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Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 cover
Developers
Traveller's Tales
macOS (OS X) Open Planet Software[1]
macOS (OS X) Feral Interactive[1]
Publishers
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
OS X Feral Interactive
Russia Noviy Disk[2]
Engines
Nu2
Release dates
Windows June 25, 2010
macOS (OS X) January 21, 2011
Reception
Metacritic 79
IGDB 81
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Cinematic camera
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Adventure
Vehicles Automobile, Flight
Themes Contemporary, Fantasy
Series Lego Harry Potter
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 on HowLongToBeat
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 on IGDB
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 guide on StrategyWiki
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 on MobyGames
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 on Wikipedia
Lego Harry Potter
Subseries of Harry Potter
Subseries of Lego
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 2010
Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 2011

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is a singleplayer and multiplayer cinematic camera action and adventure game in the Lego Harry Potter series.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SecuROM 7.42.0001 DRM.
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
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Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
[3]
Windows
Mac App Store (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
macOS (OS X)

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %APPDATA%\WB Games\LEGO® Harry Potter™\pcconfig.txt
macOS (OS X) $HOME/Library/Preferences/Feral Interactive/LEGO Harry Potter/
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/21130/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %APPDATA%\WB Games\LEGO® Harry Potter™\SavedGames\
macOS (OS X) $HOME/Library/Preferences/Feral Interactive/LEGO Harry Potter/SavedGames/
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/21130/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings
Video settings
Effects settings
Effects settings

Windowed

Force windowed[4]
  1. Download and run DxWnd.
  2. Click on Edit and Add.
  3. Set the path to <path-to-game>\LEGOHarryPotter.exe.
  4. Set the desired window position and size.
  5. Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed.
  6. Click OK, then File and Save.

This doesn't work on the Steam version, it triggers the copy protection: https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/general/thread/68607a59/

Input

Controls settings
Controls settings

Audio

Audio settings
Audio settings

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

Localizations

Digital releases only show EFGIS as supported languages, but it is possible to switch to other languages using the command line arguments.
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
Set the -language czech argument in game's properties for digital releases.
Danish
Set the -language danish argument in game's properties for digital releases.
Dutch
Set the -language dutch argument in game's properties for digital releases.
French
German
Hungarian
Fan made translation.
Italian
Polish
Set the -language polish argument in game's properties or follow this guide for digital releases.
Brazilian Portuguese
Set the -language brazilian argument in game's properties for digital releases.
Russian
Set the -language russian argument in game's properties or follow this guide for digital releases.
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
2 Co-op
LAN play
Online play

Issues fixed

Enhanced Graphics mode won't enable

Edit the configuration file
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open pcconfig.txt.
  3. Change ignorevendorpresets from 0 to 1.

Crash to desktop on startup

Set sound quality to 24 bit, 48000 Hz[5]

See Sound problems (cracking, delays, missing music/effects, etc.)

Crash to desktop in first level

Set FSAA off in effects options menu[6]

Gargoyle crash

The game crashes reliably on some systems when some gargoyles melt an ice wall in the last level of Year 3.
In most cases the problem is caused by incompatibility with the video drivers of the user's computer.
Set DesiredDynamicLightQuality to 0 in configuration file[7]
This makes the lighting look bad. Make sure to return it to the original value after finishing the level.

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Resolutions above 1440x900 are locked to 60 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.
Set screen refresh rate[4]
  1. Install Special K by following the Special K Unofficial Guide. Manual local installation may work better.
  2. Start the game once and close it to allow the configuration file of Special K to be created.
  3. Open <path-to-game>\d3d9.ini or %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Mods\SpecialK\Profiles\LEGOHarryPotter.exe\SpecialK.ini depending on the installation method you used.
  4. Change RefreshRate=-1 to RefreshRate=0.
  5. Change EnableTextureMods=true to EnableTextureMods=false.

Note: V-sync seems to lock game to 60hz even with Special K. Nvidia Control Panel, or Rivatuner didn't help either. Used 2560x1440 @ 240hz monitor to test this.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 4 1.8 GHz
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
System memory (RAM) 512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 6.6 GB
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon X1300
Nvidia GeForce FX 5800
256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Controller Xbox 360 Controller
macOS (OS X)
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.6.4
Processor (CPU) Intel 1.4 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 8 GB
Video card (GPU) 128 MB of VRAM


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 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>/21130/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (21130) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Feral Support - LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 - last accessed on 2016-7-37
  2. LEGO Гарри Поттер - last accessed on 2023-06-29
  3. Lego Harry Potter for GFWL - last accessed on 31 March 2023
  4. 4.0 4.1 Verified by User:Keith on 2017-09-18
  5. [FIX] Immediate Crash to Desktop on Startup - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
  6. gog.com - last accessed on May 2023
  7. Fix for Year 3 Gargoyle crash, page 1 - Forum - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023