Galactic Civilizations

Galactic Civilizations
Galactic Civilizations	2003
Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords	2006
Galactic Civilizations III	2015
Galactic Civilizations IV	2022

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GamersGate		Ultimate Edition.
GOG.com		Ultimate Edition.
Green Man Gaming		Ultimate Edition.
Steam		Ultimate Edition. The base game executable does not require the Steam client to run, but the expansion one (which is launched by default) does.

A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Version differences

The Ultimate Edition includes the base game and the Altarian Prophecy expansion pack.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Expansion pack	The expansion pack includes a new campaign, 2 new factions (Drath and Korx), new ships, technologies and maps.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Altarian Prophecy

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Delete or rename movie files^[1]
Go to `<path-to-game>\GalCiv\movies\`. Delete or rename `Intro.bik`.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\GalCiv\Data\Prefs.ini^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/214150/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\GalCiv\Data\SaveGames\^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/214150/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

General settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

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

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound effects and music are separated, but only music has a volume slider.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Russian				Official translation by «Logrus». Available here.

Issues fixed

Steam version of game doesn't launch

Manually run installers and set compatibility Mode^[1]^[2]
Go to `<path-to-game>`. Run `GalCiv1_steam_setup.exe`. Choose Yes if a security prompt appears. Go to `<path-to-game>\GalCiv\`. Run `register_dart.exe`. Choose Yes if a security prompt appears. Choose OK or Ignore at any installer prompts. Go to `<path-to-game>\AltarianProphecy\`. Set `GalCiv.exe` to run in Windows XP (Service Pack 3) compatibility mode.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	7

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 600 MHz	Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	700 MB
Video card (GPU)	8 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible	16 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 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>/214150/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (214150) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Verified by User:Baronsmoki on 2019-04-09
↑ To those who can't start the game :: Galactic Civilizations I: Ultimate Edition General Discussions - last accessed on 2019-04-09

[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 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>/214150/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (214150) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[baronsmoki-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Verified by User:Baronsmoki on 2019-04-09

[4] To those who can't start the game :: Galactic Civilizations I: Ultimate Edition General Discussions - last accessed on 2019-04-09

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

Developers

	Stardock Entertainment
Release dates
Windows	March 26, 2003
Reception
Metacritic	83
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Turn-based
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Point and select
Genres	4X, TBS
Themes	Sci-fi, Space
Series	Galactic Civilizations