🔝 Arcania framerate and crash fixes, improvements, compatibility fixes

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

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:

2 - Sync and Refresh
• 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

5 - Common
• 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 SecuROM, 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. May not work under Linux.) if your CPU has >6 cores...
https://steamcommunity.com/app/45750/discussions/0/3192488348509998059/

Enjoy the game!

Mouse speed fix

If mouselook moves too fast, read my other fix here:
https://steamcommunity.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):

<AttributeTable >
	<Attribute name="global_volume" type="float" value="1.000000" />
	<Attribute name="sound_FX_volume" type="float" value="9.000000" />
	<Attribute name="speech_volume" type="float" value="7.000000" />
	<Attribute name="music_volume" type="float" value="10.000000" />
	<Attribute name="cutscene_volume" type="float" value="10.000000" />
	<Attribute name="ambience_volume" type="float" value="10.000000" />
	<Attribute name="subtitles" type="bool" value="true" />
</AttributeTable>

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

Fullscreen fails

It seems Microsoft ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up another game with recent Windows 11 24H2 updates (current date: April 2025. I'm sure this game was working fine a few months ago)... so here is a workaround fix to play this game in borderless fullscreen, since it now fails to open in fullscreen exclusive.

HOW TO

1. edit "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArcaniA - Gothic 4\videosettings.xml" and change this line as follows:

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

2. download this .sdb file: https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApMUGr0cuN39hI9AKnV8sfcYsX2saw?e=4pzylx created with official MS Compatibility Administrator (32bit) tool, and apply it from an admin command prompt (CMD):
   

   sdbinst.exe -q "ArcaniA - Gothic FULLSCREEN workaround.sdb"

3. launch the game and set your fullscreen resolution, but DON'T UNTICK under video settings "Windowed mode"

🔖 You'll still be able to adjust brightness, saturation, contrast under Video options.

Solved. Now the game will run again, but forced in windowed borderless fullscreen.
ATM it seems the only possible workaround unless MS will fix the OS compatibility with this game.

NOTE: the .sdb is created to patch the legacy exe, file version v1.1.0.1433, so you have to apply the guide fix first.

Special thanks

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

[pawelorze]

Not sure why, but after changing the values as described in the step 3 via HxD, my game opens with the lower resolution set and all saves are gone..

Also, even when I change my graphics settings again and start a new game and try to make a save, every time I restart the game, there are no saves and graphics settings set as before, despite the fact that my saves are there in the game's folder

Only after restoring the previous Arcania.exe without changing the values via HxD, it works again

[hexaae]

BTW, GOG Galaxy client has an option to download previous version... so it should be possible to do the same as described in this guide for Steam

[hexaae]

@pawelorze
1. Retail-based version was already smoother
2. Yes, you can still apply the changes to the exe as described in the guide (3)
3. NVidia Profile Inspector is NVidia only, but you can simply ignore that part which has a minor role anyway... If you have AMD you can try to replicate those settings with AMD Adrenaline (?)...

It's not only a "FPS number" matter: these changes make it also frame pacing smoother (i.e. even with the same fps as before, mouse mouse-look will be smoother)

[pawelorze]

Hello, I have a question. I have the game purchased via GOG, but I use the repacked version downloaded from the Internet, since the GOG version doesn't have a smooth FPS, and paying again for Steam version would be pointless.

On Radeon 6750 XT and AMD Ryzen 5600X I'm having above 60 FPS in most locations, but once I'm in Stewark, FPS tend to drop sometimes below 50, which I believe should not be the case for this hardware and for such old game.

I'm trying to follow the second step, but I'm facing an error while opening NVidia Profile Inspector, as I suppose it won't open on AMD card.

Do you have any idea from where do these FPS drops might come and if there is any way to get rid of it?

[Engan]

I've done it. The rest was probably superfluous because I had problems. Now applying only guide 1 and guide 4 I finished the game. My computer HP250 G7. i3-7020U(4 core). Thanks

[hexaae]

Please apply the whole guide: you'll have a better game running without crashes, known bugs, and much smoother (independently from high fps you'll see a smoother frame pacing)

[Engan]

I uninstalled everything and try again, at the time I only put guide (1). Otherwise I have no mods. CPU I3 7th 4 core 2.23 GHz. RAM 4GB and GPU Intel integrated. Probably performed something wrong myself

[hexaae]

📢 ADDED "FULLSCREEN FAILS" SECTION to workaround the game not opening anymore in fullscreen exclusive after recent Windows 11 24H2 changes.

[hexaae]

Start a new public thread to discuss this issue and link it here (need more details, what should I do in-game etc., more info on your HW etc.).
With just 4 cores you don't need to apply point 5.

Are you sure you applied correctly all other fixes including >2GB mem addressing? Try to apply this mem patch using tool "4GB Patch NTCore" (easy to find on the Net)
Did you remove all external mods?
Are you sure you follwed the guide carefully installing the legacy version?

It sounds like the typical "wrongly applied" instructions case, since nobody after the patch reported any issue.

[Engan]

Sorry for not making the GoFile file public. Now you should see the savegame