Gears of War was a smash hit both on Xbox 360 and PC. The game presented a great story with even better graphics that won over most players. The title has been developed by Epic on the Unreal Engine 3 and as we expected it was quite stable even on lower-end configurations. There were a few problems with the game itself, but there were some complaints as always. We have Pariahman on the official Gears of War forum to thank for the comprehensive list of possible problems and solutions.


Problem:
AMD based systems are crashing.

Solution:
Install the AMD hotfix: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver Version 1.3.2.0053

Problem:
AVG antivirus users have reported that the game won’t start.

Solution:
People may be unable to run the game until they turned off AVG antivirus.

Problem:
After starting Gears of War, play proceeds for about 20-30 seconds before game crashes.

Solution:
There are presently two known causes of this problem.

First, running from the DVD Autorun menu triggers this. The workaround is simply to run the game either from the Games Explorer (Start Menu->Games) or directly from the game folder in Program Files instead. We know where this is occurring, but we are continuing to investigate why it is happening.

Second, some anti-malware programs have incompatibilities with G4W-L. For example, we have seen problems with older versions of Spyware Doctor, Kaspersky and ZoneAlarm. Upgrading to the latest versions of this software generally solves these problems. We have found that merely turning off the software doesn't always help (and we would not advise de-activating your anti-malware anyhow), since the software is generally still doing something in the background. In some cases, there are services running even if the software has been shut down.

In the latter case, Epic has been working with these companies to make sure that the G4W-L problem is properly solved.

Problem:
Game does not start on some Samsung DVD drives. If you attempt to start the game with some Samsung DVD drives, Startup.exe may crash.

Solution:
To fix this problem, restart the game.

Problem:
Some issues with Windows Vista and graphics virtual addresses caused the game to stop. To run Gears of War with Windows Vista on certain hardware, a software update or updates are required. If you do not install this software, at some point the game will stop and your progress will be lost.

Solution:
One update resolves potential problems with graphics virtual addresses and can be found here (KB940105).

The other update helps resolve a secondary graphics card operability issue when running DirectX 10 applications on multiple graphics cards. The update KB936710 can be found here.

Problem:
After upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista, the game does not start.

Solution:
To fix this problem, first uninstall the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package from the Control Panel. Next, download and install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package Service Pack 1 for x86 and x64 systems.

Problem:
Some issues with AMD processors cause the game to stop.

Solution:
To run Gears of War for Windows with certain AMD processors, you must either install the latest AMD Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (x86 and x64). The download will vary for each type of AMD Processor. If you do not install this driver or the latest driver from the website, at some point the game will stop and your progress will be lost.

Problem:
Game launches offset in full-screen mode until the player changes preferences. When you start Gears of War for Windows on some video cards and monitors, the full-screen image is offset to the left approximately 2 inches and down approximately 1 inch.

Solution:
To fix this problem, on the Main Menu click Options, and then click Video Settings. For the Full Screen setting, click the right arrow to turn the option off. Then, click the left arrow to turn the option on. Click ENTER to accept change.

Problem:
Audio was turned off, but audio can still be heard: If you change any audio volume setting before you sign in with a profile, audio can still be heard in some situations.

Solution:
This effect can occur if you change the dialogue or other audio setting before a profile is loaded. When a profile loads, it sets audio settings to whatever that profile specifies. To return audio settings to those preferred, on the Main Menu click Audio Settings and move one or more volume sliders to the desired setting.

Problem:
Audio popping occurs when the audio device is set to Generic Hardware. If the sound effects volume is set to silent and the music volume is not, triggering sound effects of any kind causes static popping. This problem occurs when the audio device is set to Generic Hardware.

Solution:
To fix this problem, open the Guide, click Personal Settings, click Voice, and set the audio device to Generic Software.

Problem:
Audio stops at game start in Windows Vista. When the game is started on certain computers running Windows Vista, the audio stops.

Solution:
To fix this problem, install the latest driver for your sound card.

Problem:
Audio is occasionally corrupted after joining Co-Op game in Windows Vista

Solution:
To fix this problem, go to the guide, then Personal Settings, then Voice, and then set the Voice Playback and Voice Recording devices to something other than "What U Hear" for both the host and the client.

Problem
Audio occasionally crashes on startup in Windows Vista

Solution:
In case of audio/hardware/driver issues, please run Startup.exe with –nosound in the command line to determine if your audio drivers are causing the crash. If the game does not crash with the –nosound command, please upgrade your audio drivers.

Problem:
Voice headsets are not automatically recognized in game.

Solution:
For voice functionality, you may need to do one or both of the following:
1) Set your Voice recording and Playback device in Windows LIVE.
2) Configure and set your headset as default in Windows