Catan: Die Erste Insel

Catan: Die Erste Insel

Developers
	Funatics Software
Publishers
	Ravensburger Interactive Media GmbH
Release dates
Windows	1999
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Turn-based
Perspectives	Top-down view
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Board
Art styles	Cartoon
Series	The Settlers of Catan

The Settlers of Catan
Catan: Die Erste Insel	1999
Die Sternenfahrer von Catan	2000
Catan: Das Kartenspiel	2001
Sternenschiff Catan: Das Strategische Weltraumabenteuer	2003
Catan: Creator's Edition	2013
Catan Universe	2017
Catan VR	2018

Warnings

This game is not playable in English (see Localizations for supported languages).

Catan: Die Erste Insel is a singleplayer and multiplayer top-down view board game in the The Settlers of Catan series.

Key points

Also known as De Kolonisten van Catan in Belgium and The Netherlands.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		ProtectDISC Software DRM

Version differences

A different release known as the Navigo Classics edition exists. That version shows patch level 1.65 and includes improved support for Windows XP.

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest patch for the original version is 1.63.

No patch to 1.65 exists for the original version.

Skip intro videos

Turn the intro off
Deactivate "Intro" in the options menu.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVE_C

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVE_C

Video

Video Settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Only 800x600 & 1024x768.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		The game supports 3 different zoom levels.
Windowed		Use the -window command line argument.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Hardware mouse can be selected.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

Audio Settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, SFX & Speech.
Surround sound
Subtitles		Characters have speech bubbles. No subtitles in cutscenes.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
German

Issues fixed

Terrible performance and mouse issues

Instructions
Disable the NVIDIA In-Game Overlay or use a DirectDraw wrapper like DgVoodoo 2.

The game crashes while starting a map or when throwing the dice

This issue will most likely occur on modern systems when using the original version.

Instructions

Make sure the game is patched to 1.63 when using the original version. That patch adds several command line arguments. Using window mode (via the -window command line argument) usually solves the map loading crash. If the game still crashes, it is most likely related to the sound in videos causing an error. Even throwing the dice plays a little video and can cause a crash. If that happens, use the -window and -novideosound command line arguments.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		6
LAN play		6
Online play		6	The CATAN server has been shut down.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	5.0r
Cutscenes	Smacker Video Technology
Multiplayer	DirectPlay	1.64 (1.65 in the Navigo Classics version)

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	95, 98
Processor (CPU)	200 MHz
System memory (RAM)	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	160 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX compatible.