Arcanum High Resolution Patch

Current Version: 1.5 (June 20, 2017)

INFO

Arcanum High Resolution Patch is an extensive engine hack and probably the most complex mod I've done up to this point. It rewrites a lot of code to make the engine fully scalable to any resolution, and calculates positions of all elements of the interface (well over 1000 offsets) for the desired width and height by using formulas. The project took me many weeks of heavy reverse-engineering and debugging, as I had to go through the whole interface and many other functions to properly adapt the game for higher resolutions and make the engine fully scalable. I tried my best to keep everything as close to original as possible.

Features:

Full support for any resolution up to 4K and beyond.
All elements of the interface adapt to a given resolution.
Optional larger dialog and logbook fonts, including a remastered size 18 dialog font.
Full HD main menu backgrounds with several backdrops to choose from.
Full compatibility with any version of the game, modded or not.
Full compatibility with older save games.
Improved Compact UI that can now be accessed anytime by pressing F10.
UI bordering for English, French, German and Russian versions of the game.
DirectDraw compatibility layer for Windows 8/10.

The patch runs on WeiDU, as it includes a rather flexible binary patcher with support for formulas. Qwinn's search and replace macro is also used. Many thanks to the Spellhold Studios community for providing these useful tools.

DOWNLOADS

Now part of the Unofficial Arcanum Patch, use the legacy version below only if you need to use the patch with a non-English version of the game.

High Resolution Patch 1.5 (EN/DE/FR/RU)
Mirror 1 (Terra-Arcanum)
Mirror 2 (The Patches Scrolls)
Mirror 3 (Petrell)

CHANGELOG

Version 1.0

- Initial release.

Version 1.1

- Fixed the spells/skills buttons on the bottom panel. The spells/skill menu doesn't disappear anymore if the corresponding button is still pressed.
- Added a new optional component: Compact Options Screen. This breaks the options screen into 3 parts (top, middle and bottom), just like with the other menus.
- Fixed mouse cursor detection issues with the character creation menu. Gender, race and background fields now get properly detected.
- Fixed mouse cursor detection issues with many multiplayer related menus.
- The NPC response window now gets proportionally larger when the larger dialog font component is installed. Now all text fits correctly.
- Fixed all issues with the larger logbook font. Now all text fits correctly and page numbers are visible.
- Added size 18 dialog fonts as an option.

Version 1.1a

- Fixed a crash when clicking around in character pick/create menu.

Version 1.5

- The patch is now configured and applied via a config file, no more command line prompts.
- Many more settings and features are now available in the config file, to be further configured by the user to their liking.
- The vertical position of the middle screen menus (e.g. inventory or load save) can now be set to top, bottom or center (default).
- Most UI graphics have been cleaned up, the top shading has been removed and full size borders have been added.
- Added fullscreen backgrounds to the main menu, 3 variants are available: just black, fade to black, fullscreen wooden background (also applies to options and credits).
- Compiled a completely new crisp sharp size 18 dialog font which is true to the original.
- Increased preload distance, so that you won't see stuck objects at very high resolutions. This feature is also user configurable.
- Increased broadcast distance, so that the followers can heed your commands at greater distances. This feature is also user configurable.
- Splash screens are now centered.
- Fixed all lingering UI bugs, such as the map menu navigation button not working properly.
- Resolved the issue with the Half Ogre Island captain not spawning.
- Added options to force the game to use windowed mode, software renderer and double buffer.
- Scrolling distance is no longer patched to be smaller, and both scrolling distance and scrolling FPS can now be configured in the config file.
- Streamlined and cleaned up a lot of code. All patch scripts are fully commented.
- Fixed a 'run as administrator' prompt on newer versions of Windows.
- The DDrawCompat wrapper is included in the patch and can be optionally installed, recommended for Windows 8/10 users.