Gothic

Gothic
Gothic	2001
Gothic II	2002
Gothic 3	2006
Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods	2008
Arcania: Gothic 4	2010
Arcania: Fall of Setarrif	2011

Key points

Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack to remove the 25 FPS cap, fix compatibility issues, and improve resolution support.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums for game series

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Install the version 1.08k patch.
Gamesplanet
GOG.com
Steam		Only sold as part of bundles. Install the version 1.08k patch.

Version differences[edit]

The original German release included a performance by In Extremo that was omitted from later German releases and all international versions. Use the In Extremo Mod.

The Russian Gothic: Collector's Edition includes Gothic and the Diccuric mod.

The German Gothic Collector's Edition includes Gothic along with Gothic II and its expansion.

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

The latest retail patch is version 1.08k. Some digital distribution versions already include this patch. To check your current patch version look at the bottom right of the main menu box.

Player-Kit[edit]

The Player-Kit is required for playing mods.

Causes a minor issue with a gate near the end of the game; use Gothic ½ — SystemPack to avoid this issue (recommended) or use Gothic_backup.exe temporarily to pass this area.

Install Player-Kit^[1]

If you are using a disc version ensure you have the latest patch (see Patches).
Download and install the Player-Kit.
Mods can now be installed. The in-game version number is changed to 1.08k_mod.

Gothic will now show a mod selector window when launched; to have a shortcut launch the unmodded game directly, change it to point to GothicMod.exe instead of Gothic.exe.

SystemPack[edit]

Fan-made patch, introduces many fixes and features. Download and installation instructions here. Requires PlayerKit.

Skip intro videos[edit]

Change playLogoVideos setting^[1]

Go to the configuration file(s) location.
Edit gothic.ini
Change playLogoVideos=1 to playLogoVideos=0
Save your changes.
The game will now go directly to the main menu when launched.

Restore In Extremo performance[edit]

The original German release included a performance by In Extremo; this was omitted from later German releases and all international versions.

Use inextremo.VDF^{[citation needed]}

Download the In Extremo Mod.
Extract to Data in the installation folder.
Start a new game. In Extremo will perform during Chapter 2.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\system\GOTHIC.INI

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Saves

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings[edit]

Video settings.

Graphic settings.

Graphics option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Only some resolutions listed; see Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor		Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack.
Ultra-widescreen		Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack.
Field of view (FOV)	Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack.
Windowed	Works with limitations; see Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	Works with limitations; see Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Force in the graphics card's control panel.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Forcing in the graphics card's control panel may cause black videos.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Force in the graphics card's control panel.
60 FPS	Capped at 25 FPS by default; use Gothic ½ — SystemPack.
120+ FPS	Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack. Framerate affects sliding on terrain.^[1]

Widescreen resolution[edit]

Gothic only has native support for 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x800, and 1440x900.

Use other widescreen resolutions^[2]

Go to the installation folder.
Go into system
Make a shortcut for the Gothic executable:
- If the Player-Kit is not installed, make a shortcut to Gothic.exe
- If the Player-Kit is installed, make a shortcut to GothicMod.exe
Right click the shortcut and choose Properties.
Paste the following onto the end of the Target field:
-zRes:XXXX,XXXX,32
Replace the XXXX parts with the width and height of your resolution.
Click Apply. Use this shortcut to launch the game with your chosen resolution.

Windowed[edit]

Task-switching may cause repeated Tab input when you return to the game (simply press Tab again to make it work normally).

Task-switching during video cutscenes will crash the game (there are only four during the game, not counting the intro and ending).

Change zStartupWindowed setting^[1]

Run the game at least once.
Go to the configuration file(s) location.
Edit gothic.ini
Change zStartupWindowed=0 to zStartupWindowed=1
Change scaleVideos=1 to scaleVideos=0 (otherwise videos render in the corner of the screen).
Save your changes.

Borderless fullscreen windowed[edit]

See Windowed for the limitations of this mode.

Set up borderless fullscreen windowed mode^[1]

Install the Player-Kit.
Install the Gothic ½ — SystemPack.
Set zStartupWindowed=1 in Gothic.ini (see Windowed).
Set your desktop resolution in-game. Gothic should now display as a fullscreen borderless window.

Input settings[edit]

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		No cursor; buttons and wheel work but can't change settings.
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Set in Settings, Game, Invert View.
Controller
Controller support

Audio settings[edit]

Audio settings.

Audio options	Native	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound and music.
Surround sound		Change Speakers to Surround.
Subtitles		Disabled by default; set in Settings, Game, Subtitles.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Not supported.
EAX support		Change Soundprovider to EAX 2.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	CC	Notes
English
Czech
German
Italian				Available in the LangPack.
Polish				Available on Steam, despite not being stated in the store page.^[1]^[3]
Russian
Spanish

Issues unresolved[edit]

ATI 1xxx invisible inventory items[edit]

Inventory item graphics turn invisible on ATI 1xxx cards (the items themselves are still there). There is no known fix.

One potential fix is to add zInventoryItemsDistanceScale=2.0 under [GAME] in GOTHIC.INI.^[4]

Issues fixed[edit]

Black videos (sound but no picture)[edit]

This is caused by forcing anti-aliasing. Either method below will fix this.

Disable video card anti-aliasing^{[citation needed]}

Open your graphics card's control panel.
Set anti-aliasing to Application-Controlled.
Apply the changes.

Disable video scaling^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration file(s) location.
Edit gothic.ini
Change scaleVideos=1 to scaleVideos=0
Save your changes. Videos will now display centred.

Window border visible in fullscreen mode[edit]

Gothic and Gothic II show a window border in fullscreen mode on Windows 8 and later.

The GOG.com version already includes this fix.

Apply the fix

Install the Gothic ½ — SystemPack.

Poor performance[edit]

Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack.

Access violation errors (Steam)[edit]

Disable Steam Community In-Game overlay^{[citation needed]}

Right-click the game in the Steam Library.
Choose Properties.
Uncheck Enable Steam Community In-Game.
Click Close to save your changes.

Notes

Browsing to the game's Steam folder and running as Administrator will work as well, if disabling the in-game overlay does not.^{[citation needed]}

Access Violation / Assertion Failed error when saving[edit]

This can be caused by deleting the saves folder.

Make saves folder^{[citation needed]}

Go to the installation folder.
Make a folder called saves.

If you want to delete saves in the future delete the individual saves within the folder, not the saves folder itself.

Gate cutscene doesn't play, gate won't open[edit]

A gate in the final area won't open when playing with the Player-Kit due to the cutscene not playing.