Arcanum Arcanum Multiverse Edition

[Junmarko]

Arcanum has finally been given some recent attention thanks to (Russian) modders.

Multiverse Edition comes pre-packaged with the essentials plus some unique tweaks. Most notably, it integrates a launcher with a decent amount of visual and performance customisation options, alongside an auto-update feature - which makes me feel slightly optimistic about Arcanum's modding future. :D

I haven't played with it long enough, so I'm not sure if there are any game-breaking bugs. But so far, performance is great by default - something that Arcanum notoriously struggles with on current OS.

Anyway, it's existence hasn't spilled beyond the Steam Community, so spread the word!



TAKE NOTE: - The Installer UI language key is easy to miss, highlighted below left. After that, immediately go to Settings and adjust your language and preferences before installation. *Mod is compatible with GoG version.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=760410053
Latest version: 1.8.0.0 - Updated: 2 Dec 2022 @ 3:24am
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Description
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a classic role-playing game from the developers of the first two games in the Fallout lineup. The game is based on the story unfolding around the tragedy of the blimp “Zephyr”, the only survivor in which to find its role in the world of fading magic and technological progress. How much this role will affect the events in the world of Arcanum, in the expanses of the feudal kingdoms and industrial megacity, in the remote possessions of other races and a number of mysterious, gods of forgotten places? Protagonist, by the will of fate associated with the prophetic writings of a certain "The Living One" should decide. Believe in them or not, trust yourself or your followers, personify good, evil or chaos, remains at the player's choice.

In other words, Arcanum is a world of conflicting ideas, as well as their supporters and opponents, full of allusions and elements of various artistic genres that weave together, gaining identity, integrity, and their own unique charm.
Due to his style, replayability and many options for the development of the character, Arcanum enjoys recognition among connoisseurs of classical role-playing games and forever remains in the hearts of many of them.

However, the original Arcanum contains a huge number of bugs and has not been "brought to the mind", leaving a lot of shortcomings and mistakes. These omissions and "gaps" were attempted by the fans of the game, developing patches for it - the most famous of them: Grand Fix 1.3 and UAP. But apart from this, there were other less global patches, as well as various improvements and additions to the game (the Arcanum mods), which, at times, is known to very few. The problem of numerous and varied additional content was that it was not very compatible with each other. And to prevent all these developments lost in vain, the team Multiverse Team decided to work hard to improve the Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura.

Thus, Arcanum Multiverse Edition (Arcanum RePack) is the game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura without bugs and glitches, with the integration of improvements that were not included in the game by the developer (Troika Games), including official modules.


Installation sequence
Download / .torrent / Magnet link:
➽ 6DD2305552DAE4077121CF5C7AD01F5CC26FA121
Google Drive:
➽ drive.google.com/file/d/1CHBpOBVmgUN-TT6AZVJpheejAdu-u-3j

1. Install original Arcanum in Steam
2. Delete folder '...\steamapps\common\Arcanum\Arcanum'
3. Run Setup.exe of the Multiverse Edition, switch language to English and open menu Settings
4. Choose text language and cinematics language
5. In Directory line input the way: '...\steamapps\common\Arcanum\Arcanum'
6. All other settings you can use as you wish. It is recommended to include High Resolution Patch
7. Press OK and start game installation.
8. In '...\steamapps\common\Arcanum' in SierraLauncher.ini change line from "Game1Exe=Arcanum.exe" to "Game1Exe=Config.exe"


Settings and game updating
Now when you start Arcanum from Steam configurator window will be opened.
√ Shut off Software render
√ Enable Double buffer

Also it is recommended to Enable autoupdate. Other options use by your own.

If the game will start with ugly main menu, again apply High-Res parameters in the configurator.


Features
▪ Multilanguage.
Preparing RePack we proceeded from the fact that all our fixes are compatible with both the Russian and English versions of the game. Selecting a language does not affect the performance of edits.

▪ Restored original graphics.
In the resources for beta-release and the final release, you can find graphics that are not used in the game. An example of such graphics: objects, items, animations, portraits for different races and genders. Appropriate use has been found for all this.

▪ Fixed interface graphics.
Corrected buttons position on the interface panels. Also excluded different textures artifacts.

▪ Fixed locations design.
Excluded many graphical artifacts in the layout of locations. Work based on the following aspects: fixing objects position, creating of the missing textures, finalizing illumination and much more.

▪ Integration of HQ townmaps.
Following the above fixes, location panoramas have been reworked. In particular, in the map view mode the image will be of higher quality than in the original.

▪ Original lossless music was integrated.
Tracks in lossless quality we personally handed us by the composer Ben Houge, so that the quality of these tracks can be no doubt. Perhaps the owners of the integrated sound card and standard speakers will not appreciate our efforts, but I hope that everyone else will like it.

▪ Some soundtracks were replaced.
Original cut-out ambient of the final release has been replaced by a more complete from the beta-release.

▪ Configurator and launcher were created for easy compatibility settings with Windows 8, 8.1 и 10.
Configurator includes the following:
√ Compatibility settings to improve game performance.
√ Selection of options (before it was necessary to register keys in the shortcut properties).
√ Adjusting the game for widescreen screens.
√ Gameplay settings, including optional engine patches.
√ Constructor of backgrounds, allowing you to create your own backstories of the character.
√ Optional auto-update (with support of previous save-games).

▪ Selection of fixes from some third-party patches.
See section Used Patches/Mods for more details. In addition, work was done to independently search for problems and solve them.

▪ Partially modified gameplay.
The main changes concern dialogues and scripted scenes, namely the ratio of words and actions of NPCs. Also, the parameters of NPCs, items, spells and schematics have been revised.

▪ Integration of Sir’s Expectations Modpack.
Changes that go beyond fixing and restoring the original content are available with the installation of an add-on included in the RePack. For example, the author's portraits and backgrounds of the character, the rebalancing of the role-playing system, new quest situations, and more.

▪ Official Troika Games modules were integrated.

▪ Added collectible materials.
In the “_Bonus” folder of the installed game one can find many usable materials: developer concept art, game guides, soundtrack sheet music, desktop wallpapers and more.


Authors and support
Development
Corwell – graphics, technical part, assembly, works coordinating;
K.I.S.A. – technical part, assembly, support;
Macbeth – Russian localization, support;
van Rijn – Russian localization editing, technical part, testing, support;
Northar – artist, support;
Volh – idea, technical part, assembly, support.

Support
daemon (R.G. Catalyst) – technical part, assembly (untill version 1.6.0.0);
Positiff – advising on the technical part.

See "Support and Thanks" section in AME Release.docx.

Implemented patches
Patch 1.0.7.5 (by Troika Games)
UAP (by Drog Black Tooth)
Grand Fix (by Gentle_Giant)
alpha patch (by Kessler Van Doom)

 

[HoboForEternity]

Meingott

:russiastronk:

 

[Black]

suo Drog Black Tooth

 

[Black Angel]

Whoa

But..... Steam only? Or is it okay for GOG?

 

[Junmarko]

Whoa

But..... Steam only? Or is it okay for GOG?

Can confirm it works with GoG

 

[Black Angel]

Can confirm it works with GoG

Thanks. Is there any direction to install this with GOG version? Is it the same as the above? Mine's modded up to the ass, and I'm kinda want to re-do my playthrough since it was my first one and it was spoiled by walkthrough, and I've gotten to Tarant but the spoiling has taken its toll. Maybe I'll just delete the whole thing, re-install and do the steps above if possible.

 

[Junmarko]

Thanks. Is there any direction to install this with GOG version? Is it the same as the above? Mine's modded up to the ass, and I'm kinda want to re-do my playthrough since it was my first one and it was spoiled by walkthrough, and I've gotten to Tarant but the spoiling has taken its toll. Maybe I'll just delete the whole thing, re-install and do the steps above if possible.

Up to you man, backup your saves though. It creates a new directory within Arcanum, so I doubt save files are compatible anyway.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Wasn't there some guy few years ago who made thread in Codex Workshop where he posted Arcanum Factory or whatever it was called, software pack that help with modding the game?
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/modding-tool-arcanum-factory-1-3.82298/
there it is
now start being productive member of the forum

I was thinking about playing the game again as a mage who don't use Harmspam, now it's good time.

 

[Rostere]

Awesome!

 

[Rostere]

Why is it always Russians who write the best guides and make the best mods

Because they are poorer, so chances are if you have a home PC, you belong to the smart segment of the population. And that computer is likely to be old and not compatible with new games.

This leaves them with playing old games. When you play old games, it is easier to sort out the good from the shit. Russians end up playing old classics, and Amerilards play the latest AAA drivel - even poor Amerilards have consoles and play games. Once the hype is over, there is really no compelling reason to play shit AAA titles. So they never really sift through to Russia.

Compared it with the situation if you only could watch black-and-white movies. You would only watch the good stuff - movies whose only force of attraction is novelty value, a good poster, and press hype will slip you by completely unnoticed, and are completely unnoticed today.

History is often a very good filter. It's always fun to read about with authors and works of art were popular back in the days. People like Mozart and Bach have gained immensely in popularity through being lauded by the increasingly expert audiences that classical music has, while the mainstream composers of the time have instead been increasingly forgotten. Paradoxically, by being poorer, the Russians are experiencing the evolution of gaming through a quality filter.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

imma try it soon

 

[agris]

For all the questions about compatibility etc, the 'mod' installer is actually an entire repack of the game, file-sharing style. they even call it a repack. the only reason they go through the whole install with steam etc part is due diligence to avoid advertising that they're offering the game for free.

i don't blame them, I think they literally had to repack the game to incorporate all the fixes.

 

[YES!]

Awesome. Any try to get other mods to work with it? Like the new Overhaul mod for better combat? I think its called equilibrium or something.

 

[Keye_]

Can confirm it works with GoG

How/where exactly did you install it?
I also have the GOG edition. I installed in it the GOG/Arcanum folder. Installation seemed to go well. But whenever I try to launch the game something weird happens. The launcher seems to continually open and close. And all open programs seem to be alt-tabbing or it might be that my resolution is continually changing or something. Anyone have an idea what's causing this?

 

[Junmarko]

How/where exactly did you install it?
I also have the GOG edition. I installed in it the GOG/Arcanum folder. Installation seemed to go well. But whenever I try to launch the game something weird happens. The launcher seems to continually open and close. And all open programs seem to be alt-tabbing or it might be that my resolution is continually changing or something. Anyone have an idea what's causing this?

I just followed the steps: "D:\GoG\Arcanum\Arcanum" - then to launch the game, use Config.exe, from that directory.

These are my settings

EDIT: Uncheck "Enable autoupdate..." only after it installs the latest patch, if you want. Otherwise it checks for updates with every launch.

Also, in the same directory, use HiRes.exe if you want to tweak your resolution - uninstall then reinstall. HiRes sets a default and the Config launcher MUST match it, or the game won't run.

Hope that helps!

 

[Luckmann]

Why is it always Russians who write the best guides and make the best mods

Because the western world is in decline due to a fatal jewitis-infection.

 

[agris]

Also, in the same directory, use HiRes.exe if you want to tweak your resolution - uninstall then reinstall. HiRes sets a default and the Config launcher MUST match it, or the game won't run.

Hope that helps!

What is HEL? For my windows7 install, I only enabled double buffer under Basic (enabled by default if you select windowed). Using a wrapper or the Wine libraries made the game much laggier.

For the high-res patch, you don't need to do what you outlined above. Select the options you want under the HiRes Patch option, and click the left button in Pyc. It applies the settings.

If you change any options on this tab and ONLY click Run Arcanum, they won't take. Click Применить (RUS apply) first, then Run Arcanum.

 

[Keye_]

Hope that helps!

It did help, thanks! I used your settings and now it's running fine.

 

[Tigranes]

So are the changes to the game itself very discreet 'unfinished business' style stuff, i.e. restoring clearly cut lines and cleaning up the maps? Nothing egregious or noticeable?

 

[Black]

I thought we were past this

This "Pyc" language seems interesting, try it out.

 

[biggestboss]

So... I'm gonna bite the bullet and play this game for the first time. Are there any important tips for a first timer? Or is it possible to beat just by picking whatever skills and doing whatever I want?

 

[LizardWizard]

So... I'm gonna bite the bullet and play this game for the first time. Are there any important tips for a first timer? Or is it possible to beat just by picking whatever skills and doing whatever I want?

How not to play Arcanum:

 

[Junmarko]

So... I'm gonna bite the bullet and play this game for the first time. Are there any important tips for a first timer? Or is it possible to beat just by picking whatever skills and doing whatever I want?

The Only Tip You'll Ever Need

• Bite the bullet by going in blind, don't read any guides or ask for more tips

Or...

Spoiler

ARCANUM MANUAL: PAGES 174-175

Strategy Tips

Here are some tips on playing Arcanum.

General

• A simple but effective character is a Half-Ogre with good Melee and Dodge

skills. He is easy to play and can hold his own in most combat situations.

• Putting a point into Gambling at the start of the game will allow you to

gamble with the first shopkeeper (and get more items than you would

normally be able to afford!)

• Be wary of armor sizes. For example, smaller characters like Dwarves cannot

wear normal or large-sized armors.

• If you're already boosting certain stats to buy spells or tech schematics,

consider buying skills that also use the same character stats. For example, a

mage might also look into buying Haggle since that skill is dependant on

Willpower, or a technologist might buy Gambling or Heal since their

Intelligence needs to be high.

• Find combinations of spells or skills that will work well together; don't buy

something just because it "sounds" cool.

• If you're a magic user, be sure to put points into constitution as well. It

helps to have extra Fatigue.

• You don't have to talk to everyone in town, but if you do, you're likely to

more quests, which means more experience points.

• Save often as you'll never know what lies beyond the next corner.

• Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll the isometric view while you

use your mouse to move your character.

• If you know many spells or have many items you want to put in your hot

key bank, select the ones that need to be quickly accessible, not necessarily

the ones which are often used.

• Just because you got a fate point doesn't mean you have to use it right away.

It makes more sense to use a fate point to help you do something your

character has never been able to do before (for example, a fighter may save

a fate point to successfully pick someone's pocket).

• Being encumbered is no fun. If you must carry around bunches of heavy

stuff, choose how you want the weight to be distributed. Decide who in

your party needs to be the fastest.

• Most puzzles in Arcanum have more than one possible solution. Experiment.

• Find a good balance of skills to help you in town and in dungeons. For

example, Pick Pocket might be an incredibly useful skill in civilized areas,

but it won't help you at all when a horde of angry zombies are after you.

Technology

• Dwarves have innate technological aptitude. Dwarves, therefore, make great

technologists.

• If you're going to be an explosives expert, make sure to put points in

throwing. Your weapons are useless, otherwise.

• If you're going to be a gunsmithy expert, make sure to put points in your

firearms skill. Your weapons are useless, otherwise.

• Remember, Half-Ogres cannot use guns because their hands are too big!

• If playing as a firearms or bow character, consider carrying around a backup

weapon in the event you run out of ammo/arrows.

• There are useful tech manuals out there that you can read to improve your

Technological Expertise. Look for them!

 

[Black Angel]

So... I'm gonna bite the bullet and play this game for the first time. Are there any important tips for a first timer? Or is it possible to beat just by picking whatever skills and doing whatever I want?

The Only Tip You'll Ever Need

• Bite the bullet by going in blind, don't read any guides or ask for more tips

Yeah. This is my fatal mistake; I played by a walkthrough and when I arrived at Tarant, I realized what I've done. That's why decided to not back my saves when I deleted the whole thing and re-installed with this mod.

 

[Junmarko]

Yeah. This is my fatal mistake; I played by a walkthrough and when I arrived at Tarant, I realized what I've done. That's why decided to not back my saves when I deleted the whole thing and re-installed with this mod.

A friend of mine reads guides for every game, plotting out his skills and min-maxing to an absurd extreme. Never understood why.

Half the fun is not knowing what to expect and making characters with unanticipated flaws or strengths.