Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Developers
	Core Design
macOS (OS X)	Beenox Shift
Publishers
2003-2009	Eidos Interactive
2009-2023	Square Enix
2023-present	Crystal Dynamics
OS X	Aspyr Media
Release dates
Windows	June 20, 2003
macOS (OS X)	December 18, 2003
Reception
Metacritic	49
IGDB	62
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Adventure, Puzzle, TPS, Shooter
Series	Tomb Raider

Warnings

The Mac OS X version of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.

Key points

Missing several effects and smaller features from the PS2 version and also contains flipped texture issues not present on that version. See below for fixes to many of these issues.

For Windows 8 and later apply the fullscreen border fix and set Windows 7 compatibility mode to fix save loading.

General information

The Angel of Darkness at Tomb Raider Forums

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Retail		StarForce 5 DRM (Polish copies).
GOG.com
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam
Origin (unavailable)

Essential improvements

Patches

Latest build is v52. Use the link below to obtain the latest version. Digital versions are already patched.

Tomb Raider Multi Patch - Works with TR6 even though it only mentions TR2-5.

Individual Patches

In order of release:

• v42

• v49

• v52

Modpacks

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness Restoration Project (reborninshadow)

Massive modpack project aiming to refine story elements and gameplay. Restores unused dialogue and cut gameplay concepts, tweaks the notebook to fix plot holes and general inconsistencies, fixes various level textures and cutscene errors, and adds tutorials for moves the retail game never explains. Contains all of the mods that were packed into the now-unavailable TRAOD Rescued.

Mirror Link - https://www.nexusmods.com/tombraidervi/mods/14

Utilities

Reborninshadow's AOD Patcher - EXE patch utility that provides many fixes, balancing tweaks, control alterations and enhancements, and more. Support for v49 and v52. Can be used alongside Nakamichi's EXE Multi-Patcher below.

Nakamichi680's TRAOD EXE Multi-Patcher - EXE patch utility that provides many gameplay tweaks and restores certain features/effects to the game.

Startup Configuration Utility - Used to play FMVs, skip levels, enable debug menu and much more.

Skip intro videos

Apply the Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness intro skip

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Core Design\TombRaiderAngelOfDarkness\1.0\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/225020/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SaveGame\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/225020/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Origin
Steam Cloud

Video

External Video settings.

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			Selecting only overlay mixer in the launcher video settings helps scaling videos to the right aspect ratio
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen			Aspect ratio must be set independently of resolution in Monitor Aspect. Calculate by dividing horizontal resolution by vertical resolution, then round to two decimal places.
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		120/144 Hz shows up in settings but game is locked to 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Can't bind mouse wheel scrolling
Mouse acceleration		Camera turning speed is fixed, regardless of your mouse sensitivity and speed
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Controller can't skip initial "Press any key" screen
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		Right analogue stick doesn't work

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

DualShock 4 controllers
DualShock button prompts
Light bar support
Connection modes	unknown

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, SFX, Speech. A master volume setting can be found between the game registry keys
Surround sound
Subtitles		Can be disabled only inside debug menu. Change doesn't get saved.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Open menu if you want a mute background.
EAX support		EAX 3.0 Supports (and requires) EAX Unified. If options are unselectable, see Can't Enable EAX below under Issues Fixed.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				British English revamp
French				Retail only; download for digital versions
German				Retail and GOG.com only; download for Steam version
Hungarian				Fan translation by TombRaiderS, link #1, link #2.
Italian				Retail version only. Download.
Japanese				Retail version only.
Korean				Retail version only.
Polish				Retail only. Available to download from here or here.
Brazilian Portuguese				Retail only (DVD-ROM). Download/guide; Steam.
Russian				Not available in the Steam version.
Spanish				Retail version, download.
Turkish				Fan translation.

Issues fixed

Check Angel of Darkness FAQ

Crash on startup with "Generic Game Error ASSERTION: 'SUCCEEDED(hr)'"

Patch the game[citation needed]

Enable VMR9
Open game settings configuration tool Go to every tab corresponding to your graphics card and check the "VMR9" tick box under "Options".

Use fast Frame Rate compensation[citation needed]
Open game settings configuration tool Go to General tab and (if activated) set Frame Rate Compensation to Fast

Crash on startup with "GAME_ERROR_STRUCTURED_EXCEPTION_HANDLE"

Disable VMR9[citation needed]
Open game settings configuration tool Go to every tab corresponding to your graphics card and uncheck the "VMR9" tick box under "Options".

Can't load saves

Saves can't be loaded on Windows 8 and later without some adjustments.

Apply necessary changes
Right-click Launcher.exe in the installation folder and choose Properties. Go to the Compatibility tab and set the compatibility mode to Windows 7. Run the launcher and choose Settings. Go to the tab for your video card and enable VMR9 under FMV. Click OK to save your settings. Run the game normally.

Very low FPS

Disable camera and character reflection update[citation needed]
In the game's settings dialog, navigate to the tab corresponding to your graphics card, then go down in the "Cubemaps Reflections" box and set Camera and Character update to Occasional (If there's more than one tab corresponding to your graphics card, i.e. if you have a multi-monitor setup, do this for each tab that is "Enabled".)

Can't enable EAX

On Windows Vista and later, EAX is unselectable due to the removal of DirectSound3D. Re-enabling requires either older hardware with a dedicated Creative sound card, or emulation.

Install the following

Install EAX Unified drivers. Install OpenAL (Second archive option - "Windows Installer") - May already be installed on your system. If not, be sure to install it, or the step below will not work. Install DSOAL (Download "dsoal-latest.7z") - Extract contents to your Bin folder in the game installation directory, which is where the exe files are. So, look for where TRAOD.exe, P3, P4, etc are located, then install dsound.dll, dsoal-aldrv.dll, and alsoft.ini there. (Optional) If dsound.dll is unable to be detected by the game, follow the instructions here to register dsound.dll. This only needs to be done once, and will allow it to work for other games that utilize it. This is a universal fix, meaning it will work with any combination of hardware. You do not need a dedicated sound card for it to work, and the sound will be indistinguishable from hardware-enabled EAX.

Lara's and Kurtis's hair clip

Press F10. Or for a permanent fix, in the Launcher, go to Settings > General and uncheck "Multi Threaded".

VR support

3D modes	Native	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

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

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Input	DirectInput

Graphics options

The graphics settings in TR:AoD are complex with nondescript names, giving little indication of how they will actually look in-game. Maverin at Tomb Raider Forums has compiled the list below which contains the most optimal settings.

1. To start, open the AoD launcher.

2. Go to Settings.

3. Under the General tab, uncheck Multi Threaded.

4. Go to the tab with the name of your graphics card. Adjust the settings as listed below.

Screen Format: 32 Bit X8R8G8B8 32 bit A8R8G8B8
Screen Res: Set according to your maximum screen resolution. The game can only be played in fullscreen.
Colour Depth: 32 bit Depth D24S8 (Note: If player characters flicker or have black splotches, change it to one of the other two options.)
Render Type: Shader Hardware
Monitor Aspect: Set this based on the table below according to your monitor's aspect ratio.

Aspect Ratio	Value
4:3	1.33
16:10	1.6
16:9	1.77
21:9	2.35
32:9	3.5

Gamma - Lower the slider to slightly below the halfway point.

Options - Check all available boxes. Regarding VMR9, it can lead to crashes at startup depending on your system.

- Crash on startup with "Generic Game Error ASSERTION: 'SUCCEEDED(hr)" : Enable VMR9.
- Crash on startup with "GAME_ERROR_STRUCTURED_EXCEPTION_HANDLE" : Disable VMR9.

Textures:

Filter Room: Anisotropic
Filter Objects: Anisotropic
Filter Env: Anisotropic
Filter Actors: Anisotropic
Filter Bump: Anisotropic
Quality Room: High 
Quality Actors: High
Format RGB: 32 bit A8R8G8B8
Format ARGB: 32 bit A8R8G8B8

Render Targets - Check all available boxes.

Texture1: 32 Bit A8R8G8B8 
Texture2: 32 Bit A8R8G8B8
Depth: 32 Bit Depth D24S8 Shadows

Reflections and Refractions - Check all available boxes.

Texture: 32 Bit A8R8G8B8
Depth: 32 Bit Depth D24S8 Shadows

Cubemaps Reflections - Check both boxes. In the dropdown menu next to the boxes, select the highest number shown.

Texture: 32 Bit A8R8G8B8
Depth: 32 Bit Depth D24X8 Shadows
Camera Update: All 
Character Update: All
Character Quality: High

Projected Shadows - Uncheck User Clip Planes. Check nVidia Shadows, even if not using nVidia graphics card. Uncheck Pixel Shader 2.0 Shadows. In the dropdown menu next to nVidia Shadows, select the highest number shown.

Format: 32 Bit A8R8G8B8
Depth: 32 Bit Depth D24S8

System requirements

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98SE, Me, 2000, XP	XP, Vista, 7 (Steam)
Processor (CPU)	500 MHz (1.5 GHz if graphics card does not support T&L)	1.5 GHz (and graphics card with T&L) 1.8 GHz (Steam)
System memory (RAM)	128 MB	256 MB 512 MB (Steam)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	300 MB (minimum installation)	1.5 GB (complete installation) 2 GB (Steam)
Video card (GPU)	16 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9 compatible device	EAX 3.0 compatible device like SoundBlaster Audigy

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.2.6
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC 74xx PowerPC G4
System memory (RAM)	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Other	2x CD-ROM drive