First of all, thank you for all the work that has gone into OpenGothic. I know the project primarily targets Gothic 2, but since the website mentions that Gothic 1 bug reports are also welcome, I decided to document the most significant issues I encountered while playing through Gothic 1 on the OpenGothic Engine.
Before writing this report, I did not go through all existing bug reports to verify whether some of these issues have already been reported. While playing through Gothic 1, I simply recorded and documented bugs that I encountered and considered significant enough to mention. Once I had gathered enough examples, I decided to compile them into a single report. Apologies if some of the issues listed below are already known or have been reported previously.
I intentionally focused only on issues that I consider major gameplay, scripting, animation, collision, or rendering problems. I did not include every minor difference from the original game, especially when the change does not negatively affect gameplay.
Video examples are attached separately there : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmJaugU8CFM
- Jumping and climbing mechanics
There are several problems related to jumping, climbing, and fall damage.
Climbing detection
Climbing behavior differs noticeably from the original Gothic 1.
Surface detection appears to be unreliable. If a wall or ledge is even slightly sloped, it is often impossible to jump onto it, even when the location is clearly intended to be accessible. In the original game these locations can be reached without issues.
One example is Gilbert's cave, although there are other similar spots throughout the world.
Jump animation on slopes
When jumping uphill, the animation sometimes glitches. The player briefly clips into the terrain and then suddenly snaps upward at the end of the animation.
Fall damage
Fall damage calculation appears significantly different from the original game.
There are many jumps that cause no damage in the original Gothic but deal damage in OpenGothic. In some cases the player can even die from falls that are survivable in the original.
Acrobatics also seems to have little or no effect on fall damage. In the original game, Acrobatics allows the player to survive significantly higher falls before taking damage.
- Collision and moving platform issues
Old Camp bridge
Collision detection appears problematic on the bridge leading to the Old Camp.
Characters can become stuck on the bridge. This can be seen in the attached video where Diego gets stuck. In the original game NPCs move through this area without problems.
Collapsing floor in the ruined fortress
In the ruined fortress, there is a switch that causes the floor to collapse.
In the original game, the player falls together with the floor. In OpenGothic, the floor drops while the player remains suspended in mid-air.
Elevators
Elevators do not properly carry stationary characters.
The player must continuously move while standing on an elevator platform. If the player remains still, the platform moves but the character stays at the previous height, often resulting in clipping through geometry.
- Sleeping animation
There appears to be an animation issue after sleeping.
After sleeping, the character briefly snaps into a standing position instead of remaining in bed. Only after exiting the sleep menu does the character return to the lying animation and then get up normally.
- Looking backward movement animation
When looking backward while moving, the player character performs a strange sideways leaning motion.
Instead of running straight, the character appears to move at an odd angle. This behavior looks unnatural and differs from the original Gothic animation.
- Sky/background rendering artifacts
There are visible graphical artifacts in the background/sky rendering.
The issue can be seen in the attached video. It appears to be a rendering problem rather than a content issue.
- Lighting and shadow system
The lighting model appears noticeably different from the original game.
Artificial light sources
Torches and campfires seem to have a very short effective range.
At the same time, surfaces located very close to the light source become excessively bright, often appearing almost completely white and losing visual detail.
Dark areas are too bright
Many locations that should be almost completely dark remain clearly visible even without a torch or Light spell.
In the original Gothic, these areas required a light source to navigate effectively.
Overall, light propagation, brightness falloff, and shadowing appear to need adjustment.
- Animation interruption issues (F8)
Certain animations cannot be interrupted correctly.
For example, when the player dies and the death animation starts, pressing F8 in the original game immediately interrupts the animation and restores control.
In OpenGothic, pressing F8 revives the character, but the death animation continues playing and cannot be interrupted. The character is technically alive but remains stuck in the death animation until it finishes.
- Input responsiveness issues
Input handling sometimes feels inconsistent, particularly during combat.
For example, after stepping backward, I often want to immediately perform an attack. This is consistently possible in the original Gothic.
In OpenGothic, sometimes the attack triggers immediately and sometimes there is a noticeable delay (roughly 0.25-0.5 seconds) before the input is accepted.
This makes combat feel less responsive and less predictable than in the original game. The issue can be severe enough to cause unnecessary deaths.
- Monsters failing to lose aggro
Some monsters appear unable to properly reset their aggro state.
One example involved a Snapper near Quentin's Bandit Camp.
The Snapper entered its slow tracking behavior (walking toward the player without immediately charging). Instead of fighting it, I continued exploring and eventually reached the Fog Tower area.
Much later, the same Snapper arrived there as well.
It had apparently been following me across a large portion of the map the entire time. During that period I had:
lost line of sight multiple times,
saved the game several times,
loaded saves multiple times.
Despite this, the creature never abandoned its target and continued tracking me until it eventually caught up.
In the original Gothic, Snappers would lose aggro after the player moved far enough away.
- NPC weapon state script issues
There appears to be a scripting issue involving NPC reactions to drawn weapons.
If the player draws a weapon inside a camp, nearby NPCs usually draw their own weapons and tell the player to put theirs away.
Frequently, after the player sheathes their weapon, only some NPCs return to their normal state. Others permanently keep their weapons drawn.
Affected NPCs continue performing all normal activities:
walking around,
sleeping,
talking,
following daily routines,
while permanently holding their weapons.
Saving/loading and restarting the game do not fix the issue.
The only workaround I found is provoking them again (for example by drawing a weapon once more) and hoping the script resolves correctly the next time.
- Equipped weapons cannot be looted
There seems to be a looting issue involving equipped weapons.
If an NPC has a weapon equipped but not actively drawn at the moment they are defeated or killed, the weapon cannot be removed from their inventory afterward.
This differs from the original Gothic games.
In the original games, armor could not be looted if it was equipped, but weapons could always be taken regardless of whether they had been equipped previously.
- Lockpicking feedback issues
Lockpicking is more difficult than it should be due to missing or delayed feedback.
If I perform a correct lockpicking move and then immediately perform an incorrect one, both feedback messages remain on screen for a short time.
During that period, additional lockpicking inputs can still be entered, but no new feedback is displayed because the previous messages have not yet disappeared.
As a result, it becomes impossible to tell whether subsequent moves were correct or incorrect, or whether a lockpick has just broken.
In the original game, feedback remains clear and immediate throughout the entire lockpicking process.
- Console blocks player movement
In the original Gothic games, opening the Marvin/debug console does not prevent player movement.
The player can continue moving around while the console is open.
In OpenGothic, opening the console blocks movement entirely until the console is closed.
This differs from the behavior of the original engine and makes certain debugging and testing workflows less convenient.
- NPC/monster spawn overlap handling
The original Gothic engine appears to contain logic that prevents multiple creatures from spawning at exactly the same coordinates.
If a spawn point is already occupied, additional creatures are placed at nearby valid positions instead.
OpenGothic does not seem to perform this adjustment.
As a result, multiple creatures can spawn inside one another at exactly the same location.
One example can be observed with the Black Goblins near the cave visited during the Almanac quest for the Sleeper summoning ritual.
Several times I approached what appeared to be a single enemy. However, once combat started and the creature began moving, it became apparent that multiple creatures had actually spawned in the exact same position and were overlapping each other.
This behavior was not present in the original game.
- Barrier visual and audio effects missing
The periodic visual texture effects and ambient sound effects of the magical barrier are not present.
In the original Gothic 1, the barrier has a distinct periodic visual distortion/texture effect along with accompanying ambient audio that reinforces its presence. In OpenGothic, these effects do not appear to be rendered or played.
Closing notes
These are the most significant issues I encountered during my Gothic 1 playthrough on the OpenGothic Engine.
Despite the problems listed above, I want to emphasize that I really enjoy the project and appreciate the effort that has gone into it. OpenGothic is already very impressive, and I hope these reports help improve compatibility and overall polish even further.
Thank you for your work on the project.
First of all, thank you for all the work that has gone into OpenGothic. I know the project primarily targets Gothic 2, but since the website mentions that Gothic 1 bug reports are also welcome, I decided to document the most significant issues I encountered while playing through Gothic 1 on the OpenGothic Engine.
Before writing this report, I did not go through all existing bug reports to verify whether some of these issues have already been reported. While playing through Gothic 1, I simply recorded and documented bugs that I encountered and considered significant enough to mention. Once I had gathered enough examples, I decided to compile them into a single report. Apologies if some of the issues listed below are already known or have been reported previously.
I intentionally focused only on issues that I consider major gameplay, scripting, animation, collision, or rendering problems. I did not include every minor difference from the original game, especially when the change does not negatively affect gameplay.
Video examples are attached separately there : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmJaugU8CFM
There are several problems related to jumping, climbing, and fall damage.
Climbing detection
Climbing behavior differs noticeably from the original Gothic 1.
Surface detection appears to be unreliable. If a wall or ledge is even slightly sloped, it is often impossible to jump onto it, even when the location is clearly intended to be accessible. In the original game these locations can be reached without issues.
One example is Gilbert's cave, although there are other similar spots throughout the world.
Jump animation on slopes
When jumping uphill, the animation sometimes glitches. The player briefly clips into the terrain and then suddenly snaps upward at the end of the animation.
Fall damage
Fall damage calculation appears significantly different from the original game.
There are many jumps that cause no damage in the original Gothic but deal damage in OpenGothic. In some cases the player can even die from falls that are survivable in the original.
Acrobatics also seems to have little or no effect on fall damage. In the original game, Acrobatics allows the player to survive significantly higher falls before taking damage.
Old Camp bridge
Collision detection appears problematic on the bridge leading to the Old Camp.
Characters can become stuck on the bridge. This can be seen in the attached video where Diego gets stuck. In the original game NPCs move through this area without problems.
Collapsing floor in the ruined fortress
In the ruined fortress, there is a switch that causes the floor to collapse.
In the original game, the player falls together with the floor. In OpenGothic, the floor drops while the player remains suspended in mid-air.
Elevators
Elevators do not properly carry stationary characters.
The player must continuously move while standing on an elevator platform. If the player remains still, the platform moves but the character stays at the previous height, often resulting in clipping through geometry.
There appears to be an animation issue after sleeping.
After sleeping, the character briefly snaps into a standing position instead of remaining in bed. Only after exiting the sleep menu does the character return to the lying animation and then get up normally.
When looking backward while moving, the player character performs a strange sideways leaning motion.
Instead of running straight, the character appears to move at an odd angle. This behavior looks unnatural and differs from the original Gothic animation.
There are visible graphical artifacts in the background/sky rendering.
The issue can be seen in the attached video. It appears to be a rendering problem rather than a content issue.
The lighting model appears noticeably different from the original game.
Artificial light sources
Torches and campfires seem to have a very short effective range.
At the same time, surfaces located very close to the light source become excessively bright, often appearing almost completely white and losing visual detail.
Dark areas are too bright
Many locations that should be almost completely dark remain clearly visible even without a torch or Light spell.
In the original Gothic, these areas required a light source to navigate effectively.
Overall, light propagation, brightness falloff, and shadowing appear to need adjustment.
Certain animations cannot be interrupted correctly.
For example, when the player dies and the death animation starts, pressing F8 in the original game immediately interrupts the animation and restores control.
In OpenGothic, pressing F8 revives the character, but the death animation continues playing and cannot be interrupted. The character is technically alive but remains stuck in the death animation until it finishes.
Input handling sometimes feels inconsistent, particularly during combat.
For example, after stepping backward, I often want to immediately perform an attack. This is consistently possible in the original Gothic.
In OpenGothic, sometimes the attack triggers immediately and sometimes there is a noticeable delay (roughly 0.25-0.5 seconds) before the input is accepted.
This makes combat feel less responsive and less predictable than in the original game. The issue can be severe enough to cause unnecessary deaths.
Some monsters appear unable to properly reset their aggro state.
One example involved a Snapper near Quentin's Bandit Camp.
The Snapper entered its slow tracking behavior (walking toward the player without immediately charging). Instead of fighting it, I continued exploring and eventually reached the Fog Tower area.
Much later, the same Snapper arrived there as well.
It had apparently been following me across a large portion of the map the entire time. During that period I had:
lost line of sight multiple times,
saved the game several times,
loaded saves multiple times.
Despite this, the creature never abandoned its target and continued tracking me until it eventually caught up.
In the original Gothic, Snappers would lose aggro after the player moved far enough away.
There appears to be a scripting issue involving NPC reactions to drawn weapons.
If the player draws a weapon inside a camp, nearby NPCs usually draw their own weapons and tell the player to put theirs away.
Frequently, after the player sheathes their weapon, only some NPCs return to their normal state. Others permanently keep their weapons drawn.
Affected NPCs continue performing all normal activities:
walking around,
sleeping,
talking,
following daily routines,
while permanently holding their weapons.
Saving/loading and restarting the game do not fix the issue.
The only workaround I found is provoking them again (for example by drawing a weapon once more) and hoping the script resolves correctly the next time.
There seems to be a looting issue involving equipped weapons.
If an NPC has a weapon equipped but not actively drawn at the moment they are defeated or killed, the weapon cannot be removed from their inventory afterward.
This differs from the original Gothic games.
In the original games, armor could not be looted if it was equipped, but weapons could always be taken regardless of whether they had been equipped previously.
Lockpicking is more difficult than it should be due to missing or delayed feedback.
If I perform a correct lockpicking move and then immediately perform an incorrect one, both feedback messages remain on screen for a short time.
During that period, additional lockpicking inputs can still be entered, but no new feedback is displayed because the previous messages have not yet disappeared.
As a result, it becomes impossible to tell whether subsequent moves were correct or incorrect, or whether a lockpick has just broken.
In the original game, feedback remains clear and immediate throughout the entire lockpicking process.
In the original Gothic games, opening the Marvin/debug console does not prevent player movement.
The player can continue moving around while the console is open.
In OpenGothic, opening the console blocks movement entirely until the console is closed.
This differs from the behavior of the original engine and makes certain debugging and testing workflows less convenient.
The original Gothic engine appears to contain logic that prevents multiple creatures from spawning at exactly the same coordinates.
If a spawn point is already occupied, additional creatures are placed at nearby valid positions instead.
OpenGothic does not seem to perform this adjustment.
As a result, multiple creatures can spawn inside one another at exactly the same location.
One example can be observed with the Black Goblins near the cave visited during the Almanac quest for the Sleeper summoning ritual.
Several times I approached what appeared to be a single enemy. However, once combat started and the creature began moving, it became apparent that multiple creatures had actually spawned in the exact same position and were overlapping each other.
This behavior was not present in the original game.
The periodic visual texture effects and ambient sound effects of the magical barrier are not present.
In the original Gothic 1, the barrier has a distinct periodic visual distortion/texture effect along with accompanying ambient audio that reinforces its presence. In OpenGothic, these effects do not appear to be rendered or played.
Closing notes
These are the most significant issues I encountered during my Gothic 1 playthrough on the OpenGothic Engine.
Despite the problems listed above, I want to emphasize that I really enjoy the project and appreciate the effort that has gone into it. OpenGothic is already very impressive, and I hope these reports help improve compatibility and overall polish even further.
Thank you for your work on the project.