Arcania: Gothic 4

ArcaniA: Gothic 4

Developers
	Spellbound Entertainment
Publishers
2010-2011	JoWood Productions
2011-2016	Nordic Games
2016-present	THQ Nordic
Engines
	Vision 7
Release dates
Windows	October 12, 2010
Reception
Metacritic	63
IGDB	64
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	RPG, ARPG
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Gothic

Gothic
Gothic	2001
Gothic II	2002
Gothic 3	2006
Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods	2008
Arcania: Gothic 4	2010
Arcania: Fall of Setarrif	2011
Gothic Playable Teaser	2019
The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos (unofficial mod)	2021
Gothic 1 Remake	TBA

Arcania: Gothic 4 is a singleplayer third-person RPG and ARPG game in the Gothic series.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 7, SecuROM PA, and SecuROM DFA DRM activation and release date check. Use the latest patch to remove DRM.
Amazon.com
GamersGate
GOG.com
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam		Free demo: steam://install/65520 (allow Steam client popup).

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Rename/delete intro videos[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\Data\Video. Delete or rename JWD_Logo.wmv, Nvidia.wmv and SB_Logo.wmv.

Patches

Final Patch (2011) removes SecuROM DRM and fixes various issues.

Performance tweaks

Make a backup copy of the file modified here.

Modify configuration files
Go to <path-to-game>\Data\configuration. Open ProcessManager.xml. Look for the ThreadConfig platform="PC" cores="1" section, change the cores value to the number of cores of your CPU. Save the file and close it. The following steps are optional: Change all thread-pool-bit values to "1". Change all memory-synchronized values to "true".

Edit game exe to force multithreading
Follow this guide on Steam to fix many bugs like black facial textures or buggy water puddles, and to improve smoothness and FPS up to 200% in some locations on modern PCs: Arcania framerate fixes and improvements (Steam guide)

Enable Xbox UI

While using the Xbox UI accessing the game options will make the game crash, so either make sure you're happy with your settings or temporarily switch back to the PC UI while you access them.

Enabling the Xbox UI will allow you easier navigation through the game and the menus while using a controller, however it has to be switched to every time you open the game.

Enable cheat menu

1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\input.xml. 2. Go to the end of the file and add the following before the </inputs> line: <Input command="cheat menu" > <Key code="41" /> <Activation type="first active" /> </Input> 3. Save the file and close it. This will bind the cheat menu to ~. 4. Open the game and load a save or start a new game. Press ~. 5. Go to the Toggle XBOX/PC Interface option, choose Xbox 360 and hit the back button.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\*.xml
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39690/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\*.sav
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39690/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

General graphics settings.

Advanced graphics settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See the WSGF entry for two possible methods.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See the WSGF entry.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Can be forced through driver control.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Can be forced through driver control.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Xbox 360 controller supported.
Full controller support		Can be toggled through the cheat menu.
Controller remapping		Requires editing a configuration file, see Controller remapping.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Requires editing a configuration file.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

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

Controller remapping

Edit input configuration file

1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\input.xml. 2. The file will contain the current mappings for both controller and keyboard. To remap the controls, simply search for the desired action to remap and change the Gamepad name section of each action for the desired button; for instance, to jump with the A button, change the jumping section to: <Input command="jump" > <Gamepad name="a" /> <Gamepad active="false" name="left shoulder" /> <Activation type="first active" /> </Input> 3. The Activation type value represents how to read the button press, first active means tap, active means hold, and first inactive means letting go of the button. 4. Save the file and close it. Notes You have to run a game at least once, in order for it to create configuration files. If you hit reset on the in game control options, the contents of this file will be replaced with defaults, including the xbox controller sections.

Invert controller's Y-axis

Edit input configuration file

1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\inputsettings.xml. 2. Search the attribute with the name invert_gamepad_y and change its value to true like so: <Attribute name="invert_gamepad_y" type="bool" value="true" /> 3. Save the file and close it. Notes The game needs to be run at least once in order for it to create configuration files. There are additional options that can be modified in this file, such as inverting X-axis.

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
Czech
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Russian
Spanish

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, read important hints here. Note: Profile works slightly different to the add on, and can be used as an alternative profile.

Issues fixed

Game won't start

Game has several problems launching especially with 64-bit Windows 7 installations.

Regular fixes, PhysX-, Audio- and AV-related fixes[citation needed]

If using Steam version verify game cache, try disabling Steam overlay and manually installing re-distributables. If having Nvidia GPU try copying cudart32_*.dll and cudart64_*.dll from \NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common to <path-to-game> Install the NVIDIA PhysX Legacy System Software and then try same thing as above. If using an N/KN edition of Windows, install Windows Media Player. Try to set sound quality to 24 bit/16-bit, 48000 Hz. Set the executable to use Windows XP SP 3 compatibility mode and start in administrator mode. Add the installation folder to the antivirus exclusion list or, as a last resort, disable it or uninstall it.

Stuck in jungle level

It is possible, when going back to the jungle level, to get stuck in it. There are two ways to get around this issue.

Jumping back fix
Go south to the ledge near the monastery next to where Bartur is standing. Unequip your weapons. Equip one of the movement speed increase runes (Either Rune of the four winds or Rune of the seven winds). Run back into the ledge and jump.

Cheat fix

1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\input.xml 2. Go to the end of the file and add the following before the </inputs> line: <Input command="hero teleport" > <Key name="Q"/> <Key name="control left" active="true" /> <Activation type="first active"/> </Input> 3. Save the file and close it. 4. Open the game and load your save. 5. Press Ctrl+Q, this should put you into hero teleport mode. Use the regular movement keys to move around and control the direction by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse. Note that not all assets are rendered while in this mode. 6. In this mode you can move without impairments, so simply go wherever you wish and press escape to exit.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
Shader Model support	3

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz AMD Athlon II x2 2.8 GHz	Intel Core i7 3.0 GHz AMD Phenom II x4 3.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	9 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX DirectX 9.0c compatible	Nvidia GeForce GTX 295