Battle Realms

Although this product has been released, it remains under active development - information may change frequently and could be outdated or irrelevant.

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Battle Realms is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view RTS game.

The game received the expansion Winter of the Wolf in November 2002.

The game debuted on GOG.com on September 12, 2012 with unchanged builds of the base game and expansion. As of December 9, 2019, Ed Del Castillo (one of the original developers) published the game on Steam with additional changes and fixes with feedback from the community, dubbing it the Zen Edition.

General information

Battle Realms Wiki

Battle Realms Revival Project

The oldest forums dedicated to Battle Realms

Battle Realms Reddit

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v2 DRM^{[Note 1]}
GOG.com		Includes 'Winter of the Wolf' expansion.
Steam		Zen Edition

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Version differences

The Steam-exclusive Zen Edition (which includes the base game and expansion) is the only one still being officially updated with new features and balance changes. It has Steamworks-based multiplayer, with LAN and direct IP functionality removed as of patch 1.58.^[3]

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Winter of the Wolf

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest version of the original game is also the expansion - Winter Of The Wolf (1.50q). The latest non-expansion version, for some reason, is also 1.50q.

Patches for the non-expansion game are available.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

The only working parameters are Width and Height.

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Battle_Realms.ini^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1025600/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Saved Games^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1025600/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Game settings

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Native to the Zen Edition. For other versions, see Windowed.
Multi-monitor		See Windowed.
Ultra-widescreen		See Windowed.
4K Ultra HD		See Windowed.
Field of view (FOV)	See Windowed.
Windowed	See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See Windowed.
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
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Windowed

Use the Resolution & FoV Patch

Not to be used for Zen Edition (Steam version).

Causes minor FoV glitches.

Allows playing online.

Supports all resolutions & allows customizing FoV.

Fixes minimap issues.

Download the latest version
Follow the instructions.
Use the monitor's native resolution.

Use DxWnd^{[citation needed]}

Download DxWnd.
Extract it and launch it.
Click Edit from a bar and choose Add.
Type in a name for the game.
Click ... right of the Path input box.
Go to the installation folder and choose Battle_Realms_F.exe.
Set or verify the following fields:
- Main tab:
  - Run in Window (optional)
  - Window position and size: W 1024 H 768 (adjusting to match resolution)
- Video Tab:
  - Hide multi-monitor config.
- Mouse tab:
  - Cursor visibility: Hide
  - Correct mouse position
  - Keep cursor within window (optional)
- DirectX tab:
  - Flip emulation: Partial or Full
- GDI tab:
  - Remap client Rect
Click OK, minimize DXWnd and run the game.

Notes:

The preset import found in DXWnd has a few options mismatched

Input

Input settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Available via the in-game custom profile menu (not settings).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Scroll speed is responsible for the screen navigation sensivity.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, Sound Effects, Music, Dialogue
Surround sound
Subtitles		Only in cutscenes.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Winter of the Wolf does not have localized audio. Retail and GOG.com only.
German				Winter of the Wolf does not have localized audio. Retail and GOG.com only.
Spanish				Winter of the Wolf is not localized. Retail only.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
LAN play		Versus Not available in the Steam version as of version 1.58.^[3]
Online play		Versus The official GameSpy service has been shut down; the Zen Edition uses Steamworks.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP		Not available in the Steam version as of version 1.58.^[3]

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	7174,7175,7177
UDP	7174,7175,7177

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed

The game gets stuck at 75% loading (Multiplayer)

Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP3, as administrator and in 8-bit color mode^{[citation needed]}

Could not find supported display mode / Could not rasterize API

Use the Resolution & FoV Patch
See Windowed

Use dgVoodoo 2^[4]

Allows capturing Battle Realms with OBS.

Eliminates most of the issues.

Download the latest version of dgVoodoo 2.
Extract dgVoodooCpl.exe and the contents of the MS\x86 subfolder to <path-to-game>.
Run dgVoodooCpl.exe.
Under Full Screen Output, choose which monitor the game will be displayed on from the dropdown list.
Click the Apply button, then click OK.

Run the game in windowed mode^{[citation needed]}
For alternatives, see Windowed.

Disable other monitors^{[citation needed]}

The original game has known problems when multiple monitors are in use.

When on desktop, press ⊞ Win+P.
Choose single monitor.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	7

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Multiplayer	GameSpy, Steamworks	The Zen Edition uses Steamworks.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98	2000, ME, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 400 MHz	Intel Pentium III 750 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	500 MB	600 MB
Video card (GPU)	16 MB of VRAM DirectX 8 compatible	32 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ 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]
↑ ^2.0 ^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).
↑ ^3.0 ^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>/1025600/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1025600) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2
Battle Realms: Zen Edition - Update 1.58 - The New Era Begins! - Steam News - last accessed on 2023-01-08
"LAN and Direct IP Multiplayer modes have been removed from the game. Now, by clicking 'Multiplayer', the player will be taken directly to the Steam Lobbies. There are 3 reasons for this:
- Security issues that currently can't be resolved due to the game's age and Steam network not really properly supporting LAN."
↑ Verified by User:Expack3 on 11 June 2015

[3] 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]

[gamedir-5] 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).

[Proton_path_note-6] 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>/1025600/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1025600) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16

[2] Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16

[Zen_multiplayer-4] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Battle Realms: Zen Edition - Update 1.58 - The New Era Begins! - Steam News - last accessed on 2023-01-08
"LAN and Direct IP Multiplayer modes have been removed from the game. Now, by clicking 'Multiplayer', the player will be taken directly to the Steam Lobbies. There are 3 reasons for this:
Piracy concerns.

Ed Del Castillo's goal of centralizing the community.

Security issues that currently can't be resolved due to the game's age and Steam network not really properly supporting LAN."

[7] Piracy concerns.

[8] Ed Del Castillo's goal of centralizing the community.

[9] Security issues that currently can't be resolved due to the game's age and Steam network not really properly supporting LAN."

[7] Verified by User:Expack3 on 11 June 2015

[Note 1]

[3]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[4]

[1]

[2]

Developers

	Liquid Entertainment
	Crave Entertainment
Publishers
	Ubisoft
Release dates
Windows	November 7, 2001
Reception
Metacritic	82
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RTS
Themes	Fantasy