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Anno 1404

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Anno 1404
Anno 1404 cover
Developers
Related Designs
Blue Byte Software
Publishers
Ubisoft
Engines
RD3D
Release dates
Windows June 23, 2009
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Bird's-eye view
Controls Point and select
Genres Building, Strategy, Simulation
Art styles Realistic
Themes Historical, Fantasy, Renaissance, Medieval
Series Anno
Anno 1404 on HowLongToBeat
Anno 1404 on IGDB
Anno 1404 guide on StrategyWiki
Anno 1404 on MobyGames
Anno 1404 on Wikipedia
Anno 1602 1998
Anno 1503 2002
Anno 1701 2006
Anno 1404 2009
Anno 2070 2011
Anno Online 2013
Anno 2205 2015
Anno 1800 2019
Anno 1404: History Edition 2020
Anno 1503: History Edition 2020
Anno 1602: History Edition 2020
Anno 1701: History Edition 2020

Anno 1404 is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view building, strategy and simulation game in the Anno series.

General information

Released as Dawn of Discovery in the United States.
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Steam Community Discussions US Version
Ubisoft Support
Ubisoft Support (Venice DLC)
Ubisoft Forums

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
TAGES DRM was removed in an official patch. Tages can be safely removed from the system after patching[1]
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Gold Edition
Windows
GamersGate (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Gold Edition
Windows
Games for Windows Marketplace (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
[2]
Windows
Steam (unavailable)
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
Gold Edition.
Windows
Steam (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Gold Edition."US Version".
Windows
A German demo can be downloaded here.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Venice
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.03 is available to update the game and remove Tages DRM.

Unofficial patch

This fan-made patch (downloadable from Patches-Scrolls or ModDB) focuses on improving the English localisation and restoring text that was not translated from German in the original game. However it also fixes bugs and oversights relating to achievements and quests, in addition to offering a number of optional tweaks to gameplay, which means it may still be of interest to those not playing in English.

Skip intro videos

Modify language files
  1. Download and extract RDAExplorer, and run RDAExplorerGUI.
  2. In <path-to-game>\maindata, open the .rda file for your language, (e.g. usa0.rda, eng0.rda or ger0.rda). Backup the file for safe keeping before proceeding.
  3. Open the .rda using the 'Open' method, not 'Open - READ ONLY'. Picking the latter will cause the game to claim it is modified and achievements will be disabled.
  4. Once the file is open, find the data\loca\[usa / eng / ger]\movies\start_logo_list.txt file. Right-click on it and choose 'Delete'.
  5. Choose File → Save.

4 GB patch

The 4 GB patch improves stability during long sessions. Download it here.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %APPDATA%\Ubisoft\Anno1404\Config\Engine.ini
%APPDATA%\Ubisoft\Anno1404Addon\Config\Engine.ini
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/33210/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %APPDATA%\Ubisoft\Anno1404\Profiles\
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Anno 1404\Savegames
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Anno 1404 Venice\Savegames
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/33210/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Ubisoft Connect
In-game backup possible when logging into a Ubisoft Account

Video

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.
In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Remove window border[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open Engine.ini.
  3. Change <NoWindowFrame>0</NoWindowFrame> to <NoWindowFrame>1</NoWindowFrame>.

Input

In-game input settings.
In-game input settings.

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Only available in some cutscenes.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
Local retail version only.
French
German
To play in German in versions without support for this language, see Switching to German language.
Hungarian
Fan translation.
Italian
Polish
Local retail version only. Patch available.
Russian
Local retail only.
Spanish

Switching to German language

If you bought the game in the international version and want to change the language to German, follow these steps:
These steps are not needed for digital releases.

Base game

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Download the German demo version and install it. If the full version is already installed, make sure that the demo version is installed in a different folder.
  2. Go to the installation folder for the demo version.
  3. Open the folder maindata and copy ger0.rda somewhere else.
  4. Once the file is copied, you can uninstall the demo version.
  5. Go to <path-to-game>\maindata for the full version of the game.
  6. Paste the ger0.rda from the demo version into this location.
  7. Go to %APPDATA%\Ubisoft\Anno1404\Config
  8. Open Engine.ini.
  9. Change <LanguageTAG>eng</LanguageTAG> to <LanguageTAG>ger</LanguageTAG>
  10. The game should now start in German.

Venice expansion

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Download ger0.rda.
  2. Copy ger0.rda into <path-to-game>\addon.
  3. Go to %APPDATA%\Ubisoft\Anno1404Addon\Config.
  4. Open Engine.ini.
  5. Change <LanguageTAG>eng</LanguageTAG> to <LanguageTAG>ger</LanguageTAG>
  6. The expansion should start in German.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
8 Requires the Venice expansion.[3]
Online play
8 The official multiplayer service has been shut down on 1 June 2021.[4]

Connection types

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c, 10
Shader Model support 2, 4
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System
Cutscenes Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 4 3.3 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 6 GB
Video card (GPU) 128 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9 compatible
Supported ATI Radeon chipsets: 9600-9800/X300-850/X1050-1950/HD 2400-2900/HD 3400-3870/HD 4300-4890 series
Supported Nvidia GeForce chipsets: 6100-6800/7/8/9/120-140/250(295 series
Laptop versions of these cards are NOT officially supported.


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/33210/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (33210) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References