They just keep coming don’t they? Another highly anticipated PC title Aliens vs Predator (commonly known as AVP 3 or AVP 2010) was released to the public yesterday. AVP 2010 is the third game in the series which kicked off back in 1999. While the game is mainly bug free, some people seem to be having intermittent crashes to desktop (CTD), black screens, stuttering, distorted, delayed or lagging audio both in game + in cutscenes and various other problems. Most of the crashes and other issues seem to be related to DirectX 11 mode and system audio sampling rate. Thankfully, it’s not hard to bypass these annoyances. In this article we list some fixes that will hopefully solve your problems for good and let you enjoy the game without bugs and glitches.
Change the audio sampling rate
If your system’s audio sampling rate is set to anything above 48hz, it’ll likely cause AVP 3 to go haywire. Most users who experienced crashing, black screens at launch, audio problems and other issues seem to have solved them by reducing the audio sampling rate to a lower value – one that the game can handle. Follow the steps below to change the audio sampling rate.
For Windows 7 / Windows Vista
- Go to your sound card’s control panel.
- Locate the option that allows you change the default audio format for the card.
- Set the default format to 24-bits, 48000Hz or less (if it doesn't work with 48000Hz, try 24 bits, 44100Hz)
Image: How the default format selection looks in RealTek HD Audio manager (select your playback device in Audio Manager and select the ‘default format’ tab)
If you set your sound card’s audio format to anything higher than 24 Bits, 48000 Hz, you may experience audio issues or crashes with Aliens vs predator 3. Note that this is not an in-game setting. This setting should be changed from your audio card’s control panel (Realtek HD Audio Manager, etc). If you cannot find the option in your sound card software you can try the generic fix below:
- Right click volume control on system tray and choose Playback devices.
- Choose the your default playback device (usually Speakers) and click properties.
- Go to the advanced tab. The default audio format should be selectable from there.
Most of the time adjusting this setting using your sound card’s software will automatically change the same in Windows. However, you may be required to adjust the sampling rate both in your sound card’s software and Windows Audio devices manually if the sound card software does not automatically handle that.
For Windows XP
If you are using Windows XP follow the instructions below to change audio settings:
- Click the Start button > Settings > Control Panel.
- Double-click the Sounds and Audio Devices icon.
- Click the Volume tab.
- Under Speaker settings, click the Advanced button.
- Click the Performance tab.
- Reduce the Hardware acceleration to Basic, the 2nd notch from the left.
- Click Apply and then OK 2 times. Run the game now. Don't forget to turn the acceleration back up to restore the high-end features for your sound card when using other applications.
(XP fix quoted from a forum thread for Prototype on Activision forums – applies to AVP 3 as well):
Note that the above is a very popular fix among gamers and was used heavily with games such as Call of Duty 5 and Prototype.
Crashes too often? Don’t run the game using DirectX 11
If you have a look at the AVP 3 installation directory, you’ll notice that there are two main executable files – one that’ll run the game in DX11 mode and the other on Dx10/DX9 depending on your OS. DX11 mode will render better graphics but might also cause crashes on certain hardware configurations. For example, lots of people playing on DX11 have reported crashes when using flashlight in the marine campaign. If you begin to have frequent CTDs or any other graphics glitches, best bet is to try and run the game on a non DX11 configuration. To do this just launch the game using the regular exe in installation directory (not the DX11 executable). Before your try this, please take a moment to update your system using the links below:
- Install the latest DirectX runtime – Latest DirectX should be available in your Steam directory but if it’s not (or if you didn’t buy the game from Steam), you can download the latest monthly runtime from here. This is a standalone installer that will work in offline mode as well.
- Install Microsoft Visual C++ runtime libraries – I’m not sure if this is an absolute necessity for this game but it’s required for most games nowadays (as demonstrated by the case with Dragon Age : Origins). You can download the required files from this link.
- Update sound card and motherboard drivers – Overlooked by many but an essential step to playing games crash free. Please download latest video, audio and motherboard drivers from your hardware manufacturer. If you are too lazy to manually search, Click Here to download 3DP Chip for Windows Vista/XP/7 – This program will automatically detect your hardware and search for updated drivers for them.
Please feel free to report your issues/solutions/findings in the comments section.
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