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FIX for Windows 10! (ONLY for versions/builds released BEFORE May 27th 2020)

By The Spartan

This guide will help make the game actually work on any version/build of Windows 10 released BEFORE (and including) May 27th 2020 (meaning the "2004" version of "Windows 10" and earlier versions ONLY).

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Created by

The Spartan
In-Game
Assassin's Creed Mirage

Category: Achievements, Characters, Classes, Co-op, Crafting, Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Loot, Maps or Levels, Modding or Configuration, Multiplayer, Secrets, Story or Lore, Trading, Walkthroughs, Weapons, Workshop

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

13 Jun, 2020 @ 1:05pm

29 May, 2024 @ 4:46pm

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Guide Index

Overview

Intro.

Step 1.

Step 2.

WARNING!

Step 3. (optional)

Other potential fixes? (yes and no)

Enjoy!

April 2021 EDIT: (P.S.A. and suggestion)

Consider checking out my other guides.

Comments

Intro.

Hey there, fellow gamers! Welcome to my third ever Steam guide, concerning "Prototype 2".

Now then, I'll make this one short ("that's what she said") since there's no need for any unnecessary explanations or details. If you're here, you're here for a reason, right?

Well, basically, "the gist" is that this game does not want to function properly when your machine is running a specific version and build of Windows 10, so you'll have to download, add and replace some files and maybe, if you so desire, to fix the resolution and/or refresh rate, should that be the case.

Please check the April 2021 update at the bottom of this guide before attempting the fix I have provided!

Step 1.

After installing the game, download the first set of files (about 24 KB)[drive.google.com] and copy everything into the game's main install folder (?:\Steam\steamapps\common\Prototype 2).

Step 2.

Now you must download the second set of files (about 1.85 GB)[drive.google.com] and just as instructed in "Step 1", place them into the game's main folder, overwriting previous files when asked what to do.

WARNING!

For some reason, something inside one of the files makes the game run at 50 Hz.

If you see this as an issue and would like to play the game at a different refresh rate, then see the optional "Step 3" included below.

Step 3. (optional)

If playing the game at 50 Hz (as forced by the fix I've provided in this guide) is an issue for you, or if you want to change the resolution as well as the refresh rate (or both), then simply insert "RESOLUTION=1920x1080@60" (without the quotes and with your preferred settings, of course) into the launch parameters of the game through Steam by right-clicking the game and going to Properties > Launch Options.

From there, you are free to use the "RESOLUTION=????x????@??" parameter (again, without the quotes) with your desired resolution and/or refresh rate.

Other potential fixes? (yes and no)

Yes, there are other possible fixes, but honestly, don't even bother doing stuff like verifying the integrity of the game's files through Steam, checking the "Disable fullscreen optimizations" option, running it as an Administrator or directly from the game's folder executable, limiting your CPU cores, disconnecting USB devices and whatnot, because 99% of the time, none of them will work.

This does leave the lucky 1% for whom some of those fixes might work or who can actually play the game without any issues to begin with, BUT the aforementioned fixes are not nearly as efficient (or most likely won't work at all) as the fix provided in this guide for the "99% demographic" that is facing issues with running the game, so if I were you, I'd just follow the steps here for the final, tested and working fix.

(it's worth noting, though, that a few people have gone on record stating that the game works for them when they set the executable to run in compatibility mode for "Windows 7"; that is not the case for many of us, but you can try it and maybe you'll get lucky)

Enjoy!

If you have followed the above instructions "to the letter", then unlike me, you won't have to search on Google for hours on end in search of potential fixes and find out what I've posted here "the hard way", but like me, you will be able to enjoy this amazing title in no time at all.

Have fun!

April 2021 EDIT: (P.S.A. and suggestion)

With the 2020 October release of the 20H2 version of Windows 10 and the December release of its "19042.685" build also comes the high probability of this fix not working for some of you anymore (if you updated to this version) since I personally tried starting the game and ever since that update, the game simply crashes instantly. I also just tried the March 29th "19042.906" build today (April 10th) and still nothing.
The version of Windows 10 I was able to play the game on, using the fix in this guide, was the "2004" version released back in May of 2020.

Please take that into account, as well as my following suggestion:

(and also bare in mind that there is a slight possibility of the game working on the "Home" and/or "Enterprise" versions of Windows 10, whereas most of us have the "Pro" version)

If you're running the newest version/build of Windows 10 and/or are not able to get the game running, then I suggest you revert to and implicitly install a previous version of Windows 10 on which this fix worked, namely any version starting with the May 2020 version (v2004) and going even earlier in a descending order (November 2019 v1909, May 2019 v1903 and so on) without updating anything Windows related after the clean install.

(click here to learn how to find your current version and build of Windows 10)[support.microsoft.com]

I honestly hope this helps. Good luck!

Consider checking out my other guides.

If you've found this particular guide useful, then consider checking out my other guides as well.

56 Comments

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The Spartan [author] 29 May, 2024 @ 4:38pm

The "2004" is not the year.....

It's the "19041" build and the "2004" version (respectively) of "Windows" that was released on May 27th 2020, also codenamed "20H1".

Next time, read the Guide and/or do your homework properly before leaving a stupid comment like that.

Prince of Darkness 15 Jul, 2023 @ 1:14pm

something is wrong with that tital 2004? that was like when Windows XP was out. Hell maybee not Windows Millinium came out in 2000.

ParasiteDelta 21 Jan, 2023 @ 12:45am

Yeah, this really is an underrated title. Do I think it's as good as P1? No, but it's still a fun game in its own right. I wish I had the skill to write a patch for the game.

To elaborate, I found the affinity trick in another guide and can't believe I forgot it. Steam runs games as its own kind of subprocess or wrapper, so it actually makes sense to limit the core affinity for the Steam process itself. HID-Complient Consumer Devices could be another factor, and I only have one (probably my USB passthrough on my keyboard), so I disabled that. Finally, I had P2 crash in the same way on Win7 without existing save files, so that could also be a weird factor for people with no prior data.

The Spartan [author] 21 Jan, 2023 @ 12:27am

Thanks for the added info!

And yeah, it does indeed need and deserve that special kind of community support and treatment, but alas, I don't think it will ever receive it...

So we're stuck with guides like mine and potential solutions left and right. Oh, and hope, of course. Hope that something will eventually work so that the person in question can finally enjoy this awesome yet very underrated title.

ParasiteDelta 21 Jan, 2023 @ 12:23am

This does still work, but it's bullsh!t that we even have to do all of this to get it running. Also, I'm currently using multiple fixes that have worked for me in the past.

--Limit STEAM's core affinity. Drop it to four cores (0-3).

--Download and copy over the above files, yes, even the audio files. Replace when prompted.

--Manually specify your resolution and refresh rate using the above RESOLUTION launch parameter.

--Download and copy over someone's saves into your Documents folder. For some reason, there are instances where the game will panic if no save data is present, still don't understand that.

Sadly, this is one of those games that desperately needs the Bully: Scholarship Edition treatment, where some fans got sick and tired of the varied ability to play the game and just wrote a catch-all patch that enables you to play it on whatever system, but I doubt this game even has half of the love of Bully. Good luck.

Demrohir 23 Jun, 2022 @ 11:30am

I had to disable hyperthreading in my BIOS to get it running. Now it even run without the bug in the claw pounce mission and without the mouse lag thing. Was in w10 works for me also with w11.

The Spartan [author] 9 Jun, 2022 @ 9:23am

Unfortunately I do not because, as the title clearly states, this guide was made only for the "2004" version of Windows 10 and earlier versions/builds.

Scratch 9 Jun, 2022 @ 8:54am

Hi, I have Windows 11 and it doesnt work. Do you know by any chance what to do?

The Spartan [author] 5 Jan, 2022 @ 12:49pm

You are more than welcome!

nate.leader13 5 Jan, 2022 @ 12:47pm

oh my god, thanks man! i was searching for hours on what to do, and gave up. then i saw this post! you are saint for posting this thanks again you brilliant man!

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