Kao the Kangaroo

This page is for the original 2000 game. For the reboot, see Kao the Kangaroo (2022).

Kao the Kangaroo

Developers
	X-Ray Interactive
Publishers
	Titus Interactive
Poland	Licomp Empik Multimedia
Retail re-release	Sold Out Software
GOG.com	Tate Multimedia
Release dates
Windows	December 8, 2000
Reception
Metacritic	60
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Platform
Art styles	Cartoon
Themes	Oceania
Series	Kao the Kangaroo

Kao the Kangaroo
Kao the Kangaroo	2000
Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2	2003
Kao: Mystery of Volcano	2005
Kao the Kangaroo (2022)	2022

Kao the Kangaroo is a singleplayer third-person platform game in the Kao the Kangaroo series.

Key points

By default, the PC version utilizes tank controls instead of the camera relative controls used in the Dreamcast port. See Camera relative controls.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		European copies use LaserLock DRM. North American copies use SafeDisc 2 DRM.
Epic Games Store		Comes pre-configured with dgVoodoo 2.
Humble Store
GOG.com		Bundled with Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 and Kao: Mystery of Volcano.
Steam		Comes pre-configured with dgVoodoo 2.
ZOOM Platform		Bundled with Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 and Kao: Mystery of Volcano. Pre-packaged with DDrawCompat.

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

The ZOOM Platform, Steam, and Epic Games Store distributions include a new configuration tool to replace the CD autorun-exlusive configuration menu of the retail release. The GOG.com distribution lacks this configuration tool, requiring manual editing of <path-to-game>\kao.ini.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Replace video file
Go to <path-to-game>. Delete or rename the tate.avi file. Download the blank_MSVC.avi file. Move the file to <path-to-game>. Rename this file to tate.avi.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\kao.ini
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2360020/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\kao*.sav
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2360020/pfx/

The * is the save file number.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		For the GOG.com release, windowed mode is already enabled. To disable it, set Windowed to 0 in <path-to-game>\kao.ini.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Use dgVoodoo 2 and choose between 2x-16x under "Texture Filtering".
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Use dgVoodoo 2 and choose between 2x-8x MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Capped at 125 FPS.

Widescreen resolution

Widescreen fix

Open kao.exe with a hex editor such as HxD. Press Ctrl+F and set Datatype to Hex-values. Search for 24080000803F and click OK. Replace the 0000803F value with: 5555553F for 16:10 screens 0000503F for 15:9 screens 0000403F for 16:9 screens 0000103F for 21:9 screens Save the file. If it won't save because of no permission, go to the Properties of the file and uncheck the Read-only box. Edit kao.ini and set Width and Height values to match your resolution.

Input

Control settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		No mouse support.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Requires manually mapping inputs in the options menu.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Camera relative controls

Edit the configuration file
Open <path-to-game>\kao.ini in a text editor. Add CameraRelativeControll = 1 under // rasterizer

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Polish
Spanish

Issues fixed

Game launches in windowed mode

Tends to occur regardless of the Windowed setting of <path-to-game>\kao.ini.

Use DDrawCompat
Download the latest release from GitHub. Extract ddraw.dll to <path-to-game>.

Graphical issues on modern systems

Use dgVoodoo 2

Use DDrawCompat
Download the latest release from GitHub. Extract ddraw.dll to <path-to-game>.

Use DxWnd

Download DxWnd and extract it. Launch DxWnd. Set the path to <path-to-game>\kao.exe. Choose Edit, and Add. Type in the name for it (e.g. Kao the Kangaroo). Under position specify the X, Y position of a window for the game and Width (W) and Height (H) of the window. Go to DirectX tab. Under Emulation, choose the primary buffer renderer. Go to Direct3D tab. Under Direct3D tweaks, check Clean ZBUFFER @0.0 fix. Click OK to save the settings. Minimize DxWnd and launch the game.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	7

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	95, 98, ME
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 233 MHz MMX
System memory (RAM)	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	150 MB