Difference between revisions of "Zeus: Master of Olympus"

Latest revision as of 01:16, 1 September 2023

City Building (Sierra)
Caesar (series)
Pharaoh	1999
Zeus: Master of Olympus	2000
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom	2002
Children of the Nile	2004
Pharaoh: A New Era	2023

Zeus: Master of Olympus is a singleplayer bird's-eye view and isometric building game in the City Building (Sierra) series.

The game was expanded with Poseidon: Master of Atlantis in June 2001, featuring new campaigns, gods, structures and units.

General information

Official website (retrieved)

Zeus Heaven website

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 4 DRM disc check.
GOG.com		Acropolis.
Steam		Acropolis.

A free demo version is available from GameFront.

Version differences

Acropolis, also known as Master of Olympus: Zeus Gold, includes both Zeus and Poseidon.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Poseidon: Master of Atlantis

Essential improvements

Patches

The Enhancement Pack 1.1 is the latest patch for Zeus, and Enhancement Pack 2.1 for Poseidon, both available here. Digital releases already include this update.

Skip intro videos

Instructions^[1]
Go to `<path-to-game>\Binks`. Rename, move or delete `Zeus_Intro.bik` and `Zeus_Intro_HiQ.bik`.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\^{[Note 1]}
Steam	<path-to-game>\*.inf <path-to-game>\Zeus.ini
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/566050/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\<user-id>\^{[Note 1]}
Steam	<path-to-game>\Save\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/566050/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Use the Zeus & Poseidon Resolution Customiser utility.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Use the Zeus & Poseidon Resolution Customiser utility.
4K Ultra HD		Use the Zeus & Poseidon Resolution Customiser utility. Note that due to the way the game is rendered, text and graphics will be very small and the bottom of the city viewport won't reach the bottom of the screen.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Pressing `F5` will switch to windowed, if the desktop resolution is higher than the game resolution.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		20 FPS cap. Mouse is not clamped to engine framerate.

Input

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

Controller types

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, speech, ambient and SFX
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Separate UK and US versions
French				Retail only.
German				Retail only; download for digital releases.
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian				Retail only.
Polish				Retail only. Details
Spanish				Retail only; download for digital versions.
Swedish				Retail only. Only the base game was translated into Swedish.

Issues fixed

Animation speed problems

The game has notable issues with specific animations that play too slow or too fast on modern systems (e.g. god spawning effects and the urchin collectors along with various buildings).

Instructions^[2]
A user patch that addresses several of these problems (including the god spawn effect and the urchin collector bug) can be found here. The widescreen fix comes prepackaged with this fix aswell. See Video settings.

Issues unresolved

Unresolved animation issues

Not all of the animation issues are addressed in user patches (e.g. the trading piers, hippodrome spectators and other buildings).

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	5

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	6.0m^[3]
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, 98	ME, 2000
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 166 MHz	Intel Pentium II 266 MHz
System memory (RAM)	32 MB	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	600 MB	650 MB
Video card (GPU)	2 MB of VRAM	4 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 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).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (566050) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ Tested by Nessy
↑ Tested by Nessy
↑ Verified by User:Nessy on 2019-12-08
Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.

[gamedir-2] 1.0 ^1.1 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-3] 2.0 ^2.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (566050) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[3] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[4] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[5] The app ID (566050) may differ in some cases.

[6] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[7] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[1] Tested by Nessy

[4] Tested by Nessy

[5] Verified by User:Nessy on 2019-12-08
Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 {{Infobox game/row/publisher|Sierra Entertainment|Retail}}
 {{Infobox game/row/publisher|Activision|Digital}}
+{{Infobox game/row/publisher|Sold Out Software|Re-release}}
 |engines      =
 |release dates=
 {{Infobox game/row/date|Windows|October 17, 2000}}
 |taxonomy=
-{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/monetization      | Expansion pack }}
+{{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/monetization      | One-time game purchase, Expansion pack }}
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/microtransactions | }}
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/modes             | Singleplayer }}
@@ Line 22: / Line 23: @@
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/themes            | Europe, Classical, Fantasy }}
 {{Infobox game/row/taxonomy/series            | City Building (Sierra) }}
+|official site= https://web.archive.org/web/20020525110856/http://zeus.impressionsgames.com/
 |steam appid  = 566050
 |gogcom id    = 1207659039
 |hltb         = 11562
+|lutris       = zeus-poseidon
 |strategywiki =
-|mobygames    = zeus-master-of-olympus
+|mobygames    = 2640
 |wikipedia    = Zeus: Master of Olympus
 |winehq       = 1964
@@ Line 32: / Line 35: @@
 }}
-'''Key points'''
+{{Introduction
-{{++}} Comes with an adventure editor for creation of custom campaigns and scenarios
+|introduction      =
+|release history   = The game was expanded with '''''Poseidon: Master of Atlantis''''' in June 2001, featuring new campaigns, gods, structures and units.
+|current state     =
+}}
 '''General information'''
@@ Line 43: / Line 51: @@
 ==Availability==
 {{Availability|
-{{Availability/row| Retail | | disc | {{DRM|SecuROM}} disc check. | | Windows }}
+{{Availability/row| Retail | | disc | {{DRM|SecuROM|4}} disc check. | | Windows }}
 {{Availability/row| GOG.com | zeus_poseidon | DRM-free | Acropolis. | | Windows }}
 {{Availability/row| Steam | 566050 | Steam | Acropolis. |  | Windows }}
 }}
+{{ii}} A free demo version is available from [https://www.gamefront.com/games/zeus-poseidon/file/zeus-master-of-olympus-demo GameFront].
 ===Version differences===
@@ Line 62: / Line 71: @@
 ===Skip intro videos===
 {{Fixbox|description=Instructions|ref=<ref>Tested by [[User:Nessy|Nessy]]</ref>|fix=
-# Go to <code>{{p|game}}\Binks</code>
+# Go to {{file|{{p|game}}\Binks|folder}}.
-# Rename, move or delete these files:
+# Rename, move or delete {{file|Zeus_Intro.bik}} and {{file|Zeus_Intro_HiQ.bik}}.
-<pre>
-Zeus_Intro.bik
-Zeus_Intro_HiQ.bik
-</pre>
 }}
@@ Line 74: / Line 79: @@
 {{Game data|
 {{Game data/config|Windows|{{p|game}}\}}
+{{Game data/config|Steam|{{p|game}}\*.inf|{{p|game}}\Zeus.ini}}
 }}
@@ Line 79: / Line 85: @@
 {{Game data|
 {{Game data/saves|Windows|{{p|game}}\{{P|uid}}\}}
+{{Game data/saves|Steam|{{p|game}}\Save\}}
 }}
@@ Line 91: / Line 98: @@
 |origin                    =
 |origin notes              =
-|steam cloud               = unknown
+|steam cloud               = false
 |steam cloud notes         =
 |ubisoft connect           =
@@ Line 118: / Line 125: @@
 |fov notes                  =
 |windowed                   = true
-|windowed notes             = Pressing F5 will switch to windowed, if the desktop resolution is higher than the game resolution.
+|windowed notes             = Pressing {{key|F5}} will switch to windowed, if the desktop resolution is higher than the game resolution.
 |borderless windowed        = false
 |borderless windowed notes  =
@@ Line 125: / Line 132: @@
 |antialiasing               = n/a
 |antialiasing notes         =
+|upscaling                  = unknown
+|upscaling tech             =
+|upscaling notes            =
 |vsync                      = false
 |vsync notes                =
@@ Line 212: / Line 222: @@
 |closed captions          = false
 |closed captions notes    =
-|mute on focus lost       = true
+|mute on focus lost       = always on
 |mute on focus lost notes =
 |eax support              =
 |eax support notes        =
+|royalty free audio       = always on
+|royalty free audio notes =
 }}
@@ Line 231: / Line 243: @@
   |audio     = true
   |subtitles = n/a
-  |notes     = Retail only : It can be copied from this version to the digital one.
+  |notes     = Retail only.
   |fan       =
 }}{{L10n/switch
@@ Line 238: / Line 250: @@
   |audio     = true
   |subtitles = n/a
-  |notes     =
+  |notes     = Retail only; [https://www.compiware-forum.de/downloads/file/957-zeus-and-poseidon-german-patch/ download for digital releases].
   |fan       =
 }}{{L10n/switch
@@ Line 252: / Line 264: @@
   |audio     = true
   |subtitles = n/a
-  |notes     =
+  |notes     = Retail only.
   |fan       =
 }}{{L10n/switch
@@ Line 259: / Line 271: @@
   |audio     = true
   |subtitles = n/a
-  |notes     = Retail only.
+  |notes     = Retail only. [https://dubbingpedia.pl/wiki/Zeus:_Pan_Olimpu Details]
   |fan       =
 }}{{L10n/switch
@@ Line 267: / Line 279: @@
   |subtitles = n/a
   |notes     = Retail only; [https://steamcommunity.com/app/566050/discussions/0/3112530528196239245/ download for digital versions].
+ |fan       =
+}}{{L10n/switch
+ |language  = Swedish
+ |interface = true
+ |audio     = true
+ |subtitles = n/a
+ |notes     = Retail only. Only the base game was translated into Swedish.
   |fan       =
 }}
@@ Line 306: / Line 325: @@
 |windows 32-bit exe     = true
 |windows 64-bit exe     = false
+|windows arm app        = unknown
 |windows exe notes      =
 |macos intel 32-bit app =
 |macos intel 64-bit app =
+|macos arm app          = unknown
 |macos app notes        =
 |linux 32-bit executable=
 |linux 64-bit executable=
+|linux arm app          = unknown
 |linux executable notes =
 }}
@@ Line 335: / Line 357: @@
 |OSfamily = Windows
-|minOS    = 98
+|minOS    = 95, 98
 |minCPU   = Intel Pentium 166 MHz
 |minRAM   = 32 MB
@@ Line 342: / Line 364: @@
 |minVRAM  = 2 MB
-|recOS    = ME, 2000, XP
+|recOS    = ME, 2000
 |recCPU   = Intel Pentium II 266 MHz
 |recRAM   = 64 MB

Developers

	Impressions Games
Publishers
Retail	Sierra Entertainment
Digital	Activision
Re-release	Sold Out Software
Release dates
Windows	October 17, 2000
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Building
Themes	Europe, Classical, Fantasy
Series	City Building (Sierra)