================================================================== Legal Information ================================================================== THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WHICH ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT WILL ELECTRONIC ARTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM POSSESSION, USE, OR MALFUNCTION OF THIS ELECTRONIC ARTS SOFTWARE PRODUCT. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS AS TO HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS AND/OR EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND/OR EXCLUSIONS OF LIABILITY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. ELECTRONIC ARTS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS IN THIS FILE AND TO THE SOFTWARE AT ANY TIME AND WITHOUT NOTICE. THIS FILE AND THE SOFTWARE HEREWITH IS COPYRIGHTED. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS FILE OR THE SOFTWARE MAY BE COPIED, REPRODUCED, TRANSLATED, OR REDUCED TO ANY ELECTRONIC MEDIUM OR MACHINE-READABLE FORM WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF ELECTRONIC ARTS. ====================================== Crytek GmbH Copyright ====================================== Software and documentation © 2007 Crytek GmbH. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ================================================================== Crysis(R) ReadMe File - September, 2007 ================================================================== Thank you for purchasing Crysis. This ReadMe file contains information that may be of use before proceeding into battle. ================================================================== System Requirements ================================================================== Crysis requires DirectX 9.0c. You can install DirectX 9.0c by following the onscreen prompts during the game's installation process. REQUIRED SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS: OS: Windows XP or Windows Vista Windows XP: · CPU: Intel P4 2.8 GHz / AMD Athlon 2800+ / Intel Core 2.0 GHz or higher · RAM: 1.0 GB · Hard Drive: 12 GB or more of free space · Video: NVIDIA 6800 GT 256 MB / ATI 9800 Pro or better · Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card Windows Vista: · CPU: Intel P4 3.2 GHz / AMD Athlon 3200+ / Intel Core 2.2 GHz or higher · RAM: 1.5 GB · Hard Drive: 12 GB or more of free space · Video: NVIDIA 6800 GT 256 MB / ATI X800 Pro 256 MB or better · Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card Multiplayer: · 2 to 32 players, network or Internet connection required (512Kbps Cable, DSL, or faster connection) Note: While you will be able to play Crysis with the specifications above, play experience may improve if you have additional RAM, a faster CPU or a better graphic card. Please refer to the section on Optimizing Graphical Performance in this ReadMe file for more information. ================================================================== Installation Instructions ================================================================== IMPORTANT: Before running Crysis, please be sure you have the latest drivers for both your video card and your audio card installed. An outdated video or sound driver can lead to slow and choppy gameplay, or in some cases can prevent the game from running at all. You can download the appropriate drivers from your video and audio card manufacturer's Web site. DVD --- Avoid running any other programs in the background, as this may conflict with the game. This includes any virus-protection program that you have running, which can hinder performance. For all other users, to install Crysis in Windows XP or Windows Vista: 1. Insert the Crysis disc into your DVD-ROM drive. If the disc does not automatically launch when inserted in the drive, you may have the AutoPlay feature disabled. To enable AutoPlay, please consult your Windows user manual. If you are unable or do not wish to activate AutoPlay, please browse to the location of the Crysis DVD-ROM using Windows Explorer, and double-click the "Setup" application in the root directory. 2. Follow the instructions that appear. Direct Download --------------- 1. Wait until the installer has finished downloading. 2. Agree to run the installer executable. 3. Follow the instructions that appear. PLEASE NOTE that you must register Crysis when prompted to do so during the installation process in order to play the game online. You can register the game at a later time by clicking the "Register" button in the game's Online menu. Note: Users without Service Pack 2 installed might see the following error message at the end of the installation process: "Can't add the game to Windows Firewall. Do you want to continue with the installation?" Answer in the affirmitive, PunkBuster functionality will not be affected. ================================================================== Sandbox2 Editor Installation ================================================================== Crytek’s Sandbox2 ‘What you see is what you play’ level editor comes free with Crysis. To install the editor browse to the \Sandbox2 folder on your DVD-ROM using Windows Explorer, and run the "CryEngine 2 Sandbox" installer. In order to install and use the Crysis(R) Sandbox Editor on Windows Vista(TM) it is necessary to disable User Account Control (UAC). To disable UAC, follow these steps: 1) Go to Start \ Control Panel \ User Accounts 2) Click the "Turn user account control on or off" option 3) Click continue on the UAC popup 4) Uncheck the box next to "Use user account control (UAC) to help protect my computer" 5) Click OK ================================================================== Uninstalling ================================================================== To uninstall Crysis if your operating system is Windows XP: 1. Click the "Start" button in the Windows taskbar. 2. Click "Control Panel" in the Start menu. 3. Double-click "Add or Remove Programs". 4. Click "Crysis" in the program list and click the "Remove" button next to its name. 5. Follow the instructions that appear. To uninstall Crysis if your operating system is Windows Vista: 1. Click the "Start" button in the Windows taskbar. 2. Click "Control Panel" in the Start menu. 3. Click "Uninstall a program" under the "Programs" heading. 4. Double-click "Crysis" in the program list. 5. Follow the instructions that appear. ================================================================== Troubleshooting ================================================================== Please be aware that an outdated video driver or sound driver can lead to slow and choppy gameplay, or in some cases can prevent the game from running at all. To ensure an enjoyable experience with this game, be sure that you have the most recent video and sound drivers installed. These drivers are typically available for download from your system or hardware manufacturer's Web site. If you are not sure what type of video or sound card you have, or you need assistance with updating the drivers on your system, please refer to the documentation that came with your system or peripheral. For additional help with troubleshooting, visit the community forums at the official Web site for Crysis at: http://www.ea.com/crysis/ ================================================================== Saved Games and Screenshots ================================================================== In Windows XP, saved game files, and captured screenshots for Crysis are stored in the "Crysis" folder. In Windows Vista, saved game files are stored in a different location--see below. To access the "Crysis" folder, click the "Start" button in the Windows taskbar, then click "My Documents" in Windows XP or "Documents" in Windows Vista. In Windows Vista, saved game files are usually stored in the following location: C:\Users\\Saved Games\Crysis To access this folder, click the "Start" button in the Windows Taskbar, then click "My Computer" in the Start menu. Then navigate to the folder. ================================================================== Optimizing Graphical Performance ================================================================== For a good gameplay experience you generally want to have a fast and stable frame rate. Additionally, it's good to have quick response on user input. Crysis is made for high image quality and runs best with a powerful main processor, a lot of main memory, and a powerful graphics card with a lot of video memory. The performance can be limited by one or more of the above mentioned points. By default the game prefers settings for better performance which means many options in the menu go to low quality mode. However if hardware allows, this can be changed by the user. By adjusting graphical settings you can find a good compromise for your computer. Some very high quality features can only be accessed when running on DirectX 10 which requires Windows Vista. Features which are not accessible appear grayed out. It is advisable to have the latest graphic card drivers as the hardware vendors often include optimizations for specific games into their drivers. Some graphics card settings in the Windows display settings can affect performance or quality. Windows Vista is a bit more demanding on hardware side and drivers can be less optimized. This makes it even more necessary to get recent drivers and hardware running well on Vista. Memory management within Windows Vista has changed a bit which makes it more memory demanding. Microsoft released a patch to improve this situation. More details and the download can be found there: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105 Modern processors now support 64bit which mostly improves their memory managing capabilities. This feature is only available if the operating system support 64bits. As Crysis is demanding in its memory requirements it can benefit from a 64bit OS. On a 64bit system the engine texture streaming can be disabled as the operating system can handle all data in a level. 64bit also supports more main memory available for each application. Both are beneficial and can result in improved frame rate and frame rate stability. Multiple processors allow processing of some tasks in parallel which mostly improves computational heavy situations like explosions. The game utilizes multiple processors automatically. Some hardware vendors have solutions to utilize multiple graphic cards in parallel (e.g. Crossfire or SLI) and that can greatly improve render performance. This requires the engine to run in the "MultiGPU" mode. The speedup depends on the scene and system properties like the main processor performance. Frame rate can be less stable but is often much higher. The screen resolution is one of the most critical options for performance and quality. For best quality on a TFT it's best to pick a resolution which fits the hardware resolution (check your monitor manual). Generally a higher resolution gives better quality but requires more memory and renders slower. However, this depends on the hardware configuration and sometimes increasing the resolutions does not even affect performance. Crysis features soft real-time shadows which play an important role in the image look. Shadows can be activated and deactivated in the advanced options menu. Crysis also features HDR rendering which can be activated via the shading quality in the advanced options menu. In HDR mode you can notice bright image areas not appearing burned out. You can also notice the eye adapting to the brightness of the environment. Deactivating HDR can give you higher frame rates as it requires more graphics card performance and graphics card memory. Anti aliasing is a hardware feature to improve image quality. Edges become softer and lower resolutions can look quite acceptable. The hardware feature works for most engine techniques but some graphical features like atmospheric effects may appear slightly different. If your graphics card supports multiple monitors you might not get full 3D acceleration on each display. This can be avoided by only activating one display in the driver control panel. To get a stable frame rate you should make sure your computer is not busy with other tasks such as virus scans or downloading files. Vertical Sync is a graphical option you can choose in your graphics card driver. Switching this option off gives you best frame rate but the image quality might suffer and the image may appear torn apart. This is mostly noticeable when doing a quick horizontal camera rotation. For benchmarking, this option is usually switched off. Modern TFT monitors have short response times and other features which help when the eye is following fast paced action. Input devices need to submit their data in some rate and with a better connection (serial, PS2, USB) or better hardware you can get a faster rate. This can result in improved response time and an improved game experience. ================================================================== Known Issues ================================================================== 1 ) Audio in Crysis is stereo although I selected a multi-speaker mode in the Control Panel: On selecting certain speaker modes in the Control Panel’s Audio settings which are not supported by the sound card driver, Crysis will switch to stereo as a fallback. This happens most likely on selecting "Surround sound speakers" (5.0), or 7.1 speaker mode. These outputs will be in the log: Sound - initializing FMOD-EX now! [Error] Sound-FmodEx-AudioDevice: event system init failed! (56) Error creating hardware sound buffer. Sound - initialized FMOD-EX with stereo fallback Resolution: Go to Control Panel -> Sound and Audio Devices -> Volume tab -> Advanced button in Speaker settings field and choose a different speaker mode. 2) There is a delay between action and audio (eg. shooting a weapon): Most likely the user has turned hardware acceleration off by changing the performance slider in the advanced audio playback settings. Because DirectSound uses a larger buffer size of 200ms Crysis will adapt its buffer resulting sounds to being slightly delayed. Resolution: Go to Control Panel -> Sound and Audio Devices -> Audio tab -> Advanced button in Sound Playback field -> Performance tab and set the performance slider all the way to "full". 3) Intro movies and the MP tutorial have no sound: Most likely the user has turned hardware acceleration off by changing the performance slider in the advanced audio playback settings. The video codec cannot create sounds with these settings so audio for the movies are being disabled. Resolution: Go to Control Panel -> Sound and Audio Devices -> Audio tab -> Advanced button in Sound Playback field -> Performance tab and set the performance slider all the way to "full". 4) Users running AVG anti virus prior to version 7.5 may experience false positives with Crysis.exe. This can be fixed by upgrading your AVG client to 7.5 or above. ================================================================== NAT/Firewall ================================================================== Game Port Usage For all traffic between server and client 'game' port is used (default 64087). Ports SDK Service Hostname Type Local Remote Server: Available hbmaster3 crysis.available.gamespy.com UDP Any 27900 NN natserver1 natneg1.gamespy.com UDP game 27901 NN natserver2 natneg2.gamespy.com UDP game 27901 NN nat neg Game client UDP game game*(other game) QR2 hbmaster3 crysis.master.gamespy.com UDP game 27900 QR2 Incoming queries Game client UDP game Any CDKey keymaster key.gamespy.com UDP game 29910 ATLAS Stats auth crysis.auth.pubsvs.gamespy.com TCP Any Any (def:443) ATLAS Stats crysis.comp.pubsvs.gamespy.com TCP Any Any (def:80) SAKE Profile settings/stats crysis.sake.gamespy.com TCP Any Any (def:80) Client:(additionally) Chat Any IRC server peerchat.gamespy.com TCP Any 6667 GP gpmanager gpcm.gamespy.com TCP Any 29900 GP searchmanager gpsp.gamespy.com TCP Any 29901 SB gmaster3 crysis.ms5.gamespy.com TCP Any 28910 SB Server queries game servers UDP Any game*(target server) Default value for 'game' is 64087 (can be adjusted). For incoming UDP traffic, only port "game" ( default 64087) is required to be opened. ================================================================== *Administrator Privileges ================================================================== Please note that you may not be able to add Crysis to your software firewall's exceptions list if you are not logged in as an administrator in Windows. You will either need to do so from an account that has administrator rights, or add your existing account to the administrators list. To do so, do the following: In Windows XP, 1. Log out of Windows and log in with an Administrator account. 2. Once logged in, click on "Start" in the Windows taskbar. 3. Click "Settings". 4. Click "Control Panel". 5. Click "User Accounts". 6. Select the "Users" tab. 7. Under "Users for this computer:" click on your account name. 8. Click "Properties". 9. Select the "Group Membership" tab. 10. Select the "Other" radio button. 11. From the pulldown menu, select "Administrators". 12. Click "Apply" and then "OK". In Windows Vista, 1. Log out of Windows and log in with an Administrator account. 2. Click the "Start" button in the Windows taskbar. 3. Click "Control Panel". 4. Click "Change account type" under the "User Accounts" heading. 5. Under "Users for this computer:" click on your account name. 6. Click "Properties". 7. Select the "Other" radio button. 8. From the pulldown menu, select "Administrators". 9. Click "Apply" and then "OK". ================================================================== Audio Information ================================================================== If some of the audio in the game seems to be missing, this is likely due to your speaker settings. If your speaker settings are set to a surround-sound configuration, but you do not have a surround-sound speaker system, then some audio channels will not be heard during gameplay. To check and adjust your speaker settings: 1. Click the "Start" button in the Windows taskbar. 2. Choose "Control Panel". 3a. If your Control Panel is in the default Category View, click "Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices". Then click "Sounds and Audio Devices". 3b. If your Control Panel is in Classic View, double-click "Sounds and Audio Devices". 4. Under the "Speaker settings" heading, click "Advanced". 5. Choose the correct configuration in "Speaker setup" drop-down menu. 6. Click "OK". This should resolve the issue. ================================================================== End of ReadMe File. ==================================================================