Community Patch FAQs

[mdahm]

Community Patch FAQs

Dear users of the fan fixes!

In this thread, you'll find answers to the most common questions regarding the Community Patches (= Com Patches).
If you have a question which is not listed here, or if you want to leave feedback of any kind, please post it here.

FAQ Overview

1) General questions

• a) Where can I download patch 1.6?
• b) I made a fix myself and want to have it included in the forthcoming Com Patch - where can I post it?

2) Questions regarding the installation

• a) Which version of Gothic 3 is the base for the Community Patches?
• b) How can I find out whether Patch 1.12 is installed?
• c) How can I find out whether the latest Com Patch is installed?
• d) Is it possible to install only some of the fixes?
• e) Will the installation cause problems with my savegames?
• f) Does the latest Com Patch include the previous ones?
• g) Can I remove (uninstall) the Com Patch?
• h) During installation, I get the message "Gothic 3 not found, installation cancelled", although G3 is installed.
• i) During installation, I get the message "Gothic 3 Patch 1.12 not found, installation cancelled".
• j) During installation of the Community Patch, I get the error message "Invalid language setting".

3) Questions regarding the content

• a) Which changes / fixes are included in the Com Patch?
• b) Why do some of the mentioned fixes fail to work?
• c) When will bug XY be fixed? This would be most important.
• d) When will the next Com Patch be released?
• e) How many bugs are still in the game?
• f) I found another bug in Gothic 3. Where can I report it?
• g) I found a possible bug in the Com Patch. Where can I report it?
• h) How can I can I keep my own own ge3.ini?
• i) Since I installed the patch, I can't see any text

Many thanks to Acropolis, Cerberos, Dungeon Master and Kronos who helped to create the German version of the FAQs (which was the base for this thread) and to Nameless2 for polishing up my English in this thread.

[mdahm]

I made a fix myself and want to have it included in the forthcoming Com Patch - where can I post it?

You can post your finished fixes for the forthcoming Com Patch in this thread in the German part of the forum. Please write in English or German.

Before you publish your fixes, please test them at least yourself. It would be ideal if you hand out your fixes to several other testers, too, to ensure that your changes work correctly and without unwanted side effects.

Remark: We cannot guarantee that every announced fix will be included in the next Com Patch. Especially if it is more of a modification than a bug fix, a thread with an open discussion about the subject would be appropriate beforehand.

[mdahm]

Which version of Gothic 3 is the base for the Community Patches?

Before installing the Com Patches, you have to install the official patch 1.12 (made by Piranha Bytes). Without the official patch 1.12, errors will occur. That's why the installation routine of the Com Patch checks whether you use the correct version of Gothic 3 (i.e. version 1.12).

Starting with CP 1.6, also a "full version" of the patch is released. It already contains the patches from the official patch 1.12.

[mdahm]

How can I find out whether Patch 1.12 is installed?

• Start Windows Explorer
• Click your way through to the installation folder of Gothic 3.
• There you'll find a file named "Gothic3.exe".
• Rightclick this file, then leftclick "Properties" in the context menu.
• Leftclick on "Version".

If the official patch 1.12 is installed, the file version will be "1.12.26364.0".

[mdahm]

How can I find out whether the latest Com Patch is installed?

If the Com Patch is installed, you'll find the following indications:

• Up to CP 1.4: Existence of a subdirectory "Community Patch Uninstall" in your Gothic 3 installation folder.
• Up to CP 1.4: If you take a look in the "software" section in your Windows control panel, there has to be an entry "Gothic 3 Community Patch v..."
• CP 1.5: The version number of the file "engine.dll" in your Gothic 3 installation folder is "1.50.25931.0". (The same applies to some other dll-files, like "game.dll".)
• CP 1.6: The version number of the file "engine.dll" in your Gothic 3 installation folder is "1.60.25931.29". (The same applies to some other dll-files, like "game.dll".)

Unless you didn't delete the relevant files yourself...

[mdahm]

Is it possible to install only some of the fixes?

Well - with technical knowledge, adequate tools and quite some effort, that's possible. (How clever this would be, is another story...)

Here are two approaches:

1) For technically accomplished users:

• Decode / unscramble the Com-Patch-Installer
• Search for all files that you want to install
• Copy those files to the fitting (sub)directory in your Gothic 3 installation folder.

2) For technically less accomplished users:

• Install the Com Patches
• Delete all unwanted files with the suffix .p00 or .p01 respectively.

---------

There is one exception: the file "strings.pak". Included in this packed file, there is a new version of the file "stringtable.ini" with several hundred small changes. If you don't want to accept all of those changes for any reason, you have to change the suitable lines with a text editor (e.g. WordPad).

All interventions / changes in the Com Patches occur on your own risk and responsibility. We advise strongly against any changes.


Warning: With CP 1.5, unexpected problems can occur in Gothic 3 if you change anything of the installation routine, or if you change back any of the installed files.

[mdahm]

Will the installation cause problems with my savegames?

• Very few of the fixed quests could be affected in a disadvantegous way, provided that those quests have already been started in the old savegame, but haven't been finished yet.
  
  a) There are a few "bring quests" where you can hand over partial deliveries to the requesting NPCs (e.g. "Pelts for Jensgar"). If you already delivered some items before installing the Com Patch, there could be some cases where you'll have to collect and deliver enough items of the same type to complete the quest in one go.
  That exact problem occured when Piranha Bytes fixed the quest "Throw the fire chalices into the sacred fire". Everyone who already threw some of the chalices into the fire before installation of the patch, was not able to add the remaining chalices.
  
  b) A handful of conversations can't be hold anymore for similar reasons, if you already had some other significant conversations before you installed the Com Patch.
  Fortunately, in almost all cases it's most probable that you directly carried up with the conversation instead of interrupting at this quite odd moment between two pieces of dialogue to install the Com Patch.
  Two examples:
  - You ask Grim about Xardas, but not yet about Hanson. In this situation, you save the game and install the Com Patch. Result: you won't be able to ask Grim about Hanson anymore.
  - Similar situation with Avogadro: At some point, he will offer you 150 gold to release him. If you save the game at this point and install the patch, you won't be able to tell him: "Give me your gold and I'll let you go" anymore.
  
  The only exception is the quest "Become champion of the arena in Faring.". (This particular problem is solved from CP 1.5 on.) After Tarok gave you the quest in Faring, it could take a while until you successfully come back from Mora Sul. If you started the quest in an old savegame, you won't be able to finish it after installing the Com Patch.
  Here's a workaround:
  - Go to Tarok when you are champion in Mora Sul, then save your game and quit Gothic 3.
  - Open your Windows Explorer, click your way through to the subdirectory "\Data" in your Gothic 3 installation folder.
  - Move the file "Infos.p01" to another directory anywhere else on your HDD.
  - Start the game, load your savegame.
  - Talk to Tarok (now the lost dialogue is available again) and finish all arena quests in Faring.
  - Save your game again, quit Gothic 3 and move the file "Info.p01" back to the "\Data" folder.

• The five artefacts of Adanos can no longer be sold (because those items often were sold by mistake). If you made this mistake in your existing savegame, you won't be able to buy the artifacts back after you installed the Com Patch. So please make sure that you actually own all artifacts you found so far before you install the Patch.

[mdahm]

Does the latest Com Patch include the previous ones?

Yes, every new release will include the previous ones.
And an addition because of several specific inquiries:
Yes, this also apllies to CP 1.6.

If you like to uninstall the previous patch before installing the new one, you can do so (but you don't have to).

[mdahm]

Can I remove (uninstall) the Com Patch?

Yes. But this is only possible up to CP 1.4.

Just do the following:

• In your Gothic 3 installation folder, you'll find a subdirectory "Community Patch Uninstall". Doubleclick the file "unins000.exe", and it will delete all files of the Com Patch without damaging the rest of your Gothic 3 installation.
  
  Alternatively, you can also trigger the deinstallation in the usual manner through "Windows Control Panel" => "Add or Remove Programs" => "Gothic 3 Community Patch v...".

• If you chose the option "improved ge3.ini" during installation, you have to recover the old ini file. To do so, simply move the file ge3.ini from the subdirectory "Community Patch IniBackUp" back to the folder "Gothic 3\Ini".

------------------------------------------------

Starting with CP 1.5, the Community patches can't be uninstalled seperately. You'll have to uninstall the whole game to get rid of them.

[mdahm]

During installation of the Community Patch, I get the error message "Gothic 3 not found, installation canceled", although G3 is installed.

The installer looks for your Gothic 3 installation (to find out your Gothic 3 installation folder) by searching through the registry.

Since Com Patch 1.3.1, it checks four registry values in the following order:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\JoWooD Productions Software AG\Gothic III\INSTALL_DIR
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JoWooD Productions Software AG\Gothic III\INSTALL_DIR
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\KOCHMedia Deutschland GmbH\KOCHUpdate\Gothic III\INSTALL_DIR
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Software\JoWooD Productions Software AG\Gothic III\RUN_CMD

If none of this values can be found or the file "Gothic3.exe" can't be located in the detected installation folder, the message "Gothic 3 not found, installation cancelled" will be shown.

Solution for patch 1.52 and later:

You'll be asked to manually search for the right installation folder manually if no valid installation can be found. So:

Please ensure that Gothic 3 is actually installed in the folder you select.

If this doesn't do the trick, something major has been modified in the installed version of Gothic 3. In this case it helps to reinstall the whole game.

-----------------------------------------

Solutions before patch 1.52:

• Solution A: Recover the file "Gothic3.exe" in your installation folder (in case you renamed it or something like this).
• Solution B: If you know how to use the tool regedit, you can check the mentioned registry keys.
  - If the wrong installation folder was registered, correct it in the first mentioned registry key.
  - If none of those keys exists, create one of them.
• Solution C (recommended): Reinstall G3 + Patch 1.12 again from scratch.

[mdahm]

During installation, I get the message "Gothic 3 Patch 1.12 not found, installation cancelled".

The installation routine checks the version of your "Gothic3.exe" file. It's important that you installed the official patch 1.12 before you install a Com Patch (see here).

If the version of your Gothic3.exe is not the needed one (1.12.26364.0), you will receive the message "Gothic 3 Patch 1.12 not found, installation cancelled.".

Solution: Install Patch 1.12.

If this doesn't solve the problem:
Uninstall all previous patches and modifications, uninstall G3, manually delete the installation folder completely and subsequently install the game again, starting with the game from the DVD, then patch 1.12 and the latest Com Patch.

Starting with CP 1.6, there is also a "full version" oth the CP available which contains patch 1.12. The mentioned message won't show up there any more, of course.

[mdahm]

What changes / fixes are included in the Com Patch?

With every Com Patch comes a readme file with notes to every fix.

The name of this file is
"Gothic 3 Community Patch {version no}.txt"
(e.g. "Gothic 3 Community Patch v1.4.txt"). After installation, you'll find it in your Gothic 3 installation folder.

In CP 1.5, the file's name is "CP Changelog.txt".

From CP 1.6 on, the file's name is "CP_Changelog_en.txt".

[mdahm]

Why do some of the mentioned fixes fail to work?

There are a few changes that will only work properly if you had no contact yet with the related quests or NPCs.

Example:
If you already talked to a merchant during your game, and this merchant offered the flame sword, the fix won't change anything about that in this game.

If you start a completely new game, all fixes will take effect.

(Attention: Because of an old unsolved bug, it's highly recommended to quit Gothic 3 completely and load it again before you start a new game.)

[mdahm]

When will bug XY be fixed? This would be most important.

Until Com Patch 1.4, our possibilities to fix bugs were very limited - we could almost only work on some errors in dialogues and quests. From time to time some items, perks or NPC related bugs could be fixed.

Although we have the code in our hands now, we didn't work our way through it yet. Without a proper and time consuming analysis, it's almost impossible to give prognoses about our bugfixing possibilities.

[mdahm]

When will the next Com Patch be released?

There are no definite release dates.
All previous patches were released "when they were finished", and it would be useless to promise anything else. (All fixes are done voluntarily.)

Most probably the time periods between the fixes will increase, because the "easier" bugs have already been fixed. Every new fix will need more effort.

Our best advice to you is: Take a look at the Community Fixes Board from time to time.