Assassin's Creed system requirements + tips thread

[Blín D'ñero]

You can also find this list in your game's directory, Support\Readme\Readme.txt

System Requirements (list both minimum and recommended):


Supported OS: Windows XP SP2/Windows Vista 32-bit / 64-bit. This product does not support Windows 98/ME/2000/NT/XP x64
On the box, printed at time of game release, it says: Windows® XP/Windows Vista® 32-bit (only). Today, it runs just as fine on Vista SP1 and Windows 7 64-bit, (also without patch 1.02).

Processor: Dual core processor 2.6 GHz Intel® Pentium® D or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 3800+ (Intel Core® 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or better recommended)
Some single core processors (SSE supporting) may run the game, but slow and with crashes.

RAM: 1 GB Windows Xp / 2 GB Windows Vista
These are the minimum! With 1 GB: enlarge and fix your paging file to 4096MB min and max (as explained HERE) and make sure no other applications are running on the background. Better have on XP at least 2 GB (more is recommended) and on Vista /7 [32-bit] 4 GB, on Vista / 7 [64-bit] 6 GB or more.

Video Card: 256 MB DirectX® 10.0–compliant video card or DirectX 9.0c–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (see supported list)*
The system detection tool is not only crappy and useless but also the result is MISINTERPRETED by many people. It should say: "Your system complies to the minimum requirements (or higher)". But even then, it is inaccurate and unreliable. With the dodgy tool, anyone with merely a X1650 Pro/256MB thinks his system is qualified as recommended. In reality that card is only minimal for the game. So, better ignore the detection tool completely.
256MB [GDDR3] card is the minimum, 512MB recommended.
Desktop PC's with an AGP X1600 card, laptops with an X1300 or X2300: forget it.


Underspec videocards may run the game, but your overall system will be low-responsive and you'll get several (unpredictable) issues, glitches and artifacts.

Sound Card: DirectX 9.0 or 10.0–compliant sound card (5.1 sound card recommended)
->>> Onboard soundchip need hardware acceleration set to basic, or none.
Creative Soundblaster Live! is unreliable, no drivers updates available. Do yourself a favour and switch to one of the following:
Creative Audigy/Audigy2/ZS
Creative X-Fi
or similar from Asus, Auzentech.

DirectX Version: Latest DirectX 9.0c (Windows XP, Vista) or 10.0 (Vista) libraries

DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM dual-layer drive
Without it you can't even install the game. And it must be an internal dvd drive, not external.

Hard Drive Space: 8 GB
That is for the game's installation data. To run the game, your hdd must have much more free disk space available. After the game is installed, never less than 15% total.

Peripherals Supported: Keyboard, mouse, optional controller (Xbox 360® Controller for Windows recommended)
The game is a direct port from XBox360 including the widescreen aspect ratio and the controller support.

Supported Video Cards: ATI® RADEON® X1600*/1650*-1950/HD 2000/3000/4000 series NVIDIA GeForce® 6800*/7/8/9 series
Any card below these are not capable of running the game without issues.
And forget budget cards like GF 7200 / 7300, GF 8200 / 8400, they are too weak.

*PCI Express only supported
ATI Radeon X1600/1650 and nVidia GF 6800 AGP versions not supported.

*Laptop versions of these cards may work but are NOT supported. These chipsets are the only ones that will run this game.
Generally laptops are not designed for running demanding DX9.0c/DX10 games. Unless you have one of the -expensive- special gaming laptops like the famous Alienware or RockXtreme 770-T7800-8800 or CLEVO D900C or Asus W90VP or similar.
Still, on a lower profile laptop with a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 you could try to run the game at lowest settings. If your laptop card isn't supported by the nVidia drivers get the latest modified drivers from here.
Usually success is seen on moderate laptops like Dell Inspiron 1720 with Intel Core2Duo CPU T8300 @ 2.40GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, Windows Vista SP1

*This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disc and virtual drives.
Virtual drives need dismounted/shut off. Some software that can be used to circumvent copyprotection may have to be uninstalled (and remains removed from Registry).

Prepare your system as described in HERE

[Blín D'ñero]

The installer will update your DirectX9.0c, you can't (de)select that. If you already have the latest version, all it does is checking all the files and won't change anything.

In both Vista32-bit and 64-bit, as usual i installed the game onto a seperate partition, and then it does not create a shortcut on desktop (option tickbox is greyed out). Just do that manually. Open the game's directory, depending if you have a DX9 or DX10 videocard right-click on
AssassinsCreed_DX9.exe
or
AssassinsCreed_DX10.exe
-> Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut).

At start of the game, click in the Intro movie to skip it.
Create Profile: double-click on the line "Create New Profile", put in your name and hit Enter.

The PC-game is ported directly from XBox360, and widescreen. It supports 4:3 monitors but you get black bars on top and bottom of the screen.
When you launch the DX10 version (Vista32 and -64) the game will launch in (maximum) windowed mode, Windows Taskbar visible at the bottom. Solution: click in the game's display (make sure the cursor isn't outside the window) and press (Left-)Alt+Enter.Already during the first small loading screen, click on it once to select it, then hit (left-) Alt+Enter and the loading proceeds fullscreen.
Update: this is solved by the patch 1.02.
(BUT: Note 1 and Note 2 about the 1.02 patch)

The DX9 version launches in normal fully dedicated screen.

The ingame resolution options:
640x480 /60/75/73/85/90/100/120/160/200 Hz
720x480 /60/75/85 Hz
800x600 /56/60/70/75/72/85/90/100/120/160/200 Hz
848x460 /60/75/85 Hz
1024x768 /60/70/72/75/85/90/100/120/150/160 Hz
1152x864 /70/75/85 Hz
1280x720 /75/85 Hz
1280x768 /75/85 Hz
1260x800 /75/85 Hz
1280x960 /60/70/72/75/85 Hz
1280x1024 /60/70/75/85/90/100/120 Hz
1380x768 /60/75/85 Hz
1360x1024 /60/75/85 Hz
1600x1200 /60/70/75/85/100 Hz
1680x1050 /75 Hz
1792x1344 /72/75 Hz
1800x1440 /70/72/75 Hz
1856x1392 /72/75 Hz
1920x1080 /75 Hz
1920x1200 /75 Hz
1920x1440 /60/75/85/90 Hz
2048x1536 /85 Hz

On 4:3 monitors it is supposed to look like this (with the black bars):

[Blín D'ñero]

From the readme:

* It is _not_ advisable to install the game into the Windows folder (usually
C:\Windows), a subfolder of the Windows folder, nor the root of the system
drive (usually C:\).

* It is recommended to close all other running programs before installing the
game, to reduce the risk of software conflicts.

* If using the Saitek P2600 Rumble Force Pad, it is recommended to use the
drivers published by Saitek (see section 3.2) instead of the drivers that come
with Windows. With the Windows drivers, you may need to remap the Up/Down axis
of the right stick through the in-game options menu for it to work properly.

* If using Realtek High Definition Audio, Soundmax HD Audio, or nForce Audio, you
may experience sound anomalies. To work around the problem, reduce the Hardware
acceleration slider to 'Basic' in the Windows Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio
Devices -> Audio tab -> Advanced -> Performance tab.

* If using an AMD dual-core processor, you may experience fast flickering of the
in-game menu items. To work around this problem, install the AMD Dual-Core
Optimizer available on the AMD web site (see section 3.2).

* If you experience graphical corruption, make sure your graphics driver's
control panel is _not_ configured to override application settings.

* Vibration support is only available if using the Xbox 360 controller.

If artifacts appear on screen:
NVidia cards: many are factory overclocked. Especially the singleslot models easily get too hot. Lower its memory speed. Monitor the GPU temp using Ntune, if needed lower GPU speed, up the fan speed.
ATI cards: lower its memory speed a little in CCC Overdrive. If your card doesn't have an updated bios (with the fan-fix), use Rivatuner to fix the fanspeed to 53%.

If you don't have a soundcard but merely onboard chip:
XP: Go to Documents and Settings\*you*\Application Data\Ubisoft\Assassin's Creed\DARE.INI, open it in Notepad, change max audible voices to 32 or 28
Vista: Go to Users\*you*\Application Data\Roaming\Ubisoft\Assassin's Creed\DARE.INI, open it in Notepad, change max audible voices to 32 or 28

[Blín D'ñero]

Unlike Dark Messiah, AC (the DVD version) does not store the settings in a Registry key, it probably would when adopted by Steam.

Where AC stores the savegames and the video- and soundconfiguration in Vista:
C:\Users\*you*\AppData\Roaming\Ubisoft\Assassin's Creed\
It contains:
-Saved Games folder
-Assassin.ini (settings for video)
-DARE.INI (settings for sound)

in Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\*you*\Application Data\Ubisoft\Assassin's Creed\

[Blín D'ñero]

I enabled the Multisampling. It can be done because i have (Vista Ultimatex64) SP1 installed, and DX10.1 compliant videocards ATI Radeon card (HD3870 / 4870 / 4870X2) .
In the
Assassin.ini
changed the value "0" to 2.
Result: Multisampling 3/3. Indeed it enables full AA.

THIS is the result (comparison 10.1 - 10.0).

But make sure AI in CCC is set to Standard. Because when set to Advanced, 'eagle-view' is blindingly white (over-exaggerated HDR bloom); you can't even distinguish the environment, nor see what you are doing.

At resolutions 1600x1200 and above, Multisampling option is automatically set to 1, and the setting is disabled and cannot be changed within the game. So, edit the Assassin.ini file (see above).
"Multisampling" simply determines what level of MSAA is used during the rasterization process. The Multisampling option has 3 notches, numbered 1, 2, 3.
1 = MSAA is disabled
2 = 2X MSAA
3 = 4X MSAA.

[Blín D'ñero]

-Before installing the game, run updated Ad-Aware2007 (free edition) and Spybot Search & Destroy (freeware) to make sure no malware is active on the background. Note: in Spybot Search & Destroy, do not enable Tea-Timer systemprotection.

-Before installing the game, (temporarily) disable your antivirus application.

-Also make sure to stop system protection software (often an automatic option in spyware programs):
like Tea-timer in Spybot Search & Destroy, Stopzilla; even after you exited the program they might still be running that specific function on the background. So shut that function off.

-Disable Sticky Keys function: press "Shift" 5 times -> disable the options.

[Blín D'ñero]

You have an AMD Dual-Core Processor, are using Windows XP, and gameplay is slow and choppy.
Download and install the AMD Dual-Core Optimizer Utility. Windows XP only.It can be found HERE. (Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core)

If you are still having a problem after running the Optimizer Utility, try installing the latest AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Drivers available for Windows XP.
You can download these drivers from HERE.

[Blín D'ñero]

The system detection tool is MISINTERPRETED by many people. But you can't blame them as it is caused by the wording. It should say: "Your system complies to the minimum requirements (or higher)".

Anyone with merely a X1650 Pro/256MB thinks his system is qualified as recommended. In reality that card is only minimal for the game.
Then they start complaining when it won't run the game at maximum settings.

This is what i get:



... and THAT is really recommended hardware. But the dodgy tool is seen to give Intel onboard graphics chip the green "Yes" while it is absolutely incapable of running the game. And it is seen to give certain AMD CPU's the red "No" cross while instead they are very capable.
Just ignore the tool.

[Blín D'ñero]

Windows Vista:
Desktop compositing, aka Desktop Window Manager (DWM), controls the 3d effects (the aeroglass, the cascade windows, etc) in Vista. Some programs don't work well yet with these effects enabled. Also on machines with a low spec videocard (or integrated chip) this may happen. Launching the application could cause the screen to go all black.
Try: right-click on the shortcut of the application > on the "Compatibility" tab, check the box "disable Desktop Composition" > Apply > OK.

[Blín D'ñero]

Patch 1.02 has been released.

Originally posted by Ubi.Vigil:
Assassin's Creed 1.02 is now available for download. This patch includes the following fixes:

* Fixed a rare crash while riding the horse in Kingdom
* Fixed a corruption of Altair's robe on certain graphics hardware
* Cursor is now centered when accessing the Map
* Fixed a few problems with Alt-Tab
* Fixed a graphical bug in the final fight
* Fixed a few graphical problems with dead bodies
* Fixed pixellation with post-FX enabled on certain graphics hardware
* Fixed a small bug in the DNA Menu that would cause the image to disappear if the arrow was clicked rapidly
* Fixed some graphical corruption in Present Room with low Level Of Detail
* Character input is now cancelled if the controller is unplugged while moving
* Added support for x64 versions of Windows
* Fixed broken post-effects on DirectX 10.1 enabled cards

Download links:

• AtomicGamer
• FileFront
• FanGaming
• Fileshack
• GamersHell
• Internode
• Ubi.com