Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved

Developers
	Lucid Games
macOS (OS X)	Aspyr Media
Linux	Aspyr Media
Publishers
	Sierra Entertainment
OS X, Linux	Aspyr Media
Release dates
Windows	November 25, 2014
macOS (OS X)	November 25, 2014
Linux	November 25, 2014
Reception
OpenCritic	84
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	Finite spend, Time-limited
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Top-down view
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Arcade, Shooter
Art styles	Abstract
Series	Geometry Wars

Geometry Wars
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved	2007
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved	2014

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) release of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view and top-down view arcade and shooter game in the Geometry Wars series.

Formerly Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions the game received a free "Evolved" update which changed the name of the game in addition to adding more content.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
GamersGate
Steam
Humble Store (unavailable)

All versions require Steam DRM. The Mac App Store version is no longer sold.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Secret Eye and Blood Count Pack	Preorder exclusive.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
Finite spend	The Secret Eye and Blood Count Pack could only be obtained once as a preorder bonus.
Time-limited	The Secret Eye and Blood Count Pack was an exclusive preorder bonus.

Game data

Configuration file location

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\GeometryWars3Dimensions\Settings
macOS (OS X)
Linux

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System	Location
macOS (OS X)
Steam	<Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/310790/remote/

You need to rename save files manually when moving between systems. On Windows, the file is called savegame.dat, on OS X macsavegame.dat and on Linux linuxsavegame.dat. This is because patches to non-Windows releases are sometimes delayed which might cause compatibility issues.

Saves are not compatible between the Mac App Store and Steam versions.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Double buffered. Triple buffered option available inside the Configuration file location.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Output frame rate dependent on the refresh rate. See Run the game at screen refresh rate if the game's output FPS does not match desired value. Internal update rate of most elements (camera, animations, physics, etc.) locked at 60 Hz. See High frame rate to increase the internal update rate to match the output FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Fullscreen mode defaults to 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that. This issue will most likely persist even after disabling fullscreen optimizations and explicitly setting the refresh rate to a different value in the configuration file and setting it to read-only.

Set screen mode to either windowed or borderless windowed mode
Set desktop refresh rate to the desired value. Start the game and go to settings, select video and change the screen mode to either windowed or borderless windowed.

Set screen refresh rate[citation needed]
Install Special K. Start the game once and close it to allow the configuration file of Special K to be created. Open <path-to-game>\d3d9.ini or %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\GW3.exe\SpecialK.ini depending on the installation method you used. Change RefreshRate=-1 to RefreshRate=0 under [Render.FrameRate].

High frame rate

Most elements are locked to a 60 Hz update rate, meaning even if the screen refresh rate and output frame rate are set to a higher value (e.g. 300 Hz and FPS respectively) these elements will only have 60 unique frames. These unique frames are repeated as many times as necessary to match output frame rate.

It should be noted that the internal updated rate should match or at least not exceed the external output rate to mitigate risk of lower response rates or slow down.

Increasing the internal update rate limit will also affect physics slightly. The effects are rather insignificant if not unnoticeable for most events even at 300 Hz, but issues are considerable at that rate in a few "pacifist" events. In these events, the player cannot directly shoot the enemies that depending on their type would destroy or momentarily immobilize them. This fact allows the enemies to maintain their behavior (which are physics based and involve movement) for much longer in these types of events. The following behavior was noticed after fully completing the single-player and local co-op campaign at 300 Hz update rate:

1. At higher update rates the blue seeker enemy type can follow the player slightly faster.
2. The red and blue charger enemy will also update the player position faster for itself, behaving more like a heat seeking missile rather than a charger. Stage #17 - Matador" in the "Ultimate" section of the single-player campaign becomes particularly difficult. However, if this enemy misses the player and hits a wall, they'll get knocked back towards the player far less than usual; making this enemy type easier to deal with in this context.
3. The "Turret" ability will fire much faster for the same amount of time. Meaning much more ammunition will be fired overall, making this ability far more useful.
4. And as a direct result, if this ability is used on stages featuring green walls, the game becomes prone to crashing.

This fix has only been tested during offline sessions. It may cause issues online.

Modify with Cheat Engine

Install Cheat Engine and attach the game process. While GW3.exe is selected in the memory search range, search for the following in rounded (extreme) mode, while Executable, Writable and CopyOnWrite is set to Don't Care and the Fast Scan option disabled: 0.016666666666 as a float. Change every value to 1/FPS (e.g. 0.006944444444 for 144 FPS or to 0.003333333333 for 300 FPS). Save the cheat table. Temporary solution. The saved cheat table must be used and its values changed with each launch.

Modify with hex editor

Use Steamless to remove DRM from GW3.exe - the resulting .exe file can replace the original, it isn't necessary to repack the .exe with DRM. Open GW3.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Replace all instances of 89 88 88 3C (60 FPS) with one of the following, 39 8E E3 3B for 144 FPS. 89 88 88 3B for 240 FPS. 0E 74 5A 3B for 300 FPS. 61 0B 36 3B for 360 FPS. Permanent solution. Only needs to be applied once. If the desired value is not listed above, apply it using the Cheat Engine method above. Right-Click one the changed values and select "Browse this memory region" to view the hex values.

Input

In-game keyboard/mouse settings.

In-game gamepad settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers
PlayStation button prompts		Xbox prompts.
Motion sensors support
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound FX, Music
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		4	Co-op
LAN play
Online play		Online play and leaderboards in the Mac App Store version no longer work.

Connection types

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

Issues fixed

Game runs slow, response times issues

In certain configurations, the game may mistakenly attempt to run at 25 Hz with Vsync enabled. See Run the game at screen refresh rate. This has already been confirmed to be fixed in a future patch

Issues unresolved

Windowing issues on Linux

Linux version experiences major issues with windowing on multi-monitor systems.^{[citation needed]}

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	FMOD
Multiplayer	Steamworks

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	1 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X1900 XT Nvidia GeForce 6800 GT 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 10 compatible

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.9.5		10.10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	1 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 3870 Nvidia GeForce GT 330M Intel HD 4000

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	SteamOS, Ubuntu 14.04
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Quad AMD Phenom II X4
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	1 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 5570 Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 Intel HD 4400