Batman: Arkham Asylum

README file 28/08/2009 Version 1.1

Table of contents:

Part 1: Things You Should Know

1.1 DirectX

1.2 Memory and Performance

1.3 Known Issues

1.4 Customising your settings

Part 2: Technical Issues

2.1 Installation & Set-up

2.2 DVD-ROM Problems

2.3 Crashes and Lock-Ups

2.4 Firewall and Required Ports

2.5 NVIDIA PhysX Hardware Acceleration Support

2.6 Technical Support

Part 1: Things You Should Know

Please read through the DirectX section of this document. This section has information that is vital to successfully running Batman: Arkham Asylum on your system.

1.1 DirectX

This game is optimised for Microsoft's DirectX 9.0c. In order for you to play the game, you must have DirectX 9.0c compliant drivers for your video card and sound card. Please note that although DirectX 9.0c is installed with the game, your video and sound card drivers will not be upgraded to DirectX 9.0c drivers.

You will need to obtain the latest DirectX 9.0c drivers from the manufacturer or PC supplier. These drivers cannot be supplied by Eidos.

1.2 Memory and Performance

While the game will run fine in 1GB of RAM (2GB on Windows Vista), your playing experience will be smoother if you have more memory.

Regardless of how much memory you have, you can maximize your available memory and increase the overall performance of the game engine by doing the following:

 Closing any open windows

 Shutting down all other programs (including those that run in the menu-bar)

 Defragmenting your hard drive

 Shutting down the Windows Sidebar (Windows Vista)

Eidos recommends that you have no other programs running at all while playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. Other programs, including system utilities and screen savers can cause system degradation when playing games and may conflict with the game for system resources, potentially resulting in instability and crashes.

1.3 Known Issues

• Ensure you are running latest drivers from nVidia and ATI/AMD. There are several known issues with earlier versions of their drivers that affect the performance and stability of Batman: Arkham Asylum.

• If you experience any issues in game this could be linked to your sound card, Microsoft XP users should try to fix the problem by reducing the hardware acceleration option within the DXDIAG tool – To Run DXDIAG see the `Technical support section` below, once loaded select the SOUND tab and move the slider option (Hardware Sound Acceleration) to the left. Please note, this option is only available to Microsoft XP users.

• ATI Radeon X1000 series cards - (Radeon X1300, Radeon X1650, Radeon X1950 GT, etc.).  

These graphics cards may experience motion blur issues when “Detective Mode” is activated in game. Batman (TM) may appear blurry and have several outlines. This issue can be resolved by turning off the “Motion Blur” option in the launcher / settings. 

• A small number of users may experience a crash on start-up when attempting to initialise the .NET Framework for the Launcher application. The Launcher application is required to customise your settings and has to run before the game can be played. Please read the instructions to work around this issue in the “Support” folder on your Batman: Arkham Asylum DVD.

• For DX10-class ATI graphic cards and above, multisampling-anti-aliasing (MSAA) in Batman: Arkham Asylum can be enabled through the ATI Catalyst Control Centre interface. Please install the latest ATI drivers to benefit from this feature.

• ATI Radeon HD 3600 series cards may experience problems when travelling through doors. Restarting the game and continuing from last checkpoint will allow you to progress.