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Alpha Protocol

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Alpha Protocol
Alpha Protocol cover
Developers
Obsidian Entertainment
Publishers
Sega
Engines
Unreal Engine 3
Release dates
Windows May 28, 2010
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Stealth, ARPG, Action
Alpha Protocol on HowLongToBeat
Alpha Protocol on MobyGames
Alpha Protocol on Wikipedia

General information

Obsidian Entertainment forums
Alpha Protocol Wiki
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Requires online activation
SoftAnchor DRM.[1] Use patch 1.1 to remove.
Windows
Amazon.com (unavailable)
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Windows
GamersGate (unavailable)
DRM-free after installation (requires an internet connection during installation)
Windows
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
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[2]
Windows
Humble Store (unavailable)
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Windows
Steam (unavailable)
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Windows
Currently unavailable for purchase due to expired music rights.[3]

DLC and expansion packs

Preorder DLCs "Exclusive Assault Pack" (GameStop exclusive) and "Stealth Weapons Pack" (BestBuy exclusive) is available only on consoles.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.1 removes DRM and fixes various issues.

Skip intro videos

Delete or rename video files[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\APGame\Movies\
  2. Delete or rename slate_ap.sfd, slate_obsidian.sfd, and slate_sega.sfd.

Game data

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

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/34010/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Alpha Protocol\Checkpoints\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/34010/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

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

Ultra-widescreen

Enable Ultra-Widescreen[4]
  1. Use Widescreen Fixer
  2. Untick Automatically Detect Resolution.
  3. In Display Count Enter 3.
  4. Enter your desired resolution into Detected Resolution.

Field of view (FOV)

Add FOV hotkey[5]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\APGame\Config\
  2. Open DefaultInput.ini.
  3. Go to ; --- General bindings
  4. Add the line +Bindings=(Name="F11",Command="Fov 93")
  5. Press F11 during gameplay to activate your chosen FOV.

Notes

High FoV causes several issues
  • Most of cutscenes show models before they should appear in view, making them appear out of nowhere or get stuck
  • Sniper scope no longer zooms
  • Player model in Service Record is small

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Modify APEngine.ini[citation needed]
  1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\APEngine.ini
  2. Change MaxAnisotropy to one of the following values: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

MSAA[citation needed]
  1. Open Alpha Protocol driver profile via Nvidia Profile Inspector.
  2. Change Antialiasing compatibility to 0x00000041[6]
  3. Change Antialiasing - Mode to Override any application setting
  4. Change Antialiasing - Setting to 4x [4x Multisampling] or one of the other MSAA options.
  5. Apply changes.

Notes

Default Nvidia profile has wrong anti-aliasing compatibility bits for Alpha Protocol. Therefore, when MSAA forced through video driver in-game dialogue choices show missing.
SGSSAA[citation needed]
  1. Open Alpha Protocol driver profile via Nvidia Profile Inspector.
  2. Change Antialiasing compatibility to 0x080002C1[7]
  3. Change Antialiasing - Mode to Override any application setting
  4. Change Antialiasing - Setting to 4x [4x Multisampling]
  5. Change Antialiasing - Transparency Supersampling to 4x Sparse Grid Supersampling
  6. Apply changes. SGSSAA can be set higher(8x) but it must always match the MSAA value.

High frame rate

Modify APEngine.ini[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration files location.
  2. Open APEngine.ini.
  3. Change bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE to bSmoothFrameRate=FALSE
May cause stuttering.

Input

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Needs a workaround on Vista and later; see No surround sound.[8]
Subtitles
Under Game settings.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
Available for Steam version despite not being listed on the store page.[9]
French
German
Italian
Polish
Available for Steam version despite not being listed on the store page.[9]
Brazilian Portuguese
Translation.
Russian
Available for Steam version despite not being listed on the store page.[9]
Spanish

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: Alpha Protocol.
vorpX
G3D
User created profile, read here, for more details how to get the game running.

Issues fixed

Can't activate (Error code: -1912029)

Install Patch 1.1[10]

Install Patch 1.1 to remove the activation requirement.

Game won't get past the launcher

Reinstall Nvidia PhysX[citation needed]
  1. Uninstall Nvidia PhysX.
  2. Install the Nvidia PhysX System Software.

Hitching / Stuttering

Modify APEngine.ini[citation needed]
  • Edit %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Alpha Protocol\APGame\Config\APEngine.ini
  • Set these lines to the following values:
bSmoothFrameRate=True
bUseBackgroundLevelStreaming=False
UseTextureFileCache=True
OnlyStreamInTextures=True
OneFrameThreadLag=False
UseVsync=True
  • Set this line to match your monitor's refresh rate:
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62
  • Save the file
  • On nVidia GPU's setting Vsync to "Fast" can help as well. Disable in game Vsync when doing this.
Jerky camera movement[citation needed]

Setting the graphics tweaks as previously mentioned will disable background streaming and make the jerky camera occur less often. Using and enabling a controller will all but eliminate it.

No text visible for dialog choices

No Text Visible for Dialog Choices[citation needed]

When MSAA anti-aliasing enabled via video driver with default anti-aliasing compatibility bits this issue seems to occur. See Anti-aliasing (AA) for the solution.

Motion Blur option doesn't work

Modify APEngine.ini[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration files location.
  2. Open APEngine.ini.
  3. Adjust GlobalMotionBlurAmount=

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c
Shader Model support 3.0
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics PhysX 2.8.1.15
Audio OpenAL, XAudio2
Interface SoftAnchor Audit Dynamic Link Library - 1.2.2.0
Native HTML UI - 1.0.0.4
Cutscenes Sofdec

Graphical tweaks

The graphics settings for Alpha Protocol are rather basic. There are some other settings which can be altered in the APEngine.ini file, found in the configuration files location.
Before editing the file, the read-only tag needs to be removed.

Editing the following settings should improve the game's graphics:

  • Trilinear=True
  • EnableHighPolyChars=True
  • MaxShadowResolution=4096 (If you experience framerate issues, this can be lowered to 2048 or 1024)
  • bEnableBranchingPCFShadows=True
  • bEnableForegroundShadowsOnWorld=True
  • bUseBackgroundLevelStreaming=False
  • OnlyStreamInTextures=True
  • OneFrameThreadLag=False

Audio tweaks

The sound settings for Alpha Protocol are very rudimentary. There are some other sound settings which can be altered in the APEngine.ini file, found in the configuration files location
Because the game has OpenAL support, the sound quality can be improved with a couple of changes within the ini file, especially when a hardware-based audio solution (e.g. Creative SoundBlaster) is used.
Before editing the file, the read-only tag needs to be removed.
  • [ALAudio.ALAudioDevice]
  • MaxChannels=32 (some hardware-based soundchips support up to 256 channels. Common settings are 48,64,96,128)
  • UseEffectsProcessing=True
  • TimeBetweenHWUpdates=15
  • MinOggVorbisDurationGame=20
  • MinOggVorbisDurationEditor=4
  • DeviceName=Generic Hardware (changed from DeviceName=Generic Software; nearly all gaming soundcards support OpenAL via hardware-based emulation)

Surround Sound and EAX support

This game seems to work with the ALchemy software for supported Creative SoundBlaster soundcards.
Doing so may break dialogue UI[citation needed]
Edit APEngine.ini[citation needed]
  1. Edit the APEngine.ini file and change the line: DeviceName=Generic Software to DeviceName=Generic Hardware
  2. Add the game to the list within Creative ALchemy by pointing to <path-to-game>\Binaries

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz
AMD Athlon XP 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 12 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 6800GT
ATI Radeon X1300XT
DirectX 9.0c compatible


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>/34010/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (34010) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References