God of War III

God of War III
Developer(s)	SCE Santa Monica Studio
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Series	God of War
Release date(s)	NA March 16, 2010 AU March 18, 2010 EU March 19, 2010
Release type	PlayStation exclusive
Genre(s)	Action, Adventure, Hack and slash
Mode(s)	Single-player
GameID(s)	BCES00510 (IRD), BCES00799 (IRD), BCUS98111 (IRD), BCKS15003 (IRD), BCAS25003 (IRD), BCJS37001 (IRD), BCES00516, BCAS25007, BCJS75001 Demo NPUA70080 Soundtrack NPEA00186
Internal resolution	1280x720
Quick links	Check Compatibility Open Issues Search Google Wikipedia Page

God of War III is is the fifth installment in the God of War series, the seventh chronologically, and the sequel to 2007's God of War II. Loosely based on Greek mythology, the game is set in ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist and former God of War Kratos, after his betrayal at the hands of his father Zeus, King of the Olympian gods. Reigniting the Great War, Kratos ascends Mount Olympus until he is abandoned by the Titan Gaia. Guided by Athena’s spirit, Kratos battles monsters, gods, and Titans in a search for Pandora, without whom he cannot open Pandora's Box, defeat Zeus, and end the reign of the Olympian gods.

The gameplay is similar to previous installments, focusing on combo-based combat with the player's main weapon—the Blades of Exile—and secondary weapons acquired during the game. It uses quick time events, where the player acts in a timed sequence to defeat strong enemies and bosses. The player can use up to four magical attacks and a power-enhancing ability as alternative combat options, and the game features puzzles and platforming elements. Compared with previous installments, God of War III offers a revamped magic system, more enemies, new camera angles, and downloadable content.

Configuration

Options that deviate from RPCS3's default settings and provide the best experience with this title are listed below.

CPU configuration

Setting	Option	Notes
SPU xfloat accuracy	Relaxed	Improves performance without affecting stability.
SPU block size	Mega	Improves performance.

GPU configuration

Setting	Option	Notes
Framelimit	60	Stops the game from speeding up past 60 FPS, and can reduce crashes during load screens.
Resolution scale threshold	160 x 160	When using Resolution scaling above 100%, this must be set to 160x160. Otherwise bloom will appear pixelated.
Write color buffers	On	Required in some sections and the demo version.
Asynchronous texture streaming	On	Improves performance.

Advanced configuration

Setting	Option	Notes
RSX FIFO accuracy	Atomic	Helps with stability.
Driver wake-up delay	50	Required to fix crashes, insignificant performance loss. Try 100 or 200 if it's still crashing.

Recommended patches

Game patches are available through the RPCS3 Patch Manager. To enable them, right-click a game in RPCS3 then select "Manage Game Patches". Game Patches are created by RPCS3's community, and can alter how a game runs. More information can be found here.

Recommendation	Patch name	Notes
Highly recommended patch	Disable MLAA, Disable SPU MLAA	Improves performance and allows Resolution Scaling to work properly
Recommended patch	Skip any videos with X button, Skip intro

Known Issues

This title is currently not considered "playable", as the hardware requirement is too high. But it can be played from start to finish with decent performance on a good CPU, especially if you use the game's patches.

Long black screen after Santa Monica logo

Users may experience a black screen after the Santa Monica logo, which is normal. The game might take up to 5 minutes to progress past this screen.

Resolution Scaling

Resolution Scaling doesn't work properly unless the Disable MLAA patch is enabled. Game patches can be enabled via RPCS3's Patch Manager (go to Manage > Game Patches). The game is also quite RSX intensive and even a RTX 3090 loses a bit of performance at 4k (300% scaling). Due to this most users should stay at 200% or below if they want the best performance.

Physics issues

With low performance and varying framerates, physics issues can occur, such as Kratos not being placed properly on walls and floating off the map. Updating the game version to 1.03 may rectify this.

Special Notes

Custom Icon Art by Jjw410

Custom replacement icon art by user Jjw410. Can be switched with original icon by renaming the image "ICON0.PNG" and replacing the file of the same name in the game's "PS3_GAME" directory (it is recommended to retain the original art for safety). Author has centered the original logo and given it a black drop shadow to match the style of the GOW Collection's icon.

Patches

Anchors:
  gow3_fps_notes: &gow3_fps_notes
    "WARNING: Causes physics issues with harpies, you will need to disable this patch to get past some sections of the game.\n\nUnlocks internal timestep calculation and fixes IGC timing issues at 60 FPS and above. Increase vblank to match your desired framerate."

  gow3_mlaa_notes: &gow3_mlaa_notes
    "Allows for the use of Resolution Scaling in the title.\nSet Resolution Scale Threshold to 1x1 or some effects will break.\n2.0 Slightly improves performance when using resolution scaling in some cases."

  gow3_colorgrading_notes: &gow3_colorgrading_notes
    "Significantly improves performance, changes visuals for Army of Sparta special attack and some lighting changes, generally only on magic sources."

  gow3_fog_notes: &gow3_fog_notes
    "Significantly improves performance in some cases, some distant places may look too clear due to removing the Layered fog effect. The patch is a good alternative to the Color Grading patch."

  gow3_bloom_notes: &gow3_bloom_notes
    "Disables some (not all) bloom effects."

  gow3_camerasway_notes: &gow3_camerasway_notes
    "Stops the ingame camera from swaying and shaking."

  gow3_skipintro_notes: &gow3_skipintro_notes
    "Skips SCE intros up to the first video.\n2.0 now skips first two intro videos."

  gow3_100_title: &gow3_100_title
    "God of War 3 (God of War III)":
      BCES00510: [ 01.00 ]
      BCES00799: [ 01.00 ]
      BCUS98111: [ 01.00 ]
      BCJS37001: [ 01.00 ]
      BCAS25003: [ 01.00 ]

  gow3_103_title: &gow3_103_title
    "God of War 3 (God of War III)":
      BCES00510: [ 01.03 ]
      BCES00799: [ 01.03 ]
      BCUS98111: [ 01.03 ]
      BCJS37001: [ 01.03 ]
      BCAS25003: [ 01.03 ]
      BCKS15003: [ 01.03 ]

PPU-19724fde16a5b111b7b4d2a065f5dccaf8e01962: # God of War 3 1.03
  "Unlock FPS":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "ZEROx, illusion"
    Notes: *gow3_fps_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ bef32, 0x00528560, 1000 ]
      - [ bef32, 0x005284b8, 50000 ] # Min FPS of 2
      - [ be16, 0x000c7b0a, 0xccc8 ] # Chainswing fix
      - [ be16, 0x000ea0fe, 0xccc8 ] # Water freeze fix
  "Skip any videos with X button":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "illusion"
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be16, 0x0026fe14, 0x901f ]
  "Disable MLAA":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "illusion, ZEROx"
    Notes: *gow3_mlaa_notes
    Patch Version: 3.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x0052bf2c, 0x00000000 ]
      - [ be32, 0x0023137c, 0x60000000 ]
  "Disable Depth of Field":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "ZEROx"
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x001c14ac, 0x38000000 ]
  "Disable Motion Blur":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "ZEROx"
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x001c57e4, 0x38000000 ]
  "Disable Color Grading (Speedboost)":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "illusion"
    Notes: *gow3_colorgrading_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ byte, 0x0052bda3, 0x00 ]
  "Disable Layered Fog (Speedboost)":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "ZEROx"
    Notes: *gow3_fog_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x00296a90, 0x38000000 ] # Disable Layered fog
      - [ be32, 0x00296bd4, 0x38000000 ] # On pause
  "Disable Bloom":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "illusion"
    Notes: *gow3_bloom_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x00231288, 0x60000000 ]
  "Disable Camera Sway":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "ZEROx"
    Notes: *gow3_camerasway_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x0015d29c, 0x38000000 ]
  "Skip intro":
    Games: *gow3_103_title
    Author: "illusion, ZEROx"
    Notes: *gow3_skipintro_notes
    Patch Version: 2.0
    Patch:
      - [ byte, 0x00588e50, 0x01 ]       # Skip SCEA logos
      - [ be32, 0x002712b4, 0x4816ce9d ] # bl 0x003de150
      - [ be32, 0x003de150, 0x7d4802a6 ] # mfspr r10,LR
      - [ be32, 0x003de154, 0x3d200055 ] # lis r9,0x55
      - [ be32, 0x003de158, 0x8009fcc5 ] # lwz r0,-0x33b(r9)
      - [ be32, 0x003de15c, 0x3d206f00 ] # lis r9,0x6f00
      - [ be32, 0x003de160, 0x7f804800 ] # cmpw cr7,r0,r9
      - [ be32, 0x003de164, 0x419e001c ] # beq cr7,0x003de180
      - [ be32, 0x003de168, 0x3d206e67 ] # lis r9,0x6e67
      - [ be32, 0x003de16c, 0x39294372 ] # addi r9,r9,0x4372
      - [ be32, 0x003de170, 0x7f804800 ] # cmpw cr7,r0,r9
      - [ be32, 0x003de174, 0x419e000c ] # beq cr7,0x003de180
      - [ be32, 0x003de178, 0x801b0f5c ] # lwz r0,0xf5c(r27) // original
      - [ be32, 0x003de17c, 0x4800000c ] # b 0x003de188
      - [ be32, 0x003de180, 0x394a0020 ] # addi r10,r10,0x20 // branch to skip video function
      - [ be32, 0x003de184, 0x7d4803a6 ] # mtspr LR,r10
      - [ be32, 0x003de188, 0x4e800020 ] # blr

PPU-4d5c51503a81a327c2a99427390a395b8dcb3767: # God of War 3 1.00
  "Unlock FPS":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "ZEROx, illusion"
    Notes: *gow3_fps_notes
    Patch Version: 2.0
    Patch:
      - [ bef32, 0x00528560, 1000 ]
      - [ bef32, 0x005284b8, 100000 ]
      - [ be32, 0x0026b528, 0x60000000 ] # Don't write to target FPS
      - [ bef32, 0x0052bee4, 60 ] # Target FPS # read max of 60 for physics stuff
      - [ be16, 0x0026b6e6, 0xe7a8 ] # 1000.0f sync stuff
      - [ be16, 0x0026b74a, 0xe7a8 ] # 1000.0f sync stuff
      - [ be16, 0x0026b75e, 0xe7a8 ] # 1000.0f sync stuff
      - [ be16, 0x001e51b6, 0xe7a8 ] # 1000.0f gameplay speed scaling
      - [ be16, 0x002710f6, 0xe7a8 ] # 1000.0f video player speed scaling
  "Skip any videos with X button":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "illusion"
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be16, 0x0026fd18, 0x901f ]
  "Disable MLAA":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "illusion, ZEROx"
    Notes: *gow3_mlaa_notes
    Patch Version: 3.0
    Patch:
      - [ byte, 0x0052bf2f, 0x00 ]
      - [ be32, 0x00231248, 0x60000000 ]
  "Disable Depth of Field":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "ZEROx"
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x001c13c8, 0x38000000 ]
  "Disable Motion Blur":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "ZEROx"
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x001c5700, 0x38000000 ]
  "Disable Color Grading (Speedboost)":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "illusion"
    Notes: *gow3_colorgrading_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ byte, 0x0052bda3, 0x00 ]
  "Disable Layered Fog (Speedboost)":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "ZEROx"
    Notes: *gow3_fog_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x00296994, 0x38000000 ] # Disable Layered fog
      - [ be32, 0x00296ad8, 0x38000000 ] # On pause
  "Disable Bloom":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "illusion"
    Notes: *gow3_bloom_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x00231288, 0x60000000 ]
  "Disable Camera sway":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "ZEROx"
    Notes:
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be32, 0x0015d1b8, 0x38000000 ] # Camera sway
  "Skip intro":
    Games: *gow3_100_title
    Author: "illusion"
    Notes: *gow3_skipintro_notes
    Patch Version: 1.0
    Patch:
      - [ be16, 0x001e5468, 0x4800 ]