Black & White

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Black & White
Black & White cover
Developers
Windows Lionhead Studios
Mac OS Zonic Limited
Publishers
Windows Electronic Arts
Mac OS Feral Interactive
Release dates
Windows March 25, 2001
Mac OS December 2001
OS X December 2001
 
 
 
Black & White
Black & White 2001
Black & White 2 2005

Key points

The official multiplayer servers have been shut down.[1] Online features can be restored with Black & White Resurrection.
A no CD crack is required to play under latest Windows and apply the fan patch that fixes problems on newer hardware.

General information

Black & White BaW Patch Dev
Black & White Support/Modding Community
Black & White Online

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
 
 
 DRM: SafeDisc disc check (Windows).
 
Mac OS
This game is not available digitally.

Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions

Name Notes
Black & White: Creature Isle
 
 

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Find, delete or rename to something else <path-to-game>\Data\logo.bik

Patches[edit]

Patch 1.3[edit]

Includes all fixes from previous releases.[2][3] Adds support for P5-Glove. If you don't own it, use the replacement P5DLL.dll.
Sometimes installing a new patch might delete the music folder. Make a backup before proceeding. See missing music.
Multiplayer matches can only be happen between players with the same game build.

BaW Patch[edit]

Fixes various issues experienced on modern systems, including washed textures and massive draw distance reduction.
Requires a no CD crack.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\
Mac OS
macOS (OS X)

Save game data location[edit]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Profiles\<user-id>\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\LHMultiplayer
Mac OS
macOS (OS X)
In-game settings and profile data for the Windows version are stored in the registry.

Video settings[edit]

Most video settings have to be changed through the external configuration tool.
Settings launcher.
Settings launcher.
Advanced settings.
Advanced settings.
In-game advanced settings.
In-game advanced settings.
Graphics option Option WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
 
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
See Windowed. Fixes Alt+Tab ↹ related crashes.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS

Widescreen resolution[edit]

Set resolution in registry[citation needed]
  1. Run <path-to-game>\Setup.exe and adjust your settings. Set your resolution to anything else.
  2. Open the Registry Editor.
  3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\BWSetup.
  4. Look for ScreenH and ScreenW.
  5. Enter your resolution for each value in decimal mode.

Notes

If the custom resolution isn't working try running Setup.exe again, then set your resolution to 800x600.
Don't forget to run both Setup.exe and runblack.exe as an admin.

Windowed[edit]

In order to play with no borders on fullscreen see Borderless fullscreen windowed.
D3DWindower[citation needed]
  1. See D3DWindower for further instructions.
  2. Find <path-to-game>\runblack.exe.
  3. Run it with D3DWindower by pushing the fifth button.
  • Black & White Windowed Mode.png

Notes

Using D3DWindower allows players on Windows 8 and later to play at a stable frame rate.
Activating the emulation is not needed. Running the game directly through the launcher will work.
Run any borderless applications before running D3Dwindower or else the game will crash.

Input settings[edit]

In-game controls settings.
In-game controls settings.
Keyboard and mouse Native Notes
Remapping
While playing.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio settings[edit]

In-game audio and video settings.
In-game audio and video settings.
Audio options Native Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio CC Notes
English
Italian
Polish

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Online play
The official multiplayer servers have been shut down.[1]
Use Black & White Resurrection. Creature Isle expansion is not supported.

VR support[edit]

Devices Native Notes
Tracked motion controllers
Supports the Essential Reality P-5 Data Glove.

Issues fixed[edit]

Compatibility problems[edit]

Make sure to run the game and the setup launcher as an admin on newer versions of Windows.[citation needed]

P5DLL.dll is missing[edit]

Download fixed dll[citation needed]
  1. Download fixed p5dll.dll
  2. Copy it to <path-to-game>

Missing music[edit]

Music fix[citation needed]
  1. Make a backup of the audio folder before installing any patches.
  2. Copy and paste the backup to <path-to-game>

Another way is to copy the Music folder found within the Audio folder on the CD into <path-to-game>\Audio.

Poor framerate on Windows 8[edit]

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Download the following archive.
  2. Go to the main installation folder, and extract the file.

Bad textures/landscape[edit]

Make sure 'Maximum Detail' is selected in the graphic options or the fix will not work.
Install BaW Patch[citation needed]

Missing or malfunctioning add-ons[edit]

Install BaW Patch[citation needed]

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
64-bit executable

Misc[edit]

Black & White Online Launcher[edit]

Streamlined client, makes playing online far easier.
Fairly buggy on more modern operating systems, still in development.

Patch Uninstaller[edit]

Useful for either quickly downgrading or reinstalling a certain patch quickly.

Mods[edit]

Require at least patch 1.10.
Villager Banter Add-On
Football Add-On
Music Add-on

Additional Creatures[edit]

Leopard
Mandrill
Gorilla
Horse

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 95, 98, Me, 2000
Processor (CPU) Pentium II 350 MHz
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 600 MB
Video card (GPU) 8 MB of VRAM
DirectX 7.0a compatible
Mac OS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) OS 8.6
Processor (CPU) G3 333 MHz
System memory (RAM) 96 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 600 MB
Video card (GPU) 8 MB of VRAM
OpenGL 1.2 compatible

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 End of an era: Black & White Multiplayer goes Off-Line - Lionhead Studios News
  2. ↑ Patch 1.1 Changelog
  3. ↑ Patch 1.2 Changelog