Boiling Point: Road to Hell

Xenus
Boiling Point: Road to Hell	2005
Xenus II: White Gold	2008
Precursors	2009

Key points

Released as Xenus: Точка кипения (Xenus: Boiling Point) in Ukraine and Russia and as Boiling Point: Cesta do pekel (Boiling Point: The Road To Hell) in Czech.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 7 DRM. Czech copies use StarForce 3 DRM^{[Note 1]}.
Retail		German magazine covermounts. Pre-patched to version 2.0.
Retail		Czech magazine covermounts.
Retail		Gold Edition. Pre-patched to version 2.2, Contains StarForce protection components in a deactivated state.

StarForce DRM for this game does not work on modern versions of Windows (see above for affected versions).

This game is not available digitally.

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 2.0 fixes many crucial issues with the game.
The last build for game was version 2.2, included only in the Xenus Gold Edition exclusive to the Russian-speaking market.
Deleting d3dx9_24.dll, d3dx9d.pdb, d3dx9d_24.dll from game folder speeds up initial loading. You would need to however install the latest MS DX 9.0c REDIST, as the game substitutes these with system files, but that's anyhow mandatory for the game to work.

Skip intro videos

Disable Engine AVI Player^{[citation needed]}
Open `<path-to-game>\Game.ini` Find the line `DISABLEAVIPLAYER=0`. Change the 0 value to 1.

or

Delete/rename video files^{[citation needed]}
Open `<path-to-game>\Game.ini` Find [Game] section and delete all four `'AVI%= ...'` lines. Go to `<path-to-game>\Avi` Delete or rename all four files.

Modern Myers widescreen patch

2.2 patch (Gold Edition) is required. See Patches.

This mod aims at making the game look right on widescreen aspect ratios. It also increases the FOV and jump height, fixes an issue with hanging on exit, changes the headbob motion, and includes an Nvidia profile with better anti-aliasing.

There is another aspect ratio fix available but it breaks the HUD, inventory, menu scale, etc, and doesn't include an option to increase the FOV.

Installing Modern Myers wide screen patch
Download Modern Myers widescreen patch here. Extract the `Modern_Myers_wide_screen_patch_v0.5.zip` zip archive, then copy all the the files into `<path-to-game>`.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\GAME.INI^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\save^{[Note 2]}

Video

In-game video settings.

In-game custom gfx settings.

In-game custom effects settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD		See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)	See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Up to 7x
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

Use Modern Myers wide screen patch for proper widescreen support.

Notes

2.2 Patch is required. See Patches.

or

Use modified DLLs^[5]

Download the modified DLL files provided by WSGF and extract them.
Copy appropriate DX8RENDER.DLL to the installation folder replacing the original one.

Notes

2.0 Patch is required. See Patches.

Setting up custom resolution^{[citation needed]}

Edit <path-to-game>\GAME.ini.
Find lines ModeWidth= and ModeHeight=.
Replace their values with a desired game resolution and save the changes.

Notes

Changing in-game video settings will revert the changes.

Field of view (FOV)

Use game's console^{[citation needed]}

Edit <path-to-game>\GAME.ini.
Find a section [Console].
Below it, add a line enabled=1.
Save the changes.
While in game press ~ to open the console.
Type in FOV X where X is your horizontal FOV value, for example FOV 105.

Notes

The screen change is Vert-. Use this FOV calculator to calculate the proper horizontal FOV value (described as New hFOV in calculator).

Input

In-game control settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music and sound effects volume slider.
Surround sound		Up to 7.0 output. Requires DirectSound3D restoration software.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Audio only available in European and American retail versions
Czech
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Polish
Russian				Audio and subtitles only available in Russian retail/Gold Edition versions
Spanish

Issues fixed

Glow setting is lost each time when starting game

Glow setting is lost each time when starting game^{[citation needed]}
Go to the installation folder. Open `Game.ini` Find this line `Bloom=0`. Change the 0 value to 1.

Other information

API

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows			Can work on 64-bit with some limitations

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2000	XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz AMD Athlon XP 1600	Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz AMD Athlon XP 3000
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	4 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 7500 LE AMD Radeon X300 Series	Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT

Operating systems released after XP are not officially supported.

Notes

↑ This version of StarForce DRM does not work on Windows Vista or later.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] For supported versions of Windows the StarForce driver may need to be updated manually using SFUPDATE.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 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).

References

[5] This version of StarForce DRM does not work on Windows Vista or later.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] For supported versions of Windows the StarForce driver may need to be updated manually using SFUPDATE.

[gamedir-6] 2.0 ^2.1 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).

[StarForce_Windows_Vista-1] Windows Vista support - StarForce Support

[StarForce_Windows_7-2] Windows 7 support - StarForce Support

[StarForce_Windows_8.1-3] Windows 8.1 support - StarForce Support

[StarForce_Windows_10-4] Windows 10 support - StarForce Support

[7] WSGF report

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[5]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Developers

	Deep Shadows
Publishers
Russia, Ukraine	Russobit-M
International	Atari
Engines
	Vital Engine 2
Release dates
Windows	May 19, 2005
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	RPG, Shooter, Open world
Series	Xenus