Hardwar

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Hardwar is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person and third-person business, open world, simulation and vehicle combat game.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		F1.2 (Deutsch) through U3.00b5 versions all require the Hardwar CD to be inserted or mounted
Retail		All UIM versions (UIM.01 through UIM.06) have been patched to run without the need for a disc
Steam		Pre-packaged with DxWrapper.
ZOOM Platform		Pre-packaged with DxWrapper.

Free demo versions are available from Archive.org: 1996 DOS version, final version.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Refinery\hardman
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1500540/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Savegames\*.sav^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1500540/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Up to 3840x2160 but some hardware configurations only allow up to 1920x1080 (Game crashes with Fatal Error: Could Not Set Video Mode)
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Apply this patch using xdelta to a UIM.06 HardwarW.exe
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Forcing antialiasing with external programs results in odd graphical phenomena (disappearing/flickering/overbright surfaces and menus)
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Ray tracing (RT)		RTGI can be made to work with Hardwar, with fairly impressive results

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Controller/joystick support is broken on modern versions of Windows
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

PlayStation controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Generic/other controllers		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		Force feedback support is broken on modern versions of Windows
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Steam Input
Steam Input API support
Hook input (legacy mode)
Steam Controller button prompts

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio		Zoom Platform fixed the CD Audio issue

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Retail only; planned for digital releases.^[1]
German				Retail only; planned for digital releases.^[1]

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play	3-16
Online play	3-16	Tutorial on the Good Ol' Gaming Discord Server

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP		The ports below are what the game's launcher (Hardman.exe) recommends

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	9001
UDP	9001

This game does not support Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D		Works without a wrapper in modern versions of Windows (MUST enable DirectPlay Legacy Component in Windows Features)

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	dxwrapper	Zoom and Steam releases use dxwrapper to fix a bug in the launcher (Hardman.exe) that makes the resolution options disappear (dinput.dll, dxwrapper.dll, dxwrapper.ini)
Audio	ogg-winmm	Zoom and Steam releases use ogg-winmm (winmm.dll)
Interface	HardLaunch	Intended to replace Hardman.exe - complete feature parity plus lots more

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95 (Retail) - Windows 7 (Zoom/Steam)	98 (Retail) - Windows 10 or 11 (Zoom/Steam)
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 166	Intel Pentium 200
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	35 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 5 compatible	4 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1500540/.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (1500540) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.
↑ 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

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Flawed version / Lacking German support :: Hardwar General Discussions - last accessed on 2023-02-18
"(jfreeman): Thanks for the heads up. We're already working on some possible solutions for both the French and German versions. As you said though, the latest patch isn't immediately compatible. Will take some time. We'll keep you posted though."

[Proton_path_note-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1500540/.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (1500540) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

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

[3] Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1500540/.

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

[5] The app ID (1500540) may differ in some cases.

[6] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

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

[gamedir-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).

[HardwarUpcomingLanguages-3] 1.0 ^1.1 Flawed version / Lacking German support :: Hardwar General Discussions - last accessed on 2023-02-18
"(jfreeman): Thanks for the heads up. We're already working on some possible solutions for both the French and German versions. As you said though, the latest patch isn't immediately compatible. Will take some time. We'll keep you posted though."

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[1]

Developers

	The Software Refinery
Digital release	Jordan Freeman Group
Publishers
Retail (North America)	Interplay Entertainment
Retail (Europe)	Gremlin Interactive
Digital	Funbox Media
Digital	Jordan Freeman Group
Release dates
Windows	September 11, 1998
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Business, Open world, Simulation, Vehicle combat
Vehicles	Hovercraft
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Europe, Post-apocalyptic, Sci-fi