Run Crysis on Windows 8/8.1 64-Bit (Without Questionable Downloads!)

Are you rocking Windows 8 or 8.1 64-Bit? Are you unable to run Crysis through Steam, even though you desperately want to? Are you unable to find fixes that don't involve downloading random files from random places that may or may not be legitimate?
Well, this may just be the guide for you!
Over the course of the guide, I'll do my best to walk you through the process of setting up Crysis to play nicely with your shiny new OS. And the only things you have to download are EA's Origin service (yes, it's a shame, I know... :( ) and some official patches, straight from Crytek.
Interested? Read on, and see if I can be of service.

Introduction

Alright, so first things first:

I am currently running Windows 8.1 64-bit on my laptop, having upgraded from Windows 8. Back when I had Windows 8, I tried to run Crysis and could not get it to work at all. Since then, I have upgraded and have recently done a reset on my laptop. As such, the fact that this fix worked for me may have something to do with that. Also, I doubt I need to mention this, as seemingly every guide in existence brings it up, but if you have not already, make sure that you update your video card drivers to the latest version. Even if it ends up not being required to make the game run, it may at least improve your performance somewhat, and it's good practice, so why not?

At any rate, here is my guide, and I really hope that this can help some people that are having problems running this game! Apologies if someone else has already posted this fix.

Setup and Getting the Game to Run Without Steam

1. Find Crysis in your Steam games library (doesn't matter if you have it installed, but you'll have to install it later, so you may as well do it now), right-click on the game, and select View CD Key.
   
   
2. Copy this CD key somewhere, go to https://www.origin.com/en-ca/download, and download and install EA's Origin software. Yes, I know that most, if not all people prefer other game clients, but bear with me.
   
   
3. If you don't already have one, make an account on Origin and sign in. Once you're up and running with it, click on the Origin button in the top-left corner of the window and select Redeem Product Code.
   
   
4. In the window that appears, paste the CD key you copied from Steam and click Next.
   
   
5. This should redeem a copy of Crysis to your Origin account. If the key doesn't work, make sure you copied the whole key and that there are no typos.
   
   
6. Find Crysis in your Origin game collection and download it. DO NOT INSTALL IT YET!
   
   
7. (Not 100% certain that this is required, but I have heard talk of Punkbuster and Gamespy Comrade causing conflicts on newer operating systems, so I would recommend trying this first.)
   Once Origin has finished downloading Crysis, install the game using its install wizard, BUT do the following:
   
   
   1. When the option comes up for Easy install or Custom, select Custom. After clicking Next, you should be given a screen where you can choose which parts of the game you want to install. Make sure that everything is selected except for Punkbuster. To select a feature to not be installed, click on the icon to the left of it, and select the option with a red X next to it (sorry, I don't remember exactly what the text here says).
      
      
   2. When the wizard asks you if you want to install Gamespy Comrade, deselect the check box next to it so that it does not get installed.
      
      
   3. When the installation finishes, do not check the boxes for registering or checking for updates. If you want to open the README, that's cool.
   
   
8. After this, the game should be installed through Origin. However, if your situation is anything like mine, the game will still crash when launched through Origin. The important thing is that there should be a shortcut on your desktop to launch Crysis. If not, open File Explorer and navigate to DRIVELETTER:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis\Bin64, find the file called Crysis.exe, and create a shortcut for it. Place this wherever it is easiest to access.
   
   
9. Go to this website http://www.crytek.com/games/crysis/overview/download and download Crysis Patch 1.2 and Crysis Hotfix 1.21. DO NOT download Crysis 1.1 Patch.
   
   
10. Once the patch and hotfix have finished downloading, execute the 1.2 patch, allow it to install, and then execute the 1.21 hotfix.
    
    
11. Once the patch and hotfix have been installed, try launching Crysis from the shortcut you created earlier. All going well, it SHOULD launch properly!

However, if you're anything like me, you want to be able to play the game on Steam where you originally purchased it, so that you can have playtime tracking, etc. Luckily, I found a way to make that work too!

Launching the Game Through Steam

1. If you haven't already, download Crysis on Steam. Once it is finished downloading, launch the game through Steam. Steam should attempt to install a series of prerequisites. Let it go ahead and do so, however, if it tries to install Punkbuster or Gamespy Comrade through an install wizard, just press Cancel. The installation should proceed normally, just without installing these services.
   
   
2. Once you have finished installing the game, it should launch through Steam, and will most likely crash shortly thereafter. That's okay! We knew this would happen!
   
   
3. Go back to DRIVELETTER:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis\ and copy the Bin64 directory. Then, navigate to DRIVELETTER:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Crysis and paste the Bin64 directory here.
   
   
4. In this directory, there should be a folder titled Bin32. Rename this folder to Bin32.bak (or really anything, as long as it won't get confused for anything else and you can still keep it there as a backup). Then, rename the Bin64 folder to Bin32.
   
   
5. Now, go back to Steam and launch Crysis. With any luck, after possibly being prompted for (and cancelling once again) the installation of Gamespy Comrade, you should be blessed with the opening logos of Crysis, followed by the main menu! Now you can go forth and experience all the joys that this sandbox shooter has to offer while having stat tracking and all the other features Steam offers!

Side Notes and Clean Up

Gamespy? More Like Goodbye!

Tired of being prompted to install Gamespy Comrade every time you launch the game? Just go into DRIVELETTER:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Crysis and rename the GamespyComrade folder to GamespyComrade.bak or something similar. You'll still get a brief pop-up when you launch the game, but it won't bring up the install wizard anymore.

Hey, This Isn't Crysis 2!

If you don't want to have 2 copies of Crysis installed on your computer (which is understandable...it's a decently large game), just launch Origin, find Crysis in your library, right-click it, and select Uninstall. You'll be taken to the Control Panel where you can uninstall the game. Just make sure that you select Crysis(R) in the list (it should have Electronic Arts listed as the publisher instead of Crytek), as there will be two versions there: Your Steam version and your Origin version. The Origin version is the Crysis(R) one. The other way to check is that when you click on the entry in the list, it should bring up some details about the game along the bottom of the window. The Origin version lists www.ea.com as the help link, whereas the Steam version lists http://support.steampowered.com as the help link.

Incidentally, after you do this, Origin will still say you have the game installed, however launching it just launches through the Steam path. Not really sure why it does this, but all it means is that if you really want to be able launch Crysis through glorious Origin, now you can! :D

Final Thoughts

That's it! Thank you for reading, and once again, I really hope that this helps! I have honestly had this game for over a year now, and have spent hours trying to figure out how to get it to work on my computer. The fact that I have finally been able to is oh so satisfying for myself, and so I sincerely hope that I can share some of that joy with you. Please let me know if there is anything in this guide that needs clarification and whether or not it worked for you! I cannot make any guarantees that I will be able to help with any problems that arise, but I will let you know if I can. Best of luck, and happy gaming!

[ScottDbanger]

Thank you, EA ported this game very poorly.

[Olive]

It's a bogus system, but the only way I could find to make it work on Windows 8.1 was by using Origin as described in the guide. I blame EA for making the implementation on Steam so janky, but it is what it is.

[coondog1234]

Also oliver I hope I don't need that origin program because I bought the games through steam.
I hear it requires registering and logging in to use. Will pass.

[coondog1234]

Oliver.
I am running windows 8.1. I've tried a few things mentioned on various sites, nothing helped. I tried renaming bin32 to bin64 and steam just redownloaded the bin32 folder. I did try something else, I tried using the bin32 from Crysis warhead and that seemed to get the game to load up but I cannot get past the main menu where I select new game and then difficulty. The game seems to register that I pressed the start game button and then it goes to a black screen and seems to sit there, my HDD light doesn't look like it's doing anything just blinks once in awhile. I have to go to task manager and hard close it.

I uninstalled the Gamespy comrade software and now it's just a setup exe in the game files. I renamed the exe to .bak and steam redownloaded it of course.
I removed the punkbuster software too. I'm not sure what else to do I hope this is enough info.
I hope I don't need those last two programs just to play single player and mess around and blow stuff up.

[Olive]

Are you running on Windows 10, or Windows 8.1? I created this guide years ago before Windows 10 was available, so it's unfortunately outdated now if you're running Windows 10. I think that they also may have updated the Steam version of the game, which would mean that a lot of the files used here may no longer exist or be relevant.
However, from what I remember, it shouldn't be a problem if you let the anti-cheat software install; you should be able to uninstall it via the Control Panel. And if there's already a Bin32 folder in the game folder, that's fine. That's the one you'll be renaming to Bin32.bak and replacing with the Bin64 directory. Lastly, when it comes to the Electronic Arts folder missing, the folder may be renamed Origin now. Alternatively, you should be able to go into your settings in the Origin app to find out where it's installing games to; that's the folder that will have the Crysis game files.

Hope this can help, even a little!

[coondog1234]

My game crashes on startup too. I hit play on steam and then I see [Launching] then a black screen like it's going to load then it's back to windows with a crash message (crysis has stopped responding) How do you get this game working? I don't see Electronic arts folder in c:/program files(x86)
Also In the game folder there already is a Bin32 folder. If you accidently let the anti cheat and comrad programs install is that bad? PLEASE HELP!!!

This is 2020 I have the machine that is more than enough to run this game, how come I cannot play?

[Taki]

seems steam is the last version but with different code showed, so no need to manually upgrade!

[dmdizzy 🦖]

Also, with the way origin works now, I don't think it's possible to download without installing.

[dmdizzy 🦖]

I just got off of EA/Origin support for the code problem - Steam gives absolutely ancient CD keys that are no longer supported, but if you go to support and tell them of your issue, they'll help out in a jiffy.

[Olive]

I wonder if the CD keys have changed or something, since a number of people have now found that their keys don't work. I'm glad that you were able to find a workaround, though!