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The Settlers IV

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games

This page is for the original game. For the 2018 re-release, see The Settlers IV - History Edition.

The Settlers IV
The Settlers IV cover
Developers
Blue Byte Software
Publishers
Early prints Blue Byte Software
Ubisoft
Release dates
Windows February 15, 2001
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls Point and select, Multiple select
Genres Building, RTS
Art styles Cartoon
Themes Classical, Fantasy, Pre-Columbian Americas
Series The Settlers
The Settlers IV on HowLongToBeat
The Settlers IV on MobyGames
The Settlers IV on Wikipedia
The Settlers 1994
The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici 1996
The Settlers III 1998
The Settlers IV 2001
The Settlers: Heritage of Kings 2004
The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary 2006
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire 2007
The Settlers: Rise of Cultures 2008
The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom 2010
The Settlers Online 2012
The Settlers - History Edition 2018
The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici - History Edition 2018
The Settlers III: History Edition 2018
The Settlers IV - History Edition 2018
The Settlers: Heritage of Kings - History Edition 2018
The Settlers: Rise of an Empire - History Edition 2018
The Settlers 7: History Edition 2018
The Settlers: New Allies 2023

The Settlers IV is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view and isometric building and RTS game in the The Settlers series.

The game has compatibility issues with Windows 10 systems and needs a workaround to run.[1] See Issues fixed.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SafeDisc v2 DRM[Note 1]
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Gold Edition.
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Version differences

The Gold Edition includes the base game, the Mission CD, and The Trojans and the Elixir of Power expansion pack.
The Gold Edition Plus was only ever released in the German-speaking market. Aside from all the content of the Gold Edition, it includes Die Neue Welt expansion pack.

Monetization

Type Notes
Expansion pack The expansion packs includes new campaigns and maps. The Trojans and the Elixir of Power includes a new faction, and Die Neue Welt an exclusive terrain type.
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Mission CD
Windows
The Trojans and the Elixir of Power
Windows
Die Neue Welt Available only in German language before the release of History Edition
Windows
Community Pack: Historische Schlachten Available only in German language before the release of History Edition
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

2.50.1516a is the latest retail patch. Applies to all language versions. This patch does not remove the CD protection.
Widescreen Fix adds support for FHD, 4k and custom resolutions.

Skip intro videos

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Video
  2. Delete or rename BB_logo.bik, S4.bik and UbiSoft_Logo.bik.

Skip all videos

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Open <path-to-game>\Config\Video.cfg config file with any text editor
  2. Set ShowVideos to 0

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Config\GameSettings.cfg[Note 2]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Save\[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

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
Controller types

Audio

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
Retail only.
German
Retail only; download for digital release.
Polish
Russian
Unofficial translation by 7 Wolf

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
8
Online play
8 The official multiplayer service has been shut down.

Connection types

Issues unresolved

Retail version compatibility problems

Many bugs, glitches and crashes in every OS higher than Windows XP. Only the GOG.com version has better support.[citation needed]

Fatal error: Exception 0xc0000005 at 0x00468bd0!

Occurs if something went wrong while using trading routes via ship (but not limited to this). It's a bug in the game itself.[4]

Desynchronization issues

Multiplayer matches tend to end up desynchronized after a while even with stable connections. This is a known issue that has never been addressed.

Issues fixed

"Error initializing Graphic Interface" error (Or black screen / Game not starting)

Use Windows 10 patch (DXwrapper)[1]
  1. Download The Settlers IV Windows 10 patch.
  2. Unzip the main fix to the installation folder.
  3. Unzip the editor fix to The Settlers IV 'Editor' folder.
You can also use Widescreen Fix which includes a ddraw.dll wrapper, which also fixes this issue.

Music stops when playing as Mayans

When playing as Mayans, the music stops playing after a fight. This is a known bug that has never been fixed officially. A manual workaround is moving the in-game Sound FX slider under Settings > Sound settings to restart the music.
A permanent fix can be found here.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DirectDraw 7
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System 6.1c[5]
Cutscenes Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 95 OSR2, 98, 2000, ME, NT 4.0
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium MMX 200 MHz
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 250 MB
Video card (GPU) Resolution of at least 800x600
4 MB of VRAM
DirectX 7 compatible


Notes

  1. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[2] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[3]
  2. 2.0 2.1 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).

References