Sacred is a fantasy ARPG game developed by Studio II Software with singleplayer and multiplayer content.
The game started development around the year 2000 as Armalion: Realms of Arcania, a game set in the The Dark Eye universe by the studio Ikarion Software. After the staff moved to the newly formed Studio II Software (wholly owned by Ascaron Entertainment) in 2001, after Ikarion had bankrupted, the project abandoned the Dark Eye universe and was briefly named L.O.R.D. (Lands of Raising Demons or land of the raging demon) before finally settling on Sacred and its official announcement in the end of December 2002. After launching in Februar 2004 in germany, the game received a major free update (patch 1.7/1.8) in September 2004 called Sacred Plus which included new quests, regions, enemies and improvements to existing content and interface. A full expansion called Underworld was released in March 2005, featuring two new classes and an entirely separate campaign set after the events of the base game. Around the same time, the Gold edition was released containing all aforementioned content and became the most widely available version of the game. The final patch for Underworld, 2.28, was released in November 2006, ending over half a decade of development on the game.
Digital publishing rights were claimed by Strategy First in 2008, who had released the game on Steam and GOG.com, until the rights were transferred to THQ Nordic in February 2022, consolidating the copyright over the IP for the first time since the Ascaron/Studio II bankruptcy of 2009.
On modern systems, the game does not suffer from any major issues, save for the absence of 3D audio support which can be restored by using IndirectSound. Unofficial community patches have become an essential part of present-day installations, as they include full widescreen support and optional quality-of-life improvements, but were only made with Underworld / Gold in mind, as the latter is the most widely available release of the game.
The official multiplayer service by TinCat was shut down, but a community-run alternative is available - a live instance used to be hosted by the author, but is no longer online, though it is possible to compile a new one using the source code.
General information
- Sacred Tribute - a fansite with archives and resources from the Sacred franchise
- SacredWiki - a community-maintained wiki about Sacred, Sacred Underworld and Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.
- Wolfe's Lair (archive) - fansite with walkthroughs and tips for Sacred and the Underworld expansion
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
- StarForce DRM for this game does not work on modern versions of Windows (see above for affected versions).
- A free demo version is available from ModDB.
Version differences
- Sacred - the original game, released in February 2004
- Sacred Plus - Free expansion pack released in October 2004 as part of the 1.7 and 1.8 patches for the base game. It adds 2 regions, monsters, quests, items.
- Sacred Underworld - Expansion pack released in April 2005. It adds 2 player characters (Daemon and Dwarf), 6 regions, 2 acts, new monsters and items.
- Sacred Gold - Released in August 2005, includes the base game and both expansions.
Monetization
DLC and expansion packs
Name |
Notes |
|
Sacred Plus |
Distributed in 1.7 and 1.8 official patches for the base game for free. |
|
Sacred Underworld |
Files released as free download for Italian and Spanish releases by FX Interactive in 2006, requiring an SMS message request for a serial key.[6][7] |
|
Essential improvements
Patches
- The latest patch for Sacred is 1.8.26 (Dec 2004) - which upgrades it to Sacred Plus. It is available here.
- The latest patch for Sacred Underworld / Gold is 2.28 (Nov 2006). It is available here. It is already included in the digital releases.
Improve performance
Remove the default 128 VRAM limit
|
- Open
Settings.cfg
- Set
GFX_LIMIT128 : 1 to 0
- Save the changes and close the file.
|
Skip intro videos
Delete/rename video files[8]
|
- Go to
<path-to-game>\movie\ .
- Delete or rename
ascaron.wmv and oem.wmv .
|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
- It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.
Save game data location
- Saved games are
GAME**.PAK
; saved heroes are hero**.pax
.
Video
Running in standard 1024x768 resolution.
Running in 1920x1080 resolution via dgVoodoo 2
High-resolution rendering
Use PureHD
|
- Some fixes, manually set widescreen up to 1080p
- Requires Sacred Gold.
- no gameplay changes
- Download files
- Copy the files into
<path-to-game>
- Check Settings.cfg
|
Download and apply dgVoodoo 2
|
- This fix may introduce graphical artifacts.
- Will stretch graphics horizontally, altering the original aspect ratio.
- Download dgVoodoo 2
- Copy the three
.dll files from the MS\x86 folder and the dgVoodoo executable into <path-to-game>
- Open the dgVoodoo executable from the game folder and click the
.\ button
- In the
DirectX tab, set Resolution to the monitor's native one and untick 'dgVoodoo Watermark'
- Click
Apply and close the application.
|
Use Sacred NL
|
- Fixes all artifacts caused by playing at widescreen resolutions and interface scales correctly.
- Adds many QoL improvements like extended zoom and new hotkeys, minimap, modelviewer, language switch or cheats and more.
- Requires Sacred Gold.
- Installer currently broken, refer to manual installation guide
|
Force Vsync off
|
- This fix may introduce graphical artifacts.
- Go to
<path-to-game>
- Open
Settings.cfg
- Add the line
WAITRETRACE : 0 at the end of the file
- Save the changes and close the file
|
Input
Hotkeys for Combat Arts
There is an undocumented feature of using hotkeys for Combat Arts, so as not to be limited to the default five slots in the game. In the combat arts menu, hover over a power and press one of the F1-F6 keys. It will now be selected when pressing that key.[9]
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
|
SFX, Speech, Music. |
Surround sound |
|
Requires ALchemy |
Subtitles |
|
Plot dialogue and quests are always shown in text; brief character acknowledgements and taunts are not subtitled. |
Closed captions |
|
|
Mute on focus lost |
|
|
EAX support |
|
Unknown version, supported by ALchemy. |
Royalty free audio |
|
|
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
|
|
|
US English release removes blood effects, unlike the European and Oceanian English-language releases; digital releases use the non-US version. |
Simplified Chinese |
|
|
|
Retail only. |
Traditional Chinese |
|
|
|
Retail only. |
Czech |
|
|
|
Retail only. |
French |
|
|
|
Retail and GOG.com only. |
German |
|
|
|
Retail only; download for digital releases. |
Italian |
|
|
|
Retail only. |
Japanese |
|
|
|
Retail only. |
Polish |
|
|
|
Retail only; download for digital releases |
Brazilian Portuguese |
|
|
|
For Sacred Gold only; download. |
Russian |
|
|
|
Retail and GOG.com only. |
Spanish |
|
|
|
Retail only; download for digital releases. |
Network
- Online features require a product key. For the GOG.com version, the key is available by submitting a multiplayer key request.
Multiplayer types
Connection types
Multiplayer connectivity without VPNs
Use the Sacred Ancaria Connection
|
- The project is open source, with a GitHub repository here.
- Download and compile the code.
- Execute it before launching Sacred.
- In the game options, select "Modem/ISDN" as the network speed setting.
- Go to the LAN menu and check for any servers to come up.
|
Issues fixed
Stop flickering load screens with Nvidia GPU
Use dgVoodoo 2
|
- To avoid a DirectX error on startup when also using PureHD, set Scaling to Unspecified.
|
Game stuck at loading screen
- Opening Sequence plays, then it starts loading, and then it gets to Fonts and freezes.
Run Config.exe and force 32-bit color depth.
|
3D audio effects option disabled
Install IndirectSound
|
- Download and extract IndirectSound
- Copy the two files,
dsound.dll and dsound.ini .
- Paste into
<path-to-game> .
- Run the game, and choose 3D effects in the sound settings.
|
Windows key interference
- The ⊞ Win key, when accidentally pressed, minimizes the game, causing it to freeze.
Use AutoHotkey
|
- Install the program.
- Create a text file with the line
LWin::return and save it as an .ahk script.
- Execute the script by double-clicking on it before running the game.
|
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
7 |
|
Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
|
|
|
Linux | |
|
Sacred Gold had a Linux release in 2009 (by Linux Game Publishing). |
Middleware
|
Middleware |
Notes |
Cutscenes |
Windows Media Video 9 |
|
Multiplayer |
TinCat |
|
Modifications
- The biggest and most elaborate balance mod for Sacred.
- Requires Sacred Gold.
- Many changes in the overall balance, bosses, heroes, items, their drop, game mechanics.
- Does not affect the original executable, provides own widescreen support and is compatible with most language versions.
System requirements
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
98 SE, ME, 2000, XP | |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium III 800 MHz
| AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz or higher Intel Pentium 4 |
System memory (RAM) |
256 MB |
512 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
2 GB |
2,5 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
64 MB of VRAM DirectX 8 compatible
| DirectX 9 compatible |
Sound (audio device) |
DirectX 8 compatible |
DirectX 9 compatible |
Linux |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
2.2.x or better Linux kernel with glibc-2.1 or later and X-Windows (XFree86 3.3.x or later) |
Processor (CPU) |
1.0 GHz x86 |
System memory (RAM) |
256 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
3.7 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
Hardware Accelerated 3D Graphics card 32 MB of VRAM |
Sound (audio device) |
OSS or ALSA Compatible |
Notes
References