Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action and shooter game.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail

Essential improvements

Run Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child on modern systems

Use Felizpe's patch^[1]
FIxes "rainbow colors" on intro videos and menus. Forced resolution allows high resolution without shrinking the HUD. Allows for bigger resolutions and widescreen support.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows

Video

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Enable by default
60 FPS
120+ FPS	Game logic is tied to frame rate. At over 60 fps, mouse is jerky and cutscenes are too fast cutting off characters' voice lines. At extremely high frame rates, game runs inhumanly fast.Set The monitor refresh rate on 60hz to fix

Widescreen resolution

Run the game in widescreen resolutions^[2]

Download Kiss - Widescreen Fix.
Extract to the installation folder and overwrite if asked to.
Run KISS: Psycho Circus launcher and either change the resolution inside the launcher, or inside the game.

Notes:

The FMVs are rendered only in 8bit color and the Cutscenes higher than 16:9 have many gliches.

HUD is rendered too small at higher resolutions.

or:

Use Felizpe's patch^[3]

Download the fix on ModDB page.
Install the fix following the instructions on the screen.
Run KISS: Psycho Circus launcher and either change the resolution inside the launcher, or inside the game.

Note:

This fix only works when the game is installed on the main C: drive.

Input

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

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		A3D 1.0, EAX 1

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play		16
Online play		GameSpy services have been shut down;^[4] see GameSpy for workarounds.

Issues unresolved

Can't uninstall the game on Windows 10

If the game is installed in any other drive besides the main one, the uninstall information gets corrupted and it can't be uninstalled from inside the Control Panel, returning a "catastrophic failure" error message.

Issues fixed

Can't reinstall the game after the above error

Delete the corrupted files^[5]
Enable hidden folders to show up on Windows Explorer; Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield Installation Information\ Delete the folder with the setup's GUID of the game.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	6

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	5.0d 5.0f ^{version 1.1}
Cutscenes	Smacker Video Technology	4.0d

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 266 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 8.0 compatible

References

[1] General Discussion | GOG

[2] KISS: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child | WSGF

[3] General Discussion | GOG

[4] Pricing | GameSpy Technology

[5] Microsoft Support | Catastrophic failure solution

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Developers

	Third Law Interactive
Publishers
	Gathering of Developers
Engines
	LithTech 1.5
Release dates
Windows	July 14, 2000
Reception
Metacritic	71
IGDB	90
Taxonomy
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Shooter
Themes	Fantasy, Horror