Unfortunately, games have flaws: stutters, low FPS, crashes, freezes, bugs and other minor and not so minor errors. Often problems begin even before the game starts, when it does not install, does not load, or does not even download. And the computer itself sometimes does weird things, and then in Serious Sam 3: BFE there is a black screen instead of a picture, the controls don’t work, you can’t hear the sound or anything else.

What to do first

  1. Download and run the world famous CCleaner(download via direct link) - this is a program that will clean your computer of unnecessary garbage, as a result of which the system will work faster after the first reboot;
  2. Update all drivers on the system using the program Driver Updater(download via direct link) - it will scan your computer and update all drivers to the latest version in 5 minutes;
  3. Install the program WinOptimizer(download via direct link) and enable game mode in it, which will end useless background processes while launching games and improve performance in the game.

The second thing to do if you encounter any problems with Cool Sam 3 is to check the system requirements. In a good way, you need to do this before purchasing, so as not to regret the money spent.

Minimum system requirements for Serious Sam 3: BFE:

Windows XP, Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 Gb RAM, 4 Gb HDD, nVidia GeForce 7800 256 Mb

Every gamer should have at least a little understanding of components, know why a video card, processor and other things are needed in the system unit.

Files, drivers and libraries

Almost every device in a computer requires a set of special software. These are drivers, libraries and other files that ensure the correct operation of the computer.

You should start with the drivers for your video card. Modern graphics cards are manufactured by only two large companies - Nvidia and AMD. Having found out which product drives the coolers in the system unit, we go to the official website and download the latest driver package:

A prerequisite for the successful operation of Cool Sam 3 is the availability of the latest drivers for all devices in the system. Download the utility Driver Updater to easily and quickly download the latest drivers and install them with one click:

If Serious Sam 3: BFE does not start, we recommend that you try to disable your antivirus or put the game in the antivirus exceptions, and also check again for compliance with the system requirements, and if something from your build does not comply, then, if possible, improve your PC by purchasing more powerful components.


Cool Sam 3 has a black screen, a white screen, and a color screen. Solution

Problems with screens of different colors can be divided into 2 categories.

Firstly, they often involve using two video cards at once. For example, if your motherboard has a built-in video card, but you play on a discrete one, then Serious Sam 3: BFE may launch for the first time on the built-in one, but you will not see the game itself, because the monitor is connected to a discrete video card.

Secondly, color screens occur when there are problems with displaying images on the screen. This can happen for various reasons. For example, Cool Sam 3 cannot work through an outdated driver or does not support the video card. Also, a black/white screen may appear when working at resolutions that are not supported by the game.

Cool Sam 3 crashes. At a specific or random moment. Solution

You play for yourself, play and then - bam! - everything goes out, and now you have a desktop in front of you without any hint of a game. Why is this happening? To solve the problem, you should try to figure out what the nature of the problem is.

If a crash occurs at a random moment in time without any pattern, then with a 99% probability we can say that this is a bug of the game itself. In this case, it is very difficult to fix something, and it is best to just put Cool Sam 3 aside and wait for the patch.

However, if you know exactly at what moments the crash occurs, then you can continue the game, avoiding situations that provoke a crash.

However, if you know exactly at what moments the crash occurs, then you can continue the game, avoiding situations that provoke a crash. In addition, you can download the Serious Sam 3: BFE save and bypass the departure location.


Cool Sam 3 freezes. The picture freezes. Solution

The situation is approximately the same as with crashes: many freezes are directly related to the game itself, or rather to the developer’s mistake when creating it. However, often a frozen picture can become a starting point for investigating the deplorable state of a video card or processor.

So if the picture in Serious Sam 3: BFE freezes, then use programs to display statistics on component loading. Perhaps your video card has long exhausted its working life or the processor is heating up to dangerous temperatures?

The easiest way to check the load and temperatures for the video card and processors is in the MSI Afterburner program. If you wish, you can even display these and many other parameters on top of the Serious Sam 3: BFE picture.

What temperatures are dangerous? Processors and video cards have different operating temperatures. For video cards they are usually 60-80 degrees Celsius. For processors it is slightly lower - 40-70 degrees. If the processor temperature is higher, then you should check the condition of the thermal paste. It may have already dried out and needs to be replaced.

If the video card is heating up, then you should use a driver or an official utility from the manufacturer. It is necessary to increase the number of revolutions of the coolers and check whether the operating temperature decreases.

Serious Sam 3: BFE slows down. Low FPS. Frame rate drops. Solution

If there are slowdowns and low frame rates in Serious Sam 3: BFE, the first thing to do is lower the graphics settings. Of course, there are many of them, so before reducing everything, it’s worth finding out exactly how certain settings affect performance.

Screen resolution. In short, this is the number of points that make up the game picture. The higher the resolution, the higher the load on the video card. However, the increase in load is insignificant, so you should reduce the screen resolution only as a last resort, when everything else no longer helps.

Texture quality. Typically, this setting determines the resolution of texture files. The texture quality should be reduced if the video card has a small amount of video memory (less than 4 GB) or if you are using a very old hard drive with a spindle speed of less than 7200.

Model quality(sometimes just detailing). This setting determines which set of 3D models will be used in the game. The higher the quality, the more polygons. Accordingly, high-poly models require more processing power from the video card (not to be confused with the amount of video memory!), which means this parameter should be reduced on video cards with low core or memory frequencies.

Shadows. They are implemented in different ways. In some games, shadows are created dynamically, that is, they are calculated in real time at every second of the game. Such dynamic shadows load both the processor and the video card. For optimization purposes, developers often abandon full rendering and add pre-rendered shadows to the game. They are static, because essentially they are just textures overlaid on top of the main textures, which means they load memory, and not the video card core.

Often developers add additional settings related to shadows:

  • Shadow Resolution - Determines how detailed the shadow cast by an object will be. If the game has dynamic shadows, it loads the video card core, and if a pre-created render is used, then it “eats” the video memory.
  • Soft shadows - smoothing out unevenness in the shadows themselves, usually this option is given along with dynamic shadows. Regardless of the type of shadows, it loads the video card in real time.

Smoothing. Allows you to get rid of ugly corners on the edges of objects through the use of a special algorithm, the essence of which usually comes down to generating several images at once and comparing them, calculating the most “smooth” picture. There are many different anti-aliasing algorithms that differ in their level of impact on the performance of Serious Sam 3: BFE.

For example, MSAA works head-on, creating 2, 4 or 8 renders at once, so the frame rate is reduced by 2, 4 or 8 times, respectively. Algorithms like FXAA and TAA work a little differently, achieving a smooth image by calculating only the edges and using some other tricks. Thanks to this, they do not reduce performance as much.

Lighting. As with anti-aliasing, there are different algorithms for lighting effects: SSAO, HBAO, HDAO. They all use video card resources, but they do it differently depending on the video card itself. The fact is that the HBAO algorithm was promoted mainly on video cards from Nvidia (GeForce line), so it works best on “green” ones. HDAO, on the contrary, is optimized for video cards from AMD. SSAO is the simplest type of lighting; it consumes the least resources, so if it's slow in Serious Sam 3: BFE, it's worth switching to it.

What to reduce first? Shadows, anti-aliasing and lighting effects tend to take the most work, so these are the best places to start.

Gamers often have to optimize Serious Sam 3: BFE themselves. Almost all major releases have various related forums where users share their ways to improve productivity.

One of them is a special program called WinOptimizer. It is made specifically for those who do not want to manually clean their computer of various temporary files, delete unnecessary registry entries and edit the startup list. WinOptimizer will do this itself and also analyze your computer to identify ways to improve performance in applications and games.

Serious Sam 3: BFE lags. Large delay when playing. Solution

Many people confuse “brakes” with “lags,” but these problems have completely different causes. Serious Sam 3: BFE slows down when the frame rate at which the image is displayed on the monitor decreases, and lags when the delay when accessing the server or any other host is too high.

This is why lags can only occur in online games. The reasons are different: bad network code, physical distance from servers, network congestion, incorrectly configured router, low Internet connection speed.

However, the latter happens least often. In online games, communication between client and server occurs through the exchange of relatively short messages, so even 10 MB per second should be enough.

Cool Sam 3 has no sound. Can not hear anything. Solution

Serious Sam 3: BFE works, but for some reason it doesn't sound - this is another problem that gamers face. Of course, you can play like this, but it’s still better to figure out what’s going on.

First you need to determine the scale of the problem. Where exactly is there no sound - only in the game or even on the computer? If only in a game, then perhaps this is due to the fact that the sound card is very old and does not support DirectX.

If there is no sound at all, then the problem is definitely in the computer settings. Perhaps the sound card drivers are installed incorrectly, or maybe there is no sound due to some specific error in our beloved Windows OS.

Controls don't work in Cool Sam 3. Serious Sam 3: BFE does not recognize the mouse, keyboard or gamepad. Solution

How to play if it is impossible to control the process? Problems with supporting specific devices are inappropriate here, because we are talking about familiar devices - a keyboard, mouse and controller.

Thus, errors in the game itself are practically excluded; the problem is almost always on the user's side. You can solve it in different ways, but, one way or another, you will have to contact the driver. Usually, when you connect a new device, the operating system immediately tries to use one of the standard drivers, but some models of keyboards, mice and gamepads are incompatible with them.

Thus, you need to find out the exact model of the device and try to find its driver. Devices from well-known gaming brands often come with their own software packages, since the standard Windows driver simply cannot ensure the correct operation of all functions of a particular device.

If you don’t want to search for drivers for all devices separately, you can use the program Driver Updater. It is designed to automatically search for drivers, so you only need to wait for the scan results and download the necessary drivers in the program interface.

Often Serious Sam 3: BFE brakes can be caused by viruses. In this case, it makes no difference how powerful the video card is in the system unit. You can scan your computer and clean it of viruses and other unwanted software using special programs. For example NOD32. The antivirus has proven itself to be the best and has been approved by millions of users around the world.

ZoneAlarm is suitable for both personal use and small businesses, capable of protecting a computer running Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP from any attacks: phishing, viruses, malware, spyware and other cyber threats . New users are given a 30-day free trial.

Nod32 is an antivirus from ESET, which has received many awards for its contribution to security development. Versions of anti-virus programs are available on the developer’s website for both PCs and mobile devices; a 30-day trial version is provided. There are special conditions for business.

Serious Sam 3: BFE downloaded from a torrent does not work. Solution

If the game distribution was downloaded via torrent, then in principle there can be no guarantees of operation. Torrents and repacks are almost never updated through official applications and do not work over the network, because in the process of hacking, hackers cut out all network functions from games, which are often used to verify the license.

Using such versions of games is not only inconvenient, but even dangerous, because very often many files in them have been changed. For example, to bypass protection, pirates modify the EXE file. At the same time, no one knows what else they do with it. Perhaps they embed self-executing software. For example, when the game is first launched, it will integrate into the system and use its resources to ensure the well-being of hackers. Or, giving access to the computer to third parties. There are no guarantees here and cannot be.

In addition, the use of pirated versions is, in the opinion of our publication, theft. The developers spent a lot of time creating the game, investing their own money in the hope that their brainchild would pay off. And every work must be paid.

Therefore, if any problems arise with games downloaded from torrents or hacked using one or another means, you should immediately remove the pirated version, clean your computer with an antivirus and a licensed copy of the game. This will not only protect you from dubious software, but will also allow you to download updates for the game and receive official support from its creators.

Serious Sam 3: BFE gives an error about missing DLL file. Solution

As a rule, problems associated with missing DLLs arise when launching Serious Sam 3: BFE, but sometimes the game can access certain DLLs during the process and, not finding them, crash in the most blatant manner.

To fix this error, you need to find the required DLL and install it on the system. The easiest way to do this is using the program DLL-fixer, which scans the system and helps quickly find missing libraries.

If your problem turns out to be more specific or the method outlined in this article did not help, then you can ask other users in our “” section. They will help you quickly!

Thank you for your attention!

If you are faced with the fact that Serious Sam 3: BFE slows down, crashes, Serious Sam 3: BFE does not start, Serious Sam 3: BFE does not install, controls do not work in Serious Sam 3: BFE, there is no sound, errors pop up in Serious Sam 3: BFE saves do not work - we offer you the most common ways to solve these problems.

First, check whether your PC's specifications meet the minimum system requirements:

  • OS: Windows XP (32-bit)
  • Processor: Dual Core 2.0 GHz
  • Memory: 1 GB
  • Video: GeForce 7800/7900/8600
  • HDD: 4 GB

Be sure to update your video card drivers and other software

Before you remember the worst words and express them towards the developers, do not forget to go to the official website of the manufacturer of your video card and download the latest drivers. Often, drivers specially optimized for them are prepared for the release of games. You can also try installing a later version of drivers if the problem is not solved by installing the current version.

It is important to remember that you should only download the final versions of video cards - try not to use beta versions, as they may have a large number of unfound and unfixed errors.

Do not forget that for stable operation of games, installation of the latest version of DirectX is often required, which can always be downloaded from the official Microsoft website.

Serious Sam 3: BFE won't launch

Many problems with launching games occur due to incorrect installation. Check if there were any errors during installation, try uninstalling the game and running the installer again, after disabling the antivirus - often files necessary for the game to work are deleted by mistake. It is also important to remember that the path to the folder with the installed game should not contain Cyrillic characters - use only Latin letters and numbers for directory names.

It also doesn’t hurt to check if there is enough space on the HDD for installation. You can try to run the game as Administrator in compatibility mode for different versions of Windows.

Serious Sam 3: BFE slows down. Low FPS. Lags. Friezes. Freezes

First, install the latest drivers for your video card; this can significantly increase the FPS in the game. Also check your computer's load in the task manager (opened by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESCAPE). If before starting the game you see that some process is consuming too many resources, turn off its program or simply end this process from the task manager.

Next, go to the graphics settings in the game. First of all, turn off anti-aliasing and try lowering the post-processing settings. Many of them consume a lot of resources and disabling them will significantly improve performance without significantly affecting the picture quality.

Serious Sam 3: BFE crashes to desktop

If Serious Sam 3: BFE often crashes on your desktop slot, try to start solving the problem by reducing the quality of the graphics. It is possible that your computer simply does not have enough performance and the game cannot run correctly. It's also worth checking for updates - most modern games have a system for automatically installing new patches. Check if this option is disabled in the settings.

Black screen in Serious Sam 3: BFE

More often than not, the problem with a black screen is an issue with the GPU. Check if your video card meets the minimum requirements and install the latest drivers. Sometimes a black screen is a result of insufficient CPU performance.

If everything is fine with the hardware and it meets the minimum requirements, try switching to another window (ALT+TAB), and then returning to the game window.

Serious Sam 3: BFE won't install. Installation stuck

First of all, check if you have enough HDD space for installation. Remember that for the installation program to work correctly, the stated amount of space is required, plus 1-2 gigabytes of free space on the system disk. In general, remember the rule - there should always be at least 2 gigabytes of free space on the system disk for temporary files. Otherwise, both games and programs may not work correctly or may refuse to start at all.

Installation problems can also occur due to a lack of Internet connection or unstable operation. Also, do not forget to pause the antivirus while installing the game - sometimes it interferes with the correct copying of files or deletes them by mistake, considering them viruses.

Saves don't work in Serious Sam 3: BFE

By analogy with the previous solution, check the availability of free space on the HDD - both on the one where the game is installed and on the system drive. Often save files are stored in a documents folder, which is located separately from the game itself.

Controls don't work in Serious Sam 3: BFE

Sometimes game controls do not work due to multiple input devices being connected at the same time. Try disabling the gamepad or, if for some reason you have two keyboards or mice connected, leave only one pair of devices. If your gamepad does not work, then remember that games are officially supported only by controllers defined as Xbox joysticks. If your controller is detected differently, try using programs that emulate Xbox joysticks (for example, x360ce).

Sound does not work in Serious Sam 3: BFE

Check if the sound works in other programs. After that, check whether the sound is muted in the game settings and whether the sound playback device to which your speakers or headset is connected is selected there. Next, while the game is running, open the mixer and check if the sound there is muted.

If you are using an external sound card, check for new drivers on the manufacturer's website.

Gaming news


GAMES SEGA has unveiled a new DLC for Two Point Hospital called Close Encounters. The add-on will add three new hospitals to the game, located in different locations, 34 new diseases, three new treatment rooms...

The developers of the popular action game Serious Sam 3 have announced an update to the game to version 150406.

The good news for gamers is that the programmers managed to fix several problems with the use of stereoscopic 3D. These were mainly related to the display and menu display. Now the game will look better in 3D.

In addition, profiles for ATI Radeon HD 7000 graphics have been added.

Let us remind you that the action of the game “Cool Sam 3” takes place before the events of the first part of the now cult series. Humanity is threatened by an army of alien evil spirits led by Mental. Samuel Stone travels to 22nd century Egypt with the sole purpose of finding and destroying his enemies.

Headless kamikazes, big-eyed gnaars and hordes of much larger and uglier creatures of alien evil - with such a variety of opponents, Sam will not be bored.

For virtual battles, gamers have the opportunity to assemble a team that can consist of sixteen participants. You can also compete with other players in the “Battle to the Death” and “Monster Hunt” modes.

List fixes and additions in the game "Cool Sam 3"(version150406 ):

  • Fixed several issues using stereoscopic 3D rendering (mainly related to display and menu display). The game will now look better in 3D stereo.
  • In game mode on one screen you can now change the image parameters.
  • The level of detail of several models has been changed, their geometry has been optimized, and some errors have been fixed. This should improve performance and reduce memory usage.
  • Added support for AlienWare LightFX effects.
  • Fixed errors that caused the game to crash when using multi-threaded rendering.
  • Added 'mdl_bMorphedShadows' variable to control the use of animation when creating dynamic shadows. By default, this option is disabled (which saves system resources), but this has almost no effect on quality: such animation is used only for small deformations of models and when displaying speech.
  • When placing the camera relative to the hero, the “Third Person View” option is now taken into account. Manually switching to third-person view disables the menu-related variable, but only temporarily (i.e. these changes are not saved to the profile).
  • Added 'ogl_iStaticBuffersType' variable to control the buffer type for static buffers when using OpenGL. (This is mainly for performance testing.) After the change, the 'gfxRefreshGeometry()' function must be enabled manually.
  • For animation of some models, the size of memory used has been optimized.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when the user disconnected from the network, when a hero died using a Crippling Bracelet, or when a hero was killed by a were-bull.
  • Fixed a bug where the grenade launcher, if taken out immediately (for example, starting a chapter already with a grenade launcher), seemed uncharged.
  • In the video settings, the sliders that adjust the window size have been fixed.
  • Eliminated excessive changes to active textures in OpenGL.
  • Fixed bugs related to texture filtering.
  • Reduced the frequency of reassigning rendering buffers (when displaying haze, refraction, etc.).
  • Fixed a bug where some display elements overlapped each other (at low resolutions - 800x600 and 640x480).
  • Fixed incorrect shadow smoothing in OpenGL. (The shader input register 'ScreenPos' does not have integer coordinates!)
  • Prevented new models from colliding with existing ones. In addition, when spawning, the models do not fall through the ground (this problem is typical for “DigOut” spiders).
  • Built-in programmable disappearance of enemies in case the player makes a speedrun. So far this is only used at the last level.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the hero to move while simultaneously throwing circular blows with a sledgehammer.
  • The use of “physics” for models has been reduced: now enemies standing on uneven surfaces consume less resources.
  • Group action algorithms for enemy artificial intelligence have been optimized.
  • Added missing polygons on the stairs near the Ibn Tulun Mosque.
  • The "Three Lives for All" achievement has been fixed: to get it, the player must complete all levels, but playing with other users is no longer necessary.
  • Now, next to the names of all achievements, a window has appeared in which it is noted that the achievement has been received.
  • Saving level stats now saves stats for all levels, and the player profile now has access to all completed levels. This is necessary, since sometimes saving data in a player’s profile occurs incorrectly (but the statistics remain in the save file).
  • The statistics menu now shows data for all levels, not just available ones, as sometimes levels remain locked (probably because the game crashed before saving).
  • Optimized the simultaneous use of volumetric lighting and motion blur.
  • Voice encoding quality can now be quickly changed using the svm_iVoiceEncodingQuality variable.
  • The voice chat buffer is now limited to 1 second (otherwise it would accumulate a lot of data while the app was running in the background).
  • Voice chat now uses an internal protocol with Speex compression. This has reduced the channel bandwidth requirements so that voice signals can now be transmitted more smoothly.
  • Added a new animation of the floating main character.
  • Normals and tangents are no longer created if they are not needed by model shaders.
  • The optical sight now works correctly regardless of the screen aspect ratio.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash when trying to kick an enemy soldier with multi-threaded rendering enabled.
  • If you set the 'prf_bShowFPS' variable to "4", the frame rate for the selected period of time is displayed on the screen.
  • Significantly improved performance of certain aspects of AI when there are large numbers of active objects. (For example, if the player activates a large number of enemies during a speedrun.)
  • Fixed an issue where too much memory was used if menu background rendering was disabled.
  • In Duel mode, the sniper no longer has a crosshair.
  • Enemies that didn't have a target moved too often. They now use less CPU resources.
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes led to crashes if the user disconnected from the game at the moment when the enemy had already seen him and began to avoid the obstacle.

Basics

Below are basic answers to frequently asked questions related to technical and practical issues in Serious Sam 3. This guide is a translation of the official FAQ from Croteam. Before contacting the Steam forums for help from the developers, it is recommended that you read this FAQ and see if there is a solution to your problem.

The original guide is located at:

Exchange and gifts

I want to exchange or give another person a card or coupon for this game. Where can I write about this?

Each of our games has its own "Trading and Gifting" sub-forum (look for the thread link on the right side of the "Discussions" page). Please, we urge you to write any offers for exchanges and gifts ONLY in this subforum. Creating similar topics in any other place is a violation of the Steam Community Discussion Rules and Regulations. We will try to move any such posts that are accidentally posted in the wrong place, but please be aware that regularly posting such posts may result in YOUR ACCOUNT LOCKING from the forums by official Steam moderators. Thanks for understanding.

The game crashes with the error "application has malfunctioned"

My game crashes with the error message "application has malfunctioned". What should I do?

First of all, find these two files: Sam3.log And Sam3.rpt. They are usually located in the folder "<местонахождение steam>/SteamApps/common/serious sam 3/Log/". Then, create a topic and paste the contents of these two files there (these are regular text files, you can open them with standard Notepad.) If the forum says that the text is too long to publish, use the site, copy the contents of the files there, and post a link to text in your post.

How to change FOV in game?

How can I change the FOV in the game? Will this affect my leaderboard status or achievements?

Enter the following command into the console: plr_fFOVOverride=120 (or any other numeric FOV value you wish). Changing the FOV is not considered cheating and does not in any way affect your leaderboard status or achievements (note that this feature has been added to the Options>Graphics Settings menu).

The game does not start, crashes with the error "missing files"

The game does not start, or crashes on startup, or closes on startup with a message about missing files. What it is? What should I do?

A number of reasons can lead to this, however, below are the methods that most often help in such situations:

First of all, always try to check the integrity of the game cache. This usually solves the problem in 99% of such cases. To do this, find Serious Sam 3 in your Steam Library, right-click and select Properties. Then go to the Local Files tab and click "Verify Cache Integrity".
- Make sure that the main exe file has a correct and valid digital signature from Valve Corporation. To do this, find the Sam3.exe file in Explorer, then right-click on it, select Properties and in the window that appears, go to the Digital Signatures tab. There you should see a signature from the name "Valve Corp.". Select it and click "Details", after which you should see a dialog message that says: "The digital signature is OK."

In the event that the message reads "The certificate in the signature cannot be verified. (The certificate cannot be verified)" ( Remember - this does not mean that something went wrong, it means that the certificate cannot be authenticated!), this means that your operating system does not have a common root certificate. This may happen due to blocked Windows updates or similar factors. You can fix this problem by installing it.

Make sure that the problem is not caused by your firewall or antivirus. More information about this is listed below in a separate FAQ about firewall/antivirus issues.

The game crashes on startup and behaves strangely

The game crashes on startup for no particular reason, or behaves strangely during gameplay (control issues, random movement glitches, etc.).

Problems of this kind are common in various games and are usually caused by overly intrusive antivirus programs or network firewalls/firewalls. In such cases, disabling the program or adding Serious Sam 3 to the exceptions list will help.

Unfortunately, in the case of some programs, only removing them can help. Because even in a “disabled” state, the program will still work as a low-level system driver and affect the game process.

List of the most common and well-known programs that cause this problem:

Some versions of ZoneAlarm (if you have Zone Alarm installed, about solving the problem)
- F-Secure with DeepGuard enabled (disabling DeepGuard solves the problem)
- some versions of Avira (we are not yet completely sure whether in this case it is worth completely uninstalling Avira)
- some versions of NOD32 (sometimes you need to completely remove NOD32)

Game performance on AMD FX (Bulldozer)

The game loads very slowly and/or runs at a low frame rate. I have an AMD FX(Bulldozer) processor, which should be very fast by default. How can this be?

They have similar disadvantages due to some problems with the microfirmware. You should install a patched BIOS update. AMD has chewed up some details.

How to run a dedicated server?

How to run a dedicated server with Serious Sam 3?

Go to Library>Tools of your Steam client, find the application called " Serious Sam 3 Dedicated Server" and install it. Then just run this program if you want to host the server normally. For more information on setting up the server, read the Help/DedicatedServer_Readme.txt document.

The server can also be launched through the SteamCmd utility, application id - 41080.

Please note that you do not need to have your own copy of the game to start the server, so you can create a new empty account for this purpose.

Where are the game saves?

Where are the game save files?

Steam\userdata\<ваш id steam>\41070\local\SeriousSam3\SavedGames

The game causes a BSOD (blue screen of death) to appear, reboot or lock the computer. How to fix it?

First of all, let's get one thing straight: all modern operating systems use a division of operating system modes into the kernel and application modules. So a normal application (like a game) can't lead neither blocking or crashing the OS, nor causing BSOD, nor rebooting or blocking the computer.

All such problems are related to either a system failure (very rare), a driver error (common), or a hardware failure (common). In the worst case, the game itself can only lead to the fact that it causes a rare error in some driver that you would not usually notice, or loads the hardware to such a limit that it overheats and starts to crash, or something similar.

Of course, we understand that saying “it’s not our fault” won’t help you much, so here’s a list of how to fix or avoid this problem:

If you see a blue screen of death, remember the file name on the last line. Usually it is encrypted, but it will help you understand which driver is at fault. Usually, by Googling the name of this file, you can figure out which driver is having problems, so you can reinstall/update it and see if that helps.
- In the event that you experience a reset or lockout (however, sometimes this can also happen with a BSOD), it may be caused by a hardware failure. Typically, the cause of hardware failure is the following:
1) Overclocking - just go back to factory settings and see if that helps.
2) Overheating - it’s quite easy to detect by opening the case of the system unit and blowing it with a regular desktop fan. Try running the game with the fan on to see if that helps. (You don't have to keep it on all the time - this is just an experiment to see if overheating is the cause.)
3) Dust in the system unit can also cause problems leading to overheating or short circuits between electronic contacts. It can be easily fixed by cleaning the insides of the system unit with a vacuum cleaner (only when the computer is turned off!).
4) Insufficient power - sometimes the power supply may not provide enough power, especially for the video card or processor. The only way to check this is to try upgrading to a more powerful power supply. Please note that the rated power of the power supply is not always the actual one, it all depends on the manufacturer and model, so it depends.
5) Loose or loose connectors - make sure that all cables and boards inside the system unit fit snugly into their connectors/inputs/sockets.
6) Defective soldering or other physical defects of the equipment - here you can’t do anything except replace faulty components.

How can I find out the version of my game/editor/server?

How can I find out the version of my game/editor/server?

The game version number is displayed in the upper right corner of the game's main menu.
- The version and additional information about the editor are contained in the Help/About menu.
- The full version of all applications can be read in the very first line of their log files (Sam3.log, Sam3_Editor.log, ...), which are automatically generated when programs are launched.

I can't find the SteamApps folder on OSX. Where is it?

I can't find the SteamApps folder on OSX. Where is it?

It is located at /Users/<имя вашего пользователя>/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/ , however, in the latest versions of the OS, namely Lion and higher, the Library folder is hidden. To open it, do the following:

In the Finder, hold down the Option button (keep holding it!) and open the Go menu.
- The Library folder will appear in the list of other folders in the Go menu.
- Select Library and a Finder window will open showing the contents of the Library folder.
- You can now release the Option key.