Spore

Spore

Developers
	Maxis
macOS (OS X)	TransGaming Inc.
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows	September 7, 2008
macOS (OS X) (Cider)	September 7, 2008
Reception
Metacritic	94
IGDB	82
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person, Bird's-eye view
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Life sim, RPG, Strategy
Art styles	Cartoon
Themes	Sci-fi, Space
Series	Spore

Spore
Spore	2008
Darkspore	2011

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Spore is a singleplayer third-person and bird's-eye view life sim, RPG and strategy game in the Spore series.

A major game-breaking bug can be triggered during the Tribal stage, rendering a save game corrupt under certain circumstances. See save game data location.

General information

Spore Wiki

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Davoonline's spore modding forums

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM PA DRM, serial key can be used up to five times. Use this tool to free an activation slot.
GOG.com		Includes all expansion packs.
Microsoft Store		Included exclusively with Xbox Game Pass for PC as part of its version of EA Play.
Origin		Full game. Includes all the main gameplay features. Buy this for the full Spore experience. Included with EA Play.
Origin		Limited version that only includes the Spore Creature Creator. Do not buy this if you want the full Spore experience.
Steam		Contact EA Support to activate Spore keys on Origin. Included with EA Play (Steam).
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)

Retail version of Spore can't get the March 2017 update, so online functionality doesn't work. GOG.com, Origin, and Steam versions have this update. Contact EA support to activate retail Spore keys on Origin.

Avoid having Spore and its DLC's installed from several sources, as this will cause severe issues with savegames and modding.

Spore Creature Creator

A limited free version of the creature creator from the game; can only be used to create creatures; does not include any other gameplay.

All creatures created in this utility can be carried over to the full game.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Expansion pack	The expansion packs include customization options and missions.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via EA Play.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Creepy & Cute Parts Pack	Adds new parts and animations to the creature creator.
Galactic Adventures	Expansion adds new missions to the galactic stage.
Spore Bot Parts Pack	Limited promotion during 2010 with Dr. Pepper (USA) which added mech styled parts to the creature creator.

Dr. Pepper Bot Parts Pack is notoriously buggy and will cause your game to crash whenever a creature attempts to sing with a bot parts mouth.

Dr. Pepper Bot Parts Pack has been reported to mess up game installations to the point of being unable to properly re-install the game after uninstalling. It is strongly discouraged to have this DLC installed.

Galactic Adventures expansion is required to install any mods after the 2017 patch.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patches can be installed through the launcher or manually

Digital versions of Spore do not require manual installations of any patches.

• Windows (1.05.001, 2009): Patches-Scrolls, Softpedia. See also: official patch info
• OS X (1.05.001, 2009): Patches-Scrolls

Skip intro videos

Edit files
Go to <path-to-game>\Data\Config\Properties.txt. Add property playOpeningMovie (hash(playOpeningMovie)) bool at the end of the file and save. Go to <path-to-game>\Data\Config\ConfigManager.txt. Add boolProp playOpeningMovie false at the end of the file and save. Repeat all steps in the dataEP1 folder if Galactic Adventures is installed.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\SPORE\Preferences\
Microsoft Store
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/17390/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Spore\Games %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Spore Creations\
Microsoft Store
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/17390/pfx/

A backup should be made before reaching the Tribal stage. Avoid saving the game, or evolving, while befriending any creatures, or the main save game will corrupt.

Save game cloud syncing

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

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Position affects gameplay.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD			UI does not scale with resolution and is extremely small in 4K. Buttons have improperly aligned hitboxes.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Only enabled when texture quality set to High. Unknown amount.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS		Locked at 30 FPS. See High frame rate.
120+ FPS		Locked at 30 FPS. See High frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

Widescreen resolution[citation needed]
See Command line arguments. Use -r:YourWidthxYourHeight

High frame rate

Change the frame rate limiter

Go to <path-to-game>\Data\Config. Open Properties.txt. Add the following line to the end of the file: property frameLimitMS 44 int Save and close the file. Now open the file ConfigManager.txt. Add the following line to the end of the file: intProp frameLimitMS 16 Save and close the file. The game will now run at 62 FPS instead. Change the integer value in ConfigManager.txt accordingly if you want an even higher FPS limit, based on the following formula: 1000ms / frameLimitMS = Max frames per second. For a more precise limit, set frameLimitMS to a value that allows the desired FPS (so if 120 FPS is desired, set the property to 8 to cap the frame rate to 125 FPS) and then use an additional frame rate limiter to force the desired limit. Notes The default value of frameLimitMS is 33, for 30 frames per second. No decimal support. To compensate, use an additional frame rate limiter to force the desired limit. Repeat all in dataEP1 folder if you installed Galactic Adventures expansion.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		In its second stage (the 'tribal' stage), you cannot adjust the y-axis inversion of the camera control.
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles		On by default.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

How do I change language?

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Use the -locale:en-gb or the -locale:en-us parameter.
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Czech				Use the -locale:cs-cz parameter.
Danish				Use the -locale:da-dk parameter.
Dutch				Use the -locale:nl-nl parameter.
Finnish				Use the -locale:fi-fi parameter.
French				Use the -locale:fr-fr parameter.
German				Use the -locale:de-de parameter.
Greek
Hungarian				Use the -locale:hu-hu parameter.
Italian				Use the -locale:it-it parameter.
Japanese
Korean
Norwegian				Use the -locale:no-no parameter.
Polish				Use the -locale:pl-pl parameter.
Portuguese				Use the -locale:pt-pt parameter.
Brazilian Portuguese				Use the -locale:pt-br parameter.
Russian				Use the -locale:ru-ru parameter.
Spanish				Use the -locale:es-es parameter.
Swedish				Use the -locale:sv-se parameter.
Thai

Issues fixed

Runtime Error R6025

Instructions[citation needed]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Delete Login.prop and Preferences.prop.

Launch Error [2000] and [1004]

Fix broken registry keys[citation needed]
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Electronic Arts\SPORE. Make sure DataDir is set to <path-to-game>\Data\. Make sure InstallLoc is set to <path-to-game>. Create a 32 bit word named ReIndexYesOrNo with a value of 0 Create a 32 bit word named InstallCompleted with a value of 1

No trees visible on planet from Creature Stage onwards

After completion of the initial cell stage, the player is prompted to modify their creature for life on land. Immediately after the editor is exited, a cut-scene will show depicting the species migrating onto land. The player may skip this cutscene, but doing so may trigger a semi game-breaking bug where no trees are rendered on that save-game's planet, even after reloading the game. The only fix is to start a new save-game and to let the cut-scene play through. The fact that the game can be started from any stage and all previously created creatures are available for selection at the creation screen means this should cause little disruption.

"BAD_DATA" Names

This bug can appear after installing patch 1.04 or the Galactic Adventures expansion. The fixes only affects all future names; any previous objects named BAD_DATA must be changed manually.

Launch the game with -locale:en-us parameter[citation needed]

Missing NameGeneration File[citation needed]
Go into the folder <path-to-game>\DATA\LOCALE\EN-US. Copy the file NameGeneration.package to <path-to-game>\DATA\LOCALE\EN-GB.

SporeMaster 2.0[citation needed]

This fix is useful for languages other than English and the original Name Generator will be used, or if custom random names are desired. Download SporeMaster 2.0. If not installed on the computer, download and install .NET Framework 3.5. Insert the Spore disc into your disc drive. Go to X:\Spore\Data\Locale, with X being the letter of the disc drive. Copy the folder of the desired language and paste to an easily accessible location, followed by a folder of any other language. Go into the copied folder of the selected language. Rename NameGeneration.package to a different name. Open two instances of SporeMaster. In the first, go to the Mod tab, open the NameGenerator of the other language, press Unpack, go to the Files tab, expand the folder named #0461227D and click on #0FD9C1E3.prop.xml. In the second, do the same with the renamed NameGenerator. Within #0FD9C1E3.prop.xml is the information of the different names. Copy all the names in the file and replace the others. Custom names can also be added. When finished, go to the Mod tab, press Pack on the second language NameGenerator and replace the <path-to-game>\Data\Locale\yourlanguage\NameGeneration.package with the new one.

Change Planet and Star Names Manually[citation needed]
This fix doesn't invoke the Joker Badge. In the Space Stage, go to another Solar System that isn't yours (or another save game). Press Ctrl+C+⇧ Shift. Enter these codes to change names: rename star X - Where "X" is the desired name rename planet X - Where "X" is the desired name You can rename everything in your own system EXCEPT your home world.

Rogues change to babies after evolving/evolve with wrong size

Evolve again.

Launch Error "SporeApp.exe - Entry Point Not Found"

This error occurs when you install SweetFX incorrectly.

Delete dxgi.fx and dxgi.dll
Go to <path-to-game>\SporeBin Delete dxgi.dll and dxgi.fx Repeat all steps in the SporebinEP1 folder if Galactic Adventure is installed.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
Shader Model support	2.0, 3.0

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.

Modifications

Installing mods

Mods created after the 2017 patch will not work on the base game; Galactic Adventures expansion will be required.

Base game method (not recommended)[citation needed]
Drop any mod packages to <path-to-game>\Spore\Data.

Galactic Adventures method (not recommended)[citation needed]
GALACTIC ADVENTURES MANUAL METHOD (Not recommended) Drop any mod packages to <path-to-game>\Spore\DataEP1 Mods that end with the .sporemod extension can not be installed in this manner.

Galactic Adventures method with Spore Modding API (recommended)[citation needed]
Download and install the Spore Modding API Download desired mods and install them using the Spore Modding API's Easy Installer. Allows installation of mods ending with the .sporemod extension.

Sporemodder FX

One of the main modding tools for Spore. Includes easier coding formats, UI editor, texture viewer and model viewer.

Spore ModAPI SDK

The Spore ModAPI SDK allows the creation of C++ mods for Spore. These mods are compiled into .dll files, that can then be used by the ModAPI Launcher Kit to inject them into Spore.

Many tutorials are available.

Goes hand in hand with other mod development tools.

SporeModder Blender Addons

Blender add-ons that include tools for modding Spore.

RW4 Exporter: Used to export models into Spore to use them for your mods, with support for textures, materials, animations...

ANIMATION Exporter: Used to export animations that can be played by creatures in Spore.

GMDL Importer: Used to import Spore creations into Blender (.gmdl files).

RW4 Importer: Used to import most models in the game into Blender, so you can see how they are made.

Many tutorials are available.

Spore 450 mods archive

A collection of mods for Spore.

Contains a wide array of mods, which have been stored for archival purposes.

The modding community heavily discourages installing these mods. Many are likely to not work and may break your game.

Davoonline Spore Modding Forums

The most used community hub for Spore modding. Contains a huge array of mods.

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP SP1, Vista
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB (XP) 768 MB (Vista)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	5 GB
Video card (GPU)	128 MB of VRAM Shader model 2.0 support

Supported ATI Radeon chipsets: 9500, 9600, 9800, X300, X600, X700, X800, X850, X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950, 2400, 2600, 2900, 3450, 3650, 3850, 3870, 4850

Supported Nvidia chipsets: FX 5900, FX 5950, 6200, 6500, 6600, 6800, 7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950, 8400, 8500, 8600, 8800, 9600, 9800, GTX 260, GTX 280

Supported Intel integrated graphics chipsets: GMA 950, GMA 3x00 series

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.5.3
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core Duo
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	5 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X1600 Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT Intel Integrated GMA X3100 128 MB of VRAM

Does not support PowerPC based Macs or the GMA 950 class of integrated video cards.