First time playing Gothic
 

Hey everyone!

So, this is my first time playing Gothic. I recently completed Risen 2 (and loved it) and played a bit of Risen 1 before becoming distracted, and now I want to go back and play the Gothics. I'll be playing them in chronological order starting with the first game.

I'll use this thread to post questions and observations about the game as I feel the need to.

First question. Is there any simple way to increase the font size? I'm playing with the Player Kit mod and using a resolution of 1360x768, and the font is tiny. I imagine it would be very easy to miss items on the ground and stuff because I can't even see the words when they pop up too well. Any ideas here?

What size screen are you playing on? I run Gothic at 1920x1200, and I don't have any problem reading the font.

Also, you'll want to install TheilHater's texture patch. It updates the textures to bring them to about the same level as they are in Gothic II.

http://www.worldofgothic.com/dl/?go=dlfile&fileid=129

I'm playing on 1360x768 and the font is tiny. It's hard to read and I'm using a 32" monitor.

I installed Freddy's Texture Pack already, didn't know ThielHater's pack was suggested as well. Thanks for the heads up!

I changed the resolution to 800x600 and that made the text slightly bigger. It's at least big enough now that I can read it properly, so I have to settle with that resolution for now. Unless someone knows of a way to increase the font size…

First impressions of the game:

I'm finding it quite nice so far. I like the dialogs and the sense of scavenging to get what you need. I also think the graphics are fine with a few texture packs added, and the combat is pretty good I feel. It seems to be quite a dangerous game which I also enjoy, as one scavenger who's particularly aggressive can drain your life and even kill you at the start. I also like how you can draw a single enemy in combat and have to be careful not to draw a whole pack.

There seems to be a great amount of interactivity in the world, with lots of things to discover. I've only played the first hour or 2, so I'm still fresh in the beginning of the game, but I've found some interesting things.

It seems I can join any camp I want, which is nice. That appears to be a vital choice in the game.

Will continue and post more impressions as I play. So far, so good.

Don't join a camp too early as it progresses the storyline…

Try and explore and enjoy

Thanks for the tip.

Right now I'm running around the Old Camp and talking to everyone, gathering quests, etc. I'm about to visit the Sect Camp and see what's up outside of the camps.

The Sect Camp seems particularly interesting because of the magic. Smoking swampweed and seeing visions is pretty funny stuff. :)

Make sure to save in several different slots - there are still a couple of plot stoppers left.

Generally speaking leave your options open for as long as possible.

Character development is very straight forward in the first game. A slightly better sword, a better armour and a bit of strength makes hell of a difference.

Most enemies, humans or creatures, are as strong as they look.

Can't say I've read something similar to your font problem. I found this through some searching so you might want to try it over playing the game at 800x600. I'd definitely look into it. As old as the Gothics may be they can still look great (just make sure to set your view distance to maximum).

Also, while nowhere as imperative as with Gothic 3, you might want to install the Unofficial Ironkeep patch which should deal with some of the showstoppers that Gorath mentions. Latest version is v1.0b afaik.

I can't seem to find a working link for the Gothic High Res font patch.

Does anyone here happen to have the files that they can send me?

Also, the unofficial patch and the System Pack really make a huge difference. With the texture packs as well the game does look great. I also disabled the LOD and multiplied the view distance by 10. Since I disabled LOD I don't get any graphical texture flickering anymore and I can see a long way in the distance. Tripled the NPC spawn range as well. Seems to work great.

Managed to find a link, going to post it in case someone who doesn't speak Russian has the same problem and bumps into this thread http://fgex.ru/files/FONT_High_Resolution_v2.zip

Would you bind elaborating on the LOD part? I don't remember such a choice in the ingenue options. Did you use any external configs?

Thanks a lot!!

This makes the game playable in high res for me, however, the font size is only marginally more easy to read. Strange, I though it would be bigger. It is slightly bigger, just enough to make the game playable. So, thanks!

I edited the System Pack .ini file. From that file you can disable LOD, change the FOV, increase spawn distance and other things. Here is a link for a better description:

http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum…mPack-(ENG-DEU)

Scroll down to the "File descriptions (SystemPack.ini)" section and voila. It works great and makes the game a LOT better. Previously I was having very bad graphical pop-in and flickering, now it seems nonexistent. Plus I can see forever in the distance and the game still runs at a high FPS.

Enjoy!

I've never used the system pack before, but I see it was just released late last year. I usually just roll with ThielHaters patch to make the textures look better without changing the feel of the game world too much.

I wasn't too impressed with Freddy's patch, and it made the water flash constantly in my game when I tried it.

Beware of increasing the view distance and NPC/monster spawn range too much. It can have unintended consequences such as NPCs and monsters engaging in battle (with each other) before you want them to.

Glad that helped. To be on the safe side, in case the link stops working, I uploaded the file to some mirrors (don't have the author's permission but I think it's worth it):

https://www.mirrorcreator.com/files/…n_v2.zip_links
http://www.multiupload.nl/BYYWAHI2K2

Thanks for that! Ought to have a look at it when I do my (1st!) NotR playthrough this summer.

Nice pick with G1. I thought you were going for G3 first.

I played G1 AFTER I played G2 about 5 years ago. I played with no texture packs and had no problems with the graphics. Obviously G1 is not even close state of the art graphics, but G1, for me is still playable, even to this day.

BTW, in Gothic games, not only do I hold of on major game decisions until the last moment, I don't even level up until fighting becomes too tuff.

Nice! I might consider doing the same.

I'm playing with the texture packs and all but I think Gothic looks great. It's very nice to have increased view distance, something I love from mod packages like the Morrowind Overhaul. It adds a lot to the immersion for me by being able to see long distances. It also looks very nice in 1920x1080. Like you said, far from Risen 2 or whatever, but still very much playable.

Nice, good luck with that!

No problem on the link. Like JDR said, might want to think twice about increasing the spawn ranges, but the view distance multiplier seems pretty harmless and looks great. That said, I'm running the game on a Radeon 7970m GPU, and in the Sleeper camp the FPS drops to about 30 if I look in a certain direction, then jumps back up to 60 in other spots. So, with a lesser graphics card it might be a little more cumbersome to increase the view distance by 10 times. Just experiment with it until you find something that works for you.

Didn't think of that. I think I will tone it down some. Would you think double the range to be alright? The default range is pretty short.

More impressions:

Spent about 7 hours or so with it thus far and man, this game is great! The Sleeper camp is too much, lol.

Random novice: "I'm so high, man!!!"

or, "Dude, the Sleeper shows us the way, man." Far out, lol.

Game is awesome, though. I'm really enjoying it. I might as well be a hoarder at this point already, though, because I have a TON of stuff after looting the Old Camp dry (learned sneaking and picking locks first). I have like 20 healing potions, 50 grilled meats, etc. etc. Lol. Pretty awesome.

But yeah, this game is very much drawing me in and keeping me there. I can't wait to delve deeper into it.

Onward I go!

Oh, one more thing. Since downloading the unofficial path and the font fix, I'm unable to ALT+TAB out of the game now. Instead, ALT brings up my inventory, or if the game is paused, it cycles through the menu choices. Any way I can re-enable ALT+TAB? It was working fine before the unofficial patch. Maybe I'll have a look at the .ini file…

Hmmmmmm . . . . The engagement range was a problem in G2 at one certain point. The Orcs were engaging some farmers when I was within sight. I could never get there in time to save everyone. I never thought of changing the range. I'll save that idea it for play through 5.

Okay, quick question for anyone that can help.



Edit - I think I'm okay. Nothing seems to have changed much other than getting that 250 XP and a quest to join.

My memory could be fuzzy but afaik once your group field in your character sheet changes you're locked into your new guild.

Thanks! Still says none, so I guess I am safe.