Make Gothic 2 Gold Edition Look Pretty On Modern Computers - Guide For Dummies!!!
I decided that I am going to memorialize exactly how to install the Gothic 2 Night of the Raven (G2NotR) "GD3D11" Mod (Version 17.1) for those people who, like me, literally need a "For Dummies" guide to get it all working. These instructions are for the
GoG version of the game, but there's probably a good chance this would work just as well for other platforms. Gothic 2 Gold = "Gothic 2 Night of the Raven" or "G2NotR" (The original game "Gothic 2" + the "Night of the Raven" expansion). These instructions are confirmed to work for the
English Language version of the game.
Before you do anything, you need to purchase and install Gothic 2 Gold Edition. You can buy it from
GoG and
Steam.
Now it's time to install two (2) patches and one (1) MOD. I've also included an optional high-res font you can download and install. Download and install the following in the order shown (
the installation order is important). They are:
1. Gothic 2-Report Version 2.6.0.0 Patch
This patch updates the Gothic2.EXE file and adds some other supporting files to the Gothic 2 installation folder. You can download it
here. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Download." Run the EXE to install the Patch
*
2. System Pack Version 1.7 Patch
Without the System Pack, you won't hear any of the in-game dialog. There may be other things that don't work right either, I really don't know. You can download it
here. Scroll down to the Green Font that says "Download" and click the button underneath that which reads (in German), "Ausblenden" and then click on "systempack-1.7" (this is the EXE version). Run the EXE to install the Patch
* During the installation process of this patch, be sure to check the box for your preferred language.
3. D3D11 Version 17.1 MOD
This MOD is up to version 17.1 (as far as I could find) as of this writing. You can download it
here. Once you click the link here, the prompt for where to put the file on your computer will appear. Run the EXE file to install the MOD
*.
This MOD won't get through its installation process unless you've applied the "Gothic 2-Report Version Patch" (above).
4. Updated In-Game Font <<< OPTIONAL >>>
There is a high resolution font you can download and install which will make reading the in-game text a lot easier. You don't need this, but like the improved graphics, the font sure is pretty. You can download it
here. Copy the file, "FONT_High_Resolution.vdf" into the DATA folder of your Gothic 2 Gold installation. On my computer, it is: C:\Games\GoG\GalaxyClient\Games\Gothic 2 Gold\Data. That's it, when you start the game, you will have the new high-res font.
*NOTE When downloading/running the EXE files, your Anti-Virus software may scream, yell, and quaranteen the files. You may need to disable your anit-virus to get this all done.
Comment 1
The first time you launch the game after installing these patches and Mods, you may be prompted to update the MOD - if you get such a prompt, choose to update - it seems there is an update to the MOD to version 17.4 which oddly I could not find outside of this prompting.
Comment 2
The first time you get to the Main Menu in G2NotR after installing these patches and the MOD, you will see the file, "Normalmaps_Original.zip" being downloaded - it shows in the upper left corner of the main menu screen. This is normal. I always let this file download and unpack before starting my game, but I don't know if that's necessary or not. This only happens the first time you get to the main menu screen after patching/modding the game.
There may be more things one can install to further make G2NotR look even prettier and if I get very detailed suggestions I'll add them to this post.