Legacy of Kain: Defiance

Legacy of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain	1997
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver	1999
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2	2001
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2	2002
Legacy of Kain: Defiance	2003
Nosgoth	Cancelled

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM V5 DRM
		Includes Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2.
GOG.com
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam
Publisher website (unavailable)

Essential improvements

Unofficial patches

Unsupported Patch 1.1 patches the North American retail release to version 1.1. Not required for any other version.

Skip intro videos

Instructions
Go to `<path-to-game>\movies`. Delete or rename `eidos.bik`.

Extra setup dialog options

Add DWORD value
Press `⊞ Win`+`R`. Type `regedit` and press `↵ Enter`. Go to `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Legacy of Kain: Defiance\1.00.000`. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and rename it to `ExtendedDialog`. Change its value data from `0` to `1`. Run the game and tick `Show devtech options` in the setup dialog.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Legacy of Kain - Defiance\ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Legacy of Kain: Defiance\1.00.000
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/224300/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

The config file is not in plain text format.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Legacy of Kain - Defiance\
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/224300/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

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

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		See Widescreen resolution
Ultra-widescreen		See Widescreen resolution
4K Ultra HD		See Widescreen resolution
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See Windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Enabled/disabled, no description of method.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Run `defiance.exe` with `-setup` command line argument and tick `Vertical Sync`
60 FPS
120+ FPS	Causes Kain's cloak and Raziel's wings to be glitchy, dialogues skipping at certain points, animations speed up and very complicated closing of the status menu. See Uncapped frame rate issue.
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

Widescreen fix^[2]

Download Widescreen fix by nemesis2000.
Extract sr3.7z files to the installation folder.
Edit sr3.ini to set the resolution.

Notes

Password: sr3

Supported exe size: 1 421 312 bytes

Windowed

Use DxWnd

Download and run DxWnd as administrator.
Click on Edit, then Add.
Set name to Legacy of Kain - Defiance.
Set path to <path-to-game>\defiance.exe.
Set Acquire admin caps.
Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed.
Click on DirectX tab, set DirectX9.
Click on Mouse tab, set Cursor visibility to Hide.
Click OK, then File and Save.
Run the game directly from DxWnd.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Uses DirectInput. XInput controllers may experience issues.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers

Generic/other controllers		Generic DirectInput controllers are supported.
Button prompts		Refers to the action and not the button tied to it.

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		Option to enable or disable.
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Has on/off options for sound and music
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Pauses when focus is lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Retail and GOG only. Patch for other digital releases here.
German				Retail and GOG only. Patch for other digital releases here.
Hungarian				Fan translation
Italian				Retail only. Download.
Brazilian Portuguese				Translation.
Spanish				Retail only. Download.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision		See Helix Mod: Legacy of Kain: Defiance
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues fixed

Uncapped frame rate issue

Limit the frame rate to 60 FPS^[3]

Enable VSync and set the refresh rate to 60Hz

Random crashes and freezes

Force CPU affinity to one core^[4]

Use DxWnd

Use the following configuration in DxWnd:

Under the Compat. tab, tick Set single core process affinity.

Low FPS when running from DxWnd

Running from DxWnd, the frame rate is often capped at 40 FPS.

Replace version of Binkw32.dll
Download the version 1.8w of the DLL here. Copy the DLL file to the game directory by overwriting the existing one.

Insert CD error

Error: "Please insert the original Legacy of Kain: Defiance disc and press OK to continue".

Modify DWORD value
Press `⊞ Win`+`R`. Type `regedit` and press `↵ Enter`. Go to: `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Legacy of Kain: Defiance` for x86. `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Crystal Dynamics\Legacy of Kain: Defiance` for x64. Open `FullInstall` and change its value data from `0` to `1`. Click OK.

Textures and backgrounds are missing

Run `defiance.exe` with `-setup` command line argument and tick `Compatibility mode`

Modify DWORD value
Press `⊞ Win`+`R`. Type `regedit` and press `↵ Enter`. Go to `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Legacy of Kain: Defiance\1.00.000`. Open `DisableVShader` and change its value data from `0` to `1`. Click OK.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0b

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98SE, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 700 MHz or Athlon equivalents	Intel Pentium IV 1.3 GHz or Athlon equivalents
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0b compatible	64 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0 compatible
Controller		DirectX compatible 10 button dual analog controller
Other	4X CD-ROM

Windows 95/NT is not supported

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 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>/224300/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (224300) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Legacy of kain defiance Wayback Machine [missing title] - last accessed on 2021-9-5
↑ Legacy of Kain: Defiance Widescreen HD Test #2 (PC) - last accessed on 9 June 2023
↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/224300/discussions/0/143388408894047200/ It's a FPS problem
↑ https://steamcommunity.com/app/224300/discussions/0/1700542332337209788/ Set affinity to CPU 0

[Proton_path_note-2] 1.0 ^1.1 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>/224300/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (224300) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[Nixxes-1] Legacy of kain defiance Wayback Machine [missing title] - last accessed on 2021-9-5

[3] Legacy of Kain: Defiance Widescreen HD Test #2 (PC) - last accessed on 9 June 2023

[4] ttps://steamcommunity.com/app/224300/discussions/0/143388408894047200/ It's a FPS problem

[5] ttps://steamcommunity.com/app/224300/discussions/0/1700542332337209788/ Set affinity to CPU 0

[1]

[Note 1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Developers

	Crystal Dynamics
Windows	Nixxes Software^[1]
Publishers
2003-2009	Eidos Interactive
2009-2023	Square Enix
2023-present	Crystal Dynamics
Retail re-release	Sold Out Software
Release dates
Windows	December 17, 2003
Reception
Metacritic	70
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Legacy of Kain