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Renderer

Gothic Multiplayer supports multiple rendering backends. You can either keep the original Gothic renderer (DirectX 7) or switch to one of the renderers shipped with the Multiplayer client (DirectX 9 or DirectX 11).

This is primarily a compatibility and stability feature: different systems and driver stacks behave differently with the original 2001-era DirectX 7 pipeline, so GMP provides newer alternatives.

Available renderers

Note

If you plan to use modifications like G3D11 or LegacyAltRenderer, you need to use DX7 on GMP.

DX7 (Vanilla / Gothic API default)

  • This is the original renderer used by Gothic.
  • Selecting DX7 aims to preserve the most "vanilla" behavior and visuals.

Use DX7 if you want the classic rendering path or if you are troubleshooting and want the simplest baseline.

DX9 (Gothic Multiplayer renderer)

  • GMP ships its own Direct3D 9 renderer.
  • In the current codebase, D3D9 is the default renderer.

Use DX9 if you want a more modern backend than DX7, especially on newer Windows versions and GPU drivers, while still staying closer to the "classic era" of DirectX.

DX11 (Gothic Multiplayer renderer)

  • GMP also ships a Direct3D 11 renderer.

Use DX11 if you want to experiment with the newest backend and you understand it may be incomplete depending on your current GMP version.

How to change the renderer

Renderer selection is controlled via the GMP configuration file:

  • File: GMP_Config.toml
  • Key: renderer_type
  • Allowed values: D3D7, D3D9, D3D11

Example: 

# GMP_Config.toml
renderer_type = "D3D7"   # Vanilla DX7 renderer
# renderer_type = "D3D9"  # GMP DX9 renderer (default)
# renderer_type = "D3D11" # GMP DX11 renderer

Practical pros and cons

Choosing DX7 (Vanilla)

Pros

  • Closest match to original Gothic behavior and visuals
  • Good baseline for troubleshooting (eliminates GMP renderer variables)
  • Is the only one which works with renderer wrapper mods made for the game

Cons

  • More fragile on modern systems (OS/driver compatibility)
  • No benefits from GMP's newer rendering path

Choosing DX9 (GMP)

Pros

  • Typically better compatibility with modern Windows + GPU drivers than DX7
  • Default GMP path (most tested in day-to-day usage)

Cons

  • Marked as experimental and may show visual glitches

Choosing DX11 (GMP)

Pros

  • Most modern backend provided by GMP
  • Best long-term direction for future renderer work

Cons

  • Explicitly marked as not fully implemented
  • May be less reliable than DX9 depending on current build

Recommendation

  • Start with DX9 (default), unless you have a specific reason not to.
  • Switch to DX7 if you want the most vanilla baseline or to troubleshoot.
  • Try DX11 if you are testing and can tolerate incomplete implementation.