Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

Developers
	Silicon Knights
Windows	Semi Logic Entertainment
Publishers
Retail	Crystal Dynamics
Windows	Activision
Digital	Square Enix
Release dates
Windows	August 1997
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, Adventure
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Legacy of Kain

Legacy of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain	1997
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver	1999
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2	2001
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2	2002
Legacy of Kain: Defiance	2003
Nosgoth	Cancelled

Key points

The PC version eliminates loading times which exist in the PS1 version.

Crashes and other issues on modern operating systems. The OpenGL wrapper fixes these issues.

Gameplay capped at 40 FPS with slightly slower animations than PS1 version. FMVs at 15 and 18 FPS.
It can be fixed with the OpenGL wrapper.

FMVs with mono audio and lower video quality than the PS1 version. Certain sounds have low quality as well.
These issues are also fixed with the OpenGL wrapper.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		North American physical copy protection causes bad sectors.
GOG.com		Uses GOG's custom DirectX wrapper

A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Essential improvements

Verok's GL wrapper & patch

Windowed mode support, FMVs play without interlacing, optional unfiltered scaler, WinXP/7/10 compatibility fix, removed CD check, 60 FPS support like the PS1 version, optional PS1 FMVs support, HQ cutscenes with stereo sound, subtitles and more.

• Full Patch - Larger file, but contains updated cutscenes and audio
• Minimal Patch - contains only essential updates

CubanRaul's Community Patch 2.0

Eliminates the need for a slowdown program for fast CPUs and fixes various crashes while maintaining compatibility with Windows 98 (despite requirements stating otherwise).

[Download page]

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVED\
GOG.com	<path-to-game>\Saves\

Config files are not in plain text format.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVED\
GOG.com	<path-to-game>\Saves\

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Only 640x480, 640x480i, and 320x240 pillarboxed. The latter 2 are selectable by pressing F12.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch. In the GOG.com version, the dxcfg.exe application can achieve this.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		In the GOG.com version, the dxcfg.exe application can achieve this.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		In the GOG.com version, the dxcfg.exe application can achieve this.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		In the GOG.com version, it can be forced through dxcfg.exe.
60 FPS		Capped at 40 FPS, FMVs at 15 and 18 FPS. Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch to increase the FPS.
120+ FPS		Gameplay is tied to the frame rate. Above 60 FPS makes the gameplay too fast.

Input

Control options.

XInput prompts - Verok's GL wrapper & patch.

DualShock prompts - Verok's GL wrapper & patch.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Cannot quit game (hard-coded escape key) or skip FMVs (possible with Verok's GL wrapper & patch). Qualifies otherwise.
Controller remapping		Uses numbers, not face buttons.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch to add support for XInput controllers.
Xbox button prompts		Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch for Xbox face buttons.
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers		Use DS4Windows with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
DualShock button prompts		Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch for DualShock face buttons.
Light bar support
Connection modes	USB, Bluetooth

Generic/other controllers
Button prompts

Additional information
Button prompts		Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch for Xbox and DualShock face buttons.
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch for haptic feedback.
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio options.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Sound & music
Surround sound		Possible via OpenAL with Verok's GL wrapper & patch
Subtitles		Possible with Verok's GL wrapper & patch
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Losing focus causes black screen. Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
EAX support		Possible via OpenAL with Verok's GL wrapper & patch
Royalty free audio

English subtitles.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Subs possible with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
French				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
German				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
Hungarian				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
Italian				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
Japanese				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
Polish				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
Brazilian Portuguese				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
Russian				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.
Spanish				Included with Verok's GL wrapper & patch.

Issues fixed

System Locale/Language Check Failed

Error message for an "invalid locale".

On modern versions of Windows, this error occurs at game startup when the language for non-Unicode programs is set to something the game does not support.

Change language for non-Unicode programs
Open the Control Panel and set View by: to Category. Click Clock, Language, and Region and then Region. Under the Administrative tab, click Change system locale.... Set the system locale to one the game supports, such as English (United States) for the US release. Notes Exact steps vary slightly depending on your Windows version. The above refers to Windows 8.1.

Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch

Crashes When Loading a Save or After Playing the Introduction Cutscene

Disable Data Execution Prevention for KAIN.exe

Open the Control Panel and set View by: to Large icons. Click System and then Advanced system settings. Click Settings... under Performance. Under the Data Execution Prevention tab, set Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:. Click Add..., then go to the game directory and add Kain.exe to the list. Notes Exact steps vary slightly depending on your Windows version. The above refers to Windows 7.

Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch

Freezes after Kain's speech in the tavern or mausoleum

If the PC specifications are too high for the requirements of the game, this will trigger a freeze after Kain's speech in the tavern or mausoleum.
To avoid this issue, the FSB (Front Side Bus) frequency must be decreased to a value that does not cause problems with the game; usually 100Mhz or 66Mhz.
For all those who do not have the possibility to configure this option, it's necessary to rely on 3rd party solutions such as "CPUKILLER" or "Verok's GL wrapper & patch".

Use Verok's GL wrapper & patch (Windows 7 and later)

Use CubanRaul's Community Patch 2.0 (Windows 98, 2000, XP, and Windows Vista)

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D		GOG.com version uses custom DirectX wrapper

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 100 MHz	Intel Pentium 166 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	12 MB
Video card (GPU)	SVGA 1 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	Sound Blaster compatible
Other	4x CD-ROM