Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

Homeworld
Homeworld	1999
Homeworld: Cataclysm	2000
Homeworld 2	2003
Homeworld Remastered Edition	2015
Homeworld 2 Remastered Edition	2015
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak	2016
Homeworld: Vast Reaches	2024
Homeworld 3	2024

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view RTS game in the Homeworld series.

GOG and Steam users can not play online together.

General information

Originally titled Hardware: Shipbreakers and Homeworld: Shipbreakers during development.^[3]

Official support knowledgebase

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
GamersGate

GOG.com
Epic Games Store
Humble Store
Steam

All OS X versions require Steam DRM.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Expedition Guide
Khaaneph Fleet Pack
Soban Fleet Pack

Game data

In-game gameplay settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Win32\settings.json^{[Note 2]} <path-to-game>\Win64\settings.json^{[Note 2]}
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/281610/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Win32\out\cloud\^{[Note 2]} <path-to-game>\Win64\out\cloud\^{[Note 2]}
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/281610/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Pillarboxing should be removed after a game restart. Otherwise see Ultra-widescreen for the available workarounds.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	Default fullscreen is borderless windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	From 0x to 16x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unity page for more details.

Ultra-widescreen

Use the `-screen-width 2560 -screen-height 1080` command line argument^[4]

Manually modify the settings file^[5]

Open <path-to-game>\settings.json in a text editor.
Search for UnityEngine.Resolution and, on the line below, replace the value of the "width" and "height" attributes with the desired resolution.
Save the changes.
Set the file permission to read-only
Start the game
Open the Option screen and press the Cancel button (this last step is needed only for some users)

Notes

After you set the file permission to Read-only it won't be possible to change the game settings anymore until the write permission is restore.

Input

In-game controls layout menu

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

Controller types

Remapping

Remapping via config file^[6]

Go to the save game data location.
Open custom.dokhotkeys with an editor like Notepad.
Change the assigned keys of the hotkeys or abilities you want to remap and save the file.

Notes

Duplicate bindings should be avoided as only one action will be recognized.

Additional information can be found here.

Audio

In-game sound settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish
Russian
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play
Online play		6	Versus, Co-op GOG players have to use the GOG Galaxy Client.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Homeworld Deserts of Kharak (DX9 + DX11).

Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c, 11

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			^[7]

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7	8, 10
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i3-2100 3.1 GHz AMD A10 5800K 3.8 GHz	Intel Core i7-950 3.0 GHz AMD FX-4300 3.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	3 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB	12 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GT 440 ATI Radeon HD 4890 1 GB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 AMD Radeon HD 7770 2 GB (Nvidia), 1 GB (AMD) of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is recommended.

Notes

↑ Unity engine build: 5.2.3f1^[1]
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 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).
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/281610/.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (281610) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ Verified by User:Vetle on 2018-03-19
↑ Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Now Available For Mac! - Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - last accessed on 17 May 2023
↑ Homeworld Returns In Deserts Of Kharak - Game Informer - last accessed on 17 May 2023
↑ Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - last accessed on 2020-06-27
↑ Step by step for getting 21:9 to work - last accessed on 2016-01-20
↑ Hotkey Rebinding Documentation - Blackbird Interactive Forums - last accessed on 2018-01-03
↑ Catalina 64-bit Compatibility - Google Docs - last accessed on 5 May 2023

[2] Unity engine build: 5.2.3f1^[1]

[gamedir-5] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 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-6] 3.0 ^3.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/281610/.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (281610) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

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

[5] Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/281610/.

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

[7] The app ID (281610) may differ in some cases.

[8] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

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

[engineversion-1] Verified by User:Vetle on 2018-03-19

[3] Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak Now Available For Mac! - Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - last accessed on 17 May 2023

[4] Homeworld Returns In Deserts Of Kharak - Game Informer - last accessed on 17 May 2023

[7] Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak - last accessed on 2020-06-27

[UW-8] Step by step for getting 21:9 to work - last accessed on 2016-01-20

[9] Hotkey Rebinding Documentation - Blackbird Interactive Forums - last accessed on 2018-01-03

[10] Catalina 64-bit Compatibility - Google Docs - last accessed on 5 May 2023

[Note 1]

[2]

[3]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[1]

Developers

	Blackbird Interactive
Publishers
	Gearbox Software
Engines
	Unity 5^{[Note 1]}
Release dates
Windows	January 20, 2016
macOS (OS X)	June 21, 2016^[2]
Reception
Metacritic	79
OpenCritic	79
IGDB	85
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RTS
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Homeworld