Difference between revisions of "Blade of Darkness"

Revision as of 12:57, 14 November 2021

This page may require cleanup to meet basic quality standards. The specific problem is: The provided fixes & suggestions should be properly separated by renderer and most of them need verifications. The 2021 remaster should probably get its own page. The final segment could be removed. You can help by modifying the article. The discussion page may contain useful suggestions.

Key points

Released as Blade: The Edge of Darkness in Spain, Severance: Blade of Darkness in Europe and as Blade of Darkness in North America.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM DRM
GOG.com		Includes Legacy Version.
Humble Store
Steam		Includes Legacy Version.

Essential improvements

Patches (2001 Version)

1.001 is the only patch. It is highly recommended. Already included in the GOG version.

Skip intro videos

Instructions^[1]

Go to <path-to-game>\Data
Rename, move or delete the following folder:

video

The 2021 updated re-release includes an in game menu option to skip intro videos.

Improve D3d and Glide (3DFX) compatibility (2001 version)

The game has known issues on modern systems, such as random crashes and problems with the font, but with DgVoodoo 2 most problems can be fixed and compatibility with Glide can be restored. (Using nGlide instead is less stable and might cause the game to crash)
Install the game. Install DgVoodoo 2. Optionally use the Windows Vista Compatibility Mode.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Config^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1710170/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Save^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1710170/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		2021 re-release support widescreen resolutions. For the 2001 version the image is Stretched. See the WSGF report for a solution.
Multi-monitor		See the WSGF report for a solution.
Ultra-widescreen		See the WSGF report for a solution.
4K Ultra HD		The 2021 re-release supports resolutions up to 4K. In the 2001 version 2048x1536 is the highest supported resolution.
Field of view (FOV)	Camera can be zoomed in/out in 3 presets.
Windowed	Available only for some renderers.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	The 2021 re-release supports antialiasing.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	The 2021 re-release comes with a V-sync option. In the 2001 version V-sync is enabled by default in D3D Mode.
60 FPS	The 2021 re-release supports custom framelimits.
120+ FPS	See Mouse behaves erratically or Camera/view moves choppily and unpredictably and Cutscenes get out of sync.
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Up to 3 possible binds per action
Mouse acceleration		No mouse acceleration present
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music and sound effects
Surround sound		Up to 7.0 with Creative ALchemy. Up to 7.1 in 2021 rerelease.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		A3D 1.0^[2] and EAX 2^[3]

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Russian
Spanish

Issues fixed

2001 Version

Note that this game uses very problematic rendering methods.

To bypass most common issues it is highly advised to use dgVoodoo 2.

Instructions
Install dgVoodoo (for Direct3D). Choose D3d in the game's configuration setup. Optionally choose Miles Fast 2D Positional Audio if other audio options cause issues.

Cursor is missing/Black text

Generally caused by using Direct3D for output with modern graphics hardware.

Use dgVoodoo 2.

Alternatively use rOpenGL or 3dfx for video output.

Crash on launch

This is usually caused by video codec issues such as installed third party codec packs and the error for this is often MEM_RESIZE_FAILED.

Prevent the intro from playing. See Skip Intro Movies.

Alternatively convert the .mpg videos in the "video" directory and subdirectories to raw .avi while retaining the name to retain playback capability.^{[citation needed]}

Crash after introduction video

The game doesn't properly handle failure states for when DirectPlay is not installed. Not having DirectPlay also significantly slows down the opening of the initial game launcher as well.

Install DirectPlay^{[citation needed]}

Blank screen when using rOpenGL for video output

Alt-Tab out of the application then go back to it^{[citation needed]}

Mouse behaves erratically or Camera/view moves choppily and unpredictably and Cutscenes get out of sync.

This generally happens using rOpenGL for video output.

The mouse-camera control granularity is linked somehow to the framerate. Higher framerates lead to smoother and slower mouse-camera control. Lower framerates lead to choppy control that is "quantized", too fast and jumpy. I've encountered such problems on both old and new hardware. Besides framerate, part of the problem seems to be related to the audio renderer, of all things.

At high FPS some cutscenes may not play properly, which can be a problem if they are ones that cannot be skipped.

Use D3D or Glide (3DFX)and set refresh rate on 60hz.See Improve D3d and Glide(3DFX) compatibility.^{[citation needed]}

Game runs too fast

This typically happens in videos modes other than 3dfx and is due to the game not handling multiple processors properly.

Lock the game to a single processor^{[citation needed]}

A popular way to automate this process is to create a .bat file, go to the game app's directory (using the cd command), then use either

StartAffinity Blade.exe 0

or

psexec -a 0 Blade.exe

Saving Game Causes CTD (Crash to Desktop)

Upon selecting "yes" to save a game the screenshot is taken for the load/save menu and the game can crash. Loading the game again loads an old game that was saved in that slot previously, not the new save.

When saving wait about 10 seconds before hitting the final "yes" to confirm. (allow the reverberating menu selection sound to stop playing completely). Alternatively use Quicksave mod

Fog is too dense using rOpenGL

Use modified OpenGL raster.

Game doesn't lauch on modern systems

Run in compatibility mode for Windows Vista (no Service Pack)

Game crashes during level loading screens (3DFX)

This typically happens with 3dfx video renderer and user Nglide wrapper.

Use Dgvoodoo2.^{[citation needed]}

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		Z3D User created profile, requires DGVoodoo2 v 2.6, see profile introdution. `Note:` Profile may not work with the latest wrapper, in case of issues please report to the vorpx forum.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8, 11	DirectX 11 in the 2021 rerelease.
OpenGL

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows			64 Bit in the 2021 rerelease.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System, SoLoud (2021 re-release)	6.0i^[4]

System requirements (2001 Version)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95 OSR2	98, ME, 2000
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 400 MHz	Intel Pentium III 500 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	750 MB
Video card (GPU)	8 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.0 compatible	32 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.0 compatible

System requirements (2021 re-release)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Windows 7, 8.1, 10	Windows 7, 8.1, 10
Processor (CPU)	Dual Core 2Ghz Processor	Intel Core i5 / AMD Ryzen 5 Processor
System memory (RAM)	4 GB RAM
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3 GB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 11 compatible	DirectX 11 compatible

Troubleshooting (2001 Version)

Performance issues

If you are experiencing low frame rates, then we suggest that you change the resolution in the setup to 640x480x16, texture detail should then be set to LOW and the then the mip-mapping can be turned off. If you are still experiencing low frame rates, shadows and gore can be turned off from the in-game options menu. Turning the sound device to Miles fast 2D positional audio in setup and the sound quality to low in-game will also improve frame rate by about 10%.
If you encounter any problems, please ensure that you have the latest drivers installed for your card. These should be obtained from the card or chipset manufacturer.
If you increase the settings of your display options and experience decreased performance and have the latest drivers, we recommend setting your Display options back to their defaults.

Supported 3D chipsets

3dfx Voodoo 2, Voodoo Banshee, Voodoo3, Voodoo4, Voodoo5
3D labs Permedia 3
ATI Rage 128, Radeon
Matrox G200, G400
Intel i740
Nvidia Riva TNT, Riva TNT2, GeForce 256, GeForce 2
S3 Savage3D, Savage 4, Savage2000

Card issues

3DFX Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo 3

The 3DFX Banshee and VooDoo 3 have problems displaying partical effects. This is noticeable in game when water effects are on screen.

All Matrox cards

If you are experiencing problems with the game e.g. random crashes or textural errors then it is advisable to use the 5.52 drivers from the matrox site.

S3 Savage 2000

If you are experiencing problems then it is recommended that the ViperII-win9x-95103 drivers be used. Resolutions above 1152x864 should not be used.

Please note

- Windows 2000's control panel uninstaller should not be used as this will leave game save files on the hard disk.

Swap file

We recommend that the user has at least 250mb free hard disk space after installation. Severance should perform fine with less than 250mb free, in order to gain maximum performance from this product a larger swap file will be beneficial. Close down any applications before running.

Direct X

If you try to run the game without DirectX8 installed, Severance may not run correctly.

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 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).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (1710170) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ Verified by User:Drat on 2019-09-05
↑ Hot New Gremlin Games to Support Aureal A3D - Aureal.com (retrieved)
↑ Severance: The Blade of Darkness Preview - ActionTrip.com
↑ Verified by User:Nessy on 2020-06-19
Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.

[gamedir-2] 1.0 ^1.1 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).

[Proton_path_note-3] 2.0 ^2.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (1710170) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[3] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[4] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[5] The app ID (1710170) may differ in some cases.

[6] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[7] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[1] Verified by User:Drat on 2019-09-05

[4] Hot New Gremlin Games to Support Aureal A3D - Aureal.com (retrieved)

[5] Severance: The Blade of Darkness Preview - ActionTrip.com

[6] Verified by User:Nessy on 2020-06-19
Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

[3]

[4]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{cleanup|The provided fixes & suggestions should be properly separated by renderer and most of them need verifications. The 2021 remaster should probably get its own page. The final segment could be removed}}
 {{Infobox game
 |cover        = Blade - The Edge of Darkness cover.jpg
@@ Line 18: / Line 19: @@
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/monetization      | }}
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/microtransactions | }}
-{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/modes             | }}
+{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/modes             | Singleplayer, Multiplayer }}
-{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/pacing            | }}
+{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/pacing            | Real-time }}
-{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/perspectives      | }}
+{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/perspectives      | Third-person }}
-{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/controls          | }}
+{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/controls          | Direct control }}
-{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/genres            | }}
+{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/genres            | Action, Hack and slash }}
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/sports            | }}
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/vehicles          | }}
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/art styles        | }}
-{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/themes            | }}
+{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/themes            | Fantasy }}
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/series            | }}
 |steam appid  = 1710170
@@ Line 64: / Line 65: @@
 video
 </pre>
-{{ii}} 2021 Updated Re-release includes an in game menu option to skip intro videos.
+{{ii}} The 2021 updated re-release includes an in game menu option to skip intro videos.
 }}
-===Improve D3d and Glide(3DFX) compatibility (2001 version) ===
+===Improve D3d and Glide (3DFX) compatibility (2001 version) ===
-{{Fixbox|description=The game usually runs quite well on modern systems in (D3D) but it has problems such as crashes randoms and problems with the letters of the game, but with Dgvoodoo2 all these problems can be fixed and also give it compatibility with glide (not use nglide since the game crashes if you use nglide it is better to use dgvoodo2 for glide as well).|fix=
+{{Fixbox|description=The game has known issues on modern systems, such as random crashes and problems with the font, but with [[DgVoodoo 2]] most problems can be fixed and compatibility with Glide can be restored. (Using nGlide instead is less stable and might cause the game to crash)|fix=
 # Install the game.
-# Download [http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/ dgVoodoo2]. After unpacking it, copy ''dgVoodooCpl.exe'' and ''dgVoodoo.conf'' to the {{p|game}}\Bin folder.
+# Install DgVoodoo 2.
-# Copy the four files from ''dgVoodoo2\MS\x86'' (D3D8.dll, D3D9.dll, D3DImm.dll and DDraw.dll) to the Bin folder as well. Override if prompted.
+# Optionally use the [[Windows Compatibility Mode|Windows Vista Compatibility Mode]].
-# Copy the four files from ''dgVoodoo2\3DFX\x86'' (Glide.dll, Glide2x.dll, Glide3x.dll ) to the Bin folder as well. Override if prompted.
-# Execute dgVoodooCpl.exe in the Bin folder. This opens the dgVoodoo menu. Here, you can set your custom settings for the game. Click on the symbol on the top right (<code>.\</code>) to set this location as running instance.
-# Now you can launch the game from the Blade.exe (under Bin). If it has problems, run it in Compatibility Mode for Windows Vista (no Service Pack).
-# In the launch menu, select Setup. Under Video, select ''D3d'' or 3DFXVoodoo 1-2. Click Configure. Here, you can set a resolution.
-# Now you can play the game.
 }}
@@ Line 116: / Line 112: @@
 |4k ultra hd wsgf award     = limited
 |widescreen resolution      = true
-|widescreen resolution notes= 2021 rerelease support widescreen resolutions.For 2001 version is{{term|Stretched}}. See the [https://www.wsgf.org/dr/severance-blade-darkness/en WSGF report] for a solution.
+|widescreen resolution notes= 2021 re-release support widescreen resolutions. For the 2001 version the image is {{term|Stretched}}. See the [https://www.wsgf.org/dr/severance-blade-darkness/en WSGF report] for a solution.
 |multimonitor               = hackable
 |multimonitor notes         = See the [https://www.wsgf.org/dr/severance-blade-darkness/en WSGF report] for a solution.
@@ Line 122: / Line 118: @@
 |ultrawidescreen notes      = See the [https://www.wsgf.org/dr/severance-blade-darkness/en WSGF report] for a solution.
 |4k ultra hd                = true
-|4k ultra hd notes          = 2021 rerelease support 4k resolutions .For 2001 version is 2048x1536 is the highest supported resolution
+|4k ultra hd notes          = The 2021 re-release supports resolutions up to 4K. In the 2001 version 2048x1536 is the highest supported resolution.
 |fov                        = true
-|fov notes                  = Camera can be zoomed in/out in 3 presets
+|fov notes                  = Camera can be zoomed in/out in 3 presets.
 |windowed                   = true
-|windowed notes             = Available only for some renderers
+|windowed notes             = Available only for some renderers.
 |borderless windowed        = false
 |borderless windowed notes  =
@@ Line 132: / Line 128: @@
 |anisotropic notes          =
 |antialiasing               = true
-|antialiasing notes         = 2021 rerelease support antialiasing
+|antialiasing notes         = The 2021 re-release supports antialiasing.
 |vsync                      = true
-|vsync notes                = 2021 rerelease support vsync option. In 2001 version vsync Enable by default in D3D Mode
+|vsync notes                = The 2021 re-release comes with a V-sync option. In the 2001 version V-sync is enabled by default in D3D Mode.
 |60 fps                     = true
-|60 fps notes               = 2021 rerelease support custom framelimit
+|60 fps notes               = The 2021 re-release supports custom framelimits.
 |120 fps                    = limited
 |120 fps notes              = See [[#Mouse_behaves_erratically_or_Camera.2Fview_moves_choppily_and_unpredictably_and_Cutscenes_get_out_of_sync.|Mouse behaves erratically or Camera/view moves choppily and unpredictably and Cutscenes get out of sync.]]
@@ Line 216: / Line 212: @@
 |surround sound notes     = Up to 7.0 with [https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/68-creative-alchemy/ Creative ALchemy]. Up to 7.1 in 2021 rerelease.
 |subtitles                = always on
-|subtitles notes          = Can not be disabled
+|subtitles notes          =
 |closed captions          = false
 |closed captions notes    =
@@ Line 316: / Line 312: @@
 {{ii}} This generally happens using rOpenGL for video output.
 {{ii}}The mouse-camera control granularity is linked somehow to the framerate. Higher framerates lead to smoother and slower mouse-camera control. Lower framerates lead to choppy control that is "quantized", too fast and jumpy. I've encountered such problems on both old and new hardware. Besides framerate, part of the problem seems to be related to the audio renderer, of all things.
-{{ii}} At high fps some cutscenes don't play properly, which can be a problem if they are the ones you can't skip.
+{{ii}} At high FPS some cutscenes may not play properly, which can be a problem if they are ones that cannot be skipped.
 {{Fixbox|description=Use D3D or Glide (3DFX)and set refresh rate on 60hz.See [[#Improve D3d and Glide(3DFX) compatibility|Improve D3d and Glide(3DFX) compatibility]].|ref={{cn|date=August 2021}}|fix=
@@ Line 334: / Line 330: @@
 psexec -a 0 Blade.exe
 }}
 ===Saving Game Causes CTD (Crash to Desktop)===
-{{ii}}Just as you select "yes" to save a game the screenshot is taken for the load/save menu and the game CTD's. Loading the game again loads an old game that was saved in that slot previously, not the game you tried to save.
+{{ii}} Upon selecting "yes" to save a game the screenshot is taken for the load/save menu and the game can crash. Loading the game again loads an old game that was saved in that slot previously, not the new save.
 {{Fixbox|description=When saving wait about 10 seconds before hitting the final "yes" to confirm. (allow the reverberating menu selection sound to stop playing completely). Alternatively use [https://www.moddb.com/games/severance-blade-of-darkness/downloads/blade-of-darkness-quicksave Quicksave mod]}}
@@ Line 349: / Line 346: @@
 {{Fixbox|description=Use [[#Improve D3d and Glide(3DFX) compatibility|Dgvoodoo2]].|ref={{cn|date=August 2021}}|fix=
 }}
-===Broken textures and visual artifacts===
-If textures appear black, stretched or otherwise broken, and you get visual artifacts like strange colors around light sources, then your Renderer has problems.
 ==VR support==
@@ Line 403: / Line 396: @@
 ===API===
 {{API
-|direct3d versions      = 8,11
+|direct3d versions      = 8, 11
-|direct3d notes         = DirectX 11 2021 rerelease
+|direct3d notes         = DirectX 11 in the 2021 rerelease.
 |directdraw versions    =
 |directdraw notes       =
@@ Line 425: / Line 418: @@
 |windows 32-bit exe     = true
 |windows 64-bit exe     = true
-|windows exe notes      = 64bits in 2021 rerelease
+|windows exe notes      = 64 Bit in the 2021 rerelease.
 |macos intel 32-bit app =
 |macos intel 64-bit app =
@@ Line 438: / Line 431: @@
 |physics          =
 |physics notes    =
-|audio            = Miles Sound System,SoLoud (2021 rerelease)
+|audio            = Miles Sound System, SoLoud (2021 re-release)
 |audio notes      = 6.0i<ref>{{Refcheck|user=Nessy|date=2020-06-19|comment=Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.}}</ref>
 |interface        =
@@ Line 473: / Line 466: @@
 }}
-==System requirements (2021 Rerelease)==
+==System requirements (2021 re-release)==
 {{System requirements
 |OSfamily = Windows

Developers

	Rebel Act Studios
2021 rerelease	Fire Falcom
2021 rerelease	General Arcade
Publishers
	Codemasters
2021 rerelease	SNEG
Engines
	Blade
Release dates
Windows	February 21, 2001
Reception
Metacritic	75
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Hack and slash
Themes	Fantasy