Gothic 3

Gothic 3

Developers
	Piranha Bytes
Publishers
2006-2011	JoWood Productions
2011-2016	Nordic Games
2016-present	THQ Nordic
Retail (Russia)	Russobit-M
Engines
	Genome Gaming System
Release dates
Windows	October 13, 2006
Reception
Metacritic	63
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
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

Gothic 3 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		Install Community Patch 1.75.14 to remove TAGES DRM disc check. Russian copies use StarForce 4 DRM.
Amazon.com
GamersGate
GOG.com		Community Patch 1.75.14 is included by default.
Steam		Opt into the latest Community Patch.
(unavailable)		Gold Edition.

StarForce DRM for this game does not work on modern versions of Windows (see above for affected versions).

A German demo can be downloaded here. Copy download link to browser if it does not work. Not recommended without community patch.

Essential improvements

Patches

The last official retail update is Patch v1.12.

Community Patch

Community Patch 1.75.14 fixes numerous issues, improves performance, graphics and stability, and adds a basic modding tool-set. Using it is strongly recommended. It is also a good idea to enable 'Alternative AI' in the options to take advantage of a much improved combat system. Note that saves from some earlier patch versions are not compatible. This patch is also available as a public Beta branch and is included by default in the GOG version.

In case of problems try Community Patch 1.73 or Community Patch 1.74 instead.

Opt-into CPT beta branch (Steam version)

Right-click on Gothic 3 in your Steam Library. From the drop-down menu which appears, select Properties. From the window which appears, select the Betas tab. Under Select the beta you would like to opt into, click on the menu box. From the drop-down menu, select cpt_1.75_testbranch -. Click the Close button. When installing mods, rename gothic3.exe to anything else and gothic3final.exe to gothic3.exe. Do not forget to change the names back to their original ones when done.

Update Pack

The Update Pack works on top of the latest Community Patch and includes a number of bug fixes and quality of life improvements. Also contains tweaks to combat and additional features for modders.

Parallel Universe Patch

Parallel Universe Patch drastically reduces stutters and loading times by optimizing, parallelizing and replacing inefficient parts of the Gothic 3 engine. In addition, extended error logging was implemented and some of the remaining bugs that were not fixed by the above patches were also addressed. Requires Community Patch 1.75 and is likewise compatible with the Update Pack.

If performance issues persist, additionally use Gothic 3 Clean Up. However, this is quite complicated to set up and should only be used if above solutions are not sufficient.

Skip intro videos

Rename/delete logo videos[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\Data\Video. Delete or rename G3_Logo_01.bik, Publisher.bik and CPT.bik.

Alternatively:

Disable logo videos
Go to <path-to-game>\Ini. Open logo.ini in text editor, delete all lines, save file.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\gothic3\UserOptions.ini
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39500/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\gothic3\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39500/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

Video options.

Details options.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Requires Community Patch 1.75.14. HUD position is incorrect.
Ultra-widescreen			Requires Community Patch 1.75.14.
4K Ultra HD			Requires Community Patch 1.75.14.
Field of view (FOV)		Default is 60°; see Field of view (FOV).
Windowed		See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Enable Windowed mode and use Borderless Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Choice of Anisotropic 1x/4x/8x/16x (with Community Patch 1.75.14).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Choice of Off or FXAA (with Community Patch 1.75.14).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		No frame rate or refresh rate cap.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Field of view (FOV)

Edit ge3.ini[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\Ini. Open ge3.ini. Change Camera.FOV= to the desired value (default is 60°). Save the changes.

Windowed

Edit ge3.ini[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\Ini. Open ge3.ini. Change Fullscreen=true to Fullscreen=false Save the changes. Reverse this change to go back to fullscreen mode. Notes The Windows cursor will be visible during gameplay - see Hide system cursor when game is in focus for a solution.

Improved graphics with G3SI

G3SI offers a user-friendly UI to change a wide number of .ini settings like draw distance while preventing bugs that could appear when editing the .ini manually. It also allows to change shaders, remove the fog that makes distant landscape muddy, and other settings. Available in English and German. Includes a manual.

The "radius of influence" setting (Entity.ROI) should not be set over 4000. While this increases the render distance of NPCs, it also causes sound bugs and AI glitches.

Increasing draw distance for high detail (DistanceHigh.fFarClippingPlane_High) too far over 30000 is very taxing even on modern systems and can cause problems in loading terrain which can lead to holes in the landscape.

After changing shaders, they need to be recompiled them (unless playing with disabled shader cache) by deleting %USERPROFILE%\Documents\gothic3\Shader.Cache and running the Gothic3.exe as admin.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Sliders for smoothing (with Community Patch 1.75.14).
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Some elements like equipping are non-intuitive (in such case try hovering cursor over an item and pressing ↵ Enter).
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

Audio options.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, voice, music, FX and ambient sliders.
Surround sound		Supports multiple configurations (5.1, 7.1, etc.)
Subtitles		Enabled by default.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

If some languages are not listed in-game ensure you have installed Community Patch 1.75.14.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Polish				Full Polish version available on GOG.com and Steam (despite not being stated on Steam store page).
Portuguese				[citation needed]
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation: download; Nexus Mods.
Russian				Official localization by «Руссобит-М». Audio only in Russian retail versions; all others are text-only.
Spanish				Translation for Content Mod 2.5 by Clan Dlan, download.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		Use Helix Mod: Gothic 3 & Gothic 3 - Forsaken Gods.
vorpX		G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking		Works with Tobii EyeX tracker or Tobii EyeX 4C and 5 headtracker plugins for FaceTrackNoIR.
TrackIR		Works with FreeTrack 2.0 protocol using software like FaceTrackNoIR.

Issues fixed

Game slows down randomly

Change timer setting
Go to <path-to-game>\Ini. Open ge3.ini. Find Timer.ThreadSafe (if this line is missing, install Community Patch 1.75.14). Change Timer.ThreadSafe=true to Timer.ThreadSafe=false Save the changes and close the file.

Install Parallel Universe Patch

Hide system cursor when game is in focus

When running in Windowed mode the game displays both in-game cursor and system cursor. This may be annoying for some people. Below is the script to solve this issue.

Use AutoHotkey[citation needed]

1. Download and install AutoHotkey. 2. Start it, edit the script and use the one provided below: ; Script to hide cursor http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1432431 ; Modified by Nirklars and adjusted to work with Gothic 3 by SuicideMachine SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir% ; Ensures a consistent starting directory. SystemCursor("Init") SetTimer, CheckIdle, 250 return CheckIdle: if WinActive("ahk_class Gothic3 Engine") { SystemCursor("Off") } else { SystemCursor("On") } return #Persistent OnExit, ShowCursor ; Ensure the cursor is made visible when the script exits. return ShowCursor: SystemCursor("On") ExitApp SystemCursor(OnOff=1) ; INIT = "I","Init"; OFF = 0,"Off"; TOGGLE = -1,"T","Toggle"; ON = others { static AndMask, XorMask, $, h_cursor ,c0,c1,c2,c3,c4,c5,c6,c7,c8,c9,c10,c11,c12,c13 ; system cursors , b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,b8,b9,b10,b11,b12,b13 ; blank cursors , h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,h7,h8,h9,h10,h11,h12,h13 ; handles of default cursors if (OnOff = "Init" or OnOff = "I" or $ = "") ; init when requested or at first call { $ = h ; active default cursors VarSetCapacity( h_cursor,4444, 1 ) VarSetCapacity( AndMask, 32*4, 0xFF ) VarSetCapacity( XorMask, 32*4, 0 ) system_cursors = 32512,32513,32514,32515,32516,32642,32643,32644,32645,32646,32648,32649,32650 StringSplit c, system_cursors, `, Loop %c0% { h_cursor := DllCall( "LoadCursor", "uint",0, "uint",c%A_Index% ) h%A_Index% := DllCall( "CopyImage", "uint",h_cursor, "uint",2, "int",0, "int",0, "uint",0 ) b%A_Index% := DllCall("CreateCursor","uint",0, "int",0, "int",0 , "int",32, "int",32, "uint",&AndMask, "uint",&XorMask ) } } if (OnOff = 0 or OnOff = "Off" or $ = "h" and (OnOff < 0 or OnOff = "Toggle" or OnOff = "T")) $ = b ; use blank cursors else $ = h ; use the saved cursors Loop %c0% { h_cursor := DllCall( "CopyImage", "uint",%$%%A_Index%, "uint",2, "int",0, "int",0, "uint",0 ) DllCall( "SetSystemCursor", "uint",h_cursor, "uint",c%A_Index% ) } } 3. Reload the script in AHK.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	PhysX

System requirements

Steam

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11	7, 8, 10, 11
Processor (CPU)	2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD equivalent	3.0 GHz Intel Pentium AMD Athlon 64 4000+
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	5 GB
Video card (GPU)	128 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 1.4 support	Nvidia GeForce 6800 256 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible

Disc Version

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz	3.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 3 ATI/AMD Radeon 8500 128 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	Nvidia ATI/AMD 256 MB of VRAM