Graphics Tips For Cryostasis And Conclusion

Tips for ATI Cards and Manual Configuration Tweaks

When we tested the ATI cards (Radeon HD 4670 and Radeon HD 4870), we encountered various issues. As a result, we’ve gathered various tips that explain how we addressed the issues.

Screen artifacts:

Reduce the Gamma settings, even though this game is very dark overall. In testing, it also helped when we lowered the memory clock speed a bit.

Crashes:

Turn off Shader Model 3.0 and deactivate PhysX (naturally).

Tips for All Graphics Cards

Crashes When Changing Graphics Settings:

We found it common that, when switching to a different shader model, Cryostasis would hang or outright crash. A simple remedy is to edit the configuration file manually, and then to restart the game.

Auto-Saved Games Don't Appear in the Saved Games List:

This happens from time to time. As a solution, simply load a game you've saved manually, and after you close it, the auto-saved games should also be available. After that, automatically-saved games should re-appear, and be at your disposal.

The Most Important Settings in the Config File:

Config.cfg is a plain text file. It’s stored in the game directory and may be edited directly with any text editor (such as Notepad).

//=================== physics settings ===================

Physics Settings: (0 or 1)

@p.hardware = 1
@p.fluids = 1
@p.cloth = 1

//=================== video settings =====================

Optimizing individual graphics elements: (0 or 1)

@r.sky = 1
@r.realshadows = 1
@r.softshadows = 1
@r.projectives = 1
@r.motionblur = 0
@r.cameramotionblur = 0
@r.diffusemap = 0
@r.normalmap = 0
@r.specularmap = 0
@r.waterreflection = 1
@r.waterenvreflection = 1
@r.anti-aliasing = 1      
@r.vsync = 0         
@r.fur = 1         
@r.postglow = 1        
@r.caustic = 1    

Shader-Model Manual Settings:

@r.shadermodel = 3  (2, 3, 4)

Conclusion

We're going to be frank here. This game only runs well on high-performance PCs, and remains subject to various limitations. At either the minimum or recommended configurations, neither fluid nor trouble-free game play is possible. One can only hope for another patch to help remedy this issue. The various physics effects and textures visible in the tech demo are nothing like what you’ll see in the actual game itself. Those who play the game and find it interesting, yet slow and frustrating, may want to take a long hard look at their systems and consider a hardware upgrade (which may be warranted in any case).

Our recommendations for a workable PC for Cryostasis:

• Intel CPU: Core 2 Duo at 3 GHz or Core 2 Quad at 2.6 GHz or better
• 
AMD CPU: Athlon 64 X2 6400+ or 7750, AMD Phenom II X3 or X4
• 

RAM: 3-4 GB for x86, 4 GB or more for 64-bit systems
• 
Nvidia graphics cards: GeForce GTS 250, 9800 GTX+ or better 

• AMD/ATI graphics cards: Radeon HD 4850 or better