Stronghold Crusader

Stronghold Crusader

Developers
	Firefly Studios
Publishers
	Take-Two Interactive
	Gathering of Developers
Release dates
Windows	July 31, 2002
macOS (OS X)	July 31, 2002
Reception
Metacritic	78
IGDB	80

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Stronghold

Stronghold (2001)	2001
Stronghold Crusader	2002
Stronghold 2	2005
Stronghold Legends	2006
Stronghold Crusader Extreme	2008
Stronghold 3	2011
Stronghold Kingdoms	2012
Stronghold Crusader 2	2014
Stronghold: Warlords	2020

General information

Official game page

Official Firefly Studios game page

Official forums

Stronghold Wiki

Stronghold Heaven - A fan site for the game

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v2 DRM.
Amazon.com		Stronghold Crusader HD.
GOG.com		Stronghold Crusader HD. Comes bundled with the original retail release.
Green Man Gaming		Stronghold Crusader HD
Humble Store		Stronghold Crusader HD
Steam		Stronghold Crusader HD

SafeDisc retail DRM no longer functions properly on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

All versions can be upgraded to Stronghold Crusader HD for free with the HD patch (adds widescreen support, higher quality graphics, and various other additions).

Essential improvements

Official content

All downloads for the game (patches, demos, etc.) can be found on the developer's official download page.

HD patch

This official patch will upgrade a retail copy of Stronghold Crusader to Stronghold Crusader HD.

It can be downloaded here.

Skip intro video

Delete/move/rename video file Go to <path-to-game>\binks. Delete, move or rename intro.bik.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Stronghold Crusader\crusader.cfg
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/40970/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Stronghold Crusader\Saves\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/40970/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings (HD version).

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Resolutions up to 2560x1600. For the original release install the HD patch.
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
120+ FPS

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		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Audio

Audio settings (HD version).

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, FX, Speech.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Polish
Spanish

VR support

3D modes	Native	Notes
vorpX		2D 2D with DGVoodoo2, no vorpx profile required for 2D.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play		8	Co-op, Versus
Online play		8	Co-op, Versus GameSpy services have been shut down; see GameSpy for workarounds.
Asynchronous multiplayer

Connection types

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

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	2300-2400, 47624
UDP	2300-2400

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

Game fails to launch on Windows 10

Install DirectPlay Open Control Panel Click on Programs Under Programs and Features, click on Turn Windows Features On or Off Wait for the list to load, then scroll down to Legacy Components Expand Legacy Components and you should see an item come up called DirectPlay check the box next to DirectPlay

Missing tactical powers on 1360x768 (Extreme)

The tactical powers bar is not displayed while playing on 1360x768.

Change the resolution Set a lower resolution before starting the mission. Change to 1360x768 during the mission. Notes The steps must be repeated for each mission.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	7
OpenGL		OS X only.

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	6.1c
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.2h
Multiplayer	GameSpy

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2000	XP, Vista, 7, 8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 500 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	850 MB
Video card (GPU)	4 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.1 compatible	DirectX 9.0c compatible