Microfish_1: Does this require a linux OS, or can this work inside windows?

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Another option, for people looking for this in the future, is to run a virtual machine (VirtualBox or VMWare) running an older OS (XP or 7), and run the game inside that.

I don't know how well it would work, but that is what Win 7's "XP mode" basically was.

Darvond: If you're using Windows 10 or 11? You can use the aformentioned Windows Subsystem for Linux.

There's also BoxedWine which attempts to put it into a smaller package, but that's not really the most up to date. The nice thing about Wine is that it puts Win16 support back into Windows, though a backwards way.

OldFatGuy: Nothing Works. Nothing. Always the same GD Access Violation

I tried all three of these verbatim: (more than once, all from clean installs)

OldFatGuy: WINDOWED MODE WINDOWED MODE WINDOWED MODE WINDOWED MODE

OMG, I am playing Gothic, and get this... with DX11 rendering! And you know what? It does look better. I mean it's not "night and day" difference, but running it DX11 (with a texture pack mod) does make it look amazing. What I'm noticing most of all is the water, the lighting, and the forest detail are the biggest noticeable differences.

I have been reading crap from all over these internets, and trying everything I read. I found a post from 2021 (somewhere, it wasn't here or Steam I remember that but I can't remember where) about the relatively new Gothic 2 add-on (can't recall the name of it) where they had all access violations. And one of the recommendations was to go into the INI file and switch windowed mode from 0 to 1.

BOOM. No more access violations. At first it came up in a very small box at the top left of my screen. I switched in game resolution to match my monitor's, and boom full screen. I went in and played some, noticed the task bar was hiding some of the dialogue box at the bottom, went in and hid the taskbar.....

and I'm playing Gothic 1, with mods, and with DX11 rendering!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG.

And my controller still works perfectly.

OMG. Windowed mode. I never would have guessed.

ADDED: Wow, one of the mods must have changed the dialogue box. When I was playing 100% vanilla, and switched to 1920X1080, the dialogue was difficult for me to read. But now that I have everything working right, including 4GB Patch, DX11 rendering, Community Patch, etc. even at 1920X1080 the dialogue is easy to read. It MUST have changed by one of those things. Community Patch I would guess, i dunno.

OldFatGuy: WINDOWED MODE WINDOWED MODE WINDOWED MODE WINDOWED MODE

OMG, I am playing Gothic, and get this... with DX11 rendering! And you know what? It does look better. I mean it's not "night and day" difference, but running it DX11 (with a texture pack mod) does make it look amazing. What I'm noticing most of all is the water, the lighting, and the forest detail are the biggest noticeable differences.

I have been reading crap from all over these internets, and trying everything I read. I found a post from 2021 (somewhere, it wasn't here or Steam I remember that but I can't remember where) about the relatively new Gothic 2 add-on (can't recall the name of it) where they had all access violations. And one of the recommendations was to go into the INI file and switch windowed mode from 0 to 1.

BOOM. No more access violations. At first it came up in a very small box at the top left of my screen. I switched in game resolution to match my monitor's, and boom full screen. I went in and played some, noticed the task bar was hiding some of the dialogue box at the bottom, went in and hid the taskbar.....

and I'm playing Gothic 1, with mods, and with DX11 rendering!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG.

And my controller still works perfectly.

OMG. Windowed mode. I never would have guessed.

ADDED: Wow, one of the mods must have changed the dialogue box. When I was playing 100% vanilla, and switched to 1920X1080, the dialogue was difficult for me to read. But now that I have everything working right, including 4GB Patch, DX11 rendering, Community Patch, etc. even at 1920X1080 the dialogue is easy to read. It MUST have changed by one of those things. Community Patch I would guess, i dunno.