Playing on the Steam Deck/Machine

Setup

To run the game, you need to do a few things, as detailed here. How you achieve this depends on whether you're installing the Steam, GOG or another version. See here for instructions for the various tools and platforms.

The least you need to do is this:

1. Install directmusic dependency into the appropriate Wine prefix
2. Set DLL overrides
   • "dsound"="builtin,native"
   • "ddraw"="native,builtin" (only necessary if you use the renderer)

Personally, I prefer using the GOG version installed via Lutris installation scripts which can easily automate the process and many instructions on this website assume you're going that route. Generally speaking, the things you need to do are independent on the version you're using, though.

Launcher

If you're using the Steam version, you can launch the game without any further steps necessary. If you want to install mods, however, make sure to follow the steps detailed here.

Add game to Steam

Note

This is only relevant if you don't use the Steam version

If you installed a non-Steam version of the game, you need to add it to Steam as an external game. Of course you can simply enter desktop mode and launch the game from there, it's a matter of preference and convenience.

The easiest way to achieve this is by using BoilR. You simply install it, open it up, select the game(s) you want to import (which usually happens automatically) and hit the "import" button. This adds the game as non-Steam game in your Steam library and enters flatpak as target command to run with specific startup arguments. This way the whole command looks something like this:

flatpak run net.lutris.Lutris lutris:rungame/gothic-ii-gold-edition

You can also skip using BoilR and simply add the above line as a startup command yourself. Make sure to use the correct game ID (see note below).

If you're like me, you can also spend some time to add proper artworks, of course.

Multiple Instances

Note

This is only relevant if you don't use one of the install scripts provided on this website.

Adding two instances of the same game (e.g. with different mods installed) will not work out of the box with BoilR, because it uses the GOG-internal game ID to create a run command which is then executed by Steam. This ID is identical for all instances of Gothic I or Gothic II, respectively, so there will be clashes.

To prevent this, you can do one of two things:

You can launch the game by numerical ID which is internal to Lutris. You can find it by selecting the game in the Lutris UI, clicking "Configure" and looking up the "Internal ID" right below the "Identifier" value in the "Game info" tab. Once you have this, you can launch the game like so:

flatpak run net.lutris.Lutris lutris:rungame/<ID>

Note that this ID depends on the number and order of the games you have installed in Lutris, so it is likely unique to your Lutris installation.

The second way to tackle this is by changing the game identifier and using this in the start command. This can be done in an installation script by changing the value of game_slug to something unique (this is done in the installation scripts on this website as far as possible). Post-install this can be done by right-clicking on the game in the UI, selecting "Configure" and changing the "Identifier" value in the "Game info" tab (don't forget to hit "Apply"). Once that's done, you can start the game like this:

flatpak run net.lutris.Lutris lutris:rungame/<your_identifier>

Skip Gothic Starter

Note

This is only relevant if you don't use the Steam version

If you installed a mod, you may find yourself facing a launcher in which case you need to select the game (or mod) again to actually start. This is the Gothic Starter that is meant to enable installing several mods side by side (in this case it serves no purpose, though). Luckily there's a solution for this. You need to determine the name of the game or mod you're playing from the base name of the .ini file that's used. This is located in the system subfolder and may be named something like NostalgicEdition.ini for the Nostalgic mod. Once you have this you can can open up Lutris, right-click on the game, select Configure, and in the Game options tab you add the following to the Arguments field:

-game:$MOD_NAME -start

So for the Nostalgic mod this would become -game:NostalgicEdition -start. This will start the selected game or mod directly. You may still encounter the mod starter after starting the game but it will automatically disappear again. As far as possible, all installation scripts shown on this website implement this.

Controls

Note

This section is only relevant if you want to play with a controller or the Steam Deck itself.

zGamePad

In order to run the games smoothly on the Steam Deck or on a regular device with a gamepad you'll want to install the "zGamePad" mod. If you're playing via Steam, it's of course possible to map the inputs yourself, which gets you most of the way to what zGamePad provides out of the box. I would only recommend this if you really want to set up the controls in a particular way, because it's a lot of hassle and the native controls don't provide some of the features the mod does, like quick access menus, seamless transition between strafing and forward movement (which is very nice to have) and situational keybindings (i.e. keybindings that depend on whether you are in a menu, in combat etc.).

Installation of the mod can be achieved by copying the following snippet into an installation script:

script:
  files:
  # Copy this into the "files" section of your script
  - zgamepad: https://cloud.bfloeser.de/s/rimZDiWF3mFnHkK/download/zGamePad.exe
  installer:
  # Copy this into the "installer" section of your script
  - task:
      arch: win32
      description: Installing zGamePad
      executable: zgamepad
      name: wineexec
      prefix: $GAMEDIR
      working_dir: $GAMEDIR

Of course you can download and run the installer manually. Also note that zGamePad requires the Union mod.

Important

When using zGamePad make sure that enableJoystick=0 is set in your GOTHIC.INI file, otherwise you will have issues with the game itself and zGamePad fighting over inputs. The installation scripts provided on this website do this automatically, as far as possible.

Important

When playing via Steam, make sure that Steam Input is disabled. This can be done in the "Controller" tab of game's properties.

Note

When you're on Steam Deck and you want to play in desktop mode, you can switch between gamepad and desktop input mode by pressing and holding the "Start" key for one or two seconds. Make sure you're in gamepad mode for zGamePad to work properly. Alternatively, you can close down Steam completely.

In order for zGamePad to be utilized you need to select "Gamepad with Mouse Trackpad" as input method in gamemode. You can configure zGamePad from the menu by selecting "Settings" and "Union & Plugins".

If you installed via Steam directly and use the Workshop version of the mod, the zGamePad controller scheme should be preselected and you're good to go out of the box.

I recommend familiarizing yourself with the controls (if you're not already familiar) and then switching the control hints off in the menu since I find them to be pretty jarring (YMMV of course).

All the basic game functionality is covered by the gamepad inputs, however, if you installed mods that require additional inputs (like sprinting, torches, the item finder etc.) these need to be addressed separately. On the Steam Deck this is easily done by just using the back grip buttons. If you're using a regular gamepad, you'll need to consult the documentation for the mod.

Manual Mapping

If you're not using zGamePad (see above) you'll need to map the keys manually. Thankfully Steam Input is very powerful so it's actually doable (for the most part). I won't tell you what exactly you need to map where, because it comes down to preference, but I will give you an overview of the mappings I have in place. Note that some buttons are bound to two keys so you can perform different actions, e.g. depending on whether you have a weapon drawn.

You may need to ensure that the in-game keybindings correspond to the desired actions from within the in-game settings menu. For fighting I only use the triggers and bumpers because it suits me best. A few other things to note:

• The right stick serves as mouse, the left stick is for running forward, backward and strafing left and right. This makes movement fairly intuitive.
• The DPad is bound to the arrow keys. When I touch and hold the right stick an action layer is activated that changes the DPad bindings to Tab, N, B and T for inventory, quest log, character sheet and torch (see BetterTorches mod). That way I can use the DPad to select menu items and dialog options as well as navigate trade windows but also have a way to access inventory etc.
• The left trackpad is a quick menu bound to the number keys from 1 to 0.
• Back grip buttons (on Deck or Steam Controller) are bound to sprinting, sneaking, item locator and such things.

This setup is quite satisfactory for my personal playstyle with Gothic 2. Since the controls of Gothic 1 are a bit more wonky (combat system and trading) a few adjustements need to be made there. I experimented with subcommands for Ctrl + arrow key for fighting but that always had drawbacks so I just went with pressing right trigger + DPad button. Trading in Gothic 1 is a mess and I didn't even bother to figure out a good solution to keybindings here, I just accepted that it was weird.

Performance

As you'd expect, the vanilla game can basically be run on a potato. In fact, if the D3D11 renderer isn't mandatory for you, you might want to consider not using it because the game has significantly better performance and battery life without it (personally, I do use it).

With the D3D11 renderer, however, the hardware demand is actually noticeable and you need a decent GPU to handle the load. The Steam Deck is partly up to the challenge, depending on what you install.

Some mods are heavier than others which can have a pronounced effect. Some non-rigorous tests performed on my Steam Deck showed these FPS numbers when using the renderer:

Vanilla: 40-50 Gold Remaster: 30-40 Archolos: 20-30

This will depend on the actual settings you use for the renderer so feel free to tweak them according to your needs.

For extra battery life on the Deck I recommend capping the FPS to a sensible number (e.g. 40, depending) and setting TDP to 7 which also helps with frame pacing.

When playing more demanding mods like the various L'Hiver editions the TDP restriction won't be playable so I recommend not turning that on.

The Steam Machine should be able to give you stable 60 FPS, but I am not in a position to verify this, unfortunately.

Now all that's left to do is start the game and enjoy!