Nox

Genre: Role Playing

Release Year: 2000

Developer: Westwood Studios

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Age Rating: 12+

Playability Status: Perfect

Tested On: Windows 8 x64

Availability: Copyright retained - Out of print/unavailable

Don’t want the hassle?

Get this game pre-fixed, DRM free and ready to play from GoG.com. Fully working or your money back.

Also known (exclusively by me) as Nox: The Quest For Bacon, this polished but often forgotten PC roleplaying game by real-time strategy pioneers Westwood Studios was well received upon its launch back in the year 2000. Playing as unlikely hero Jack, your day is ruined when, just as you were about to sit down to a fine dinner of bacon, you are accidentally summoned to the realm of Nox during a black magic ritual. In order to get back and consume that most precious pork-based foodstuff, you will need to become a legendary hero and journey across the realm, fighting the usual fantasy monsters and completing quests. Nox was notable for not only having a strong single player campaign, but also great multiplayer too. Certain multiplayer modes can be played on two PC’s with only one copy of the game, making Nox another good game for breathing life into those older PC’s you may have around the house.

Installation

Nox should install without any difficulties on a modern PC. Simply insert the first CD into your computers optical drive and then follow all on-screen prompts. If you’re interested in playing the single player game, you will want to hang around, as the installer actually narrates quite a bit of the back story to you as the game installs.

Patching

Before playing, make sure to install the Nox 1.2 patch. This patch can be downloaded here. The patch should install without any issues.

Setting compatibility modes

Nox requires just one fix before it can be played on modern systems. Use the compatibility mode options to set the game to run in compatibility mode for Windows 98 / Windows Me. If you are unfamiliar with setting compatibility options, see this tutorial. No other compatibility options should be necessary.

Tweaking visual quality

Visual options for Nox can be set by clicking on “Options” on the main menu. The picture below shows the graphical options available to you.

Pay particular attention to the following options:-

Unlocked DX Surfaces – On most graphics cards, this should be turned off to avoid graphical corruption.
Screen Resolution – Turn this to 1024 x 768.
16-Bit Color – Ensure this is set to on, the switch-type control should be on the right as in the picture.

You can leave all the other visual options turned on, and configure other settings, such as Input and sound volume to taste.

Nox Quest add on and multiplayer

If you like to play your PC games cooperatively, you may be interested in this free game add on. The Nox Quest add on gives several more multiplayer modes and allows the main quest to be played by two players cooperatively. You will need two PC’s and two copies of the game to do this however. You can download this add-on here.

Nox was designed originally to feature extensive online multiplayer, however EA games have long since shut the servers down. Play is still possible using custom servers for those dedicated enough to run or find them. Check out this message board on reddit for more information if you are interested.