Blur

Blur

Developers
	Bizarre Creations
Publishers
	Activision
Engines
	Horizon
Release dates
Windows	May 25, 2010
Reception
Metacritic	81
IGDB	79
Taxonomy
Genres	Racing

Key points

Sold as Blur Racerz in Japan.

Game uses its own online account system and doesn't include VOIP, text chat or any other way to communicate with online players.

Updates cause various audio issues (such as crackling and cutting-off earlier than expected) especially on higher quality audio presets and frame rates over 60. Downgrade to the original version to avoid frame rate and audio issues.

Despite the uncapped frame rate, gameplay sections are internally limited to 60 FPS with higher values duplicating the same frames while also breaking some post-processing effects (e.g. motion blur, lens flare, etc.). To change the internal limit and restore some of the broken effects see High frame rate.

Official Master server for multiplayer was shut down. Can be restored with a mod, see Multiplayer types

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM v7.41.0004(v7.42.0001 on 1.2) DRM
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Steam (unavailable)

Online features require registering an account in-game.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.2 for retail copies. Steam version is already patched.

Causes Audio issues at higher than 60 FPS and on higher quality audio presets.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files
Go to <path-to-game>\UI\movies\ Delete or rename atvi.bik and BizarreSplash.bik.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\bizarre creations\blur\settings.xml
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/42640/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\bizarre creations\blur\save\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/42640/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Hor+ gameplay, Vert- FMV and frontend scaling. Hud in gameplay snaps to corners. Loading screens and event starting aspect ratios are pillarboxed and letterboxed to 16:9.
Ultra-widescreen			Hor+ gameplay, Vert- FMV and frontend scaling. Hud in gameplay snaps to corners. Loading screens and event starting aspect ratios are pillarboxed and letterboxed to 16:9.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Can also be toggled with Alt+↵ Enter.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Uncapped in menus (3D animations and camera movements), 2D menu navigation speed tied to frame rate. Gameplay limited to 60 FPS internally, higher values duplicating the same 60 frames and breaking some post-processing effects. Updates causes audio to be distorted and broken. See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

High frame rate

This method can only fully restore some of the broken post-processing effects like motion blur while others (like lens flare) may still exhibit broken and inconsistent behaviors. That is if the new internal limit matches the desired external value.

Simply running at a higher rate - regardless of this fix being applied - speeds up camera movement and sensitivity. This fix helps the sped up camera to render at higher internal values.

High frame rate may be somewhat difficult to consistently achieve on some setups due to limited multi-threading. This can be alleviated by using dxvk to wrap D3D9 API calls to Vulkan. This reduces overall CPU usage and overhead but increases GPU usage.

Modify with Cheat Engine

Install Cheat Engine and attach the game process. While Blur.exe is selected in the memory search range, search for 0.016666666666 as a float in rounded (extreme) mode, while Executable, Writable and CopyOnWrite is set to Don't Care and the Fast Scan option disabled. Change all viewed values to 1/FPS (e.g. 0.006944444444 for 144 FPS or to 0.002777777777 for 360 FPS) of which there should be three instances of. This will cause the gameplay to slow down. Search for 60.000000000000 with the same options mentioned above, individually change each instance to the desired value until the two values that return the game to the intended speed are found. Remove all irrelevant values and than save the cheat table. Temporary solution. The saved cheat table must be used and its values changed with each launch. This method will not alter the effective range of the "Shock" power-up. One of the two values responsible for game speed in accordance to the internal gameplay FPS target may show incorrect value in menus; however, it will automatically match itself with the other value during gameplay.

Modify with hex editor

Open Blur.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Replace all instances of 89 88 88 3C (60 FPS) with one of the following, 89 88 08 3C for 120 FPS. 39 8E E3 3B for 144 FPS. 89 88 88 3B for 240 FPS. 61 0B 36 3B for 360 FPS. Replace the first instance of 00 00 70 42 (60 FPS) with one of the following, 00 00 F0 42 for 120 FPS. 00 00 10 43 for 144 FPS. 00 00 70 43 for 240 FPS. 00 00 B4 43 for 360 FPS. If gameplay speed becomes slow change other instances of 00 00 70 42; however, if not possible, all instances can be replaced at once without any noticeable changes to gameplay. Permanent solution. Only needs to be applied once. Higher values applied via this method will reduce the effective range of the "Shock" power-up. If the desired value is not listed above, apply it using the Cheat Engine method above. Right-Click one the changed values and select "Browse this memory region" to view the hex values.

Input

Keyboard layout.

Controller layout.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Two layouts only. There is a work-around via an AutoHotkey script.
Mouse acceleration		No mouse support.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		XInput controllers only.
Full controller support		Only keyboard button prompts are displayed.
Controller remapping		Three layouts only.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers		Add Blur to Steam as a non-Steam game and use the 'Gamepad' preset in the controller configuration. Vibration can be disabled via Steam Big Picture.
DualShock button prompts
Light bar support
Connection modes	unknown

Generic/other controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		See Haptic feedback.
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		Keyboard only.

Haptic feedback

Disable controller vibration[citation needed]
See the Special K Unofficial Guide to install Special K. Start the game and press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+← Backspace to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand "Input Management", then "Gamepad". Enable "Disable ALL Rumble" and close the Control Panel. Press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+O to disable Special K's On-Screen Display.

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Effects, Music, Menu music.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		See Mute on focus lost.
Royalty free audio

"Medium', and "High" audio settings will sound better, but the updates cause audio to cut sooner, and may not properly load. Can be fixed with a replacement dsound.dll from Creative ALchemy or downgrading to the original version.

Mute on focus lost

Mute in background[citation needed]
See the Special K Unofficial Guide to install Special K. Start the game and press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+← Backspace to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand "Window Management", then "Input/Output Behavior". Enable "Mute Game" and close the Control Panel. Press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+O to disable Special K's On-Screen Display.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish				Local retail version only.
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish				Local retail version only.

Network

Online features require registering an account in-game.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		4	Split-screen.
LAN play		20
Online play		20	The official multiplayer service was shut down; use Amax Emu.

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	3074
UDP	3074,50001

This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

VR support

3D modes	State	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision			Use Helix Mod: Blur for better 3D support.
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction. Note:Windowed mode may crash game !

Issues fixed

Black screen, degrading frame rate, freezes on launch, or loads endlessly

Install DirectPlay

Resetting CPU affinity

While the game is running, press Alt+Tab ↹, and open Task Manager. Make sure you click the 'More details' arrow to show the full Task Manager. Go to the 'Details' tab, and find the process Blur.exe Right click the process, and select 'Set affinity'. Uncheck the box for '<All Processors>', recheck 'CPU 0', and click OK. Right click the 'Blur.exe' process again, and recheck the box for '<All Processors>', and click OK. This has to be done every time the game is launched.

Changing CPU affinity

Open the Task Manager, and go to the Details tab. Right-click Blur.exe and select 'Set Affinity'. Disable CPU 0 and leave the other CPUs checked. Then hit OK. This has to be done every time the game is launched. Making affinity changes permanent (setting affinity in task manager only lasts until you exit the game): Edit your preferred shortcut for launching the game (desktop and/or start menu) In the target field, set the following (just put the default contents in double quotes and prepend cmd.exe /C ...): For a 4/4 (core/thread) CPU cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity e "<path-to-game>\Blur.exe" For a 4/8 and 8/8 (core/thread) CPU cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity fe "<path-to-game>\Blur.exe" For a 6/6 (core/thread) CPU cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity 3e "<path-to-game>\Blur.exe" For a 6/12 (core/thread) CPU cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity 7fe "<path-to-game>\Blur.exe" For a 8/16 (core/thread) CPU and higher cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity fffe "<path-to-game>\Blur.exe" Verify correct affinity by launching the game and checking affinity in task manager (see beginning). To be used in Steam launch options, to launch the game directly from Steam, it must be a little different: Ex. for a 8/16 (core/thread) CPU and higher C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C start "" /affinity FFFE "<path-to-game>\Blur.exe" %command%

Setting compatibility settings
Right click Blur.exe in the install directory and select properties. Go to "Compatibility" and Enable Compatibility Mode and change it to Windows 7. Also enable "Run this program as an administrator" and click apply.

Distorted audio quality

On updated versions, frame rates over 60 FPS cause the game's audio to be distorted and broken.

Downgrade to the original version
Alternatively, see Frame rate capping or set monitor on 60hz and enable Vsync in Video options.

Audio cuts out when game first loads

This issue only occurs with the Medium, and High audio setting on updated versions.

Downgrade to the original version or enable Compatibility Mode
Right click on either on 'Blur.exe', or the shortcut to the exe, and select 'Properties'. Click on the 'Compatibility' tab. Under the Compatibility mode section, check the box 'Run this program...', and select Windows 7. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Unable to play online

This is an issue which involves an inability to connect to online games, caused by Blur's overly strict reliance on port forwarding.

The only reliable way to play online is to use Virtual LAN software such as Hamachi or Tunngle, the latter of which had an active Blur community, but had to shut down its services in 30/04/2018 due to the EU GDPR. Nowadays there is a discord that created an alternate server for playing the game online. Search for - "amax-emu.com\how_to_play".

Retail installer hangs

Retail copies of the game may get stuck during the install process, specifically before the installer starts copying files from the disc. This mostly is to occur on PCs running Windows 8/8.1/10.

Installing the game without the disk[citation needed]
Make a folder called 'BLUR_DVD' anywhere you choose in the computer. Open File Explorer, and view the files for BLUR_DVD. Select all of the files, copy, and paste them into the 'BLUR_DVD' folder. Once all the files have been copied over, select the 'Setup' folder, then the 'rsrc' folder. Select 'AUTORUN.exe' to start the installation

Mouse cursor always visible in game

Hide mouse cursor[citation needed]
See the Special K Unofficial Guide to install Special K. Start the game and press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+← Backspace to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Expand "Input Management", then "Mouse Cursor". Enable "Hide When Not Moved" and set "Seconds Before Hiding" to "0". Close the Control Panel and press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+O to disable Special K's On-Screen Display.

Can't find any LAN games

Free hogged port[citation needed]
If you have AnyDesk installed, quit it in the system tray. If you do not have AnyDesk installed, in PowerShell, run Get-Process -Id (Get-NetUDPEndpoint -LocalPort 50001).OwningProcess to see which process is hogging the discovery port. Kill the process with taskkill.

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
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium D Dual Core 3.4 GHz	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	14 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT ATI Radeon X1600 XT 256 MB of VRAM Shader model 3.0 support	Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT ATI Radeon X1800 XT