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--- en:games:star_trek_armada_1:known_problems [2022-04-06-14-48] – [Sound Stutters on XP or Windows 2000] 7saturn
+++ en:games:star_trek_armada_1:known_problems [2025-04-22-14-51] (current) – 7saturn
@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 If you leave the [[..:..:game_tech:DirectX]] settings as they are by default on Windows XP or Windows 2000, the sound will stutter, or the sounds will be chopped or not played at all. This can be fixed by turning off the sound acceleration or setting it to the lowest level.
-To do this, enter the command ''dxdiag'' into the **Run** field of Windows. This should open a window that offers settings for DirectX. On the tab **Sound** you should see a slider bar with the description **Hardware acceleration** which you set to **No acceleration** (far left) or **Minimum acceleration** (second position from left). This often helps, or at least reduces the effects a bit. But there are also two other methods that do exactly the same.
+To do this, enter the command ''dxdiag'' into the //Run// field of Windows. This should open a window that offers settings for DirectX. On the tab //Sound// you should see a slider bar with the description //Hardware acceleration// which you set to //No acceleration// (far left) or //Minimum acceleration// (second position from left). This often helps, or at least reduces the effects a bit. But there are also two other methods that do exactly the same.
 ==== Windows 2000 ====
-**Start** -> **Settings** -> **Control Panel** -> **Sounds and Multimedia** -> **Audio** tab -> **Advanced Audio Properties** -> **Performance** tab -> **Hardware acceleration** to second lowest value, two times **OK**.
+//Start// -> //Settings// -> //Control Panel// -> //Sounds and Multimedia// -> //Audio// tab -> //Advanced Audio Properties// -> //Performance// tab -> //Hardware acceleration// to second lowest value, two times //OK//.
 ==== Windows XP ====
-**Start** -> **Settings** -> **Control Panel** -> **Sounds and Audio Devices** -> **Volume** tab -> **Advanced** in section **Speaker settings** -> **System performance** tab -> **Hardware acceleration** to second lowest value, two times **OK**.
+//Start// -> //Settings// -> //Control Panel// -> //Sounds and Audio Devices// -> //Volume// tab -> //Advanced// in section //Speaker settings// -> //System performance// tab -> //Hardware acceleration// to second lowest value, two times //OK//.
 If you rarely play Armada, you will want to reset the slider afterwards. It is likely the sound will be quite awkward in other applications, such as media players.
 There is one last recommendation: The problem can be solved partly by installing newer sound drivers. Just try new drivers for the sound card. Maybe you can solve it this way. but it is rather unlikely.
+===== Menu Music Too Loud =====
+The volume of the music while not in a match/mission is not influenced by the audio settings. Meaning, it will always play at full volume, regardless of the settings you made for the music. The music volume setting only affects the music while in-game.
+This problem may be solved by getting rid of the menu music altogether. While it is technically the same music as the Federation faction music, it is **not** coming from the same audio file. The menu music file is //sounds\effects\Shellsd0.WAV//. (Which is identical to the file //sounds\music\Mfed300.wav//, which is played in-game.) So renaming the file, e.g. to //Shellsd0.WAV.bak//, will remove the music from the menus (but not when playing the Federation faction). The game will start without it.
+An alternative could be to reduce the audio volume in said file directly with some sort of audio editor. But that is of course a static thing. It will still not react to your in-game music volume settings, if you choose to have it more or less loud, later. Changing it frequently does not seem reasonable. So, it is probably best to rename the file, if it gives your trouble on a general basis.
 ===== Multiple Screens Crash the Game =====
 When using multiple screens, the game may crash right after starting it. Unplug your additional screen(s) and only leave the one attached, that you intend to use when playing the game.
@@ Line 45: / Line 51: @@
 ++++
+===== Too Long System PATH Variable Crashes the Game on Startup =====
+When using the unaltered CD version on a modern system, it is very likely, that the game will never start. One of the reasons is a too long //PATH// variable of your Windows system. On modern Windows this is very common. On old Win9x or ME installations this was hardly ever any issue. You could of course try and remove unneeded parts of the //PATH// variable, but it is actually not necessary to alter your system settings. Simply use the GOG version or apply the [[..:star_trek_-_armada_1#patch_13|1.3 patch]]. There is also the possibility to fix this problem by altering the original game binary //Armada.exe//. It is however not advised to do that, as this makes the game basically incompatible with other player's Armada installation, that do not have the very same alteration.
+===== Too Much RAM Crashes the Game on Startup =====
+Similar to the above problem with the system's //PATH// variable, the game will crash if you have more than 2 GB of RAM. Back when Armada was released in 2000, 2 GB of RAM was certainly out of reach for most people. Today it is rather the opposite: A modern Windows system will not run with only 2 GB of RAM. So this problem is very common. In this case you cannot do a whole lot about that, except for using the GOG version or applying the [[..:star_trek_-_armada_1#patch_13|1.3 patch]]. There is also the possibility to fix this problem by altering the original game binary //Armada.exe//. It is however not advised to do that, as this makes the game basically incompatible with other player's Armada installation, that do not have the very same alteration.
 ===== Game is Visible But Cannot be Joined =====
 This problem presents itself in the following way: One player opens a match on his computer. Another waits for the game to show up, which it eventually does (it may take a moment to find it). But when actually trying to access the match, the game claims, that the match has gone in the meantime (>>The host of this game has been lost.<<). Refreshing shows, the game is actually still open, but cannot be joined. Usually this happens, when the Windows firewall partially blocks the game. As a host allow the //Armada.exe// for free communications and this problem should be solved.
-===== The Auto-Assimilator Soundeffect does not Cease =====
+===== The Auto-Assimilator Sound Effect Does not Cease =====
-It happens (rather often) that the [[auto-assimilator|special weapon of the Assimilator]] unit of the Borg is used, but once it is not active any more, its sound effect still continues indefinitely. This can easily be stopped by shortly opening the game's menus (''CTRL'' + ''x'') and closing it. Once the menu is closed, the sound will be gone.
+It happens (rather often) that the [[auto-assimilator|special weapon of the Assimilator]] unit of the Borg is used, but once it is not active any more, its sound effect still continues indefinitely. This can easily be stopped by shortly opening the game's menus (<key>CTRL</key> + <key>x</key>) and closing it. Once the menu is closed, the sound will be gone. Similarly the sound will stop, when you pause the game for a moment (pressing <key>PAUSE</key>). Be aware that both solutions affect the other players in multi-player. When pausing, the game pauses for all involved players. When opening the menus, the player will be displayed as unresponsive and the game pauses for the other players, too.
+===== The Regeneration Sound Effect Does not Cease =====
+Basically the same as the above problem: The [[en:games:star_trek_armada_1:Regeneration]] audio of the [[en:games:star_trek_armada_1:Sphere]] is considerably less noticeable, but it has the same stopping issues as the //Auto-Assimilator//. And the solution is the same as above: Press <key>PAUSE</key> or got to the menus for a moment. When un-pausing the match or returning to it, the sound will not come back.
 ===== Mouse Pointer Stays in the Center of the Screen =====
-It happens from time to time, that the Windows mouse pointer is visible at the center of the screen and won't go away on its own. This can also be solved by opening the menus for a moment (''CTRL'' + ''x''). Once the menu is closed, the pointer will be gone.
+It happens from time to time, that the Windows mouse pointer is visible at the center of the screen and won't go away on its own. This can also be solved by opening the menus for a moment (<key>CTRL</key> + <key>x</key>). Once the menu is closed, the pointer will be gone.
+===== Game Ends the Vendetta Mission with a Loss for No Reason =====
+Reaching the last wormhole in mission 3 of the [[factions#Federation]] campaign (Vendetta) can finish the mission without unlocking the last mission of the Fed campaign as you lose it anyways. So better save the game before finishing it.
+===== Saved Games With Reversed Roles =====
+When playing the [[en:games:star_trek_armada_1:single-player_campaign|single-player campaign]] and saving the game you may end up with a saved game that is damaged in a particularly way: The AI will have taken your place, any you take their's. The way to provoke this problem is as follows:
+  - Start a //Instant Action// match.
+  - Save it.
+  - Stop it.
+  - Load or start a single-player campaign mission.
+  - Save the running campaign match over the previously saved //Instant Action// match (no manual deletion!)
+  - Load the just saved mission again.
+The reason for this is a bug in the save handling when overwriting a save. //Instant Action// matches consist of **two** files, an //*.ias// file and a //*.sav// file. The former does not exist for single-player saves. However, when saving a mission over an //Instant Action// match, only the //*.sav// will be overwritten while the //*.ias// stays untouched. That usually has the described effect or switching roles in the mission. Another side-effect is, that the scripts controlling the factions are still in effect. Meaning, even while you may control a different faction than normal, their production and ship movements will be controlled by the script. This may make yards produce ships, or ships being stopped from moving or moving somewhere else than where you sent them. Also the victory/loss conditions still apply.
+If you intend on salvaging a mission save with this problem it can easily be solved by deleting the //*.ias// file.
+===== Mouse Pointer During Loading Screen =====
+On rare occasions you can see the in-game mouse pointer still appear on the loading screen. The exact reasons for this are not yet known.
+{{ :en:games:star_trek_armada_1:pink_loading_screen.png?nolink&600 |}}
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