Tachyon: The Fringe

Tachyon: The Fringe is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person vehicle combat game.

General information

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc DRM^{[Note 1]}.
Developer website
GOG.com		Pre-configured with nGlide.
Steam

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

A demo is available.

Essential improvements

Official patches

Patches are available.

As of 2020-12-28 the NovaLogic site is down. The patch can be downloaded from the web archive

Steam and GOG versions are already patched.

Windows 10 CD install guide and high resolution fix

Guide on Steam

If after choosing a high resolution the ship spins wildly out of control, press Alt+Tab ↹ and then return back into the game to fix this. This has to be repeated on each game launch.^{[citation needed]}

Skip intro videos

Disable 3dfx logo (GOG.com)^[3]
Run the nGlide configurator in the installation folder. Change the 3dfx logo splash screen setting. Click Apply, then Exit.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Tachyon.cfg^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32760/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\player00.sav^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32760/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Works with nglide (GOG-version already comes with it). Use nglide_config.exe in the game directory to set the resolution. To configure the game with nglide in other versions, follow the guide on WSGF (section "Glide renderer").
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD		Works with nglide (GOG-version already comes with it). Use nglide_config.exe in the game directory to set the resolution.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	Frame rate is capped at 50 FPS.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Analog inputs not supported.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Doesn't pause on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play
Online play		50	The NL Exe Patcher is required for continued online functionality.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	3, 6, 7	Original release uses Direct3D 3, later releases use Direct3D 6 or 7.
Glide	2
Software renderer

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95 2000, XP, Vista (Steam)	98, ME, 2000
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium MMX 200 MHz (with 3D accelerator) Intel Pentium II 400 MHz (without 3D accelerator) Intel Pentium II 450 MHz (Steam)	Intel Pentium II 400 MHz (with 3D accelerator)
System memory (RAM)	32 MB 128 MB (Steam)	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	500 MB
Video card (GPU)	8 MB 16 MB (Steam) of VRAM DirectX 3.0 compatible	16 MB of VRAM DirectX 6.0 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible
Other		3D accelerator card recommended.

Notes

↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10^[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.^[2]
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/32760/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (32760) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
↑ Verified by User:Garrett on January 14, 2017

[3] SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10^[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.^[2]

[gamedir-5] 2.0 ^2.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[Proton_path_note-6] 3.0 ^3.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/32760/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (32760) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16

[2] Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16

[4] Verified by User:Garrett on January 14, 2017

[Note 1]

[3]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[1]

[2]

Developers

	NovaLogic
Publishers
2000-2016	NovaLogic
2016-present	THQ Nordic
Engines
	Voxel Space 32
Release dates
Windows	April 24, 2000
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Vehicle combat
Vehicles	Space flight
Themes	Sci-fi, Space