Crystal Project FAQ

[River Running Games]

If you have any questions about the demo or about Crystal Project in general, please feel free to ask here or make a new thread and I will answer as soon as I'm able to.

In the meantime, here are some questions I've seen asked before:

Demo And Save Data

Will my save files in the demo carry over into the full version?

Yes! But I just want to mention that if you have already played the demo some time ago and still wish to bring your save data into the full game, but you have also recently cleaned up your hard drive and may have deleted the save data, please make sure to run the demo once to download your save data before purchasing the game.

I bought the full version but my demo saves aren't showing up!

The first time you launch the full version, it should scan your hard drive for demo saves, and if it finds any, prompt whether you would like to import them. If for some reason this prompt doesn't show up, you should still be able to manually choose to import the saves using the options menu on the title screen.

If for some reason the game didn't prompt you *and* the options menu doesn't give you the choice to import, then you can try manually copying the saves to the correct folder.

The demo save data is located here:

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project Demo/Save/
  
• Linux/Steam Deck: ~/.local/share/Crystal Project Demo/Save/
  
• Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/Crystal Project Demo/Save/

Please try copying everything from the demo save data folder and pasting it here:

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project/Save/
  
• Linux/Steam Deck: ~/.local/share/Crystal Project/Save/
  
• Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/Crystal Project/Save/

And then the saves should be picked up the next time you launch the full version.

Where is Crystal Project's save data located on my computer?

For the demo, the save data can be found here:

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project Demo/
  
• Linux/Steam Deck: ~/.local/share/Crystal Project Demo/
  
• Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/Crystal Project Demo/

For the full version, the save data can be found here:

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project/
  
• Linux/Steam Deck: ~/.local/share/Crystal Project/
  
• Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/Crystal Project/

I use Heroic Launcher and my saves keep getting reset/lost.

By default, Heroic Launcher does not have access to the user's home directory when installed as flatpak. The native Linux version of Crystal Project requires access to ~/.local/share/ for saving and loading data. Please try using Flatseal to grant Heroic Launcher access to the user's home directory.

Tech Support

Crystal Project is not working on Steam Deck.

Crystal Project runs natively on Linux and it does not work with Proton. Please try going to the Properties for the game on deck, and change it to run in compatibility and use Steam Linux Runtime - Sniper.

Alternatively, please try "Verify integrity of game files" as this has been reported to help in some situations.

My gamepad is not working.

If your controller isn't working, please try disabling Steam Input:

Right-click "Crystal Project"/"Crystal Project Demo" > "Properties..." > "Controller" > "Disable Steam Input"

My gamepad is giving me double inputs.

Sometimes Steam Input can cause double inputs to occur. Please try disabling Steam Input:

Right-click "Crystal Project"/"Crystal Project Demo" > "Properties..." > "Controller" > "Disable Steam Input"

When I try to change controls, the game crashes with the error "The given key was not present in the dictionary".

I don't know yet what's causing this error. If this happens to you, please navigate to the following folder on the full version:

%USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project/

Or the following folder on the demo version:

%USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project Demo/

And find the "error.log" and "controls.ini" files. Please either send these files to me via Discord DM or share their contents in a new thread. I should be able to use this info to fix the problem. I'm sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime!

The game is too laggy while exploring. Can I fix it?

Turning down the Graphics Options should help with this. The first option to try would be setting "Draw Distance" to "Short".

If that doesn't help, then please try turning "Anti-Aliasing" to "None", "Shadows" to "None", and everything from "Edge Outlines" to "Terrain Particles" and between to "Off". If this helps, then please try enabling things one by one until it looks OK while working OK.

Something else that has been reported to cause performance issues is having HDR color enabled in windows. If it is enabled, turning it off may help.

The game seems to lag when it's loading in new graphics. What should I do?

By default, Crystal Project loads all graphics as they are needed during gameplay. This is to speed up loading during startup. But, if it causes problems, you can force the game to load all the graphics at startup which should hopefully fix it.

Go to Options > More Options > Texture Loading, and set it to Preload, then restart the game.

There is a rendering delay. / Terrain loads slowly and pops in as I wander around.

If running on Steam Deck, please make sure that the in-game Frame Rate option is set to Fixed, and please make sure that the Steam OS Frame Limit is uncapped or that it is set to at least 60 FPS.

The game lags a lot all of a sudden / after the last update.

I know this might sound like kind of a lame solution, but could you please try, in the following order:

• Toggling full screen.
  
• Alt tabbing out and go back in by clicking the game on the taskbar.
  
• Restarting the game again.
  
• Restarting the computer.

I wish this didn't happen and I'm not yet sure why it does, but some people have said that this can help fix it. Please let me know if it does not.

My audio doesn't work / My audio is crackling.

It might be a sound compatibility problem. Please try changing the Audio Engine from FNA to NAudio.

Go to Options > More Options > Audio Engine, and set it to NAudio, then restart the game.

I'm running on Windows and the game crashes on startup.

If you see the following error:
"External component has thrown an exception."

Then please navigate to the following folder on the full version:

%USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project/

Or the following folder on the demo version:

%USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project Demo/

And create a new text file here called "system.ini" (ie, a new file beside the other files such as settings.ini and graphics.ini).

Paste the following into the new system.ini file:

[System]
AudioEffectProvider=NAudio
AudioMusicProvider=NAudio
NAudioWavePlayerType=WaveOutEvent

And then restart Crystal Project.

I'm running on Linux and the game crashes on startup.

If you see either of the following errors:
"External component has thrown an exception."
"winmm.dll assembly:<unknown assembly> type:<unknown type> member:(null)"

Then please try setting the SDL_AUDIODRIVER environment variable manually in the command options in steam:

SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa %command%

This environment variable is used by SDL2 and for some reason it sometimes needs to be set manually (maybe when the default driver isn't available). Please see the following for more information:
https://wiki.libsdl.org/FAQUsingSDL

I'm still having audio problems and it is stopping me from playing.

If sound is still causing errors preventing you from being able to play, please try the following to disable audio completely. (Note: Only works on version 1.0.8 or later.)

Navigate to the following folder on the full version:

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project/
  
• Linux/Steam Deck: ~/.local/share/Crystal Project/
  
• Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/Crystal Project/

Or the following folder on the demo version:

• Windows: %USERPROFILE%/Saved Games/Crystal Project Demo/
  
• Linux/Steam Deck: ~/.local/share/Crystal Project Demo/
  
• Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/Crystal Project Demo/

And create a new text file here called "system.ini" (ie, a new file beside the other files such as settings.ini and graphics.ini).

Paste the following into the new system.ini file:

[System]
AudioEffectProvider=Disabled
AudioMusicProvider=Disabled

And then restart Crystal Project. This isn't ideal because there will be no audio whatsoever, but it should hopefully allow you to play the game while I look into fixing the actual problem.

The game is crashing with a "Index was outside the bounds of the array." error.

If you are using a cheat engine, it works by creating new .json files in this folder in the game's local files:

C:\Steam\steamapps\common\Crystal Project\Content\Database

Sometimes an update will change the game's base data files, but if these old .json files are still there, then the game will continue to use those. This can cause data to get out of sync with what the game is expecting. Please try deleting all .json files in this directory and see if it resolves the error.

In a future update, I will try to prevent this situation from causing the game to crash.

Features And Requests

Is there fast-travel?

You can't ever teleport freely between all Home Points, but there are other places which you will be able to fast-travel to later in the game. Due to this and some other things, traversing the world quickly should hopefully become easier as the game goes on.

What do each of the stats do?

There is a place a bit later in the game that will teach all the specifics about each of the stats and various other mechanics.

Is there ultrawide support?

Unfortunately ultrawide isn't properly supported right now. In the meantime, setting "Aspect Ratio" to "Dynamic" should add pillar boxes so that the screen isn't stretched/distorted.

Will Crystal Project be ported to consoles?

I have no solid plans right now to port to consoles, but this is something I would like to do in the future.

Will Crystal Project be translated/localized to (language)?

I am planning on adding support for community translations in a future update. The way it will work is every piece of text that appears in game will be loaded from a .json file (or similar) on disk which will be editable. However, I need to do quite a bit of work still to enable this so I'm not yet sure when it will be done.

Is there a soundtrack?

Crystal Project's soundtrack is all licensed royalty free music. This kind of license doesn't usually allow for distribution in standalone soundtracks. But if you hear a track you like, I strongly encourage you to check out the artist's work! Most of their songs and more can be heard for free on youtube, bandcamp, or soundcloud. All of the artists have made so much fantastic stuff, and the work of theirs that I feature in Crystal Project is just the tip of the iceberg. The artists and track titles will pop up on the bottom left of the screen the first time any track plays, and they can also be found in the Archive under Music at any time thereafter. The credit reel is also viewable directly from the main menu and will list every track in the game even if you haven't heard it yet.

Lots of the tracks are available on youtube, so while it's not comprehensive, here is a playlist featuring many of the songs found in Crystal Project:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8q1EP7X92uYLhub-hJQzsm8PaD4M7OG3

Is there a Discord server?

Yes! Please feel free to join:
https://discord.gg/VGeS8aTBj3

[Div]

Any chance you could make chaining jumps progress the walk animation? It'd really enhance the experience of jumping to the music in Delende. Just the two frames where either foot is forward.

[River Running Games]

Originally posted by Div:

Any chance you could make chaining jumps progress the walk animation? It'd really enhance the experience of jumping to the music in Delende. Just the two frames where either foot is forward.

That's an awesome idea actually! Yeah I'll try to do this! Will be my first task this evening :)

[folm]

any chance of a full screen map toggle or a transparent overlay? i find myself glued to the minimap more than anything

[Terejima]

Do you plan to support other languages ?

[River Running Games]

Originally posted by ᖴ꒒ᓍᘻ:

any chance of a full screen map toggle or a transparent overlay?

I was thinking of adding a button to pull up the full map once I implement it. A transparent overlay might be nice too. I'll make note to see if I can add this.

Originally posted by Terejima:

Do you plan to support other languages ?

I was thinking of doing UI translations for French and Japanese after the full launch, but anything more than just UI is beyond what I can do. But I'm planning on making the whole game fan-translatable, as in, all the text would be read from an XML file and anyone would be able to add languages to it and then send them to me/the community if they wanted to.

[BloodBorne]

Hi Devs, do you know the release date? I dont want "spend" more hours in the demo, I just wanna spend hours in the final game :) the game is really good so far

[River Running Games]

Hey no problem! I don't know the exact date yet unfortunately. One of those "when it's done" things BUT I am definitely aiming for Q1 next year, so shouldn't be later than March 2022.

[BloodBorne]

Originally posted by River Running Games:

Hey no problem! I don't know the exact date yet unfortunately. One of those "when it's done" things BUT I am definitely aiming for Q1 next year, so shouldn't be later than March 2022.

Nice to know, good luck!

[Vcard]

No real feedback, just want to add my name to the pile of people praising your game. Started playing the demo on a whim and 5 hours just zipped by in a flash, definitely the most fun I've had with a demo in some time. Keep up the good work!

[River Running Games]

Thank you! Every comment like that means a lot.

[Galacktic]

Been playing this and I adore it, but one little suggestion I'd like is when shopping for gear, could there be an indicator of what class can use what piece of gear without having to go a menu deep for the Compare function? Something off to the side that just shows the class head icons for instance, and it grays out if they can't equip it without a passive allowing them to!

[River Running Games]

Thanks for the suggestion! I think it's a great idea and I'll make note to do something to fix this. I agree that it's too cumbersome to go two menus deeper to see who can wear a piece of equipment.

And thank you for playing, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[popandepo]

Really loving the game so far! I recommended it to two of my friends :P

I haven't gotten that far into the game yet so I don't know if this already exists but would it be possible to add an accessory or something that allows a character to gain xp in their secondary job? Maybe as a drop from a difficult optional boss or just a very expensive item or something?

[River Running Games]

Thank you!! I hope your friends also enjoy it!

And that is really a great idea. One problem the game has right now is that when you master a class, it feels a bit weird switching off of it to start learning something new because it powers you down so much. I think adding something like you suggested would help with that a lot.

[Alilatias]

I think the temporary depowerment when switching to a new class problem only really exists for the martial classes. The mages don't really feel that at all because spells are always usable regardless of your equipment setup, but many of the classes currently available depend on having a specific weapon equipped.

This will probably be less of a problem as time goes on and we presumably unlock more classes that may share weapons, like for example a second archer or another rapier wielder with compatible skills. If not, this would be a strong argument for loosening some of the weapon restrictions on abilities across the board too.

I recall playing other games with a job system that gave you passive boosts for mastering a job that were always active. At the same time, there's also a problem in that the boosts when put together would be arguably substantial enough that it gives players the impression that you're seemingly forced to level them all, which is something I don't think should be encouraged.

I did notice that each class has a bonus for setting them as your primary. Perhaps mastering classes should use a similar train of thought. Maybe mastering them should provide something actually tangible?

Like when one party member fully masters a job, a mastery NPC would appear in the capital, recognizing your efforts and providing you with a gift. Like an accessory that really emphasizes some mechanics of the class, and could be really interesting when combined with the mechanics of other classes, enabling even further build variety.

For example, the thief mastery accessory could result in increased crit chance against enemies currently not aggro'd to them. The warrior mastery accessory could have an intimidate effect against enemies aggro'd to them, lowering their physical and magic attack by, say, 15%. The warlock mastery accessory could modify their Dualcast to allow using any subjob ability with it too. The Hunter accessory could increase damage for each ability already on cooldown.

Obviously you should only get one copy of each.

(Additionally, maybe get all of the mastery NPCs to appear, and they may later open the way to a brutal endgame dungeon or something.)

Also, maybe there should be a pool of overflow JP experience, and/or allow subjobs to accumulate JP as well, so that people don't feel like their JP is just being wasted by battling as a maxed out primary class and to reduce the amount of time spent in an underpowered state when switching to a new job. Obviously the JP gains should be lower. Like an overall pool should only have 20% normal JP EXP gain, and/or subjob EXP gain should be half that of the primary.