Beneath a Steel Sky

Steel Sky
Beneath a Steel Sky	1994
Beyond a Steel Sky	2020

Beneath a Steel Sky is a singleplayer adventure game in the Steel Sky series.

Key points

Can easily be run on modern systems with ScummVM.

General information

Developer Discord server

Game Nostalgia - Detailed game information, developer interviews and game-related media

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Available on floppy disk (manual-based copy protection) or CD (no DRM). The CD-ROM version has full voice acting and a substantial introduction sequence.
GOG.com		Pre-packaged with ScummVM.
Steam		Pre-packaged with ScummVM.

All of the prepackaged versions use the CD release.

The data files are available for free from the ScummVM website.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Freeware	Originally sold commercially, but now completely free to own.
Sponsored	A Foster's Lager label is shown during the CD-ROM introduction.^[5] It is the eponym of the protagonist's surname "Foster".^[6]

Essential improvements

Running the game through ScummVM

Just use the prepackaged versions if you want the CD release.

Playing the game with ScummVM^{[citation needed]}

Download the floppy or CD data files off ScummVM's download page
Extract it into an empty folder
Open ScummVM and select Add Game
Select the folder you just added the data files to.

To display the original floppy disk version's intro instead of the CD version's comic book intro, go to the launcher, select Edit Game..., and under the Engine tab select Floppy intro, then OK.

James Woodcock's remastered soundtrack

Original game soundtrack in MIDI format, rearranged and re-recorded using modern studio equipment

Requires ScummVM 1.4.2 or later (the ScummVM versions included with the GOG & Steam releases will work).

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
DOS	<path-to-game>\config.dat
Windows	<path-to-game>\beneath.ini^{[Note 1]}<path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)^{[Note 2]}
macOS (OS X)
Linux

It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System	Location
DOS	<path-to-game>\
Windows	<path-to-game>\SKY-VM.**^{[Note 1]} <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)*^{[Note 2]}
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Documents/ScummVM Savegames/Beneath a Steel Sky
Linux

DOS savegames are labelled SKY.???, where ??? represents a number between 000 and 999. Savegame descriptions are stored in SKY.SAV.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy		Requires `Internal Update (25 April 2018)` or later.
Steam Cloud

ScummVM 2.1+ supports cloud saves on third-party cloud storage services. See the ScummVM documentation for details.

Video

In-game menu (F5)

ScummVM settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
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)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity		For DOSBox set in the DOSBox configuration file.
Mouse input in menus		Menu can be open with `F5`
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).

Audio

ScummVM audio sliders. Access in-game by pressing Ctrl+F5 and clicking options.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Speech and FX have only an on/off toggle. Music can be adjusted with a slider. Use ScummVM for Speech and SFX sliders.
Surround sound		Uses MIDI driver.
Subtitles		Menu can be accessed through `F5`. Not subtitles in the intro cutscene.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		For DOSBox change the `priority` background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio
General MIDI audio		Use ScummVM.

This game supports the Roland MT-32 for music, and takes advantage of the additional sound effects provided by the CM-32L/LAPC-I.^{[Note 3]}

While this game has very few native settings, it can run on ScummVM which adds some additional settings.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Speech in CD version only.
Traditional Chinese				Retail only.
French
German
Italian
Polish				Fan translation, download.
Portuguese				Available in the GoG release. Mistaken as Brazilian Portuguese.
Russian				Fan translation by «Бюро переводов Old-Games.Ru», ScummVM-build and localization files
Spanish
Swedish

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DOS video modes	VGA	320x200

System requirements

DOS
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	3.30
Processor (CPU)	386
System memory (RAM)	2 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 MB (floppy) 93 MB (CD)
Video card (GPU)	VGA 256-color
Sound (audio device)	Supports Roland, Sound Blaster, and Ad Lib cards

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
Processor (CPU)	1.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	87 MB
Video card (GPU)	DirectX 9.0c compatible

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.6.8
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	78 MB
Video card (GPU)	64 MB of VRAM

Linux
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17
Processor (CPU)	1.0 GHz	1.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	128 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 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).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 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).
↑ ScummVM adds proper General MIDI support.

References

↑ Free games: Beneath a Steel Sky and Lure of the Temptress - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023
↑ GOG launches Mac support, 50 games available now - last accessed on May 2023
↑ "The "what did just update?" thread" post #709 - last accessed on 9 June 2023
↑ "The "what did just update?" thread" post #6577 - last accessed on 9 June 2023
↑ Verified by User:Baronsmoki on 2021-06-29
↑ Wikipedia - Beneath a Steel Sky - last accessed on 2021-06-29
"...they name him Robert Foster, partly due to him being fostered by them, but also because of the discovery of an empty can of Foster's Lager found near the crash site."

[gamedir-7] 1.0 ^1.1 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).

[DOSBox_mounted-8] 2.0 ^2.1 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).

[.22MIDI.22-9] ScummVM adds proper General MIDI support.

[1] Free games: Beneath a Steel Sky and Lure of the Temptress - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023

[2] GOG launches Mac support, 50 games available now - last accessed on May 2023

[3] "The "what did just update?" thread" post #709 - last accessed on 9 June 2023

[4] "The "what did just update?" thread" post #6577 - last accessed on 9 June 2023

[5] Verified by User:Baronsmoki on 2021-06-29

[6] Wikipedia - Beneath a Steel Sky - last accessed on 2021-06-29
"...they name him Robert Foster, partly due to him being fostered by them, but also because of the discovery of an empty can of Foster's Lager found near the crash site."

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

Developers

	Revolution Software
Publishers
	Virgin Interactive
Retail re-release	Sold Out Software
Digital	Revolution Software
Engines
Original	Virtual Theatre
Re-release	ScummVM
Release dates
DOS	March 1994
Windows (ScummVM)	December 18, 2008^[1]
macOS (OS X) (ScummVM)	October 18, 2012^[2]
Windows (DOSBox)	April 7, 2013^[3]
Linux (ScummVM)	March 20, 2015^[4]
Taxonomy
Monetization	Freeware, Sponsored
Modes	Singleplayer
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Adventure
Themes	Cyberpunk, Oceania
Series	Steel Sky