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Gothic 3

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Gothic 3
Gothic 3 cover
Developers
Piranha Bytes
Publishers
2006-2011 JoWood Productions
2011-2016 Nordic Games
2016-present THQ Nordic
Retail (Russia) Russobit-M
Engines
Genome Gaming System
Release dates
Windows October 13, 2006
Reception
Metacritic 63
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Third-person
Controls Direct control
Genres RPG, ARPG
Themes Fantasy
Series Gothic
Gothic 3 on HowLongToBeat
Gothic 3 on IGDB
Gothic 3 guide on StrategyWiki
Gothic 3 on MobyGames
Gothic 3 on Wikipedia
Gothic
Gothic 2001
Gothic II 2002
Gothic 3 2006
Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods 2008
Arcania: Gothic 4 2010
Arcania: Fall of Setarrif 2011
Gothic Playable Teaser 2019
The Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos (unofficial mod) 2021
Gothic 1 Remake TBA

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
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)
Install Community Patch 1.75.14 to remove TAGES DRM disc check.
Russian copies use StarForce 4 DRM[Note 1].
Windows
Amazon.com
DRM-free
Windows
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Community Patch 1.75.14 is included by default.[3]
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Opt into the latest Community Patch.
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg (unavailable)
DRM details are not known
Gold Edition.
Windows
StarForce DRM for this game does not work on modern versions of Windows (see above for affected versions).
A German demo can be downloaded here. Copy download link to browser if it does not work. Not recommended without community patch.

Essential improvements

Patches

The last official retail update is Patch v1.12.

Community Patch

Community Patch 1.75.14 fixes numerous issues, improves performance, graphics and stability, and adds a basic modding tool-set. Using it is strongly recommended. It is also a good idea to enable 'Alternative AI' in the options to take advantage of a much improved combat system. Note that saves from some earlier patch versions are not compatible. This patch is also available as a public Beta branch[4] and is included by default in the GOG version.

If you experience problems try Community Patch 1.73 or Community Patch 1.74 instead.[5]
Opt-into CPT beta branch (Steam version)[6]
  1. Right-click on Gothic 3 in your Steam Library.
  2. From the drop-down menu which appears, select Properties.
  3. From the window which appears, select the Betas tab.
  4. Under Select the beta you would like to opt into, click on the menu box.
  5. From the drop-down menu, select cpt_1.75_testbranch -.
  6. Click the Close button.
When installing mods, rename gothic3.exe to anything else and gothic3final.exe to gothic3.exe. Don't forget to change the names back to their original ones when you're done.

Update Pack

The Update Pack works on top of the latest Community Patch and includes a number of bug fixes and quality of life improvements. Also contains tweaks to combat and additional features for modders.

Parallel Universe Patch

Parallel Universe Patch drastically reduces stutters and loading times by optimizing, parallelizing and replacing inefficient parts of the Gothic 3 engine.[7] In addition, extended error logging was implemented and some of the remaining bugs that were not fixed by the above patches were also addressed. Requires Community Patch 1.75 and is likewise compatible with the Update Pack.

If performance issues persist, you can additionally use Gothic 3 Clean Up. However, this is quite complicated to set up and should only be used if above solutions are not sufficient.

Skip intro videos

Rename/delete logo videos[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Data\Video.
  2. Delete or rename G3_Logo_01.bik, Publisher.bik and CPT.bik.

Alternatively:

Disable logo videos
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Ini.
  2. Open logo.ini in text editor, delete all lines, save file.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\gothic3\UserOptions.ini
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39500/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\gothic3\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39500/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

Video options.
Video options.
Details options.
Details options.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Requires Community Patch 1.75.14. HUD position is incorrect.[8]
Ultra-widescreen
Requires Community Patch 1.75.14.
4K Ultra HD
Requires Community Patch 1.75.14.
Field of view (FOV)
Default is 60°; see Field of view (FOV).
Windowed
See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Enable Windowed mode and use Borderless Windowed.[9]
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Choice of Anisotropic 1x/4x/8x/16x (with Community Patch 1.75.14).
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Choice of Off or FXAA (with Community Patch 1.75.14).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
No frame rate or refresh rate cap.[10]
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Field of view (FOV)

Edit ge3.ini[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Ini\
  2. Open ge3.ini.
  3. Change Camera.FOV= to the value you want (default is 60°).
  4. Save your changes.

Windowed

Edit ge3.ini[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Ini\
  2. Open ge3.ini.
  3. Change Fullscreen=true to Fullscreen=false
  4. Save your changes. Reverse this change to go back to fullscreen mode.

Notes

The Windows cursor will be visible during gameplay - see Hide system cursor when game is in focus for a solution.

Improved graphics with G3SI

G3SI offers a user-friendly UI to change a wide number of .ini settings like draw distance while preventing bugs that could appear when editing the .ini manually. It also allows to change shaders, remove the fog that makes distant landscape muddy, and other settings. Available in English and German. Includes a manual.

You should not change the "radius of influence" setting (Entity.ROI) over 4000. While this increases the render distance of NPCs, it also causes sound bugs and AI glitches.[11]
Increasing draw distance for high detail (DistanceHigh.fFarClippingPlane_High) too far over 30000 is very taxing even on modern systems and can cause problems in loading terrain which can lead to holes in the landscape.
After changing shaders, you need to recompile them (unless playing with disabled shader cache) by deleting %USERPROFILE%\Documents\gothic3\Shader.Cache and running the Gothic3.exe as admin.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Sliders for smoothing (with Community Patch 1.75.14).
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Some elements like equipping are non-intuitive (in such case try hovering cursor over an item and pressing Enter).[12]
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Controller types

Audio

Audio options.
Audio options.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Master, voice, music, FX and ambient sliders.
Surround sound
Supports multiple configurations (5.1, 7.1, etc.)
Subtitles
Enabled by default.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

If some languages are not listed in-game ensure you have installed Community Patch 1.75.14.
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Full Polish version available on GOG.com and Steam (despite not being stated on Steam store page).[4][13]
Portuguese
[citation needed]
Brazilian Portuguese
Fan translation: download; Nexus Mods.
Russian
Official localization by «Руссобит-М». Audio only in Russian retail versions; all others are text-only.
Spanish
Translation for Content Mod 2.5 by Clan Dlan, download.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
Use Helix Mod: Gothic 3 & Gothic 3 - Forsaken Gods.
vorpX
G3D
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking
Works with Tobii EyeX tracker or Tobii EyeX 4C and 5 headtracker plugins for FaceTrackNoIR.
TrackIR
Works with FreeTrack 2.0 protocol using software like FaceTrackNoIR.

Issues fixed

Game slows down randomly

Change timer setting[14]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Ini\
  2. Open ge3.ini.
  3. Find Timer.ThreadSafe (if this line is missing install Community Patch 1.75.14).
  4. Change Timer.ThreadSafe=true to Timer.ThreadSafe=false
  5. Save your changes and close the file.
Install Parallel Universe Patch

Hide system cursor when game is in focus

When running in Windowed mode the game displays both in-game cursor and system cursor. This may be annoying for some people. Below is the script to solve this issue.
Use AutoHotkey[citation needed]
1. Download and install AutoHotkey.
2. Start it, edit the script and use the one provided below:
; Script to hide cursor http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1432431
; Modified by Nirklars and adjusted to work with Gothic 3 by SuicideMachine
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.

SystemCursor("Init")

SetTimer, CheckIdle, 250
return

CheckIdle:
if WinActive("ahk_class Gothic3 Engine") 
{
    SystemCursor("Off")
}
else
{
    SystemCursor("On")
}
return

#Persistent
OnExit, ShowCursor  ; Ensure the cursor is made visible when the script exits.
return

ShowCursor:
SystemCursor("On")
ExitApp

SystemCursor(OnOff=1)   ; INIT = "I","Init"; OFF = 0,"Off"; TOGGLE = -1,"T","Toggle"; ON = others
{
    static AndMask, XorMask, $, h_cursor
        ,c0,c1,c2,c3,c4,c5,c6,c7,c8,c9,c10,c11,c12,c13 ; system cursors
        , b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6,b7,b8,b9,b10,b11,b12,b13   ; blank cursors
        , h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,h7,h8,h9,h10,h11,h12,h13   ; handles of default cursors
    if (OnOff = "Init" or OnOff = "I" or $ = "")       ; init when requested or at first call
    {
        $ = h                                          ; active default cursors
        VarSetCapacity( h_cursor,4444, 1 )
        VarSetCapacity( AndMask, 32*4, 0xFF )
        VarSetCapacity( XorMask, 32*4, 0 )
        system_cursors = 32512,32513,32514,32515,32516,32642,32643,32644,32645,32646,32648,32649,32650
        StringSplit c, system_cursors, `,
        Loop %c0%
        {
            h_cursor   := DllCall( "LoadCursor", "uint",0, "uint",c%A_Index% )
            h%A_Index% := DllCall( "CopyImage",  "uint",h_cursor, "uint",2, "int",0, "int",0, "uint",0 )
            b%A_Index% := DllCall("CreateCursor","uint",0, "int",0, "int",0
                , "int",32, "int",32, "uint",&AndMask, "uint",&XorMask )
        }
    }
    if (OnOff = 0 or OnOff = "Off" or $ = "h" and (OnOff < 0 or OnOff = "Toggle" or OnOff = "T"))
        $ = b  ; use blank cursors
    else
        $ = h  ; use the saved cursors

    Loop %c0%
    {
        h_cursor := DllCall( "CopyImage", "uint",%$%%A_Index%, "uint",2, "int",0, "int",0, "uint",0 )
        DllCall( "SetSystemCursor", "uint",h_cursor, "uint",c%A_Index% )
    }
}
3. Reload the script in AHK.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 9.0c
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Physics PhysX

System requirements

Steam

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11
Processor (CPU) 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD equivalent
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 5 GB
Video card (GPU) 128 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Shader model 1.4 support
Sound (audio device) DirectX compatible

Disc Version

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce 3
ATI/AMD Radeon 8500
128 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible


Notes

  1. This version of StarForce DRM does not work on Windows 8.1, Windows 10, or Windows 11.[1][2] For supported versions of Windows the StarForce driver may need to be updated manually using SFUPDATE.
  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>/39500/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (39500) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References