Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Dungeon Siege

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Dungeon Siege
Dungeon Siege cover
Developers
Gas Powered Games
macOS (OS X) Westlake Interactive
Publishers
Retail Microsoft Game Studios
Digital Square Enix
OS X MacSoft
Engines
Siege Engine[1]
Release dates
Windows April 5, 2002
macOS (OS X) May 2, 2003
Reception
Metacritic 86
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Bird's-eye view, Scrolling
Controls Point and select, Multiple select
Genres ARPG
Themes Fantasy
Series Dungeon Siege
Dungeon Siege on HowLongToBeat
Dungeon Siege on IGDB
Dungeon Siege on MobyGames
Dungeon Siege on Wikipedia
Dungeon Siege
Dungeon Siege 2002
Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna 2003
Dungeon Siege II 2005
Dungeon Siege III 2011

Warnings

The Mac OS X version of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.

Dungeon Siege is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view and scrolling ARPG game in the Dungeon Siege series.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SafeDisc Lite DRM[Note 1].
Windows
Retail
DRM details are not known
macOS (OS X)
GOG.com
DRM-free
Bundled with Dungeon Siege II, Dungeon Siege III, and Dungeon Siege III: Treasures of the Sun.
Uses GOG's custom DirectDraw wrapper.
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
DRM-free when run directly from game executable.[4]
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Version differences

Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna contains both Dungeon Siege and its main expansion Legends of Aranna.
The Steam and GOG.com versions have the multiplayer menu disabled. See Network for a workaround.

Monetization

Type Notes
Expansion pack The expansion pack includes new classes, items and a separate campaign.
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Legends of Aranna Released in November 2003, this expansion features a new campaign including new items and enemies.
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Essential improvements

Patches

Bonus Pack

  • The Bonus Pack: Yesterhaven is available at soggi.org and adds another official multiplayer map.
  • The Bonus Pack: Return to Arhok is available at nexusmods and adds another official singleplayer campaign.

Skip intro videos

Run the game with the nointro=true command line argument

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Dungeon Siege\Keys\current.gas
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Dungeon Siege\DungeonSiege.ini
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Dungeon Siege\prefs.gas
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39190/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Dungeon Siege\Save\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39190/pfx/[Note 2]

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 settings.
Video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Highest natively supported resolution is 1024x768. See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen
See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD
Too high resolutions (above 1080p) will crash the game; use dgVoodoo2 for these resolutions.
Field of view (FOV)
See the WSGF entry.
Windowed
See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Use Nvidia Control Panel or comparable. Resolutions above 1024x768 perform exponentially worse with AA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Can cause framerate issues, it can be disabled with the vsync=false command line argument.
60 FPS
120+ FPS
No frame rate cap.

Widescreen resolution

Widescreen fixes only work in-game, not on the main menu.
Widescreen aspect ratios are Vert-; to set FOV see the WSGF entry.
Some higher resolutions will crash the game; use dgVoodoo 2 or GOG's dxcfg.exe for these resolutions.
Set in DungeonSiege.ini[5]
  1. Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Dungeon Siege\DungeonSiege.ini
  2. Change the width = and height = numbers to match the desired resolution.
  3. Save the changes.
Set in launch options[5]
  1. Add width=#### and height=#### to the game's launch options.
  2. Replace #### with the desired resolution.
  3. Save the changes.

Windowed

Run the game with the fullscreen=false command line argument[6]

Notes:

  • Mouse cursor is not captured with this method.
Use DxWnd
  1. In DxWnd, File → Import. There is a stock Dungeon Siege export available.
  2. Modify the game properties. Width and height should be 1024x768 (or desired resolution)

Notes:

  • Minimizes on Alt+Tab .
  • "Do not notify on Task Switch" causes camera to spin when switching tasks.
  • Can cause significant UI/Menu glitches, which are fixed by restarting the game.

Input

Input settings.
Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Full keyboard remapping with secondary options.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Only inverts for camera movement.
Controller
Controller support
Controller types

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music, SFX, Ambient, and Voice.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
Retail and Steam only.
German
Retail and Steam only; download for GOG.com version
Italian
Retail and Steam only.
Japanese
Retail and Steam only.
Polish
Retail and Steam only.
Brazilian Portuguese
ScummBR. GOG.com or Steam.
Spanish
Retail and Steam only.

Network

Steam and non-Steam players cannot play together due to version differences.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Co-op
For Steam and GOG.com, use the zonematch=true command line argument.
Online play
Co-op
The official MSN Gaming Zone service has been shut down.

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
MSN Gaming Zone support has ended.
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP 2300-2400, 6073
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
G3D
User created profile, requires dgVoodoo 2, see profile introdution.
Note: Profile may not work with the latest wrapper, in case of issues please report to the vorpx forum.

Issues fixed

Flickering screen

Flickering screen[citation needed]

This fix has only been tested on the Steam version.

Some users have complained about the screen flickering on Windows 7. A quick fix is to press the Windows button on the keyboard to minimize the game. Upon maximizing, the flickering stops (Changing between the main menu and the campaign/multi-player will require you to do this again).

Change Video settings[7]

One of the following steps may work:

  • Set DungeonSiege.exe to run in 16-bit color mode.
  • In the config file, bpp=32
  • Disable anti-aliasing within the GPU driver settings.
  • Running the game on a different GPU or monitor may prevent UI/cursor flickering.
  • Switching between fullscreen or windowed mode.

Menu glitches

Menu glitches[citation needed]

Sometimes the game's menu stops responding, doesn't see saved games, gives "There are no maps currently available" error, shows visual glitches on character creation screen. This may happen regardless of how many times the game ran correctly. Installing the game in the default folder and turning off gameplay-tracking programs (ex. X-Fire, Raptr, Steam) may fix these issues.

Low frame rate in fullscreen mode

Run the game with the bltonly=true command line argument.[8]

Fairies/Pixies can cause missing terrain and crashes

If a fairy or pixie restores a character's health or mana, the player may soon encounter missing terrain and crashes in certain circumstances.
Instructions[9]
  1. Download fairyfix.zip and extract into <path-to-game>\Resources to disable fairy/pixie spells.
Further issues can be resolved by referring to GenesisFR's troubleshooting guide.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 7 [10]
ExecutablePPC 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer MSN Gaming Zone

Command line arguments

Command[11] Accepted values Description
-nointro= true/false Toggles playing the intro on startup
-fullscreen= true/false Toggles fullscreen and windowed mode
-width= number Specifies resolution width
-height= number Specifies resolution height
-bpp= number Specifies color depth
-vsync= true/false Toggles vertical sync
-maxfps= number Specifies framerate cap. Setting it to 0 removes the cap (default setting).
-asynccursor= true/false Toggles the asynchronous cursor
-nospacecheck= true/false Toggles the free disk space and memory check on startup
-verifydata= true/false Toggles integrity check of game files and executable on startup
-simplerender= number Toggles multitexturing
-bltonly= true/false Toggles rendering mode
-zonematch= true/false Toggles whether the game will immediately open the multiplayer menu on launch; only way to access multiplayer in digital releases
-nosound= true/false Toggles game audio
-aa_screenshots= true/false Toggles anti-aliasing in screenshots
-turtle= true/false Toggles auto-disconnecting upon player time-out in multiplayer
-multi= true/false Toggles permission to run multiple game instances
-noalttab= true/false Toggles permission to minimize the game via Alt+Tab
-nowinkey= true/false Toggles permission to minimize the game via Win
-fpslog= true/false Toggles FPS log output to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Dungeon Siege\Logs\Fps.log
-user_path= folder path Overrides main folder path for user files
-bits= folder path Overrides folder path for bits
-dsdll_path= folder path Overrides folder path for main game .dll file
-keys_path= folder path Overrides folder path for keys
-map_path= folder path Overrides folder path for maps
-mod_paths= folder path Overrides folder path for mods
-res_path= folder path Overrides folder path for resource files
-save_path= folder path Overrides folder path for saved games
-shots_path= folder path Overrides folder path for screenshots

Siegelets, maps and mods

Yesterheaven - official bonus multiplayer map for original Dungeon Siege made by Gas Powered Games. Single player conversion files are available here.
Myros Mod - converts the original Utraean Peninsula multiplayer map to singleplayer. Conversion files are available here or already prepared map can be downloaded here.
Utima V: Lazarus - a remake of Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny.
Ultima 6 Project - a remake of Ultima VI: The False Prophet.
Many notable fan made siegelets and maps can be downloaded here; Mageworld, The Elemental, Lands Of Hyperborea, Copperhead: Retaliation, Realm of Kings.
Dungeon Siege high resolution textures - texture pack made for the original game using AI image upscaling ESRGAN.
SeeFar2020 - collection of modifications that increase the draw distance, add more camera control options, add support for more resolutions, fix 3D character preview in the inventory and slightly increase the default font size.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 98, 2000, ME, XP
Processor (CPU) 333 MHz
System memory (RAM) 128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1.5 GB
Video card (GPU) 8 MB of VRAM
macOS (OS X)
Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)


Notes

  1. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[2] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[3]
  2. 2.0 2.1 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>/39190/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (39190) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References