This page is for the game released in 2006. For the game released in 2017, see Prey (2017).
Warnings
- The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.
General information
- Prey Wiki
- Prey Tweak Guide
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
Retail |
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SecuROM DRM disc check. Install v1.4 Patch to remove disc check. CD keys activate on Steam.[1] |
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Mac App Store (unavailable) |
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No online play (LAN only).[2] |
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Steam (unavailable) |
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Comes fully patched to v1.4. prey.exe contains Steam DRM, but just like Doom 3 can be replaced with exe extracted from 1.4 patch (SetupPreyPt1.4.exe /s /extract_all:[path]). PREYDed.exe is DRM-Free. |
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- Windows version is no longer available digitally outside of Play-Asia.com.
- Retail Windows/Linux, retail Mac and Steam keys are compatible with each other.
- Demo version available.
Version differences
- Online play is not available in the Mac App Store version (LAN play is supported).[2]
Essential improvements
Patches
- v1.4 Patch is the latest patch for the retail version. Retail boxed versions may be SecuROM protected (which requires the disc to be in the DVD drive). This patch removes the protection.
Patches changelogs
Patch version
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Changelog
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1.4
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1.4: This patch will work the existing registered versions of Prey (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3)
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1.3
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1.3: This update includes compatibility files for the Mac port of Prey (meaning PC users can play against Mac users and vice versa).
There are no bug fixes or new content in this release.
This release is backwards compatible with Prey 1.2 multiplayer.
There are new server files available. Windows versions come with the patch, Linux versions are available separately.
In order for a Mac user to play on a PC pure server, the server they are on must have the v1.3 server files.
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1.2
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1.2: This add-on includes new maps and multiplayer models as well as a number of bug fixes from previous versions. Please note that this version is network incompatible with previous versions, so by installing this version you will not be able to join any 1.0 or 1.1 multiplayer servers.
This add-on includes four new multiplayer maps and six new multiplayer characters.
New DeathMatch Maps:
The original DM maps in Prey were best suited for 4-8 players. The maps in this add-on were designed for smaller number of players, especially for 1v1 or 2v2 play.
DM Gravity Lab: DMGravityLab takes place on board a floating extension of the Sphere's main Spindle. Players will find themselves running along wallwalk and hanging catwalks all throughout the map. Snipers get to have fun this time around with a large outdoor section complete with wallwalk platforms and portals. Designed for 6 players.
DM Topillogical: The first Prey DM map to feature Outward Gravity. Run 360 degrees around the inside of a giant Sphere to get the best firing position on your enemies. Intriguing side-rooms offer gravity-warping corridors and devious wall-walk ammo depots. Fast-paced action for 4 players.
DM Tunnel Rat: Danger lurks in all directions but down in this maze-running map designed for 6 players. Sharp twists and turns conceal danger at every corner, but eyes up! A mirrored version of the maze forms the ceiling above you.
DM Space Oddity: DM Space Oddity is designed for 4 players and features a large central crossover room with perpendicular gravity pathways. Rack up the kills by dominating the crossover with a rocket launcher!
New Multiplayer Models:
Several new character models are available in DM, three female characters and two alien characters:
Jen: Jen is Tommy's girlfriend, and the owner of the Roadhouse bar. Don't let her dainty looks fool you: all those years of serving drinks to random travelers have toughened her up and made her quite the ass-kicker.
Becky: This young blonde is an unfortunate victim of the Sphere. First aliens abduct her and now she finds herself fighting for her life in a deathmatch arena!
Elhuit: The leader of a race of humans who managed to hide and survive living on the Sphere for centuries.
Mother: Mother is a tough, enigmatic character. All you need do is prove your worth.
Alien Hunter: The Hunter is part of a race taken by the Sphere long ago. Now the Hunter serves as one of the chief minions of the Sphere, acting as an enforcer force for any humans who try to escape.
Elite Alien Hunter: Same badass Hunter, cooler-looking armor.
Bug Fixes:
Network protocol version bump (will no longer be able to see 1.1 or 1.0 servers).
Installer will now update uninstaller. This fixes the missing installer problem.
Game DLL interface bump for upcoming mod SDK release (so mods will only work with v1.2)
Fix for a weapon switch exploit.
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1.1
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1.1: Multiplayer bandwidth optimization to allow better play on higher latency connections.
Fixed projectile effects not showing up on dedicated servers.
Fixed crash at startup due to time/date validation on some systems.
Fixed crash at startup due to querying old OpenAL drivers.
Fixed an occasional crash on the dedicated server.
Fixed a crash when using image_usecache cvar with very big textures. Textures whose lowest mip map doesn't fit will be default texture. This was causing a crash when a modified prey was loading "Mother's Embrace".
Fixed a crash on some machines when reading savegames.
Some timedemo features not appearing if you restart prey between record/playback.
Added widescreen resolutions to menus.
Updated multiplayer browser to fix servers not showing up due to DNS resolution.
Updated multiplayer browser not keeping join button up to date when server summary wasn't the active tab.
Updated multiplayer browser so punkbuster icons show up in their column properly.
Updated multiplayer browser so mod games' icons show up properly updated multiplayer browser so server scanning is more consistent on slower connections.
Fixed multiplayer weapon exploit.
Bumped network protocol version. Unpatched games will not be able to play online with patched games. This means that if you are playing v1.0, you can not play against or on servers running v1.1 (and vice versa).
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SDK, etc.
All downloads available for the game can be found at the 3D Realms Prey download page.
Linux client for Prey
A free client that allows Prey to be played natively on Linux machines. It requires either a full retail copy or the demo to use it.
It can be downloaded here.
SDL Compatibility Library (SDLCL)
- Enables native Alt+Tab ↹ and additional screen resolutions by translating SDL 1.2's calls into modern SDL 2.0 on Linux.
Replace libSDL library of the game[3]
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- Install libsdl2-2.0-0, libsdl2-2.0-0:i386, libsdl1.2debian, libsdl1.2debian:i386, libudev1, libudev1:i386 packages with your distro's software manager.
- Backup and remove libSDL-1.2.so.0 library in <path-to-game>.
- Download sdlcl-1.0-i686.tar.gz; extract libSDL-1.2.so.0 into <path-to-game>.
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Game data
In-game general settings.
Configuration file(s) location
- This game does not follow the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.
Save game data location
System |
Native |
Notes |
OneDrive |
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Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers. |
Steam Cloud |
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Video
In-game general video settings.
In-game advanced video settings (1/2).
In-game advanced video settings (2/2).
Some resolutions like 1280x768 and 1920x1080 must be set manually.
Use a custom resolution[citation needed]
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- Go to configuration file(s) location.
- Edit
preyconfig.cfg .
- Change
seta r_customHeight "486" and seta r_customWidth "720" to your desired resolution.
- Change
seta r_mode to "-1"
- Change
seta r_aspectRatio to your aspect ratio. "0" is 4:3, "1" is 16:9 and "2" is 16:10.
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Screen tearing on Nvidia G-Sync monitors[citation needed]
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Prey may automatically set Nvidia G-Sync monitors to 60Hz with G-Sync disabled. This will result in noticeable screen tearing. This can be fixed by manually resetting the monitor to a higher Hz output. This will not affect the in-game framerate, but will solve the screen tearing.
- Go to configuration file(s) location.
- Open the
preyconfig.cfg file.
- Change
seta r_displayRefresh to the highest refresh rate your monitor supports.
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Input
In-game general control settings.
In-game key map settings.
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
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Surround sound |
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Stereo or 5.1 (software). Up to 7.1 (OpenAL)[4] |
Subtitles |
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Closed captions |
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Mute on focus lost |
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EAX support |
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EAX 4, EAX 5 (via OpenAL)[4] |
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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French |
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Only selectable in the retail version. |
German |
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Italian |
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Only selectable in the retail version. See below for the Steam version. |
Russian |
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Official localization by 1C-Softclub. Only available in Russian retail release or here. |
Russian |
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Fan translation by «ENPY Studio/Spirit Team» |
Spanish |
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Only selectable in the retail version. See below for the Steam version. |
Polish |
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Only selectable in the retail version. |
Italian
Enabling Italian in the Steam version[5]
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- Go to configuration file(s) location.
- Open the
preyconfig.cfg file.
- Change
seta sys_lang "english" to seta sys_lang "italian" .
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Spanish
Enabling Spanish in the Steam version[6]
|
- Go to configuration file(s) location.
- Open the
preyconfig.cfg file.
- Change
seta sys_lang "english" to seta sys_lang "spanish" .
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VR support
Network
Multiplayer types
Type |
Native |
Players |
Notes |
LAN play |
| 8 |
Versus
|
Online play |
| 8 |
Versus Master Server is down, use Direct IP to connect servers. Not available in the Mac App Store version.[2] |
Connection types
- Disable Pure Server to allow cross-platform multiplayer between Mac and PC (Windows, Linux, Steam) releases.
Ports
Protocol |
Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
TCP |
27719 |
UDP |
27719 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
Issues fixed
Cannot use Alt+Tab ↹ or ⌘ Command+Tab ↹
- The game does not support directly switching to desktop by Alt+Tab ↹ or ⌘ Command+Tab ↹ on Windows and Mac.
Windows: Switch to windowed mode
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- Switch to windowed mode Alt+↵ Enter.
- Apply Alt+Tab ↹.
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Mac: Assign a key for windowed mode
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- Go to the configuration file(s) location.
- Open
preyconfig.cfg with a text editor.
- Paste
bind "F8" "toggle r_fullscreen; vid_restart" at the bottom of the file.
- Switch to windowed mode F8.
- Apply ⌘ Command+Tab ↹.
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Stuttering on AMD Graphics
Windows: Rename prey.exe to enable compatibility profile
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- Rename
prey.exe to CoDSP.exe .
- Will have to launch the game from the
CoDSP.exe or add a non-steam game if using the Steam version.
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Sound doesn't properly work on Linux
Install and use OpenAL
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- Install libopenal1, libopenal1:i386, libasound2, libasound2:i386 packages with your distro's software manager.
- Go to the configuration file(s) location.
- Edit
preyconfig.cfg with a text editor.
- Change
seta s_useOpenAL to "1"
- Change
seta s_deviceName to "OpenAL Soft"
- Change
seta s_libOpenAL to "<path to the libopenal.so>" or symlink libopenal.so to <path-to-game>/openal.so
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No Surround Sound on Windows 10
Install and use Creative ALchemy
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- Install Creative ALchemy.
- Open Creative ALchemy.
- Press "Add"
- Select "Game Folder" and point to the Prey executable.
- Press "Ok"
- Press the right directional button to add the game to the ALchemy-enabled game list
- Run the game
- Go to the Audio settings in the Options menu
- Set Sound System to OpenAL
- Set Sound Device to your audio device
- Turn EAX Advanced HD to On
- Close the game
- Edit
preyconfig.cfg with a text editor.
- Change
seta s_numberOfSpeakers to the correct number of speakers in your system excluding the number of subwoofers. 5.1 will be 5, 7.1 will be 7, etc.
- Save file
- Starting the game may reset the config file and reset the number of speakers. Set it to read only to prevent this.
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Stuttering in-game
- The game can stutter a few times per second with V-Sync enabled, or showcase significant tearing if V-Sync is disabled.
Change game tick behavior[7]
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- Ensure the game is configured properly in-game as desired before continuing.
- Navigate to
<path-to-game>\base
- Open
preyconfig.cfg in a text editor and add the following lines, then save and close the file:
seta com_PreciseTic "0"
seta com_FixedTic "1"
Notes
- This also removes the in-game FPS cap (60-62 FPS) but may cause the game physics to go out of sync.[8]
- Note that changing any settings in-game resets the file, requiring the lines to be added anew.
- Starting the game may reset the file. Set it to read only to prevent this.
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Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
OpenGL |
2.0 |
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Executable | PPC |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows | |
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macOS (OS X) | | |
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This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later. |
Linux | | |
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Middleware
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Middleware |
Notes |
Audio |
OpenAL |
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Anti-cheat |
PunkBuster |
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System requirements
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
2000 |
XP |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon XP 2000+ |
Intel Pentium 4 2.5 GHz AMD Athlon 64 3000+ |
System memory (RAM) |
512 MB |
1 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
2.2 GB | |
Video card (GPU) |
DirectX 9 compatible | |
macOS (OS X) |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
10.3.9 | |
Processor (CPU) |
PowerPC G5 2.0 GHz Intel 1.8 GHz | |
System memory (RAM) |
512 MB |
1 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
3 GB | |
Video card (GPU) |
ATI Radeon X1600 Nvidia GeForce 7300 | |
Linux |
|
Minimum |
Operating system (OS) |
Kernel 2.6.x or higher |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz Athlon XP 2000+ |
System memory (RAM) |
512 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
2.2 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
OpenGL 2.0 compatible |
- Supported ATI chipsets: Radeon 9600 series, Radeon 9700 series, Radeon 9800 series, Radeon X300 series, Radeon X550 series, Radeon X600 series, Radeon X700 series, Radeon X800 series, Radeon X1300 series, Radeon X1600 series, Radeon X1800 series, Radeon X1900 series
- Supported Nvidia chipsets: GeForce3/Ti series, GeForce4/Ti, GeForce FX 5800 series, GeForce 5900 series, GeForce 6200 series, GeForce 6600 series, GeForce 6800 series, GeForce 7300 series, GeForce 7600 series, GeForce 7800 series, GeForce 7900 series
- The game does not support Intel integrated graphics chipsets
Notes
References