Arx Fatalis - Patch & Source Code
 

Hold onto your hats RPGWatchers this one will knock your retro socks off. Arkane Studios has released a patch that brings Arx Fatalis up to version 1.21.
According to Bethesda Blog this fixes the stability on Windows 7 and Vista machines, performance issues on Nvidia GPUs and a number of other things. You can get the patch here.
They have also released the source code. You can get it from the same page you got the patch.
I have verified that the patch and source code can be downloaded, but none of the claims about what the patch does. Read the readme for the source code and have fun revisiting Arx Fatalis on your modern rigs.
More information.

I loved this game.

Hey, some of us were just talking about this game. :)

Great game …I loved the atmosphere.

Ha! Mind readers! :)

I`m only few hours in, after waiting to play it for ages - my old comp couldn`t handle it. I`m on XP and had no major issues with it, apart from slight tearing in some places. Let`s see how it goes with this patch…

And source code, eh? Now that`s a grand gesture :)

What a Game!!! And its difficult too.

WOW!

The atmosphere was awesome and I loved the gameplay…

I think this is it

Cool! Thanks, redman. I couldn't read the readme because the patch is an EXE and I don't have the game installed at the moment.

Fixed HUD scaling sounds great :) Man….I can't start another game. I've already got Precusors, Avernum and Majesty 2: Kingmaker that I'm playing…..Damn you Arkane Studios for being so cool!!!

Actually you can run the patch to see patch notes and then cancel it.

Full patch notes are also here
http://download2.zenimax.com/arxfata…_changelog.txt

Just reminded me how buggy was this game before patch 1.16:)

wow ! O_O

I think I should reinstall this game again …

Ahh, the memories. What an excellent game!

Loved the graphics style and it had the best goblins (and hobgoblins AKA goblin lords) in any CRPG yet. Can still remember one of the early encounters with them, being low on health, I had to run away from one, only to have him shout after me: "You fight like a girl!" And of course the toilet in the goblin stronghold, which is occupied, and if you try the locked door, a very annoyed goblin voice cries out: "Occupied!" Classic stuff! :)

If you haven't played it yet, what are you waiting for - go play it!! Oh and beware the Ylsides.

Great game. It captured the ultima underworld vibe like nothing else. Sadly, they never got back to their RPG roots, releasing the craptastic dark messiah of might&magic followed by the excellent but non-RPG bioshock 2. Hopefully bethesda leads them back to their roots.

I wish they would make Arx Fatalis 2 already. If I remember right when they originally were developing Arx Fatalis 2 something happened and they had to switch gears on what they were working on and turn into that Might and Magic game they made

The game had tons of atmosphere. Just like underworlds.

Super..i'll play it again on Windows 7 now :)
One of my favourites that's for sure!

I can't get the game to retain graphics settings. It starts out with a little 2 by 2 inch square. I adjust the resolution to the largest setting and click "apply" start the game save a game, then exit. Restart the game and the settings are back to what they were. Unacceptable for me

Well, as I recall Arkane licensed Valve's Source engine and began working on a Arx 2 demo/prototype that they started shipping around various publishers. That picked Ubi Soft's interest, but as it happened Ubi Soft had just bought the right from the Might & Magic license and offered Arkane to do Dark Messiah instead.

So the little that had been done on that Arx 2 prototype was turned in Dark Messiah of Might & Magic.

I loved Dark Messiah but I certainly would have prefered an Arx 2. Raphaël Colantonio did say that the next game they were working were something more in the vein or Arx Fatalis, so here's hoping…

-Sergorn

One of the most frustrating games ever released, but it was good too.

$5,99 on gog.com.
Hope the patch can be applied on that version too.

I never finished Arx, but I got several fun hours out of it. Of course everyone knows that Arx Fatalis 2 will be the first crpg to use the Id Tech 5 engine :biggrin:

Wow, what a dedication. Arkane Studios really earns praises. I hope this solves my 'game doesn't start' problem.

I'm sure that gog will patch their setup.exe to latest version.

I'd be great if they could release the SDK in addition to the source code.

I mean it'd be the perfect engine for an Ultima Underworld remake :P

-Sergorn

Question - does this new patch (v1.21) include all the prior patch fixes, or do you have to install the game and each patch that is available for it ending with installing this final v1.21 patch?

@max killen,
I had the same problem with the 1.21 patch installed, always runs in a small window, black square mouse cursor, settings would not hold, etc'
So in the .cfg file i changed video=0 to video=1 (which is max screen mode) and all setting then became configurable, it might work for you?

@TheMadGamer,
Yes, just this patch is all thats needed as it includes all updates from previous patches.

Thanks Wulf!

After patching it over the GOG release the game no longer silently redirects to VirtualStore (as with v1.19), and so settings and saves and such can't be kept without running as an administrator or editing security permissions. I wonder whether their Vista/7 fixes are the cause of this. Is anyone else experiencing this behaviour?

Thanks Wulf, the full screen works fine now

Time to hit the storage closet again!

wow…so many people talking about arx :-)
i think i will install it as well…
it's funny, that back in 2002, when arx was released, it reminded me so much of ultima underworld and that was 10 years before arx
ahhhh…almost 10 years have passed again, hope someone is creating another of these dungeon crawlers soon

If we were asked to make a list of unlikely sequels that we want to see developed, Arx Fatalis 2 would be near the top for me.

And for those of you complaining that Arx was difficult…grow some nads. ;)

This could be a precursor to making Arx Fatalis 2 since it is a good gesture to attract attention to the Arx Fatalis franchise again.

PS. Anyone having problems with settings not saving are likely on Vista/7 and should right click on the icon, go to properties, and click on the compatibility tab, check the box "run this program as administrator", and run the game. It should now save the settings.

EDIT: I just tried it on my gog version and initially it didn't work but when I checked the box to run as administrator and it works perfectly and saves the settings also. It is great playing this at 1360x768.

Nice! The patch also seems to correct the most annoying bug ever - some savegames loading to black screen. I don't like the ui scaling fix though - the inventory is now really tiny at high resolutions like 1920*1080. I'd imagine that makes certain sequences where you need to use something quickly from the inventory a bit harder.

Excellent news, especially the source code! :party:

Finally a fan patch and mods can be made, plenty of room for adventures since Arx 2, sadly still isn't finished.

Installed patch for the GOG.COM version for Windows XP - seems to work just fine.

Also, checked the source code - as far as I can tell, it seems to be the complete source for building a new executable. Not sure about any external dependencies it might have, but … have at it modders!

Reinstalling! :D

Though, I had unofficial version of that patch already done by some russian coder half year back or so.

No. You had unofficial repackage of 1.19 - this particular version was only released with digital download of the game (from GOG and Steam). A fan just did a diff and repackaged the new files and released them unofficially. At the time Arkane said something along the lines, that there was a difficulty applying the patch on boxed version and therefore they didn't provide an official installer. I suspect lack of interest from the boxed version publisher to be the real reason why 1.18 and 1.19 official patches never saw the light of day for boxed versions though.
1.21 is a new patch, that works with both boxed copies and digital downloads and fixes bugs, that 1.19 didn't, including a very nasty savegame corruption, that could leave you with a black screen upon loading a savegame.

Best. Crypts. Ever.

And yes, Arx Fatalis 2 needs to happen.

1.18 was released for retail version. I was playing with this version some 3 years ago.

I heard there's a code which makes the game look like Ultima Underworld. I couldn't get the code to work myself, I wonder if any of you guys could make it work.

The code is UUW, you must draw it with your hand just as if you are casting a spell.

More info:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/371212-arx-fatalis/cheats