Arcanum High Resolution Patch Version 1.5 Release

It's been 8 years since the original release but the update is finally here. Funny how it goes, huh.

I'll skip the bullshit, enjoy.

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CHANGELOG:
-- 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 broacast 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 rendererer 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.

 

Screenshots:












An example of bordering added to all the UI screens:

 

Looks rather sexy, hopefully someone will sticky it (I mean beyond the fact I've already stickied all over it).

 

I dig the new font and look forward to UAP 2.0... whenever that might be.

 

Wow! Nice work.

 

Those screenshots would be spoilers to you wouldn't they Philes? They are all after Ristezze!

 

Hey! I'm new here. Thanks so much for the patch!

I'm unable to test at the moment, but I have a question!

Is it possible to scale the UI separate from the game resolution? I have a laptop with a tiny screen and this is a feature that really comes in handy, because if I use native resolution the UI is too small.

(Also, is it possible to render the window at native resolution and the game itself at a lower resolution?)

 

Hi Drog, it's really good to see you back fixing/improving stuff after all those years, makes me wonder if those guys behind multiverse got something to do with it.

I installed the patch and have 2 things to say about it:

Good - it's much better now than it was before, just installing and then changing configs in the .ini is much better than the previous system.

Bad - there are some micro-stutters (or hiccups) regarding the speed the characters move or the screen is scrolled, nothing serious or annoying, just reporting those because they didnt happpen on unpatched game. no idea if this can be optimized but in the case it's not possible it doesnt matter, you did a good job, better than most of ppl would do i believe.

Now i'm curious to know if you came back to bug fixing/restorations, i have bugs to report that happen in the main game and vormantown.

 

ey there drog, i never had the chance to thank you for your work with arcanum and if it wasnt for you i believe i would NEVER be able to play arcanum all the way to the end as mid game i allways, ALLWAYS, have to delete my save because one or another bug rendered it unplayable. it passed well over 10 years sines i bought it up until i finally discovered the patch you made and was able to complete arcanum(which is by far one of my favourite games). it may seem a bit stupid to some, but i just wanted to let you know how greatful i am for this, and in a rather minor, yet important way you have single handedly changed my life. im seemingly unable to let things slide and this was bugging(heh) me for so long. xD

so finally, a thousand times and more, thank you.

 

Found another bug: The UI doesnt disappear in the end of the game when you see teh final cutscenes, you have to press F10 to reduce the GUI to see the cutscenes without problems.

 

(cant believe my account wasnt pruned) ANYWAY, you're a hero drog, thanks a bunch, steam sell this in an unplayable state for modern hardware.

 

Enjoyed!

This is simply awesome.

In case anyone else is looking for fixes to
- Issues with scrolling: unbearably slow and stuttering
- Graphics glitches after alt-tab to desktop and back

The high res mod 1.5 fixes these issues for me on Windows 10. HighRes mod configured to install ddraw wrapper and set scroll fps to 85.

Scrolling doesn't just go from unbearable to "ok" - It actually becomes fast and smooth! The same scroll quality you'd expect in any game you install today.
Alt-tab: not much to say about it. Either it works, or it doesn't. And now it does!

Thanks

 

Pretty! I need to give this a try at some point.

 

I just found out about this and tried it, it doesn't work for me. Since no one else reported the problem I'm having I guess I did something wrong, but I don't know what that could be.

The resolution I tried was 1366x768. The text isn't aligned with the box on the game options screen (cf the third screenshot posted in the start of the thread). More seriously, any time I try to initiate dialog with any npc, instead of the dialogue box coming up the game just silently crashes with a CTD.

I used the hi-res 1.1 patch for years with no problem. After trying this 1.5, I uninstalled 1.5, and then re-installed hi-res 1.1, and everything works just fine again.

Anyone have an idea on what this trouble could be?

 

Hi, i installed the 1.5 hi-res but it gives me some problems...i'm adding screenshots.
Well, the 1st screen seems quite ok, but in the 2nd and the 3rd you can clearly see they're not ok.

 

It's all normal, in-game it should be the game background

 

The in-game background is ok, but i still get a few issues. The squares on the top of the screen (where cumulative spells are displayed) are blue and the mana bar isn't really centered -.- Guess i'll try to re-install it again.

*Seems ok now, dunno what went wrong before.

 

I'm glad everything went ok