BY AMIT BARAN ROY | Rise of the Tomb Raider is finally out for PC, and the game is receiving a good amount of positive reviews since its release on January 28. Developers has provided their users with a wide variety of graphics options to tune the game for the best possible performance. Though the game is running quite well for some, many fans are still facing difficulties in properly launching the game and getting a smooth experience. In this article, we will be providing the solutions and fixes for some of the most troublesome issues. We are also expecting the week 1 patch release by soon. At the end of the article, check out the official Performance Tuning Guide for the PC version. Before going in to the fixes, make sure your rig meets the system requirements as listed below.

Minimum Specifications:



OS: Windows 7 64bit

Windows 7 64bit PROCESSOR: Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD equivalent

Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD equivalent MEMORY: 6GB RAM

6GB RAM GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GTX 650 2GB or AMD HD7770 2GB

NVIDIA GTX 650 2GB or AMD HD7770 2GB DIRECTX: Version 11

Version 11 STORAGE: 25 GB available space

Recommended Specifications:



OS: Windows 10 64 bit

Windows 10 64 bit PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7-3770K

Intel Core i7-3770K MEMORY: 8 GB Ram

8 GB Ram GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GTX 980Ti 2560×1440 or NVIDIA GTX 970 1920×1080

NVIDIA GTX 980Ti 2560×1440 or NVIDIA GTX 970 1920×1080 DIRECTX: Version 11

Version 11 STORAGE: 25 GB available space

1. Get the latest patch updates:-

It is highly recommended that PC users update their game to the latest patch. Nixxes has released the 3rd official patch (build 1.0.623.2) for the game which fixes issues like foliage flickering, artifacts when SSAO/HBAO+ was enabled in combination with SSAA and some more problems. These are all auto update patches via Steam and will be applied automatically when you next start the game. If you still have trouble after these patch updates, wait for further patch releases by Nixxes. View the patch notes below for further details:-







2. SLI fix [Improved SLI scaling on NVIDIA Dual GPU]:-

A much awaited fix for all NVIDIA SLI users and lots of thanks to 3D Center’s for this. Though, I would not call this a 100% fix as it may or may not be working for you. But, you can definitely give it a try or wait for the official patch update. Coming to the process, you need to first open ‘NVIDIA Inspector tool’. Search for the profile ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’. Change SLI compatibility bits (DX1x) to 0x080002F5. After that, click on the magnifier icon at the top bar to collapse NVIDIA’s Undefined options. Search for 0x00A0694B and set it to a value of 0x00000001.

3. Random crashes:-

People may face random crashes and black screen problems while launching the game, during gameplay or after the startup video. Check out the following tips.

First and foremost, update your Nvidia or Radeon cards to the latest driver release. This has more or less fixed much of the crashing problems.

If updating to latest drivers doesn’t help, make sure to disable any conflicting Antispyware/Antivirus programs and other overclocking/recording softwares such as Fraps, MSI AfterBurner, ShadowPlay, D3DGear etc.

For some users, disabling Steam Cloud Saves has managed to fix this issue easily.

Have .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.0 installed.

Finally, make sure that you are running the game on a 64 bit OS.

4. FPS drop and stuttering:-

Rise of the Tomb Raider uses a significant amount of VRAM for its textures settings. Unless you have a significant amount of VRAM (4GB is decent), refrain from playing at very high textures settings. Some other issues may involve the following.

Memory leaks- Some users have experienced severe memory leaks with low RAM (below 6GB). To fix it to some extent, try the next steps. Right click MyComputer > Properties > AdvancedSystemSettings > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced > Change Virtual Memory. Set page file for C drive to be anything high (say 5GB), then it may fix majority of the lag.

Some users have experienced severe memory leaks with low RAM (below 6GB). To fix it to some extent, try the next steps. Right click MyComputer > Properties > AdvancedSystemSettings > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced > Change Virtual Memory. Set page file for C drive to be anything high (say 5GB), then it may fix majority of the lag. For AMD users, disable Raptr from task manager. Disable any other intensive applications that may be running in background. Also, you can set ‘Tessellation mode’ to 8x/16x from your Crimson edition Radeon 16.1 software.

For Nvidia users, you should change the Integrated GPU to Nvidia Graphics card (Nvidia control panel > Manage 3D settings). You can also set the ‘Power Management Mode’ option to ‘Prefer Maximum Performance’.

5. Rise of the Tomb Raider Disk Write error:-

This error is most likely associated with the Hard Drive of the computer.

Make sure you have 25GB of free disk space before installing the game.

Always run setup as administrator.

6. No Sound Fix:-

Make some changes to the default audio device setting, change it between Speakers and Headphones and see which one works for you. Also, before starting the game make sure you have unplugged all other unnecessary USB devices.

7. Crash at Expedition mode:-

This issue is still not fixed permanently. For most users, restarting the PC overcomes this crash to some extent. We are hoping that the week 1 patch will fix this issue soon.

8. Rise of the Tomb Raider DLL errors:-

There are quite a few DLL errors that users may face while trying to install or run the game. To fix those, you need to download the specific DLL files (as it mentions in the error box) from the site and paste it in the root directory of the game. Also, make sure you have the latest version of Directx installed in your computer. For other specific DLL issue, check out the following.

Ntdll.dll crash fix:- This is a crash due to a missing or corrupted graphics file. You can know about this error from the windows log report in Computer Management > Event Viewer. To fix this, you can verify game cache on steam and use the above DLL fixer software. If that doesn’t help, try running the following command in Command Prompt (run as administrator).

BCDEdit.exe/set {current} nx AlwaysOff

Then hit enter and restart the computer.

This is a crash due to a missing or corrupted graphics file. You can know about this error from the windows log report in Computer Management > Event Viewer. To fix this, you can verify game cache on steam and use the above DLL fixer software. If that doesn’t help, try running the following command in Command Prompt (run as administrator). BCDEdit.exe/set {current} nx AlwaysOff Then hit enter and restart the computer. MSVCP110.dll- Windows 10 error:- For people who are on Windows 10 and getting this dll error, make sure to download this DLL file from the DLL-fixer software. Then, install the latest (install both 32 bit and 64 bit libraries).

9. C++ Runtime error fix:-

Installing the latest version of Visual C++ from the above mentioned link will supposedly fix this error issue.

10. Mouse and Keyboard not working:-

Try disconnecting and reconnecting the peripherals. Refrain from connecting any other devices to the computer.

Check out more of our Tweaks and Fixes



Official Performance Tuning Guide for the PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider is as follows.

Display

The first Options screen to check should always be the Display options.

Resolution: Higher resolutions can cost a lot of GPU power, and performance will often scale proportionally to the resolution. Especially close to minimum spec it may be worth it to run at a lower resolution while maintaining a higher graphics quality level.

Another option available in the Display menu is the anti-aliasing setting. We offer two very affordable AA methods, FXAA and SMAA. SMAA is somewhat more expensive, but can result in a sharper image compared to FXAA. We also offer two very high-end AA modes, SSAA2x and SSAA4x. Note that using these has a similar performance impact as doubling or quadrupling the resolution, so only use these when you have plenty of hardware power available relative to the resolution you are running at (for example with SLI).

Both of the options in the display menu only impact the GPU performance, not the CPU performance. If you are CPU bottlenecked reducing any of the settings here will not help you.

Graphics

The graphics menu has the largest number of options, and the performance of each individual one is limited, but all turned up together can severely impact frame rate when the hardware is not up to the task.

Preset

There are simply suggestions for different quality levels, feel free to use them, but for the best experience tuned to your personal preference, please tune the other options below and have this be Custom.

Texture Quality

This alters the resolution of textures used in the game. This primarily impacts GPU memory pressure. If this is set too high the game may start stuttering and slowing down. It does not impact performance on the GPU or the CPU much otherwise. We recommend it at High for 4GB cards.

Anisotropic Filter

This is an all-time PC gaming classic. Turn it up for sharper textures at an angle. We feel that the moderate amount of 4X gives very good results. Altering only impacts GPU performance.

Shadow Quality

This setting impacts the resolution of shadows rendered throughout the game. At high settings shadows become crisp and lose pixelated artifacts. At lower settings they are chunkier, and stop rendering entirely in the distance. Turning shadows off entirely can significantly help the CPU performance of the game, but at a heavy visual cost. Higher settings are primarily expensive for the GPU.

Sun Soft Shadows

Settings this to higher quality levels creates softer looking shadows as cast by the sun outside, accomplished by using larger filter kernels. This only impacts GPU performance.

Ambient Occlusion

This toggles on and between different ambient occlusion algorithms. At the highest level this offers HBAO+ by NVIDIA. This only impacts GPU performance.

Depth of Field

Depth of Field can blur areas on screen that are out of focus, typically when far away. At the highest quality level items near the camera will also appear blurred. This only impacts GPU performance.

Level of Detail

This influences the detail level of rendered meshes, and the distance at which they disappear entirely or may stop casting shadows. Lower settings can significantly help CPU performance due to it having to process fewer objects. GPU performance is also impacted.

Tessellation

Turning this option on increases the geometric detail on selected meshes throughout the game by tessellating and displacement mapping them. Detail of shadow casting meshes is also increased. This option impacts GPU performance, and to a lesser extend CPU performance.

Screen Space Reflections

When this option is turned on dynamic reflections are calculated based on other items visible on the screen. This only impacts GPU performance.

Dynamic Foliage

At higher settings more dynamically generated foliage is present, and foliage meshes start reacting to Lara. This impacts both GPU and CPU performance.

Bloom

When turned on bright spots on the screen will bleed out, adding to the illusion of bright light. This only impacts GPU performance.

Vignette Blur

When turned on the edges of the screen can sometimes get blurred for cinematic effect. This only impacts GPU performance.

Motion Blur

Fast camera and object motion will appear smoother. This only impacts GPU performance.

Pure Hair

This impacts the quality of Lara's hair. When turned off simpler polygonal hair is used. At the highest quality level the cinematic quality hair is active throughout the entire game.

Lens Flares

When turned on bright lights can create halo effects on the screen as they would with a camera. This has a limited impact on performance, but the option is there so people who dislike this effect can turn it off.

Screen Effects

When turned on effects like dirt, blood, water, and other effects can be seen on the camera. Film grain will also be present. This has a limited impact on performance but the option is there for people to turn off if they dislike such effects.

Heads Up: Rise of the Tomb Raider is currently available at a 10 % discount on . Offer lasts till 4th February.

Contact the author at amit@forceclaw.com