This page is for the original release. For the remaster, see Pharaoh: A New Era.

Description of PHARAOH. Pharaoh (Pharaoh) is a strategy game released in 1999 by Sierra OnLine. The game was released for PCs (Windows). The game's action is set in ancient Egypt. You play the leader of a settlement (dynasty), gradually gaining more and more honorable positions in the hierarchy, and at the end of the game playing as a pharaoh.

Pharaoh
Developers
Expansion
Publishers
Retail
Digital
Release dates
WindowsNovember 5, 1999
Taxonomy
ModesSingleplayer
PacingReal-time
PerspectivesBird's-eye view, Isometric
ControlsPoint and select
GenresBuilding
ThemesEgypt, Classical
SeriesCity Building (Sierra)
  1. Download ImageCFG. Extract the contents of the download to. Open a text editor (ex. Notepad) and paste in the following: @echo off if not exist Pharaoh.exe goto end if exist Pharaoh.exe.bak goto end copy Pharaoh.exe Pharaoh.exe.bak imagecfg -u Pharaoh.exe imagecfg -a 0x1 Pharaoh.exe pause:end 4.
  2. Game mod - Download. The file Widescreen Patch v.1.2 is a modification for Pharaoh, a (n) strategy game. Download for free. File type Game mod. File size 9.4 MB. Downloads 19247. (last 7 days) 70. Last update Sunday, December 13, 2015.
City Building (Sierra)
Caesar (series)
Pharaoh1999
Zeus: Master of Olympus2000
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom2002
Children of the Nile2004
Pharaoh: A New EraTBA
  • 1Availability
  • 2Essential improvements
  • 3Game data
  • 4Video
  • 6Audio
  • 7Issues fixed
  • 8Other information

General information

Pharaoh Heaven community site
GOG.com Community Discussions
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

SourceDRMNotesKeysOS
Retail The basegame using simple disc-check.
The Cleopatra expansion utilize SecuROM V4 DRM disc check.
GOG.com Includes expansion Cleopatra
Steam Includes expansion Cleopatra
The GOG.com version includes the expansion Queen of the Nile: Cleopatra, the latest patch and is fixed to run on modern computers.

DLC and expansion packs

NameNotes
Queen of the Nile: Cleopatra
Download

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

Pharaoh Enhancement Pack 1.2 enables the in-game Mission Editor and fixes various issues. The Cleopatra Enhancement Pack 2.1 fixes the expansion's issues. (Both already included in the GOG and Steam versions).

Skip intro videos[edit]

Instructions[1]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>BinksHigh
  2. Rename, move or delete this file:

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

SystemLocation
Windows <path-to-game>[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux)<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/564530/pfx/[Note 2]
Pharaoh

Save game data location[edit]

SystemLocation
Windows <path-to-game>Save[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux)<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/564530/pfx/[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

Video[edit]

Video settings
Graphics featureStateWSGFNotes
Widescreen resolution See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
WindowedOnly for 16bit colour depth desktop. Hackable for 32bit see Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowedSee the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Widescreen resolution[edit]

For Pharaoh with Cleopatra (available from GOG or Steam):
  1. Download Pharaoh Resizer (French version)
  2. Place it in the same folder where Pharaoh.exe is
  3. Open PharaohResizer.exe, set the desired resolution and save the new executable in the same folder of Pharaoh.exe
  4. Use the new executable file to play
  • If the game crashes you may need to choose another resolution
For Pharaoh without Cleopatra replace Pharaoh.exe with this file.

Windowed[edit]

Change color depth[2]
  1. Change the colour depth of the display to 16-bit
    • For Windows 8 and newer, enable the following compatibility settings for the Pharaoh.exe file (located in <path-to-game>: Reduced color mode (16-bit color).
    • For Windows Vista and 7, change the colour mode through the Screen resolution settings in the Control Panel.
    • For Windows XP, change the colour mode through the Display settings in the Control Panel.
  2. Download the patched files and extract them into <path-to-game>.
  3. Launch the game.
PharaohStarter.exe[3]

An application that automatically changes the colour depth to 16-bit and starts Pharaoh in a window. After the game is closed the color depth returns to 32-bit.

  1. Download the launcher.
  2. Extract the contents of the download to <path-to-game>.
  3. Run the game using PharaohStarter.exe.

Input[edit]

Keyboard and mouseStateNotes
RemappingSee the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller supportSee the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Audio[edit]

Audio settings
Pharaoh Gold Download Pc
Audio featureStateNotes
Separate volume controlsSliders for Music, Speech, Effects and City Ambient.
Surround sound
SubtitlesNot during cutscenes
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

LanguageUIAudioSubNotes
English
FrenchLocal retail version only.For digital Version https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1522702617
German
HungarianFan translation.
Italian
PolishLocal retail version only.For digital Version https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2052703738
Brazilian PortugueseLocal retail version only. Released as 'Faraó'.
SpanishLocal retail version only.For digital Version https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1294403584
SwedishLocal retail version only

Issues fixed[edit]

Unable to load function; Ft_thunk (Kernell32.dll)[edit]

Pharaoh
Enable Compatibility mode[4]
  1. Enable the following compatibility settings for the Pharaoh.exe file (located in <path-to-game>: Compatibility mode (Windows 2000).
  2. Launch the game.

Game freezes / movies not playing[edit]

Force only one CPU core to run the game[5]
  1. Download ImageCFG.
  2. Extract the contents of the download to <path-to-game>.
  3. Open a text editor (ex. Notepad) and paste in the following:

4. Save the file with the .bat extension and place it in <path-to-game>.
5. Run this file to launch the game.

Update the mss32.dll file[6]
  1. In <path-to-game>, rename the mss32.dll file to oldmss32.dll.
  2. Download Miles Sound System (MSS) v6.0m.
  3. Extract the contents of the download to <path-to-game>.
  4. Launch the game.
Stop Pharaoh from freezing[7]
  1. Download the 'Pharaoh v1.2 [ENGLISH] No-CD/Fixed EXE' from 'http://www.gamecopyworld.eu/games/pc_pharaoh.shtml' (or in your language from the list)
  2. Add it the installation folder and double-click it - this will patch your Pharaoh.EXE file to play the game without the CD and Fix the .EXE to stop freezing (in my case it worked over all other work-arounds)
  3. Hopefully this fixed your problem as it did me. Play and enjoy!

Game speed/Map scroll rate issue[edit]

Set the slider in-game[8][9]

While in-game, press options and press speed option and move the game speed slider to adjust the game speed or scroll rate slider to adjust the scroll speed.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specsSupportedNotes
DirectDraw6[citation needed]
Pharaoh Gold Download Pc

Middleware[edit]

Pharaoh Gold Download Pc Windows 10

MiddlewareNotes
AudioMiles Sound System5.0r[10]
CutscenesBink Video, Smacker

System requirements[edit]

Windows
MinimumRecommended
Operating system (OS)9598
Processor (CPU)Intel Pentium 133 MHz Intel Pentium 166 MHz
System memory (RAM)32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)360 MB630 MB
Video card (GPU) 1 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6 compatible

Notes

  1. 1.01.1When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).
  2. 2.02.1File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/564530/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (564530) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

Pharaohs Gold Casino

References

Pharaoh Gold Download Pc Windows 10

  1. Tested by Nessy
  2. Support for Pharaoh + Cleopatra - GOG.com
  3. https://www.gog.com/forum/pharaoh_cleopatra/q_is_there_a_way_to_activate_the_windowed_mode/post6
  4. Instructions from the Sold Out Software release.
  5. https://www.gog.com/forum/pharaoh_cleopatra/fix_for_freezes_andor_movies_not_playing_on_multicore_cpus
  6. https://www.gog.com/forum/pharaoh_cleopatra/instafreeze/post15
  7. https://www.gog.com/forum/pharaoh_cleopatra/fix_for_freezes_andor_movies_not_playing_on_multicore_cpus
  8. https://www.gog.com/forum/pharaoh_cleopatra/game_runs_at_superhigh_speed/?search=fast
  9. https://www.gog.com/forum/pharaoh_cleopatra/some_animations_not_showing/?search=fast
  10. Verified by User:Nessy on 2020-01-19
    Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.