Install on Linux

• Appimage release
• Binary archive release
• Flatpak release
• Snap release

Install on Windows

Installation process

1. Install original Nox. Prefer locations outside of “Program Files”.
2. Download latest OpenNox installer. Use .exe file for Windows.
3. Install it to any directory (shouldn’t be the same as Nox itself).

Playing

HD version

1. Go to OpenNox installation directory.
2. Make a shortcut for opennox-hd.exe.
3. Run it!

Legacy version

1. Go to OpenNox installation directory.
2. Make a shortcut for opennox.exe.
3. Run it!

Troubleshooting

OpenNox doesn’t start

First, try running OpenNox with Administrator permissions. If it works, then your Nox copy is likely installed in the protected folder like “Program Files” which causes issues. Delete OpenNox folder, reinstall Nox to some other folder and install OpenNox again.

If it doesn’t help, open opennox.yml in OpenNox installation directory in a text editor (Notepad++ is a good option). Find section similar to this:

game:
  data: C:\Games\Nox

Change the path manually to a folder where your copy of Nox is installed. Restart OpenNox.

If it still doesn’t work, please contact us on OpenNox Discord in #feedback channel. It will help if you share opennox.log located in log folder in OpenNox install directory.

Can’t connect to a server: Version mismatch

As was explained in the installation section, HD and legacy versions won’t join servers of the opposite version.

Most online servers still run legacy version, so if you want to join them, you must run legacy version of OpenNox as well. Make sure to try a correct version when joining a server.

Install on Steam Deck

Installing

1. Install original Nox from GoG (via Lutris or Heroic).
2. Install OpenNox via Flatpak.

Playing

HD version

Installation should create a “OpenNox HD” shortcut in the start menu. Alternatively: run opennox-hd binary from terminal.

Legacy version

Installation should create a “OpenNox” shortcut in the start menu. Alternatively: run opennox binary from terminal.

Troubleshooting

OpenNox doesn’t start

Try starting opennox from the terminal. Check if there are any error messages there.

If it doesn’t help, open opennox.yml in OpenNox installation directory in a text editor. Find section similar to this:

game:
  data: /home/user/some/path/to/Nox

Change the path manually to a folder where your copy of Nox is installed. Restart OpenNox.

If it still doesn’t work, please ping us on OpenNox Discord in #feedback channel. It will help if you share opennox.log located in log folder in OpenNox install directory.

Can’t connect to a server: Version mismatch

As was explained in the installation section, HD and legacy versions won’t join servers of the opposite version.

Most online servers still run legacy version, so if you want to join them, you must run legacy version of OpenNox as well. Make sure to try a correct version when joining a server.

Nox Quest

OpenNox provides more commands for Nox Quest game mode.

Originally, Nox Quest:

• Prevents players to skip levels if they haven’t completed them already
• Skips only 5 levels at a time.
• Disables the portal after level 20.
• Even if portal cutoff is increased to more than 20, it won’t teleport to next levels.

To solve all of this, you can run (in the game console; F1):

racoiaws
set quest warp.allow
set quest warp.inc 10
set quest warp.inf

For more detailed description of commands, read on.

warp.allow

This option disables the requirement to complete a certain Quest level before accessing the portal.

Example:

# always allow to pass through the portal
set quest warp.allow
set quest warp.allow 1

# original Nox behavior
set quest warp.allow 0

warp.inc

Changes the number of levels that the portal skips at a time.

Example:

# portal will only skip one level instead of 5
set quest warp.inc 1
# skip 20 levels
set quest warp.inc 20

# original Nox behavior
set quest warp.allow 5

warp.inf

Allows the portal to work indefinitely instead of shutting down at level 20.

Example:

# portal will always be enabled
set quest warp.inf
set quest warp.inf 1

# original Nox behavior
set quest warp.inf 0

level.inc

Changes the number of levels that will be skipped on the stage completion. In other words, how quickly the levels will increase when you complete a Quest level.

This allows to ramp up difficulty much faster without affecting other Quest rules.

Example:

# completing level 5 will lead to level 7 (+2) instead of 6 (+1)
set quest level.inc 2

# original Nox behavior
set quest level.inc 1

Multiplayer campaign

Starting campaign in multiplayer

1. Host regular Quest game.
2. Wait for all players to join.
3. Open game console with F1 and type racoiaws (enables console commands).
4. Disable map restrictions: set maps allow.all.
5. Load desired campaign: load wiz01a (for Wizard), load con01a (for Conjurer), load war01a (for Warrior).
6. Enjoy!

Known issues

• Game saves won’t work. All your progress for this session will be lost. Use load to jump to other chapters.
• Players likely won’t be able to reconnect. Full game restart is required (for both client and server!).
• Other players can run around during cutscenes. If you break them - you’ll have to restart the map.
• Death of any player will trigger the death screen and stop the campaign.

Useful commands

• Teleport P2 to P1: tp (or tp 0).
• Teleport P1 to P2: tpto (or tpto 0).
• Unfreeze P1 after broken cutscene: unstuck.

Use SSH remote console to copy-paste commands.

Manual spell casting

Surprisingly, vanilla Nox has a hidden feature that allows casting spells manually by pressing one of 9 phoneme/gesture keys in the right order to cast specific spells. It is similar to the way spell casting works in Magicka.

OpenNox restores this feature by default. Manually casting each spell is challenging, thus we think that it doesn’t give any advantage in multiplayer (actually the opposite), so can be enabled safely.

All that needs to be done to use it to set hotkeys in OpenNox input options. There are 8 main phonemes, plus a special “end” phoneme to finish and cast the spell.

It’s typical to use numpad keys for phonemes where 5 or Enter is an “end” phoneme, and actual phonemes occupy other number keys:

Another typical layout is to use QWER-ASDF block for 8 phonemes and set “end” to any key that is close enough.

For more details, see this post.

Hosting using a client

The simplest way to host a game is by using OpenNox game client.

Run OpenNox or OpenNox HD, go to the “Network” page, and host the game. Simple as that!

OpenNox will automatically register the game online (for both OpenNox and Nox Reloaded).

It will also attempt to automatically forward ports for the server (using UPnP on your router).

Hosting a dedicated server

OpenNox also ships with the opennox-server binary, which can be used to run a dedicated server.

Also, Docker images are available for the server.

When hosting a dedicated server, it is important to setup access by remote console and/or HTTP API to control the server remotely.

Remote SSH console

Vanilla Nox supported a telnet-based remote console (RCON) which allowed controlling Nox server remotely.

OpenNox has dropped telnet support in favor of SSH-based remote console.

To enable RCON, OpenNox must be started with an additional argument:

opennox --rcon=:18522 --rcon-pass=my-secret-password

This will allow SSH connections on port 18522 with a password my-secret-password:

ssh -p 18522 127.0.0.1

ssh -p 18522 127.0.0.1

  /888888                                /88   /88           /88   /88
 /88__  88                              | 888 | 88          | 88  / 88
| 88  \ 88  /888888   /888888  /8888888 | 8888| 88  /888888 |  88/ 88/
| 88  | 88 /88__  88 /88__  88| 88__  88| 88 88 88 /88__  88 \  8888/
| 88  | 88| 88  \ 88| 88888888| 88  \ 88| 88  8888| 88  \ 88  >88  88
| 88  | 88| 88  | 88| 88_____/| 88  | 88| 88\  888| 88  | 88 /88/\  88
|  888888/| 8888888/|  8888888| 88  | 88| 88 \  88|  888888/| 88  \ 88
 \______/ | 88____/  \_______/|__/  |__/|__/  \__/ \______/ |__/  |__/
          | 88
          | 88        Version: v1.9.x (xxxxxxxxx)
          |__/

user@opennox:~$

From here, all console commands will work the same way as via in-game console. A good starting point is a help command.

Server HTTP API

Server info

GET /api/v0/game/info

Example request using curl:

curl 'http://127.0.0.1:18580/api/v0/game/info'

Example response:

{
  "name":"OpenNox",
  "map":"estate",
  "mode":"arena",
  "vers":"v1.8.0",
  "players":{
    "cur":1,
    "max":32,
    "list":[
      {
        "name":"Jack",
        "class":"wizard"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Setting the token

You need to run the server with NOX_API_TOKEN=<some-random-string> to allow using control APIs.

All examples below assume NOX_API_TOKEN=xyz.

Change map

POST /api/v0/game/map
X-Token: xyz

estate

Example request using curl:

curl -X POST -H 'X-Token: xyz' -d 'estate' 'http://127.0.0.1:18580/api/v0/game/map'

Run console command

POST /api/v0/game/cmd
X-Token: xyz

load estate

Example request using curl:

curl -X POST -H 'X-Token: xyz' -d 'load estate' 'http://127.0.0.1:18580/api/v0/game/cmd'

Run NS script

POST /api/v0/game/eval
X-Token: xyz

ns4.CreateObject("RedApple", ns4.GetHost().Unit().Pos())

Example request using curl:

curl -X POST -H 'X-Token: xyz' -d 'ns4.CreateObject("RedApple", ns4.GetHost().Unit().Pos())' 'http://127.0.0.1:18580/api/v0/game/eval'

Run Lua script

POST /api/v0/game/lua
X-Token: xyz

p = Nox.Players[1];
apple = Nox.ObjectType("RedApple");
apple:Create(p);

Example request using curl:

curl -X POST -H 'X-Token: xyz' -d 'p = Nox.Players[1]; apple = Nox.ObjectType("RedApple"); apple:Create(p)' 'http://127.0.0.1:18580/api/v0/game/lua'

Tweaking the game balance

Vanilla Nox stores game balance values in an encoded gamedata.bin file.

OpenNox allows overriding values specified in that file with the ones written in a text-based gamedata.yml file.

To try it out, copy gamedata.yml to the Nox game directory (not OpenNox directory!). After this, you can edit it using any text editor (Notepad++ is recommended for Windows users).

Changing spells

Vanilla Nox stores spell configs in three different places:

• As a section in thing.bin file
• Balance file
• Built into the engine

The engine defines a list of all supported spell IDs (e.g. SPELL_BLINK) and the effect associated with it.

The thing.bin then lists spells that should be enabled in the game (by ID) and additionally configures them. Unfortunately, this configuration is quite limited.

The balance file may additionally tune per-level spell parameters, or special parameters that are unique to certain spells.

OpenNox extends this system and allows using spells.yml file to configure new spell parameters, as well as old ones in one place.

Note: this modding feature is still in development. Not all the config options for spells are available in spells.yml. We will keep adding new ones in each version of OpenNox.

Generating base spells.yml file

Since this feature is in the development, it is strongly advised to generate a fresh spells.yml based on the latest OpenNox version and your Nox game data.

This can be done by running OpenNox with NOX_DUMP_SPELLS=true environment variable.

On Linux:

NOX_DUMP_SPELLS=true opennox

On Windows (via cmd.exe):

set NOX_DUMP_SPELLS="true"
opennox.exe

This should create a spells.yml in Nox game data directory (not OpenNox directory!).

Alternatively, you could copy the spells.yml file to your Nox game directory. Be aware that the sample file might be old and won’t list all options available in the engine.

Modifying spells.yml

Note that modifying spells.yml currently requires OpenNox restart.

Usually, the spell section will look like this:

name: SPELL_BLINK
icon:
  ind: 131860
icon_enabled:
  ind: 131938
mana_cost: 10
price: 3000
flags:
- 1
- MOBS_CAN_CAST
- 128
- 1024
- CAN_COUNTER
- CANT_HOLD_CROWN
- 1048576
- CLASS_ANY
- 2147483648
phonemes: [cha, et, un]
title: thing.db:Blink
desc: thing.db:SPELL_BLINK_DESC
cast_sound: BlinkCast
---

Where:

• name - specifies spell ID to use; if effect is not set, this also determines the spell effect
• effect - specifies spell ID which will control the actual effect of the spell; see adding spells
• icon.ind - the sprite index from video.bag that is used as a spell icon
• icon_enabled.ind - same as icon.ind, but for enabled spell icon
• mana_cost - mana cost of the spell
• price - base spell book price; Quest uses an additional multiplier for this price
• flags - different flags that controls which category spell belongs to, what it can target, etc
• phonemes - a unique list of spell phonemes/gestures that invoke this spell; see spell casting
• title - a string ID for the spell title
• desc - a string ID for the spell description
• cast_sound - a sound for casing a spell
• on_sound - a sound for enabling a spell
• off_sound - a sound for disabling a spell

These are the only parameters that can be originally controlled via thing.bin, and was ported to spells.yml.

Apart from these, OpenNox provides more options for certain spells. For example, SPELL_MAGIC_MISSILE has a new section:

missiles:
  spread: 16
  projectile: MagicMissile
  vel_mult: 0.1
  offset: 4
  speed_rnd_min: 0.80000001
  speed_rnd_max: 1.2
  search_dist: 600

Here, a count parameter is omitted, because it is usually controlled via balance file (see MagicMissileCount). Specifying it here will override balance data.

When a special section like missiles this is present, all parameters in there can be controlled individually for each spell level:

missiles:
  # default parameters for all levels
  spread: 16
  projectile: MagicMissile
  vel_mult: 0.1
  offset: 4
  speed_rnd_min: 0.80000001
  speed_rnd_max: 1.2
  search_dist: 600
  # per-level configs
  levels:
    # levels 1-3: copied from balance file
    - count: 1
    - count: 2
    - count: 3
    # level 4: same number of missiles as lvl3, but longer homing distance
    - count: 3
      search_dist: 800
    # level 5: make it ultimate: more missiles, longer distance, faster missiles
    - count: 10
      speed_rnd_min: 1.0
      speed_rnd_max: 2.0
      search_dist: 800

Spell flags

Not all flags are completely understood at this point. So we recommend to see what flags are set for existing spells and experiment by setting/unsetting them in your mod.

Names of the spell flags provided below may change in a freshly-generated spells.yml, but OpenNox will still support old names as well.

Player class flags:

• CLASS_ANY - spell can be used by any magic class (Conjurer and Wizard)
• CLASS_WIZARD - spell can only be used by Wizard
• CLASS_CONJURER - spell can only be used by Conjurer
• Setting none of these flags will effectively hide the spell.

Targeting flags

• TARGETED - spell is homing
• AT_LOCATION - spell can be cast at a point
• CANT_TARGET_SELF - spell cannot be targeted at the character

Cast flags:

• NO_MANA - spell doesn’t require mana
• NO_TRAP - spell can’t be used in traps
• INSTANT - spell is instant
• DURATION - spell is duration-based
• OFFENSIVE - spell is offensive
• DEFENSIVE - spell is defensive
• CAN_COUNTER - spell can be countered
• MOBS_CAN_CAST - mobs are allowed to use this spell
• CANT_HOLD_CROWN - spell can’t be cast when holding a flag/crown/ball

Special flags

• SUMMON_SPELL - this is the base Summon Creature spell
• SUMMON_CREATURE - this is Summon for a specific creature
• MARK_SPELL - this is the base Mark Location spell
• MARK_NUMBER - this is Mark Location with a specific number
• GOTO_MARK_SPELL - this is the base Go To Mark spell
• GOTO_MARK_NUMBER - this is Go To Mark with a specific number

There are some flags that don’t have names, which means we are not sure of its effect.

Adding new spells

Currently, adding new spells in OpenNox is not supported.

Having said that it is possible to replace unused spell slots that already exist in the game.

In spell section there’s a name parameter that defines the slot that the spell uses and effect for the engine to know which effect to run.

Usually these two IDs are the same (or effect is empty and derived from name), but these fields can be used to replace unused spell IDs with custom ones.

For example, there’s SPELL_PHANTOM which doesn’t appear in the game and has no effect in the engine. This gives us a free spell slot to use. Let’s replace it with a custom magic missiles (SPELL_MAGIC_MISSILE) variant. For this we need to set name: SPELL_PHANTOM (or find existing section with it) to specify which slot we are using, and set effect: SPELL_MAGIC_MISSILE for the engine to know which logic to use for it. The result should look like this:

name: SPELL_PHANTOM # replacing Phantom spell slot
effect: SPELL_MAGIC_MISSILE # but effect is based on Magic Missiles
phonemes: [un, ro, do] # phonemes must be unique, so we keep ones from Phantom
# the rest is copied from Missiles and modified
icon:
  ind: 18248
icon_enabled:
  ind: 131967
mana_cost: 50
price: 5000
flags:
  - AT_LOCATION
  - MOBS_CAN_CAST
  - OFFENSIVE
  - CAN_COUNTER
  - CANT_TARGET_SELF
  - CLASS_WIZARD
  - 536870912
  - 1073741824
title: thing.db:MissilesOfMagic
desc: thing.db:SPELL_MAGIC_MISSILE_DESC
cast_sound: MagicMissileCast
missiles:
  count: 5
  spread: 30
  projectile: MagicMissile
  vel_mult: 0.1
  offset: 4
  speed_rnd_min: 0.1
  speed_rnd_max: 0.3
  search_dist: 800
---

Replacing sprites

The main build supports a way to replace sprites used by the game.

For it to work, you may first need to get original sprites:

cd Nox
noxtools videobag extract -z --out ./video.bag.zip

Find sprites that you want to replace and put them into Nox/images (create if not exists). Make the changes to the sprite in this directory and run the game to test it.

Note that it will ONLY work with this Nox version. Original Nox, GoG version or Nox Reloaded doesn’t support this.

Adjusting sprite offsets

If you decide to change the sprite significantly, e.g. changing its size or completely redrawing the image, you may need to change the sprite offset used by the engine.

First, get the original sprite metadata:

cd Nox
noxtools videobag extract -z --out ./video.bag.zip --json

Now this archive will contain .json files that correspond to each sprite. Copy selected ones to Nox/images, adjust the offsets using the text editor and check them in game.

Customizing translation

Most of the text used in Nox is stored in the CSF files which are encoded and are hard to modify.

This build provides an easier way to customize those texts.

First, decode the original file:

noxtools strings csf2json nox.csf

This will produce nox.csf.json file that you can modify with a regular text editor. The build will automatically use this file instead of the original nox.csf.

The nox.csf.json file will consist of sections similar to this:

    {
      "id": "ParseCmd.c:exithelp",
      "vals": [
        {
          "str": "Exit the game to Main Menu."
        }
      ]
    }

For translation Nox texts to a different language (or changing existing texts), you need to keep the id field, but translate all str fields.

For adding custom strings, you need to add a new section with a unique id add at least one str. Then you should be able to use this new id in your map or mod.

Scripts

OpenNox provides multiple scripting runtimes. Some of them are experimental or in development.

• NoxScript
• LUA scripts

OpenNox console

Enabling all commands

Just like in vanilla Nox, OpenNox starts with most console commands disabled. This is done to prevent cheating in the solo campaign. Most commands will not work in multiplayer, unless you are a server admin/host.

To enable all commands, open the console (F1 by default) and type:

racoiaws

Remote server administration

OpenNox does not support original RCON protocol based on telnet.

Instead, it implements remote console via built-in SSH server.

List commands

To get a list of all available commands, use help.

Here’s the list of the most interesting ones.

image

Take a screenshot and save it as a PNG image.

image

show

This command displays various information, including debug information.

Available sub-commands:

• show bindings - lists all console bindings (macros).
• show extents - toggle displaying of names and sizes for all objects on the screen.
• show ai - toggle displaying of AI paths and prints all AI decisions to console.
• show gui - toggle graphical user interface.

list

This command lists various in-game spells, items, monsters, maps and players.

These commands prints item IDs that can be the used with spawn command.

Available sub-commands:

• list staffs - lists all staves and wands.
• list armor - lists all armor.
• list weapons - lists all weapons.
• list food - lists all consumables.
• list monsters - lists all monsters and NPCs.
• list spells - lists all spells.
• list maps - lists all maps.
• list users - lists all players.

load

This command switches current game map to the one specified:

load wiz01a

In vanilla Nox, not every map can be loaded like that. For example, it’s impossible to load campaign maps in multiplayer. OpenNox allows bypassing those restrictions by using set maps allow.all command.

set god

A vanilla cheat for invulnerability, all spells and infinite mana.

set god

To disable:

unset god

Note that using this cheat will cause the character to learn all spells up to the maximal level. This cannot be reversed, even if the cheat is disabled. See cheat god if you only need invulnerability and infinite mana.

set quest

These command allow more controls for Nox Quest game mode. See this page for details.

set maps

These commands allow more control for game map loading.

• set maps allow.all - disable game mode checks when loading the map; allows loading campaign in multiplayer, etc

cheat god

A cheat for invulnerability and infinite mana.

cheat god

To disable:

cheat god 0

For additionally getting all spells see cheat sage, or set god.

cheat sage

A cheat for getting all class spells, scrolls and/or abilities.

cheat sage

To disable:

cheat sage 0

cheat spells

A cheat for getting all spells.

For getting class spells:

cheat spells

For getting class spells with a specific spell level:

cheat spells 3

To get all spells, even hidden ones:

cheat spells all

cheat scrolls

A cheat for getting all beast scrolls.

cheat scrolls

To disable:

cheat scrolls 0

cheat goto

Teleport to given coordinates or a waypoint.

For teleporting to coordinates (X, Y):

cheat goto 1000 2000

For teleporting to a waypoint:

cheat goto MyWaypoint

cheat spawn

Spawn a given item or monster at the player’s position.

Command accepts IDs returned by the list command.

cheat spawn OblivionOrb
cheat spawn Mimic

It is also possible to specify a number of items to spawn:

cheat spawn RedApple 5

cheat gold

Adds specified amount of gold to all players.

cheat gold 10000

cheat health

Sets or restores health for the character.

Without arguments, command will restore health to maximum:

cheat health

You can also specify the desired health value:

cheat health 999

cheat mana

Sets or restores mana for the character.

Without arguments, command will restore mana to maximum:

cheat mana

You can also specify desired mana value:

cheat mana 999

cheat equip.all

Removes equipment requirements from all items. In other words, any class can equip and use any armor/weapons.

cheat equip.all

To disable it:

cheat equip.all 0

cheat charm.all

Allows charming any hostile creatures and NPCs (including scripted ones, humanoids, etc).

cheat charm.all

To disable it:

cheat charm.all 0

cheat summon.nolimit

Remove the limit for the number of summoned creatures.

cheat summon.nolimit

To disable it:

cheat summon.nolimit 0

lua

This commands executes given Lua code.

For example, to replicate cheat spawn RedApple with Lua:

apple = Nox.ObjectType("RedApple")
p = Nox.Players.host
apple:Create(p)

In the console, each line must start with lua command:

lua apple = Nox.ObjectType("RedApple")
lua p = Nox.Players.host
lua apple:Create(p)

Notice that variables defined in one lua commands can be used in other ones.

It’s also possible to write a multi-line command in a single line:

apple = Nox.ObjectType("RedApple"); p = Nox.Players.host; apple:Create(p)

or

Nox.ObjectType("RedApple"):Create(Nox.Players.host)

For more information about Lua scripting, see this page.