SpellForce: The Order of Dawn

SpellForce
SpellForce: The Order of Dawn	2003
SpellForce 2: Shadow Wars	2006
SpellForce 2: Faith in Destiny	2012
SpellForce 2: Demons of the Past	2014
SpellForce 3	2017
SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest	2019
SpellForce 3: Fallen God	2020
SpellForce 3: Versus Edition	2020
SpellForce: Conquest of Eo	2023

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

SpellForce: The Order of Dawn is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view RPG and RTS game in the SpellForce series.

General information

Official Forum

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 4 DRM disc check. Expansions use SecuROM 5 DRM. Russian copies use StarForce DRM.
Retail		The 2007 JoWood-published 'Spellforce Universe' (red box)
GamersGate		Platinum Edition.
		Platinum Edition.
GOG.com		Platinum Edition. Serial keys for multiplayer available by request to GOG support team.^[1]
Green Man Gaming		Platinum Edition.
Humble Store		Platinum Edition.
Steam		Platinum Edition with unique 1.61 patch.

Version differences

The retail-only Gold Edition includes the base game and The Breath of Winter expansion pack.

The Platinum Edition includes the base game and both expansion packs.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Expansion pack	The expansion packs include new campaigns, items, units, buildings, skirmish mode and more.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
The Breath of Winter
Shadow of the Phoenix

Essential improvements

Patches

Official patches can be found on Patches-Scrolls.

Fix for Polish retail release

To fix a problem with being unable to start the Polish retail version of the Gold Edition on Core i3/i5/i7 and Xeon processors, install CD Projekt's iCore fix.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename prelude videos^{[citation needed]}
Go to `<path-to-game>\videos`. Delete or rename `prelude_0.bik`, `prelude_1.bik`, `prelude_2.bik` and `prelude_3.bik`.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\config.lua^{[Note 1]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39540/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\SpellForce\SAVE
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/39540/pfx/^{[Note 2]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents* folder in OneDrive on all computers.*
Steam Cloud		Added in a patch.^[2]

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	Use `-window` command line argument.^[3]
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Up to 8x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Can lead to significant frame rate drops
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	No frame rate cap.
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Ray tracing (RT)
Color blind mode	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Widescreen resolution

As of July 2019, the latest Steam version of the game includes native widescreen resolution support via in-game options.

Retail and GOG.com versions do not natively support widescreen.

Use (native) High Resolution Mod + Healthbar Fix^[4]

Notes

Doesn't have any of the problems that other solutions below have.

Requires an account on a forum to download.

Download a fixed .exe from WSGF^{[citation needed]}
Download the modified executable archive from Nexus Mods (formerly on WSGF). Paste and overwrite the `SpellForce.exe` corresponding to the desired resolution into the `<path-to-game>`.

Edit config.lua manually^{[citation needed]}

Go to the installation folder.
Edit config.lua.
Locate the section Graphic =
At the end of the section add two entries:
- WindowWidth = *your window width*,
- WindowHeight = *your window height*,
Save the file and exit.
Run SpellForce.exe as administrator.

Notes

This fix may cause a series of graphical errors.^{[citation needed]}

Draw distance also can be increased beyond the in-game maximum in the config.lua file, but at the cost of performance drops.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Set in Options, Game.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, SFX and Voice.
Surround sound		Set in Options, Sound.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Fan translation; The Order of Dawn, The Breath of Winter, Platinum Edition
French				Retail and Steam only.
German				Retail and Steam only; download for GOG.com version.
Italian				Retail and Platinum Edition only.
Polish				Retail and Platinum Edition only.
Russian				Retail and Platinum Edition only. Full official text and UI translation for the Steam Platinum Edition can be downloaded here
Spanish				Retail and Platinum Edition only.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	Versus, Co-op Co-op supports up to 3 players.
Online play		8	GameSpy services have been shut down;^[5] see GameSpy for workarounds.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created profile, requires DGVoodoo2 WIP58, (DX9) see profile introdution. `Note:` Profile may not work with the latest wrapper, in case of issues please report to the vorpx forum.

Issues fixed

Game asks for serial key on every launch

Enter key while running the game as administrator^{[citation needed]}

Game crashes when opening Options

Disable DSR (NVIDIA) or VSR (AMD)^{[citation needed]}

Issues unresolved

Shadow issues

On modern systems, dynamic shadows (high and very high settings) are only rendered on part of the screen.^[6] Precise cause remains unclear.

SLI issues

SLI (more than one graphics card) is not supported and causes a black anomaly to fill the screen. Disable SLI to remedy this.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	6.5c
Cutscenes	Bink Video	1.5y
Multiplayer	GameSpy	GameSpy server browser has been shut down.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 1 GHz	Intel Pentium 4 1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 2 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0a compatible	Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti 64 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	DirectX compatible

Notes

↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/39540/.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (39540) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ Spellforce Platinum - Multiplayer key request - last accessed on 2021-06-13
↑ SpellForce Platinum Edition - Multiplayer, Widescreen and Windows Compatibility - Steam Community Discussions - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Run Spellforce in windowed mode - SpellForce - Official Board - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Verified by User:Patrxgt on 2025-06-20
↑ Pricing | GameSpy Technology
↑ - YouTube - last accessed on 2025-07-06

[gamedir-2] When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[Proton_path_note-3] 2.0 ^2.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/39540/.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (39540) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[3] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[4] Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/39540/.

[5] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[6] The app ID (39540) may differ in some cases.

[7] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[8] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[1] Spellforce Platinum - Multiplayer key request - last accessed on 2021-06-13

[4] SpellForce Platinum Edition - Multiplayer, Widescreen and Windows Compatibility - Steam Community Discussions - last accessed on May 2023

[5] Run Spellforce in windowed mode - SpellForce - Official Board - last accessed on May 2023

[6] Verified by User:Patrxgt on 2025-06-20

[7] Pricing | GameSpy Technology

[8] - YouTube - last accessed on 2025-07-06

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Developers

	Phenomic
Publishers
2003-2011	JoWood Productions
2011-2016	Nordic Games
2016-present	THQ Nordic
North America	Encore
Re-release	Sold Out Software
Engines
	KRASS Engine
Release dates
Windows	November 28, 2003
Reception
Metacritic	74
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RPG, RTS
Themes	Fantasy
Series	SpellForce