Alien Isolation Modding Guide 2024 Edition

This guide will help you with UP TO DATE modding informations and instructions to properly mod Alien Isolation and obtaining the best looking stable experience possible in just a few minutes and files moving

Last Update : May, 20th 2024

DISCLAIMER : I followed my own guide and did a full Alien Isolation by myself to insure that everything did worked perfectly without a single crash. If you have any issue then the problem is fully on your side.
At your own risk : Adding another mod or not following the guide order.
I'm not an Alien isolation modding wiki, if you look for anything else mentionned in this guide then Google is your friend.

Introduction & Disclaimers

Hello gamers, as I decided to play some Alien Isolation this year I also wanted to mod my game to obtain the best experience possible, sadly some parts of the best modding guides out here where obsolete, therefore I decided to refresh all of this in order to help the community with the struggle in 2024 !

Note that this guide will be a slight modification to the 2020 @Apollo 's guide available here .

Let's get started !

Graphics

First you will need to open a window to your game directory.
To do so, right click on Alien Isolation in Steam, ' Manage ' and then ' Browse Local Files '.

ALIEN: ISOLATION - SETTINGS MOD by ANGELGRAVES13 [www.dropbox.com]

The mod offer engine modifications via simple lines modification in the Engine.XML file, it offfer Full Level of Detail, 4K (4096) shadow map resolution, Changes Vertical to Horizontal FOV, and adds an Alternate Planar Reflections option.

Instructions :

1. Click on the mod title ( link ) above and download the dropbox file.
   
2. Copy this file: "ENGINE_SETTINGS.XML" and switch to the window you opened at the beginning of the guide.
   
3. Paste the ENGINE_SETTINGS file in the /Data folder of Alien Isolation and overwrite the original 'ENGINE_SETTINGS.XML '

To be sure the mod works properly ensure that your in-game video settings are like it :
- Shadow Map Resolution : 4096
- Alternate planar reflections : Alternate
- Field of View : 85 ( more might break the game and immersion )

Original mod post here

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Force Anisotropic Filtering through drivers

Only for NVIDIA users as this fonctionality works only for DirectX 9 for AMD card users, and Alien Isolation is a DirectX 11 game

NVIDIA Control Panel :

1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel.
   
2. Proceed to the 3D Settings / Manage 3D Settings tab on the left side bar.
   
3. Select Alien Isolation under 'Program to customize'. Alternatively, manually select the executable using the 'Add' button.
   
4. Change the 'Anisotropic Filtering' option to 16x.
   
5. Apply the changes.

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ALIAS ISOLATION: Superior AntiAlias for Alien Isolation [github.com]

Now for the biggest change from the original guide, here we go to Alias Isolation.
The original mod have stopped being worked on by his original creator, and have quite a few problems, especially for AMD card users that could see massive frame drops down to 30 fps in many areas. Thanks to Mr Ryan J Gray[github.com] which created a fork of the mod, it is now updated and actively maintained, and fix many problems, especially the poor performances for AMD cards but also now the mod is SELF-INJECTING !

Alias Isolation is a mod for Alien: Isolation. It adds temporal anti-aliasing into the shipped game, and fixes a few small issues with the rendering.

Instructions :

1. Click on the mod title ( link ) and download the last release available ( 1.1.4 as per May 20th 2024 )
   
2. Go to Ultimate ASI Loader[github.com] and download the d3d11-Win32.zip package
   
3. Unzip both files
   
4. Copy the ' mods ' folder from Alias Isolation in the root directory of the game ( steamapps/common/Alien Isolation ) as well than the aliasIsolation.asi
   
5. Copy the ' d3d11 ' file from the ASI Loader zip in the root directory of the game

To be sure the mod works properly ensure that your in-game video settings are like it :
- Anti-aliasing : SMAA T1x
- Chromatic Aberration : Off
- Motion blur : On

How do I know the mod is running ?

While loading a save you will see a ' Alias Isolation ' logo on the upper left corner for a few seconds once loaded



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Disgusting Lens-Flare be gone - Alien Isolation no Lensflare but all lighting effects by Julia Ripley van Biohazard[www.nexusmods.com]

This mod removes an art choice by the developers.
There is normally an odd artifact on the screen when looking at bright lights and flares, but this effect is hard to remove on its own without removing all the other lighting effects that the player sees. Thankfully a modder named Julia Ripley van Biohazard fixed it for us !

Here is a comparison screnshots from the mod page to show the effect, and its removal :


Instructions :

1. Click on the mod title ( link ) and download the file
   
2. Go the /DATA folder of the game
   
3. Copy and overwrite the original LENS_FLARE_CONFIG.BIN file with the downloaded mod file

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2020 Alien Reshade by Apollo[reshade.me]


Instructions :

1. Click on the title ( link ) and download the file Reshade.exe
   
2. Launch Reshade.exe
   
3. Select AI.exe
   
4. Select DirectX 3D 10/11
   
5. Select SweetFX by CeeJay and click Next
   
6. Go to this link[reshade.me] and click on " Download Shaders by Ioxa for ReShade 3.0 "
   
7. Open the zip file, drag and drop the file " GaussianBloom.fx " into the shaders folder located in /steamapps/Common/Alien Isolation/reshade_shaders
   
8. Download 2020 Alien Reshade by Apollo[www.nexusmods.com] (Only the first file)
   
9. Drag and Drop the DefaultPreset.ini in Alien isolation root folder

If Windows asks you to overwrite the old DefaultPreset hit yes.

Gameplay

Unpredictable Alien mod by somethingelse666

Basically, beyond changing the Alien behavior, this mod removes a proximity leash that the alien has to the player. Now the Alien can go ahead of you in the level, or often behind to trap you and ambush you in new ways.
Most who have played with this mod have said Unpredictable Alien completely changes the game for the better and creates a more intense and dangerous playthrough.

Instructions :

1. Click on the mod title ( link ) and download the file
   
2. Drag and drop the DATA folder from the mod in the Alien Isolation game folder (steamapps/common/Alien Isolation )
   
3. Overwrite files

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Softcore by Sgt_Prof[www.nexusmods.com]

Softcore is a lightweight modification for Alien: Isolation which balance weapons and equipment to increase your chances of surviving without destroying core gameplay.
Highly recommended especially with the Unpredictable Alien mod.

Instructions :

1. Click on the mod title ( link ) and download the file
   
2. Drag and drop the DATA from the mod in the Alien Isolation game folder (steamapps/common/Alien Isolation )
   
3. Overwrite files

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No Save Noise by Shadsterwolf[www.nexusmods.com]

Removes the annoying save box station noise beep sound

Instructions :

1. Click on the mod title ( link ) and download the file
   
2. Drag and drop the DATA from the mod in the Alien Isolation game folder (steamapps/common/Alien Isolation )
   
3. Overwrite files

Conclusion

And that's it ! You're done and you can now launch Alien Isolation via Steam and have all the modifications incorporated !

While launching the game press the " Home " key and set the shader file to your DefaultPreset.ini file and your hotkeys to activate / deactivate the reshade effect at will.

Ensure that all your video settings match what have been previously mentionned ( see Graphics Section once again for reminder )

Thank you for reading, thank you to Apollo for his original contribution once again and also thanks to all the community and modders that made that great game even better !

Have a great day !

[Frank Knowhere]

Ahh, so it does work haha.
I was using the Nexus mods version that doesn't work for some reason.

[Hussar of Glory]

@Frank Knowhere I did, so you can :)

[Frank Knowhere]

You can't use the settings mod with Alias Isolation.

[Hussar of Glory]

@balearadu It does.

[balearadu]

Alias Isolation doesn't work with the latest version.

[Hussar of Glory]

@ellen yoghurt I didn't had this issue during my playtrough with the mods, please check that your FoV is at 85. Otherwise the only in engine mod file would be ENGINE_SETTINGS.XML.

[ellen yoghurt]

Hi,

After installing the mods, I noticed that one major change is that you can no longer see Ripley's body when looking around (hands/legs/feet). Do you happen to know which mod this is and whether or not it can be reverted? It felt more immersive when you could see body parts so I'd like to restore that if possible.

Thanks

[Dominik]

Is there a mod or somewhere in the game files where you can have the alien always follow you? Something like "Alien Follower"

[danwolf]

Is there no mod that fixes the "silent walk" bug?

[Hussar of Glory]

Changes to guide as per May 20th 2024 :
- Updated Alias Isolation mod version following update by RyanJGray

Changelog since 1.12 :

Features
- add CA and sharpening toggle setting - press DELETE in-game to adjust the settings!
- delete un-needed files
- cleanup - remove injection logic from dllMain
- bump submodules

Bug Fixes :
- cleanup code and resolve compiler warnings.
- resolve game resolution changes breaking the menu, also resolve mouse cursor not working in the in-game DELETE menu.
- shadow flicker / jitter bug
- remove un-needed compiler warning deactivation.
- bump mod version to v1.1.4.