[sidetwo]

We recently sat down and drafted up the answers to our most commonly asked questions about the upcoming release of Alan Wake on PC. The FAQ's below will be updated as we get closer to the games release.

FAQ Last Updated: 2nd March 2012
FAQ Version: 0.7


What is the release date?

Alan Wake was released on Steam on February 16th, 2012 and is available now! The retail version of Alan Wake on PC will hit the stores on March 2nd, 2012. See this thread for more details on when Alan Wake on PC will be released in your location.

How much will Alan Wake on PC cost?

The Steam version will be $29.99 (Game + DLCs) and $34.99 (Collectors Edition). Retail pricing details will be announced soon.

What is included in the Collectors Edition on Steam?

The collectors edition on Steam will include the Alan Wake Game + DLCS, Alan Wake Files (PDF), Developer Commentary and the Alan Wake Soundtrack.

What will be included in the Retail version of Alan Wake PC?

There will be two editions of the Retail version. First up is the (Better than) Standard Edition, which contains:

• Premium packaging
• Disc 1: Main game plus both DLCs "The Signal" and "The Writer"
• Disc 2: OST of the game including 13 Tracks (Audio-CD)
• 6 Post cards with different pictures/scenes from the game
• Manual
• 1 poster (printed on both sides)
• 7 stickers with different pictures/scenes/characters from the game

Lastly is the Collectors' Edition of the game, which will include:

• - Premium packaging
• Disc 1: Main game plus both DLCs "The Signal" and "The Writer"; Additionally, the main game of the LCE contains audio commentary and background information by Remedy, which can be switched on in addition to the game
• Disc 2: OST of the game including 13 Tracks (Audio-CD)
• Disc 3+Disc 4: Bonus Discs contain History of Remedy, Making of "Alan Wake", Making of a Thriller, music video "War" by “Poets of the Fall”, several trailers to the game, Cinematics of the game with concept art-storyboard, teaser trailer of "The Signal", launch trailer of "The Signal". launch trailer of "The Writer", Building the technology, Building a Thriller
• The "Alan Wake Files"; 144 pages with evidence on the mysterious incidents around Alan Wake and Bright Falls, compiled by the ficticious author Clay Steward (no hardcover, same print format as the game manual)
• 6 Post cards with different pictures/scenes from the game
• Manual
• 1 poster (printed on both sides)
• 7 stickers with different pictures/scenes/characters from the game

What are the minimum specs for the game?

OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7
PROCESSOR: A dual core processor is required:

• AMD: Athlon X2 2.8GHz
• Intel: Core 2 Duo 2GHz

MEMORY: 2 GB
HARD DRIVE: 8 GB
VIDEO CARD: DirectX 10 compatible or later with 512MB RAM

• AMD: ATI Radeon 3650, 4450, 5550, 6450 or higher (per series)
• NVIDIA: GeForce 8600GT, 9500GT, GT120, GT430, GT520 (per series)

SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c compatible
INPUT: Mouse and keyboard, Xbox360 controller also supported

How will it run on my system?

You can use this service to find out approximately how your system performs in Alan Wake compared to the minimum and recommended settings: http://www.yougamers.com/gameometer/10500/

What do I need to run with max settings?

For a solid performance Remedy recommends a modern quad-core CPU and a graphics card with around 2000 in 3DMark Graphics Score as seen in here: http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu

For max settings and high resolutions, a top of the line graphics card and CPU is needed.

Will the game be released on the Mac?

Unfortunately, the game will not be available for Mac users. While not officially supported, it has been reported to run well under Boot Camp.

Will it support Windows XP?

Yes. We have finished our testing and are satisfied the game works well, assuming the users' systems are configured correctly (we detected some audio configuration problems during testing but nothing that can't be worked around easily). SP2 or higher is required.

Is Alan Wake going to use Games for Windows Live?

Games for Windows Live will not be used; we will be fully supporting the Steam platform.

What about Origin?

We're happy to announce that Alan Wake is available for purchase also on EA's Origin service. However, the game will still integrate with Steam - Origin is used for the purchase and initial download.

Who is the publisher?

Alan Wake PC is a Remedy self-published title with Nordic Games handling our Retail version.

Is Remedy developing the PC game?

The PC version is being developed together with a small team from Remedy as well as a talented team at Finnish independent developer, Nitro Games, who have previous and recent experience of releasing games on Steam.

Will there be a demo version?

Unfortunately, there won’t be a demo version of Alan Wake PC.

What control options will there be?

The PC version will support keyboard and mouse (fully configurable) and the Xbox 360 controller.

What features will be available on Steam?

The game will run using Steamworks, allowing for syncing of settings and save games to the Steam Cloud platform. Steam achievements will also be featured in the game.

Will the DLC Episodes be included in the game?

Both special episodes, The Signal and The Writer DLCs will be available on Steam and are included in all copies of the game.

Is this release developed from the former PC version that was showcased a few years ago?

No. Any early material evolved into what ended up shipping on the 360. This PC release will be derived from what was released on the 360.

How large is the Steam download for the game?

Around 7.5GB.

What graphical customisations will the player be able to make?

We are still finalising the options, but the players can naturally adjust resolution, run in full screen or windowed and change numerous graphics quality settings such as anti-aliasing, FXAA, shadow quality, draw distance, level of detail distance and so on.

The players can also turn off the HUD if they wish. This was a feature many of our fans wanted for Alan Wake Xbox360. FOV adjustment was also added due to popular demand!

How will the save game system work?

The save games will work as they did on Xbox360, with automatic checkpoints. We know some of our PC fans would love a “save anywhere” system, but unfortunately we can't easily change how the saves work as there are certain restrictions where you can save in the tech so adding a free save anywhere would likely expose a lot of new bugs.

What languages is the game localised to?

It is localised to same languages as Alan Wake Xbox360 with full voiceover and text localisations for English, German, Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese. Text localisation (Subtitle support and menu translations) will be provided in Traditional Chinese, Korean, Polish and Russian.

Are you going to release the mod tools for Alan Wake PC?

Unfortunately Remedy is not planning to release the mod tools. The tools are a lot more complex than they were with the Max Payne games, and are based on many 3rd party commercial tools like Autodesk 3d studio max. Additionally they have been integrated to work with our Perforce asset repository and other internal services, and removing and re-implementing these features would be a lot of work.

Will Alan Wake PC support Stereoscopic 3D?

We have internally tested that the game works with NVISION 3D very nicely. From our test we have found it to be fairly performance heavy though so a high end GPU such as the GeForce 580GTX and moderate graphics settings are recommended. However some users have reported issues with the 3D support and it is something we are looking into.

Remedy has not been able to test AMD HD3D (we spent some time trying), but AMD has access to the build and we are hoping they can confirm whether it works or not.

[sidetwo]

To discuss this FAQ and Alan Wake on PC, please use this thread:
http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?t=7525

[MarkusRMD]

Updated FAQ
- XP support confirmed officially
- HD3D tested with no success

[sidetwo]

Updated FAQ
- Release date info updated
- Pricing details updated
- Retail info added.

[MarkusRMD]

Updated FAQ
- Origin
- a few minor fixes here and there

[sidetwo]

Updated FAQ
- More details about Retail edition added, included release dates and release box editions.

[MarkusRMD]

Updated FAQ
- added link to Game-o-Meter for Alan Wake
- added comment about Macs & Boot Camp.

[sidetwo]

Updated FAQ
- Just a bit of info about the Collectors Edition on Steam.

[sidetwo]

Updated FAQ
- Updated info on Retail Collectors Edition.