be disconnected from host.
Online play		10	Versus, Co-op Co-op supports 4 players.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		Use Helix Mod: Aliens Colonial Marines - 3D Vision fix.
vorpX		G3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list

Issues fixed

Failed to start game (app already running) error

There is no universal fix, however these are confirmed to work for some users.

Delete appcache folder
Go to the Steam installation folder. Delete the appcache folder. Restart Steam, game should update itself.

Set Steam language to the same language as the game

If that does not work, try changing also operating system language

Failed to start game (RU release doesn't work when English language is selected)

This solution is probably applicable to other non-English releases.

The game crashes to desktop after trademark screen, shows one of the error messages from previous issues.

Copy INT folders from Russian version

Set game language to Russian (within Steam select game Properties -> Language -> Русский(Russian)) Wait until the game download localization files. Locate <path-to-game>\PecanGame\Localization and <path-to-game>\Engine\Localization folders and copy their contents somewhere safe (You need only INT subfolders, they contain different files, don't mix them up!). Set game language to English. Wait until the game chop it's legs off (it removes said INT folders needed for game to function). Copy both INT subfolders you saved earlier back to <path-to-game>\PecanGame\Localization and <path-to-game>\Engine\Localization accordingly.

Blue screen on AMD CPU

There seems to be problem with game running on AMD FX processors where game crashes to BSOD or freezes system. Issue is similar to Borderlands 2 BSOD and fix also works with Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Update BIOS
Addition information and links to motherboards websites can be found at AMD knowledge base library. Update procedure varies and can cause motherboard to malfunction when update is interrupted or applied incorrectly. Read carefully manual to your motherboard and instructions on screen when updating. Information about Borderlands 2 BSOD issue can be found at Gearbox Software Support page.

No textures

Forcing anti-aliasing via drivers on Nvidia GeForce cards will result in missing textures and black game scene.

Disable anti-aliasing in graphics adapter

Game Freezes / Crashes during Session

Due a memory restriction (x86 build), the game is limited to work with a maximum of 2GB of VRAM. Try either:

Lower V-ram intensive graphics settings such as Resolution

Play in Full Window mode instead of Fullscreen

GPU detection fix

Game has problems with detecting some graphic adapters - mainly mobile GPUs and new graphics. Because of this, game can select wrong settings profile for your system.

1. Checking GPU detection

Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Logs\Launch.log. Locate line [0000.53] Log: Machine detected compatibility level: Composite: X. CPU: Y. GPU: Z. where X,Y and Z values are assigned grade of your system. Value of 5 is the highest grade for high end hardware. If you've got powerful hardware and you're not getting high enough grades, follow the guide in the next fixbox. Otherwise you don't need to change anything.

2. Adding your GPU to the hardware list

In file Launch.log locate these lines: [0000.53] Log: GPU stats: [0000.53] Log: VendorID: 0000YYYY [0000.53] Log: DeviceID: 0000XXXX [0000.53] Log: DriverVersion: <numbers> [0000.53] Log: DeviceName: <GPU name> Edit %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanCompat.ini Locate section for your vendor - search for VendorName= value. Add line into your vendor section for your graphics adapter. Use information from Launch.log file like so: 0xYYYY=G,<GPU name> where: YYYY - last four digits from VendorID G - your desired hardware grade - 1 lowest, 5 highest <GPU name> - string from DeviceName Example 1: [0000.52] Log: GPU stats: [0000.52] Log: DeviceID: 00001244 [0000.52] Log: DeviceName: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti will result in 0x1244=5,NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti Example 2: [0000.53] Log: GPU stats: [0000.53] Log: VendorID: 00001002 [0000.53] Log: DeviceID: 00006738 [0000.53] Log: DriverVersion: 8.17.10.1169 [0000.53] Log: DeviceName: AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series will result in 0x6738=5,AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series

3. Additional graphic enhancement for high-end hardware

This step is optional. It will force maximum quality level of detail for grade 5 hardware. Edit %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanCompat.ini In section [AppCompatBucket5] search for these lines: TEXTUREGROUP_World=(LODBias=1) TEXTUREGROUP_WorldNormalMap=(LODBias=1) TEXTUREGROUP_WorldSpecular=(LODBias=1) Change ones to zeros and save the file. Additionally you can tweak some other options in this section.

No weapon

Switch between weapons

Unresponsive controls

Problem with controls where in-game camera is always rotating and in menu cursor is always moving down. Demonstrated here.

Unplug all USB game controllers, alternatively disable them in Device manager

.ini edit
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Aliens Colonial Marines\PecanGame\Config\PecanEngine.ini Locate line AllowJoystickInput=1 in [WinDrv.WindowsClient] section and change 1 to 0.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX	2.8.4.6
Audio	OpenAL, XAudio2
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.99p

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP3	Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Dual Core 2 GHz	Intel Quad Core 2.3 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	20 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2600 Nvidia GeForce 8500 256 MB of VRAM	ATI Radeon HD 5850 Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 512 MB of VRAM

Although developer recommends 20 GB of free space, download size is around 6 GB. With all DLC available the download size is 14 GB.