Anachronox on XP
 

http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/3382/anox1.jpg

I have been studying Anachronox for some times now but was forced to use a dedicated older computer to run it, as it would not load or run on XP for me, with a mid range card and system. I recently upgraded both and decided to try to get Anachronox to run on the most modern dual core (XP) and a high end video NVida Card. I had prevoiusly relied on a very old FX 5500 and old drivers, but now there is a way to get it to run beautifully on more modern set ups. Otherwise, even with all the patches, two offical and three-four community made patches ...it would not start up at all.

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/9485/anox2.jpg

Here is the secret, using a tweaker called nHancer, it creates a custom set up profile for the game (this is a fix for Nvida cards...dont know about other card sorry)....and i have created a pack of all the patches as they are getting harder and harder to find since Planet Anachronox site and forum went off line and can only be found in archived version after a lot of digging.

XP FIX FOR ANACHRONOX FOR NVIDA CARDS:

Anachronox is one of the most wondeful 3D worlds and games created yet, unfortunately there is less and less access to information about it, as the Planet Anachornox Site is now morbund and archived...so here is help to keep this classic runing:

Many more recent FX cards and drivers wont run Anachronox without some tweaking. You can get an older driver but there is an easier way:

You can set the OpenGL settings to a custom setting that will work with nHancer. Also it helps to get all the patchers, official, 1.01 and 1.02 and the three unofficial patches, 44, 45, and 46 (45 is hard to find so you can get along without it)

The patches are all here in a special pack i made:

Anachronox Patch Set

http://www.filefront.com/15856631/An...tches-3.0.rar/

and you can get nHancer here:

www.nhancer.com

nHancer detects all the games and programs on your system but......

You will have to create (Add Profile) a profile for Anachronox as nHancer wont find it, as it installs directly into C Drive instead of Program Files. Once you direct the profile to the Anachronox Exe you will be able to makes a custom set up file for Anachornox that will run the game on XP.

Highlight the Profile for Anachronox on the list, than to to the right and chose the Compatability tam and then the Opengl tab.

At the bottom of the list, you will see a special section for Driver Extenstion Limit:

Type in 11a8 and close.

Be sure you only change the setting for this one game and not in the Global Tab or all your games will be changed.

Now you can run Anachronox with FX cards on XP just fine. If you want to see discussuoion about this, this is a discussion thread from VOGONS forum...

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopi...r=asc&start=20

This is what the set up looks when you set the custom OpenGL setting for Anachronox in nHancer

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2...xhronoxpic.jpg

this is a wonderful game with so many fine aspects, I am very glad to be able to help see that it continues to be played and enjoyed.

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/7...x6fountain.jpg

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8986/42839011.jpg

The file is not there!

Sorry about that, i renewed the address for the patch set, it is working now :)

here it is again :

http://www.filefront.com/15856631/An...tches-3.0.rar/

This has the two official patches, one is 1.01 and then 1.02 is the actual tools to make mods that the developers released, just merge the files in it with the game install files. Then install community (Chinaman) patches 44-46 and if you need the nHancer fix follow the directions for that and you should be good to go.

Access to a New Area on Sunder Discovered.... off the main game path

I found btw a way to get off the main path of the slideway you are on for the story, i think it is a undiscovered bug...but you can jump from the main slideway area to the lower slideway and explore more of the amazing city world....and it did not appear to cause any harm in my progress, just be sure to save before this point.... I will hide it with a spoiler

Spoiler:

You get to the spot where the floating man is, and after he does his thing if you complete the conversation he flies off, stand just by where he was and you can jump over and down to the lower slideway and your companions will follow you safely too. You can move around and see some areas that are inacessible from view above. Fun discovery. Enjoy.

BE SURE TO SAVE YOUR GAME BEFORE TAKING THIS DETOUR, YOU WONT BE ABLE TO GET BACK TO THE MAIN GAME PATH FROM THERE...SO THIS IS A ONE WAY SIGHTSEEING TRIP as far as i know, i did not try accessing either end of the walkway did not want to break the game.

you jump down from here....
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4...derskyview.jpg

and this is the lower slideway you see from above but cant get to ....usually.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8425/...yviewsunde.jpg

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5...iew2sunder.jpg

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/8...viewsunder.jpg

It turns out this access to the lower area was a one time glitch and you will have to use the console and the developers code that is provided in the tool set to do this sightseeing.

To update my research into keeping Anachronox running on modern machines, i found that it will not run on some configurations of XP SP3, i think there is one update that messes with the Nvida settings, anyway, i had to revert to an older driver for FX 175.19 and an FX 5500 card, and also had to roll back NET to version 2.0, and use nHancer version 2.4.5

but it is worth it, the level design and the scenery and the dialog and game play continue to amaze me, making this one of the best adventure games or best games in any genre ever made. I have learned in my research that there were three titles originally planned and the scripts were completed and they lie within the vaults of Eidos. The total cost of the first title, this game that we do have, was $7,000,000 in 2001 dollars. And it shows, the places you visit and play in just get better and better, and with all the variations the replay value is very high as well. Remarkable work on so many levels.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/9730/boo2p.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/9973/boo1j.jpg

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3012/democratus2.jpg

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/5...tsredlight.jpg

UPDATE on getting Anachronox to run on Modern systems....

the newest Nvida cards, 8000 and up have lost some of the support for the formats that Anachronox uses...so not even the Nhancer fix works anymore. I found finally a work around...here is what you need to do:

install and patch with all the patches....or use existing game.

Open Nvida Control Panel that comes with each card and go to the 3D section

create a profile for Anachronox, it will not show up on the list of installed games or programs because it installs to C and the control panel only looks in Program files....once you have the Anox.exe created and on the list, set Extension Limit to "ON"

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/1824/88924356.jpg

this fix is for Nvida cards onlyl, there is a fix for API cards but i dont have the details.

the problem with all these older opengl games that they use a static buffer when requesting gl extensions which is less then the driver wants to report. I found this fix when trying to get OpelGL to work with SiN and Wages of Sin. it works for Anachronox too. And i hear it also works for Quake and Hexen and some others...to get the high end graphics that are possible.

Interesting. I played though Anachronox about six months ago without any issue whatsoever.

For what it's worth I was running XP SP3, dual core AMD and an Nvidia 9800GT with current drivers for the time.

My installation consisted of installing the game, and then installing the 44, 45 and 46 patches in order. Lastly I followed the no cd procedure outlined in patch 44. Though that is largely irrelevant since I had already tested the game using the cd.

The only thing I don't know for sure is if my copy is one of the ones with the 1.01 official patch already built in. I did not check this before installing the later patches.

That is great news...and I am very glad for you that it worked so well...another kudo to Chinaman and the team .....that is great to hear.

the 1.01 patch helps but there are a lot of fixes for game play that the other three patches that Chinaman made really help with.....

as for the game not running, that is a common challenge with most modern systems but we keep finding ways around that so this wonderful classic adventure experience is still with us....thanks for your input and that is very good news.