ArcaniA: Gothic 4

ArcaniA: Gothic 4

Developers   Spellbound Studios

Publishers   Nordic Games

Engines   Vision 7

Release dates Windows October 12, 2010

Gothic

Gothic	2001
Gothic II	2002
Gothic II: Night of the Raven
Gothic 3	2006
Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods	2008
ArcaniA: Gothic 4	2010
ArcaniA: Fall of Setarrif	2011

Key points

Poorly optimized, even with modern high end hardware frame rate dips occasionallly below 60 FPS regardless of graphical settings.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums for game series

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys
Steam
Amazon.com
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Retail		DRM: SecuROM activation and release date check. Use the latest patch to remove DRM.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Rename/delete intro videos Go to <path-to-game>\Data\Video Rename or delete JWD_Logo.wmv, Nvidia.wmv and SB_Logo.wmv

Patches

Patch #4 removes SecuROM DRM and fixes various issues.

Performance tweaks

You should make a backup copy of the file modified here. If you want to revert to the original but can't find it, use the "Verify integrity of game cache" option on the game properties through Steam.

Modify configuration files Open <path-to-game>\Data\configuration\ProcessManager.xml Look for the ThreadConfig platform="PC" cores="1" section, change the cores value to the number of cores of your CPU. Save the file and close it. The following steps are optional: Change all thread-pool-bit values to "1". Change all memory-synchronized values to "true".

Enable Xbox UI

While using the Xbox UI accessing the game options will make the game crash, so either make sure you're happy with your settings or temporarily switch back to the PC UI while you access them.

Enabling the Xbox UI will allow you easier navigation through the game and the menus while using a controller, however it has to be switched to every time you open the game.

Enable cheat menu 1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\input.xml 2. Go to the end of the file and add the following before the </inputs> line: <Input command="cheat menu" > <Key code="41" /> <Activation type="first active" /> </Input> 3. Save the file and close it. This will bind the cheat menu to ~. 4. Open up the game and load a save or start a new game. Press ~. 5. Go to the Toggle XBOX/PC Interface option, choose Xbox 360 and hit the back button.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4

Save game data location

	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

General graphics settings.

Advanced graphics settings.

Graphics option	Option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF entry for two possible methods.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Can be forced through driver control.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Can be forced through driver control.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Can be forced through driver control.
High frame rate

Input settings

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Xbox 360 controller supported.
Full controller support		Can be toggled through the cheat menu.
Controller remapping		Requires editing a configuration file, see Controller remapping.
Controller Y-axis inversion		Requires editing a configuration file.

Controller remapping

Edit input configuration file 1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\input.xml 2. The file will contain the current mappings for both controller and keyboard. To remap the controls, simply search for the action you want to remap and change the Gamepad name section of each action for the button you want it to use, for instance, to jump with the A button, change the jumping section to: <Input command="jump" > <Gamepad name="a" /> <Gamepad active="false" name="left shoulder" /> <Activation type="first active" /> </Input> 3. The Activation type value represents how to read the button press, first active means tap, active means hold, and first inactive means letting go of the button. 4. Save the file and close it. Notes: You have to run a game at least once, in order for it to create configuration files. If you hit reset on the in game control options, the contents of this file will be replaced with defaults, including the xbox controller sections.

Invert controller's Y-axis

Edit input configuration file 1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\inputsettings.xml 2. Search the attribute with the name invert_gamepad_y and change its value to true like so: <Attribute name="invert_gamepad_y" type="bool" value="true" /> 3. Save the file and close it. Notes: You have to run a game at least once, in order for it to create configuration files. There are additional options that can be modified in this file, such as inverting X-axis.

Audio settings

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Issues fixed

Game won't start

Game has several problems launching especially with 64-bit Windows 7 installations.

Regular fixes, PhysX-, Audio- and AV-related fixes If using Steam version verify game cache, try disabling steam overlay and manually installing re-distributables. If having Nvidia GPU try copying cudart32_*.dll and cudart64_*.dll from C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common to <path-to-game> Install the NVIDIA PhysX Legacy System Software and then try same thing as above. If using Windows 7 N install WMP. Try to set audio output to 24/16-bit 48000khz. Make executable use Windows XP SP 3 combatibility mode and start in administrator mode. Add installation folder to your antivirus exclude list or as last resort try to uninstall it.

Stuck in jungle level

It is possible, if you go back to the jungle level, to get stuck in it. There are two ways to get around this issue.

Jumping back fix Go south to the ledge near the monastery next to where Bartur is standing. Unequip your weapons. Equip one of the movement speed increase runes (Either Rune of the four winds or Rune of the seven winds). Run back into the ledge and jump.

Cheat fix 1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\input.xml 2. Go to the end of the file and add the following before the </inputs> line: <Input command="hero teleport" > <Key name="Q"/> <Key name="control left" active="true" /> <Activation type="first active"/> </Input> 3. Save the file and close it. 4. Open the game and load your save. 5. Press Ctrl+Q, this should put you into hero teleport mode. Use the regular movement keys to move around and control the direction by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse. Note that not all assets are rendered while in this mode. 6. In this mode you can move without impairments, so simply go wherever you wish and press escape to exit.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.8 GHz AMD Athlon II x2 @ 2.8 GHz	Intel Core I7 @ 3 GHz AMD Phenom II x4 @ 3 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	9 GB
Video card (GPU)	GeForce 8800 GTX DirectX 9.0c compatible	GeForce GTX 295 DirectX 9.0c compatible

System requirements from official site