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Anachronox

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Anachronox
Anachronox cover
Developers
Ion Storm
Publishers
2001-2009 Eidos Interactive
2009-present Square Enix
Retail (Australia) Infogrames
Retail re-release Sold Out Software
Engines
id Tech 2
Release dates
Windows June 27, 2001
Reception
Metacritic 77
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time, Turn-based
Perspectives Third-person
Genres RPG, JRPG
Themes Cyberpunk, Sci-fi
Anachronox on HowLongToBeat
Anachronox on IGDB
Anachronox guide on StrategyWiki
Anachronox on MobyGames
Anachronox on Wikipedia

Anachronox is a singleplayer third-person RPG and JRPG game.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
SafeDisc DRM[Note 1].[3]
Windows
Amazon.com
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Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Windows
Green Man Gaming
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Windows
Humble Store
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Windows
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
Can be played without Steam running.[4]
Windows
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Demo

A demo can be downloaded on Mod DB.

Essential improvements

Patches

Unofficial patches

These patches are only needed for retail versions; the GOG.com and Steam versions are already patched.
Fixes several issues and improves some areas of the game. Digital versions of the game already include this patch.
Build 44 to Build 45
The first patch has to be installed beforehand, following the second patch. Digital versions of the game already include this patch.
Fixes multiple issues with the game.
Alternate download link
Build 45 to Build 46
Fixes even more issues with the game. Digital versions of the game already include this patch.
Alternate download link

Mods

Widescreen fix

Includes premade files for common widescreen resolutions, as well as a patcher for custom resolutions.
Breaks the Hive Ship section of the game. Make backups of the original anox.exe and ref_gl.dll before replacing them, so the original files can be used during that section.

Graphical Enhancements (Restores broken effects)

Fixes broken partial transparency effects, restores 3D signs at Bricks and fixes music overlapping in some cutscenes (See Sounds and Fixes)
A version including AI (ESRGAN) upscaled textures is also available.
For compatibility with Sounds and Fixes mod, don't copy over the contents of the scripts folder.

Sounds and fixes

Restores sounds for objects missing them due to bugs.
Also adds sounds to cutscenes where relevant to help them not feel as empty when things happen in them (using sounds found in the game files).
Install after Graphical Enhancements as this mod already fixes the said music overlap issues.

Game data

Official setup utility.
Official setup utility.
Launcher and setup utility for unofficial patches.
Launcher and setup utility for unofficial patches.
General in-game settings.
General in-game settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\anoxdata\CONFIGS\[Note 2]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/242940/pfx/[Note 3]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\anoxdata\SAVE\[Note 2]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/242940/pfx/[Note 3]
9 save slots available.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.
Video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
See the WSGF Anachronox files.
Multi-monitor
See the WSGF Anachronox files.
Ultra-widescreen
See the WSGF Anachronox files.
4K Ultra HD
See the WSGF Anachronox files.
Field of view (FOV)
Option called "camera distance" available in the in-game options.
Windowed
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)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Frame rate is capped at 125 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Arrow keys can be used for movement without needing to be bound. Many commands cannot be rebound.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
From the settings menu in game only
Controller
Controller support

Audio

Audio settings.
Audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Ambient, interface, cinematic and music.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 1.0[5]

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
French
German
Fan translation, [11].
Italian
Fan translation, download.
Russian
Fan translation, download.
Spanish
Fan translation by Clan Dlan (authors: Memnoch, darkpadawan, L@Zar0), download.

Issues unresolved

3D sound on modern systems

3D sound is unsupported on modern systems. As the in-game implementation is quite buggy and causes crashes even on systems with 3D sound support, the feature has been removed from the GOG and Steam versions.

Issues fixed

Couldn't load renderer

Install DirectX 9.0c end-user runtimes[citation needed]
Install nGlide[citation needed]

Install the nGlide wrapper.

Low frame rate / stuttering

Set Threaded Optimization to Off in NVIDIA Control Panel[6]
  1. Go to the NVIDIA Control Panel.
  2. Go to "Manage 3D settings" section.
  3. Enter in "Program settings" section.
  4. Add the game's exe (anox.exe).
  5. Set the Threaded Optimization to Off.
Create Config.ini[7]
  1. Go to %APPDATA%\GOG\.
  2. Enter the Anachronox folder. Create the folder if it doesn't exist.
  3. Create the file config.ini and edit it with the following:
[Misc]
Fps=200
  1. If 200 does not work, try a higher value or lower down to 59.
Force Vsync[8][9]
Install QindieGL[10]
  1. Download and extract QindieGL, an OpenGL wrapper. Older releases here
  2. Copy opengl32.dll and paste it to <path-to-game>.
  3. Click on QindieGL-setup.reg and add to the registry.
Run as the game as administrator[11]
Run the game in Windows 98 / ME compatibility mode[12][13]
Turn off 3D sound[14]
  1. Open GCT Setup.exe.
  2. Under 3D Sound Options, choose "Off" from the pull down menu.
  3. Click Save.
Use integrated graphics[15]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
OpenGL 1.1
Glide
WickedGL was added in the build 44 patch.
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System, A3D, DirectSound 3D, RSX 3D A3D 2.0

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95 OSR2
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium II 266 MHz
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1 GB
Video card (GPU) 12 MB of VRAM
OpenGL 1.1 compatible
DirectX 7 compatible


Notes

  1. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[1] 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.[2]
  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).
  3. 3.0 3.1 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>/242940/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (242940) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References