Aliens versus Predator Gold Edition - Detailed Report

zoom · Post by **zoom** » 19 Mar 2008, 23:05

Game Information

The game is a first person shooter (FPS), but differs from most other FPS in that the player can choose the perspective to play from: Alien, Predator or Human (Colonial Marine). These different perspectives afford distinct capabilities and weapons.

The Gold Edition of Aliens versus Predator was released approximately a year after the original game. It consists of more than 30 levels, including 5 bonus levels for each species. This version includes 16 multiplayer maps, the Millennium Add-on Pack, and comes with Aliens Versus Predator: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

Version

Retail game, applied newest patch (as of March 19, 2008) version 0.9.8.

I want to note some game bugs that occured during testing. First, without the newest patch, the game was utilizing both CPU cores to 100%. Then, after applying patch 0.9.8 this was no longer an issue. Also when I interrupted start-up animation, the sound was caught in infinite loop during whole game.

Method

This game support widescreen resolutions in Options menu (Native).

Screen change

Main menu and pre-rendered video scenes are using screen resolution of 640Ã—480. No matter what resolution you select in Options, when in main menu or watching video scene, your monitor is switched to 640Ã—480. I therefore put here only one screenshot from menu and cut-scene, as they are the same for normal and widescreen mode.

In-game view is Stretched when using widescreen resolution. As far as I know, you can't adjust FOV.

Main menu:

Cut-scene:

4:3 screenshots:

16:10 screenshots:

Supported resolutions

Game supports wide variety of resolutions, I don't want to transcript them all here. They begin at 512Ã—384 and end at 2560Ã—1600. Also 1280Ã—720 and 1920Ã—1080 are there (16:9).

List of widescreen resolutions the game successfully ran at: 1280Ã—720, 1280Ã—800, 1920Ã—1200
List of widescreen resolutions that were not tested: All others

I tried also 2560Ã—1600, but didn't make it into game. I ended up with a message that I have too low memory for this resolution and have to choose lower one. This is obviously not true, it's some kind of incompatibility between game and my (or any new?) system.

Singleplayer anomalies

No errors that affect gameplay.

Multiplayer support

No problem in multiplayer, you can play with widescreen resolution.

Aspect ratio support

In every widescreen case (16:9, 16:10) the game is Stretched differently against 4:3 mode. There is no clipping of image and no FOV change.

16:9

16:10

HUD stretch

In-game 2D HUD elements are not deformed when using widescreen mode, but they are ugly; very pixellated (or what the correct word is). Also on higher resolutions the elements are bigger.

Cut-scenes

Pre-rendered cut-scenes are always in 640Ã—480 mode.

Grading

Calculated grade: D+

CCE: 100%

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 19 Mar 2008, 23:50

==Cut-scenes ==

Can you provide a screenshot of a typical one? I just want to see if it's fullscreen or letterboxed. Fixed-640x480 FMVs are forgivable if they're fullscreen, but not if they're letterboxed.

Calculated grade: D
Potential grade: D+

Major unresolved issues:
None

Minor unresolved issues:
Is 1280x768 supported?
Are 1440x900, 1680x1050, and 1920x1080 supported?
FMV screenshot needed

zoom · Post by **zoom** » 20 Mar 2008, 00:45

1280x768, 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080 - All are supported.

Could you please explain, what do I have to do with a cut-scene (FMV)? I don't seem to understand. There is one screenshot from a pre-rendered video.

Videos are in .bik format. I downloaded a player and played the one that the screenshot is from. The video has resolution of 640Ã—360, so the black bars are not enconded, but added by game. Also the video has much higher quality when played by external player, that what we can see in-game.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 20 Mar 2008, 00:56

Ok, I see the screenshot. It is letterboxed, which is considered a flaw, because it means widescreen users have to see black bars on all four sides when it would make more sense just to shrink the ones that are already there.

The game does score some points for supporting all resolutions, though. So:

Grade: D+, 100%

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 26 Apr 2009, 22:26

For people having problems running this game (looping audio, freezes, etc), try renaming the executable to "avpgame.exe" or something like that. Doing this makes the game run perfectly for me. I hear the reason is that Windows XP has a service called "avp," and when it detects a game with the same name running, it gets confused.

Triplehead is stretched, as expected. Also, when playing as the predator, your health and energy bars get partly cut off.

1024x768

1920x698

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 16 Jan 2010, 10:37

The recently released AvP Classic 2000 (Steam) has the exact same support: 640x480 menus/FMVs, stretched gameplay.

4:3

16:10

16:9

3x 16:10

4:3

16:10

16:9

3x 16:10

4:3

16:10

16:9

3x 16:10

BooTx · Post by **BooTx** » 18 Jan 2010, 05:41

Darn. Hopefully the retail patch they release will fix the FOV.

Also, if you guys are having issues with the bink sound looping, download this file and replace the one in the AVP directory.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 18 Jan 2010, 18:56

Renaming "avp.exe" to "avpg.exe" fixes the problem for me. I read that WinXP has some component internally referred to as "avp" and that having a process by the same name that behaves in a certain way confuses the system.

BTW, is there a detailed list of what the Steam version adds? Any regressions? Also, I forget, did AVP Gold ever support multiplayer?

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 19 Jan 2010, 12:10

AvP Gold sure had MP support, and loads of official bonus map packs.
AvP Classic 2000 is said to have MP implemented "later". I can't find any feature list other than the game's page on Steam. Besides MP, the only difference I can find between the original DR and the new game is unconditional support for 2560x1600.

TBZ · Post by **TBZ** » 19 Jan 2010, 18:52

The Steam version got an update today, and one of the things they fixed was this:

Proper widescreen support. Previously the game allowed non-4:3 video modes (e.g. 1920x1080) but just rendered a stretched 4:3 image. Now the game renders at the correct aspect ratio (e.g. 5:4, 16:9, 16:10), with the vertical field-of-view remaining fixed and the horizontal field-of-view changing accordingly. (i.e. 16:9 modes now render more to the sides than a 4:3 mode).

silhouette · Post by **silhouette** » 19 Jan 2010, 20:19

The Steam version got an update today, and one of the things they fixed was this:

Proper widescreen support. Previously the game allowed non-4:3 video modes (e.g. 1920x1080) but just rendered a stretched 4:3 image. Now the game renders at the correct aspect ratio (e.g. 5:4, 16:9, 16:10), with the vertical field-of-view remaining fixed and the horizontal field-of-view changing accordingly. (i.e. 16:9 modes now render more to the sides than a 4:3 mode).

And I can confirm that it works just fine as i have just played a bit with each species and now everything looks right running in 1680X1050 AND they fixed the mouse code aswell as it was behaving very strangely.

Imho it's not everyday you see this kind of dedication from a Developer 10 years after release date, I have the utmost respect for Rebellion :D

Post by **dopefish** » 19 Jan 2010, 20:20

Yes. As soon as I saw this list of changes on Steam, I bought the game... again (I own the original boxed version from too many years ago).

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 19 Jan 2010, 22:53

Imho it's not everyday you see this kind of dedication from a Developer 10 years after release date,

It's not even all that often a developer even still has the source code from a game that came out 5 years ago. Damn rare, in fact, and most of the time it's because they made the game open source (as is the case here).

Ergonpandilus · Post by **Ergonpandilus** » 20 Jan 2010, 00:06

I wonder if Rebellion decides to launch a standalone patch as well for AvP Gold? I'd hate to buy the game again.

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 20 Jan 2010, 12:40

That sure is one great thing with Steam: thanks to the embedded game forums and automatic updates, user feedback can actually turn into a patch in no time.
And indeed gameplay is now Hor+.

4:3 to 48:10 comparisons:

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 20 Jan 2010, 16:06

I declare this DR obsolete, and call for a new one based on the Steam version. If no one else calls it, I might just do it myself.

StingingVelvet · Post by **StingingVelvet** » 20 Jan 2010, 17:50

That's awesome news... go Rebellion.

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 23 Jan 2010, 09:13

If no one else calls it, I might just do it myself.

By all means, please do... You know you want to. If you need a couple screenshots, just holler.

Widescreen Gaming Forum