PROTOTYPE 2

PROTOTYPE 2

128 ratings
Prototype 2 Guide: How to fix problems (Low FPS, Crashing, Sound, Anti Aliasing, Resolutions, Loading Screen, DLCs)
By PorcusGrunzus
I made this guide primarily for myself so that I can still enjoy this awesome game. Sadly the game/engine has a multitude of problems on PC which were never fixed by the developers. Almost all of them are fixable now thanks to the fan community of the game. It should also be noted that many of the fixes only work on Nvidia and Inspektor. I made this guide similar to my Prototype 1 guide and many fixes are the same but Prototype 2 seems even worse and needs even more...
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List of problems and their fixes:
Low FPS:
This issue can be caused by several things. First off, most of the time it is caused by HID drivers which are basically drivers used by stuff like mouses and keyboards. Almost all things use these nowadays but the engine seems to have a problem with it. There is a easy fix by downloading a dll and copying it to the game exe place located directly in the Prototype 2 game folder.

Download: www.mediafireXcom/file/m87juthswhbemfb/Prototype+Low+FPS+HID+Fix.zip/file
(Replace X with a dot ".")

Another fix is to set a FPS limit to 60. The game engine cannot run at more than 60FPS anyway and so far there is no fix to unlock FPS rates above that. Prototype 2 is even worse than 1 in this regard and runs like literal crap without a 60FPS limit. Believe it or not but I tested it out. At 70FPS it was shoddy and felt like 40FPS at best but once I set the limit to 60FPS, all issues were gone and it runs super smooth! Weird Engine... When the game runs over 60FPS, it can cause mouse and performance issues so I recommend to lock the FPS to 60. This can also be done in Nvidia Inspektor exactly like before but now you search for the setting called Frame Rate Limiter V3. In that field select 60FPS and apply changes.


Resolution problems (such as unsupported Resolutions, Hertz, Ultrawide):
If you have unsupported resolutions such as an ultrawide 21:9 or even 32:9, there is a way to force the game to run at a custom resolution. Go into Steam and open the properties of Prototype 2. Go down to launch arguments and write resolution=2560x1080@144 or whatever resolution and hertz rate your screen uses. The game runs flawlessly in ultrawide btw, pleasant surprise. This is also needed to get G-Sync/Freesync running with the proper hertz rate.


Sound problems (Missing voices):
While the game seems to be a lot less broken than the first game when it comes to sound, it still can have issues. If you have a Dolby Surround setup, you might not get any voice audio during gameplay. To fix this go into the game settings and change from Home Theater to TV.


Anti Aliasing:
The game has really bad Anti Aliasing which looks awful as hell and I sadly wasn't able to enforce it with Nvidia Inspector. Technically there is a SGSSAA compability ID available on the web but this didn't work for me at all and I played around a long while. Seems like, at least with latest Nvidia Driver, there is no way to force Anti Aliasing anymore. However, I found a workaround by using DSR, which I usually try to avoid but here it was the only thing working and making the aliasing bearable for me. First off, you need to enable DSR in your Nvidia driver and select 4.00X ratio with 0% smoothness, which usually upscales to 4K, at least on standard 1080p systems. My 2560x1080 21:9 screen uses 5120x2160 as 4.00X value. Always use 4.00X values because they are the only ones being actually "clean" because it basically only doubles the amount of resolution. Anyway, to use DSR in Prototype 2 after having done the driver setup, just change the resolution in the game parameter (check earlier Resolution problems guide part) to whatever you need so maybe 3840x2160 or 5120x2160 in my case. The game also needs to run in fullscreen for DSR to work.


Infinite loading screen:
This is the weirdest bug that only a few players seem to have, maybe only certain sold versions are affected by it. Basically Steam doesn't download all the files to run the game, which usually causes a eternal loading screen after the intro video. There is a fix by downloading the needed files and pasting them manually in the game folder. Don't be wondered that there is a whole German language file in the download, it isn't used. For some reason the game just needs another language in the folder, even if it isn't actually used. Just download the files and copy them into the main game folder at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Prototype 2.

Download: https://www.mediafireXcom/file/u6x94048216ufic/Prototype_2_Eternal_Loading_Screen%252C_Missing_Files_Fix.zip/file
(Replace X with a dot ".")


Unlocking missing DLCs for the PC version:
For some reason the Colossal Mayhem Pack and Excessive Force Pack DLCs were never available for purchase in Steam but they can be found in the game files. There is a little mod which unlocks them. After this you can use the items in the Radnet Store after finishing the tutorial.
And before you ask, the Preorder DLCs from the consoles were never available for PC and so far no modder made them available. I don't know if they could be ported. After downloading the files, copy them into the main game folder. If asked to overwrite cementfiles.p3d, click yes. This also counts for the cementfiles.p3d that came with the infinite loading screen fix if used.

Download: https://www.mediafireXcom/file/go2467x509248rq/Prototype_2_PC_DLC_Packs_Unlocker.zip/file
(Replace X with a dot ".")


Improved Texture Filtering:
Also inside Inspektor, look for "Anisotropic filtering mode" and change it to User-defined / Off and below that is "Anisotropic filtering setting" which you change to 16x. This will make the textures look a lot less blurry and they pop up less.


Crashes (USB Keyboard and 8+ cores):
I had a really weird issue where the game directly close again after I launched and was able to find out it was my keyboard causing it. Sadly the only way I found was to plug it out all the time before I launch the game and then plug it back in. Annoying, I know. If you have a better solution feel free to share.

Also it seems like the game crashes when your system has more than 8 CPU cores or threads. I am not quite sure actually, some people also say 4/8 CPUs have this as well. I personally have a 8 core only CPU without threads (i7 9700K). This is extremely uncommon though and almost all CPU have threads nowadays. I personally do not have any crash problems whatsoever due to the lack of hyperthreading but if you suffer from this there are some ways that supposedly helped other users. Such as changing the compatibility mode of the game exe to Windows 7.

Another fix is to limit the game to 8 cores by using the taskmanager but this doesnt seem to work with Steam it seems. Maybe the overlay is the reason and has to be disabled or Steam has to be generally launched with the following shortcut: "cmd /C start "steam" /affinity 0xff "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe". Alternatively you can try turning off hyperthreading in the BIOS. Sadly I cannot elaborate more on this since I dont have the problem but seen many complains.



And finally, if you have a AMD GPU, I cannot really help. Supposedly there is Radeon Pro but I don't know if that still works. I haven't had a AMD card for a long time.


Feel free to write any more findings or questions about the game into the comments, maybe we will find more fixes and I can add them.

You might also find more fixes here:
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Prototype_2
38 Comments
Kotamov 18 Jan @ 10:46pm 
@octosquid348 - literally copy the file link, and replace the X with a dot, so it's {LINK REMOVED}
octosquid348 9 Jan @ 9:47am 
For some reason I cant reach the site where the files are located. Is there another way to get them?
TOAA 8 Jan @ 6:53am 
i fixed my game to the point where theres no crashing. the problem now is i have very low fps and i have everything that was suggested downloaded and i changed my cores along with disabling HID controls. any fix for higher fps?
Frank-The-Tank [US] 26 Nov, 2023 @ 3:56pm 
Side Note I do play with my ps5 controller plugged in and it recognizes it as a 360 controller on start up. Also run the game with "resolution=1920x1080@60" added to the start up command via steam properties for the game.
Frank-The-Tank [US] 26 Nov, 2023 @ 3:53pm 
i HAVE A 3070 WITH A RYZEN 7. Win 10. What I did was change the compatibility mode of the game exe to Windows 7, run as administrator and turned off full screen optimization. Also downloaded the "missing files" that he mentions to download. None of this worked until I went into task manager then details and changed the steam.exe affinity and made my cores go from 15 to 11. This is what made my game start. Idk if it was everything else combined with the cores part but changing the steam cores in task manager is what made the game start for me. Im 5 hrs in as of typing this. Only one freeze during a cut-scene but on restart I just skipped the cut-scene when it came up. Hopefully this helps anyone.
Alexander Macedon 16 Nov, 2023 @ 11:21am 
@Indiana Borks, thanks this helped. I am using a AMD ryzen 9
BaronLumberMill 13 Aug, 2023 @ 10:53am 
I'd just like to mention that on my setup (12th Gen i5 2.50 GHz, 16 Gb RAM, Nvidia Geforce GTX 1650, Windows Home 11) it works perfectly right out of the box without any tweaking at all.
Just mentioning this for people who, like me, come here to this definitely very useful and kind post (for those that do experience problems) before buying and get scared that the game is utterly broken on all systems. It may be on some or a lot of systems, but not on all - like mine.
Indiana Borks 27 Apr, 2023 @ 1:05pm 
If your game is crashing at startup, disable your threads through Task Manager > Details and find steam.exe where you have to click with RMB on it and click on Set affinity and lock your threads to 8. Afterwards through Device Manager click on Human Interface Devices and disable all HID-compliant consumer control device (or find which one specifically makes your game crash and disable it). Dont forget to enable all HID things you disabled after you quit the game
Zzyn 1 Apr, 2023 @ 10:38pm 
Trying to play on steam. The client never starts. rapid crash and nothing.
PorcusGrunzus  [author] 21 Jan, 2023 @ 8:52am 
Did you try to run it with only 4-8 CPUs selected on the game exe in taskmanager?