Key points

General information

Availability [ edit ]

All versions require Steam and Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM .[6] HiDPI users with a desktop shortcut may want to change the icon of the shortcut to <path-to-game> \NieRAutomata.exe as this includes a 256x256 icon for the game.

DLC and expansion packs

Version differences [ edit ]

NieR: Automata Standard Edition [ edit ]

The base edition of the game with no additional bonus content that was made available after the Day One Edition promotion ended.

NieR: Automata Day One Edition [ edit ]

A limited edition bundled with additional bonus digital content (cosmetics only). The promotion for digital copies ended 16:00 GMT May 12, 2017.

NieR: Automata Game of the YoRHa Edition [ edit ]

A compilation edition released on February 26, 2019 bundled with all previously released DLCs and bonus cosmetics in addition to 2 exclusive wallpapers.[9] This bundle did not come with any actual code related changes to the game itself. The only new thing introduced was the two exclusive wallpapers, available entirely outside of the game.

Essential improvements [ edit ]

Skip intro videos [ edit ]

Instructions[10] Instructions Go to <path-to-game> \data\ . Rename the movie_logo folder to anything else.

Updates low resolution textures. Installation requires FAR.

Improves video resolution to 1080p[Note 1] and interpolated 60 FPS. Installation requires FAR.

Improves keyboard and mouse controls for the game. Forum thread

Uses 3DMigoto to add nearly invisible dithering to the game's rendering to remove banding artifacts, while making the image look smoother overall.[12] Incompatible with GPUnity's Texture Pack.[13]

Game data [ edit ]

Configuration file(s) location [ edit ]

Save game data location [ edit ]

The game validates the SteamID64 of the user against the ID embedded in the save files, and hides saves that does not match. Use SteamID64 Editor to transfer saves between users. As a result of the above mentioned behavior, playing the game through separate Steam accounts on a shared account in Windows can cause saves to be overwritten! See the unresolved issue section for more information.

System Native Notes Steam Cloud Syncs settings across PCs as well, including video settings.

Video [ edit ]

Graphics settings.

Camera settings.

In addition to the fullscreen scaling issue (fixed by FAR), ultra-widescreen and wider resolutions have their own issues (stretched HUD, menus, and pre-rendered cutscenes).

Fix fullscreen scaling and stretched menus, HUD, cutscenes[16] Fix fullscreen scaling and stretched menus, HUD, cutscenes Use FAR to fix fullscreen scaling. Download the NIER_HUD fix.. Extract the contents, and browse into the appropriate resolution subfolder. Copy only the fixed NieRAutomata.exe to <path-to-game> , overwriting the existing file in the process. Use Vidsquish to convert the pre-rendered cutscenes to either a pillarboxed or Vert- format.

Enable borderless window mode using FAR[17] Enable borderless window mode using FAR Download and install FAR using the automated installer (SKIM). Launch the game. Configure the in-game options to window mode and the resolution of the monitor. Press Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + ← Backspace to bring up the FAR control panel and expand the Window Management section. Enable Borderless , Fullscreen (Borderless Upscale) , and Keep Inside Window (game must be set to Windowed in the settings menu for this to appear). Restart the game to confirm everything is working as intended.

The High graphics preset defaults to 8x MSAA. The Ambient Occlusion setting on the other hand utilizes SMAA.[2][18] Having the Anti-aliasing (AA) option enabled in conjunction with Ambient Occlusion (AO) causes visual issues and the transition effect between LoD levels to be abrupt.[18][19]

Can cause scripting/timing/physics bugs and prevent story/quest progression.[20]

Unlock the frame rate[21] Unlock the frame rate Download and install FAR using the automated installer (SKIM). Go to <path-to-game> . Open dinput8.ini . Find and change the parameters RefreshRate and TargetFPS to the desired values. Launch the game and disable vertical sync through the in-game options. While running the game, press Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + ← Backspace to bring up the FAR control panel. Expand the NieR: Automata section and the subsection called Framerate Enable Remove 60 FPS Cap to unlock the frame rate. Notes Toggle the frame rate cap of the game by pressing Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + . in-game. Cutscenes and menus will still be locked to 30 or 60 FPS.

The game outputs at an exact 60 Hz; regardless if it is unsupported.[3]

Override the refresh rate[2] Override the refresh rate Install the latest version of FAR. Go to <path-to-game> . Open dinput8.ini . Find and change the parameter RefreshRate to the desired refresh rate (e.g. "RefreshRate=120"). Save the file.

Ambient occlusion (AO) [ edit ]

The game defaults to using a 800x450 buffer for ambient occlusion regardless of render resolution.[22]

Adjust ambient occlusion resolution[23] Adjust ambient occlusion resolution Install the latest version of FAR (automated installer). While running the game, press Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + ← Backspace to bring up the FAR control panel. Expand the NieR: Automata section and the subsection called Post-Processing Enable Native AO Res. . Restart the game to allow the changes to take effect. Notes Performance cost is negligible. If the resolution of the game is changed click on Native AO Res. again to update FAR's values to reflect the new resolution. Then restart the game to allow the changes to take effect. Introduces artifacts if the native aspect ratio is not 16:9. Must specify resolution in FAR.ini.

Bloom [ edit ]

Adjust bloom resolution[24] Adjust bloom resolution Install the latest version of FAR (automated installer). While running the game, press Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + ← Backspace to bring up the FAR control panel. Expand the NieR: Automata section and the subsection called Post-Processing Enable Native Blom Res. . Restart the game to allow the changes to take effect. Notes Performance cost is negligible. If the resolution of the game is changed click on Native Blom Res. again to update FAR's values to reflect the new resolution. Then restart the game to allow the changes to take effect. It is possible to force a custom bloom resolution by modifying the BloomWidth parameter in FAR.ini , however it requires a value that is the display width divided by some power of two (e.g. 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Setting a custom bloom resolution above the resolution of the game will result in a diminished effect.

Global illumination [ edit ]

Adjust global illumination[2][25] Adjust global illumination Install the latest version of FAR (automated installer). While running the game, press Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + ← Backspace to bring up the FAR control panel. Expand the NieR: Automata section and the subsection called Lighting. Adjust the Global Illumination Quality option to your liking. Close the control panel to allow the changes to take effect. Notes The values Medium and High both results in performance boosts with negligible visual differences from Ultra (default). Setting Global Illumination Quality to Off significantly affects lighting in some scenes.[2]

Input [ edit ]

Controller rebinding.

Keyboard rebinding.

General settings.

Language settings.

DualShock button prompts [ edit ]

Replace Xbox prompts with DualShock equivalent[27] Replace Xbox prompts with DualShock equivalent Download and open the following archive. Extract the archive to the game installation folder. Notes Remove the data/ui folder in order to revert back to the standard button prompts.

Audio [ edit ]

Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes Separate volume controls Surround sound 5.1, Stereo or Mono. Subtitles Closed captions Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes English English subtitles are transcribed from the English audio. Expect differences if used in conjunction with Japanese audio. French German Italian Japanese Spanish Simplified Chinese Fan translation. Russian Fan translation by «The Miracle». Download link #1 and link #2 – adaptation for GotY-version.

VR support [ edit ]

Issues unresolved [ edit ]

Display driver crash (white/frozen screen) [ edit ]

Occasionally the game causes a display driver crash/reset which it can not recover properly from.[2][28] Official fix for affected users is to update their display drivers; AMD users should at least use v17.5.2[29] and Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 and 780 Ti users v384.94,[30] although some users might still experience the issue.[31] The game continues playing in the background so if you're in a save zone you can quick save your progress by clicking on Esc + ↵ Enter + ↵ Enter . You should hear a chime sound effect when the game have been saved successfully. Terminate the game using either Alt + F4 or Alt + Tab ↹ followed by terminating it through the Task Manager in Windows. Users can mitigate the issue in various ways. An aggregated list of what might work can be found in the chapter What is the White Screen Issue? of this guide.

ERROR: Graphic::Startup () FAILED No Graphic Memory [ edit ]

This is a generic catch-all error message that is shown when the game is unable to initialize the D3D11 window for some reason. It is extremely hard to troubleshoot, as it can be caused by everything from a corrupt DirectX installation or drivers, to incorrect configuration on hybrid iGPU/dGPU machines, or a corrupt Windows installation.

Potential fixes:

Add the game to the Nvidia Control Panel -> Manage 3D Settings . No actual changing is needed. [32]

-> . No actual changing is needed. Reinstall/downgrade DirectX 9.0c (or the d3d9.dll in particular) [33]

(or the in particular) Perform a clean install of the display drivers[34]

Game crashes during ending E on the 21st death [ edit ]

The game crashes once you die for the 21st time during the Shoot 'em Up level of ending E.[35] The issue was introduced in the PC patch released on 2017-04-28. This can technically be worked around by downgrading the game to an earlier version, however it is generally not recommended to do so. Refer to the Downgrade NieR:Automata chapter of this guide for details.

Saves are overwritten or lost when played by another Steam user on the same computer [ edit ]

The game uses the same save game data location for different Steam users playing the game on the same account in Windows, but hides the saves that were created by another Steam user. This means that saves created by "Steam Account #1" will not be seen in the game by "Steam Account #2", and if "Steam Account #2" creates or saves a game on said slot, the save by "Steam Account #1" will be overwritten and lost. Steam Cloud can also cause the issue to propagate to other machines, as it might sync and overwrite users existing saves in the Steam Cloud with those from another players when the game is played on another machine. Steam Cloud does not have a restore function, so saves can not be restored if mistakenly overwritten (and when manually correcting the header in the save files did not resolve it).

Ensure that separate Steam users use separate account(s) in Windows[36] Ensure that separate Steam users use separate account(s) in Windows The easiest way to work around the issue is to create separate local accounts in Windows that corresponds to each additional Steam user that intends to play the game on the shared account. See Create a local user or administrator account in Windows 10 for how to create a separate local account in Windows. Ensure that the other Steam users always use their separate local Windows account when signing in to their personal Steam account and plays the game.

Manually manage the save game data location between Steam users[36] Manually manage the save game data location between Steam users If separate accounts in Windows are not possible, players must take care and manually manage the save files when in scenarios where two, or more, Steam users shares the same account in Windows. Browse to save game data location and make a full copy of the folder and store it elsewhere. This must be done for each Steam user that intends to play the game, so that their personal "save folder" is stored separately at another location. When a Steam user intends to play the game, copy the separate folder (that was created in the previous step) back to the original save folder. Launch Steam and play the game. After having played the game, copy the updated save files from the original save folder location back to the separate folder for that Steam user. Keep this in mind whenever another Steam user intends to start playing the game. Notes Maintaining a separate "save folder" for each Steam user is necessary to prevent both another Steam user as well as Steam Cloud from messing with the save files and potentially overwriting them.

Debug menu cannot be opened using keyboard and mouse [ edit ]

The debug menu requires a controller to be opened and navigated since Evade does not have a dedicated keybinding for keyboards.[37]

Occasional FPS stutter during world traversal [ edit ]

The game streams a lot of data all at once from the drive when passing invisible area thresholds, causing frame render times to spike above the necessary 16.67 ms to achieve a stable 60 FPS at all times.[38] Installing the game on a SSD helps for most users. Users can also exclude the <path-to-game> \data folder from their anti-malware software to minimize additional input/output operations that might otherwise occur. If stuttering severity increases with the length of time the game has been running, users can select NieRAutomata.exe in the Details tab of Task Manager and change the Priority to High. Not even a RAM Disk is capable of solving the issue entirely.[38]

Issues fixed [ edit ]

Game does not launch properly [ edit ]

The below list is ordered based on frequency, with the most often issue experienced listed at the top. Test all methods one by one, from top to bottom.

Black/White screen on launch [ edit ]

Use Alt + ↵ Enter to switch between fullscreen/window mode[39][40] Useto switch between fullscreen/window mode

FAR is corrupt [ edit ]

FAR have seen a major change in how it injects itself into the game. Having remnants of the old injection method side by side with the new injection method will cause issues.

Reinstall FAR[41] Reinstall FAR Go to <path-to-game> . Remove all files and folders until only these remain: data , NieRAutomata.exe , steam_api64.dll Restart the computer. Launch the game to verify that the issue is resolved. Download and reinstall FAR using the latest available version of the automated installer (SKIM).

FAR mod and Windows 10 Fullscreen Optimizations cause stutter [ edit ]

After a while of ingame there is noticable stutter that repeats in a pattern-like manner. Also the mouse cursor flickers.

Disable Windows 10 fullscreen optimizations Disable Windows 10 fullscreen optimizations Go to <path-to-game> . Right click: NieRAutomata.exe Select Properties Check Disable fullscreen optimizations

Compatibility mode is used for Steam and/or the game [ edit ]

The game might become unable to launch if there's conflicting compatibility modes applied for the Steam client or the game. This can at times be identified by Windows logging an Application Error in the Event Viewer for NieRAutomata.exe pointing to the exception code 0xc0000005 in ntdll.dll module.

Remove all applied compatibility modes related to Steam and the game[42][43] Remove all applied compatibility modes related to Steam and the game Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Start Menu search, or in Run ( ⊞ Win + R ), and pressing ↵ Enter . Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers . Locate and delete everything related to Steam or NieR:Automata. Launch the game to verify that the issue is resolved.

Incompatible input device is installed on the system [ edit ]

Certain input devices can cause the game to not launch properly on some systems (e.g. the Kensington Trackball and Nvidia Controller and related software).

Disconnect and uninstall all input devices and software[44] Disconnect and uninstall all input devices and software Disconnect all currently attached input devices (controllers, trackballs, pen tablets, touch screens, etc.) except for a single mouse. Uninstall all related input device software and drivers. Launch the game. If the issue still occur then disconnect the mouse and try with another one.

Crash on touch-capable systems [ edit ]

Disable touch input in Windows[45] Disable touch input in Windows Open the Task Manager of Windows. Go to the Services tab. Locate the service named Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service or TabletInputService. Right-click on it and choose Stop. Notes This only stops the service temporarily until the computer is restarted.

Crash when loading a save [ edit ]

Run the game in Windows 7 or Windows 8 to fix the issue[46] Run the game in compatibility mode fororto fix the issue

Crash on main menu/new game with a Oculus Rift connected [ edit ]

Disconnect the [47] Disconnect the Oculus Rift from the computer

Saves do not show or fail to load [ edit ]

Use the [48] Use the SteamID64 Editor to correct the SteamID64 header of the save files

Saving does not work [ edit ]

Make certain the name of the My Documents folder uses only Latin characters[49] Make certain the name of thefolder uses only Latin characters

Configure OneDrive to save documents on This PC only [50] Configure OneDrive to save documents on

Configure Google Drive Backup and Sync to not backup the Documents folder to Google Drive[51] Configure Google Drive Backup and Sync tothefolder to Google Drive

Fullscreen mode is stretched, uses the wrong aspect ratio, or have surrounding black borders [ edit ]

The game requests the current desktop resolution of Windows as stretched to output the rendered framebuffer to. Since the desktop resolution is usually set to the native resolution of the monitor and the native resolution is not and can not be stretched, it instead picks the closest available resolution that can be stretched; scaling the image up or down in the process, usually to a different aspect ratio as well. The GPU/monitor will then either show the outputted image with black borders around it (scaling disabled) or upscale the image back to the native resolution (scaling enabled) causing additional scaling artifacts in the final image.[2]

Use [2][3] Use FAR or NierFullscreenFix to fix fullscreen scaling

Cutscenes stutter [ edit ]

Use [2] Use FAR or Vidsquish to fix cutscene stuttering

LOD popping [ edit ]

Disable the [19] Disable the Anti-aliasing (AA) option in the settings of the game

Mouse cursor is visible when playing with a controller [ edit ]

Enable mouse auto-hide[53] Enable mouse auto-hide Install the latest version of FAR. While running the game, press Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + ← Backspace to bring up the FAR control panel. Expand the Input Management section and the subsection called Mouse Cursor. Enable Auto-Hide When Not Moved and adjust the Seconds Before Hiding option to your liking. Close the control panel to allow the changes to take effect.

Button prompts rapidly switch between KB/M and Gamepad [ edit ]

The game can get into a state where it believes a key is being held down endlessly when using a keyboard shortcut that makes the game lose focus. The most common cause is when using Alt + Tab ↹ to switch between the game and other applications, but it can also happen with other keyboard shortcuts.

Click on the modifier key that is "stuck" once in the game to resolve the key block (usually Alt )[2] Click on the modifier key that is "stuck" once in the game to resolve the key block (usually

SLI is not working [ edit ]

Not officially supported by PlatinumGames nor Nvidia. This is only required once, unless you perform a clean driver installation in the future. Does not work in windowed mode (including borderless windowed mode).

Using FAR[17] Using FAR Install the latest version of FAR. Go to <path-to-game> . Open dinput8.ini . Find the following lines, and set them to these values. [NVIDIA.SLI] CompatibilityBits=0x080002F5 Mode=Auto NumberOfGPUs=Auto Override=true Save and close the file. Right click on NieRAutomata.exe and click on Run as administrator . FAR will now create a Nvidia profile for the game using the configured SLI compatibility bits.

Using Nvidia Profile Inspector[17] Using Nvidia Profile Inspector Install and run Nvidia Profile Inspector. Create a profile for NieRAutomata.exe . Configure SLI compatiblity bits (DX10+DX11) to 0x080002F5 . Click on Apply changes.

Game outputs in interlaced scan mode [ edit ]

On some TVs/monitors the game outputs in interlaced scan mode.[54]

Override the scanning method[54] Override the scanning method Install the latest version of FAR. Go to <path-to-game> . Open dinput8.ini . Find and change the parameter ScanlineOrder to Progressive Save the file.

Other information [ edit ]

API [ edit ]

Technical specs Supported Notes Direct3D 11

Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes Windows

Middleware [ edit ]

Middleware Notes Audio Wwise Cutscenes Criware/Scaleform/Autodesk Does not include cutscene audio.

Vidsquish can be used to customize the cutscenes in various ways.

Modifications [ edit ]

See the NieR:Automata section on Nexus Mods for more mods.

2B Hook is a mod menu, which means it has multiple features inside one mod. Includes a lot of features, such as: Godmode, Buddy/Item/Pod Spawning, Rainbow Hair, Protagonist Switching, Duplicate buddy as NPC, FPS Uncapper, and more. Check out the mod page for a full list!

Tool used for customization of the pre-rendered cutscenes of the game. Previously known as NieRepack. Can be used to save space or improve aspect ratio or performance of the cutscenes.

Enables users to share save files. Can be used to fix some corrupt save files that doesn't show up in-game any longer.

Save game editor for the player name, money, experience, and plug-in chips.

Inventory editor.

Level/experience editor.

NieR:Automata EXP/Level Patcher.

Enables the use of some costumes from the start of the game.

Debug build [ edit ]

Owners can download a debug build of the game dated to March 22, 2017 10:31:47 UTC. This version includes separate and more extensive debug menus, with an event teleporter along with achievement and save editors. Achievement removal is also possible. This version is outdated and should not be used for regular play. It is included here for completion's sake as it might be relevant for modders or some players. A full additional game download is required (30 GB) and 50 GB of free space is required on the disk where Steam is installed. Controller is required to access some of the debug menus.

Use the Steam console to download the debug version[55] Use the Steam console to download the debug version Open a web browser, the Run window of Windows, File Explorer, or similar which allows URL links to be typed and executed. Open the following link: steam://nav/console Steam should now have opened its built-in console that allows the execution of Steam commands manually. Run the following console command: download_depot 524220 524221 1677719970409151957 If executed properly the console will say: Downloading depot 524221 (29435 MB) ... Wait for the download to complete. Do not close Steam or shut down the computer as this will terminate the download! When the download is finished the following line will be printed in the console: Depot download complete : "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\content\app_524220\depot_524221" (656 files, manifest 1677719970409151957) Open the folder where the debug build was downloaded to. You can now move the contents of the folder to a more proper location. Run NieRAutomata.exe from the folder to launch the debug build. After the intros have played use RB + Back on a controller to open the debug pages. Some settings requires the A button to be held down while using ↑ + ↓ + ← + → on the controller to change the value. Others use the keyboard and ↑ + ↓ + ← + → , PageUp + PageDown , or ↵ Enter to navigate. Notes There's no way to monitor or throttle the download progress without using external third-party tools. It is also possible to download just the difference between the current build and the debug version by using the download_depot 524220 524221 1677719970409151957 6804539827574949545 command. However this requires the user to merge the folders after the download, as only the different files of the debug version are downloaded. This results in a much smaller download size though (less than 21 GB).

System requirements [ edit ]

Windows Minimum Recommended Operating system (OS) 7 8.1, 10 Processor (CPU) Intel Core i3-2100

AMD A8-6500 Intel Core i5-4670

AMD A10-7850K System memory (RAM) 4 GB 8 GB Hard disk drive (HDD) 50 GB Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 770

AMD Radeon R9 270X

2 GB of VRAM

DirectX 11 compatible Nvidia GeForce GTX 980

AMD Radeon R9 380X

4 GB of VRAM A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes