Alone in the Dark

For the 2008 sequel, see Alone in the Dark (2008).

Alone in the Dark
Alone in the Dark	1992
Jack in the Dark	1993
Alone in the Dark 2	1993
Alone in the Dark 3	1994
Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare	2001
Alone in the Dark (2008)	2008
Alone in the Dark: Illumination	2015
Alone in the Dark (2024)	2024

Key points

Use DOSBox to run on modern systems.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Floppy disk version.
GamersGate		Sold as part of the Alone in the Dark Anthology.
		Sold as part of the Alone in the Dark Anthology.
GOG.com		Includes Alone in the Dark 2 and Alone in the Dark 3. Pre-packaged with DOSBox.^[3]
Green Man Gaming		Sold as part of the Alone in the Dark Anthology.
Humble Store		Sold as part of the Alone in the Dark Anthology.
Steam

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
DOS
Windows	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 1]}
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/548090/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
DOS	<path-to-game>\SAVE*.ITD
Windows	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 1]}
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)	<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/548090/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

File names: SAVE0.ITD, SAVE1.ITD etc.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		320x200 only, see the DOSBox page for more information.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		For DOSBox toggle with `Alt`+`↵ Enter` (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		3D objects are untextured.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS		70 FPS lock.^[4]
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).

Audio

In-game options.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound Effects and Music; on/off only.
Surround sound
Subtitles		Subtitles cannot be disabled. Does not apply to all dialogue.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		For DOSBox change the `priority` background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				French audio only in retail CD version
German
Hungarian				Fan Translation, download.
Italian
Brazilian Portuguese				Retail only.
Russian				Fan translation by «Бюро переводов Old-Games.RU», download.
Spanish				For Steam release follow this guide.

Issues fixed

If you haven't found a fix, check our DOSBox page for solutions.

Error when starting the game

If an error doesn't let you into the game change the DOSBox output mode to something else.

The game is too slow/fast

Just press Ctrl+F11 to slow down or Ctrl+F12 to speed up in DOSBox.

When the CPU cycle speed is too high in DOSBox, initiating running (by double tapping the corresponding key) can be difficult due to an overly short window between key presses.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DOS video modes	MCGA

Installer/configuration tool landing page
Installer options
Hardware settings
Language selection

DOSBox configuration file

The following file is taken a fresh GOG.com installation and may help with determining optimal settings when running the retail version in DOSBox. Click [Expand] to view.

dosboxAlone3.conf

# This is the configuration file for DOSBox 0.74-2. (Please use the latest version of DOSBox)
# Lines starting with a # are comment lines and are ignored by DOSBox.
# They are used to (briefly) document the effect of each option.

[sdl]
#       fullscreen: Start DOSBox directly in fullscreen. (Press ALT-Enter to go back)
#       fulldouble: Use double buffering in fullscreen. It can reduce screen flickering, but it can also result in a slow DOSBox.
#   fullresolution: What resolution to use for fullscreen: original, desktop or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
#                     Using your monitor's native resolution (desktop) with aspect=true might give the best results.
#                     If you end up with small window on a large screen, try an output different from surface.
#                     On Windows 10 with display scaling (Scale and layout) set to a value above 100%, it is recommended
#                     to use a lower full/windowresolution, in order to avoid window size problems.
# windowresolution: Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
#                     (output=surface does not!)
#           output: What video system to use for output.
#                   Possible values: surface, overlay, opengl, openglnb, ddraw.
#         autolock: Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen. (Press CTRL-F10 to unlock)
#      sensitivity: Mouse sensitivity.
#      waitonerror: Wait before closing the console if DOSBox has an error.
#         priority: Priority levels for dosbox. Second entry behind the comma is for when DOSBox is not focused/minimized.
#                     pause is only valid for the second entry.
#                   Possible values: lowest, lower, normal, higher, highest, pause.
#       mapperfile: File used to load/save the key/event mappings from. Resetmapper only works with the defaul value.
#     usescancodes: Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=desktop
windowresolution=original
output=overlay
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper-0.74-2.map
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language: Select another language file.
#  machine: The type of machine DOSBox tries to emulate.
#           Possible values: hercules, cga, tandy, pcjr, ega, vgaonly, svga_s3, svga_et3000, svga_et4000, svga_paradise, vesa_nolfb, vesa_oldvbe.
# captures: Directory where things like wave, midi, screenshot get captured.
#  memsize: Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.
#             This value is best left at its default to avoid problems with some games,
#             though few games might require a higher value.
#             There is generally no speed advantage when raising this value.

language=
machine=svga_s3
captures=capture
memsize=30

[render]
# frameskip: How many frames DOSBox skips before drawing one.
#    aspect: Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!
#    scaler: Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes. If 'forced' is appended,
#              then the scaler will be used even if the result might not be desired.
#              To fit a scaler in the resolution used at full screen may require a border or side bars,
#              to fill the screen entirely, depending on your hardware, a different scaler/fullresolution might work.
#            Possible values: none, normal2x, normal3x, advmame2x, advmame3x, advinterp2x, advinterp3x, hq2x, hq3x, 2xsai, super2xsai, supereagle, tv2x, tv3x, rgb2x, rgb3x, scan2x, scan3x.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
#      core: CPU Core used in emulation. auto will switch to dynamic if available and
#            appropriate.
#            Possible values: auto, dynamic, normal, simple.
#   cputype: CPU Type used in emulation. auto is the fastest choice.
#            Possible values: auto, 386, 386_slow, 486_slow, pentium_slow, 386_prefetch.
#    cycles: Amount of instructions DOSBox tries to emulate each millisecond.
#            Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.
#            Cycles can be set in 3 ways:
#              'auto'          tries to guess what a game needs.
#                              It usually works, but can fail for certain games.
#              'fixed #number' will set a fixed amount of cycles. This is what you usually
#                              need if 'auto' fails. (Example: fixed 4000).
#              'max'           will allocate as much cycles as your computer is able to
#                              handle.
#            Possible values: auto, fixed, max.
#   cycleup: Amount of cycles to decrease/increase with keycombos.(CTRL-F11/CTRL-F12)
# cycledown: Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=simple
cputype=pentium_slow
cycles=11000
cycleup=1000
cycledown=1000

[mixer]
#   nosound: Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
#      rate: Mixer sample rate, setting any device's rate higher than this will probably lower their sound quality.
#            Possible values: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716.
# blocksize: Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering but sound will also be more lagged.
#            Possible values: 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 512, 256.
# prebuffer: How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=44100
blocksize=1024
prebuffer=25

[midi]
#     mpu401: Type of MPU-401 to emulate.
#             Possible values: intelligent, uart, none.
# mididevice: Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
#             Possible values: default, win32, alsa, oss, coreaudio, coremidi, none.
# midiconfig: Special configuration options for the device driver. This is usually the id of the device you want to use
#               (find the id with mixer/listmidi).
#               Or in the case of coreaudio, you can specify a soundfont here.
#               See the README/Manual for more details.

mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=default
midiconfig=

[sblaster]
#  sbtype: Type of Soundblaster to emulate. gb is Gameblaster.
#          Possible values: sb1, sb2, sbpro1, sbpro2, sb16, gb, none.
#  sbbase: The IO address of the soundblaster.
#          Possible values: 220, 240, 260, 280, 2a0, 2c0, 2e0, 300.
#     irq: The IRQ number of the soundblaster.
#          Possible values: 7, 5, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12.
#     dma: The DMA number of the soundblaster.
#          Possible values: 1, 5, 0, 3, 6, 7.
#    hdma: The High DMA number of the soundblaster.
#          Possible values: 1, 5, 0, 3, 6, 7.
# sbmixer: Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the DOSBox mixer.
# oplmode: Type of OPL emulation. On 'auto' the mode is determined by sblaster type. All OPL modes are Adlib-compatible, except for 'cms'.
#          Possible values: auto, cms, opl2, dualopl2, opl3, none.
#  oplemu: Provider for the OPL emulation. compat might provide better quality (see oplrate as well).
#          Possible values: default, compat, fast.
# oplrate: Sample rate of OPL music emulation. Use 49716 for highest quality (set the mixer rate accordingly).
#          Possible values: 44100, 49716, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
sbmixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplemu=default
oplrate=44100

[gus]
#      gus: Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
#  gusrate: Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
#           Possible values: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716.
#  gusbase: The IO base address of the Gravis Ultrasound.
#           Possible values: 240, 220, 260, 280, 2a0, 2c0, 2e0, 300.
#   gusirq: The IRQ number of the Gravis Ultrasound.
#           Possible values: 5, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12.
#   gusdma: The DMA channel of the Gravis Ultrasound.
#           Possible values: 3, 0, 1, 5, 6, 7.
# ultradir: Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
#           there should be a MIDI directory that contains
#           the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
#           with Timidity should work fine.

gus=false
gusrate=44100
gusbase=240
gusirq=5
gusdma=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker: Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
#    pcrate: Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
#            Possible values: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716.
#     tandy: Enable Tandy Sound System emulation. For 'auto', emulation is present only if machine is set to 'tandy'.
#            Possible values: auto, on, off.
# tandyrate: Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
#            Possible values: 44100, 48000, 32000, 22050, 16000, 11025, 8000, 49716.
#    disney: Enable Disney Sound Source emulation. (Covox Voice Master and Speech Thing compatible).

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=44100
tandy=auto
tandyrate=44100
disney=true

[joystick]
# joysticktype: Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
#               2axis (supports two joysticks),
#               4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),
#               4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),
#               fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
#               none disables joystick emulation.
#               auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
#               (Remember to reset dosbox's mapperfile if you saved it earlier)
#               Possible values: auto, 2axis, 4axis, 4axis_2, fcs, ch, none.
#        timed: enable timed intervals for axis. Experiment with this option, if your joystick drifts (away).
#     autofire: continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.
#       swap34: swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. Can be useful for certain joysticks.
#   buttonwrap: enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
# serial1: set type of device connected to com port.
#          Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
#          Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
#          parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq (optional).
#          for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
#                           (realport:COM1 realport:ttyS0).
#          for modem: listenport (optional).
#          for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,
#                         transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).
#          Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000
#          Possible values: dummy, disabled, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# serial2: see serial1
#          Possible values: dummy, disabled, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# serial3: see serial1
#          Possible values: dummy, disabled, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# serial4: see serial1
#          Possible values: dummy, disabled, modem, nullmodem, directserial.

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
#            xms: Enable XMS support.
#            ems: Enable EMS support.
#            umb: Enable UMB support.
# keyboardlayout: Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=auto

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
@echo off
mount C ".."
mount C "..\cloud_saves" -t overlay
imgmount D "..\GAME.INS" -t iso
c:
goto launcher

:launcher
cls
ECHO �[1;33m�[42mÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
ECHO º --------------------------------------- º
ECHO º Alone in the Dark Launcher              º
ECHO º --------------------------------------- º
ECHO º  1) Alone in the Dark                   º
ECHO º  2) Jack in the Dark                    º
ECHO º  3) AitD DOS Settings (inc. Language)   º
ECHO º  4) JitD DOS Settings (inc. Language)   º
ECHO º --------------------------------------- º
ECHO º  5) exit program                        º
ECHO º --------------------------------------- º
ECHO ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ¼�[0m

choice /c12345 /s Which program do you want to run? [1-5]: /n 
if errorlevel 5 goto exit
if errorlevel 4 goto jsetup
if errorlevel 3 goto asetup
if errorlevel 2 goto jack
if errorlevel 1 goto alone

:alone
cls
CD INDARK
INDARK
goto exit

:jack
cls
CD JACK
indark2 16 1
cleardrv >NUL
goto exit

:asetup
cls
CD INDARK
INSTALL
cd ".."
goto launcher

:jsetup
cls
CD JACK
INSTALL
cd ".."
goto launcher

:exit
exit

System requirements

DOS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)		Windows 3.0
Processor (CPU)	IBM PC AT or 100% compatible at 16 MHz
System memory (RAM)	640 KB (580 KB free) 128 KB EMS (Expanded Memory Specification)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 MB
Video card (GPU)	VGA
Sound (audio device)		Sound Blaster, Disney Sound Source, Ad Lib
Other	CD-ROM drive with sound output MSCDEX 2.2

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP
Processor (CPU)	1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 7 compatible	DirectX 9 compatible

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.6.8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core Duo 2 GHz	Intel Core Duo 2 GHz+
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	64 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data. For the GOG.com release, file changes in DOSBox are redirected to <path-to-game>/cloud_saves/ even if GOG Galaxy is not used (this folder contains all redirected files, so some files in the cloud_saves folder might be temporary files or other files that do not contain saves or settings).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 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>/548090/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (548090) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ New release: Alone in the Dark - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023
↑ November Mac Game Update: 12 new additions - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023
↑ List of GOG games using DOSBox, page 1 - Forum - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Verified by User:Cptmold on 2019-06-27
Tested using DOSBox 0.74-2 with OpenGL and MSi Afterburner/RTSS.

[DOSBox_mounted-4] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data. For the GOG.com release, file changes in DOSBox are redirected to <path-to-game>/cloud_saves/ even if GOG Galaxy is not used (this folder contains all redirected files, so some files in the cloud_saves folder might be temporary files or other files that do not contain saves or settings).

[Proton_path_note-5] 2.0 ^2.1 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>/548090/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (548090) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] New release: Alone in the Dark - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023

[2] November Mac Game Update: 12 new additions - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023

[3] List of GOG games using DOSBox, page 1 - Forum - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023

[6] Verified by User:Cptmold on 2019-06-27
Tested using DOSBox 0.74-2 with OpenGL and MSi Afterburner/RTSS.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[4]

Developers

	Infogrames
Publishers
1992-2003	Infogrames
Retail (North America)	Interplay Entertainment
2003-2018	Atari
2018-present	THQ Nordic
Release dates
DOS	1992
Mac OS (Classic)	1994
Windows (DOSBox)	April 14, 2011^[1]
macOS (OS X) (DOSBox)	November 29, 2012^[2]
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Series	Alone in the Dark