SOMA Troubleshooting Guide

[jens]

Problem A: SOMA won't start

1. Make sure your graphics card supports the game and that you have updated drivers

Because SOMA uses OpenGL 3.3, your graphics card may not support the minimum version required or your drivers may be outdated even though you can run most other games (which use Direct3D). In order to learn more visit the Graphics Card Troubleshooting Guide.

2. Make sure the game is updated

SOMA is automatically updated on the service you bought the game from, restart the service or re-download the game to get the latest version. Possibly we might need to do a quick fix, which would then be available for download here.

3. Reset game settings

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 and remove the [username]_user_settings.cfg file. Then start the game and try playing the first level without changing any options. If all works, you can exit the game and carefully change a few settings at a time. The save directories are mentioned below, at Problem X.

4. Background program interferences

For our past games it has been reported that sometimes background programs like:

Spoiler below!

ATI Tray Tools
Avast
Camtasia Studio
Comodo
Emsisoft Online Armor
f.lux
Fraps
McAfee
Open Broadcasting Software
Origin Overlay
Sandbox
Steam Overlay
Synergy
Teamspeak Overlay
ThreatFire
Wii U drivers
Xfire

can make the game crash at startup or even randomly. Since there are bound to be more, if you have tried all of the above then it might be worth manually closing everything running in the background including any antivirus/firewall and try again.

5. 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 "SOMA.exe" directly from the install directory.

For Windows XP users, 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".

6. Bad file permissions

Sometimes the game might crash because of bad file permissions. To fix this, run as Administrator (Windows Vista, 7 & 8.x) or set so SOMA executable has write permission on the install directory.

7. Wrong display settings

Make sure that your display supports the resolution you set in options and that your desktop color depth is set to 32-bit. Also, make sure your DPI is set to default 100%.

8. (Windows only) Install Visual Studio runtime dlls
Try installing these:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download...x?id=15336
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download...x?id=21254
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download...x?id=14632

These should be installed when you start the game the first time, but in rare cases it might fail.

You might even have to uninstall the runtimes first and then install them again. Before you do this though: Make 100% sure that your OS is 64 bit

Problem B: SOMA is slow / occasionally freezes

1. Make sure that you have updated graphics card drivers

Check Problem A1

2. Make sure the game is updated

Check Problem A2

3. Disable performance demanding features

Some of the game settings are very demanding for certain computers. Here is a list of the more important performance options in the game:

Spoiler below!

- Resolution: Lower resolution is often a lot better for performance. For example lowering from 1920x1080 to 1280x720 should make a great difference.

- Anti-aliasing: It might make the game run quite slow on older computers.

- V-Sync: Set to adaptive for performance improvement, or even off.

- Textures: Lowering this will have great effect if you experience stutter. If your graphics card have 1GB or less of memory consider medium or even low setting.

- Shadows: Put this to Low for a boost in fps, but less smooth shadows. Turning them off is also possible, but some lights will bleed through walls. This also helps to combat stutter.

- SSAO on/off: For older cards, turning off SSAO can increase performance a bit.

Texture filter: Set to bilinear or trilinear to gain performance.

4. Background program interferences

Check Problem A4

Problem C: SOMA has weird graphics / everything is black except the menu / random colors or discoloration

1. Make sure that you have updated graphics card drivers

Check Problem A1

2. Make sure the game is updated

Check Problem A2

3. Turn off various graphics options

Go to Options > Graphics 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 game settings

Check Problem A3

Problem D: Fullscreen does not work

Check Problem A7

Problem E: vSync makes the game crash

For some cards, vSync does not work properly and can make the game crash. To sidestep this issue, force vSync to be enabled at the graphics card control panel and not in-game. It might also help to turn off triple buffering as well.

Problem F: The game crashes / freezes during gameplay

1. Write permission fail

This crash would happen during loading of new map. Check Problem A6.

2. Bad game caches

It might be that some of the game cache files are corrupted. Uninstall the game, then reinstall and see if that helps. For Steam users, check Problem I on how to do a file integrity check.

3. Turn off various graphics options

Check Problem C3

4. Background program interferences

Check Problem A4

5. Make sure the game is updated

Check Problem A2

Problem G: The screen is cropped and edges are not visible / Black Screen and freeze at intro logos

Check Problems A7 and F4

Problem H: I cannot change the Gamma (it always resets to default)

This is due to certain background programs interfering. Most noticeably gamma/brightness calibrators such as f.lux. Check Problem A4 for known interfering programs.

Problem I: 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 (file integrity check) or by deleting local content (game uninstall).

Spoiler below!

Steam File Integrity Check

1. Right-Click the game in your Steam library
   
2. Click "Properties"
   
3. Navigate to "Local Files" tab
   
4. Click "Verify integrity of game cache"
   

Steam Local Content Deletion

1. Right-Click the game in your Steam library
   
2. Click "Delete Local Content"
   
3. Install the game again
   

Problem J: Sli is not working. How do I fix that?

Please follow this excellent guide:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi...=524222602

Problem K: Sound device is not found

It has been reported that a path with russian letters can sometimes make this happen. So change your path so that it doesn't have cyrillic letters.

"F:\Игры\Steam" - not working
"F:\Games\Steam" - working!!!

Problem L: I have become stuck due to a bug which does not allow me to progress. What can I do?

SOMA continuously creates autosaves at certain points as you play the game. Should something occur which hinders any progress, such as a bug or becoming stuck, it is recommended to select "Load Game" at the menu, and choose an earlier save before the problem occurs. This should fix the issue most of the time.

You may also opt to try performing a Steam File Integrity Check if the same issue persists. See Problem H for more information.

Problem X: Nothing helps. What information do you need to help me?

1) Start a new thread and describe in detail the problem you are having.
2) Attach the file HPL.log located at the folders mentioned below.

Spoiler below!

Vista, 7 & 8.x: Documents\My Games\SOMA\
Linux: ~/.local/share/frictionalgames/SOMA/
Mac OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/Frictional Games/SOMA

Guide originally created by plutomaniac