Technical FAQ - Written and produced by EscondeR

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Technical Advice » Tomb Raider Underworld

» Essential Software
» Optional Software
» Installing the Game
» Common Problems
» Acknowledgements

Essential Software

» TR Underworld Patch 1.1 (Download Freeware)

Features:
- Inability of users to map the mouse buttons.
- Inability of users to map the ‘center camera’ button.
- Some occasional crash fixes.
- Graphics card stability:
+ A change to re-enable use of some graphics card features on ATI hardware, with their latest drivers.
+ Progress has been made towards addressing stalling on GeForce 6/7 series hardware.
- Fixed compatibility issues with certain Realtek sound drivers which could cause crashes.
- Autosaves now made for each chapter. Number of save slots is increased to accommodate these.
- Bug with ramp not raising in Xibalba.
- Fixed black screen deadlock when skipping doppelganger cinematic.
- Issue with door lever at Kraken room entrance.
- Occasional control issue during headshot move.
- Fixed an occasional problem when entering a save game filename.
- Some PDA fixes.
- Some cinematic subtitle fixes.

DISC version only supported...

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Optional Software

» TR Underworld Demo (Download Freeware)
Try out the game to see if your hardware can run the game.

» TRU AutoSaver by Emmo
(Download, Freeware)
You must have Microsoft NET 2.0 Framework installed to use this tool
This tool must be run before you start TRU, it will keep all your autosaves (nothing will be rewritten). All you need is to right click the icon in system tray area and point the application to TRU saves folder.

» UWE SCU/Outfit changer by happyfunstick
Version 5 (Download, Freeware)
Version 4 (Download, Freeware)

Trainer & TRUFly Instructions:
-Load UWE/SCU
-Start Tomb Raider
-Features can now be toggled on and off at will,
during gameplay. (see the hotkeys, Shift+1 , etc)

TRUOutfitter & SCU Instructions:
-Load UWE/SCU
-Start Tomb Raider
-Select Outfit/Level, *then* enable.
- *now* load a level.

Level will be overridden untill you disable.

Notes:
1. In vista, run as administrator.
2. Runs only on a patched v1.1 game.
3. Disable any antivirus software before running, could interfere.
4. Num 1 means the '1' key on the numpad. if you're on a laptop,
you wont have this, so use the hotkey setup to change this!

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Installing the Game

Before checking the problems below make sure you have checked the following:

» Download the latest drivers for your Graphics, Sound card and Motherboard.

» Turn off your antivirus software when installing the game. It may cause the installation to fail.

» Reinstall DirectX 9.0c. The latest version can be downloaded from Microsoft.

» Your video board must support the Shader Model 3.0.

NOTE: TRU is using the latest graphic and sound technology so it is very important that your computer drivers are up to date. Most reported problems are fixed by updating.

» What is the PC specification for Underworld?

Minimum
Recommended

• OPERATING SYSTEM: Microsoft Windows XP (admin rights required)/Microsoft Windows Vista (admin rights required)
• CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3+GHz or AMD Athlon 2.5+GHz
• RAM: 1GB (Windows XP) / 2GB (Windows Vista) system memory
• GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce 6 series 6800GT (or better) / ATI 1800XT (or better)
• SOUND: Direct X 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers
• DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM drive
• HARD DRIVE: 8 GB Free Space
• INPUT DEVICES: Keyboard and mouse

• OPERATING SYSTEM: Microsoft Windows XP (admin rights required)/Microsoft Windows Vista (admin rights required)
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or Athlon 64 X2 4400+
• RAM: 2 GB system memory
• GRAPHICS: nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX or ATI HD4800
• SOUND: Direct X 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers
• DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM drive
• HARD DRIVE: 8 GB Free Space
• INPUT DEVICES: Microsoft Xbox360 Controller

» Cards that support TRU without issues.

nVidia
AMD/ATI

• GeForce 6800 Ultra
• GeForce 7600 GT
• GeForce 7900 GTX
• GeForce 7950
• GeForce 8600 GTS
• GeForce 8800
• GeForce 9xxx series
• GeForce GTX 2xx series

• ATI Radeon X1800
• ATI Radeon X1900
• ATI Radeon X1950
• ATI Radeon HD2600/2900 series
• ATI Radeon HD3650/3850 series
• ATI Radeon HD 4670/4850 series

»Graphic Cards which may function but performance may be reduced.

nVidia
AMD/ATI

• GeForce 6200
• GeForce 6600
• GeForce 7300
• GeForce 8300
• GeForce 8400
• GeForce 8500
• GeForce 9400/9500 series

• ATI Radeon X1300
• ATI Radeon X1500
• ATI Radeon X1550
• ATI Radeon HD2300/2400 series
• ATI Radeon HD 4550

» What cards won't be able to play TRU?

• ATI Rage series (128, Pro, Fury etc)
• Intel (810, V3800)/Intel Integrated video chips
• SIS (650/750 etc)
• S3 (Pro Savage, Twister)
• Matrox (Mystique, Millenium etc)
• Voodoo 3DFX (3, 5 etc)
• ATI Radeon 7000
• Geforce TNT, TNT2 (Ultra, Pro etc)
• Diamond Viper

» I have troubles determining my video board/chip.
In Vista: Right mouse click on Desktop, select Personalise and scroll down and select Display Settings. Then click Advanced Settings button and Adaptor tab.



In XP: Right mouse click on Desktop, select Properties, go to Settings tab. Then click Advanced Settings button and Adaptor tab.

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Common Problems

» Error when installing - "Direct3d couldn't initialize."
BaCheck if your video board is in TRU supported list. If yes, update video drivers from:
NVidia: NVidia driver download page
ATI: ATI driver download page
For the laptop drivers go to laptop manufacturer site to retrieve driver updates.

» CRC Error when installing downloaded TRU Demo.
The file has become corrupted during transmission. Try downloading again from a official link.

» The Installation asks for the original CD.
Make sure you are extracting the archive first before running the setup program within it.

» The game/demo crashes after the Copyright page.
Disable Data Execution Prevention (DEP). This is a Microsoft security program that may stop TRU from running.

» Installer will not start.
Ensure you are logged on as Administrator or a user with Administrator privileges.

» Game crashes at Start up.
Ensure drivers are up to date.

» Game runs slow.
Go to Start > Programs > Eidos > Tomb Riader - Underworld (Demo) and launch Setup shortcut.
You'll have the following window displayed:



1. Your video board is displayed in the first field (at cursor).
2. To reduce the game lag:

• Disable AA (set Antialiasing Mode to - )
• Untick Shadows
• Untick Full Screen FX
• Untick Water FX
• Untick Reflections
3. To eliminate texture corruption (on some NV6xxx and 7xxx video boards):
• Set Texture Detail to Medium or Low
• Set Texture Filtering to Trilinear or Bilinear
• Untick Triple buffering
• Untick Vsync

» I can't bind mouse keys.
There is a branch in the registry that has all the key bindings, although you can change them, the action/key names are not very user friendly, so here is the list of the numbers that the actions refer to below, as well as the key numbers that the mouse uses.

You can find the settings here:
HKCU\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Tomb Raider: Underworld (Demo)\Input
String name is the action, and the string value is a comma delimited list of the keys that are bound to that action
Any action over 24 is safe to ignore (reserved for full release or something)
It seems that changes made ingame are not saved to the registry until you quit the game, so don't worry if your in game changes aren't show up in the registry straight away. Be aware that if you edit the registry while the game is running, your changes will probably be overwritten when you exit the game.

Here is a list of the items found:
Action 0 = Interact
Action 1 = Grapple
Action 2 = Crouch/Roll
Action 3 = Jump
Action 4 = Target Lock
Action 5 = Shoot
Action 6 = Sprint
Action 7 = Grenade
Action 8* = Centre Camera
Action 9 = Manual Aim
Action 10 = Pause
Action 11 = PDA
Action 12 = Use Medipack
Action 13 = Camera
Action 14 = Light
Action 15 = Change Weapon
Action 16 = Right
Action 17 = Left
Action 18 = Down
Action 19 = Up
Action 20 = Walk
Action 21 = Vehicle - Shoot
Action 22 = Vehicle - Brake
Action 23 = Vehicle - Gas
Action 24 = Vehicle - Reverse

Key 96 = L Mouse
Key 97 = R Mouse
Key 98 = M Mouse (thanks Lior_K)
Key 99 = Button 3 (Mouse)
Key 100 = Button 4 (Mouse)
Key 101 = Button 5 (Mouse)
Key 102 = Button 6 (Mouse)
Key 103 = Button 7 (Mouse)

* Action 8 (centre camera behind Lara) does not appear in the button configuration panel, however it is bound to the Q key by default (which is the same key as the grapple)
So e. g. setting 3=97 would mean that Jump is bound to R Mouse
If you are not comfortable editing your registry, then don't. If you try this it is entirely at your own risk, and could cause problems with your computer.

» Stuttering occurs on loading saved games or new areas.
The issue relates to how the 6/7 series handles the shaders in the game. The loading screen is where the shaders are precached so that they are ready to be used in game. However before the 8 series, nVidias hardware handles precaching strangely, Eidos is working with nVidia to work on a driver fix to help this. They're also looking into a way to help with it on the game side too...

BUT we can happily present you a small tool that can totally elliminate delays on loading new levels/initial savegames loading - TRU GeForce 6/7 series fix by Simulation. It has options to apply fix and remove fix for the time NVidia releases their update.

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Acknowledgements
TRF Members: Emmo, happyfunstick, jaywalker, Lior_K, Severinus, Simulation, tlr online

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