Star Trek: Armada v.1.2 patch

Star Trek: Armada v.1.2 patch

This patch updated Star Trek: Armada versions 1.0 and 1.1 to version 1.2.

Star Trek®: Armada™, 1.2 patch

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Star Trek: Armada v1.2 Patch Size: 4 MB

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Installation Instructions

To upgrade your version of Star Trek: Armada, simply download Armada_patch_1_2.exe (4 mb) and double-click it. Click on the Next button. After you have read the Software Licensing Agreement, click on the Yes button. Then the Readme file will be displayed. After you have read through the Readme, then press the Next button. Press the Install button. When the installation is complete press the Finish button to return to Windows®.

After the installation is complete you can then launch Star Trek: Armada and take advantage of the updated functionality.

Notes:

The update will work for all Microsoft Windows 95/98 CD-ROM versions of Star Trek: Armada.

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Bug Fixes

1) Pathing Improved – Ships will have less trouble moving in groups or navigating in areas with lots of objects.

2) Rally Point Improved – Ships will not try to occupy the same location when they exit the shipyards.

3) Strategic AI in Instant Action and Multiplayer has been given better handicaps on medium and hard difficulty. Including sped up build time and reduced cost.

4) In Instant Action/Multiplayer games the AI will now cloak ships if it can; more often on medium, and most of the time on hard.

5) The Chain Reaction Pulsar weapon has been modified so that it will not be able to hit cloaked ships and has been balanced to be less powerful.

6) In standard Multiplayer games each team will begin with a starbase, 2 construction ships, and a scout vessel.

7) Implemented Instant Action save functionality.

8) Improved game stability with issues related to [ESC] key being depressed.

9) Fixed several weapons related crashes.

10) Fixed crash related to Corbromite Reflector and saved games. If the Corbromite Reflector was active prior to saving the game it could cause a crash on loading of the saved game.

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Star Trek®: Armada™, 1.1 patch

*** Compatibility Fixes:

Armada Version 1.1 fixes problems with the following 3D cards:

TNT2

GeForce

Intel 810

Riva 128

*** Optimizations:

Optimization changes have been made to augment framerate. Most notably:

Smoother asteroid rendering

Ghosts (things you cannot currently see on the map but have in the past) have been optimized

Klingon Shockwave runs smoother and has a different effect.

Omega Shockwave at the end of the last mission contains less polys. This should eliminate stuttering and random crashes that may occur at this portion of the game.

*** Design:

Borg Superweapon (Transwarp Gate) drains energy over time instead of taking it all at once.

Artillery can no longer fire outside of the player's shared Line Of Sight.

Sensor Jammer is more effective because ships can no longer fire at what they cannot see.

Disallowed targeting of all special weapons under the shroud.

Gravity Mines can now be fired while cloaked.

Construction Ship Build Button Menu has be reordered making it easier to use.

*** Single Player Mission changes:

Vendetta – Worf automatically heads towards the first wormhole

A Line in the Sand – fixed a bug that occurred if all Borg forces were destroyed before the Enterprise shows up

The Alpha and the Omega Part 2 – ensures a showdown between Locutus and the Enterprise

*** Miscellaneous:

Added a LAN IPX button and LAN IPX functionality

Made several multiplayer map changes to augment game play on these maps.

*** Troubleshooting:

If problems occur after installing this patch please make sure you have the latest 3D card drivers.

If sound glitches or random lock-ups occur please update your sound drivers and/or disable sound acceleration.

TNT2 at high screen resolutions may still have problems in 32-bit mode.

***NOTE ABOUT WIN 98 SYSTEMS

Windows 98 requires at least 24 MB of RAM at all times. If your computer only has 32 MB of RAM, this doesn't leave enough for Star Trek: Armada to run at peak performance regardless of CPU speed or the type of video card. If you only have 32 MB of RAM you may experience some long load times, framerate spikes, and long transition times between sim and shell since the game is accessing your hard drive more than would otherwise be needed. To minimize these hits to performance, we suggest you make sure nothing else is running in the background, and that you play Star Trek: Armada with the graphic settings adjusted to the lowest settings.

*** Where do I go for more information concerning supported updates?

You may check our web page for supported updates to your game at: http://www.activision.com or www.st-armada.com

*** How do I reuse saved games if I re-install?

Follow the directions below to reuse saved games:

Uninstall Star Trek: Armada.

Copy the files (including the file SHELL.SET) and folders that are not uninstalled to a floppy disk. These are your saved games and settings files.

Re-install Star Trek: Armada.

Delete the Save directory from the newly installed Star Trek: Armada directory.

Copy the files and folders from the floppy into the Star Trek: Armada directory.

Launch the game.

You should be able to load your old games from the Load Game Screen at this point.

NOTE: Copying saved games from one computer to another is NOT SUPPORTED by Activision.

**** Star Trek Armada v1.0 Readme

*** The on-line help files are in HTML format and will require a web browser to properly view them.

*** ESC key may cause the game to minimize, and user will not be able to return properly to the game.

Star Trek Armada’s unique combination of 3D and 2D technology may cause issues when the ESC key is pressed during game play. Troubles that may occur include minimizing, loss of textures or a complete lock-up. This problem is most prevalent if the ESC key is hit during in-game cinematics. The ESC key has no functionality in the game and should not be used.

*** If your computer locks during the installation at 100%, contact your motherboard manufacture on information on how to upgrade your bios.

*** MULTIPLAYER

In internet multiplayer games, there is a button in the comms menu which is called "High Latency". If you are experiencing periodic pauses of short duration while playing the game, you should check this button. This will overcome difficulties faced by players with poor (high latency) internet connections. The game will automatically set this option checked if any of the starting players have ping times exceeding 350ms.

For optimal multiplayer experience, follow this rule of thumb: the more players, the higher RAM and CPU requirements are needed.

If a player brings up the options menu during a multiplayer game the game will pause. Only the player that brought the options menu up can un-pause the game, but he can be kicked out of the game after 30 seconds.

When creating a multiplayer profile, your password must be at least 6 characters long.

***The Earthlink installer located on this disk supports Win95/98 but not Win2000.

*** If the mouse cursor is left stationary on some missions with some video cards, it may appear to wobble.

You can fix this by switching screen resolutions.

*** If you remove or insert a CD that has autoplay information, the CD will autoplay and may cause the game to hang.

*** Using dual monitors

- The mouse can sometimes appear lost when it is in fact on the other monitor.

- There are problems with the camera angles in the cineractives in between missions.

- If you have problems installing the game while using dual monitors, you should disable the monitor and reactivate it after installing the game.

*** Video Card related issues

- TNT and TNT2 Cards: Occasionally when ALT-TAB is used while playing the game, severe graphical anomalies may occur.

- TNT2 Cards: User should us higher graphics detail then the default, otherwise the text may be hard to read.

- TNT2 Cards: Alt-Tab may cause the units in the game to become very dark.

- ATI Rage Pro has been known to cause some graphical anomalies within the game.

- Diamond Viper 770 Ultra does not appear to work with Diamond's drivers. NVIDIA's TNT2 drivers seem to work with this card.

- Users with a combination of a Diamond Fire GL 1000 Pro and a Diamond Monster 2 video cards may experience problems running the game. Single player campaigns will not launch, but multiplayer in 640x480 or 800x600 modes will.

- A conflict exists between Athlon processors and the NVIDIA GeForce video cards. Known problems include mission instability that may lead to random drops to the desktop after mission and when changing resolutions. This has been seen on other systems with other processors but drivers released after 3/9/00 may fix this problem.

*** Screen Resolution

- It is recommended that Star Trek: Armada’s game resolution matches your desktop resolution.

*** How can I improve performance?

1. To improve frame rate on low-end machines turn the graphics detail to low and the cinematic window off. To further enhance performance, lower, or toggle off, the sound options.

2. Close all other programs while playing.

· Close all other programs that appear on the task bar before playing.

· Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to pull up a list of programs that are still running at this point (but not on the task bar).

· Close all unnecessary programs by using the "End Task" button for each.

· Note: In our experience the only necessary programs are "Explorer" and "Systray." You should however check with the computer manufacturer to insure that their machines do not require other programs to remain active as well.

· 3. Set Graphics Acceleration to maximum in your System Control Panel.

· Go to the Start menu on your taskbar. Select Settings->Control Panel.

· Double-click the System icon.

· Click the Performance tab.

· Click the Graphics button.

· In the Graphics box, position the Hardware Acceleration slider to Full.

4. If you are using FAT16 file system, you can improve performance by converting to FAT32.

When your drive is in this format, it stores data more efficiently, creating up to several hundred MB of extra disk space on the drive. In addition, programs load faster and your computer uses fewer system resources.

Windows 98

· You can start Drive Converter by clicking Start, pointing to Programs, pointing to Accessories, pointing to System Tools, and then clicking Drive Converter.

· Once you convert your hard drive to FAT32 format using Drive Converter, you cannot return to using the FAT16 format unless you repartition and reformat the FAT32 drive. If you converted the drive on which Windows 98 is installed, then you must reinstall Windows 98 after repartitioning the drive.

· Older disk compression software is not compatible with FAT32. If your drive is already compressed, you may not be able to convert to FAT32.

Windows 95 OSR2

Unlike Windows 98, Windows 95 OSR2 does not come with a utility to convert a FAT16 hard drive/partition to FAT32. In order to do the conversion you must us the utility FDISK.EXE. For more information go to: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q253/7/74.ASP?LNG=ENG&SA=PER&FR=0

CAUTION: All versions of Windows prior to Windows 95 OSR2 will not recognize a FAT32 drive.

5. Increasing your system RAM from 32 to 64 MB will increase overall game performance.

*** The taskbar hides a portion of the game window. Can I fix this?

This can happen if your taskbar is always on top. You can hide the taskbar by right-clicking it and selecting Properties. Turn on Auto Hide and turn off Always on top. The taskbar will hide when it is not used. To make the taskbar reappear, place your mouse in the area where the taskbar once was and it will appear.

*** My screen saver operates slowly while the game is running. What can I do?

Because the game makes heavy use of the system resources, screen savers may hinder game performance. We highly recommend disabling your screen saver when playing the game.

To disable:

- Right click the desktop and select Properties.

- Click the Screen Saver tab.

- Set the Screen Saver pull down menu to None.

*** Why does the game sometimes quit to the desktop?

Occasionally, the game will suddenly quit to the desktop. This may be a result of a conflict with the EZDesk desktop utility, which is used to organize icons on your desktop. To prevent this, disable EZDesk before playing the game. However, should you crash to the desktop, reboot the machine and perform a scan disk if necessary.

The game may also suddenly minimize to the taskbar if you are running an electronic mail program (e.g. MS Exchange) in the background.

You should run Star Trek: Armada™ as a stand-alone application.

*** Ctrl-Alt-Del locks up my system.

If you use the Ctrl-Alt-Del function, there is a chance that the machine may automatically reboot, or you may get a "blue screen crash," which will force you to reboot your machine.

Do not use the Ctrl-Alt-Del function to quit the game. Instead, select QUIT from the main menu to exit the game.

*** Where do I go for game updates and/or patches?

(available in English only)

You may check our web page for updates to your game at:

http://www.activision.com

If you are uncertain of a game update and/or patch, please E-mail all questions to our internet mailing address at:

[email protected]

*** How do I reuse saved games if I re-install?

Follow the directions below to reuse saved games:

Uninstall Star Trek: Armada™.

Copy the files (including the file SHELL.SET) and folders that are not uninstalled to a floppy disk. These are your saved games and settings files.

Re-install Star Trek: Armada™.

Delete the Save directory from the newly installed Star Trek: Armada™ directory.

Copy the files and folders from the floppy into the Star Trek: Armada™ directory.

Launch the game.

You should be able to load your old games from the Load Game Screen at this point.

NOTE: Copying saved games from one computer to another is NOT SUPPORTED by Activision.

TM, ® & © 2000 Paramount Pictures, Inc. All right reserved. Star Trek and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures. © 2000 Activision, Inc. All rights reserved. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc. Uses Bink Video. Copyright © 1997-1999 by RAD Game Tools, Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.