Sacred

Sacred
Sacred	2004
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel	2008
Sacred Citadel	2013
Sacred 3	2014

Key points

Online multiplayer master servers have been shut down.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

SacredWiki: elaborate wiki about Sacred, Sacred Underworld and Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.

Wolfe's Lair (archive): fansite with walkthroughs and tips for Sacred and the Underworld expansion.

Sacred Ancaria Connection: a tool which allows multiplayer connections without using VPN usage after the TinCat service shutdown.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		VOB for English release. ProtectCD for German and Italian releases. StarForce 3 DRM^{[Note 1]} for Chinese, French and Russian releases.
GamersGate		Sacred Plus
GamersGate		Sacred Gold
GOG.com		Sacred Gold. Serial keys for multiplayer available by request to GOG support team.^[5]
Humble Store		Sacred Gold
Steam		Sacred Gold
Green Man Gaming (unavailable)		Sacred Gold
ZOOM Platform		Sacred Gold

StarForce DRM for this game does not work on modern versions of Windows (see above for affected versions).

Version differences

Sacred - the original game, released in February 2004
Sacred Plus - Free expansion pack released in October 2004 as part of the 1.7 and 1.8 patches for the base game. It adds 2 regions, monsters, quests, items.
Sacred Underworld - Expansion pack released in April 2005. It adds 2 player characters (Daemon and Dwarf), 6 regions, 2 acts, new monsters and items.
Sacred Gold - Released in August 2005, includes the base game and both expansions.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Sacred Plus	Distributed in 1.7 and 1.8 official patches for the base game for free.
Sacred Underworld	Files released as free download for Italian and Spanish releases by FX Interactive in 2006, requiring an SMS message request for a serial key.^[6]^[7]

Essential improvements

Sacred Gold running in standard 1024x768 resolution.

Sacred Gold running in 1920x1080 resolution via dgVoodoo.

Patches

The latest patch for Sacred is 1.8.26 (Dec 2004) - which upgrades it to Sacred Plus. It is available here.
The latest patch for Sacred Underworld / Gold is 2.28 (Nov 2006). It is available here. It is already included in the digital releases.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files^[8]
Go to `<path-to-game>\movie\` Delete or rename `ascaron.wmv` and `oem.wmv`.

High-resolution rendering

Download and apply dgVoodoo

This fix may introduce graphical artifacts.

Will stretch gfx horizontally altering original aspect ratio.

Download the latest version (password given)
Copy the three .dll files from the MS folder and the dgVoodoo executable into <path-to-game>
Open the dgVoodoo executable from the game folder and click the .\ button
In the DirectX tab of dgVoodoo, set Resolution to your monitor's native one and untick 'dgVoodoo Watermark'
Click Apply and close dgVoodoo as it needn't run along with the game

Use Sacred NL or PureHD
Fixes all artifacts caused by playing at widescreen resolutions and interface scales correctly. Adds QoL improvements like extended zoom and new hotkeys.

Stop flickering load screens with Nvidia GPU

Use dgVoodoo
To avoid DirectX error on startup when also using PureHD, set Scaling to Unspecified.

Improve performance

Force Vsync off

This fix may introduce graphical artifacts.

Go to <path-to-game>
Open Settings.cfg
Add the line WAITRETRACE : 0 at the end of the file
Save the changes and close the file

Multiplayer connectivity without VPNs

Sacred Ancaria Connection

The project is open source, with a GitHub repository here.

Download the latest version of the Sacred Ancaria Connection client.
Execute it before launching Sacred.
In the game options, select "Modem/ISDN" as the network speed setting.
Go to the LAN menu and you should be seeing several servers.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SETTINGS.CFG^{[Note 2]}
Linux
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12320/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\save^{[Note 2]}
Linux
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/12320/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Saved games are GAME**.PAK; saved heroes are hero**.pax.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

General settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		1024x768 by default. See High-resolution rendering.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD		enable with HD mod and dgVoodoo
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	Set in launcher.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See High-resolution rendering.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	FSAA on/off. See High-resolution rendering. Forcing MSAA/CSAA externally may introduce severe grid-like visual artifacts.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS	Low performance when zoomed out. See Improve performance.
120+ FPS

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		SFX, Speech, Music.
Surround sound		Requires ALchemy
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		Unknown version, supported by ALchemy.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
Czech				Retail only.
English				US English release has censored blood effects, unlike European and Oceanian English-language releases; digital releases are non-US
French				Retail and GOG.com only.
German				Retail only; download for digital releases.
Italian				Retail only.
Polish				Retail only; download for digital releases
Brazilian Portuguese				For Sacred Gold only; download.
Russian				Retail and GOG.com only.
Spanish				Retail only; download for digital releases.
Simplified Chinese				Retail only
Traditional Chinese				Retail only
Japanese				Retail only

Network

Online features require a product key; for the GOG.com version the key is available by submitting a multiplayer key request.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		16
Online play		16	Master servers have been shut down. See Multiplayer connectivity without VPNs for a workaround.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting		Use `GameServer.exe` in the installation folder.
Direct IP

Other information

API

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
Linux			Sacred Gold had a Linux release in 2009 (by Linux Game Publishing).

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Windows Media Video 9
Multiplayer	TinCat

Modifications

ReBorn HD

The biggest and most elaborate balance mod-patch for Sacred.

Requires Sacred Gold.

Changes in the overall balance, bosses, heroes, items, their drop, game mechanics and makes small, but significant changes in the games world to make Sacred more enjoyable and less frustrating.

It's constantly updated and mod authors are opened for help.

Doesn't affects the original executable, provides own widescreen support and it's compatible with most languages.

Issues fixed

3D audio effects option disabled

Install IndirectSound
Download and extract IndirectSound Copy the two files, `dsound.dll` and `dsound.ini`. Paste into `<path-to-game>`. Run the game, and choose 3D effects in the sound settings.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2000, XP	7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 800 MHz	AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz or higher Intel Pentium 4
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	16 MB of VRAM DirectX 8 compatible	64 MB of VRAM DirectX 9 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	2.2.x or better Linux kernel with glibc-2.1 or later and X-Windows (XFree86 3.3.x or later)
Processor (CPU)	1.0 GHz x86
System memory (RAM)	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	3.7 GB
Video card (GPU)	Hardware Accelerated 3D Graphics card 32 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ This version of StarForce DRM does not work on Windows Vista or later.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] For supported versions of Windows the StarForce driver may need to be updated manually using SFUPDATE.
↑ ^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).
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/12320/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (12320) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Windows Vista support - StarForce Support
↑ Windows 7 support - StarForce Support
↑ Windows 8.1 support - StarForce Support
↑ Windows 10 support - StarForce Support
↑ Sacred Gold - Multiplayer issue - CD Key - last accessed on 2021-06-13
↑ SACRED - La leyenda del Arma Sagrada - last accessed on 2021-06-13
↑ SACRED - EDIZIONE ORO - last accessed on 2021-06-13
↑ Verified by User:Plokite Wolf on 2021-10-11

[5] This version of StarForce DRM does not work on Windows Vista or later.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] For supported versions of Windows the StarForce driver may need to be updated manually using SFUPDATE.

[gamedir-10] 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).

[Proton_path_note-11] 3.0 ^3.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/12320/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (12320) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[StarForce_Windows_Vista-1] Windows Vista support - StarForce Support

[StarForce_Windows_7-2] Windows 7 support - StarForce Support

[StarForce_Windows_8.1-3] Windows 8.1 support - StarForce Support

[StarForce_Windows_10-4] Windows 10 support - StarForce Support

[6] Sacred Gold - Multiplayer issue - CD Key - last accessed on 2021-06-13

[7] SACRED - La leyenda del Arma Sagrada - last accessed on 2021-06-13

[8] SACRED - EDIZIONE ORO - last accessed on 2021-06-13

[9] Verified by User:Plokite Wolf on 2021-10-11

[Note 1]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Developers

	Studio II Software
Expansion	Kritzelkratz 3000
Publishers
Physical (Europe)	Take-Two Interactive
Physical (Spain, Italy)	FX Interactive
Physical (North America)	Encore
Linux	Linux Game Publishing
Digital (2008-2022)	Strategy First
Digital (2022-present)	THQ Nordic
Release dates
Windows	February 27, 2004
Linux	April 9, 2009
Reception
Metacritic	74
Taxonomy
Monetization	Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls	Point and select
Genres	ARPG
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Sacred