Blade Runner

This page is for the original version. For the enhanced edition, see Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition.

Blade Runner
Blade Runner	1997
Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab	2017
Blade Runner 9732 (unofficial)	2018
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition	2022
Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth	TBA

Blade Runner is a singleplayer adventure game in the Blade Runner series.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		CD-ROM and DVD-ROM versions exist.
GOG.com		Pre-packaged with ScummVM. Can be bought standalone or bundled with Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition.
Steam		Pre-packaged with ScummVM. Bundled with Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition.

The DVD-ROM version has the same content as the CD-ROM version without the need to swap discs.

The GOG.com release does not include the original desktop icon. A replacement can be found here.

Essential improvements

Official patch

Download the patch for the CD-ROM version or the DVD-ROM version.

ScummVM

As of 16 June 2019, the ScummVM engine supports Blade Runner. For more information, see the ScummVM wiki page.

This method does not require an external installer or installation of any additional patches.

Alternate installer for retail version

Allows installation from the CD/DVD releases on 64-bit Windows.

Automatically installs both the official patch and the wrapper.

Does not copy the file HDFRAMES.DAT so it needs to be downloaded from here or copied from the game disc to <path-to-game>.

Aqrit's ddwrapper

Fixes timing issues with the shooting range and "rat in the tunnel" portions of the game.

Peixoto's patch

Peixoto's patch adds nearest neighbor or xBRz scaler for better visuals. Sets single core affinity and Windows 98 compatibility mode for improved stability.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\BLADE.INI^{[Note 1]}
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1678420/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

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
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVE\*.SAV^{[Note 1]}
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1678420/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

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

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Use DXWnd and follow the instructions here. Alternatively, use ScummVM.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

In-game general settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Sound Effects, Ambient Sound, Speech. Ambient Sound setting is not available in ScummVM.
Surround sound		^[2]
Subtitles		Only supported in ScummVM (v2.1+). Toggled from ScummVM's GUI (Audio tab) or in-game from KIA "Game Settings". Requires `SUBTITLES.MIX`, available from ScummVM official website.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Transcription by the ScummVM team
French				Transcription by the ScummVM team
German				Transcription by the ScummVM team
Italian				Transcription by the ScummVM team
Russian				Fan translation, download
Spanish				Transcription by the ScummVM team

Issues fixed

Game won't start

Game will crash on start if computer does not have an optical drive mounted.

In Windows 10, opening the ISO will create a drive automatically.

Mount a virtual optical drive
Install WinCDEmu. Mount a virtual optical drive. Launch game.

Shooting range and rat/tunnel issues

On modern CPUs, shooting range targets never appear or take minutes to. A similar issue occurs with the "rat in the tunnel" portion of the game.

Apply the CPU patch^[3]

Save games not working

Manually create a `SAVE` folder under `<path-to-game>`^{[citation needed]}

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw	5.0	640x480

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, NT 4.0
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 90	Intel Pentium 133
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	150 MB	300 MB
Video card (GPU)	SVGA graphics card 2 MB of VRAM DirectX 5.0 compatible

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.11
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	64 MB of VRAM

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	Ubuntu 18.04
Processor (CPU)	2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	OpenGL compatible 256 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 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>/1678420/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1678420) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Revisit rainy Los Angeles with the return of the classic Blade Runner - GOG.com - last accessed on 2019-12-17
↑ Surround Sound in Blade Runner?, post 2 - ScummVM :: Forums
↑ Blade Runner: Patch/Installer for Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (x64) - last accessed on May 2023

[gamedir-2] 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).

[Proton_path_note-3] 2.0 ^2.1 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>/1678420/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1678420) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[gog_release-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Revisit rainy Los Angeles with the return of the classic Blade Runner - GOG.com - last accessed on 2019-12-17

[surround-4] Surround Sound in Blade Runner?, post 2 - ScummVM :: Forums

[5] Blade Runner: Patch/Installer for Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (x64) - last accessed on May 2023

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

[3]

Developers

	Westwood Studios
Publishers
Retail (original)	Virgin Interactive
Retail (re-releases)	Electronic Arts
Digital	Alcon Interactive Group
Engines
Original	Blade
Digital	ScummVM
Release dates
Windows	November 14, 1997
Windows (ScummVM)	December 17, 2019^[1]
macOS (OS X) (ScummVM)	December 17, 2019^[1]
Linux (ScummVM)	December 17, 2019^[1]
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Adventure
Themes	Cyberpunk, Detective/mystery, North America
Series	Blade Runner