Difference between revisions of "Might and Magic IX"

Revision as of 14:42, 14 December 2021


⤏ Go to series page
Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum	1986
Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World	1988
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra	1991
Might and Magic: Clouds of Xeen	1992
Might and Magic: Darkside of Xeen	1993
Might and Magic: World of Xeen	1994
Swords of Xeen	1995
Heroes of Might and Magic (series)
Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven	1998
Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor	1999
Crusaders of Might and Magic	1999
Arcomage	1999
Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer	2000
Legends of Might and Magic	2001
Might and Magic IX	2002
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic	2006
Might & Magic: Duel of Champions	2013
Might & Magic X - Legacy	2014
Might & Magic Showdown	Cancelled
Might & Magic: Chess Royale	2020

Key points

TELP's 1.3a Patch fixes game-breaking bugs (digital distribution versions already include this patch).

For Windows 8 and later apply the fullscreen fixes and run in 32-bit color.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

TELP subforum

Celestial Heavens' subforum

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc 2 DRM^{[Note 1]} internationally, StarForce DRM in Russian release.
Amazon.com
GOG.com		Pre-patched with TELP's 1.3a Patch.
Ubisoft Store		Included with Ubisoft+.

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

Essential improvements

TELP's 1.3a Patch (retail)

TELP's 1.3a Patch fixes many game-breaking bugs. Digital distribution versions already include this patch.

Run in 32-bit color

32-bit color mode slightly enhances visual quality and also fixes a freezing issue on Windows 8.

The GOG.com version already includes this fix.

This change could potentially prevent some users from launching the game such as this windows 7 user.

Set 32-bit color in autoexec.cfg^{[citation needed]}
Go to the installation folder. Edit `autoexec.cfg`. Change `"screendepth" "16"` to `"screendepth" "32"` Change `"BitDepth" "16"` to `"BitDepth" "32"` Save your changes.

Menu freezing fix

This issue occurs when menus like the inventory take a long time to load (upwards of 12 seconds).

Replace cshell^[3]
Go to to the installation folder and open the \data folder Make a backup of cshell.dll Download cshell.dll. Replace cshell.dll Opening menus should now be almost instant. If you wish to revert the fix, replace ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ with the backups.

Loading screen freezing fix

This issue occurs when you can hear the sound of the game but the image freezes on the loading screen.

Replace ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ^[4]
Go to to the installation folder and open the \data folder Make backups of ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ Download these two .rez files. Replace ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ The game will now launch immediately from that shortcut. To revert the fix, replace ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ with the backups.

Skip intro videos

Rename/delete video files^{[citation needed]}
Go to `<path-to-game>\Movies\` Delete or rename `3DOLogo.bik`, `Intro.bik` and `New World Logo.bik`.

Skip launcher

Change shortcut target^{[citation needed]}
Go to the shortcut properties. Replace `mm9.exe` with `lithtech.exe` The game will now launch immediately from that shortcut.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

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

<path-to-game>\autoexec.lith contains special settings that can't be changed in-game.

Save game data location

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

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Ubisoft Connect		^[5]

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		800x600 only; changing in `autoexec.cfg` breaks menus.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)	Fixed FOV (Vert-).
Windowed	See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	800x600 only; changing resolution in `autoexec.cfg` breaks menus.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Force in the graphics card control panel (may cause lines on the interface).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	For Windows 8 and later apply the fullscreen fixes.

Windowed

Add +windowed 1 to shortcut^{[citation needed]}

Go to the shortcut's properties.
Add +windowed 1 to the target.

Notes

The window cannot be moved and may cause NPCs or even the whole game to run at inhuman speeds (try to change in autoexec.cfg "MaxFPS" "0" to "MaxFPS" "75" and it might fix this and mouse problem).

Input

Input settings.

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

Controller types

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, Sound Effects and Music.
Surround sound
Subtitles		All conversation dialogue is subtitled; FMV cutscenes have no subtitles.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 2. Disabled by default.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Retail only.
Polish				Retail only.
Russian				Retail only.
Spanish				Fan translation, download.

Issues fixed

Window border visible in fullscreen mode

A window border is visible in fullscreen mode on Windows 8 and later.

Apply the fix^[6]

Download the Might and Magic IX fullscreen fixes.
Extract it anywhere and run install.bat.
Might and Magic IX will now enter fullscreen mode correctly (you do not need to restart your computer).

Applying this fix will cause the Windowed mode border to disappear (use uninstall.bat to remove the fix).

Game freezes in menus

Menus freeze on Windows 8 and later if the game is running in 16-bit color (the default mode).

Run in 32-bit color^{[citation needed]}
Set the game to run in 32-bit color. Menus will now work correctly.

"The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000022)" error on launch

Install DirectPlay^[7]

Other information

API

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP
Processor (CPU)	1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 7 compatible

Notes

↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10^[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.^[2]
↑ ^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

↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
↑ cshell patched by TELP user frognik - last accessed on 2021-12-14
↑ ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ fix by youtuber Strategy House - last accessed on 2021-12-14
↑ Cloud save support for games available on Ubisoft+ - last accessed on 2021-09-04
↑ This works by applying the ForceSimpleWindow compatibility fix to this game's version of lithtech.exe (other LithTech games are unaffected).
↑ Verified by User:Garrett on 2015-02-24

[3] SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10^[1] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.^[2]

[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).

[1] Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16

[2] Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16

[4] shell patched by TELP user frognik - last accessed on 2021-12-14

[5] ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ fix by youtuber Strategy House - last accessed on 2021-12-14

[7] Cloud save support for games available on Ubisoft+ - last accessed on 2021-09-04

[8] This works by applying the ForceSimpleWindow compatibility fix to this game's version of lithtech.exe (other LithTech games are unaffected).

[9] Verified by User:Garrett on 2015-02-24

[Note 1]

[3]

[4]

[Note 2]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 60: / Line 60: @@
 {{++}} 32-bit color mode slightly enhances visual quality and also fixes a [[#Game freezes in menus|freezing issue]] on Windows 8.
 {{ii}} The GOG.com version already includes this fix.
+{{ii}} This change could potentially prevent some users from launching the game such as [http://telp.org/mm9/tavern/anyboard/posts/42806.html this windows 7 user].
 {{Fixbox|description=Set 32-bit color in autoexec.cfg|ref={{cn|date=July 2016}}|fix=
@@ Line 67: / Line 68: @@
 # Change <code>"BitDepth" "16"</code> to <code>"BitDepth" "32"</code>
 # Save your changes.
+}}
+===Menu freezing fix===
+{{ii}} This issue occurs when menus like the inventory take a long time to load (upwards of 12 seconds).
+{{Fixbox|description=Replace cshell|ref=<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://telp.org/mm9/tavern/anyboard/posts/39804.html|title=cshell patched by TELP user frognik|date=2021-12-14}}</ref>|fix=
+# Go to to the installation folder and open the \data folder
+# Make a backup of cshell.dll
+# Download [https://www.dropbox.com/s/ee28lncubevktqv/Cshell.dll%20file.rar?dl=0 cshell.dll].
+# Replace cshell.dll
+# Opening menus should now be almost instant.
+# If you wish to revert the fix, replace ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ with the backups.
+}}
+===Loading screen freezing fix===
+{{ii}} This issue occurs when you can hear the sound of the game but the image freezes on the loading screen.
+{{Fixbox|description=Replace ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ|ref=<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKvizNWI-PQ&t=26s|title=ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ fix by youtuber Strategy House|date=2021-12-14}}</ref>|fix=
+# Go to to the installation folder and open the \data folder
+# Make backups of ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ
+# Download these two [https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfnmuyjhad5wrv1/.REZ%20files.rar?dl=0 .rez] files.
+# Replace ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ
+# The game will now launch immediately from that shortcut.
+# To revert the fix, replace ART.REZ and LOCALART.REZ with the backups.
 }}

Developers

	New World Computing
Publishers
Retail	3DO
Retail re-releases, digital	Ubisoft
Engines
	LithTech Talon
Release dates
Windows	March 29, 2002
Reception
Metacritic	55
Taxonomy
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time, Turn-based
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control, Point and select
Genres	RPG
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Might and Magic