Gothic II

Gothic II

Developers
	Piranha Bytes
Publishers
	Atari
	JoWood Productions
	Nordic Games
Engines
	ZenGin
Release dates
Windows	November 29, 2002

Gothic

Gothic	2001
Gothic II	2002
Gothic 3	2006
Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods	2008
Arcania: Gothic 4	2010
Arcania: Fall of Setarrif	2011

Key points

For Windows 8 and later apply the fullscreen fixes.

Steam overlay doesn't work with this game.

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		Standard or Gold Edition.
GamersGate
GamersGate		Night of the Raven
GOG.com		Gold Edition.
Green Man Gaming		Gold Edition.
Humble Store		Gold Edition.
Steam		Gold Edition.

Version differences

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

Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions

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.

System Pack

A fan-made patch, which fixes compatibility issues and adds features. Instructions and download links available here. Requires PlayerKit 2.8, which the instructions include as a separate installer.

D3D11 renderer for Gothic II

Requires a GPU supporting DX11

A fan-made renderer which adds a wide variety of additional DX11 graphical features, such as hardware tessellation, full dynamic lighting, HBAO+, and more. Can also noticeably improve performance on modern systems, as it replaces the CPU-intensive view culling code. Instructions and downloads available here. Recommended to be used in combination with the System Pack.

Skip intro videos

Change playLogoVideos setting Go to the configuration file(s) location. Edit gothic.ini Change playLogoVideos=1 to playLogoVideos=0 Save your 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
Linux (Proton)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39510/pfx/

Save game data location

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

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video settings

Video settings.

Graphics option	Option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor			Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack.
Ultra-widescreen			Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack.
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 fullscreen fixes.

Widescreen resolution

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

The Gothic ½ — SystemPack makes the game Hor+ instead of Vert- and lists most widescreen resolutions.

Use widescreen mod (recommended method) Use Gothic ½ — SystemPack. 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 your resolution. Save your changes and launch Gothic II. NPCs may look fat in widescreen resolutions. Talking to an NPC will fix this until the next time you load a save.

Windowed

Task-switching may cause repeated Tab ↹ input when you return 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 your changes.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

See Windowed for the limitations of this mode.

Set up borderless fullscreen windowed mode[citation needed] Install the Gothic and Gothic II fullscreen fixes. Set zStartupWindowed=1 in <path-to-game>\system\Gothic.ini (see Windowed). Set your 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 your changes. This is only an on/off setting; if it doesn't work or you want a higher setting, force it in the graphics card 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 doesn't work or you want a higher setting, force it in the graphics card control panel. Forcing a higher setting in the graphics card's control panel may cause black videos (sound but no picture).

Input settings

Keyboard and mouse	Native	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		Limited native support; 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.

Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
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 your 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 your changes. Some axes are not be detected and some inputs cannot be set to controller axes, e.g. camera controls.

Audio settings

Audio settings.

Audio options	Native	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.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian				Audio only available on GOG.com (added on September 20, 2017)
Polish				Available on Steam, despite not being stated in a store.
Russian
Spanish

Network

Use Gothic Multiplayer mod for multiplayer (requires Gothic II Gold or the Night of the Raven expansion).

If the installer can't find the game copy Gothic.exe to Gothic2.exe (see Mods can't find Gothic II).

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
LAN play
Online play

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	Native	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Gothic 2 [DX11].

Issues fixed

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. Edit gothic.ini Change scaleVideos=1 to scaleVideos=0 Save your 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 this fix.

Apply the fix[citation needed] Install the Gothic and Gothic II fullscreen fixes. Both Gothic and Gothic II will now enter display correctly in fullscreen mode (you do not need to restart your computer).

Low frame rate in fullscreen mode

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

Apply necessary fixes[citation needed] Install the Gothic and Gothic II fullscreen fixes. Gothic II should now have the correct frame rate in fullscreen mode.

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

This error happens if Gothic II isn't able 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 your changes and run Gothic II again. It should now be able to select the resolution correctly. If it still can't detect your resolution, try setting it manually (see Widescreen resolution).

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 you are using Windows 8 or later, install the Gothic and Gothic II fullscreen fixes. Gothic II will now allow you to task switch at any time.

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.

Copy Gothic.exe to Gothic2.exe[citation needed] Go to the installation folder. Go into system Make a copy of Gothic.exe. Rename the copy to Gothic2.exe. The mod installer should now see the game correctly. Notes Some mods require running the game with Gothic2.exe.

Camera spins uncontrollably

Disable display scaling Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.

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

Gothic II doesn't 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 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 won't make effect if FixMss is set to 1.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8.1, 11	DirectX 11 requires fan-made renderer.
Shader Model support	1, 5	Shader Model 5 requires fan-made renderer.
64-bit executable

Middleware

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

System requirements

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