Syndicate

This page is for the original 1993 game. For the first-person shooter reboot, see Syndicate (2012).

Syndicate
Syndicate	1993
Syndicate Wars	1996
Syndicate (2012)	2012

Key points

The American Revolt expansion is required for multiplayer support

General information

Syndicate Wiki

Syndicate Unofficial Fan Site - A fan site for the series

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Use DOSBox.
Origin		Syndicate Plus. Pre-packaged with DOSBox.
GOG.com (unavailable)		Syndicate Plus. Pre-packaged with DOSBox.^[3]

Version differences

Syndicate Plus is a complete edition which includes the American Revolt expansion.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Syndicate: American Revolt

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename INTRO.EXE^{[citation needed]}
Go to the installation folder. Delete or rename `INTRO.EXE`.

The title screen will still be shown.

FreeSynd

FreeSynd is a cross-platform, open-source re-implementation that allows for playing the game natively rather than in the DOSBox emulator.

Set up FreeSynd

Download FreeSynd and extract it. Note: The green button downloads an old version. Download from the folder view, instead.
Copy Syndicate's data files from either SYNDICAT\DATA (Syndicate Plus installations, like GOG's) or DATA (plain Syndicate) to FreeSynd's bin\data folder. There should be 439 or 450 files.
For Syndicate Plus installations (like GOG's), apply this patch; otherwise, FreeSynd will crash upon launch.
Optional: Open bin\freesynd.ini and change "fullscreen" to "true" or else the game will be in a tiny, 640x400 window.

FreeSynd requires the game's original files.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
DOS
Windows	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 1]}
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

System	Location
DOS	<path-to-game>\SAVE\ <path-to-game>\SAVE2\
Windows	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 1]}
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 1]}

American Revolt saves are in <path-to-game>\SAVE2\

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Origin

Video

300px

Graphics settings (GOG.com version)

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		640x480 only.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Toggle with `Alt`+`↵ Enter` (when using DOSBox).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS
120+ FPS

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Mouse acceleration		Native DOS cursor.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).

Controller types

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		For DOSBox change the `priority` background value in the DOSBox configuration file.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
French
German
Italian				Retail only.
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer requires the American Revolt expansion (Syndicate Plus includes the expansion)

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8
Online play		8	Using DOSBox IPX wrapper (the GOG.com version is pre-configured).

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DOS video modes	VGA, SVGA

System requirements

DOS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	3.0 (Original release) 5.0 (CD release)	6.22
Processor (CPU)	Intel 386 33 MHz
System memory (RAM)	4 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	50 MB
Video card (GPU)	VGA, SVGA

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 7 compatible	DirectX 9 compatible

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.6.8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core Duo 2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	64 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data. For the GOG.com release, file changes in DOSBox are redirected to <path-to-game>/cloud_saves/ even if GOG Galaxy is not used (this folder contains all redirected files, so some files in the cloud_saves folder might be temporary files or other files that do not contain saves or settings).

References

[DOSBox_mounted-4] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data. For the GOG.com release, file changes in DOSBox are redirected to <path-to-game>/cloud_saves/ even if GOG Galaxy is not used (this folder contains all redirected files, so some files in the cloud_saves folder might be temporary files or other files that do not contain saves or settings).

[1] New Release: Syndicate ● GOG.com

[2] GOG.com goes Mac ● GOG.com

[3] List of GOG games using DOSBox, page 1 - Forum - GOG.com

[1]

[2]

[3]

[Note 1]

Developers

	Bullfrog Productions
Publishers
	Electronic Arts
Release dates
DOS	June 6, 1993
Mac OS (Classic)	1994
Windows (DOSBox)	January 19, 2012^[1]
macOS (OS X) (DOSBox)	October 18, 2012^[2]
Reception
IGDB	69
Taxonomy
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Perspectives	Isometric
Genres	Strategy
Themes	Cyberpunk
Series	Syndicate