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Black & White

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Black & White
Black & White cover
Developers
Lionhead Studios
macOS (OS X) Zonic Limited
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Sold Out Software
OS X Feral Interactive
Release dates
Windows March 25, 2001
Mac OS (Classic) February 7, 2002
macOS (OS X) February 7, 2002
Reception
Metacritic 90
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Bird's-eye view
Controls Point and select
Genres Building, Strategy, RPG
Art styles Cartoon
Themes Fantasy
Series Black & White
Black & White on HowLongToBeat
Black & White on IGDB
Black & White guide on StrategyWiki
Black & White on MobyGames
Black & White on Wikipedia
Black & White
Black & White 2001
Black & White 2 2005

Warnings

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).
The Mac OS X version of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.

Black & White is a singleplayer bird's-eye view building, strategy and RPG game in the Black & White series.

General information

Black & White Community - A forum and downloads site for the series
Black & White BaW Patch Dev
Black & White Online - Multiplayer client

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
CD key
SafeDisc DRM[Note 1] (Windows)
Windows
Mac OS
macOS (OS X)
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
This game is not available digitally.

Version differences

The Deluxe Edition includes the base game and the Creature Isle expansion.

Monetization

Type Notes
Expansion pack The expansion pack includes new creatures, skills, miracles, enemies and improved AI.
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Creature Isle
Windows
Mac OS
macOS (OS X)

Essential improvements

Patches

v1.2 Patch

Is the recommended official patch, includes all fixes from v1.1 Patch.

v1.3 Patch

Is the latest official patch but not recommended.
Only adds support for P5-Glove. Requires P5DLL.dll.

v1.1.1 Mac Patch

Is the latest official patch for OS X.

Unofficial patches

v1.42 Unofficial Fan Patch

Removes SafeDisc DRM[Note 2], enabling the game to run on Windows Vista and later.
Fixes crashing on display resolutions greater than 1080p or high DPI displays.
Fixes various issues experienced on modern systems, including washed textures and massive draw distance reduction.[5]
Fixes addons like football and villager banter and unlocks all creatures, including the rhino.
Includes fixed setup dialog that allows resolution and windowed mode to be changed easily.

BaW Patch

Fixes various issues experienced on modern systems, including washed textures and massive draw distance reduction.
Fixes addons & extra features not being detected.

Creature Isle Fan Patch 1.24 - only for the expansion

Removes SafeDisc DRM[Note 3], enabling the game to run on Windows Vista and later.
Fixes crashing on display resolutions greater than 1080p or high DPI displays.
Fixes low resolution textures and landscapes on PCs with high video memory.
Fixes addons such as football addon not activating once installed.
Fixes windowed mode.

Skip intro videos

Move, delete or rename <path-to-game>\Data\logo.bik

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\
macOS (OS X)

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Profiles\<user-id>\[Note 4]
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\LHMultiplayer
macOS (OS X)
In-game settings and profile data for the Windows version are stored in the registry.

Video

Most video settings have to be changed through the external configuration tool.
Settings launcher.
Settings launcher.
Advanced settings.
Advanced settings.
In-game advanced settings.
In-game advanced settings.
Black and White Fan Patch Setup Dialog
Black and White Fan Patch Setup Dialog

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
Use 1.42 Unofficial Fan Patch. Set with BWSetup.exe.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Use 1.42 Unofficial Fan Patch. Without it, anything above 1080p will crash.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Use 1.42 Unofficial Fan Patch. Set with BWSetup.exe. Fixes Alt+Tab related crashes.
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)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

In-game controls settings.
In-game controls settings.

Audio

In-game audio and video settings.
In-game audio and video settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
English Language Pack
French
German
Italian
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
EA Brasil
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Online play
The official multiplayer servers have been shut down.[9] Online features can be restored with Black & White Resurrection.

Issues fixed

Compatibility problems

Make sure to run the game and the setup launcher as an admin on newer versions of Windows.[citation needed]

P5DLL.dll is missing

Download fixed dll[citation needed]
  1. Download fixed p5dll.dll
  2. Copy it to <path-to-game>

Bad textures/landscape

Install an unofficial patch
Make sure 'Maximum Detail' is selected in the graphic options or the fixes will not work.

Missing music

Copy the Audio folder on the CD into <path-to-game>

Missing or malfunctioning add-ons

Install an unofficial patch

Poor framerate on Windows 8

Instructions[citation needed]
  1. Download the following archive.
  2. Go to the installation folder, and extract the file.

VR support

3D modes State Notes
vorpX
2D
2D with dgVoodoo 2 base profile.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 7
DirectDraw 7
OpenGL
Mac OS only.
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio QSound 5.00 (QMixer.dll)
Cutscenes Bink Video 1.0w

Misc

Black & White Online Launcher

Streamlined client, makes playing online far easier.
Fairly buggy on more modern operating systems, still in development.

Patch Uninstaller

Useful for either quickly downgrading or reinstalling a certain patch quickly.

Addons

Require either unofficial patch to work.
Villager Banter Add-On
Football Addon
MP3 Addon
Dancing Bear Plug-in - the Dancing Bear plug-in for your WinAmp music program
English Language Pack
Creature Isle English Language Pack

Additional Creatures

Require either unofficial patch to work.
Leopard
Mandrill
Gorilla
Horse

System requirements

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 95, 98, ME, 2000
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium II 350 MHz
System memory (RAM) 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 600 MB
Video card (GPU) 8 MB of VRAM
DirectX 7.0a compatible
Other 4X CD-ROM
Mac OS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 8.6
Processor (CPU) G3 333 MHz
System memory (RAM) 96 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 600 MB
Video card (GPU) 8 MB of VRAM
OpenGL 1.2 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. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[3] 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.[4]
  3. SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[6] 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.[7]
  4. 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).

References