Patches

• For details about the various feature upgrades and fixes in the patches, please refer to the readme file included in the patch.


• To be able to play Online, all users must have the same, latest version of the game. For this reason, when you log on to GameSpy your version ID is verified against the "latest version ID", and if it doesn't match you will be asked to download the latest version before you can proceed into the Online lobby. Clicking Yes when prompted will quit the game and launch a download manager which will display the various download sites available.


• You can also download the patch manually from ftp://ftp.atari.com/patches/aow/. Download the file "ActOfWar_DirectAction_PatchX.exe" (where X is the highest available number) to your hard drive, when you launch it, it will install itself to the correct location on your hard drive.


• DIRECT ACTION ONLY: to be able to install the patch, you must have launched the retail version of the game at least once.


• DIRECT ACTION ONLY: please note that in order to support game replays, some modifications were made to the way games are saved. As a consequence, save games created with the UNPATCHED RETAIL VERSION of the game are NOT compatible with any of the patches, apologies in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have a single-player campaign going, we recommend you finish it before installing the patch.

• GameSpy provides a free-of-charge match-making and stats tracking service for Act of War: Direct Action. They do not host the patch or the Online game sessions. If you have latency problems in the game, this is caused by one of the players having a slow connection or PC -- not by GameSpy.


• If you have problems finding a unique nick, we suggest adding a "clan tag" to the beginning of your nick, i.e. "[REDSOX]MannyRulez"


• Please note that when creating a new GameSpy user profile, you cannot enter an e-mail address that contains two dots in the domain name, such as "gamer@us.freedomain.com".


• If you get a message "Invalid password" when creating a new user ID, it means that there is already an existing account using the same E-MAIL ADDRESS. Try again using a different e-mail address, or try and remember what password you used when you previously created a GameSpy user ID with the same e-mail address (probably for another game).


• If you have problems logging on or connecting to the GameSpy server, please verify that your internet connection is OK and try again in a couple minutes.

• Please don't make illegal copies of Act of War: Direct Action. Thanks in advance.


• The CD Key for Act of War is printed on the inside of your manual cover, and you'll need to enter it when you install the game. Each time you launch the game, it will 1) look for the presence of the Act of War DVD in the drive, and 2) look for the presence of a valid CD Key in your registry. (Once you've launched the game, you can remove the DVD if you wish.)


• Each time you log on to GameSpy to play Online, your CD Key is validated against an online database. If the records match, you'll be logged in to the online lobby. If they don't match, or if for whatever reason you can't connect to the authentication server, you'll get an error message. Please double-check your login details and connection and try again.
  
  


• IMPORTANT!!! When logging on to GameSpy, if your CD Key is already in use by someone else, that person will immediately be disconnected without any warning, explanation or error message. Read that again. It means that if you give your CD Key to someone else, that person will always be able to automatically kick you out of your Online game, at any time, without any notice or warning. So, DON'T GIVE OUT YOUR CD KEY! Each logon attempt is IP tracked and it is possible to identify CD Key violations, please contact Atari Customer Support if you believe your CD Key has been hi-jacked (=if you FREQUENTLY find yourself kicked out to the Main Menu with an error message saying "Connection to online server lost".)


• Each time you log on to GameSpy, we'll also verify that you have the latest version of the game installed. If you don't, you'll be requested to download the latest patch to be able to play Online."

• nothing happens when you inserts the AoW disc; it's not recognized as a valid disc, can't be opened, accessed, or read from; nothing. Like inserting blank, unwritten media.


• you can install the game, but not launch it because "Disc could not be verified within time limit", or similar.


• you can install and launch the game, download and apply the patch, but then not launch the game again because "Disc could not be verified within time limit", or similar.

• you have no potentially conflicting disc emulation/duplication software installed


• your DVD drive can read dual-layer DVDs


• your game DVD is clean and unscratched


• you have the latest drivers for your DVD-drive


• you don't have any virtual drives on your PC

• If you have a combo drive (that also can write CDs and/or DVDs), try disabling digital CD audio for the device. Under Win XP: My Computer => Right-click your DVD-drive => Properties => Hardware => select your DVD-drive => Properties => Properties => uncheck "Enable digital CD audio for this CD-ROM device". (thanks coldkill, muppetts and and Mobilemick).


• If you have a Pioneer drive, please visit http://www.pioneer-eur.com/eur/suppo...pport/software to ensure you have the latest firmware (thanks Jenard).


• If you have a Plextor drive and experience this problem, you can try using the PlexTool application that came on the install disc, and try on different speed settings (thanks Buadyen and m_sunny10).


• It seems the copy protection on the disk does not like Sonic DLA (drive letter access) with some DVD drives. Right-click the DVD drive => Properties => DLA tab => uncheck "Enable DLA on drives" (thanks Krayzee and performance4men).

1. Locate your Act of War executable (default location is "C:\Program Files\Atari\Act of War - Direct Action")


2. Right-click "ActOfWar.exe" and select the option "Launch Analysis" (normally third from the top under "Open" and "Run as...")


3. Follow the instructions.


4. ZIP the file "AnalysisLog.sr0"


5. Go to atarisupport.com > A > Act of War: Direct Action > [O/S] > Launch: Cannot Launch > [if nothing helps, click "No, this did not help...continue troubleshooting"] > Email Atari Technical Support.


6. Fill out the form and attach the file "AnalysisLog.zip"


7. Customer support will send this file to the copy protection developer, who will supply a modified game executable that, fingers crossed, should work on your system. Turn-around time is typically 24-48 hours.

• The Direct Action ladder site can be found here: http://gamestats.gamespy.com/actofwar/


• The Direct Action ladder site can be found here: http://gamestats.gamespy.com/actofwarht/

• The strategy guide from BradyGames contains a handful cheat codes and stats and data for all units in the game, as well as a full walkthrough of the campaign and a bunch of multiplayer strategy hints and tips from the developers and testers in Atari's QA department (who have spent thousands and thousands of hours beating each other up in multiplayer…)

• If you skip or miss the intro movie, you can watch it again by copying the three files in the folder "\VIDEO" on the game DVD to your hard drive, rename the file "ENG_Cutscene_00.wav" to "Cutscene_00.wav", and then drag the file "CutScene_00.avi" to the application "mplayerc.exe".

• The Keyboard commands in the manual (pages 94-95) are all over the place, sorry about that. You'll find the correct ones in the retail game readme file, and printed in the strategy guide.

• For European users, if you want to install the game in a different language than your Windows version, hold down SHIFT when inserting the game DVD (to diasble the autorun feature), then right-click your DVD-drive icon in "My Computer", select Open, and double-click the file "setup.exe". You should now get a language selection menu instead.

• I can only repeat what's said in the game readme file; the game will automatically detect your hardware settings and choose the optimum settings (or, rephrased for clarity: if you increase the settings, you WILL not have perfect performance). This is particularly true for the GeForce FX series; if you increase the shadow settings to Medium or High, this card's poor performance with pixel shaders 2.0 will make gameplay pretty choppy.


• If, when you launch the game nothing appears to be happening, try hitting ctrl-alt-del to open the Task Manager. If the Act of War process is running, terminate it and right-click your ActOfWar.exe file (default install path C:\Program Files\Atari\Act of War - Direct Action\) > Properties > Compatibility tab. Check the "Compatibility Mode" box and selcet your O/S in the drop-down menu, then try again.

• Right-click My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers. Right-click your sound card and select "Disable", then try the game again and see if the problems disappeared (you won't be able to hear any audio though; this is normal). If this resolved the issue, try updating or reinstalling your sound card drivers, or switching to a different sound card.


• Double-click the Display adapter driver in the Device manager. Make a note what driver version you have and download a copy of it from the Internet. Uninstall the driver and reboot your PC in VGA mode. Reinstall the driver, and reboot. Try launching the game again.

• Locate your Act of War executable (default install path: "C:\Program Files\Atari\Act of War - Direct Action")


• Right-click the file "ActOfWar.exe", select Properties > Compatibility tab > Check the box "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and then try BOTH "Windows 2000" AND "Windows NT" (regardless which system you have).

• If you have an Intel-based system go to http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...6&DwnldID=8178


• If you have an AMD-based system using a VIA-based chipset go to http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=2&Type=1


• If you have an AMD-based system using an Nvidia-based chipset go to http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp and download the latest Nforce drivers.

• Windows XP SP2 introduces the NX security feature for Athlon 64 processors, and for Pentium 4 processors with names ending with the letter "J". This feature can make the game crash during startup, if so you have to disable it. To do so, please follow these steps:


• Control Panel => System => Advanced.


• click Performance => Settings => Data Execution Prevention.


• Either select "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only", or select "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select" and make sure to add Act of War to that list.


• Also, you should get the latest AMD processor drivers and tools for Athlon 64 from www.amd.com.


• Please refer to the readme file for further information.

• If you experience issues with the ground or unit textures not displaying properly (i.e. gray), try verifying against the settings in this thread by Tybalt: http://www.uk.atari.com/third_party/...&threadid=7597 before reporting the error to Customer Support.


• Please note that the GeForce4 MX isn't supported by the game because it doesn't have pixel/vertex shader support.


• please check out this thread from the UK forum for more information about nVidia card compatibility: http://www.uk.atari.com/third_party/...&postid=157005

• Open the ATI control center => Settings => ATI Display Settings => 3D => Use Custom Settings => Custom => Anti-Aliasing; make sure the "Application preference" is checked.


• We've seen some forum reports that downgrading your Catalyst drivers from 5.3 or 5.4 to 5.2 has solved various graphical issues; our internal compatibility lab has however not experienced any issues with the 5.3 drivers.


• We've seen several forum reports that activating (or deactivating) DXT texture format (under 3D settings > Direct3D settings) may resolve various stability issues.

• Set the Sound Hardware acceleration to low. START => Run... => type "dxdiag" => Sound => set the "Hardware Sound Acceleration Level" to the lowest notch.


• Make sure your Sound option in-game is set to "Stereo".

• The Atari Customer Support site (http://atarisupport.com) is a great source of information and also contains a link where you can send an e-mail about issues that do not appear in the various help sections. It's in English but contains links to local Customer Support sites, too.


• As you know by now, this forum is also a very good way to get fast and helpful feedback from other gamers who have had the same or similar questions.