How to play BG&E in 2021 (and beyond)

Technical guide on how to configure the game and fix most common issues:

• Low FPS;
  
• Game playing in fast forward;
  
• Wrong aspect ratio (widescreen fix);
  
• Black bands on the screen;
  
• Incorrect installation and error when opening SettingsApplication.exe;
  
• French audio instead of English;
  
• Inability to change the language;

Intro

Want to replay the classics? Want to relive the childhood memories of how you launched Beyond Good & Evil for the first time? Well, You came to the right place.
The game works on modern systems, but with some major hiccups.
Also, don't be scared by this manual. I know it has some pretty technical stuff going on, but trust me, the game is worth investing some time to make it run like a charm.

Disclaimer: This guide covers my experience, on my PC (Windows 10, Nvidia graphics, Intel CPU, etc.). Yours might differ depending on your configuration.

I have a pretty powerful rig, and yet, the game runs at 640x480 resolution with 5 FPS... on Nvidia RTX 2080.
Unplayable? Yes. But no worries, let's fix it.
For the best experience you will most likely need to follow ALL the points in this guide (Not including the 'If..." of course, those are optional)

Initial setup and first start

First of all, after you install the game via Steam - launch it at least once so all the config files are generated and the Nvidia control panel would register the game so it could be configured.

If, at this point, you get the "The game is not properly installed" - go to section "If you get 'The game is not properly installed' error when opening 'SettingsApplication.exe' and the Game is in French..."

Then you can return to this section, launch the game once, exit, then proceed to the following sections ("Compatibility" and forward)

Compatibility

To mitigate the risks of the game working improperly because of running on the more modern OS than it was designed for, we would need to enable compatibility mode for the BG&E.

To do this:
1. Navigate to the game folder (Steam\steamapps\common\Beyond Good and Evil).
2. Right-click the BGE.exe file and select 'Properties'.
3. Go to the 'Compatibility' tab and change the compatibility setting of the file to Windows XP (SP3).

Game configuration

Sure, 640x480 is the original resolution and some of you might say 'it's how it meant to be played', but come on, we want to see how the game looks on modern monitors in full glory, right?
Also, the game is completelly unplayable without some tweaks (I'm talking 5FPS unplayable)

1. In the game folder, launch SettingsApplication.exe
2. Select your desired resolution. the game runs well even with nVidia's DRS and 5K resolution (5K is the highest I've tested), however, there is an issue with camera on high resolutions (you need to bee very far from the creature to photograph it) so it's better to stick to ~1080p
3. (Important!) Set FPS limit to 60. Any higher than that would cause the game to run faster (and I mean everything: cinematics, animation, etc. would be 2x faster with 120FPS)
4. (Even more important!) Go to the 'Advanced Settings' tab and check 'Manual compatibility settings' -> 'HW Vertex Processing'. This is REQUIRED if you want your game to be playable (FPS fix). Thanks Wild Pork for the tip
5. (Optional) you can check other tabs in the configuration application to change controls, tweak graphics\sound, etc.

If you get 'The game is not properly installed' error when opening 'SettingsApplication.exe' and the Game is in French...

Looks like in the recent patch, the install script has been updated.
If you still getting the "Application is not installed" and the game is in French (or had the game run prior to the patch), perform the following steps:

1. Go to the game folder, "support" subfolder (e.g. "{Steam folder}\steamapps\common\Beyond Good and Evil\support")
2. Double click the "settings.reg" file and confirm adding keys to the registry
3. Double click the "support.bat" file
4. Do the steps from sections "Game configuration" and "Fixing aspect ratio and removing the black bands on top and bottom of the screen" of this guide (because the settings has been reset)
5. Launch the game

Now it should work fine.

(Optional) To verify the steps worked, you can check the registry by opening Registry Editor and looking into folder "Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Ubisoft\Beyond Good & Evil". It now should contain values "Install Path" and "SelectedLanguage" (should be set to 1 for English).

If it doesn't help, you can try right clicking the game in Steam library -> Properties -> Local Files -> Verify Game Integrity.
It should (theoretically) re-run the install script (installscript.vdf) on next game launch.

Also, launch the game through Steam. Double clicking the .exe file won't run the install script.

If you get "Beyond Good & Evil not properly installed. Please install Beyond Good & Evil" error when trying to launch SettingsApplication.exe - it's because some registry entries (like install directory and selected audio language) were created in the wrong location.

To fix this you need to do the following:
1. Open Registry editor (Click Windows Start -> search for 'Run' -> click 'Run' -> enter 'regedit' and click 'Ok').
2. Navigate to the location "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\WOW6432Node\Ubisoft\Beyond Good & Evil", and make sure the 'Beyond Good & Evil' folder is selected (not just expanded). Also, note there are two 'WOW6432Node' folders in the path. That's our problem.
3. With 'Beyond Good & Evil' folder selected, click File -> Export, then name the file and save it anywhere.
4. Open the file with a text editor of your choice (or just Right Click -> Edit).
5. Find the path from step 2 in the file, it should be in the square brackets.
6. Remove one of the 'WOW6432Node' folders from the path (new path should be "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\UbiSoft\Beyond Good & Evil"), then save the changes made to the file (Ctrl+S)
7. Double click the file and confirm adding values to the registry.

Now SettingsApplication.exe should start without any issues.

Thanks to FreakRunner for reporting the issues and providing a link to the thread with the fix. More info in the thread itself: https://steamcommunity.com/app/15130/discussions/0/1697221160898424196/

Further configuration with Nvidia Control Panel (if the game still runs too fast)

For me, setting a limit of 60 FPS in settings was not enough and the game continued to play at 144FPS (because of my monitor) in fast forward. Not the best experience.
The issue was the disabled VSync on my GPU side

To limit FPS manually with Nvidia drivers:
1. Open Nvidia Control Panel (right-click nVidia icon in the system tray. If the icon is not present - make sure you have the latest drivers installed)
2. Go to 'Manage 3D Settings'
3. Navigate to the 'Program Settings' tab
4. Click 'Add'
5. Select 'Beyond Good & Evil', then click 'Add Selected Program' at the bottom. The game should be displayed in the dropdown (For some reason it's displayed as 'BANG! - Gunship Elite(bge.exe)')
6. Find the 'Vertical sync' option and change it to 'On'
7. Find the 'Max Frame Rate' option and set it to 60
8. Apply the changes

Note: If you're using non-Nvidia GPU - you might need to research how to limit FPS for the game on your system, as I only worked with Nvidia GPUs.

Fixing aspect ratio and removing the black bands on top and bottom of the screen

If you launch this game right now, the image would be squeezed vertically and black bars would be shown. Sure, it looks more cinematic, but peoples' heads should NOT be wider than taller.
To fix it, we would need to add the registry entry.

Note: you need to launch the game at least once (or run "settings.reg" in the "Beyond Good and Evil\support" folder)

Lazy approach:
1. Download the registry patch from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nx5oWc9_C2lbh7n8ewqQOFIQiZaWeec4/view?usp=sharing
2. Double click it and confirm adding a new key to the registry

A slightly less lazy approach (if you don't want to download sketchy files from the internet):
If for some reason the link to the registry patch from the previous section would stop working, you still can create the patch manually
1. Create a text file anywhere on your PC
2. Paste the following text in it and save:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ubisoft\Beyond Good & Evil/SettingsApplication.INI/Basic video]
"NoBands"=dword:00000001

3. Change the file resolution to .reg
4. Double click it and confirm adding a new key to the registry

Manual approach (advanced):
If for some reason you want to feel like a hacker (not actually), then you can add the key to the registry on your own.
1. Open registry editor (Click Windows Start -> search for 'Run' -> click 'Run' -> enter 'regedit' and click 'Ok')
2. Navigate to the following branch (folder): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ubisoft\Beyond Good & Evil/SettingsApplication.INI/Basic video
3. Right click anywhere -> New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value
4. Name it 'NoBands' (without quotes)
5. Modify (right-click -> modify) its value to 1 and save

In all of the cases you can check if the manipulation was successful by verifying the value in the registry branch HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ubisoft\Beyond Good & Evil/SettingsApplication.INI/Basic video

Setting Audio/UI language

Finally, the game language can be changed through Steam.
Just Right click the game in your library -> Properties -> Language and select the desired language. Now the game should start with both UI and sound in the selected language.
Note: It might reset the setting (quirks of Steam install scripts) so you might need to go through some of the steps gain it you played the game before)

Changing the language in this game to anything but English is not very user-friendly (like, at all), but there are some workarounds.
Language set in 'SettingsApplication.exe' only affects interface language, so here's how to change Audio localization too...

First of all, you would need to know the code of the desired language:

French: 0
English: 1
German: 2
Spanish: 3
Italian: 4
Dutch: 5
Brazilian: 6
Korean: 7
Japanese: 8
Traditional Chinese: 9
Simplified Chinese: 10
Russian: 11

Then, you need to edit the language settings in the registry. Note, that there are 2 separate settings in completely different locations
UI language: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Ubisoft\Beyond Good & Evil\SelectedLanguage (this one is controlled by SettingsApplication.exe)
Audio language: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Ubisoft\Beyond Good & Evil\InstallLanguage

Just edit the aforementioned registry key values by setting it to the code of the language you want and you're good to go

If you're having some troubles with manually editing the registry - you can try more 'automated' approach:
1. Download registry patch which edits the language settings (currently set to English) from https://drive.google.com/file/d/12B1Epie0DDHwFFBtpjGDfFIyDyjZKd2l/view?usp=sharing
2. Open it with any text editor of your choice
3. change BOTH key value to the desired language and save (note: the value should always have 8 characters, so if you want German - put '00000002' as the value)
4. Double click the file and confirm adding the changes to the registry

Important note: Launching the game using Steam will revert the language settings to English, so launch it by double clicking 'BGE.exe' or 'SettingsApplication.exe' -> Play

Launch!

Finally, you can launch the game and enjoy. Now it should work perfectly.

Feel free to ask any questions. I will try to keep the FAQ section updated.

Optional Stuff

ENB mod for improved graphics

If you think the graphics are a bit dull - you can try out the ENB for this game, which drastically improves the image as-is and can be further tweaked
Link: https://www.moddb.com/mods/bge-enb/downloads/bge-enb

Setup: Just unpack the downloaded archive and toss all the files in the game folder. You can also disable the improved graphics without removing the mod by changing 'UseEffect' parameter value to 0 in enbseries.ini

FAQ

Q. The game controls show controller buttons, but the controller doesn't seem to work
A. The game doesn't support the controllers natively (which is weird, considering it's a port from consoles). But Steam allows mapping the controller to keyboard buttons.
Right click the game in your Steam library -> Properties -> Controller and make sure your controller is recognized by Steam and is enabled (it also can be further tweaked).
Also, check steam://controllerconfig/beyond%20good%20%26%20evil/1222712750 (open in browser, it should open Steam window)

Q. When I try to photograph a creature, it usually says 'Bad framing'
A. It's the issue on high resolutions. Especially if your'e using Nvidia's DSR or other kinds of super-sampling. It seems to work fine on 1080p and somewhat ok on 1440p.

Q. The game changes languages back to English on start
A. Language settings are indeed reverted to English when launching the game from Steam library. To avoid this and continue playing on the desired language - launch the game by double clicking the executable ('BGE.exe') or launching 'SettingsApplication.exe', then clicking 'Play' in it

Q. FPS is too low, the game is unplayable!
A. Make sure 'Manual compatibility settings' -> 'HW Vertex Processing' is enabled in SettingsApplication.exe

[Some Kitty Cat]

@ARGON
" I'm sorry, I know nothing about AMD. But there should be a way to limit FPS, I just have no idea how. "

Its called "Radeon Chill" and can be found when selecting a game in the "AMD Software Adrenaline" software

Might be worth adding to the guide.

[M0mdeck]

Hey there! You don't need to enable "Vertical Sync" in NVidia Control Panel in order for the Max FPS to work.

For non-nvidia GPUs you can use something like RivaTuner Statistics to lock the frames to 60

[Kknewkles]

Got another weird bug to add to the pantheon: the game doesn't wish to enumerate the dedicated GPU(an Nvidia laptop GPU) :DDD (in the settings exe. Launched it once before starting anything, then also went to the Nvidia control panel and specifically told the exe to use gGPU)

[jabhacksoul]

still getting 'The game is not properly installed' error been repeating game configuration and the spot of doing the settings.reg and support.bat and still getting the same 'The game is not properly installed' error

[El Mondongo]

yeah i set it all up ,but still nope

[ARGON]

I'm sorry, I know nothing about AMD. But there should be a way to limit FPS, I just have no idea how.

[El Mondongo]

fps still high ,im on AMD

[ARGON]

Hey DomSki,
Please, check the section "If you get 'The game is not properly installed' error". It's usually the issue with the registry keys, so it needs tweaking sometimes. Make sure to check the path to the registry keys.

[DomSki]

Currently having a problem with the game where the main settings application is not loading up. Every time I try to load it up to fix the resolution on the setting application it won't let me and say that I need the game installed when the game is fully installed!!! Is there a easy fix to this??

[Sharkbytez [O.Sp]]

I've tried the steps here and also on other guides, but my issue is that I'm getting a glitchy-looking white checkered artifacts on the screen when the game begins to get rendered when Jade and the child appear. Any ideas what's causing this? I've already tried checking all manual compatibility settings on and off.