This single-player demo for the action-horror FPS F.E.A.R. features an introductory cutscene and a portion of the mission from the full game where you must find and neutralize Paxon Fettel.
total f.e.a.r. files: 26
total f.e.a.r. downloads: 591,559
most recent update: 29-sep-2005F.E.A.R. - First Encounter Assault and Reconnaissance
English (North America) Single Player Demo
Readme File
July 29, 2005
***************************************************
About This Document:
Thank you for playing the F.E.A.R. Single Player Demo.
This README file includes information that pertains to general problems
and questions you may have concerning the game or your computer.
************************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION
II. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
III. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
IV. NOTES ON COMPATIBILITY
V. KNOWN ISSUES
VI. PERFORMANCE
VII. F.E.A.R. SITES
VIII. DEDICATIONS, CREDITS AND SPECIAL THANKS
IX. END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA)
I. INTRODUCTION
===============
You must be the new guy. I hear you’re one tough son of a bitch. I hope
it’s true, because we could really use the help. Finding the right people
for this team isn’t easy, especially with the kind of crap we’re been running
into lately.
Any special ops team needs to prepare for the unexpected, but with F.E.A.R.,
you’d better learn to expect the unexpected, and more importantly, believe
the unbelievable. You’re going to come across stuff you can’t explain, and
you’ll need to be ready to deal with whatever it throws at you. Your own life,
as well as the lives of your teammates, will depend on it.
The information you'll get in this document will supplement and update the
information you'll have received so far to run F.E.A.R.. If you're having a
technical problem, look here for the most recent troubleshooting answers.
We're expecting great things from you. Good luck!
II. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND SUPPORTED CHIPSETS
==============================================
In order to install and play F.E.A.R., your system must meet or exceed
the following minimum system requirements:
•US version of Windows(R) 2000/XP with latest service pack installed
•DirectX(R) 9.0c June Edition (Included) or higher
•Pentium(R) 4 1.7 GHz or equivalent
•512MB RAM
•64MB DirectX(R) 9.0 compliant video card with pixel shader support
•A Monitor that can display in 4:3 aspect ratio
•1.4GB free hard drive space for installation
•Additional hard drive space for a Windows(R) swap file and saved game files.
•CD-ROM or DVD drive
•100% Windows(R) compatible computer system (including compatible 32-bit
drivers for CD-ROM, video card, sound card, and input devices)
•16-bit DirectX(R) 9.0 compliant sound card with support for EAX 2.0
•Windows(R) compatible Mouse and Keyboard
In order to play the game at the recommended resolution, detail and
performance levels, your computer should meet or exceed the following
specifications:
•US version of Windows(R) XP with the latest service pack installed
•Pentium(R) 4 3.0 GHz or equivalent
•2GB of RAM
•256MB DirectX(R) 9.0 video card with pixel shader 2.0 support
SUPPORTED VIDEO CARD CHIPSETS WITH LATEST DRIVER VERSION INFO:
ATI(TM)
Catalyst(TM) Drivers (Windows(R) 2000/XP): v5.6
Radeon(R) 9000 Series
Radeon(R) 9500 Series
Radeon(R) 9600 Series
Radeon(R) 9700 Series
Radeon(R) 9800 Series
Radeon(R) X600 Series
Radeon(R) X700 Series
Radeon(R) X800 Series
Radeon(R) X850 Series
NVIDIA(R)
ForceWare(TM) Drivers (Windows(R) 2000/XP): v77.72
GeForce(TM) 4 Ti Series
GeForce(TM) FX 5900 Series
GeForce(TM) 6600 Series
GeForce(TM) 6800 Series
Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that is
not listed here may result in reduced performance, graphical anomalies,
or both.
III. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
==============================
To begin, double-click the installation file icon. Within a few seconds, the
setup
application should start. Once the installer is running, just follow the
on-screen
prompts to complete the installation.
NOTE: During installation you will be prompted to install Microsoft's
DirectX(R).
DirectX(R) version 9.0c June Edition must be installed before playing. If you
elect
not to install this version, the game will not be installed.
To launch the game once installation has finished, double click the FEAR SP
Demo
icon on your desktop, or:
1) Click on the Windows(R) Start button
2) Select Programs
3) Select Sierra
4) Select FEAR SP Demo
5) Click on the FEAR Sp Demo icon
IV. NOTES ON COMPATIBILITY
==========================
FUNCTIONALITY
F.E.A.R. is designed to function with Windows(R) 2000/XP-compatible
graphics and sound cards. Drivers for these devices are provided
by Windows(R) itself or the respective card manufacturers and may
occasionally result in compatibility problems beyond our control.
F.E.A.R. does not support Windows(R) 95, Windows(R) 98, or Windows(R) ME
since the application requires proper installation and functionality
of DirectX(R) 9.0c or higher. Microsoft does not provide or support
DirectX(R) 9.0c for these operating systems.
If you experience any problems, it is always recommended that you
obtain the latest drivers for your hardware. Driver updates resolve
the overwhelming majority of compatibility issues. Most hardware
vendors make their drivers available on their web site. If you are
unsure of a web site URL for a particular hardware vendor, you may
want to try accessing one of the popular Windows(R) software update
sites such as:
www.windrivers.comAdditionally, a brief list of manufacturer web sites appears below
for your reference.
WEB LINKS
ATI:
www.ati.com/support/driver.html Creative:
us.creative.com/support/downloads/ NVIDIA(R):
www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp Turtle Beach:
www.turtlebeach.com/site/support/ftp.aspV. KNOWN ISSUES
================
The following items are known issues with the current beta version of the
game.
GLOBAL:
* Users playing on Windows(R) XP Pro X64 Edition may encounter a
"Windows Media Technologies" error during install.
* If you notice intermediate framerate hitching when running in High detail
setting, try turning texture resolution down to Medium.
* The Soft Shadows option will not work if Full-Screen Anti-Aliasing (FSAA)
in enabled through the Windows Control panel. If you want to play with
both Soft Shadows and FSAA enabled, please use the in-game FSAA Controls.
* It has been reported that the game may not uninstall from partitioned
hard drives if installed to anything other than the "C" drive
partition.
* Please download the latest service pack before playing.
* If you attempt to run the game on a system with a missing or out-of-date
version of DirectX(R) installed, then an error message will appear on
launch that mentions "The dynamic library d3d9.dll could not be found
in the specified path". To fix the problem, re-install the application
and elect to install DirectX(R) 9.0c.
* Make sure that all applications that are running in the background such as
virus scanners, desktop Utilities (menus/toolbars), media players, and
chat programs are disabled before running F.E.A.R.
* Selecting a display resolution that is supported by your video card but
not your monitor will result in a black screen. If this occurs, use
ALT-F4 to quit the application, and then use the display option in the
configuration utility (CONFIG.EXE) to select a resolution supported by
your monitor.
* Task-switching with ALT-TAB or the Windows(R) Key back to the desktop while
running the game is not recommended.
* Striking the Shift key five times may cause the 'Sticky Key' feature to
become enabled in Windows(R). If this happens, the feature will task
switch to a desktop dialogue box with options related to this feature,
including one to disable it entirely.
GRAPHICS:
General:
* Launching the game in Windows(R) XP 64-Bit Edition with ATI Radeon
Windows(R)
64-Bit edition Beta Drivers 3 may result in a black screen on launch. To
work
around this issue, toggle your color quality settings in Windows(R) from 32
to 16-bit (or vice-versa) and then back again. This should allow the game to
launch normally.
ATI Radeon:
* Enabling FSAA and Pixel Doubling at the same time will result in a black
screen.
This appears to be a driver issue.
SOUND:
General:
* Ambient sounds may stop playing after a certain amount of time. We are
still looking into this.
If the in-game sounds and dialogue (voices) do not play, or there are
problems with the quality of these sounds, then please try each of the
following steps (in order) before playing again. Note that you should only
try one solution at a time, since trying them all can greatly reduce the
overall sound quality of the game.
1. Make sure that you have the latest drivers available for your sound
hardware installed. These can usually be found on the manufacturer's
website. Before installing the driver, uninstall the audio device
using the Device Manager. If possible, run a "driver cleaner"
application to fully clean out any extra pieces of the driver and/or
leftover files of another sound card's drivers. Do NOT allow Windows
to install its default driver when asked. Instead, only install the
driver you downloaded from the manufacturer's website.
2. From your main installation folder (the default is
C:\Program Files\Sierra\FEAR SP Demo), double-click on the
file named WMFADist.exe, and then follow the on-screen instructions.
This will manually install the audio codec that is required by the
game.
3. From the in-game sound options menu, disable EAX and Hardware Sounds.
Please note that since this game uses an MP3 codec for sound, 3rd party
codec packs may cause speech and sound to drop out completely. If you have
a codec pack installed and still have sound issues after trying all of
the steps listed above, then you'll need to uninstall both the codec
pack(s) and the game and then re-install F.E.A.R.
If 3d sounds seem to be change volume wildly (i.e. looking directly at an
object will make it sound quieter than when it is to the side), then
you may have your speaker configuration set up incorrectly. For instance,
if you're listening in headphones but have the speaker configuration set
to Surround 5.1, then a lot of sounds will be sent to speakers that don't
exist. You can change the speaker configuration in your sound card's
applications (such as Creative's AudioHQ or Surround Mixer) or in the
Control Panel.
If sounds that are originating in front of you sound as if they are coming
from behind, and if these sounds seem distorted, and you are playing in
5.1, 7.1 or any other Surround Configuration, then you may need to turn off
CMSS in your EAX console. CMSS is used to create a multi-channel version of
a stereo source. Unfortunately, it can cause issues like this when using it
on sounds that are already designed to be in Surround. Note that sometimes
you can choose not to install the EAX Console when installing your sound
card, so you may have to reinstall the driver in order to get this
application.
If you are using a Creative brand sound card and get poor framerates when
sound hardware acceleration is enabled, then check for a process called
"CtHelper"in the Windows(R) task manager. If it's there, terminate it and
try the game again. If this works, please contact Creative to learn
how to permanently disable CTHelper. If CTHelper is not present in the list
and the problem occurs anyway, then you will need to disable sound hardware
acceleration in the Sound section of the game's options menu, or in the
Windows control panel, or in DxDiag.
PERIPHERALS:
Logitech MX510
Users of this mouse may find it to be extremely sensitive in-game. Please
use
the software supplied with your mouse to correct this issue.
Saitek ST90
There have been reports of problems with mapping the buttons on this
joystick to the fire key in the game.
ADVANCED OPTIONS
If you're encountering problems running the game, you can try
tweaking some advanced settings in the configuration utility
(config.exe). Please note that this is for advanced users only,
since tweaking these settings could very well create other problems
in the game.
DISABLE SOUND
If this box is checked, there will be no sound effects in the game.
Also, dialogue and lip-synching will not play correctly, but music
will still play.
If you are experiencing problems running the game and suspect your
sound card may be the cause, you might check this box and see if
the problem goes away. If it does then the problem may be due to
a problem with your sound hardware or drivers.
DISABLE MUSIC
If this box is checked, there will be no dynamic DirectMusic in
the game. Please use this option for troubleshooting purposes only.
DISABLE JOYSTICKS
Disables input from joysticks and game pads. Certain joysticks
and game pads may interfere with normal mouse or keyboard
control in the game. If you suspect this is occurring, checking
this box before running the game may resolve the problem.
DISABLE MOVIES
If this box is checked, the intro logo movies will not be
shown. Use this if your system is having trouble playing these
movies.
DISABLE SOUND FILTERS
If this box is checked, sound filtering effects (reverb) will be
disabled. Only cards with EAX 2.0 support will benefit from this
feature. If you experience problems such as static when firing a
weapon in a particular area within a level, then you may need to
play with sound filtering disabled.
DISABLE HARDWARE SOUND
If this box is checked, this will disable DirectSound 3D sound support
and could cause performance issues.
RESTORE DEFAULTS
If this box is checked, all in-game options will be restored to the
default values. This can be useful if a particular option setting
is preventing you from restoring the defaults from the menu system.
VI. PERFORMANCE
================
DETAIL SETTINGS and DISPLAY RESOLUTION
In order to get the best game play experience, it is not recommended to
run F.E.A.R. at high resolutions. You should avoid resolutions above
1024x768 on any current generation card. Instead, you can use the
full-screen anti-aliasing (FSAA) option under Graphics in the advanced
options menu. This helps improve the visual quality of the final scene
without dramatically increasing the amount of work that must be performed.
Most players will also notice a significant increase in frame rate by
disabling the Vsync option in the display options screen. If this doesn’t
make enough of a difference, your next step should be to lower your
screen resolution to 800x600 or 640x480.
If performance is still a problem at this stage, try these additional
steps:
• Disable FSAA and Soft Shadows in the advanced options under Graphics.
• Use Trilinear Texture Filtering instead of Anisotropic.
If your system does not meet the requirements as listed at the top
of this document, you may still be able to play with reasonable
performance by following these steps:
• If your video card doesn't meet the requirements, enable Pixel Doubling.
• If you are using a GeForce(TM)FX card, set “Force DX8 Shaders” to on.
• If you have less than 512MB of RAM or a video card with less than
128MB of RAM, use low or medium Texture Resolution.
UPGRADING
If you are dissatisfied with the level of detail that your system can
handle, then you may wish to consider upgrading. F.E.A.R.'s
performance is most affected by your video card, followed closely by the
CPU speed and the amount of installed memory in your machine. A high end
video card and CPU will usually result in considerable frame rate
improvements, while installing more RAM will result in shorter load times
and less hitching during game play.VII. F.E.A.R. SITES
====================
WEBSITE LINKS
For more information on F.E.A.R. and additional options for
technical support, and the latest updates please visit the following web
sites:
The Official Site
www.gameoftheyear.com/us/ Sierra Entertainment
www.sierra.com Monolith Productions
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