Problem A: Amnesia won't Start
1. Make sure that you have updated graphics card drivers
Since Amnesia use OpenGL, your drivers maybe horrible outdated, even though you can run other games (since they use Direct3D).
In order to learn how to update your drivers go
HERE and check Question 2.
1.1 (Linux specific) Use official drivers
The open source drivers may work, but mostly they will simply not support enough features for amnesia to run. During time of testing (Summer 2010) we found that official drivers where pretty much always better.
1.2 Users of ATI X-series and below
The OpenGL drivers for this card are old and it might help to try the latest Catalyst available from AMD which is Legacy v10.2.
In order to learn more about this and similarly old card drivers go
HERE and check Question 1.
1.3 Users of Intel graphics cards
Although all Intel graphics cards are not supported by Frictional Games, using the most recent drivers only Intel HD Media Graphics Accelerator and Intel HD 2000/2500/3000/3500/4000 cards are able to run the game. In order to learn how to update your Intel HD drivers go
HERE and check Question 2.
The problem is that some specific drivers (provided for example by the laptop manufacturers) might be outdated and you need to use the ones directly from Intel to get the latest. In order to update your laptop card using the Intel drivers despite what your manufacturer suggests go
HERE and use the
Have Disk method as described.
For more info about Intel cards go
HERE.
1.4 Users of Laptops with Dual Graphics
--> If you have a laptop with Intel embedded and Nvidia dedicated graphics cards then you should not have any problems. Just make sure your drivers are updated for both cards.
--> If you have a laptop with Intel HD embedded and AMD/ATI dedicated graphics cards then, all OpenGL applications will run with the Intel HD card due to an AMD/ATI policy. Because the Intel HD cards need new drivers to play OpenGL applications and because in some cases (HP laptops) you can run games with the AMD/ATI card go
HERE to read more.
2. Reset settings and reboot
Sometimes changes you have made can cause problems with the game. In order to fix this you need to reset the game's settings. Go to the game's save directory (location below) and then Main or MainDemo (if you are playing the demo) and remove the main_settings.cfg file. Then reboot the computer (at least Windows users should do this!). Finally start the game from launcher without changing anything. If all works, then you can exit the game and carefully change a few settings at a time.
The save directories are the following:
Windows XP: "My Documents\Amnesia\"
Windows Vista & 7: "Documents\Amnesia\"
Linux: ".frictionalgames/Amnesia/"
Mac: "Library/Application Support/Frictional Games/Amnesia/"
Settings that are known to cause crashes are:
- Vsync turned on.
- Resolution (as it might be not supported by graphics card)
3. No sound device found
If no sound device is found, make sure to shut down any music application or similar running and try again. If this fails, try running "Amnesia.exe" directly from the install directory (default "C:\Program Files\Amnesia The Dark Decent\redist\").
Also, check the Hardware Acceleration slider in Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices->(Speaker Settings) Advanced...->Performance tab and make sure it is set to "Full".
4. Bad file permissions
Sometimes the game might crash because of bad file permissions. To fix this, run as Administrator (Windows Vista or 7) or set so Amnesia executable has write permission on the install directory.
5. Integrated card interferes
Check the HPL.log found in the the game's save directory:
Windows XP: "My Documents\Amnesia\"
Windows Vista & 7: "Documents\Amnesia\"
Linux: ".frictionalgames/Amnesia/"
Mac: "Library/Application Support/Frictional Games/Amnesia/"
and if you see something like
go
HERE and check Question 5 to learn how to fix it.
6. Background application interferes
It has been reported that sometimes background applications like:
can make the game crash at start up or even randomly. If you have tried all of the above, then
it might be worth turning off the programs above as well as AntiVirus/Firewall programs (do not forget to turn them on when you are done playing!). For example
THIS.
7. Screen goes black on game launch and computer freezes
1) If you are using Comodo Firewall, try turning it off. Might work with other firewalls as well. For more application interferences check Problem A6.
2) Check Problem H and make sure your DPI size is set to 100%.
8. Install latest patch
Amnesia The Dark Descent Updates can be found
HERE.
People who have bought from Steam, use Steam to update the game! Retail users, check with the distributor of the retail version.
Problem B: Amnesia is slow
1. Make sure that you have updated graphics card drivers.
Check Problem A1.x
2. Disable performance demanding features
Some of the features exposed are extremely demanding and only added because it was fun to do so. Here is a (sort of) ordered list of the most performance heavy things in the game:
- SSAO Quality. Having this to anything but medium is very demanding. High takes 4 times more to render and should not be on unless you have a newer computer.
- SSAO Samples: Keep this at 16 if you want to keep your sanity. Anything else is very demanding. Feel free to try though! 
- Edge smoothing: This is basically faked FSAA and comes at a high memory cost. It might make the game run quite slow on most cards. Should give a good boost if disabled.
- World reflection: A few levels have full world reflection which can be quite heavy on some cards. Check first and then disable if needed, although world reflection looks very pretty!
Note: If removing world refection helps a lot, consider first turning down SSAO settings before turning off world reflection.
- Shadow Quality: Put this to Low for a large boost in fps, but less smooth shadows. Medium should almost have as good quality as high, so if you want to give a little boost, setting it from high to medium is a good option.
- SSAO on/off: For older cards, turning off SSAO can increase a bit in performance. Make sure to turn up gamma a bit though as having it off makes the screen brighter. Also note that some older cards might almost freeze if SSAO is on (due to shaders running in software).
- Shadow Resolution: Setting this to medium might speed up older cards.
3. Turn off background applications using graphics
Make sure that no background application are running that mess things up. This is mostly applications that give flashy desktop effects, for example Windows Aero.
Problem C: Amnesia has weird / annoying /upside-down graphics /everything is black except the menu
1. Make sure that you have updated graphics card drivers
Check Problem A1.x
Note: This is the proper fix for upside-down graphics as well for the black screen issue that Intel HD cards with old drivers experience(use the Have Disk method only for them).
2. Turn off post effects.
Go to Options->Graphics->Advanced and here you can turn on/off all of the different effects in the game. No restart of the game is needed for these changes, so simple go back to game and see if it has been fixed.
4. Reset settings and reboot
Check Problem A2
5. Turn off background applications using graphics
Check Problem A3
7. Install latest patch
Check Problem A.9
Problem D: Fullscreen does not work
You monitor probably does not support the resolution you have chosen to use as fullscreen. Choose some other
resolution (1024x768 is good first test) in the launcher application and then try again. If it still does not work, check Problem H and make sure your DPI size is set to 100%.
Problem E: Vsync makes game crash
For some cards, enabling vsync does not work correctly and makes the game crash. To sidestep this issue, force vsync to be enabled in the control panel of the graphics card. It might also work to turn off triple buffering in the graphics card control panel.
Problem F: It is very hard to turn wheels/cranks/valves
Make sure that the game is UPDATED and that mouse smooth is on. It has been reported that not having it on makes interaction harder.
Problem G: The game crashes/freezes during gameplay
1. Write permission fail.
This crash would happen during loading of new map. Make sure Amnesia has full disk read/write permission in the directory it is installed. Normally, Amnesia should not require this, but there might be occasions when cache files become out of date and game tries to update them.
For Windows Vista & 7 users, also try running as administrator.
2. Memory problem
Check Problem A7
3. Bad cache
It might be that one of the cache files are busted. Uninstall game, then reinstall and see if that helps.
4. Install latest patch
Check Problem A9
5. Turn off post effects
Go to Options->Graphics->Advanced and here you can turn on/off all of the different effects in the game. Try turning all off and see if that helps. If the freeze only happens at a certain place (for example when picking up the third diary in Archives), disable them and then turn them back on after the specific event.
6. Turn off SSAO
Turn off SSAO in the launcher and see if that helps. It is known that some cards can freeze when rendering SSAO, meaning the game would get stuck after the first logos and text (when menu is supposed to show).
Problem H: The screen is cropped and edges are not visible / Black Screen and freeze at intro logos
Make sure your graphics card drivers are updated. If the problem persists, and your DPI size is set to 125% or 150%, change it back to 100% and the screen should go back to normal.
Problem I: Alt-tabbing out of the game and back in does not work (a.k.a mouse stuck at top left corner)
plutomaniac found a solution to this. For more details go HERE.
Problem J: I was told to do a Steam File Integrity Check or Local Content Deletion. How do I do that?
When it comes to Steam, usually most problems can be solved by verifying integrity of game cache (a.k.a. file integrity check) or by deleting local content (a.k.a. game uninstall). To do that go HERE.
Problem X: Problem is not covered above!!!
Create a new topic in the correct "Technical Support" forum (MAC and Linux users take extra notice here!). Make sure to name your topic properly, describe as detailed as possible your problem and include the information below:
1. What operating system do you have? Also 32-bit or 64-bit?
2. Is it a laptop or a desktop?
3. Attach us, at your topic, the file HPL.log found under Documents\Amnesia\Main folder.
Notice: Make sure the HPL.log file is really in the save folder and not in the same folder as Amnesia.exe and other files. The correct HPL.log file location is:
Windows XP: "My Documents\Amnesia\"
Windows Vista & 7: "Documents\Amnesia\"
Linux: ".frictionalgames/Amnesia/"
Mac: "Library/Application Support/Frictional Games/Amnesia/"
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Amnesia T.D.D Troubleshooting Guide - Look Here Before Posting!!!
Amnesia T.D.D Troubleshooting Guide - Look Here Before Posting!!! 