Starsiege 1.0 Readme File 2/23/99 *********************************************************************** About This Document: Thank you for purchasing Starsiege. This document contains last-minute information about Starsiege and other troubleshooting information not found in the manual. This README file includes information pertinent to general problems and questions you may have concerning this software or your computer. Should you experience any problems with Starsiege, please refer to this file for additional help in answering questions about the game and solving technical difficulties. *********************************************************************** I: System Compatibility II: OpenGL III: Internet Service Provider IV: Updates and Patches V: Hosting A Game VI: Network Performance Tuning VII: Known Problems VIII: Troubleshooting IX: Contacting Sierra X: Technical Support XI: Warranty and Legal Information Thank you for Purchasing Starsiege, the ultimate in giant mechanized combat! I: System Compatibility These are the minimum machine requirements needed to run Starsiege: Pentium 166, 32 MB RAM with 3D Graphics Accelerator Pentium 200, 32 MB RAM without a Graphics Accelerator 324MB Hard Disk space (full install) 264MB Hard Disk space (Buddy install) Platforms: Windows 95/98 w/DirectX6 Windows NT 4.0 w/Service Pack 4 Hardware Requirements: LAN Card or minimum 28.8 kps modem, 4x CD-ROM 2D Graphics Card: DirectDraw compatible card (minimum SVGA 640x480 @ 256 colors) 3D Graphics Card: 3Dfx Glide compatible 3D accelerator (recommended), or OpenGL compatible card (see below for more information on OpenGL) Sound Card Support: DirectSound and Directsound3D compatible sound cards Peripheral Support: Mouse, Keyboard, Joystick, or any compatible DirectInput device Network Support: Internet, TCP/IP, IPX, minimum 28.8 Kbps modem Starsiege requires DirectX to run properly on Windows 95/98. If you already have DirectX, you may elect not to re-install it. Should you decide to install it at a later time, run the dxsetup program located in the DirectX folder on the Starsiege Disk #1. If you are running Windows NT 4.0, you must have Service Pack 3 installed. If you do not have Service Pack 3 (or greater) installed, you will need to download it from WWW.MICROSOFT.COM. We recommend that you configure Windows with at least 200mb of virtual memory before running Starsiege. II: OpenGL Starsiege supports OpenGL on video cards that use the nVidia Riva TNT chipset. By the time you read this, other cards will be supported. Please see www.starsiegeplayers.com for details. To use OpenGL on a Riva TNT based card, you must have the latest drivers. Currently these are the Detonator drivers located in the "\Extras\TNT Detonator Drivers" folder on Starsiege Disk #1. To install the Detonator drivers, double-click on the "tnt_detonator.exe" application (in the aforementioned folder), and follow the on-screen instructions very carefully. To run Starsiege in OpenGL mode, go to the Options screen from the Main Menu. In the "Full Screen Mode" drop-down box, select "OpenGL". From the "3D Hardware Type" drop-down box, select the chipset used on your video card. If you experience problems running Starsiege in OpenGL, try reducing the color depth of your desktop from 32 bit (True Color) to 16 bit (65536 colors), using the "Settings" tab in the "Display Properties" control panel. If you are using OpenGL under Windows 95 and have your taskbar set to "Always On Top" (which is the default), you will experience problems IF your taskbar has been placed at the top of the desktop or at the left of the desktop. The solution is to drag your taskbar to the bottom of your desktop, or uncheck the "Always On Top" box that is located in the "Taskbar Properties" dialog box, which is available from the Settings menu in the Start menu. III: Internet Server Provider To enjoy Starsiege fully, you must be connected to the Internet via a reliable Internet Service Provider (ISP). If you do not currently have an ISP, install the AT&T WorldNet(R) Service provided on the CD-ROM by running the Starsiege setup program. IV: Updates and Patches Running the Auto-Update program from the Starsiege Start menu will check automatically for any patches or updates to the game. You must be connected to the Internet for this program to work correctly. We also recommend you check the Starsiege web site at www.starsiegeplayers.com for the latest information. V: Hosting A Game Hosting a game with more than a few players takes a fair amount of bandwidth. Hosting over a 28.8 modem connection is not recommended. By default, all hosted games are visible only to a network running the TCP/IP protocol such as the Internet or a LAN. If you are connected to a LAN running only the IPX protocol, you must select the IPX protocol from the connection type box in the Create Game menu. Those of you with faster Internet connections may wish to run dedicated servers. Information on how to configure and run a dedicated server is included in the game manual. There are two ways you can host a server: (1) by creating awhile running the game normally, or (2) by creating a dedicated console server from the Windows Start Menu or the MS-DOS command prompt. Because it doesn't have to draw graphics, a dedicated console server requires far less computing resources than a non-dedicated server. For this reason, dedicated servers may handle many more players than non-dedicated servers. A single fast machine can usually host 3-4 dedicated servers simultaneously. When you are hosting a non-dedicated server (one you create from the user interface), players who join your server may experience lag whenever you perform operations (e.g. go into the vehicle lab) that cause your computer to pause the game in order to load resources. For this reason, it is a good idea to set up all the vehicle configurations you will use before creating a non- dedicated server. Starsiege multiplayer servers can run a single mission for up to 24 hours (1440 minutes). If you set up a server to run a mission for more than 1440 minutes, it will automatically time out after 1440 minutes. In a multiplayer game with a mass limit set, the maximum tonnage displayed in the vehicle lab will be the lesser of the vehicle's maximum tonnage OR the server mass limit. V: Network Performance Tuning If you have a reliable connection to your ISP, but are still experiencing packet loss and lag in the game, you can use a Packet Rate option to help tune the game. To adjust the packet rate, go to the Options-General screen. We recommend that you decrease the packet rate if you are experiencing problems. See Section 4: Modem Connection Problems, below, for more information. VII: Known Issues Here is a list of some of the known problems and interactions with other programs. You cannot run Starsiege with the Windows Display Properties dialog box present on your desktop. Please close the Display Properties dialog box before running Starsiege. Problems related to CD-ROM drivers can occur in Starsiege. If you experience music not playing, jerky movies, or distorted sound, please make sure you have the most up-to-date CD-ROM drivers from your manufacturer. If Starsiege freezes for no apparent reason, try ejecting and reinserting the CD-ROM. If this action succeeds in fixing the problem, you should make sure you have the latest CD-ROM drivers. Some machines experience significant game pauses when the CD-ROM drive switches audio tracks. Note that you may turn off CD audio music in the Options screen (available from the Main Menu). Some machines experience crackling sound during gameplay. There may be several possible causes. Make sure you have the most recent drivers for your sound card AND video card (especially if you have a 3DFX Voodoo1 card). If you use A3D, get the latest drivers form www.aureal.com. If you have all the latest drivers and still experience problems, try changing your sound system type in the Options screen to DirectSound. During some single player missions, an important event may occur at a great distance, and your viewpoint may automatically shift for a few seconds to allow you to observe the event. The missions are designed so that these events should for the most part not occur while your vehicle is vulnerable to attack. If this shift does occur while you are in battle, you may quickly return the viewpoint to your vehicle cockpit by pressing Ctrl-C. Ejecting the CD during the introduction movie causes problems under Windows NT. The solution is to press the spacebar to skip the introduction movie, and then eject the CD. Some video cards have problems running in 720x480 resolution. The solution is to use a more standard resolution, like 640x480 or 800x600. When using keyboard controls, some users have been able to reproduce the "Circle of Death", where their vehicle uncontrollably turns to the left or to the right. This problem usually occurs when you hold down some keys and repeatedly task-switch to and from Starsiege. The solution to this problem is to press the backspace key to stop turning. Gamma correction with Voodoo2 and Banshee 3Dfx based cards: Changing the gamma correction slider in the game has no immediate effect on these cards. You must exit and restart the game for your gamma value to take effect. Canopus 3D cards: At the time of this release, a number of people have experienced problems running Starsiege on these cards using this manufacturer's video drivers. The Glide reference drivers seem to work better. More information on 3Dfx/Glide drivers can be found in the Troubleshooting section. The key combination Ctrl-F9 using the left-hand control key is intercepted by a driver on some machines, especially under Windows 98. Starsiege uses this key combination for quick chat. The solution to this problem is either to use the right-hand control key, or to change the Ctrl-F9 quick chat function to a different key combination. Some 3DFX-based cards have problems taking screenshots when the scoreboard is up in multiplayer games. This problem is intermittent, and no solution to this problem currently exists. The "Force Triple Color Buffering" feature of 3DFX Voodoo2 based video cards is incompatible with the screen shot mechanism in Starsiege. If you have trouble taking screen shots and you have a Voodoo2 based card, make sure "Force Triple Color Buffering" is turned off in the Display Properties. Joystick Hat Problems. "When I move the hat on my joystick, my Herc fires its weapons and squats, or carries out some other strange and unexpected behavior." Solution: Some joysticks have a CH Flightstick emulation mode in which hat movements are translated into combinations of button presses. Most joysticks have a switch on the joystick itself that changes the behavior of the joystick to that of a normal joystick. For some joysticks, however, this change may be a setting in the calibration program found in the Control Panel. Change the position of this switch and recalibrate your joystick. Problem: Game runs very slowly under Windows NT. Solution: If you do not physically have a joystick installed, check that your joystick control panel shows no joystick installed. Joystick does not respond properly. Joystick is plugged in and calibrated but it doesn't seem to work at all. Possible Solution: If the joystick was plugged in after the machine was booted, the operating system may not recognize it. This problem may also occur if the joystick is not plugged in correctly. To be sure, check your joystick connection and reboot your machine by powering off. Go into the Control Panel and recalibrate your joystick. Problem: Sometimes during the game, Starsiege crashes to the desktop after playing a little while. It does not seem to follow a particular pattern. Solution: If you have previously installed a service pack for your operating system, it is possible that you may need to upgrade the drivers for peripheral devices such as the joystick, mouse, sound, or video card. These upgrades can usually be found at the peripheral manufacturer's website. Problem: Sometimes during play, the game locks up and everything appears to freeze. Solution: We have received a few reports that the game may be crashing as a result of certain virus scanning software. The solution is either to turn off the software while the game is running or to upgrade the scanning software. Skin/Face/Logo won't remap. When I run the RemapArt.exe program, my bitmap does not get remapped. Solution: It is possible the bitmap is not saved in the correct format. Make sure it is saved in 24-bit color depth. PaintShop Pro writes out a 24-bit bitmap that is incompatible with our bitmap loading routine. If you use PaintShop Pro, you should load the bitmap with another program and save it back out before you attempt to remap the art. Skins stored in 24-bit color should have a file size of either 196,662, or 98,358, depending on the size of the original artwork. If your bitmap is not one of these sizes, it probably will not work. We have had problems with some Microsoft USB joysticks. Please make sure you have the latest drivers. Problems with the Thrustmaster Fusion Gamepad have been reported. These problems occur because the gamepad incorrectly reports to Starsiege that it has a Z axis, making it difficult to use Starsiege's input configuration customization feature to autodetect input. If you experience problems with this gamepad, please visit www.starsiegeplayers.com for information on manually creating a custom input configuration. Buttons five through eight on Microsoft Sidewinder 3D joysticks do not work on Windows NT. This is because the Winodws NT joystick drivers only support buttons 1-4. When playing multiplayer, it is possible for other players to send you "taunts" using the quick chat mechanism. Taunts consist of two parts, a text message that appears on your chat window, and a sound that plays. If you wish to suppress the quick chat sounds, rename the "taunts.vol" file that exists in your Starsiege folder. Rename it to something other than "taunts.vol" (e.g. "No Taunts.vol") to turn off the quick chat sounds. Simply rename it back to "taunts.vol" to turn the quick chat sounds back on. If your connection speed is slow or varies a lot during multiplayer play, the target lead indicator on your HUD may be slightly inaccurate. You may have to compensate for this manually by firing a little ahead of where the lead indicator directs. The lead indicator works best on a fast, stable connection. Under no circumstances should you copy existing keymaps, vehicle configurations, preferences, or any other files from the Alpha Technology Release Demo that was released in the summer of 98. These files are not compatible with the final release of Starsiege. VIII: Troubleshooting We hope you enjoy playing Starsiege. If you experience any difficulties in getting the game to operate to your satisfaction, please read further. If the symptoms of the problem obviously point to sound or video issues, concentrate on those sections. Otherwise, please spend a couple of minutes reading the entire section. The time you spend here may well help you get Starsiege running more quickly and will provide you with information that will be helpful in case you need to contact Technical Support. Section 1: Notes on Connection If you cannot find a game to join, first check that you are connected to your ISP. If you are connected but still cannot find a game, try Refresh and/or Find New Servers. If you still can't get connected, try re-running Starsiege. Section 2: Notes on Sound Problems Starsiege uses DirectSound, which is a part of Microsoft's DirectX programming interface, for sound generation. If you have problems with distorted sounds or no sound at all, check to make sure that your sound card drivers are DirectSound-compliant. To do so, run DXDIAG; it is located in your C:\Program Files\DirectX directory on your hard drive. When running DXDIAG, choose the Sound tab. In the upper right corner of the dialog box, look for the line that reads "Certified." If this line says "No", then you should check with the manufacturer of your system or your sound card to determine if DirectX certified drivers are available. If you contact these companies via the Internet, you can usually obtain updated drivers free of charge. Section 3: Notes on Video Problems If you experience display problems while in full screen hardware mode (using Glide or OpenGL), you'll want to see if they persist when you switch to software mode. Simply hold down the ALT key on the keyboard and press ENTER to switch to windows (software accelerated) mode. If the problems go away when running in a window, the problem is probably related to the device drivers you are using with your 3D card. Contact the manufacturer of the card to verify that you have the most recent driver with the most current version of Glide or OpenGL. The latest Glide reference drivers can be obtained from 3Dfx at www.3dfx.com/download/download.html. See the OpenGL section (above) for more information on OpenGL issues. The latest information on 3Dfx and Glide can be found at www.3dfx.com. Copyright © 1997 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. The 3Dfx Interactive logo, Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo Rush are trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive. If problems occur while running in windowed mode, changing the color depth may help. To change to 16-bit color, right-click on your Windows Desktop and choose Properties from the pop-up menu that appears. Choose the Settings tab in the dialog box; it should be the one furthest to the right. Select the Color pull-down menu and choose 16-bit color; you may have to reduce your screen resolution if you are raising the color setting. Section 4: Modem connection problems "I've noticed that my Herc seems to be sliding around on the screen a lot when I play a multiplayer game." What you are seeing is a result of your machine not getting enough information from the game server on the other side of the internet connection. Possible Explanations: Too much traffic on the internet. Periodically, the internet experiences severe slowdowns when a lot of people are transmitting data. When this "traffic jam" occurs, the internet may lack the bandwidth to transmit all the data in a timely manner. Try logging on at a different time of day. Busy ISP. Some very large ISP's such as AOL and Compuserve can have problems with performance-related applications such as Starsiege. Your ISP does not have enough bandwidth. In order to handle the ever- growing demand for internet connections, some Internet Service Providers simply increase the number of connections to the internet without spending money to increase their ability to transmit more data. This practice is called "Overselling Bandwidth", and is quite common. Shop around for an ISP that guarantees good data throughput and low ping times. It may cost a bit more, but it may be worth it. Your line may be noisy. Your phone line may have too much static to provide a clear connection. An indicator might be a hissing sound or crackling when you talk on the phone. High-speed modems such as the 56k modems require an exceptionally clear line in order to operate at a high transmission rate or they will lose data during transmission. Try using a single new cable between the wall and your computer’s modem. Remove sources of possible interference such as stereo speakers, TV's, radios, etc. The game server is too slow or on a poor connection. The game you connect to in the Join Game screen may be running on a machine that cannot handle the job of being a host computer. There may be too many players for the machine’s communications capability. It is also possible that the host is playing on that computer at the same time he or she is hosting the game. To see if this situation is the problem, look for games run on dedicated servers. A symbol on the Join Game screen looks something like this: ((T)). It indicates that the host computer is dedicated to the purpose of hosting a game and that nobody else is playing on this machine. Also note the machine’s CPU speed and Ping times. Usually a high CPU speed and a low Ping time on a dedicated server can handle the most players. Section 5: Other Troubleshooting The following points are steps that can be taken to help correct non-game specific issues, such as random game crashes or performance problems. 1. Verify you have sufficient hard drive space to install the program. Go to My Computer and right-click on the drive where you plan to install the game. Select Properties from the pop-up menu that appears. You should see a Free Space listing; make sure it shows that you have enough free space to install the game properly. The System Requirements for Starsiege are listed at the top of this document. 2. Make sure all non-vital programs are closed when you run Starsiege. To check which programs are active, hold down the CTRL and ALT keys on your keyboard and press the DEL key. This will bring up a dialog box called Close Programs. Generally, any program listed here besides Explorer and Systray is non-vital and should be closed before running Starsiege. To close a program, highlight it and click on the End Task button. You will need to repeat this process for each listed program. If a program will not shut down via this method, you may have to consult that program’s documentation to find instructions for shutting it down. (Note: This is not a permanent change to your computer. Simply rebooting will re-activate all of the programs you shut down.) 3. Run a thorough ScanDisk on your hard drive. You can run ScanDisk by clicking on the Start button and selecting Programs. Inside the Accessories there will be a System Tools group containing ScanDisk. Once you have clicked on ScanDisk, select the drive to scan and put the dot in the Thorough option. Then click on the Start button. This will probably take at least half an hour and as long as several hours. ScanDisk will locate errors on the hard drive and attempt to fix these errors. (Note: Always back up any critical information on your system before running Scandisk. If you have errors in the data on your hard drive, Scandisk will fix them by deleting the corrupted data. After this deletion occurs, some programs on your computer may quit functioning. In this event, you will want to remove and reinstall those affected programs. If you need assistance with that process, you should contact the manufacturer of the particular program.) 4. Try using a boot disk to prevent real mode device drivers from loading. Put a blank, high-density diskette in your A: drive. Then, open the My Computer icon from the desktop and highlight the icon for Drive A:. Right- click on the icon and choose Format. In the resulting dialog box, make sure there are checks in the boxes for "Full" and "Copy System Files". Click on OK to start the process. Once the disk is formatted, double-click on the icon for the C: drive in My Computer. Look for the file called MSDOS.SYS in the list of files. If you cannot find it, click on the View menu, choose Options and then the View tab. Make sure "Show all files" is checked and "Hide MS DOS file extensions" is not checked. Once you've found the MSDOS.SYS file, right- click on it and choose Send To 3½" Floppy (A). You will be prompted to replace an existing file - click on OK. Once you’ve done this, reboot your system with the disk in the A: drive. 5. If you are still having problems at this point, try doing a clean installation of the game. Run SETUP from the root directory of your Starsiege CD and choose to uninstall the game. Reboot your computer with the boot disk that you created in step 4. Close all programs as listed in step 2. Then run SETUP from your Starsiege CD again and reinstall the game. For further information, see the Starsiege web page at www.starsiegeplayers.com. IX. Contacting Sierra A) Customer Service, Support, and Sales B) Technical Support C) Legal Information A) Customer Service, Support, and Sales ---------------------------------- United States U.S.A. Sales Phone: (800) 757-7707 International Sales: (425) 746-5771 Hours: Monday-Saturday 7AM to 11 PM CST, Sundays 8 AM to 9PM CST FAX: (402) 393-3224 Sierra Direct 7100 W. Center Rd STE 301 Omaha, NE 68106 United Kingdom Havas Interactive Main: (0118) 920-9111 Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Fax: (0118) 987-5603 Disk/CD replacements in the U.K. are £6.00, or £7.00 outside the UK. Add "ATTN.: Returns." 2 Beacontree Plaza, Gillette Way, Reading, Berkshire RG2 0BS United Kingdom France Havas Interactive Téléphone: 01-46-01-46-50 Lundi au Jeudi de 10h à 19h Vendredi de 10h à 18h Fax: 01-46-30-00-65 Parc Tertiaire de Meudon Immeuble "Le Newton" 25 rue Jeanne Braconnier 92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex France Germany Havas Interactive Tel: (0) 6103-99-40-40 Montag bis Freitag von 9h - 19Uhr Fax: (0) 6103-99-40-35 Robert-Bosh-Str. 32 D-63303 Dreieich Germany On-Line Sales CompuServe United Kingdom:GO UKSIERRA CompuServe France: GO FRSIERRA CompuServe Germany: GO DESIERRA Internet USA: http://www.sierra.com Internet United Kingdom: http://www.sierra-online.co.uk Internet France: http://www.sierra.fr Internet Germany: http://www.sierra.de Disk and or Manual Replacement: Product Returns: Sierra On-Line Returns 4100 West 190th Street Torrance, CA 90504 Sierra On-Line Fulfillment 4100 West 190th Street Torrance, CA 90504 NOTE: To replace your disk(s) please send only Disk #1 (or the CD) and copy of your dated Receipt, if less then 90 days. After 90 days please include a $10 handling fee along with Disk / CD #1. For Documentation, please include a $ 5.00 handling fee and a photocopy ONLY of disk #1. Payment should be made at the time of your request. Sorry, no credit cards. * Returns to this address valid in North America only. B) TECHNICAL SUPPORT ------------------------- North America Sierra On-Line offers a 24-hour automated technical support line with recorded answers to the most frequently asked technical questions. To access this service, call (425) 644-4343, and follow the recorded instructions to find your specific topic and resolve the issue. If this fails to solve your problem, you may still write, or fax us with your questions, or contact us via our Web site. Sierra On-Line Technical Support P.O. Box 85006 Bellevue, WA 98015-8506 Main: (425) 644-4343 Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.- 4:45 p.m. PST Fax: (425) 644-7697 http://www.sierra.com support@sierra.com United Kingdom Havas Interactive offers a 24-hour Automated Technical Support line with recorded answers to the most frequently asked technical questions. To access this service, call (0118) 920-9111, and follow the recorded instructions to find your specific topic and resolve the issue. If this fails to solve your problem, you may still write, or fax us with your questions, or contact us via our Internet or CompuServe sites. Havas Interactive 2 Beacontree Plaza, Gillette Way, Reading, Berkshire RG2 0BS United Kingdom Main: (0118) 920-9111 Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Fax: (0118) 987-5603 http://www.sierra-online.co.uk France Havas Interactive Parc Tertiaire de Meudon Immeuble "Le Newton" 25 rue Jeanne Braconnier 92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex France Téléphone: 01-46-01-46-50 Lundi au Jeudi de 10h à 19h Vendredi de 10h à 18h Fax: 01-46-30-00-65 http://www.sierra.fr Germany Havas Interactive Robert-Bosh-Str. 32 D-63303 Dreieich Deutschland Tel: (0) 6103-99-40-40 Montag bis Freitag von 9 - 19Uhr Fax: (0) 6103-99-40-35 Mailbox: (0) 6103-99-40-35 http://www.sierra.de Spain Havas Interactive Avenida de Burgos 9 1º-OF2 28036 Madrid Spain Teléfono: (01) 383-2623 Lunes a Viernes de 9h30 a 14h y de 15h a 18h30 Fax: (01) 381-2437 Italy Contattare il vostro distribotore. ----------------------------------- Sierra's end user license agreement, limited warranty and return policy is set forth in the EULA.txt, found on the CD, and is also available during the install of the product. All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.