1. Info about the game
Developer: Planet Moon Studios
Resources:
2. Installing
2.1.a) Insert your original CD1 into the CD/DVD drive,
or:
2.1.b) Buy the game on GoG or Steam and only then download CD images from archive.org. Extract .bin & .cue files, mount the CD1 image in ImgDrive or similar software.
2.2) Autorun should run Autorun.exe (run it manually if you disabled Autorun for CD/DVD drives):
2.3) Do a full install of the game. Don’t install multiplayer-related stuff:
2.4) Installer should install the game fine without any compatibility settings:
3. Patching / Running
3.1) You can now run the game. It should work regardless of hardware & OS, and it works fine on my rig (see “Statement” for info about my setup).
But at this point (v1.0) it’s a very bare-boned version of the game, lacking many features which were added in later patches.
3.2) Grab the Patch v1.4 from Patches Scrolls or my mirror. Patch the game, don’t install GameSpy Arcade:
After that, game should work. But on modern OS / hardware, worse than before.
a) The minor problem is the misaligned screen on higher resolutions (above 800 x 600):
Which can be fixed by changing Giants.exe‘s high DPI settings:
b) The major problem is the fact, that game’s window overlay is always visible (game won’t run in proper fullscreen):
There are more graphics options available now:
And four different (actually mostly the same) renderers to choose from:
But game’s hardly playable in current state:
OFC we’re talking about modern OS / hardware, on old enough setup, game should work fine. But it still can and should be patched further.
3.3.a) If you’re on old hardware & OS (Win98, WinXP), you should upgrade the game further with a semi-official GeForce3 Patch (GOTO #3.4).
3.3.b) If you’re on modern hardware & OS, you should upgrade the game further with an Unofficial Patch v1.5 (GOTO #3.6).
3.4) Grab the GeForce3 Patch from PCGamingWiki or my mirror.
Originally designed with the GeForce2 in mind, Planet Moon Studios began shipping a separate edition of Giants with the release of the Elsa GeForce3 cards. According to Nvidia, the following enhancements were made in the GeForce3 version: - Significant performance improvements: tuned for the GeForce3 and DirectX8.0 - Added higher resolution textures - Added increased polygon-count characters - Vertex / Pixel shaders - Meccs are now bumpy AND shiny - Moved terrain bump map calculations from CPU to GPU - Added soft edges to character shadow - Added sky reflection on water - Smoothed transition from water edge to terrain - Added weather effects
Run the patch and select all options:
During install, you’ll most likely get an error:
Create the \override\ folder in game’s \bin\ subfolder. Installation should now continue:
Game’s Graphics Options look the same as in “vanilla” 1.4 version:
But game looks different (better textures and effects):
3.5) Uncensoring the game (red blood)
At this point, your game will most likely be consored – blood will be green instead of red:
To get red blood, grab the Red Blood Patch from Patches Scrolls or my mirror. Patch the game. You should now have the aablood.gzp file in game’s \bin\ subfolder. And red blood:
3.6) Grab the Unofficial Patch v1.5 from Giants World Domination site. Run it. It should try to update itself to the most current version:
Update, patch the game, launch it. Select desired options in new launcher:
Game should now work in proper fullscreen on modern machines / OSes:
This patch includes all the features from the GeForce3 Patch, plus much more (new DirectX 9 renderer & “Lighting Quality” option are visible in Graphics Options):
It also cleans up the renderer list:
Just set all possible graphical options to “max”:
And voila – game looks fantastic now:
You don’t need the Red Blood Patch for this version, it’s already inclued:
The only problem I’ve noticed at this point was super-weird mouse sensitivity. On the default level (slider in the middle), mouse movement is a bit too fast. But if you reduce it even slightly, it will become sluggishly slow. Fix posted @PCGamingWiki sadly didn’t help in my case.
4. Uncensoring the game (boobs)
At this point, your game will most likely be consored – our blue heroine Delphi will wear a totally pointless bikini:
To fix this mindless injustice, goto \bin\ subfolder and remove (renaming it won’t be enough) the arpfix.gzp file. All should be well now:
5. EAX (HD / 3D Audio)
When using the Unofficial Patch v1.5, EAX support can be (re)enabled in the game.
Hardware sound has been disabled in the initial release of Giants due to performance issues at the time. On some systems, this may not be an issue and improvement may be observed in sound quality with this option if the sound card supports EAX. This will also restore occlusion and reverb audio options in-game.
Patch v1.5 has occlusion & reverb disabled by default:
5.1) To enable EAX, grab the EAX Fix from PCGamingWiki or my mirror. Extract all files to game’s folder. Overwrite “modern” audio dll (gs_ds.dll from December 2022) with the “original” one, included in the fix (gs_ds.dll from July 2001). When using Patch v1.5, you don’t need anything else (-snd3d parameter for game’s .exe shouldn’t be necessary).
5.2) Get the OpenAL 1.1 Windows installer (oalinst.zip) from OpenAL site. Install OpenAL driver (oalinst.exe).
Occlusion & reverb should now be enabled in game:
Running Old PC Games 