Guide:FAQ
Welcome to the FAQ page for Sapiens, a resource for when the game becomes a puzzle. This page contains answers to the most common questions new players ask, compiled from the lively dialogues within our Sapiens Discord Server and Steam Community Hub. Whether you're navigating the tutorial or seeking game-specific guidance, you've reached the right place.
Crashing or Graphics issues
By far the most common questions are from graphics card or driver trouble. In some cases the game won't even start, or you see an error message about Vulkan. The following are a list of remedies to try.
Are you meeting the Minimum Requirements?
Your PC or Mac needs to meet the minimum system requirements for the game. You might be able to get it working on a system without a discrete graphics card and using integrated graphics, however the graphic and game performance would be loa and it also might not launch at all.
| Specification | Windows Minimum | Windows Recommended | macOS Minimum | macOS Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor Requirement | Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system | Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system | Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system | Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system |
| OS | Windows 10 - 64 Bit | Windows 10 - 64 Bit | 10.15 (Catalina) or later | 10.15 (Catalina) or later |
| Processor | Multi core CPU | Multi core CPU | Intel or Apple Silicon | Intel or Apple Silicon |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM | 16 GB RAM |
| Graphics | GTX 970 or better | GTX 1080 or better | Discrete Graphics Card, or M1 or better | Discrete Graphics Card, or M1 or better |
| Network | Broadband Internet connection | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Storage | 2 GB available space | 8 GB available space | 2 GB available space | 8 GB available space |
| Additional Notes | Requires up to date graphics drivers | N/A | Intel Integrated graphics not supported | N/A |
Are your Graphics Drivers up to date?
Please update your drivers, both for your graphics card, and for the integrated graphics for your CPU. Very frequently this is caused by a bug in out of date AMD integrated graphics driver. You can download the latest from here:
- AMD Drivers and Support site, under "Processors With Graphics".
- Nvidia Graphic Cards
Usually relying on Windows Update to update video card drivers will not be sufficient - you need to download them from your graphics card vendor.
Vulkan Drivers
Vulkan is a low-overhead, cross-platform 3D graphics and computing API (Application Programming Interface) used by Sapiens. Vulkan provides high-performance, real-time 3D graphics for applications and offers a much lower-level control over hardware, compared to other graphics APIs like OpenGL. This control can lead to more efficient use of system resources, which can improve performance for complex graphics applications. It also makes having the right drivers for your video card a requirement. Everything required for Vulkan usually is provided by your manufacturers up to date drivers, however installing the Vulkan driver directly has worked for some people. Nvidia provides a separate Vulkan driver here, worth a try if you have an nVidia card and are sure you have the right drivers from your manufacturer.
Is Sapiens using your Video Card or Integrated Graphics?
One more thing to try is to ensure Sapiens is using your correct video card. In Windows Right click on your desktop. Click "Display Settings", scroll down to "Graphics", then under "Custom options for apps" browse to Sapiens.exe (default is at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sapiens") and it will give you options to specifically set the card to use.
Anti-virus software
If you have anti-virus software installed, make sure it is not preventing Sapiens from running. "Sentinel One" in particular is known to cause this issue. You may be able to create an exclusion for the Steam apps directory in the settings for your anti-virus software to resolve it.
Run as administrator
Some players have also solved this problem by running the game as an administrator, it may be that the game is exiting because it does not have permissions to write to the save files directory in AppData/Roaming/.
Low on RAM
It may be that you are running low on memory. Sapiens does require at least 4GB of installed memory, and even then if your system is low on memory, then you may need to free some up by exiting other apps. If Sapiens runs out of memory, it will crash.
This is caused by a bug in older Intel integrated graphics drivers. You can fix this by updating your drivers from the Intel driver site[www.intel.com]. However especially with older integrated chipsets, you may still have issues with performance, or crashes due to running out of graphics memory.
Steam Cloud Sync Issues
If you are experiencing synchronization issues within the Steam client, this article has some things to try. Ensure you have a backup of your saves before messing around!
Gameplay
How do I unlock X?
Check the Skills page for a list of skills and how to unlock them.
Why do my Sapiens keep leaving?
The Sapien page has some good information on their traits (happiness, etc) that may help.
My tribe population is dwindling, how do I get more?
The Population Management page has lots of good info on how to increase (and maintain) your Sapien population numbers.
How is time implemented in the game? How long is a year?
You can understand more about how this works on the Time page.
How do I stop Sapiens from eating or using things I don't want them to?
Go to the Tribe Tab, then click on the Resources Tab. Scroll through to find the item you want to restrict then you can uncheck anything you don't want them used for.
Future Game Features
Questions raised about when x functionality is coming and when.
Is feature x planned to be included?
The developer has created an Early Access Roadmap that captures the major features that are planned to be worked on as the game progresses to an official 1.0 release.
When is Multiplayer coming and what will it look like?
There is no firm date for multiplayer functionality however the developer has said he intends to start work on it in early 2023.
I don't see a feature in the roadmap. How can I suggest something?
The best place to make suggestions is on the Discord server. You can make suggestions in the feedback-suggestions channel.