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Arcania framerate fixes and improvements

By hexaae

This guide will improve your Arcania fps, smoothness, and fix the known bugs after last official (buggy) update on Steam.

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Created by

hexaae
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Updated

11 Apr, 2019 @ 9:06am

14 Nov, 2024 @ 3:14pm

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Guide Index

Overview

Improvements over standard version

Bug fixes and framerate fix

Mouse speed fix

Low volume issue

Special thanks

Comments

Improvements over standard version

Latest Steam update unfortunately ruined this game adding a number of bugs and gfx glitches, without improvements or bug-fixes to the game. This is a guide to reinstall pre-update version and make it run faster and better then ever with some patches.

Improvements over current std Steam version:

much faster and video refresh looks visibly smoother (some locations in 1920x1080 now pass from 48->79 fps, up to 130fps in exteriors), and even at the same fps as before will look visibly smoother
fixed all known bugs (flickering water puddles, textures turning black, face textures issue at ultra settings)
stable

You can choose 2 methods... but the principle is quite simple: a) roll-back to legacy version (there are no fixes nor improvements anyway in current Steam broken build, so you loose nothing), b) apply patches to the installed legacy version.

(Small donations 💰 to buy and fix some more games are welcome from my profile page)

⚠️ BEWARE: some mods (not my simple cloud and rain ones) are known to crash the game in specific locations! Please, don't blame this guide but remove those mods and retry! Read also in the comments some known problematic mods...

Bug fixes and framerate fix

1) pre-requisite: always install PhysX Legacy

http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx-9.13.0604-legacy-driver.html
Install PhysX Legacy drivers in addition to std PhysX drivers. It is required and a common issue for noobs having problems to run this game on today's hardware.
... and disable any previously applied compatibility fixes (run as admin, in WinXP compatibility mode etc.) or hacks you tried before!

2) Improved framerate

With NVidia Profile Inspector[github.com], set:

Frame rate limiter V3 = 60 (it's fine for this game, and rock-stable...)
Maximum pre-rendered frames = 3
Vertical sync = Use the 3D application setting

Threaded optimization = On

It's very important to force mandatory "Vertical sync = Use the 3D application setting" to benefit from much more fps than forcing usual V-Sync or Adaptive.

3) Bug fix (manual fix)...

Just to be sure, backup first your savegames found in "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4"

1. before you install it, choose Properties from Steam UI game icon and select from the Beta tab: "legacy -" to download pre-buggy version. Remember: you MUST switch to legacy beta BEFORE you apply the following patches! Install the "legacy" game and wait 'till finished.
2. take an hex-editor like 'HxD[mh-nexus.de]' and edit 'Arcania.exe' as follows (hex address: 1st column = original byte value > 2nd column = byte patched, comment)*:

You have to change 6 bytes - Example for 8 cores cpu HEX ADD.: <o> <p> <comment> -------------------------- 00000D36: 03 > 23 (>2GB patch) 00987A33: 32 > 33 (thread-pool-bit="3") 00988749: 31 > 38 (ThreadConfig platform="PC" cores="8") must have 8 cores! Reduce it in case! 0098887B: 32 > 38 (ThreadConfig platform="PC" cores="8") must have 8 cores! Reduce it in case! 00988A6A: 33 > 38 (ThreadConfig platform="PC" cores="8") must have 8 cores! Reduce it in case! 00988C98: 34 > 38 (ThreadConfig platform="PC" cores="8") must have 8 cores! Reduce it in case! <o>=original byte value, <p>= patched * for example the second line means: go to address '00987A33' (hex) and change byte $32 to $33 ($n = hexadecimal number on the left panel). Third line: go to 988749 and change byte $31 to $38... etc. Do this for all 6 bytes in the list to apply required patches. Please, notice that for dual cores for example you'll have to set ... cores="4" ($34)...

As an alternative you can use 5, 6, 7, 8 for the cores patch above, not 8, 8, 8, 8... works fine too with good frame rate and smoothness.

It seems many users have some problems in finding byte at $D36 to modify for the >2GB patch, so here is a screenshot (using HxD free hex-editor, on the OLD LEGACY EXECUTABLE):

⠀
If you still have problems finding the correct bytes to change for Large Address Aware (>2GB) patch you can use many different tools, like good old 4GB Patch tool (NTCore) https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371 for noobs.

Enjoy the game running MUCH better! 👍🏻

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⚠ WARNING: CRASH! 💣 ⚠
You MUST run the game from Steam, NEVER double-clicking Arcania.exe directly or from a desktop shortcut to the exe or it will crash, probably because of too old additional DRM, mitigated when launched from Steam client.

4) How to (using the patch script)...

0. Download the patch from:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wp8t7MzS2QNUdHwXu7dGG8jwbiGh1Uzq
1. before you install it, choose Properties from Steam UI game icon and select from the Beta tab: "legacy -" to download pre-buggy version. Remember: you MUST switch to legacy beta BEFORE you apply the patches! Install the "legacy" game and wait 'till finished.
2. then uncompress patch archive contents into the game directory with 'Arcania.exe' (usually "...\Steam\steamapps\common\Arcania Gothic 4").

Then start the ArcaniaFix.bat script from the archive to automatically patch the game exe.
03/01/2024 Update: better to change thread-pool-bit="2" -> "3" at 00987A33 (follow manual guide above!)

N.B.
This will apply the patch for a 8 cores CPU (or more). It WON'T work on dual cores or less, so in this case see first method (point 3 above) and reduce core number from 8 ($38) to 4 ($34)

5) Fix crashes at some points in the game on modern multicores

Please, apply this fix for Lost Planet 2 (to download a fake dinput8.dll to be used in the same dir of Arcania.exe) https://steamproxy.com/app/45750/discussions/0/3192488348509998059/

Enjoy the game!

Mouse speed fix

If mouselook moves too fast, read my other fix here:
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=859607442

Low volume issue

Today I played the game again (Win11, Realtek HD Audio (ALC295 chipset)) and found audio was very low in general even when maxed out.

FIX:
Edit "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\gamesoundsettings.xml" like this (adjust volumes as you wish):

or whatever you prefer. You can just change "global_volume" to "3.000000" for example.

Special thanks

jptch.exe copyright is owned by Joris Heirbaut
http://jojodiff.sourceforge.net/

96 Comments

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wolf ツ 3 Feb @ 2:45am

thanks for this guide, i could only play the normal vanilla game, but everytime i tried to play legacy, it just crashed right after intro, the last method with the patch fixed it tho, and now its actually enjoyable without the lags and terrible performance before

DysArt Nataas ® 14 Nov, 2024 @ 3:06pm

There's another somewhat known issue (at least on WoG forums) with another mod called "Arcania Content Mod" (despite the name, changes aren't anything groundbreaking or fundamental, think it's mostly retextures for the game to feel more like a Gothic game).

So, your game will crash with this mod enabled (single .pak file) if you go and try to enter the temple where the Hagen's spy is located at. For the duration of being in the temple, delete the mod from your game files and place them back once you leave the temple after your business is finished there.

Done. You should experience no more crashes. At the very least I haven't.

hexaae [author] 17 Oct, 2024 @ 10:36am

📢 MODS MOVED HERE:
BETTER CLOUDS & BETTER RAIN
https://steamproxy.com/app/39690/discussions/0/4701286908195847222/

DysArt Nataas ® 17 Oct, 2024 @ 4:36am

The issue in the equation that was causing these crashes was a mod from World of Gothic website, namely "Entfernung des "Blutiger Bildschirm"-Effektes" when translated - Removal of the "bloody screen" effect.

<Attribute name="show_item_captions" value="false" type="bool" /> 

If you change this value to true, you will most likely experience the crashes that I have. Do yourself a favor and don't change that value if you have that mod installed.

DysArt Nataas ® 16 Oct, 2024 @ 3:30pm

The Cheat Engine fix was a simple Cheat Table made to mitigate Vision90.dll issue with crashes. The CE workaround was causing memory leak apparently, I think Qik'in mentioned that CE fix in some thread or in a comment in a thread.

hexaae [author] 15 Oct, 2024 @ 7:13pm

What's the "Cheat Engine" supposed fix? No, don't use that (I have no idea...). You have to apply the fix for modern multi-core CPUs (that have too much threads!), using a fake "dinput8.dll" where the game exe is.
Be sure you removed any "compatibility fix" and other previously applied "fixes" from other guides... and followed the guide carefully.

If you're 100% sure you did it right, open a new thread in commmunity discussions to share your save game for me to test. Link the thread here.

DysArt Nataas ® 15 Oct, 2024 @ 2:35pm

Everything worked great until I arrived at Tooshoo. I made a sweep around the edges of the map. Next day, when I exited the dungeon and made my way to uncharted lands I crashed. No message, no freeze, no black screen, no nothing. I identified couple problematic areas around the swamp. 1 was near 2 entrances to dungeons clsoe to each other. The other was around the hut with wooden fence in the direction of south east. There's about 2 or 3 nameless NPCs. The other point was around the makeshift walkways near a small horde of bloodsuckers south west to the big Tree. And of course it wasn't the end. Whenever I tried to enter the tree itself to talk to the female mage - same crash occured.

I tried the Cheat Engine supposed fix - nope, didn't work. Put the fake dinput file you've shared. Nada - didn't work.

My PC specs probably won't help in any way, shape or form, but here they are :

GPU - AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT Sapphire Nitro+
CPU - AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
64 GBs of RAM, Samsung SSD 980 PRO

hexaae [author] 31 May, 2024 @ 3:14pm

... and we have another weapon 😊 in case to force the exe on specific cores only, see my other guide about how to fix original NFS: Hot Pursuit

hexaae [author] 31 May, 2024 @ 3:09pm

@Qik'in
That's because I changed my PC and migrated my old system to the new one, no changes... and it crashed for me too finally.
So, by logic and a few clues on the Net about Vision90.dll possible reason for crashes which included CPU multithreading... I thought it could have been a modern multi-core issue (today's CPU indeed have a very different architecture and a huge number of cores compared to the past)

Qik'in 31 May, 2024 @ 2:58pm

I'm very happy that one in a while I check this comment section. I also suffered from those crashes, but can confirm that this file miraclulasly fixes the problem, at least in first parts of the game :D

I have no idea how did you connect this problem to one in Lost Planet 2, but whatever you did, many thanks, as I can finally play this game from start to finish without any bugs in like 10 years or so. You're a legend!

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