Readme File

Last updated: 20 / 02 / 2007
Version 2.28

1. General

2. Changes and Additions to the Manual

3. Known Problems

4. System Requirements

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. General (back to top)

Welcome to the World of Ancaria!

Important!
For the latest in technical help, patches and updates please visit http://www.sacred-game.com.
Chances are your questions are answered there! You will also find a board there where you can discuss issues with developers and other players, find out about new fighting strategies or receive useful tips on how to advance your character.

The following pages offer useful tips and help in case you experience difficulties regarding the content or technical problems.

2. Changes and Additions to the Manual. (back to top)

What is Sacred Gold exactly?:

Sacred Gold includes the original Sacred / Sacred Plus game and its Add-On Sacred Underworld. Once the game is installed you will be able to play the Ancaria mainquest of Sacred but also the new Underworld mainquest of the Add-On.
Even for those who already played the old Sacred / Sacred Plus version it's definitely worth to replay the Ancaria mainquest because

There are two new characters (Dwarf and Succubus) with completely new skills and techniques to play
A lot of subquests have been added and modified
A lot of new items (set, rare and unique items) can be found.

So have fun to explore the worlds of Ancaria and its new world Underworld!

CD Key Installation Troubleshooting:

For further problems during cd key installation please refer to "3. Known Problems".

New Features in "Sacred Gold":

Password Recovery!

If at any time you forget your account username and password do not despair. Just visit the official Sacred Homepage (www.sacred-game.com) and select "Password Recovery". Enter your Email address (the one you used to register your original account) and your SACRED CDKEY. A mail will be sent to that account containing your Username and Password.

If you have not entered a valid email address while creating your original account, you will have to contact our technical support.

Please note: Account changing, password recovery can take up to a week if you contact our technical support as we get a lot of requests and these take time to work through.

Dragons have become stronger!

Dragons are now harder to beat, even for characters specialising in distance combat and ranged weapons. They have learnt the ability to cast Meteor Spells which alone makes them a far tougher opponent.

In addition Dragons regain their full health once they have killed a character and will level up at least one level. This makes multiplayer sessions all the more interesting as team-play becomes a deciding factor! It is imperative not to die against a Dragon as your companions will have to start from scratch, against an even stronger Dragon!

Easier control through the use of double clicking

Double clicking on a character in the character selection screen will cause the immediate start of a game.
Double clicks are now possible in character export and import screens.
When entering a large portal, you can close the portal screen through the use of ESC.

Health potions on Hirelings now through the use of the "B" key!

Pressing the "B" key will now replenish the health of your hirelings. If you have more than one hireling, the top most hireling will get his health replenished first. Through repeated pressing of the "B" key the rest of the hirelings will be replenished.

New Console Command in Multiplayer

As before the console can be opened through the use of the ` key. If you are in a multiplayer session and you type in "net showhost" the current host player will be identified and displayed. This is especially important for those wanting to gain the save game of a campaign game, since only hosts can save them.

Optimised code for MODEM/ISDN users!

The network code has been optimized for Modem/ISDN users by removing non-relevant game NPCs, Animals, Children to optimize on connection traffic.

Important: Modem users who enter a new region first will eliminate all non-relevant game NPCs, Animals and Children for all users, including LAN and Broadband users!

Select Character's Starting skills

Upon starting a new campaign your character would normally have pre-assigned skills, depending on the chosen character. Other skills are usually only available at higher levels.

But now you can choose which skills you begin with by doing the following:

Open the settings.cfg file with a normal editor (e.g. Wordpad). You will find the settings.cfg file in the Sacred Gold installation directory.
Insert a new line with the following content:

Restart the game.

Please note that it is only possible to choose the skills at the start of a new game. Additionally, it is not possible to do so in ClosedNet games.

New Underworld Campaign Mode for ClosedNet

It is now possible to play the Campaign in ClosedNet. Please note there is no savegame possibility in this mode.

3. Known Problems (back to top)

CD Key Installation Instructions:

Sacred Gold comes with two CD Keys, one for Sacred and one for the Add-On Sacred Underworld, so players can play on the Ascaron Closed ("AscaronNet") and Open Servers. These servers are provided free of charge. However, for security reasons only one CD Key is allowed per account. If that CD Key has been used in the past, you will not be able to open a new account with it.

Underworld CD Key:

Sacred Underworld

both

Sacred

and

Sacred Underworld

Sacred

Sacred Plus

Enter your Username, Password, Email just as you would when logging on to Sacred / Sacred Plus.
Add your Sacred Underworld CD Key to the Additional CD Key line provided.
Select Create Account.
Confirm your original Sacred CD Key, Username and Password.
Wait for confirmation Your account has been created.
You can now play online!

Select a username and password as well as a valid email address
Enter both the Sacred and the Sacred Underworld CD Key
Click on Create Account
Confirm the username and password.
Wait for confirmation Your account has been created.
You can now play online!

Known CD Key and Account Problems:

Your CD Key is incorrect:

Sacred

Sacred Plus

Sacred

Sacred Plus

Sacred Underworld

case sensitive

Sacred Underworld Account Creation trouble:

Account is locked/disabled:

not

User Unknown:

Other Problems:

Avoid task changes while in fullscreen mode: While playing Sacred Gold in fullscreen mode, task changes (ALT+TAB) should be avoided. If you want to switch between tasks, it is suggested you play Sacred Gold in windowed mode. This can be activated in the "Settings" menu (Start - Programs - Ascaron Entertainment - Sacred Gold - Settings). Simply uncheck Fullscreen.

Please note: Programs which are set to be "on top" (Instant Messengers, ICQ, Phone Call Tools, etc.) can cause Sacred Gold to be unplayable in fullscreen mode! We strongly recommend deactivating these applications before playing in fullscreen mode.

Starting problems under Win98SE and WinME: In the unlikely event that Sacred Gold has problems starting under Windows 98SE or Windows ME (for example, the game freezes) please use the windowed mode option. Please make sure that the desktop color depth is the same as the chosen in-game color depth and that the resolution is at least 1024x768 or higher. (Please also refer to "5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)").

Tip: When the desktop is set at 1024x768, playing in windowed mode will feel the same as if playing in fullscreen mode.
Windows98FE (First Edition) and Windows 95 are NOT supported: The original release of Win98 does NOT support Sacred Gold. We cannot guarantee the game will run as this operating system is now almost 6 years old. The installation routine will abort if you attempt to install Sacred Gold under this particular operating system. The minimum system requirement is Win98SE (Second Edition).

Problems under Windows XP Professional X64 Edition: Sacred Gold should probably start under Windows XP Prof. 64 Edition. However, that operating system will not be officially supported by Ascaron Entertainment in any ways and there won't be any customer service for it either.

Problems under Windows Vista: Equally to Windows XP Professional X64 Edition, Windows Vista is not officially supported by Ascaron Entertainment in any ways and there won't be any customer service for it either. However, in case you encounter problems during multiplayer games, it could be worth a try to go into the game options and set the connection speed to For MODEM/ISDN. That will help in many cases.

Problems with Dual Core Processors: Dual Core CPUs have been released after Sacred and Sacred Gold development so that Ascaron wasn't able to make provisions for those CPU types in time. It does exist one special incompatibilty of Dual Core processors while playing Sacred Gold in LAN mode: Users of those processors will not be able to open an own gameserver in LAN or OpenNet mode bacause that game is not displayed on other computers so that a connection will fail. That problem cannot be fixed anymore, unfortunately.

True Color Mode / Minor display errors in 16 Bit Mode: Minor display errors (for example flickering of character shadows) might occur in 16 bit mode in connection with certain spells (i.e. auras).

Starting the game in True Color mode can prevent these errors; however, depending on your system the game might run up to 30% slower. You should only change to True Color mode if you have the recommended system requirements or above. (please also refer to "4. System Requirements").

FSAA: You might experience display errors (black lines between textures) with certain graphic cards when FSAA is activated (also see "2. Changes and Additions to the Manual"). We recommend deactivating this feature in these cases.

Please note that your system might slow down for up to 20% when FSAA is activated. It is also possible that this feature is directly enabled in your graphics driver options. If this is the case, you will have to disable FSAA not only in game, but also in your graphics driver options:
- ATI cards: Right click on the ATI logo in your system tray; select Settings / ATI Display Settings / 3-D / un-check "User defined Settings".
- nVidia cards: Right click on the nVidia icon in your system tray; select Performance and Quality Settings / Anti Aliasing Settings / check "Application controlled".
- For other graphics cards: Please refer to the manufacturer's manual.
Problems with inverted mouse buttons: If you use inverted mouse buttons (for example, left-handed players) you can still use the right mouse button to click (the character will move to that destination); however, you will not be able to navigate your character by holding (keeping depressed) the right mouse button. Your character will still move to the position where you last clicked rather than to where your mouse pointer is currently pointing.

Minor graphics problems with older Matrox cards: Older Matrox graphics cards (i.e. G400/450) do not display the visible sections of the mini-map properly. You can deactivate the "Fog of War" option to avoid this error.

Minor graphics problems with on-board graphics cards: Some systems with on-board graphics chipsets (i.e. S3 Pro Savage DDR) may cause small lines to appear in the game graphics. This does not effect playability though.

Long saving process: On rare occasions the saving process might take as long as a minute or more. If this happens it might be necessary to stop the game and reload a previously saved game. The game should save normally after that.

General tip: In order to prevent save games from becoming corrupt or damaged we recommend using a new slot each time you save your game.

4. System Requirements (back to top)

Minimum System Requirements:

Pentium III 800 MHz Processor (or equivalent)
256 MB RAM
2.8 GB free Hard Drive (HDD) space with at least 600 MB swap-file.
DirectX8 compatible graphic card with 16 MB RAM
Sound card with DirectX support
Windows 98SE, WinME, Win2000 or WinXP
For multiplayer games a 56K modem (internet) or network card (LAN)
DirectX9

Recommended System Requirements (for optimal in-game performance):

Pentium IV 1.6 GHz Processor (or higher)
512 MB RAM
2.8 GB HDD space with at least 900 MB swap-file.
DirectX9 3D graphics card with 64 MB RAM (or higher).
DirectX9 compatible sound card
For multiplayer games DSL modem (internet) or 100 Mbit network card (LAN)
Windows 2000 or WinXP
DirectX9

Important Notice: We cannot guarantee that Sacred Gold will run on all laptops and notebooks. There are so many different types of systems available that it is impossible to test all of them. Additionally, the graphics chipsets of laptop/notebook models are not always identical to those of desktop computers. If your laptop/notebook fulfils the minimum requirements, Sacred Gold will most likely run; however, we regret that we are unable to offer any guarantee to this effect.

WARNING: If you are using Windows XP or Windows 2000, please make sure that you have administration rights in order to install and play Sacred Gold. (On home computers you are usually already the administrator of your system.) In order to use the "Update Software" option you must be logged on as the local administrator.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (back to top)

Q: I cannot hear any voices in the game. What could be the reason?

A: Please make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card, sound card and motherboard installed. Also refer to "7. Driver Help"
In case that doesn't help please change the sound from 3D to 2D in the in-game options screen.

Q: The videos are being incorrectly displayed in game. What can I do?

A: Please go to the Sacred Gold Settings option (Start Menu -> All Programs -> Ascaron Entertainment -> Sacred) and activate the Video Compatibility Mode.

Q: The game will not start. What am I doing wrong?

A: A number of reasons could be the cause:

Please make sure that you have installed the latest video, sound and motherboard drivers for your system. Please refer to "7. Driver Help" for additional information.
Please note: Driver CDs which are included with the hardware at time of purchase might be already outdated by a newer version!
Run and install the file wmfdist.exe in the Sacred Gold installation directory. After these windows media files have successfully installed, please start the game again.
In cases where this doesn't help: Go to the Sacred Gold Settings application within the Start Menu > All programs... > Ascaron Entertainment... and deactivate Play Movies. If the game starts after that, please run and install the wmfdist.exe file which is located in the main directory of your Sacred Gold installation folder.
Go to the Sacred Gold Settings option within the Start Menu and activate Video Compatibility Mode. If the game starts now, you will have to install the latest graphics card drivers for your system. For more information please refer to "7. Driver Help"
Configure your desktop to 1024x768 (16 Bit color depth) by right clicking onto your desktop, selecting Settings and adjusting the slide bar accordingly. Additionally, please ensure that the 32 Bit option is deactivated in the Sacred Gold "Settings" option within the Start Menu.
Go to the Sacred Gold Settings option within the Start Menu and un-check Sound Activated. If the game starts now, you will have to install the latest sound drivers for your system.
Go to the Sacred Gold Settings option within the Start Menu and un-check Fullscreen in order to start Sacred Gold in window mode.

Q: Sacred Gold crashes frequently. What could be the problem?

A: Go to the Sacred Gold Settings option within the Start Menu and un-check Fullscreen. If the crashes cease, then the problem might be caused by applications running in the background which are set to be on top (i.e. Messenger, ICQ, etc.). Please deactivate these applications before running Sacred Gold. If the crashes persist, please make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card, sound card and motherboard installed. Please also refer to "7. Driver Help"

Q: When I try to connect to an open multiplayer game on the open internet, I get a message that says IP: Cannot connect! CODE -20: Kernel: Cannot allocate logdata message. When I try to create a multiplayer game, I get the error Game Server: Lobby-login failed 35. What can I do?

A: In case you have Windows Vista running it could be worth a try to go into the game options and set the connection speed to For MODEM/ISDN (even if you have a faster connection speed). That workaround will help in many cases. However, please keep in mind that Windows Vista will not be officially supported by Sacred Gold!

Q: I have assigned all of my skill points when my character leveled up but there is still a large "+" sign. What am I doing wrong?

A: Look at the character statistics and click the red/green button next to Skills to switch to Attributes (or vice versa) where you will be able to assign further points.

Q: Everything in the game looks so blurred - what could be the problem?

A: Presumably you are playing Sacred Gold on a TFT or LCD monitor that has a different resolution to 1024x768 pixels. Please go to the Sacred Gold Settings option within the Start Menu and deactivate Fullscreen.

Q: Why are Windows98 (First Edition) and Windows95 no longer supported?

A: Due to the age of these operating systems, we cannot guarantee that Sacred Gold would run. This is mainly due to features which these operating systems do not support but which are required to run Sacred Gold successfully. As stated on the box, the earliest supported operating system is Windows 98SE.

Q: Sacred Gold sometimes has black lines and boxes on the Main Menu and/or in game. What is the problem?

A: Please make sure that the latest graphics card drivers are installed. Some cards also have FSAA problems. Deactivating these filters should solve the problem.
It is also possible that this feature is directly enabled in your graphics driver options. If this is the case you will have to disable FSAA not only in-game, but also in your graphics driver options.

ATI cards: Right click on the ATI logo in your system tray; select Settings / ATI Display Settings / 3-D / un-check User defined Settings.

nVidia cards: Right click on the nVidia icon in your system tray; select Performance and Quality Settings / Anti Aliasing Settings / check Application controlled.

For other graphics cards, please refer to the manufacturer's manual.

Q: There is a significant decrease of performance and the game does not run smoothly; especially while I am in town. What is the problem?

A: There are several means by which to improve performance:

Make sure that your system fulfils the minimum requirements. Please refer to "4. System Requirements".
Your drivers might be outdated. Install the latest drivers for your graphics card, sound card and mainboard. Please also refer to "7. Driver Help"
Deactivate the options "Filter active" and "32 Bit" to boost performance. This might be enough to increase performance by up to 50% depending on your system.
Make sure that you have enough available hard disk drive (HDD) space, especially when you have low RAM or low graphics card memory.
Try defragmenting your HDD (Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Defrag). This will usually improve the overall system performance.
Make sure that there are no other applications running in the background.
Go to the in-game Options menu and set the Graphics Settings to "Low".
You can also increase game performance if you insert a line into the settings.cfg file that you find in the Sacred Gold installation directory. Open the file with a normal editor (e.g. Wordpad) and insert a new line with the following content:
WAITRETRACE : 1

Note: You can use any value between 1 and 8 for WAITRETRACE, but: The higher the value, the greater the risk that the game will produce unwanted side effects (such as the mouse cursor not responding correctly).

Restart the game afterwards.
Zoom in closer to your character; this will boost the performance considerably.

Q: I do not see any text in-game. What is the problem?

A: Please make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card installed. See "7. Driver Help" for more details.

Q: What are the minimum or maximum levels that will permit me to change to another difficulty level in multiplayer mode?

A: The character level restrictions for the multiplayer difficulty levels are:

Character level 1 - 59: Access to Bronze Room
Character level 20 - 99: Access to Silver Room
Character level 60 - 139: Access to Gold Room
Character level 100 - 206: Access to Platinum Room
Character level 140 - 216: Access to Niobiumium Room

6. Technical Notes (back to top)

Windows 98SE / ME

Please make sure that you have no applications running in the background (for example, anti-virus software). These applications should be deactivated.

Windows 2000 / XP

Please make sure that you have the latest updates and Service Packs installed with Windows XP / Windows 2000. The most recent updates on the creation date of this Readme file are Service Pack 2 for Windows XP and Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000. In order to install these Service Packs please run a Windows Update from the Internet Explorer / Tools / Windows Update.

7. Driver Help (back to top)

Important Notice: Always ensure you deactivate all applications (especially your Anti-Virus software) before installing a driver as it might interfere with the self-configuration of the driver you are installing.

If you are experiencing problems with your game, an outdated (graphics card) driver might well be the cause. Even if you have only recently purchased your graphics card the drivers might be outdated as the card could have been manufactured several months earlier and only the drivers available at that time will be included with your hardware. Here is how you can find the latest drivers.

Before installing any drivers please make sure that you know exactly which chip-set type your graphics card features!

NVIDIA
(i.e. TNT2 and GeForce)
http://www.nvidia.com (International)

ATI
(i.e. Radeon)
http://www.ati.com (International)

Miscellaneous Graphic Cards Manufacturers
http://www.powervr.com - PowerVR (Kyro I / II)
http://www.matrox.com - Matrox
http://www.sis.com - SIS

Mainboard Manufacturers
http://www.intel.com - Intel Inc.
http://www.sis.com - SIS
http://www.viaarena.com - Via
http://www.nvidia.com - nVidia

Sound Card Manufacturers
http://www.creative.com - Creative Labs (Soundblaster)
http://www.terratec.com - Terratec

8. Customer Support (back to top)

We offer not only technical support but also free internet forums boards. These forums are meant to assist with finding in-game solutions for players and to help find tips and tricks.

The Ascaron website is located at:

http://www.ascaron.com

You can also visit our forums from there, or alternatively use the following link:

http://www.ascaron-forum.com

The official Sacred (Plus) / Sacred Underworld / Sacred Gold website and forums are located here:

http://www.sacred-game.com

Our warranty (please refer to the manual for details) does not extend to damage caused by improper handling. However, if your CD does suffer scratches or other damage from mishaps we do offer a CD exchange for a handling fee.

This warranty expires 1 year after your first purchase of the title. For older titles, we are unable to provide any warranties. The exchange service is a voluntary service of Ascaron Entertainment and does not constitute a legal claim.

English versions (Europe only)

Ascaron Entertainment (UK) Ltd.

Note: We regret we can only offer this service for English (European) versions. For all other language versions and territories, please contact your local distributor.

Please contact our customer support at:

+49 (0) 52 41 / 96 69 0

- to receive further information about the exchange service.

Note: This support line is hosted in Germany. Calls to this number will be charged according to the rates of your telephone service provider.

9. Technical Support (back to top)

Due to the multitude of hardware and software components and the wide variety of system configurations, it is very difficult to eliminate all problems concerning the installation or operation of any software product.

Even though we make every effort to eliminate these problems through extensive testing, isolated errors may still occur but should be easy to fix.

In the unlikely event that you encounter any problems while playing the game, you may contact our customer service:

+49 (0) 52 41 / 96 69 0
(Monday to Friday 14.00 - 17.00 hrs CET)

Please make sure that you are at your PC while phoning and have all the relevant hardware information ready.

Alternatively, you can contact Ascaron online:

http://www.ascaron.com/gb/gb_service/gb_service_kontakt.asp

If you prefer to contact us online, please include all relevant hardware information in your message. We also request that you include a detailed description of the problem and the DxDiag.txt file. Here is how to create that file:

1. Click on Start in your Windows task bar and then click on Run.
2. Type dxdiag in the dialog field and click OK.
3. The DirectX diagnostic tool will start now; please be patient while it checks your system.
4. If the diagnostics process starts but discontinues your system is too unstable to run the game properly. You should download the latest version of DirectX from the Microsoft website and install it. Afterwards you should attempt step 3 again.
5. Click on Save all information and select the destination folder where the DxDiag.txt file will be created.
6. Attach this file to your email.

You can also contact us by standard mail or by fax:

Ascaron Entertainment GmbH

Also:

Ascaron Entertainment (UK) Ltd.

The Ascaron Team wishes you many enjoyable hours playing Sacred Gold!

Copyright:
All names, trademarks and logos are property of their respective owners.

Readme File

Contents

New Features in "Sacred Gold":