Alan Wake PC update due this week

By Fred Dutton Published 21 February, 2012

Remedy details schedule for improvements and fixes.

The belated PC port of Remedy's survival horror Alan Wake is due a patch later this week, the developer has announced.

As detailed on the game's official forums, the update will fix various bugs and add "unofficial support" for 640x480 and 800x600 resolutions.

Here's the full changelog:

  • Fix problems of game not moving forward / triggering properly after videos. (Workaround: avoid pressing space or enter when those videos trigger, restarting the chapter helps)
  • Nvidia tree flicker - if we manage to catch it. We are doing our best.
  • Unofficial support for 640x480 and 800x600 resolution through command line
  • Fix that blur occasionally gets re-enabled even if -noblur specified
  • Add "rigidcamera" command line option for those who are sensitive to our current mouse/camera controls
  • Add possibility to bind mouse buttons 4 and 5
  • Fix that the Developer Video Commentary volume is more sensible
  • Fix that Localized cinematic audio volume is not too loud and adjustable
  • Fix that going to menus during a cine skips the cinematic when you return to game
  • Fix that controller ruble works even without weird workarounds of enabling it with keyboard
  • Prevent binding controller keys and thus preventing weird problems
  • Real Traditional Chinese translation for added PC strings. Apologies for the current Simplified Chinese in menus
  • Better CPU thread assignment for 3-Core AMD machines (smoother gameplay)

A second patch will follow next week, including the following changes:

  • Fix crashes when using alt-tab during loading
  • Solve "File IO Failure" issue when unable to write to My Documents
  • Somehow offer Latin-American Localizations through Steam
  • Hopefully add a free camera for those who want to explore the world
  • We'll try to get SLI support in but can't promise that yet...
  • Continue sorting out other problems users have been having

Finally, Remedy mentioned a number of other tweaks are also planned but it "hasn't been evaluated how much work these are, and we continue to prioritise based on feedback." These issues include:

  • Solve Cursor Key / Numpad assignment issues
  • Remember camera side preference (tab key)
  • Improve Stereoscopic 3D
  • Longer grass draw distance option
  • "Low Performance Mode" improvements

Remedy's PC port launched last week - nearly 18 months after the Xbox 360 original - and reportedly made its development and marketing budget back in under 48 hours.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • chalkyQUAKER #1 3 months ago

    640x480 Surely no one can be playing at this resolution in this day and age?

  • WukWhiteWolf #2 3 months ago

    @chalkyQUAKER You would be surprised.

  • FatalHybrid #3 3 months ago

    I too am confused at the 640x480 support.. I understand that some still use it but would those people really have the systems to run this game? I mean even the minimum specs for this game are high. If you can run the game chances are you have enough power to run at atleast 720p or at your monitors native resolution if you still use a 4:3 aspect ratio (1280x1024) like I do.

  • sourc0r #4 3 months ago

    @FatalHybrid what if someone's running this game on a high-end gamer rig but sadly only has an old CRT display and REFUSES to sacrifice his beloved refresh rate? hell - this guy would be fucked!

  • Spuzzell #5 3 months ago

    @sourc0r

    CRTs can display pretty much any resolution you feed them, at any refresh rate you like, with zero imput lag, far higher contrast and a far wider colour range than any LCD or plasma screen, its not a fix for CRT gamers :-)

    I'm guessing these oddly low resolutions are future proofing for tablets running Windows 8.

  • dfunked #6 3 months ago

    @Spuzzell - I think it'd be just a teeeeeency bit more work than you think to get this up and running on a Windows 8 tablet.....

  • Paul_cz #7 3 months ago

    There are people on AW forums that want support for these resolutions, because in 1024*768 they get 14fps.

    Why not accomodate them, if it is not hard to do.

  • BloodofKingu #8 3 months ago

    black ops on ps3 runs at 960x544, so 800x600 isn't that bad. :)

  • Demiath #9 3 months ago

    Stereoscopic 3D should really be fixed, not because it's the most practically meaningful addition (personally I know very few people besides myself who owns a full NVIDIA 3D Vision-capable hardware setup) but because it was an advanced feature specifically promised by Remedy and which is sorely lacking in its current state.
    Edited by Demiath at 21/02/12 @ 21:05

  • DurzoBlint #10 3 months ago

    I suppose appearing on the ball with respect to patches is an attempt to curry favour with the audience they abandoned for not-at-all-greener pastures on the 360.

  • LHH #11 3 months ago

    You know what? Fuck it, Remedy have really pulled out the stops on this. I'm gonna buy it even though I've played it and the DLC's to death on 360.

  • goldbug #12 3 months ago

    All pretty minor stuff because, shock horror, someone actually released a pretty decent PC port in the first place!

  • apoc_reg #13 3 months ago

    Great news and support from a successful launch. Good work Remedy on the transfer to PCs

  • FatalHybrid #14 3 months ago

    @LHH It feels like a completely different game on PC. The controls are tighter, the visuals are better and the pulled back field of view is what the game needed. I was concerned how much fun I'd get from the game having played it to death on 360. I bought it anyway and I'm really glad I did the PC version is the definitive version in my opinion.

  • Neil__ #15 3 months ago

    No fix for this I see.

  • 5h1nj1 #16 3 months ago

    No code optimizations? It runs pretty bad considering what's on the screen. Still much better than the xbox version, of course. :)
    Also, the weird camera Neil mentioned should be fixed. I'm constantly running in other directions than expected.

  • GavinUK86 #17 3 months ago

    @Neil__ I dont get it. Whats the problem the video is trying to explain?

  • Neil__ #18 3 months ago

    He's not moving in the same direction as the camera is pointing.
    I guess you aren't a PC gamer as there is no camera controls with KB and mouse and I'll be fucked if I'm going to use a controller just because they couldn't be arsed to port the game properly.

  • GavinUK86 #19 3 months ago

    @Neil__ actually i am a pc gamer. console gamer too. i never had a problem with the camera in alan wake. 360 or pc version. got both. works fine with a controller and k/m.

  • 5h1nj1 #20 3 months ago

    It's hard to believe, that someone would find the camera angle normal. I'm constantly running in slightly another direction than I would expect. You know, like when I'm standing still, look around, then want to go towards something and I find myself running to the side of it.

  • danidrums #21 3 months ago

    The camera direction is kinda crazy yes. But what is it with all these future patches? Once I finish the game I wont get back to it. You get the story and thats it, there's no multi-player or "replayability". Still loving the game though. Get some beers, turn of the light, 5.1 at a decent level at night, and I'm good to go :)

  • djklink20009 #22 3 months ago

    allow us to turn of multi sample anti aliasing because for some reason i cant run the game