The Mysterious Island

This page is for the sandbox survival game. For the unrelated adventure game, see Return to Mysterious Island.

The Mysterious Island

Developers
	Calaris Studios
Engines
	IC
Release dates
Windows	March 24, 2004
Taxonomy
Monetization	Freeware
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Art styles	Cartoon

Key points

This game was re-released as freeware in 2015.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
itch.io		Authentication servers down since at least 23 July 2022. To play it now, see MIRSE.

Essential Improvement

MIRSE

MIRSE is a tool which emulates the game's shut down update server so players can still play the game.

Instructions
Install original game from itch.io. Clone the MIRSE repository and open folder. Ensure Node.js v20 or later is installed and added to PATH. Run Install.bat to complete the installation. Run Launch.bat to start the server. After installation, this step is only required before starting the game. Run TheMysteriousIsland.exe as normal. Notes: Only MYSTERIOUSISLAND_FULL_1.02_ENG.exe has been tested.

Issues fixed

Certain transparent textures are not rendered properly

Tranparent textures glitch.

Start the game using the launcher
Access advanced graphics options with <path-to-game>\Mysterious Island\TheMysteriousIsland.exe setup or with a Start Menu shortcut (TheMysteriousIsland Setup.exe). Select Very big textures from the Texture size drop-down menu. Start the game by clicking OK. This setting is not saved by the game. The fix only works for the current playthrough.

Use dgVoodoo2
Download dgVoodoo2 and place MS\x86\D3D8.dll under game folder, run the game as normal and all graphics issues are fixed, performance is also improved.

Game seems to be frozen while framerate is high (above 200 FPS)

Limit framerate
D3D8 Vsync seems broken on Windows 11, limit framerate to 120 or 60 using RTSS or other tools.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Mysterious Island\Data\*.sav

Save game cloud syncing

No save game cloud syncing information; you can edit this page to add it.

Video

In-game general options.

In-game advanced graphics options.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		1920x1080 and 2560x1440. Mistakenly listed as duplicate entry for 1280x960x32.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		The in-game setting cannot be toggled.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Vsync for D3D8 games seem broken on latest Windows 11
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		uncapped, but game logic seems frozen if framerate too high. Mouse sensitivity for view is bind to framerate. Limit to 120 or less by external tool is suggested.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Advanced graphics options can be accessed with <path-to-game>\Mysterious Island\TheMysteriousIsland.exe setup or using a Start Menu shortcut.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

In-game sound options.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sliders for Speech and Ambient Sounds. Music and Sound Effects can only be toggled.
Surround sound		4.0
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Polish				Original release. Released as Tajemnicza Wyspa.
Russian				Released as Таинственный остров.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8	D3D9 dlls are packed in itch.io version but not used. The game only import D3D8.dll.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

No middleware information; you can edit this page to add it.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 500 MHz	Intel Pentium III 700 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	800 MB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia Riva TNT2 16 MB of VRAM	Hardware T&L support