How to fix Return to Castle Wolfenstein for current PCs (obsolete, get RealRTCW instead)

So you just bought RTCW and it wasn't working properly on your computer? Don't worry just follow these simple steps and you will be able to play the game on widescreen full hd at 120 fps and you will even be able to play the multiplayer with actual people

Final update

A team of loyal RTCW fans, seemingly out of nowhere, released a mod called RealRTCW which rivals Nightdive Studios' remasters in quality. They improved pretty much anything that's needed to be improved and even released a separate dlc that restores back the vanilla experience of the game if you want that. With that I feel like the mission of this guide is now complete. I will no longer be adding any more sections to this nor will I change any files. I will leave the download link up for as long as I'm able to but by this point you probably shouldn't play the game by using decade old mods when there's now arguably the definitive way to experience this game. It's been a real honor to help and thanks to all of your kind comments throughout the years


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1379630/RealRTCW/

Edit September 2021

I've decided to return to this guide and update it with new info, since nowadays I have a better understanding of the quake 3 engine. The biggest change is that I've finally found a way to play multiplayer in widescreen. (Scroll to the multiplayer section for it).

Keep in mind however that if you want to play online it's better to play Wolfenstein Enemy Territory which is an enhanced version of RTCW's multiplayer. That game has a surprisingly big community even though it's pretty old, meaning that you'll find more and better servers there instead of the aging RTCW MP. You can either download the vanilla game from Splash Damage's website or download ETLegacy, a third party mod that allows you to play Enemy Territory with some modern day enhancements. Recently, Splash Damage gave Enemy Territory some recognition and even set up an official server where they often livestream themselves play on Twitch.

Edit April 2022

Bethesda has finally decided to release Enemy Territory on Steam for free. Here's the direct link https://store.steampowered.com/app/1873030/Wolfenstein_Enemy_Territory/

Some backstory

Unfortunately, Return to Castle Wolfenstein's engine is really old and outdated and it doesn't support newer graphics cards. The title screen is fine but everything else, including browsing the menus, runs at a 0,95 fps.

Activision never came back to fix this and Id Software and Bethesda didn't patch it, either because of licensing issues (they even removed Wolfenstein 2009 and Enemy Territory Quake Wars from Steam) or because of a lack of interest.

So with the developers out, it was up to the community to fix RTCW and they did. However, the mods that are available are scattered around the internet and there are mods that conflict with each other and break the game! And we don't want that now do we?

Here's where this guide comes in. I've combined a bunch of mods and patches of this game and uploaded them on google drive. They fix the performance and the multiplayer without altering the graphics at all. This is the closest to a vanilla RTCW experience you can get on a modern PC.

Download links

Use one of the links below to get the folder. Notify me if one or more get taken down and I'll see what I can do.

Mega

https://mega.nz/file/AKskkZiD#kedREBtFQO5x2IqUaRB9_OAZjxmwU2IRqvnaUbQSUos

Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0r4v2984vsh6t7n/RTCW_fix.zip?dl=0

The only thing that you need to do is unzip it and then go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common and paste the Return To Castle Wolfenstein folder only. Keep the RTCWMapDownloader on your desktop or somewhere else you can find it easily since you're gonna have to launch it every time you want to play multiplayer. It isn't mandatory, but RTCW multiplayer doesn't support http downloads meaning that without this the download takes an extraordinary amount of time. Press yes when it asks you to replace the files and then start playing

Now your game should run close to 120 fps or higher and be in widescreen for the singleplayer.

Multiplayer

Widesreen Fix





To play in widescreen on multiplayer without making the game crash you're going to have to change the settings manually. Here's how to do it step by step:

Step 1:
Find your wolfconfig_mp.cfg file inside common\Return To Castle Wolfenstein\Main and open it with notepad

Step 2:
Go to Edit>Find and type in the box r_mode. Then replace the value with -1
(If you can't find it then scroll to the end and type seta r_mode -1)



Step 3:
Scroll to the end and type
seta r_customheight "YOURPCHEIGHT"
seta r_customwidth "YOURPCWIDTH"
Then save and close the file

Launch the multiplayer. If everything looks fine, you're all set. If the screen is all messed up then locate the WolfSP application (found in common\Return To Castle Wolfenstein), right click and select properties. Then go to compatibility and click on the "Change high DPI settings" box.



Once there tick both boxes, click ok and then apply

The mandatory conclusion section

Thanks for reading my guide! :D

For any questions ask me in the comment section.

ENJOY

[XxXcRaShXxX]

sera obsoleto pero sigue siendo un juegazo

[我不他媽的]

RealRTCW is zoomer shit trash. Use iortcw or the unofficial 1.42d patch.

[correia_abrantes]

nao consigo a mesma

[Rusty]

Alternatively you could also just get a sourceport. Something like iortcw, for example.
It's a tiny download and a simple matter of extracting it into the install folder and renaming the .exe files. Realrtcw does make a couple changes to the basic gameplay that might not be for everyone.

[Betelgeuse]

You saved my life brother ty

[nykolazfena]

the link is no longer valid

[Emperor'sVigilance]

Hey all, false alarm! Make sure you have scaling in Display Settings (in Windows) set to 100% only. I had mine set to 125% for some reason, which causes conflicts with the game, and the window shunting I was described in my last comment.

[Emperor'sVigilance]

So I try to set the resolution to 1920x1080 only to have the display improperly. It shunts the game window diagonally downward to the right and I can't interact with the menu.

[diamantopoulos-michael123]

I CAN NOT START GAME BECAUSE BY MISTAKE I SET IT IN HIGH DEFINITION AND MY PC DOES NOT SUPPORT IT

[salty red]

please help still no work