Today, I was finally able to finish downloading Darksiders, and finally played it. All that to come across an interesting gameplay bug, where I sliced the boss for like 600 times, and still nothing.
Only thing that happened was me noticing that the gameplay is somehow stuck and the boss is also still. Then the quest to resolve the issue began, and I came across this interesting manual from the game developer for all the known issues and their fixes.
All the errors, bugs, and crashes you may come across in Darksiders with workarounds to fix all these.
Darksiders Install Problems
A. Interference from Anti-Virus Programs
It is recommended that any anti-virus programs be disabled when attempting to install Darksiders. Anti-virus software can often interfere and corrupt the installation process of new software.
B. Modifications
Any modifications to Darksiders may result in the inability to patch
successfully. Before applying any modifications we suggest backing up the affected files and replacing them before applying any patch. Not doing so may result in the need to re-install the game.
C. How to Install
The installation of the game is made up of two parts. The first installer installs the game manual, comic, soundtrack, and third party installers. The second installer utilizes the Steam installer to install the game. If the install process is interrupted, additional steps may be required to successfully install the game and its contents. The install process consists of the following.
- Installation of the Comic/Soundtrack and miscellaneous files.
- Special check for XP users lacking the Microsoft hot fix “WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86”.
- Installation of DirectX.
- Installation of Steam if not already present.
- Connection to Steam for authentication, updates, and additional installs if necessary.
- Installation of the game through Steam.
D. How to Uninstall
The uninstall process for Darksiders is made up of two parts. The
actual game, which is uninstalled through Steam, and the miscellaneous files, which are uninstalled through the Add or Remove programs.
Uninstalling through Steam will still call upon the “DarksidersInstaller” program to perform the uninstall. If the “DarksidersInstaller” is removed before performing an uninstall of Darksiders then Steam will reinstall “DarksidersInstaller” in order to perform the uninstall of Darksiders.
The “DarksidersInstaller” must then be uninstalled through the Add or Remove Programs in order to remove miscellaneous files like the game manual, comic, soundtrack, and third party installers.
Darksiders Graphics and Video Issues
Latest drivers required to Play Darksiders
For best performance and video quality, please make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card when running Darksiders. If you
have an ATI or NVIDIA video card, you can find drivers on their websites.
Driver: Catalyst 10.8 or newer
Driver: ForceWare Graphics Driver Version 258.96 or newer
Darksiders Graphics Corruption
If you are playing on old ATI graphics drivers you may experience graphics corruption while playing Darksiders. Upgrading to the latest ATI drivers will solve the problem for most users.
Darksiders Low Performance and Missing Objects
If you are playing with old nVidia drivers, you may experience low performance and missing objects. Upgrading to the latest nVidia drivers will solve the problem for most users.
Darksiders Crashes and Grey Screen
Playing on below minimum specification requirements will cause grey screens and immediate crashes so make sure you meet the minimum requirements of the game.
Darksiders Sound Issues
Latest drivers required to Play Darksiders
Please make sure you have the latest drivers for your sound card when
running Darksiders.
The sound stutters while playing
Make sure you have the latest drivers for your sound card. If
stuttering persists, try reducing Hardware Acceleration. From your Windows® desktop, click Start, then Run, type “dxdiag”, then press Enter. This brings up the “DirectX® Diagnostic Tool”. Click the Sound tab and try reducing the “Hardware Sound Acceleration Level” slider.
Headphones Detection
Plugging in headphones while the game is running does not work. Please be sure to start the game with headphones plugged in as the game may not detect headphones plugged in after the game has started.
Keyboard Volume Controls
Volume controls on some keyboards may not work for Darksiders.
Darksiders Operating System Specific Issues
Windows Shortcuts have been disabled
Shortcuts like Windows+D, Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Ctrl+Esc have been disabled
to prevent conflicts with the software.
Administrator Privileges
You must have Administrator privileges to properly install the game
on Windows® XP and Vista® and Windows 7®. You do not, however,require Administrator privileges to play the game after it has been installed.
Alt-Tab to Switch Applications
Some drivers do not support the Alt+Tab switching between Darksiders
and other applications. Although Alt+Tab is functional it is highly
recommended that you do not use Alt+Tab to switch to another program while Darksiders is running as this may affect game stability.
Using Alt+Tab while Darksiders is loading can result in loss of all sound
when returning to the game. It can also cause de-sync between subtitles and audio during cut-scenes and random graphic distortion and corruption. If you wish to switch programs, it is recommended that you first close Darksiders.
Darksiders Crashes
There are various out of memory crashes that can occur under various
situations. Restarting the game or avoiding these situations should allow you to move past them.
These instances may include or relate to being in the Shadow Realm/Arenas, fighting with the Phantom General in Scalding Gallow, minimizing and maximizing the game with Alt+Tab, changing resolution settings during gameplay without restarting the game, loading saves made in Eden and saving shortly after obtaining Ruin.
Darksiders Save/Load
Saving and Loading at various instances before, during or immediately after gameplay action sequences and auto save events can result in undesirable game play behavior.
Darksiders Gameplay Bugs
1. Players may notice a treasure chest icon in a building in the Drowned Pass area of the game world that cannot be obtained. There is no actual treasure chest here.
2. Players may experience trouble advancing in the Black Throne area of the game world when a door fails to open. If this occurs, try loading a previous save.
3. Players may experience camera jitter when swimming in some zones. This can be corrected by turning Vertical Sync off.
Can’t Start Darksiders
1. “Game is Currently Unavailable” message after Installation If you are attempting to run Darksiders for the first time after installing and it does not run or Steam states that the game is currently unavailable, this may resolved by installing the DirectX 9 and/or the Microsoft VCredistributable.
Even when running with DirectX 10 or higher, it may not include the necessary files that come with DirectX 9. These can be found in the
“Steam\SteamApps\common\darksiders”
folder. For directX 9 run the “dxwebsetup.exe”. For the Microsoft redistributable run the “vcredist_x86_sp1_atl_4053.exe”
2. Inability to Install Steam to a custom directory
If you are running Windows® XP without having installed Steam before
and the installer automatically installs Steam to its default location, this can be resolved in one of two ways.
You can install Steam first by downloading the Steam client from their website and using their client choose where you want to install it.
Or you can install the Microsoft hot fix file “WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe” located in
“C:\Program Files\THQ\Darksiders”.
3. Verify Integrity of Game Cache
Steam’s “Verify Integrity of Game Cache” feature identifies and replaces corrupted/missing Steam cache files. Using the “Verify Integrity of Game Cache” Steam feature for Darksiders will cause it to run the “DarksidersInstaller” program first prior to verifying the game cache files.
Canceling the ‘’DarksidersInstaller’’ process at this time will not affect the verification of the game cache files. The process of performing a verification of the Game Cache Files(GCF)
is as follows:
- Load Steam.
- From the Library section, right-click on the game and select Properties from the menu.
- Select the Local files tab and click the VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME CACHE button.
- The ‘’DarksidersInstaller’’ program will launch. (Canceling this will not stop the process).
- Steam will verify the game’s files – this process may take several minutes.
Once the process is completed, the Check Window will automatically exit.
4. Microsoft Hot Fix
If the Microsoft hot fix is required to be applied to an XP machine
and the option to not restart the PC is checked, an error message
may appear stating, “Error 1719.
Windows Installer service could not be accessed. Contact your support personnel to verify that it is properly registered and enabled.” Restarting the PC should resolve this. If the Microsoft hot fix is canceled during installation, it will not prompt a second time and will require manual installation of that particular hot fix file.
Darksiders Missing or Corrupt Graphics
1. Visual Effects
Some visual effects like the Scythe’s “Death’s Rage” ability or blood
trails from slain enemies can sporadically disappear. This may be caused by having Vertical Sync turned off. Turning it on can correct many instances of disappearing visual effects.
2. Textures
After running the game for prolonged periods of time, visual memory may run low and could cause textures to disappear or “flicker.” In this case, the game should be saved, exited and restarted.
Darksiders Black Screen Or “Out Of Range”
If after starting Darksiders the game appears black or the monitor states an “Out of Range” message, there is a chance that the resolution is set to a range that is higher than your monitor supports.
To correct this, the “options.dopt” file needs to be deleted. To do so, open up a Windows Explorer, select Tools/Folder Options, click on the View tab and check the option “Show hidden files and folders”. After that, the file can be found on XP in this location.
C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\Local Settings\Application Data\Darksiders
For Vista and Win 7 it can be found in this location.
C:\Users\(UserName)\AppData\Local\Darksiders
Once they have been deleted, Darksiders will start up using the default resolution.
If you face any other issue, comment and we will try to help you out.
