HOW TO USE THIS FORUM! - UPDATED 9/15

[ÜberJumper]

HOW TO USE THIS FORUM.

1. Before you post, see if there's a thread about what you want to post about already. Use the search function for this, or scan through the thread topics.

2. Please read the README.TXT (second post in this thread for your convience).

3. I cannot say this enough. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST VIDEO CARD DRIVERS (at least 44.03 for Nvidia cards, 3.6 Catalysts for ATI)! If you can't get into the game, or crash out of it, seriously, check your drivers. More Info from Relic (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14980).

3. If you are going to post, start with an introduction of what you think the problem is. Follow that up with your HW2.log file (in c:\program files\sierra\Homeworld2 demo\bin\release). Follow that up with what you've tried to fix so far.

4. Video and Framerate Problems? Check out some of these threads from Relic before posting. Remy's Command Line thread (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15698), Motte's HW2.log thread (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14980), Remy's Shadow thread (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15282), Nick's Graphical Options thread (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15223), Geoff's AGP/PCI mode thread (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14920).

LIST OF KNOWN ISSUES With Fixes/Answers/workarounds

1. Intel Integrated Graphics (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15126)

2. Frame Rate drop on Detonator 45.23 drivers (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15603)

3. Matrox Parhelia Cards have no ship textures (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16105) - Matrox knows about the problem.

LIST OF KNOWN ISSUES Without Fixes

1. ATI Shadow Issues (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14990) (waiting on Remy's post)

2. Anti-Aliasing Issues with GeForce 4 Ti4600 (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14984&perpage=20&pagenumber=3)

3. Setting a Rally Object that has no parade formation (like an asteroid or a frigate) will result in a crash.

4. Full Launch bays bug (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15671) - If you have a carrier/mothership full of ships that are docked, and you build a large frigate sized ship, it will expell one of the docked ships to let the frigate sized ship be launched.

LIST OF KNOWN ISSUES With Gamespy

There are various issues with Joining MP games on Gamespy, check your readme.txt (or the second post in this thread) for more info on ports etc. Currently, it appears that the game may be picking the LAN adress to broadcast as the host address for folks behind a router. Relic is looking into these issues, and it looks like they will be fixed if Sierra requests a patch. You can get on IRC and use TCP/IP direct if you like (irc.austnet.org channels #homeworld, #homeworld2, #relic).

1. SMC Barricade Router info (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15598).

2. Possible fix for users of Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15447).

GENERAL INFORMATION:

1. Alt+Focus is Broken!! (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15487) - Feedback from Relic

2. Add a game timer to HW2 (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15557) - Modding at work.

3. Listing of Keyboard controls (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15289) - By dyntheos and others.

4. Frigates to weak, battles too fast? (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15113) - read this for clarification from Relic.

5. How to roll back nvidia 45.23 drivers to 44.03 (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15962)

[ÜberJumper]

Homeworld 2
Version 1.0
Readme File

***********************************************************************
About This Document:

Thank you for purchasing Homeworld 2.

This document contains last-minute information about Homeworld 2 and other information about the program not found in the Help Files. This README file includes information that pertains to general problems and questions you may have concerning the game or your computer. Should you experience any problems with Homeworld 2, please refer to this file for additional help on answering questions about the game and solving technical difficulties.

***********************************************************************

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
II. GENERAL TECHNICAL ISSUES
III. GENERAL GAME ISSUES
IV. CONTACTING SIERRA / VU GAMES


I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
-----------------------
i. Homeworld 2 requires a PC running either Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition.

It must also meet the following minimum requirements:

Intel Pentium III 833MHz or AMD Athlon 833MHz
256 MB RAM
32 MB OpenGL supported hardware, GeForce or better (with Transform and Lighting), ATI Radeon 7500 or better (with Transform and Lighting).
Requires DirectX 9.0 and a compatible driver.
250 MB Hard Drive space, plus space for DirectX 9.0 Drivers, saved games, and Windows SWAP file.
16X or Faster CD-ROM/DVD drive
Windows compatible sound card
Windows compatible keyboard and mouse.
Required for Multiplayer:
Broadband (DSL, Cable Modem, or faster) for multiplayer online (internet) game.
TCP/IP Compliant Network required for Network Play.


ii. For optimal performance, play Homeworld 2 on a PC that meets or exceeds the following specifications:

Pentium 4 1.4GHz or higher.
64 MB or faster GeForce 3 or Radeon 8500 that supports Transform and Lighting.
512 MB RAM or higher.


iii. Supported Video Cards
Homeworld 2 has been tested and optimized to run on the following video cards.
ATI Technologies
-Radeon 7500
-Radeon 8500
-Radeon 9000
-Radeon 9100
-Radeon 9200
-Radeon 9500
-Radeon 9600
-Radeon 9700
-Radeon 9800
nVidia:
-All GeForce class cards and above except the GeForce 256.
Matrox:
-Parhelia

Please ensure you have the latest drivers before running Homeworld 2, or you may encounter graphical glitches and bugs.

Supported Video Cards
nVidia cards: www.nvidia.com
ATI cards: www.ati.com
Matrox: www.matrox.com

Unsupported Video Cards
Intel: www.intel.com
SiS Xabre: www.xabre.com
3Dlabs: www.3dlabs.com
S3: www.S3graphics.com


Non-standard Resolutions

Homeworld2 has been designed for the standard 4:3 aspect ratio display. However, you can use other any unsupported resolutions of your choosing, such as those listed below. Furthermore, We have included a solution for some non-standard resolutions as listed below. If you're running Homeworld2 on a laptop or other LCD display, you may experience some distortion or stretching of the game screens if you're not running in the recommended resolutions for your specific monitor.

To address this, we've included the following work-around using a command line option switch. In order to specify the resolution that you want to play Homeworld2 in, use the following parameters to set your resolution. Simply cut and paste from the text below into the Homeworld2 shortcut Properties

For Example, the Target of your windows shortcut should read:

C:\Programs\Sierra\Homeworld2\Homeworld2.exe.

And if you want to run Homeworld2 in 1024 x 768 resolution, using the following command line switch (typed exactly as):

-w 1024 -h 768

(**note the case sensitive and space sensitive nature of this command line switch where
-w sets the width value and the -h sets the height value.)

Therefore, if you want to run Homeworld2 in 1024 x 768 resolution, the 'Target' field of the Windows shortcut for Homeworld2 should read:

"C:\Programs\Sierra\Homeworld2\Homeworld2.exe" -w 1024 -h 768

You can try using this method to run in any one of the resolutions listed below or others that may not be listed. However, none of them are guaranteed to work in all cases. Here are several examples. Simply cut and paste from the text below into target line after the .exe portion of the existing text.

1152x864 -w 1152 -h 864
1920x1440 -w 1920 -h 1440
2048x1536 -w 2048 -h 1536


II. GENERAL TECHNICAL ISSUES
----------------------------

i. Multiplayer Issues
Modem users may experience connectivity problems when playing Homeworld 2 on Gamespy while running a personal firewall (such as ZoneAlarm or Norton Personal Firewall). Disabling the firewall during play may solve those problems.

If you want to play a multiplayer game of Homeworld 2 and you are behind a router, you may need to do one of the following:
a) Disable your router so that your machine is connected directly to the internet.
b) Unblock port 6073 and ports 2302 to 2400 (these are the default DirectPlay ports used by Homeworld 2).
c) Force Homeworld2 to use a given port number by using "-port ####" at the command line, where #### is between 1 and 65535.

If you still encounter difficulty in connecting to GameSpy, please allow traffic for at least the following TCP ports.
6667 (IRC)
80 (HTTP)
27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat)
28900 (Master Server List Request)
29900 (GP Connection Manager)
29901 (GP Search Manager)
13139 (Custom UDP Pings)
6500 (incoming, UDP, default roomquery port; can be customized with roomqueryport=<port #> in svc.cfg)


ii. Dual Monitor Setup
You will not be able to play Homeworld 2 on your secondary monitor unless both are running from the same supported video card. If you have two video cards, the primary card must be supported by Homeworld 2 or the game will not run.

iii. Troubleshooting
You may experience various display problems depending on your system specifications. Below are the current known issues.
a) Alt-Tabbing out of and back into Homeworld 2 may cause certain ships to render improperly.
b) Homeworld 2 does not run on Windows 98 FE systems that use CMI 8738 Onboard Sound Card. Playing with a different sound card or by disabling sound entirely (by using the -noSound command line parameter) will allow the game to run.


III. GENERAL GAME ISSUES
----------------------------

i. CD Keys
Please remember, no one from Sierra will ever ask you for your key. If someone logs onto GameSpy using your CD key while you are in a GameSpy lobby or game, you will be kicked out.
Remember, do not give out your CD key to anyone or you will not be able to play multiplayer games!

ii. Graphics Settings
Homeworld 2's default graphics quality settings are set to low. If you want to experience the full visual experience of Homeworld 2, you will need to set these values to high.

iii. Installation of DirectX9.0
Homeworld 2 requires DirectX9.0 or higher in order to run. You will be prompted to install DirectX9 during the installation process. If you have already installed or want to install DirectX9 later, please select no.
Note: If you select no during the installation process, you must install DirectX9.0 manually before Homeworld 2 will run.

iv. Installation of Divx 5
Homeworld 2 requires Divx 5 or higher in order to run. You will be prompted to install DivX during the installation process. If you have already installed or want to install Divx later, please select no.
Note: If you select no during the installation process, you must install DivX manually before Homeworld 2 will run.

v. Gamespy Arcade
While Homeworld 2 provides Gamespy Arcade as an optional part of the installation process, Homeworld 2 is not supported by it. If you want to play a multiplayer game on Gamespy, please select the GameSpy option provided in the front end.

vi. Content Download
Unique player Badges must be placed in your bin/profiles/badges/ directory. Badges downloaded from other players will be placed in this folder as well.

Levels will be downloaded to your bin/profiles/levels folder and be placed in a folder with a unique id. If you want to host a game with a downloaded map, please ensure that you copy it to your data/leveldata/multiplayer/deathmatch/ folder


------------------------

IV. SIERRA WARRANTY AND LEGAL INFORMATION

You are entitled to use this product for your own use, but may not copy, reproduce, translate, publicly perform, display, or reduce to any electronic medium or machine- readable form, reproductions of the software or manual to other parties in any way, nor sell, rent or lease the product to others without prior written permission of Sierra. You may use one copy of the product on a single computer. YOU MAY NOT NETWORK THE PRODUCT OR OTHERWISE INSTALL IT OR USE IT ON MORE THAN ONE COMPUTER AT THE SAME TIME.
UNAUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIONS: SIERRA WARRANTS ONLY THAT THE PROGRAM WILL PERFORM AS DESCRIBED IN THE USER DOCUMENTATION. NO OTHER ADVERTISING, DESCRIPTION, OR REPRESENTATION, WHETHER MADE BY A SIERRA DEALER, DISTRIBUTOR, AGENT, OR EMPLOYEE, SHALL BE BINDING UPON SIERRA OR SHALL CHANGE THE TERMS OF THIS WARRANTY.
IMPLIED WARRANTIES LIMITED: EXCEPT AS STATED ABOVE, SIERRA MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THIS PRODUCT. SIERRA DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY THAT THE SOFTWARE IS FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE NINETY (90) DAY DURATION OF THIS LIMITED EXPRESS WARRANTY AND IS OTHERWISE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
NO CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES: SIERRA SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES, EVEN IF SIERRA IS ADVISED OF OR AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THIS MEANS THAT SIERRA SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR LOST PROFITS OR REVENUES, OR FOR DAMAGES OR COSTS INCURRED AS A RESULT OF LOSS OF TIME, DATA OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE, OR FROM ANY OTHER CAUSE EXCEPT THE ACTUAL COST OF THE PRODUCT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SIERRA'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THIS PRODUCT. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.


Sierra's end user license agreement, and limited warranty is set forth in the EULA.txt, found in this install.

Copyright (©2003 Sierra Entertainment, Inc.)
©1998-2003 Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
Sierra and the Sierra logo are trademarks of Sierra Entertainment.