Codename: Outbreak

Key points

Released as Venom. Codename: Outbreak in Russia.

General information

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		StarForce DRM. Removed in patch 2.1.
GOG.com

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files^[2]
Go to `<path-to-game>\AVI\` Delete or rename `intro.avi`, `Intro2.avi`, and `Intro3.avi`.

Patches

For the retail game

1.0 (2001). First patch released.

2.0 (2003)

2.1 (2003). Main change: removed CD copy protection.

Special Hardware Requirements

This game is recommended to run on an old computer to achieve the best results and avoid various problems, including old graphics card (eg GeForce 7900GTX) and old graphics driver (eg ForceWare 93.71), 512MB system memory and Windows XP SP3 operating system.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\GAME.INI^{[Note 1]} <path-to-game>\lev\Server.ini^{[Note 1]}

Server.ini contains dedicated server settings (does not exist unless server settings are saved).

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\savegame\^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

General settings.

Video settings (in-game).

$Video settings (<path-to-game>\Config.exe).$

Video settings (<path-to-game>\Config.exe).

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See the WSGF entry.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD		Stretched when forced through dgvoodoo2. Cropped when set in config.
Field of view (FOV)	90°
Windowed	Set with `<path-to-game>\Config.exe`.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	On by default, can be switched off through the GPU control panel.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	Although the game has a "desired FPS" option ranging from 10 to 60 FPS divided by 5 frame options each in-between, the option appears to be broken and doesn't actually affect the frame rate. Game is uncapped.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

$Input settings (<path-to-game>\Config.exe).$

Input settings (<path-to-game>\Config.exe).

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Set in-game or with `<path-to-game>\Config.exe`. Game does not distinguish between cursor keys and numpad keys, limiting binding options for left-handed players.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

$Audio settings (<path-to-game>\Config.exe).$

Audio settings (<path-to-game>\Config.exe).

Language settings for the GOG.com version.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		FX, Music, CD.
Surround sound		7.1
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio		On Windows, CD music might not play correctly; see the troubleshooting guide for solutions.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Czech retail version only
French				In the French retail version only.
German
Italian
Russian				Only on Russian retail copy
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		16	Versus, Co-op
Online play		16	Versus, Co-op

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting		Use `<path-to-game>\dedicated.exe`.
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Outbreak.exe or Config.exe do not seem to launch, but are active in the task manager

Disable outdated .dll wrapper included with game^[3]
Rename `winmm.dll` to prevent the game from accessing it. The game will instead use the more up-to-date version found in the Windows 10 system folder.

Broken lighting, transparencies and textures

Use dgVoodoo 2
Download dgVoodoo 2. Copy the files from the `\MS\x86\` folder to the game install directory.

Alternative method

Copy the TextureFormat2 string to TextureFormat1 in [1] GAME.INI. So your ini should look like this:

[Game]
...
TextureFormat1=32 0 0 0 65 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 0 0 0 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 0 0 0 0 255
TextureFormat2=32 0 0 0 65 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 0 0 0 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 255 0 0 0 0 0 0 255
...

This fixes transparency and main menu rendering issues. However, lens flares are still rendered incorrectly. You may disable lens flares by setting NoFlares=1 in GAME.INI. Tested on Nvidia hardware.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	7

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95	98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 266 MHz	Intel Pentium III 500 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	8 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.0 compatible	Riva TNT2 or equal 3D accelerator 32 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 8.0 compatible	DirectX 8.0 compatible
Other	4X CD-ROM	8X CD-ROM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 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).

References

↑ Codename: Outbreak Preview - GameSpot - last accessed on 17 May 2023
↑ Verified by User:Garrett on February 17, 2017
↑ gog.com - last accessed on 17 May 2023

[gamedir-3] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 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).

[1] Codename: Outbreak Preview - GameSpot - last accessed on 17 May 2023

[2] Verified by User:Garrett on February 17, 2017

[4] .com - last accessed on 17 May 2023

[1]

[2]

[Note 1]

[3]

Developers

	GSC Game World
Publishers
	Virgin Interactive
Retail re-release	Sold Out Software
Engines
	Vital Engine ZL^[1]
Release dates
Windows	October 8, 2001
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Shooter
Themes	Sci-fi