Nox gets widescreen and multiplayer in its GOG Preservation update

Westwood Studios' 2000 action-RPG Nox is officially part of the GOG Preservation Program. The update, released today, strips out outdated compatibility layers and restores online multiplayer for modern Windows PCs.

As previously reported, the game won GOG's second Patron Vote in July. Originally published by Electronic Arts, Nox launched in February 2000. Westwood was primarily known for pioneering the real-time strategy genre with Dune II and Command & Conquer, making a fast-paced isometric action-RPG a notable departure for the Las Vegas studio.

The game tried to separate itself from the standard hack-and-slash formula through physics interactions and a dynamic line-of-sight system called TrueSight, which hid enemies and items behind walls in real time. It also featured three completely separate campaign arcs depending on whether you played as a Warrior, Conjurer, or Wizard. The commercial timing was brutal, however. Diablo II arrived a few months later and consumed all the oxygen in the room, leaving Nox as a revered cult classic rather than a blockbuster.

Fixing the technical debt

Getting the original executable to run on Windows 10 or 11 usually involved a messy web of community patches and wrappers. According to GOG, their reverse engineering team removed the old compatibility shim entirely. This closes off a recurring source of conflicts that caused the game to crash on modern hardware.

They integrated the GOG DXWrapper to fix rendering issues and added a custom widescreen resolution option directly to the in-game menu. The team also archived a lore video that used to play during the original 2000 installation process. It is now available as a separate download in the extras section, rather than being forced into the modern installer.

Restoring the network

The most surprising fix involves the network code. Nox had a highly competitive PvP multiplayer scene, heavily reliant on physics-based traps and fast movement. Previous digital releases lacked the Westwood Online Service dependencies required to make that multiplayer function, leaving the game offline out of the box.

GOG restored those registry entries and dependencies. The game can now connect directly to XWIS.net, a community-run server network that has kept Westwood games alive for two decades. It is a rare move for a commercial storefront to officially integrate a community server project like this, but it is the right way to handle dead official infrastructure.

The completion of the Nox project also opens the third GOG Patron Vote. Users can now choose the next classic PC game to receive a dedicated preservation update. The current candidates are Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, The 11th Hour, Harvester, Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet, and The Legacy: Realm of Terror.