This post is an attempt to make a comprehensive guide to all problems that might arise.
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Since Amnesia use OpenGL, your drivers maybe horrible outdated, even though you can run other games (since they use Direct3D).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 2000 & Intel HD 3000 cards are able to run the game. In order to learn how to update your Intel HD cards 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The problem is that some specific drivers (provided for example by the laptop manufacturers) might be outdated and you need to use the ones directly from Intel to get the latest.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. Renderer #0 could not be initialized
If you get the error "Renderer #0 could not be initialized", try launching the game with the default 1024x768 resolution and Full Screen off. If this works, the most likely cause is that you run out of graphics memory when using higher resolutions. This might also mean that there is some background application or similar using resources or that simply the graphics card does not have enough memory. There are two ways to fix this:
1) Enter Display Properties and make sure that the desktop color depth is 32.
2a) Run at lower resolution. Even if you have an LCD screen, there should be no problem running at a resolution such as 1280x768 and have the game still look good. This is probably the best solution to this problem.
2b) Make sure that SSAO and EdgeSmooth are turned off. These two effects use a lot of graphics memory and turning them off should help a lot.
3) Make sure that you have only a single display set in the graphic card's control panel.
Note: Sometimes doing both 2a and 2b is needed!
8. Screen goes black on game launch and computer freezes
If you are using Comodo Firewall, try turning it off. Might work with other firewalls as well.
For more application interferences check Problem A6.
9. 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 distributer 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 sceen 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
1. Make sure that you have updated graphics card drivers
Check Problem A1.x
Note: This is the proper fix for up-side down graphics!
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
6. Light halos are seen through walls
This is a problem that only seems to affect ATI HD 5830 cards. There is a quick fix for it. Follow the instructions below:
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, reboot the computer and try again.
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 visbile
If running Windows 7 and Font size option is not set at 100%, change it back to 100% and screen should be back to normal.
Problem I: Alt-tabbing out of the game and back in does not work
Plutomaniac found a solution to this. For more details 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? If a laptop, what model?
3. Attach us the file HPL.log found under Documents\Amnesia\Main folder (at your topic).
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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Troubleshooting Guide - Look Here Before Posting!!!
Troubleshooting Guide - Look Here Before Posting!!! 