Hi guys

I just Installed Gothic 1 on windows 7 64 and i'm getting a black screen with background music every time i launch the game. I tried tweaking the game but it didn't seem to help. Any solutions?

Thanks.

So, to clarify, you're seeing a black video prior to the main menu, with the main menu itself displaying correctly?

This is caused by antialiasing being forced in the video card control panel. Go there and set antialiasing to "application controlled" (or similar).

The main menu is not displaying as well. It's just a black screen. Currently the unofficial patch, texture and fps mods are installed. Antialiasing is set to "application controlled". Here's my .ini files settings.

; G O T H I C
;
; INI-File
;
; contains different settings
; ... some can be modified in gothics menu
; ... some not (feel free to hack, but don't cry if something strange happens ... :)
; ... others won't take any effect (they will be reset during gameplay)
; ... and a few may cause a crash or some other funny things :)
;
; Be careful but DON'T PANIC !!
;

[PERFORMANCE]

recalc=0
; ... indicates if your performance-settings should be recalculated (1) {analyses you computer} or not (0). Replays Intro-Video.

sightValue=4
; ... range of visibility: 0=20% ... 14=300%, default is 4 (100%)

modelDetail=0.5
; ... detail of models (LODing) from 0.0 to 1.0, default is 0.5

[GAME]

subTitles=1
; ... choose if you want to see windows with spoken words (1) or not (0), default is 0

animatedWindows=1
; ... turn fading of game-internal windows(views) off (0) or on (1), default is 1

; ... mouseSpeed in game between 0.0 and 1.0, default is 0.5

; ... turn weather-effects (rain) on (1) or off (0), default is 1

bloodDetail=3
; ... details of blood (0 = off), use values from 0 to 3

scaleVideos=0
; ... disable scaling of videos (0) if you have problems with your graphics-adapter, default is on (1)

extendedVideoKeys=0
; ... enables extra keys for videoplay: HOME (restart), RIGHT (step forward), UP, DOWN (volume), Q(uiet), default is 0

camLookaroundInverse=0
; ... inverts the camera-lookaround for UP and DOWN-direction (for both: mouse and keyboard)

cameraLightRange=0
; ... range of cameralight in cm, default is 0 (no camera-light)

invShowArrows=1
; ... show arrows beside inventory if there are more items above or beyond, default is 1

invSwitchToFirstCategory=0
; ... switch to first category (weapons) in trading-screen, when moving to your heroes inventory, default is 0

enableMouse=1
; ... enable your mouse for gothic, default is 1

mouseSensitivity=3
playLogoVideos=0
disallowVideoInput=0
skyEffects=1
[VIDEO]

zVidDevice=0
; ... index of graphic-device beginning with zero.

zVidResFullscreenX=1920
zVidResFullscreenY=1080
zVidResFullscreenBPP=32
; ... used resolution

zStartupWindowed=0
; ... should the game be started as a window-application? Just for debugging!
; ... ATTENTION: Not all resolution work in window-mode!!!

zTexMaxSize=16384
; ... size of texture in pixels, default is 16384 (max)

zVidBrightness=0.5
zVidContrast=0.5
zVidGamma=0.5
zDetailTexturesEnabled=0

[SOUND]

soundVolume=1
musicVolume=0.850000024
; ... volume of sound and music, ranges between 0.0 (off) and 1.0 (noisy)

musicEnabled=1
; ... enables (1) or disables (0) music. Gothic needs less memory without music.

soundEnabled=1
soundUseReverb=1
inExtremoVolumeScale=1
inExtremoRangeScale=2
; ... enables (1) or disables (0) sound.

[KEYS]

; *
; * keyboard-Settings
; * the values won't tell you anything interesting
; *

keyShowMap=3200
keyEnd=0100
keyUp=c800c700
keyDown=d000cf00
keyLeft=cb00d200
keyRight=cd00c900
keyStrafeLeft=d300
keyStrafeRight=d100
keyAction=1d00
keySlow=2a00
keySMove=3800b800
keyWeapon=3900
keySneak=1e003700
keyLook=52001300
keyLookFP=53002100
keyInventory=0f000e00
keyShowStatus=1f003000
keyShowLog=26003100

[INTERNAL]

; *
; * These options are for internal use.
; * Most of them won't have effect if you change them here.
; * Others might cause crashes!
; *

idComputerName=XXXXX
idUserName=XXX
; ... something your computer told GOTHIC :-)

extendedMenu=1
; ... Value 1 activates some hidden menu-options (actually only one, guess what! :)

gameStarts=4
; ... number of gamestarts since installation

; ... To make life easier for developers ;)

gameStartFailed=0
; ... Indicates if the last start of gothic succeeded (0) or not (1). This value is invalid during gamestart.

gameAbnormalExit=1
; ... Indicates if the game was correctly shut down (0) or not (1). This value is invalid during gameplay.

menuShowVersion=1
; ... show version-number of gothic in menu, default is 1

gamePath=
gameScript=
gameCompile=1.0
playerInstanceName=PC_HERO
menuAction=NEW_GAME
debugAllChannels=0
debugAllInstances=0
debugChannels=
cutscenesDisabled=0
texDetailIndex=1
vidResIndex=0
perfQualityIndex=
soundProviderIndex=0
soundSampleRateIndex=0
soundSpeakerIndex=0
logStatistics=1
[RENDERER_D3D]

zFogDisabled=0
zUseFirstDevice=0
; ... Disable fog (1) if it makes problems on your graphics-device

[SKY_OUTDOOR]
zDayColor0=116 89 75
zDayColor1=80 90 80
zDayColor2=120 140 180
zDayColor3=120 140 180
[ENGINE]
zDetailTexturesEnabled=0
zSubdivSurfacesEnabled=0
zLevelLODStrength=13000
zVobFarClipZScale=1
zTexCacheOutTimeMSec=240000
zTexCacheSizeMaxBytes=22000000

A quick question: where did you get the game from? GOG or Steam?

Because if you got it from GOG and added it to Steam library, you should first disable In-Game Steam Community: Steam -> Settings -> In-Game -> Check that Enable Steam Community In-Game is disabled.

Did you have the same problem before the mods? (I've only use the FPS patch myself).

You could try uninstalling, deleting any remnants of the mods, and then reinstalling again, then apply one mod at a time, testing the game after each one to see when the problems start.

can you do that with Gothic? if so how? I only thought it could be done with the witcher?

Not activating it on Steam, but adding it as a non-Steam game. Games added to Steam in this way show up in the Steam game list and get the community features etc. when launched through Steam.

Downloading, Steam Cloud, achievements, etc. are still only available if you actually bought/activated that game on Steam.

OK I thought it was the same deal as with Witcher. Well I see no point in adding it then thx

Found the problem. Apparently i forgot to re-enable hardware acceleration for direct draw (disabled it due to recommendation from a planescape tweak guide). God i feel so stupid. Thanks again guys.