Metro Exodus, the UWP variant.

[Anthraksi 0]

While I was enjoying the E3 content yesterday, I happened to notice that the once Epic Games Store exclusive Metro Exodus has switched to being not so exclusive anymore. While the game still isn't on Steam and it changing from being an exclusive to one bad platform, to being available on two almost equally bad platforms (these are all my opinions by the way) wasn't really the change I was hoping to see, I thought I would give it a chance, since it was going to be available for a mere 1€ investment. (plus the added agony of updating windows, that never goes smoothly without anything breaking, does it?)

Well I just booted it up for the first time and it wasn't pretty. The game has been "ported" to the vilified UWP platform and as far as I can see, the game does NOT handle that very well. I haven't gotten past the main menu yet, but from what I have seen I don't think that I really have to.

The game just outright refuses to save any graphics options that I change in the menus. Resolution, DirectX mode, everything remains unchanged no matter what you do. I located the supposed config files too, but they were encrypted and cannot be edited in Notepad++ (location is AppData\Local\Packages\DeepSilver.ProjectWindfall, if you want to have a look) so there pretty much is nothing that I can do at this point to even change the resolution from the abysmal default of 1280x720.

Also you can't access the install folder unless you take over the ownership. Microsoft still thinks it's smart to lock users out of their own computers, so I guess that's just insult to injury at this point.

So yeah all in all it's a huge dumpster fire at this point. I can only guess why the game is broken, but as I previously said I think it's cause of the switch to UWP and the config files not being where they are in the EGS version

Edit: Went into some guy's twitch stream and asked how he got the resolution to change. He said alt+tab in and out and it should work. And it did, at least for me but yeah it's still kinda whack.

[Andytizer 269]

That's shocking! So if I am correct it summarising:

• Metro Exodus UWP (Microsoft Store) keeps defaulting to 1280x720 even if you have a larger screen - resolution can temporarily fixed it by alt-tabbing in and out
• No other graphics settings can be changed, they revert back
• The .ini files in AppData\Local\Packages\DeepSilver.ProjectWindfall\ are locked
• Even if you take ownership the ini files are encrypted

I'm trying to install the game but it's giving me an error message:

Looks like other people may be experiencing the issue as well. However I've checked that I'm using version 1903 of WIndows, and I've installed the new Xbox app and subscribed to Xbox Game Pass for PC Games.

 

[Andytizer 269]

A lot of people are experiencing issues:

• Can't save - thread thread
• Config and save files are buried - thread
• Can't login to Xbox Live - thread
• Can't install - thread

 

[Anthraksi 0]

Well as we discussed on Discord, the .ini files can be found, but they are in a weird form (thanks for the link!): https://old.reddit.com/r/metro/comments/byvqm0/win_store_version_configuration_and_save_location/

And I managed to get the graphics settings to save after a couple of tries, no idea why they didnt save on the first two tries.

But yes, even so when the resolution is set to native (3440x1440) in the config file and in-game, the game still renders itself with a smaller resolution which results in a very blurry image. Since the game uses UWP and all of their apps are ran in borderless windowed, the game does techincally run in a window that is sized at 3440x1440, but it does not render itself in that unless I alt+tab in and out.

[Andytizer 269]

17 minutes ago, Anthraksi said:

Well as we discussed on Discord, the .ini files can be found, but they are in a weird form (thanks for the link!): https://old.reddit.com/r/metro/comments/byvqm0/win_store_version_configuration_and_save_location/

And I managed to get the graphics settings to save after a couple of tries, no idea why they didnt save on the first two tries.

But yes, even so when the resolution is set to native (3440x1440) in the config file and in-game, the game still renders itself with a smaller resolution which results in a very blurry image. Since the game uses UWP and all of their apps are ran in borderless windowed, the game does techincally run in a window that is sized at 3440x1440, but it does not render itself in that unless I alt+tab in and out.

This looks like a common issue, check this reviewer who can't get 4K working correctly:

Also another user is reporting crashing.

[Andytizer 269]

Another confirmation of save game and setting save issues:

Quote

The Windows Store Version of Metro Exodus doesn't create Save Game Folder

The Game doesn't create a Save Game Folder (C:\Users(Your name)\Saved Games\metro exodus). Game progress and settings (graphics etc) are not being saved. I can start the game and change settings temporarily, but after closing the game everything is set to default and the progress is gone.

What I did:

I installed the new Version of the XBox App (Including Win 10 Version 1903)

I downloaded Metro Exodus via the App and installed it on a different drive (D:) than my system is on (C:).

I started the game

Unfortunately I can't install the game on 😄 because it requires over 50 GB. Also the installation Folder on 😧 is just a big archive without any user-access at all (I assume because of copyright protection of the Windows Store)

What I tried (without a solution):

Deleting the game via the Xbox App and downloading it again

Starting the App as Admin

Downloading another Metro Exodus profile and trying to get the game run with these settings / savegames

 

[chaz 0]

I was experiencing save issues the first time I booted the game. I had to restart the game and my pc to get it to start saving progress. Like someone else said, I have to alt+tab out and back into the game to get the game to render properly. Also, the game on "Ultra" settings looks terrible.

 

If this is what Game Pass is going to be like on PC, I'm going to completely pass on it. Not being able to adjust the FOV is bone-headed stuff.

[KamikazeMoFo 0]

After countless restarts and tries, i still cannot save neither the progress or the settings. 1440p looks terrible and the FOV is useless at this time.

[Anthraksi 0]

2 hours ago, KamikazeMoFo said:

After countless restarts and tries, i still cannot save neither the progress or the settings. 1440p looks terrible and the FOV is useless at this time.

Try the mentioned Alt+Tab trick if it looks like its not rendering at 1440p, I discovered that you can also change DX12 to DX11 and it will do the same thing essentially. The game cannot run in DX11 though, it's DX12 only on the UWP version.

Also the article on PCGW has the location of the configuration file, worth trying to edit it directly to get your settings to save.

[Jinx 2]

Any updates on this issue? Have the developers addressed it, or have there been any patches? I was going to pick up gamepass for a month or so to blast through this and Wolfenstein II but I guess I should wait until this gets fixed.

[chaz 0]

2 hours ago, Jinx said:

Any updates on this issue? Have the developers addressed it, or have there been any patches? I was going to pick up gamepass for a month or so to blast through this and Wolfenstein II but I guess I should wait until this gets fixed.

Honestly, I'd give it some more time. The UWP version of Metro is very poor and I don't know if Wolfenstein would be any better since I do not know if it's a new release or something that's been on the MS Store since release in 2017. It wouldn't be a risk to try, it only cost me £1 for a month (£4 after that in the duration of it's beta).

[Anthraksi 0]

4 hours ago, Jinx said:

Any updates on this issue? Have the developers addressed it, or have there been any patches? I was going to pick up gamepass for a month or so to blast through this and Wolfenstein II but I guess I should wait until this gets fixed.

As far as I know it's still a crapshoot if the game works on your system. For me the only problem that still persists is the resolution, I have to do the Alt+Tab or switch DX modes every time I boot up the game. But that's pretty minor in my books.

But others have not been so lucky, if the game refuses to save for you, then it's pretty much unplayable unless you plan on playing through it in one sitting. Also some users report that alt+tab crashes the game and changing the DX mode crashes it too, so those people do not have a way to change the rendering resolution from the default 720p mode at all.

So yeah, it's totally up in the air if the game works on your system or not. But even still, the game pass costs just 1$/1€ for the first month, and it has a lot of other games that are worth playing, so I don't think there is much of a risk trying it out. But no patches are available at this point at least.

[chaz 0]

5 minutes ago, Anthraksi said:

As far as I know it's still a crapshoot if the game works on your system. For me the only problem that still persists is the resolution, I have to do the Alt+Tab or switch DX modes every time I boot up the game. But that's pretty minor in my books.

But others have not been so lucky, if the game refuses to save for you, then it's pretty much unplayable unless you plan on playing through it in one sitting. Also some users report that alt+tab crashes the game and changing the DX mode crashes it too, so those people do not have a way to change the rendering resolution from the default 720p mode at all.

So yeah, it's totally up in the air if the game works on your system or not. But even still, the game pass costs just 1$/1€ for the first month, and it has a lot of other games that are worth playing, so I don't think there is much of a risk trying it out. But no patches are available at this point at least.

Xbox (beta) app just updated for me but I have no idea what it does or if there is a changelog for the app. No information on the Microsoft store page. Although the Xbox (beta) app does feel a bit snappier and less laggy on page loading. No updates on Metro yet.

[Andytizer 269]

I have been trying from the beginning and I have yet to be able to install Metro Exodus from the Microsoft Store at all - I keep receiving the error code 0x80070005. I have tried updating Windows, Xbox app, running in admin mode etc, but can't get it to install at all. Other games like Gears of War 4 install just fine. Still very frustrating, as I bought Xbox Game Pass PC Games specifically to test Metro Exodus out.

[dontpokethebear 0]

I've got a new issue to report. The graphics seem bugged/broken upon launch. I have to edit the video settings, any settings, and it fixes. I initially discovered this to get HDR working properly, but I had the same exact problem even when I disabled HDR at the system level. Everything is blurry and the gamma is too low. When I look at the menu, everything seems to be correct; it's just too dim and blurry but unchecking and renabling HDR seems to make it work. I just wish this wasn't so stupid.

 

I would also like to add that I encountered the "could not save" issue along with the "could not log into xbox live" issue. The first was resolved by simply closing and re-starting the game a couple time. The latter was fixed by enabling windows firewall and allowing all settings to default. You can test your xbox live connectivity in the xbox portion of the windows setting menu. For those who can't install, I'd triple check you're on 1903 with all the latest updates.

Edited June 13, 2019 by dontpokethebear
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