The best Solution to FIX the Game

[Knochenjonny]

Long time i was searching the Internet for fixes for Prototype,

First a Problem that a lot of people know is that the game won't start a new game or load a save file.
This happened when you have more than 8 Core CPU's (also if you have for example a Ryzen 3800X it's a 8 Core CPU but with SMT so with 8 extra virtual cores)

The Solution for this is to Limit the Amount of Cores used by the game.

I made a start.bat file and launch the game directly via my bat file, not via steam menu.

This is the inside of my bat

@ECHO off
start /wait /affinity FF prototypef.exe
exit

affinity is for the Core Amount you wan't to use.
FF means only the first 8 Core are used,
if you have a 6 Core CPU you have to write 3F
for 4 Cores F

BUT there is one bigger Problem the way the game was designed, it checks your Hardware and locks graphic options if you have more than 2GB Vram with newer Graphics cards.

For the missing Resolution Option
There are some solutions out there like a tool to change the resolution (it patches the prototypeengine.dll)
or manually HexEdit the prototypeengine.dll

You than have the correct resolution but anyway locked out for the AA settings.
Plus you cannot change the Resolution anymore via Ingame Menu (the field would only call LABEL)

And today i found the Author for a Fix that no one else since 2009 have done.

He not only removed the Option Locks he also implemented a Fix for Mouse Stuttering/Low FPS, that was first only possible if you deactivate a lot of the HID Devices in Device Manager, than there was a dinput8.dll file as a solution but that's it.

Last he also implemented a Shadow Rendering Fix for AMD/ATI Cards.

ALL bad decisions from the developers are fixed with only 1 single File.

https://forums.overclockers.ru/viewtopic.php?p=13863410#p13863410

2 Files for Download, AMD or NVIDIA, i hope you know what brand of graphics card you have and download the correct FIX ;)

Installation:
Replace the prototypeenginef.dll file in the game folder.
If you need support for changing the resolution in the game menu, then copy the file from the "Game resolution" folder

If you need support for non-standard resolutions, then copy the file from the "Desktop resolution" folder. The game will be launched with the desktop screen resolution, resolution change will not be available in the game menu.

Choose the resolution of the shadow map:
2048x2048 - for cards with 512MB video memory
4096x4096 - for cards with 1GB video memory
6144x6144 - for cards with 1GB video memory
8192x8192 - for cards with 2GB video memory
12288x12288 - for cards with 2GB video memory

I hope this would help someone who wan't to play a great old game again :)

[Shadic]

You can use process lasso to disable hyperthreading on specific games. Works to fix many old games, it would be always on so no BAT file too.

[Knochenjonny]

Originally posted by Shadicluigi:

You can use process lasso to disable hyperthreading on specific games. Works to fix many old games, it would be always on so no BAT file too.

Yes you are right, but i don't wanne use third Party tools when i have the same solution via Windows onboard Tools :)

But always a good idea to mention more than one Solution ^-^

[Slayrix]

Can't get your batch file to work... every time it still crashes

[Knochenjonny]

You know how to create a bat file ?
Make a new textfile write
@ECHO off
start /wait /affinity FF prototypef.exe
exit

and save it as .bat (not .txt) put that file into your game Folder where the prototypef.exe is.
start the game with the created .bat file (double click it) and Steam MUST be running.

If you have a 4 core CPU with or without SMT/HT (so 4 real core or 4real cores+4 virtual cores) you don't need a .bat.

The Engine (and that's also the case for Prototype 2) can handle maximum 10 Threads.
Everything below that should run fine without any affinity modifying.

[Slayrix]

Originally posted by Knochenjonny:

You know how to create a bat file ?
Make a new textfile write
@ECHO off
start /wait /affinity FF prototypef.exe
exit

and save it as .bat (not .txt) put that file into your game Folder where the prototypef.exe is.
start the game with the created .bat file (double click it) and Steam MUST be running.

If you have a 4 core CPU with or without SMT/HT (so 4 real core or 4real cores+4 virtual cores) you don't need a .bat.

The Engine (and that's also the case for Prototype 2) can handle maximum 10 Threads.
Everything below that should run fine without any affinity modifying.

Yeah, I did exactly that, I even tried the other replacements for "FF" but none of them stopped the crashing, also I know how batch files work and even tried some variations of your code but none of those yielded results for me either, idk exactly how many cores I have but from what I can tell its 12, maybe that is why this isn't working, because you never mentioned any thing with 12 cores.

Also something else confusing is you say that the crashes are caused by having more than 8 cores but from everything else that I found online it actually crashes once you have more than 4 cores, so maybe that is also the issue, idk tho because obviously mine isn't working and yours is

[Knochenjonny]

Sorry but all these informations about 4 cores are just false.
I have a Ryzen 3800X so 8 cores+8 virtual cores.
And i just used only the first 8 and it runs great.

From the developer of the Fix i linked i got the info the engine can handle 10 threads.

Anyway it doesnt make any diffrence if you have 12,16,24 or whatever core Cpu,
set affinity FF makes the system always use only the First 8 Core's for the started process.

Think binary
CORE Count
8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Binary
0000 0000

To select now only 4 cores (not the fourth core solo)
0000 1111 (it means 1 is use 0 is don't use, so we use here core 1,2,3,4)

Wan't only One single core to use ? sure select which one and go
1000 0000 (only the eight core is used) or 0000 0100 now only the third core)

All you have to do is make a HEX from the binary and that's it.
FF means in binary 1111 1111 so all 8 cores are used .

Maybe you have other problems using not an amd or nvidia instead an onboard intel.

Try to run the game in compatibility mode for Win95, if it now runs (it would now take wayyyy more time to load) than your problem is the cpu core thing.
Win95 compatibility mode always just use 1 single core.

If it even than won't launch a new game or start a save file than you another problem.

[Slayrix]

Originally posted by Knochenjonny:

Sorry but all these informations about 4 cores are just false.
I have a Ryzen 3800X so 8 cores+8 virtual cores.
And i just used only the first 8 and it runs great.

From the developer of the Fix i linked i got the info the engine can handle 10 threads.

Anyway it doesnt make any diffrence if you have 12,16,24 or whatever core Cpu,
set affinity FF makes the system always use only the First 8 Core's for the started process.

Think binary
CORE Count
8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Binary
0000 0000

To select now only 4 cores (not the fourth core solo)
0000 1111 (it means 1 is use 0 is don't use, so we use here core 1,2,3,4)

Wan't only One single core to use ? sure select which one and go
1000 0000 (only the eight core is used) or 0000 0100 now only the third core)

All you have to do is make a HEX from the binary and that's it.
FF means in binary 1111 1111 so all 8 cores are used .

Maybe you have other problems using not an amd or nvidia instead an onboard intel.

Try to run the game in compatibility mode for Win95, if it now runs (it would now take wayyyy more time to load) than your problem is the cpu core thing.
Win95 compatibility mode always just use 1 single core.

If it even than won't launch a new game or start a save file than you another problem.

I figured it out, using a batch file with the text:
start /affinity FF steam.exe
and put it into your steam.exe directory (usually in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam)
Then completely end steam.exe with task manager
Use the batch file to open steam
Launch prototype through steam
No more crashes

For anyone else who might've run into the same thing I did with his batch file not working

To make the batch file more easily accessible you can create a shortcut by right clicking the .bat file and creating a shortcut and you can put that wherever for easy access to this new 8 core limited steam

[Knochenjonny]

That way you limit ALL games starting via steam to run only with 8 core's.

That is the solution i don't prefer, but if it works that way for you than ok.

Main goal for this Thread was to fix that you don't have control over resolution and antialiasing option ingame with modern Cards also to prevent the game stuttering causing from dinput8 overpolling the HID device's
with just one single modified prototypeengine.dll from the user "Guzz" from overclockers.ru

The CPU thing is only i minor issue because there are so many solutions to limit a process to a preferred amount of cores, like the bat file or process lasso or even via taskmanager after the game is in main menu so that was never the biggest problem to solve.

[Slayrix]

Originally posted by Knochenjonny:

That way you limit ALL games starting via steam to run only with 8 core's.

That is the solution i don't prefer, but if it works that way for you than ok.

Main goal for this Thread was to fix that you don't have control over resolution and antialiasing option ingame with modern Cards also to prevent the game stuttering causing from dinput8 overpolling the HID device's
with just one single modified prototypeengine.dll from the user "Guzz" from overclockers.ru

The CPU thing is only i minor issue because there are so many solutions to limit a process to a preferred amount of cores, like the bat file or process lasso or even via taskmanager after the game is in main menu so that was never the biggest problem to solve.

But since it is just using a bat file to open it it isn't a permanent thing as long as steam or your pc gets restarted

[Slayrix]

So I downloaded the fix that you linked and it seems to have fixed none of the things you listed it did fix. As far as I can tell you only ever gave us the link to the shadow fix but nothing else, idk tho because the link leads to a Russian site and I can't read any of it

[Tracido]

Originally posted by Knochenjonny:

That way you limit ALL games starting via steam to run only with 8 core's.

That is the solution i don't prefer, but if it works that way for you than ok.

Main goal for this Thread was to fix that you don't have control over resolution and antialiasing option ingame with modern Cards also to prevent the game stuttering causing from dinput8 overpolling the HID device's
with just one single modified prototypeengine.dll from the user "Guzz" from overclockers.ru

The CPU thing is only i minor issue because there are so many solutions to limit a process to a preferred amount of cores, like the bat file or process lasso or even via taskmanager after the game is in main menu so that was never the biggest problem to solve.

OMFG this DID IT ALL. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. After YEARS of this game being worthless space on my HDD, it works at up to 500FPS on my 7900XTX flawlessly wow. Because I am 4K I have to use the Desktop option at 12288, BUT IT WORKS! FINALLY no more HID madness and proper 4K resolution!

For everyone, I combined this fix with this texture mod, and it's literally like having a dang REMASTER! https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/1964-hi-res-textures-for-prototype

[Knochenjonny]

To say it short, i got a final modified .dll from this nice guy.
He implemented to lock the engine to 10 threads (no batch files or any other trick needed NO MORE), all other Fixes are also implemented, resolution is switchable ingame, all options are unlocked, HID Stuttering cause dinput fixed.

He also made this final mod for nvidia and amd + shadow fix.

Do i have mentioned i also got a now working prototype 2 Fix from Him ? xD

But i don't make these files puplic.

Not interested in discussion anymore with such guys like slayrix hajacking other threads and claiming only his solution is the best :D

Anyone here feel free to register to that forum i linked and ask the developer of the fix yourself that's what i have done ;)

Thread can be closed.

[Tracido]

Originally posted by Knochenjonny:

To say it short, i got a final modified .dll from this nice guy.
He implemented to lock the engine to 10 threads (no batch files or any other trick needed NO MORE), all other Fixes are also implemented, resolution is switchable ingame, all options are unlocked, HID Stuttering cause dinput fixed.

He also made this final mod for nvidia and amd + shadow fix.

Do i have mentioned i also got a now working prototype 2 Fix from Him ? xD

But i don't make these files puplic.

Not interested in discussion anymore with such guys like slayrix hajacking other threads and claiming only his solution is the best :D

Anyone here feel free to register to that forum i linked and ask the developer of the fix yourself that's what i have done ;)

Thread can be closed.

Only you can go there because you speak Russian, I speak English, so don't stonewall the Steam community behind a language barrier, unless you have an English forum link.

Hence why I linked the mod as well, I am trying to compile all this stuff together, for the community, not just myself.

Furthermore, I made my own batch file from the info around here and from the moddified files notes. I simply needed a .dll that actually functioned (dinput8 NEVER worked), and this Russian file did.

What we ALL should be doing here is working together, to get to where we can actually LAUNCH THE GAME NORMALLY from the Steam menu (Instead of ONLY from a batch file and AFTER exiting Steam, you know, maybe?) instead of ANY competitive crap. Just saying.

[Slayrix]

Originally posted by Knochenjonny:

To say it short, i got a final modified .dll from this nice guy.
He implemented to lock the engine to 10 threads (no batch files or any other trick needed NO MORE), all other Fixes are also implemented, resolution is switchable ingame, all options are unlocked, HID Stuttering cause dinput fixed.

He also made this final mod for nvidia and amd + shadow fix.

Do i have mentioned i also got a now working prototype 2 Fix from Him ? xD

But i don't make these files puplic.

Not interested in discussion anymore with such guys like slayrix hajacking other threads and claiming only his solution is the best :D

Anyone here feel free to register to that forum i linked and ask the developer of the fix yourself that's what i have done ;)

Thread can be closed.

idk, I am not claiming my script is better, the fact is yours didn't work for someone, that someone being me, so I made my own, for me, and for any one else who also can't get your fix to work. I'll be honest, your way sounds amazing, but I just can't for the life of me get it to work and honestly had your fix worked for me I would've never made my script in the first place.

[Knochenjonny]

@slayrix
I hate people hijacking other threads with their own solutions, i made this thread with my solution to help, you have your own, if my file don't work for you say it and that's it. No need to write your solution into my thread, just use your own thread.

I also can't speak russian :D i used google translate to register to that forum and simply wrote that guy in english, my native language is german ^^

I have the right to share his files but it's not my work.
I honor that person so much for his work, he also showed me in every detail with pictures how and with what tool he had inspected and edited the dll file but even so i don't know how it works.

All i know is that for AMD Users the shadows are broken so he needed to disable shadow filtering in the dll but for nvidia users if using the same fix shadows become broken without filtering.

So he made me 2x dll files, one for nvidia users and one for AMD users.
And after that he also made that fixes for prototype 2 (he told me that there was no dinput used or shadow bugs don't exist, only the same engine problem with modern CPU's for more than 10 Threads)

I'm afraid of sharing his hard work, and it's a fact NOBODY in all this years has got that game fixed the way he did.

Maybe i will upload the final fixes later