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Dwarf Fortress

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress cover
Developers
Tarn Adams
Publishers
Bay 12 Games
Release dates
Windows August 8, 2006
macOS (OS X) August 8, 2006
Linux August 8, 2006
Reception
Metacritic 93
OpenCritic 90
Taxonomy
Monetization Freeware, One-time game purchase
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Top-down view
Controls Point and select, Menu-based
Genres Simulation, Building, Survival, Strategy
Art styles Pixel art
Themes Fantasy
Dwarf Fortress on HowLongToBeat
Dwarf Fortress on IGDB
Dwarf Fortress guide on StrategyWiki
Dwarf Fortress on MobyGames
Dwarf Fortress on Wikipedia

Key points

Many bugs are fixed by third-party mods and hacks.
Extensive modding support by the community.
Many bugs and partially implemented features.

General information

Official Wiki
Community Mods and Utilties List
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Developer website
DRM-free
Freeware. As of January 2024, the game is considered as the "Classic" version
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Linux
itch.io
DRM-free
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Linux
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Linux

Version differences

The Steam and itch.io versions have a custom premium tileset with graphics enabled by default, new music, and auto-updates. Additionally, the Steam version includes Steam Workshop integration.[1]

Monetization

Type Notes
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Microtransactions

Type Notes
No microtransactions Game does not contain any microtransactions.

Essential improvements

Mods

Lazy Newb Pack

Homepage
Bundles the game itself and includes many important custom tools made to make playing Dwarf Fortress easier.
Ships with some tilesets to improve the readability of gameplay.
Available for Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Utilities

DFHack

Homepage
Acts as a framework for plugins and scripts that extend what one can do with Dwarf Fortress.
Its main uses are bug fixes and plugins that improve the interface.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\data\init\[Note 1]
Steam <path-to-game>\prefs\
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game>/data/init/
Linux <path-to-game>/data/init/
This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

Save game data location

[Note 2]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\data\save\[Note 1]
<path-to-game>\save\[Note 1]
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game>/data/save/
<path-to-game>/save/
Linux <path-to-game>/data/save/
<path-to-game>/save/

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Freely resizable window.
Multi-monitor
Requires spreading window across monitors.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
May need a third-party tileset or Lazy Newb Pack to see gameplay.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
The SDL version can be resized, 'legacy' is locked to 80 by 25 tiles.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Limited by simulation speed.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode
Colors are defined in config files, and colorblind sets are available.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
See "data/init/interface.txt"
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Some menus are mouse-enabled, and DFHack can provide additional mouse support.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Controller types

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
All speech is text-based.
Closed captions
Text announcements and all events are written in "gamelog.txt".
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
OpenGL 2.1
ExecutablePPC 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
64-bit since version 0.43.05.[2]
macOS (OS X)
64-bit since version 0.43.05.[2] PowerPC support was removed after 0.31.12.[3]
Linux
64-bit since version 0.43.05.[2]

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio FMOD
Interface FreeType 2
Input SDL2

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3
Processor (CPU) Dual Core 2.4GHz
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 500 MB
Video card (GPU)
Version 0.28.181.40d was the last version to support Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 and PowerPC Macs.[4]
macOS (OS X)
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.6.3
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM) 512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 100 MB
Video card (GPU)
Version 0.28.181.40d was the last version to support Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 and PowerPC Macs.[4]
Linux
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM) 512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 100 MB
Video card (GPU)


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  2. Starting with the release of DF 50.x, the save folder appears to be moved up one folder (out of data). This is true for installations downloaded from itch.io

References