Gothic II

Gothic II

Developers
	Piranha Bytes
Publishers
2002-2011	JoWood Productions
2011-2016	Nordic Games
2016-present	THQ Nordic
Retail	Atari
Retail (Russia)	Akella
Engines
	ZenGin
Release dates
Windows	November 29, 2002
Reception
Metacritic	79
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
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 II 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 and SVK Protector DRM disc check.
Amazon.com		Gold Edition also available.
GamersGate		Gold Edition also available.
		Gold Edition.
GOG.com		Gold Edition.
Green Man Gaming		Gold Edition.
Humble Store		Gold Edition.
Steam		Gold Edition. Player-Kit and SystemPack (version 1.8) included since November 2021. "Classic" version (lacking "Night of the Raven") available in launcher since November 2022. Doesn't require Steam after installation.

A German demo can be downloaded here. Copy the download link on the page into the browser if it does not work.

Version differences

The Gold Edition is a complete edition which includes the Night of the Raven expansion.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Night of the Raven	Included with the Gold Edition. Not available separately for some languages (e.g. English).

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest retail patches for the German version are Patch v1.30 for the base Gothic II and Add-on Patch 2.6 for the Night of the Raven expansion. All English versions and German digital distribution versions already include the latest patches.

Gothic II Fix (Report-Version)

Special version of executable, that allows more detailed error logs and compatibility with community mods on digital versions of the game, that are using 2.7 patch.

Player-Kit

The Player-Kit is required for playing mods.

Install Player-Kit
If you are using a disc version ensure you have the latest patch (see Patches). Download and install the Player-Kit from the link above. Mods can now be installed. The in-game version number is changed to 2.6.

Gothic will now show a mod selector window when launched; to have a shortcut launch the unmodded game directly, change it to point to GothicMod.exe instead of Gothic.exe.

Union (SystemPack 2.0)

Alternative version of the SystemPack called Union (also referred to as SystemPack 2.0) provides additional bug fixes and engine improvements, including improved performance, steam overlay support and 64-bit patch for x64 systems.

It is advised to use Union instead of the original SystemPack as the latter is no longer developed.

Already contains the above Gothic II Fix (Report-Version) and Player-Kit in its installation (Union Primary Universal Patch).

Install Union (SystemPack 2.0)
Download and install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2010. Download and install the "Union Primary Universal Patch" from the link above. Download and install Union (SystemPack 2.0) from the link above. Launch the game. If Union is properly installed, its version will appear on the right side of the main menu. Alternative option for download through Steam Workshop.

GRawInput

Completely fixes the mouse by adding raw input support.

Skip intro videos

Change playLogoVideos setting
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Edit gothic.ini. Change playLogoVideos=1 to playLogoVideos=0 Save the changes. The game will now go directly to the main menu when launched.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\system\GOTHIC.INI
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39510/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Saves\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39510/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor			Use Union (SystemPack 2.0).
Ultra-widescreen			Use Union (SystemPack 2.0).
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Use Union (SystemPack 2.0).
Windowed		Works with limitations; see Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Works with limitations; see Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		For Windows 8 and later use the Union (SystemPack 2.0).

Widescreen resolution

Gothic II only natively supports 1280x720, 1280x768, 1280x800, and 1440x900.

The Union (SystemPack 2.0) makes the game Hor+ instead of Vert- and lists most widescreen resolutions.

Use widescreen mod (recommended method)
Use Union (SystemPack 2.0). Notes Characters may look fat/thin after changing the resolution. Save and load the game to correct this.

Set resolution manually (alternate method)
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Edit Gothic.ini. Change extendedMenu=0 to extendedMenu=1 Set zVidResFullscreenX= and zVidResFullscreenY= to the width (X) and height (Y) of the desired resolution. Save the changes and launch Gothic II. NPCs may look fat in widescreen resolutions. Talking to an NPC will fix this until the next time a saved game is loaded.

Windowed

Task switching may cause repeated Tab ↹ input when returning to the game (simply press Tab ↹ again to make it work normally).

Task switching during video cutscenes will crash the game (there are only a few of these).

Change zStartupWindowed setting
Run the game at least once. Go to the configuration file(s) location. Edit Gothic.ini. Change zStartupWindowed=0 to zStartupWindowed=1 Change scaleVideos=1 to scaleVideos=0 (otherwise videos render in the corner of the screen). Save the changes.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

See Windowed for the limitations of this mode.

Set up borderless fullscreen windowed mode[citation needed]
Install the Union (SystemPack 2.0). Set zStartupWindowed=1 in <path-to-game>\system\Gothic.ini (see Windowed). Set the desktop resolution in-game. Gothic II should now display as a fullscreen borderless window.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Set zTexAnisotropicFiltering in Gothic.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open Gothic.ini Change zTexAnisotropicFiltering=0 to zTexAnisotropicFiltering=1 and save the changes. This is only an on/off setting; if it does not work or a higher setting is needed, force it in the graphics card's control panel.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Set zVidEnableAntiAliasing in Gothic.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open Gothic.ini. Change zVidEnableAntiAliasing=0 to zVidEnableAntiAliasing=1 and save your changes. This is only an on/off setting; if it does not work or a higher setting is needed, force it in the graphics card's control panel. Forcing a higher setting in the graphics card's control panel may cause black videos (sound but no picture).

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		See Mouse sensitivity.
Mouse input in menus		No cursor; buttons and wheel work but can't change settings.
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Set in Options, Game Settings, Invert camera.
Controller
Controller support		Very limited support available; see Controller support.
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Can't map camera controls or axes.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Set in Options, Game Settings, Invert camera.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts

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

Mouse sensitivity

Set zMouseRotationScale in Gothic.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open Gothic.ini. Change zMouseRotationScale to your desired value and save the changes.

Controller support

Set enableJoystick in Gothic.ini[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open Gothic.ini. Change enableJoystick=0 to enableJoystick=1 and save the changes. Notes Some axes are not detected and some inputs cannot be set to controller axes, e.g. camera controls.

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		SFX and music.
Surround sound		Set Speakers to Surround.
Subtitles		Enabled by default; set in Options, Game Settings.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		Set sound provide to Creative EAX 2. Hardware accelerated DirectSound3D and EAX2 (on compatible sound cards with restoration software like ALchemy or 3D SoundBack) isn't available until the fix is applied.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian				Audio only available on GOG.com (added on September 20, 2017)
Polish
Russian
Spanish				Available on Steam, not on GOG. Improved fan translation by Clan Dlan, download. Also for Night of the Raven, download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
LAN play
Online play		Use Gothic Multiplayer mod for multiplayer (requires the expansion).

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated		Dedicated server software available for Windows and Linux.
Self-hosting
Direct IP		gmp:// URLs do not connect to IP addresses.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Gothic 2 (DX11).
vorpX		G3D Included in dgVoodoo 2 default profile. Note: Profile may not work with the latest wrapper, in case of issues please report to the vorpx forum.

Issues fixed (Windows)

Black videos (sound but no picture)

This is caused by forcing anti-aliasing in the video card control panel.

Disable video card anti-aliasing[citation needed]
Open the graphics card control panel. Set anti-aliasing to Application-Controlled. Apply the changes.

Disable video scaling[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Open Gothic.ini. Change scaleVideos=1 to scaleVideos=0 Save the changes. Videos will now display centred.

Window border visible in fullscreen mode

Gothic and Gothic II show a window border in fullscreen mode on Windows 8 and later.

The GOG.com version already includes alternative fix.

Install Union (SystemPack 2.0)[citation needed]

Use dgVoodoo 2 or DDrawCompat[citation needed]

Low frame rate in fullscreen mode

Gothic II has frame rate issues in fullscreen mode on Windows 8 and later.

Install Union (SystemPack 2.0)[citation needed]

Use dgVoodoo 2 or DDrawCompat[citation needed]

Use D3D11 Renderer[citation needed]

"C: maximum texture size is lower than 32" error

This error happens if Gothic II is unable to automatically change to 32-bit color mode.

Change zVidResFullscreenBPP setting[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Edit Gothic.ini. Change zVidResFullscreenBPP=16 to zVidResFullscreenBPP=32 Save the changes and run Gothic II again. It should now be able to select the resolution correctly. If it still can not detect the resolution properly, try setting it manually (see Widescreen resolution).

Use dgVoodoo 2 or DDrawCompat[citation needed]

Can't Alt+Tab ↹ (GOG.com)

The GOG.com version prevents task switching to avoid some potential issues (e.g. crashing during FMV cutscenes).

Remove GOG.com fix[citation needed]
Open Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl). Find and remove the GOG.com Gothic 2 entry. If using Windows 8 or later, install Union (SystemPack 2.0).

Constant Tab input after Alt+Tab

After task switching the game may constantly repeat Tab ↹ input; press Tab ↹ again to stop this.

Mods can't find Gothic II

Some mods expect the game executable to be called Gothic2.exe.

Rename Gothic.exe to Gothic2.exe[citation needed]
Go to <path-to-game>\system

.

1. Make a copy of Gothic.exe and rename it to Gothic2.exe.
2. The mod installer should now see the game correctly.

Notes

Some mods require running the game with Gothic2.exe.

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Camera spins uncontrollably

Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

Game reverts back to Miles Fast even after EAX restoration software is installed

Gothic II does not see dsound.dll wrapper from EAX restoration software.

Create pre.load file, which orders game to load dsound.dll wrapper

Open Notepad. Write exactly dsound.dll to document. Save the document exactly as pre.load to <path-to-game>\System. Launch the game as administrator, change sound provider to Creative EAX 2 and quit. Launch game again and check if sound provider is still the same. Notes Users with SystemPack installed have to change FixMss=1 to FixMss=0 in SystemPack.ini configuration file. SystemPack uses own implementation of restoring surround sound, which is purely software and because of that EAX restoration software will not make effect if FixMss is set to 1.

Black screen on startup

Restart computer instead of shutting it down (fast startup related issue).[citation needed]

The game does not start

Analyse wait chain

Open Task Manager. Find Gothic2.exe on the list and expand it. Right-click on every child object that belongs to the process and click on "Go to details". In the Details tab, right-click on the highlighted element and click on "Analyse Wait Chain". If there are elements on the list, select them and kill the process. Notes: Most common programs causing issues are logitechg_discord.exe (Discord applet for Logitech Gaming Software),Setpoint.exe (program of Logitech) and nvcontainer.exe (part of Nvidia Experience). To avoid doing this process every time when starting the game, simply deactivate the conflicting process or uninstall the program from the conflicting process.

Crash on launch on Intel iGPUs (12th Gen CPU and later)

Use Gothic LegacyAltRenderer
Compared with D3D11 Renderer below, its DX9 renderer provides better performance than stock renderer, and is more friendly for low-end configurations - without more demanding graphic effects like in DX11 renderer.

Issues fixed (Linux)

No music (Steam version)

Install dmusic
Install protontricks according to your distribution Open terminal Run: protontricks 39510 dmusic

FMV playing but not shown (Steam version)

Easiest fix is to run Gothic2.exe directly form the file system with vanilla Wine and not though Proton

Install dgVoodoo2
Download the latest release of dgVoodoo2 Extract the archive Copy all DLLs from within <dgVoodoo2 archive>/MS/x86/ into <SteamLibrary>/steamapps/common/Gothic II/system/ Add as Steam launch options: WINEDLLOVERRIDES="d3d8,d3d9,d3dimm,ddraw=n" %command%

This will port the game from Direct3D 7 to Direct3D 11 and allow Proton to use DXVK with the game which then fixes the presentation of all cutscenes

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	7	Fan-made D3D11 renderer available here.
Shader Model support	1	Shader Model 5 requires fan-made D3D11 renderer available here.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	6.5e
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.5v

D3D11 Renderer

D3D11 Renderer replaces Gothic II's old DX7 API with a new DX11 one that improves compatibility on new systems and provides additional features e.g. higher quality shadows.

Install D3D11 Renderer
Download and install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2022. Download D3D11 Renderer from the link above. Extract contents of downloaded archive into <path-to-game>\system. Launch the game. D3D11 Renderer's configuration menu can be accessed in-game by pressing F11. Alternative option for download through Steam Workshop.

Spine Management Tool

Spine is a simple, however with the advent of Union, now outdated, modification manager that allows you to easily install the D3D11 renderer and other useful tools via a database tab, as well as pre-emptively installing the Systempack for either game and updating the games to the proper patch version.

Setting up Spine

Download the .exe and install it in any desired place in its own folder. Start the tool, and direct it to Gothic's installation folder. Tick the Steam box to the right of the directory if using the Steam version. Spine also has a auto-detect function right below the directories. The manager will download the basic necessities for the installed games by default, like the Player-Kit and SystemPack. It also features Ninja for inter-mod compatibility and will automatically enable it if mods that require it are ticked. Notes: The database tab can be browsed for other mods or tools and to easily install them on the go. The library tab will act as the game launcher and allow the launching of different mods without affecting the base game installation. Patches and tools to enable/disable will appear on the right side. An account is not required except for community-related features that do not have a direct impact on the game.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98	ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 400 MHz Intel Pentium III 700 MHz (Steam)	Intel Pentium III 600 MHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2.6 GB 5 GB (Steam)
Video card (GPU)	32 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible	64 MB of VRAM