Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive

Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive

Developers
	Spellbound Entertainment
macOS (OS X)	RuneSoft
Publishers
2001-2003	Infogrames
2003-2013	Atari
2013-2016	Nordic Games
2016-present	THQ Nordic
Retail re-release	Sold Out Software
Release dates
Windows	July 23, 2001
macOS (OS X)	March 4, 2015
Linux	July 5, 2018
Reception
Metacritic	78
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	Stealth, Strategy
Themes	Western
Series	Desperados

Desperados
Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive	2001
Desperados 2: Cooper's Revenge	2006
Helldorado	2007
Desperados III	2020

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.

Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive is a singleplayer bird's-eye view and isometric stealth and strategy game in the Desperados series.

General information

Official Discord server for game series

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		LaserLock DRM
GamersGate
GOG.com
Green Man Gaming
Steam

A demo can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. The level is included in the modernized version.

Essential improvements

Patches

The v1.01 Patch updates the retail game to the latest version.

The v1.02 patch was released exclusively for Steam and GOG.com releases, which includes an in-game language switch and the demo-exclusive mission, as well as better compatibility for modern systems. Retail versions did not receive this update.

Compatibility on modern systems

Various DirectX wrappers can be used to improve compatibility on modern systems and prevent issues like crashes or a low framerate.

DXGL
Download and install DXGL. Add the game's executable game.exe to the application list. Make sure Vertical sync in the display tab is disabled.

Use dgVoodoo2
Download and extract dgVoodoo 2. Copy the files inside the MS\x86 directory to <path-to-game>\Game. Open the dgVoodoo 2 control panel (dgVoodooCpl.exe) and activate Fast video memory acess in the DirectX tab.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Game\Data\Configuration\
macOS (OS X)
Linux

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>\Game\Data\Savegame\
Steam	%APPDATA%\THQNordic\Desperados\
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			See the WSGF entry.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen			See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Use DxWnd.
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		Original release is capped at 21 FPS and modern version at 25 FPS. Game speed is tied to frame rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

In-game input settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles		FMVs are not subtitled.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish				Local retail version only. For digital versions download this
Russian				1C-Softclub
Spanish

Issues fixed

Crashes

Enable the following compatibility settings for the game.exe file: Compatibility mode (Windows XP SP 3).

Sometimes the game crashes when loading a new level or a different save file.

Delete SpriteBank.tmp
Go to <path-to-game>\Game. Delete the file SpriteBank.tmp.

Strange mouse movement

Change settings in control panel
Go to Computer → Control Panel → Mouse Properties → Pointer Options Deactivate "Enhance pointer precision".

FMVs do not play (retail only)

Copy video files from the disc to game directory
Open the disc and go to GAME\Data. Copy the folder Cinematics to <path-to-game>\Game\Data.

Tearing when panning camera

Add launch parameters
The game files offer a readme file in which the developers describe several launch parameters. Add the following launch parameters: NOSMOOTHMOUSE MOUSEFACTOR 0.5 Enable V-Sync from your video card provider. If that does not work WGSF offers a 60 fps patch. However, this will make the gameplay faster. See the WSGF entry.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	7
OpenGL

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			This 32-bit-only macOS game does not work on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later.
Linux

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	FMOD
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Linux

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, 98, Me, 2000 (only as administrator)
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 233 MHz MMX
System memory (RAM)	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	600 MB
Video card (GPU)	No 3D card necessary, incompatible with Permedia 2 4 MB of VRAM DirectX 7.1 or higher compatible	DirectX 8 compatible

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.7
Processor (CPU)	1.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	OpenGL 2.0 compatible

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	Ubuntu, SteamOS
Processor (CPU)	Intel 1.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	OpenGL 2.0 compatible