Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare

Developers
	Darkworks
Windows	Spiral House
Publishers
2001-2003	Infogrames
2003-2018	Atari
2018-present	THQ Nordic
Retail (Japan)	CyberFront
Retail (Russia)	Akella
Retail re-release	Sold Out Software
Engines
	Shadow Engine
Release dates
Windows	June 22, 2001
Reception
Metacritic	66
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Third-person
Genres	Action, Puzzle
Themes	Lovecraftian, Horror
Series	Alone in the Dark

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

Unplayable under Windows 10 due to serious graphical glitches. See Issues fixed.
The GOG.com version has been fixed since early October 2018.

Music is very poorly converted from the Dreamcast version.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Russian versions have a simple disc check. All other versions are DRM-free.
GamersGate
GOG.com		Windows 10 problems fixed
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Steam		See Game launcher does not work (Steam version)

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Spiral House\launch\Data
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/259190/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\_Alone4_.000.sav
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/259190/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Launcher

Only two graphics options are available. Resolution can be set manually and a High Quality mode can be enabled; greatly improving shadow quality.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		4:3 aspect ratio only. Selecting a 16:9 resolution will only stretch the image. Select a 4:3 resolution to see the correct aspect ratio displayed.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD		4k resolutions can be selected, but it will be a stretched 4:3 image.
Field of view (FOV)		Backgrounds are pre-rendered; no camera controls are available.
Windowed		Run alone4.exe with -windowed x=custom y=custom command line argument. Replace "custom" with any value (e.g. -windowed x=800 y=600).
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		VSync does not work on Windows 10
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Causes errors during gameplay. See High FPS Issues.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

In-game input settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Mouse buttons cannot be bound to commands
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Mouse buttons work but no cursor is visible while in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Game does not use the mouse for gameplay
Controller
Controller support		"Action/Fire" will also confirm menu options, while "Run" will work as a back button in menus.
Full controller support		Pause cannot be bound to a controller
Controller remapping		By default, all buttons are unbound. Options allow for one keyboard binding and one controller binding.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		"Tank controls" with fixed camera angles. Aiming cannot be inverted.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		Triggers, thumbstick clicks and D-pad inputs are not detected.
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers

Generic/other controllers

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

Audio

In-game general settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, SFX and Dialogue.
Surround sound		Stereo & mono options
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Retail and GOG.com only.
German				Retail only; download for digital releases.
Italian				Retail only; download for digital releases.
Japanese				Retail only.
Polish				Retail only; download for digital releases. FMVs are subtitled.
Brazilian Portuguese				Retail only; download for digital releases.
Russian				Local retail only; download for digital releases.
Spanish				Retail and GOG.com only; download for Steam release.

Issues unresolved

Cheat mode and resolution settings

Running the game in cheat mode does not allow to save the resolution set through the launcher.

Issues fixed

Serious graphical issues on Windows 10

White block in the menu screen and blue characters models on white background.

Fix graphical issues
Download these files. Replace the original alone4.exe with the executable file of the Spanish GOG.com version. Copy LOC_##.COK to the Provider folder and rename it to Locale (don't forget to delete the ".COK" extension).

Alternative solution for any Windows version

Fix graphical issues with bonus
Download patch with integrated 10 / 15 save slots for the russian version. Download patch with integrated 10 / 15 save slots for the english version. Copy the contents from any ZIP file to the game directory. Renaming is not necessary. Notes This fix is based on the english demo version.

Black screen when movies are played

May occur if the option High Quality is enabled.

Run as administrator
Set launch.exe and alone4.exe to run as administrator. Set alone4.exe to run in compatibility for Windows 2000.

Game launcher does not work (Steam version)

The game launcher does not work in the Steam version, preventing you to set any resolution other than the default one (640x480).

The following is a corrected version of the game launcher for Steam. It also comes bundled with a partial fix for the game not running on Windows 8 or 10, as well as higher quality movies ripped from the Dreamcast version.

Use unofficial fix
Download Alone In The Dark TNN Fixes & Cutscenes. Delete the movies folder in the installation folder. Copy the contents from the archive to the installation folder and overwrite files when prompted. Run the game directly through launch.exe instead of running it through Steam.

High FPS Issues

Limit the frame rate to 60 FPS[citation needed]

Set the refresh rate to 60Hz

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
OpenGL	1.1

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	6.0h
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.0x

Activate cheat mode

Instructions
Run alone4.exe with -wizardmaster command line argument. The cheat menu will be visible in the inventory.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95 OSR2	98, ME, 2000
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 300 MHz AMD K6-2 300 MHz	Intel Pentium III 600 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	400 MB	500 MB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia RIVA TNT ATI Rage Pro 8 MB of VRAM DirectX 8.0 compatible	16 MB of VRAM

The game is not compatible with the Savage 4, 4 Pro +, Savage Rage II C, SIS 6326, Permedia 3, Riva 128ZX chipsets