Chrome

This page is for the 2003 shooter game. For the web browser, see List of games available on Chrome Web Store.

Chrome

Developers
	Techland
Publishers
Poland	Techland
France, United Kingdom	Gathering of Developers
Russia	1C Company
United States	Strategy First
Digital	Meridian4
Engines
	Chrome Engine 2
Release dates
Windows	June 16, 2003
Reception
Metacritic	69
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, FPS, Shooter, Stealth
Vehicles	Automobile, Flight
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Sci-fi, Space
Series	Chrome

Chrome
Chrome	2003
Chrome SpecForce	2005

Warnings

StarForce DRM does not work on modern versions of Windows (see Availability for affected releases).

Chrome is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action, FPS, shooter and stealth game in the Chrome series.

The game was re-released in 2004 as Advanced Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat (known in Europe as Chrome: Gold Edition). It includes a level editor, detailed editor tutorial and Java source code that can be recompiled to change the game logic and settings.

The Unofficial Patch is available which provides easy ways to adjust for widescreen, FOV etc.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 4.8 DRM in the English release. StarForce 3.3 DRM in the Russian release. Custom DRM (simple disc check and key in-game check) in the Polish release.
Retail		Russian re-release "Gold edition"
Steam (unavailable)
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Amazon.com (unavailable)
GamersGate (unavailable)
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)		Capsule DRM

StarForce DRM for this game does not work on modern versions of Windows (see above for affected releases).

Demo

A demo can be downloaded from here or here.

Essential improvements

Patches

Install patch 1.1.3.0_v2, followed by patch 1.1.3.0_v2 to 1.2.0.0. Advanced Battlegrounds: The Future of Combat (Chrome: Gold Edition) is already patched to latest version.

Visual fidelity (unofficial patch)

A set of widescreen, FOV, HUD and text rendering fixes for Chrome and Chrome SpecForce. Enables native support for higher resolutions and Hor+ FOV. Also includes files to disable mouse acceleration, LOD switching and increase draw distance. Download from Mod DB.

Limit FPS

The FPS should be limited to 60, otherwise problems can arise, like "slippery/sliding" movement. Use a tool like Rivatuner Statistics Server or the graphics driver's control panel, and apply a 60 FPS limit on ChromeSingle.exe. Alternatively, force VSync if it leads to the same outcome for the monitor.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Data\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/46420/pfx/

AudioSettings.scr contains audio settings.

Controller.scr contains mouse and controller settings.

VideoSettings.scr contains video settings.

UserControls.scr contains key mapping settings.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Save\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/46420/pfx/

Each save uses multiple files.

There can only be 4 quicksaves and 10 manual saves at a time.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Use Unofficial Patch or see Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor			Use Unofficial Patch or see Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen			Use Unofficial Patch or see Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD			Use Unofficial Patch or see Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)		Use Unofficial Patch or see Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Run in window mode and use Borderless Gaming.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Set in <path-to-game>\Data\VideoSettings.scr or use the unofficial patch to enable it in the options menu. Force in the graphics card control panel for the highest quality.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		No frame rate cap. Game was designed to be played at 60~ FPS. Excessively high frame rates (over 200) result in delayed player movement responsiveness and sliding on terrain. See limit FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

The below workarounds for widescreen and FOV are unnecessary when using the Unofficial Patch which already incorporates these options.

Widescreen resolution

Set resolution in VideoSettings.scr
Open <path-to-game>\Data\VideoSettings.scr. Change the Resolution values to the desired width and height values. Save the changes and close the file. Notes The Unofficial patch makes the game support all available resolutions and displays them in the options menu. It also fixes stretching of some HUD elements.

Field of view (FOV)

Instructions

Open <path-to-game>\code.pak with 7-Zip or similar. Extract CameraPlayer.class. Open CameraPlayer.class using dirtyJOE(Java editor) and in the constant pool tab, find and replace the following values: 82 - first person perspective 60 - third person perspective 75 - vehicles, sniper, binoculars, etc Drop the edited file inside <path-to-game>\code.pak to replace the existing file. Notes Edited files can be downloaded from WSGF. <path-to-game>\codenet.pak contains settings for the multiplayer and the same method can be used. The Unofficial patch changes the FOV from Vert- to Hor+ and gives more options to edit different FOV settings.

Input

Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration		On by default. The Unofficial patch includes a recompiled Player.class that disables it (put it inside <path-to-game>\code.pak and <path-to-game>\codenet.pak).
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music and FX.
Surround sound		Up to 5.0 is supported.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		Disabled by default.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Retail only (Score 151 covermount).
Czech				Fan translation; download.
German				Original German release is censored but can be made uncut, see below.
Hungarian				Retail only; download for digital releases.
Hungarian				Fan translation; download.
Polish
Russian				Retail only (was released under title Хром); download.
Spanish

Uncensor German 2003 release

The version released in Germany in 2003 is censored (blood, bullet wounds and ragdolls removed). The German version of the Gold Edition, which was released in Germany in 2005, is uncut.

Remove censorship
Install the German Patch 1.1.3.0. Install the International Patch 1.2.0.0. Open <path-to-game>\Data\LocalizedStrings.scr and change Locale("German") into Locale("english"). Now the censorship is removed.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		32
Online play		32

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues

Advanced Battlegrounds installation problem

The installation process fails with "Error 2711" message.

The game refuses to install if the original Chrome is already installed on the computer
Uninstall the original Chrome. Install Advanced Battlegrounds.

Error 1309 when installing from disk ("Error reading from file...")

CD 2 has to replace CD 1 in the same drive[citation needed]
Start by inserting/mounting only disk 1. After installation from disk 1 is finished, eject it and put disk 2 into the same drive (same letter) to finish installation. Notes Don't put/mount both CDs in different drives or at the same time.

Environmental sound (rain etc.) disappears

Quicksave and reload[citation needed]

Can no longer shoot or jump

Drop weapon[citation needed]
Drop the current weapon (assign a key to it in the options menu) and then pick it back up, it should fix the problem.

Problems with several GPUs (MSHybrid / Nvidia Optimus)

On a system that runs both an integrated Intel GPU and a dedicated GPU (with a system like MSHybrid / Nvidia Optimus), the game might steadfastly refuse to recognize the dedicated GPU, even when set in the GPU control center.

Deactivate the Intel GPU[citation needed]
Notes The integrated GPU has to be deactivated (set to "Discrete" on MSHybrid) for the game to use the dedicated GPU.

CScriptManager::RegisterGSClassHierarchy(..) error and crash on startup

Rename/remove offending files
Navigate to <path-to-game>\Data\Mutator. Rename (append .bak) or remove all files in this directory. Notes: Only versions 1.1.3.0_v2 and 1.2.0.0 are affected.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows			Initial game version has just Chrome.exe, patch 1.2.0.0 splits it up into ChromeSingle.exe (singleplayer) and ChromeNet.exe (multiplayer).

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 800 MHz		Intel Pentium 4 1.5 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB		512 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 2 MX ATI Radeon 7000 chipset 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible		Nvidia GeForce 4 ATI Radeon 9000 chipset 64 MB of VRAM