Contrast

Contrast

Developers
	Compulsion Games
Publishers
	Focus Home Interactive
Engines
	Unreal Engine 3
Release dates
Windows	November 15, 2013
Reception
Metacritic	62
OpenCritic	60
IGDB	57
Taxonomy
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person, Cinematic camera
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Platform, Puzzle
Art styles	Stylized
Themes	Interwar, North America, Supernatural

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Steam

All versions require Steam DRM.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Collector's edition	Includes Original Soundtrack and the Programme (Artwork, Dev. Diary). No option to buy separately.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Use launch parameter[citation needed]
Add Menu_CabaretWithoutLogo to the game's launch parameter. Note that there is no dash (-) before the first word. Notes For information how to use launch parameters, see Command line arguments.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Contrast\ContrastGame\Config\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/224460/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\binaries\win32\contrastsave*
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/224460/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Use Flawless Widescreen.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Nvidia users can force SGSSAA in Nvidia Profile Inspector, see Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS
120+ FPS		See High frame rate.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 3 page for more details.

The game uses graphic presets (low, medium, high) and doesn't offer advanced settings.

Field of view (FOV)

Use Flawless Widescreen[citation needed]

Set hotkeys in ContrastInput.ini

Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Contrast\ContrastGame\Config\ContrastInput.ini Go to [Engine.PlayerInput] and add the following lines with the FOV you want: Bindings=(Name="L", Command="FOV 150") Bindings=(Name="K", Command="FOV 90") Save your changes. Start the game and press K to use the new FOV. Notes Press L to lower FOV for cutscenes and puzzles that don't display correctly with high FOV values.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Set borderless windowed[citation needed]
Install Special K. Start the game and press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+← Backspace to toggle Special K's Control Panel. Open the Display menu and select "Windowed Mode" and "Force Override". Expand "Window Management" and "Style and Position". Enable "Borderless" and "Fullscreen (Borderless Upscale)". Restart game to apply the changes.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Set AF manually[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open ContrastEngine.ini. Change MaxAnisotropy=4 to MaxAnisotropy=16.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

SGSSAA (Nvidia only)
Download and open Nvidia Profile Inspector. Open the Contrast profile. Set Antialiasing Compatibility to 0x080000C1. Set Antialiasing Mode to Override any application setting. Set Antialiasing Setting to 4x Multisampling or your desired level of MSAA. Set Antialiasing Transparency Supersampling to match the level of Multisampling. Apply changes and close the program.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Disable Vsync
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open ContrastEngine.ini. Change UseVsync=True to UseVsync=False.

High frame rate

Change frame rate smoothing[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open ContrastEngine.ini. Search and change bSmoothFrameRate to FALSE or raise MaxSmoothedFrameRate value. Save file. For more information, see the Unreal Engine 3 page.

Input

Mouse settings.

Controls screen.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Modify ContrastInput.ini.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration		See Mouse smoothing. A mix of no acceleration and negative acceleration.
Mouse input in menus		Right click to go back
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Native support for Xbox 360 controller
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Modify ContrastInput.ini.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers
Directinput button prompts

Nintendo controllers
Nintendo button prompts
Face button layout support
Motion sensors support
Connection modes

Other controller(s)
Peripheral devices support
Additional button prompts

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

Mouse smoothing

Modify ContrastInput.ini[citation needed]
Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Contrast\ContrastGame\Config\ContrastInput.ini Go to bEnableMouseSmoothing under the section [Engine.PlayerInput] and change the value to false Save your changes and start the game.

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		BGM, SFX, Dialogue
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

It's not possible to change language and subtitles separately.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Fan translation - #1 ⠀ bez diakritiky
French
German
Italian
Polish				Fan translation, [1].
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Kazakh				Fan translation, download.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Contrast.

Other information

API

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP SP2, Vista SP1, 7, 8
Processor (CPU)	AMD / Intel 2.3 GHz Dual Core
System memory (RAM)	2 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	4 GB
Video card (GPU)	AMD Radeon X2600 XT Nvidia GeForce 7900 GTX 512 MB of VRAM Shader model 3.0 support