Killing Time

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Warnings

The Mac OS X version of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.

Killing Time is a singleplayer first-person FPS game.

The Community Patch is highly recommended to play the game. The GOG and Steam versions seem to be different - the former uses an old version of the community patch while the latter is closer to the original release. The original game doesn't support turning while strafing so for a more modern control experience, the Community Patch is a must.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GOG.com
Steam
ZOOM Platform (unavailable)		Original 2015 Prism Entertainment digital distribution release. Now includes a separate edition with community patch as bonus content.

All three digital distribution versions of Killing Time use a slightly different method to run the game on modern systems. GOG's initial 2016 release and the Steam version are known to have glitched colors and graphics on some systems due to an issue with desktop color depth.

Due to licensing conflict between Ziggurat and Zoom, as of 2021 all Majesco titles have been delisted from Zoom alongside with Killing Time.

Essential improvements

Community Patch

Included in the GOG version (outdated 2.1 version) and Zoom Platform release.

Includes the following:

Full mouselook support
Direct3D rendering via dgVoodoo wrapper
No need to kill explorer.exe to play the game
Fixes video playback on Windows XP and newer
Much cleaner intro and ending cutscenes, along with fixing stuttering/crackling issues
Automatic "install game from CD" option for retail release
Code fixes to prevent the game from crashing

Despite mentioning that a CD is needed to apply it, it can be used without it.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>/KillTime.cfg^{[Note 1]}
Mac OS (Classic)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/493320/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>/Savegame.*^{[Note 1]}
Mac OS (Classic)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/493320/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

6 save slots available.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Fixed 640x480 resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Frame rate capped at 60 fps.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Mouse buttons and functions cannot be remapped. Some keys such as Enter and Backslash cannot be mapped.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Mouse Y axis mapped to forward/backward movement and cannot be used to look up and down. (Mouselook supported in Community Patch 2.6, but with no invert mouse axis option)
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Issues fixed

Glitched colors on Steam version

The Steam version uses a flawed solution to run the game on modern systems. This results in glitched colors on some systems due to a desktop color depth bug.

Launch the game with a custom batch file^[1]

Go to the installation folder.
Create a new Windows batch file (extension .bat) and insert the following:

@ECHO OFF
cd /d %~dp0

:start
taskkill /f /im "Explorer.exe"

:killingtime
tasklist /fi "imagename eq Explorer.exe" |find ":" > nul
if errorlevel 1 (
goto start
)
KILLTIME.EXE
goto rerunexplorer

:rerunexplorer
start explorer.exe
tasklist /fi "imagename eq explorer.exe" |find ":" > nul
if errorlevel 1 (
goto end
)
goto rerunexplorer

:end

Notes

It is recommended to create the batch file using Wordpad instead of Notepad, as Notepad may not save the line spacing correctly.

Killtime.exe has stopped working

Fix Data Execution Prevention setting^[2]
Ensure Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is set to the default (Windows programs and services only).

Disable FRAPS
FRAPS may cause the intro FMV to be blank and cause the game to crash when attempting to load the main menu.

Other information

API

Executable	PPC	16-bit	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Mac OS (Classic)

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95
Processor (CPU)		Intel Pentium 90 MHz
System memory (RAM)	12 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	30 MB

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 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).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (493320) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ Solution for the messed up colors bug :: Killing Time General Discussion - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Killtime.exe has stopped working? :: GOG Community Discussions

[gamedir-1] 1.0 ^1.1 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-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (493320) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[3] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[4] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[5] The app ID (493320) may differ in some cases.

[6] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[7] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[3] Solution for the messed up colors bug :: Killing Time General Discussion - last accessed on May 2023

[GOG-4] Killtime.exe has stopped working? :: GOG Community Discussions

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[1]

[2]

Developers

	3DO
Windows	Intrepid Software
Mac OS (Classic)	Logicware
Digital release	Jordan Freeman Group
Publishers
Retail	The 3DO Company
Digital	Prism Entertainment
Digital	Ziggurat Interactive
Release dates
Windows	October 31, 1996
Mac OS (Classic)	December 1997
macOS (OS X)	March 18, 2003
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Genres	FPS
Themes	Horror