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The Thing

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games

This page is for the 2002 game based on the John Carpenter film of the same name. For the unrelated 1988 game, see The Thing (1988).

The Thing
The Thing cover
Developers
Computer Artworks
Publishers
Vivendi Universal Games
Retail re-release Sold Out Software
Release dates
Windows August 20, 2002
Reception
Metacritic 77
IGDB 69
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Art styles Realistic
Themes Antarctica, Horror
The Thing on IGDB
The Thing on MobyGames
The Thing on Wikipedia

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SecuROM 4 DRM.
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

Patch 1.2 adds mouse look (enable in options under advanced controls).

Bump mapping

Enabling bump mapping
  1. Download and extract Sui's Wrapper to <path-to-game>\bin directory.
  2. Edit d3d8.ini with a text editor and make sure BumpMapping is set to 1.
  3. Download bump maps and extract them to <path-to-game>\data\textures.

Notes

Patch 1.2 is required.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Computer Artworks\The Thing\1.0\

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\bin\[Note 1]

Video

Game settings.
Game settings.
Audio and video settings.
Audio and video settings.
Key mappings screen.
Key mappings screen.
Advanced controls (enable mouse look here).
Advanced controls (enable mouse look here).

Widescreen resolution

Enabling widescreen resolution
  1. Download and extract Sui's Wrapper to <path-to-game>\bin\ directory.
  2. Edit d3d8.ini with a text editor and change Width and Height to your desired resolution.

Input

Audio

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

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
Fan translation. link #1 or link #2
French
German
Spanish

Issues fixed

White screen, no intro movie error

Missing data paths will result in a white and black screen when starting the game or broken menu graphics.
Reinstall the game
Or add the necessary paths to the registry by hand:
  1. Copy the following code block to a text editor
  2. Save as a .reg file and run (merge) it
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Computer Artworks\The Thing\1.0]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Computer Artworks\The Thing\1.0]
"RESOURCEDIR"="c:\\thething\\data;c:\\thething\\data\\mainui.pak"
Edit the paths accordingly if the game is not installed to C:\thething.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
G3D
User created game profile(s), (DGVoodoo2 2.54/D3D8to9), see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio DirectSound3D

Enabling cheats

Cheats are enabled in the registry:
  1. Copy the following code block to a text editor
  2. Save as a .reg file and run (merge) it
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Computer Artworks\The Thing\1.0]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Computer Artworks\The Thing\1.0]
"PlayerInvulnerable"="1"
"NPCInvulnerable"="1"
"FullWeaponEquip"="1"
"Fullammo"="1"
These parameters are included in d3d8.ini that comes with Sui's Wrapper

Modifications

These mods are made by the community to enhance the visuals and gameplay with modern improvements.

MadMaxGamer's AI Upscaled Textures - HD textures made from AI upscaling the original textures

System requirements

Windows[1]
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 98, 2000, ME
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium II 400 MHz
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 600 MB
Video card (GPU) 3D Accelerator Required
8 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8 compatible
Other 4X CD-ROM


Notes

  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

  1. The Thing for Windows (2002) Tech Info - MobyGames - last accessed on November 30, 2016