Star Wars: Dark Forces

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Star Wars: Dark Forces

Developer(s)	LucasArts
Publisher(s)	LucasArts
Engine	Jedi
First release date	Windows February 15, 1995 Mac OS June 1995

Star Wars: Jedi Knight

Star Wars: Dark Forces	1995
Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Dark Forces II	1997
Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Mysteries of the Sith
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II – Jedi Outcast	2002
Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Jedi Academy	2003

General information

Steam Users' Forums

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source(s)	Store unlock	Notes
Steam		Can be played without Steam.

Improvements

Patches

1.2 Update patch

The 1.2 Update patch fixes some issues with the Classic version of Dark Forces (this does not work with the DOS version).

Game data

	Location
Windows
Mac

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud
GameSave Manager

Video settings

Graphics option	Native	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Press Alt+Enter in DOSBox (CMD+F in Boxer).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)

Input settings

Input Settings	Native	Notes
Remapping		See Remapping.
Mouse acceleration
Controller support

Remapping

You can change these controls using INSTALL.EXE (KEYCONFI.EXE in the demo) (Or SETUP.EXE)

To access this in the Steam version, open your DOSBox configuration file and change dark.exe to install.exe (change it back once you are done configuring). You can also use DOSBox's built-in keymapper (Ctrl+F1).

Mouse settings cannot be changed in the demo.

Mouse sensitivity in DOSBOX Version

Set mouse sensitivity in dosbox.conf • Link Edit dosbox.conf Change sensitivity=100 with the number you want (from 1 to 1000). Save your changes.

Issues fixed

Game randomly changes colors

Change output method to DirectDraw or OpenGL • Link Go to the Dark Forces folder, by default this is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dark forces Edit dosbox.conf Change output=surface to output=ddraw or output=opengl (whichever works best) Save your changes.

Game appears stretched horizontally

Fix incorrect aspect ratio • Link Dark Forces is designed to run at 320x200, but with a 4:3 aspect ratio. To set this, do the following: Go to the [render] section of the DOSBox configuration file and change aspect=false to aspect=true. If you are using Boxer, you can also use the View - Use 4:3 Aspect Ratio item in the menu.

Run retail version without the CD

Run without the CD • Link Perform a full install within DOSBox. Copy the CD.ID file from your Dark Forces CD, to the folder you have mounted as DOSBox's C: drive. Use a text editor to open the DRIVE.CD file in your Dark Forces install directory. It should contain one letter. Change it to C and save it.

Update Steam DOSBox version/Run without Steam

Run without Steam • Link Install the game through Steam. Download the latest DOSBox version. Run the installer and point it to the Dark Forces folder, by default this will be: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dark forces\ To run Dark Forces without Steam, run dosbox.exe directly. To run with Steam, launch as usual.

Enable Steam overlay

Change output method to OpenGL • Link Go to the Dark Forces folder, by default this is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dark forces Edit dosbox.conf Change output=surface to output=opengl Save your changes.

Run on Mac OS or Linux

Run on Mac OS or Linux • Link Obtain the game files For the Steam version, install it under Windows, then copy its files over to Mac OS/Linux. For the original version, install under DOSBox on Mac OS/Linux. Run dark.exe using the Mac OS/Linux version of DOSBox.

XL Engine port

XL Engine (formerly DarkXL and DaggerXL) is a fan project aimed at porting the Jedi, XnGine and Build engines to modern systems with additional features. Support for Dark Forces is currently in alpha stage.

Jedi Academy mod remake

Dark Forces: A Mod For Jedi Academy was a fan remake for Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Jedi Academy. A demo version containing the first six levels was released in January 2008. Progress then stalled, and the project was cancelled on January 27, 2012.

System requirements

DOS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	MS-DOS 5.0 (Retail) Windows 2000 or newer (Steam)	MS-DOS 5.0 (Retail) Windows 2000 or newer (Steam)
Processor (CPU)	386DX at 33 MHz	486DX at 33 MHz
System memory (RAM)	8 MB	8 MB
Video card (GPU)	256-color VGA/MCGA (Retail) DirectX 5.2 (Steam)	256-color VGA/MCGA (Retail) DirectX 5.2 (Steam)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3.5 MB free space (Retail) 80 MB free space (Steam)	3.5 MB free space (Retail) 80 MB free space (Steam)