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Arx Fatalis

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Arx Fatalis
Arx Fatalis cover
Developers
Arkane Studios
Publishers
JoWood Productions
Current Bethesda Softworks
Release dates
Windows June 28, 2002
Reception
Metacritic 77
IGDB 78
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Immersive sim, RPG, ARPG
Themes Fantasy
Arx Fatalis on HowLongToBeat
Arx Fatalis on IGDB
Arx Fatalis guide on StrategyWiki
Arx Fatalis on MobyGames
Arx Fatalis on Wikipedia

Arx Fatalis is a singleplayer first-person immersive sim, RPG and ARPG game.

General information

Arx Libertatis Wiki
GOG.com Community Discussions
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SecuROM DRM
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Patched to 1.21.
Windows
Microsoft Store
DRM-free after installation through Microsoft Store client (notes may include more details)
DRM-free after being copied to any other folder.
Included in Xbox Game Pass for PC
Windows
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
Patched to 1.21.
Windows
Bethesda.net (unavailable)
DRM-free after installation through Bethesda.net Launcher (notes may include more details)
Patched to 1.21.
Windows
A demo is available from Steam.

Monetization

Type Notes
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

Essential improvements

Patches

Arx Fatalis Patch 1.21 (2011) fixes some issues with running the game on modern systems. This patch will update any version; no previous patch is required.
Digital distribution versions usually include this patch but disc versions do not.

Arx Libertatis port

Arx Libertatis is a modern port for Windows and Linux that fixes numerous issues (install Arx Fatalis Patch 1.21 first if using a disc version).

Steam Play / Luxtorpeda (Linux only)

If using the Steam version, the community Steam Play compatibility tool Luxtorpeda can be used[1] for easier integration with Steam and simpler setup.
Install Luxtorpeda[2]
  1. Close Steam
  2. Download the latest version of Luxtorpeda from Luxtorpeda GitHub
  3. Open ~/.local/share/Steam/
  4. Create folder compatibilitytools.d and open it
  5. Unpack the downloaded archive here
  6. Start Steam.
  7. In the game properties window, select Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool
  8. Select Luxtorpeda.

Notes Luxtorpeda will install into and use Arx Libertatis from the Steam game folder, but not install the port system-wide.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\cfg_default.ini[Note 1]
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1700/pfx/[Note 2]
Arx Libertatis settings are stored in %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Arx Libertatis\cfg.ini

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Save[Note 1]
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1700/pfx/[Note 2]
Arx Libertatis saves are stored in %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Arx Libertatis\save

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Video settings.
Video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Requires Arx Fatalis Patch 1.21. See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Use Arx Libertatis.
Ultra-widescreen
Use Arx Libertatis.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Use Arx Libertatis. Has 10 increments up by a value of 5° from 75° to 125°.
Windowed
See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Use Arx Libertatis with Borderless Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Force in graphics card control panel or use Arx Libertatis (enabled by default).
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Forcing in the graphics card control panel will cause Invisible text.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Use Arx Libertatis (enabled by default).
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Arx Libertatis has no frame rate cap.

Widescreen resolution

Some resolutions may not work when selected in-game but can still be used by editing cfg_default.ini directly.
Set unsupported resolution in cfg_default.ini[3]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open cfg_default.ini (cfg.ini if using Arx Libertatis).
  3. Set resolution= to match the resolution you want.
  4. Save your changes. The in-game setting may show 640x480 but the manual resolution will still be used.

Notes

Changing video settings in-game may reset the resolution change. Repeat these steps if necessary.
Game will crash at horizontal resolutions of 2560 or above.
If problems persist or to play at QHD/4k resolution use Arx Libertatis.

Windowed

Enable windowed mode[citation needed]
  1. Go to the configuration file(s) location.
  2. Open cfg_default.ini (cfg.ini if using Arx Libertatis).
  3. Change full_screen=1 to full_screen=0
  4. Save the changes. Reverse this change to go back to fullscreen mode.

Notes

Arx Fatalis has a fixed-size window; for a resizeable window use Arx Libertatis.

Input

Input settings.
Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
None by default. Arx Libertatis allows this to be enabled, as well as having the option to enable raw mouse input (to bypass Windows desktop mouse acceleration) in the options menu.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Controller types

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Master, SFX, Speech and Ambience sliders.
Surround sound
Up to 7.0 output with DirectSound3D restoration software, or OpenAL Soft if using Arx Libertatis
Subtitles
Conversations and cutscenes only; all other speech has no subtitles.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 2. Disabled by default. Required EAX Unified[4] before patch 1.21[5]
Royalty free audio
Arx Libertatis replaces deprecated DirectSound3D API with OpenAL Soft, which can be used for binaural HRTF mixing.[6] No EAX reverb calls are used in-game.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
Not available on Steam.
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Not available on Steam.
Korean
Fan translation, download.
Polish
Fan translation, download.
Russian
Spanish
Turkish
Fan translation, download.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
Z3D
Game is not on official list but on the factory profile list, so it is inclear whether it is a user-created or official profile. Arx Libertatis is required.

Issues fixed

HUD doesn't scale at higher resolutions

Arx Fatalis 1.21 interface elements are very small at higher resolutions.
Use Arx Libertatis[citation needed]

Invisible text

This is caused by forcing anti-aliasing through the video card's control panel.
Use Arx Libertatis.[citation needed]
Set application controlled anti-aliasing[7]
  1. Go to the video card control panel.
  2. Set anti-aliasing to "application-controlled".
  3. Enable anti-aliasing in-game (optional).

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 7
Executable 32-bit 64-bitARM Notes
Windows
Use Arx Libertatis for 64-bit.
macOS (OS X)
Use Arx Libertatis.[8]
Linux
Use Arx Libertatis.

HD Textures - Arx Neuralis

Original game textures upscaled with neural networks. Download from Nexus Mods or ModDB

HD Textures - Texture Overhaul

Upscaled textures, two years after the previous attempt. Seem to be of higher quality. Download from [1]

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98
XP (Steam)
Processor (CPU) 500 MHz Pentium III or compatible
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 750 MB
Video card (GPU) 16 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8 compatible
Sound (audio device) DirectX 8 compatible
Other 4X CD-ROM


Notes

  1. 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. 2.0 2.1 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>/1700/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1700) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References