UNIVERSAL COMBAT SPECIAL EDITION

TROUBLESHOOTING FAQ

INSTALLATION & UPGRADING ISSUES
VIDEO ISSUES
AUDIO ISSUES
CONTROLLER ISSUES
GENERAL ISSUES & STABILITY
MULTIPLAYER ISSUES

MAKE SURE YOU ARE RUNNING THE LATEST DRIVER VERSION AND THAT YOU HAVE INSTALLED THE LATEST DIRECTX 9.0c VERSION. 3000AD IS UNABLE TO ASSIST YOU IN TROUBLESHOOTING MANUFACTURER DRIVER COMPONENT ISSUES. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR COMPONENT MANUFACTURER FOR ASSISTANCE.

INSTALLATION & UPGRADING ISSUES

Q. WHEN I PUT THE CD-ROM IN THE DRIVE, THE GAME WON'T INSTALL
A. Run the SETUP.EXE program from the CD-ROM if AUTORUN does not run.

   You must NOT be running any virus checkers and similar utilities in the background if
   Installshield seems to hang during installation.

   AUTORUN won't work if you already have UC installed. This would happen if you did not uninstall UC
   using the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS which then deletes the UC.INI file in your C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT
   folders. If this is the case, just search and destroy that file before re-installing.

Q. AFTER I INSTALL AND TRY TO PLAY, THE GAME HANGS
A. Check the following:
  1. Your system meets the requirements of the game
  2. You have installed DirectX 9.0c (April Edition) or higher runtime
  3. You have installed the latest DirectX 9.0c or higher compatible sound and video drivers
  4. That you have installed the latest drivers for your motherboard (see General Issues & Stability)
  5. Make sure that your video card supports Shader and Vertex shader 1.1 or higher
  6. Check ALL the sections below.
Q. I INSTALLED THE GAME AND WHEN I RUN IT I GET A MESSAGE "DINPUT8.DLL NOT FOUND". WHERE IS IT? A. You need to download and install DirectX 9.0c (April Edition) or higher Q. I WANT TO START FROM SCRATCH, HOW DO I UNINSTALL THE GAME AND APPLY THE LATEST PATCH? A. Here are the necessary steps you need to take to uninstall, re-install and patch to the latest version. Before getting started, ensure that you have installed the latest drivers for your sound and video cards.
  • Using Explorer, DELETE the game install folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\3000AD\Universal Combat Special Edition) and ALL its contents
  • Install the game from the CDROM.
  • Run the in game Updater to download the latest patch or download it and copy it INTO the game install folder. If you already downloaded it, just copy it to the game folder.
  • Apply the patch by locating it using Explorer or the START/RUN dialog and executing it (double-click on it). If you use the game Updater, it will automatically download and install the patch for you.
  • Run the game. Do NOT modify ANY of the settings in CONFIG. Just run the game, check it out and make sure everything is fine. Then quit and go and make any configuration changes you wish. Q. HOW DO I REVERT TO THE DEFAULT GAME CONFIGURATION SETTINGS? A. Quit the game and use Explorer to delete the UCCONFIG.INI file which resides in the folder where the game is installed. The game will create a new one at startup. You can then go to CONFIG and change the settings as desired.
  • VIDEO ISSUES
    
    Q. I STARTED THE GAME AND GOT AN ERROR ABOUT A VERTEX/PIXEL SHADER!
    A. The game requires a video card with Vertex and Pixel Shader 1.1 or higher. This is indicated on the
       game box as well as the product information page. There is a discussion about this on our forums.
       If you don't know if your card supports a Vertex Shader, contact your manufacturer.
       WARNING: The nVidia GF4 MX range of cards do NOT have a vertex shader! Please read this.
    
    And no, a Vertex or Pixel Shader is not something you can download and install. Your video card either supports it or it doesn't. Q. THE GAME DISPLAYS A "MESSAGE DRAIN" ERROR OR A BLACK SCREEN WHEN I START IT UP A. This may be a video card graphics driver glitch which should clear up after the first few frames of the AVI are played. If an error is displayed, just click OK and the game will continue as normal. The game requires Indeo 5.10 or higher codec. If the logo does not play install the latest version of Windows Media Player on your system and read this if you have winXP. You can also disable the intro animation by editing the properties of game shortcut and adding the /n parameter. For example go to START/PROGRAMS/3000AD and edit the target properties for the Universal Combat shortcut so that it looks like this:
    "C:\Program Files\3000AD\Universal Combat Special Edition\ucse.exe" /n
    Q. HOW COME SOME OF THE GRAPHICS FX LOOK DIFFERENT ON MY MACHINE? A. Some FX will look different depending on the shader version that your video card supports. If your card has pixel and vertex shader v2.0 or higher, the FX will look better than with shader v1.1 Q. I AM HAVING VIDEO PROBLEMS I CANNOT RESOLVE A. This can be related to a lot things, primarily video drivers.
    1. Install the latest driver (or one that works) for your video card
    2. Install DirectX 9.0c (April Edition) or higher
    3. From My Computer, go to the Performance/Graphics tab. Drop that slider down one notch.
    4. Quit the game, then go to Explorer and delete the UCCONFIG.INI which resides in the game's install folder so that the game can create a new one with the defaults.
    Q. WHY IS THERE A SLIGHT SLOW DOWN WHEN MODELS ARE LOADED? A. Defragment your hard drive. Also check the settings in the System tab of Control Panel and ensure that your hard disk drives are set to run in DMA mode, instead of PIO. Installing more memory on your computer as well as upgrading to a video card with at least 128MB of memory, will also help. Q. I ENABLED FSAA AND THE SCREEN DISPLAY IS CORRUPTED OR LOOKS WRONG A. In order to enable FSAA (any type), your video card must have the required amount of memory. For more info on AA, check with your video card manufacturer.

    If the main menu screen becomes corrupted because of an incorrect AA setting, press Q to quit from the main menu, then delete the UCCONFIG.INI file from the game install folder. On startup, a new one with default settings will be created.

    You should also ensure that you do not use both the game's FSAA setting as well as your video card's, as this will cause problems. If you are going to use the game's own handling for this, you need to set your video card's own utility to use "Application Preference"; then go to Config and set the game's FSAA setting as desired.

    Also, if you find that you cannot type in your name when starting a new game, this is also related to the AA settings because even text will be anti-aliased. Try lowering the AA settings until you find the best setting that works. Q. I HAVE AN LCD MONITOR WITH A RESOLUTION THE GAME DOES NOT SUPPORT. A. If you have a monitor with a resolution (e.g. 1680x1050) that the game does not display in CONFIG, you can fix this by following the steps below. Note that the game does NOT support widescreen resolutions. So if you select a widescreen resolution, the graphics will look a bit skewed.
    1. If the game is running, quit and return to the desktop
    2. Using Notepad or similar text editor, open up the UCCONFIG.INI file located in the game install folder.
    3. Search for the line that looks something like "Resolution=800x600" and change the resolution to the one you want e.g. Resolution=1680x1050
    4. Save the file and exit.
    5. Restart the game. If your video card has sufficient memory to run at that resolution, the game will work fine. If not, the display will be incorrect. In which case, quit (press Q) and go back and set the resolution to one that works.

      Note that the higher the resolution you set, the slower the game will run.

    AUDIO ISSUES
    
    Q. SOMETIMES I DON'T HEAR SOUNDS OUTSIDE MY SHIP
    A. The sound engine is fully 3D positional. For this reason, you won't hear sounds that are played if you are more than 75km from the sound source. e.g a ship exploding.
    
    Q. SOMETIMES THE SOUNDS SEEM TO BE CUT-OFF OR I CANNOT HEAR SOME SOUNDS
    A. There are reported problems with SB Live! cards, especially under WinME, which we cannot fix because they are
       related to
       the manufacturer's sound card drivers. Make sure you have the latest drivers. This problem may also occur on
       other sound cards. Here are some things to try:
    1. If you are running winXP and you have an SBLive! card, download the latest XP drivers from Creative Labs
    2. Run the DXDIAG tool that comes with DirectX then go to the SOUND tab. Drop that slider down one notch.
    3. Sample rate can remain where it is or you can try the IMPROVED or BEST settings
    4. If you have a 4-speaker setup, make sure that you have the settings for your sound card are configured properly. If you have powered Dolby 5.1 speaker setup, make sure you have them configured for true 4-speaker mode before running UC.
    5. You can also try the /x commandline parameters (see end of file)
    Q. HOW DO I PLAY MY OWN MP3 SONGS IN THE GAME? A. Copy them to the SOUNDFX\MUSIC folder where the game is installed and they will be added to the playlist. You can use the ALT+. and ALT+, commands to cycle the next/prev song in the playlist. The files can be in either MP3 or Ogg format.
    CONTROLLER ISSUES
    
    Q. HOW CAN I REMAP THE GAME CONTROLS?
    A. You can't.
    
    Q. MY MOUSE CURSOR SOMETIMES DOES NOT APPEAR
    A. If you are using the MS Plus!, Mouseware, Intellimouse or similar, change your settings to use the
       default Microsoft mouse cursor scheme. For example, in the Mouse Properties tab for Intellimouse,
       you would set the scheme to NONE.
    
    Q. I CAN'T SEEM TO ENTER MY NAME IN THE START NEW GAME SCREEN
    A. If you have FSAA turned up to full, try lowering it a notch.
    
    Q. MY JOYSTICK IS DRIFTING
    A. Calibrate it via Control Panel before starting the game. Then, once in game, if it still drifts,
       put the stick down so that the handle is centered, slam the throttle (if you have one) all the way
       back. Then press ALT+CTRL+J to recenter it.
    
    Q. MY JOYSTICK THROTTLE DOES NOT SEEM TO WORK CORRECTLY
    A. Make sure you have first calibrated the joystick as indicated above. Also, please read section 6.0
       of the game manual to see how the joystick throttle works.
    
    Q. WHY DOES THE CTRL+J OPTION TO SWITCH MY YAW/ROLL STICK FUNCTION, NOT WORK?
    A. That option is only for joysticks that do NOT have a rudder or twist axis. If your joystick has a
       twist axis, it can be used to control the craft's yaw. As such, your stick already has both axis
       supported independently.
    
    Q. SOMETIMES UNDER WIN2K MY JOYSTICK STOPS WORKING IN THE GAME
    A. This seems to happen with Logitech joysticks. I have the Wingman Interceptor and sometimes the
       status in
       Control Panel/Gaming Options is set to UNKNOWN. Even when I do a refresh. In the end, I
       just delete it, then use the add option and pick it from the list. It then detects OK. This
       problem seems to occur if you have installed the Logitech Wingman software. I uninstalled it and
       started using the default Logitech Wingman drivers that come with WIN2K, and this problem went
       away.
    
    Q. WHY DOES MY HUD DISPLAY SOMETIMES GOES INTO CLEAN SCREEN MODE?
    A. This is due to over sensitive joysticks reporting incorrect readings due to the use of the HAT
       switch to toggle between view and target systems. Just press F1 to toggle back to your normal HUD
       display if this happens.
    
    Q. MY SAITEK X-36 JOYSTICK IS CAUSING MY WEAPONS TO CYCLE REPEATEDLY
    A. By default the M1, M2, M3 keys are mapped to buttons 9,10,11 by the manufacturer. So, since M1
       maps to button 9 used by UC, it is the same as repeatedly pressing button 9. To counter this, move
       the switch to M10/M11.

    Also, if you have an X-45 HOTAS joystick, try using mode 2 if mode 1 causes screen flickering. Q. I HAVE A FORCE FEEDBACK JOYSTICK, SO WHY CAN'T I FEEL THE FORCE A. The force is not with you because the game does not support force feedback.
    GENERAL ISSUES AND STABILITY
    
    Q. SOMETIMES THE GAME HANGS OR QUITS ABRUPTLY. HOW DO I IMPROVE STABILITY?
    A. Here is a check list:
    1. Make sure that your system meets with the minimum requirements for the game or higher (higher is good)
    2. Make sure that you are running a sound or video card manufactured no earlier than 2000
    3. Make sure that if your motherboard has on-board audio and you have a PCI audio card, that you disable the on-board audio in your motherboard BIOS! Incidentally, the same applies on on-board video.
    4. Install the latest drivers for your sound and video cards, as well as your controller, mouse etc
    5. Install DirectX 9.0c (April Edition) or higher
    6. If you are using any mouse enhancements (Mouseware, Intellimouse etc), set them to the default OS mouse settings
    7. Disable ALL non-OS programs that are running. This includes virus checkers, email etc. Only the volume control should normally be visible in the system tray.
    8. Run the DXDIAG tool (start/run, then type DXDIAG) that comes with DirectX and go to the SOUND tab. Drop that slider down one notch. Try it at the standard first, run the game for a while. Then later try it at basic acceleration. Use whichever setting provides the most stability.
    9. If you have a motherboard based on the VIA chipset, install the latest 4-in-1 (aka Hyperion) drivers
    Q. HOW DO I IMPROVE PERFORMANCE? A. If you have a low end system, go into the OPTIONS screen and turn off MP3 music playback. If you want music, simply start playing your own music CD before starting UC. You can also toggle off some of the graphics display options. You definitely don't want 32Bit bit depth if you don't have a capable graphics card. Also, unless you are running on a system which meets or exceeds the game's recommended requirements, do not enable particle contrails. They are very expensive, especially during large fleet battles.

    Run the game within the specifications for your system. i.e. don't go running at 1280x1024 if your system can't handle it. If you mess up your game settings, delete the UCCONFIG.INI file and let the game create a new one at startup. Q. DOES THE GAME RUN IN A WINDOW? A. Yes, the game runs in a window or in fullscreen. To run in a window, edit the shortcut and add the -w1 or -w2 parameter. Note that when the game runs in a window, if the current resolution set in CONFIG is smaller than your current desktop resolution, the window will be centered on the display. If you move it, it will snap back to the center. For maximum performance on high end systems, you can run the game at a window resolution that is equal to or less than your desktop resolution. In a window, the framerate is not restricted by the refresh rate of the monitor. As such, you will obtain maximum FPS. Note that running in a window is UNSUPPORTED!! Q. WHAT ARE ALL THE GAME COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS? A. The game supports several shortcut parameters, none of which are supported. Use at your own risk.Note that either (-) or (/) can preceed an option.

    -i : invincibility (cheat) mode -j : ignore joystick rudder/twist axis and permit use of CTRL+J axis toggle -n : disable intro animation -w1 : window mode using resolution setting from UCCONFIG.INI -w2 : window mode using desktop resolution -x : force use of software audio mixer. Use as compatibility mode for buggy sound drivers.
    MULTIPLAYER ISSUES
                       
    Q. WHAT ARE THE BEST SETTINGS FOR A SERVER/CLIENT SETUP?
    A. Refer to the section 13 of the game manual.
    
    Q. WHAT ARE THE SERVER/CLIENT COMMAND LINE OPTIONS?
    A. They both have several command line options which can be used depending
       on what you are doing. They are as follows. Note that either (-) or (/) can
       preceed an option, but where indicated (+) MUST be used!
    -c : this starts the client. This is required in order to use the in-game server browser. If using +connect, ASE, Kali etc, this parameter is not required. +connect : connect directly to a server using IP:PORT format e.g. +connect 222.222.222.222:2302 -console This allows the server to start in console mode. +down This fine tunes your downstream speed in bits per second. e.g. +up 512000 -gcq : This allows the server to report to the GameCQ master server NOTE: You MUST install the GameCQ client in order to use this!! -l? : server logging to the UCSDEBUG.LOG file. The parameter must be in lower case and must be preceded by -s (when used on the server). e.g. "uc.exe -s -l3". The higher the logging level, the more information that is logged. ? values range from 1 to 5 -logchat : Logs the chat session to MPCHATSERVER.LOG or MPCHATCLIENT.LOG +name : name to pass to server e.g. +name "John Doe". If the name contains spaces, it must be enclosed in quotes -nms : This will prevent the server from broadcasting to the master servers. Can be used in cases where you don't want anyone to see your server in the in-game browser or ASE. The only way for anyone to then join the server is if they know the IP:PORT - and then they would have to join the server using +connect command line options. +password : password to pass to server e.g. +password 123456. If the password contains spaces, it must be enclosed in quotes. Also, the underscore character cannot be the last character in the server password. NOTE: This should come immediately after the IP:PORT -s : this starts the server +scenario : scenario used by server. Takes precedence over the UCSETUPMP.INI setting i.e. if +scenario is specified, then the value set in the INI file is ignored. e.g. "ucsemp.exe +scenario mp0001" +up This fine tunes your upstream speed in bits per second. e.g. +up 128000 -w1 : start in window mode. This is ignored if -s is also used because the server always runs in window mode. This parameter is 100% UNSUPPORTED because the client was designed to run in full screen mode. Sample Usage (client): ucSEmp.exe +connect 222.222.222.222:2302 +password 123456 +name "John Doe" -logchat Sample Usage (server): ucSEmp.exe -s -l3 -logchat
    Q. I HAVE SETUP A SERVER BUT OTHERS CANNOT SEE IT IN THE GAME'S SERVER BROWSER A. The server uses standard DirectPlay UDP ports 2302-2304. If your server is behind a firewall or NAT, then you have to configure your firewall (or router) settings and forward those ports to the computer running the server. You do not need a designated DMZ machine for a server.You should also open/forward these ports, especially if you are using the ASE browser.
    2302-2304 (UDP/TCP) 2425-2427 (UDP/TCP) 27243-27245 (UDP/TCP) 27900-27900 (UDP)
    Q. I HAVE AN INTERNET SERVER ON MY LAN, BUT I CANNOT CONNECT TO IT USING A CLIENT ON THE SAME LAN. A. If you can ping the server from within your LAN then you can use the internal LAN IP and port number to connect to the server. However, if the server is outside a DMZ, then your router (if you have one) may block internal packets from reaching a host outside the DMZ. Q. CAN I HAVE A SERVER AND CLIENT ON THE SAME MACHINE? A. Yes, but this is not officially supported. To connect a client to a LAN or Internet server running on the same machine, do the following :
    1. Using the UCSERVERCONFIG app, change the server IP to "localhost". You can also edit the UCSETUPMP.INI file using a text editor such as Notepad and set "server_ip=localhost"
    2. Start the server (graphics or console), then minimize it if needed.
    3. Start the client and connect to the server either using the server browser or by using commandline options e.g. +connect localhost
    * FYI
    1. You need a high-end machine for this setup.
    2. When the client attempts to initialize using the port number for the server (2302) it will fail the first time as the server is already using that port. In that case the client will now attempt to retry using the next port (2303).
    3. Since only one retry attempt is performed it is only possible to run one client on a non-dedicated server.
    4. You might want to use the console server as it uses less resources. e.g.
      ucsemp.exe -s -console
    5. If the server and windowed client (/w1) are run it is possible to switch focus between the two windows
    Q. WHY DOES THE SERVER RUN IN GRAPHICS MODE BY DEFAULT? A. The server was designed to give server ops total control over their game servers. Thats why it needs the graphics screen. And you can minimize it if desired. While minimized, it doesn't do any graphics rendering.

    The view you see is a scaled down version of Tacops and which gives you complete access to the server. You can use most of the viewing functions (mouse and keyboard supported) found in the Tacops client itself.

    Basically you can see all clients on the server and you can also zoom to other regions. In short, you have access to the entire multiplayer galaxy which includes space and planetary regions and you can see everything that goes on. Q. DOES THE SERVER HAVE A CONSOLE MODE? A. Yes. Add the -console parameter to the "Start MP Server" shortcut. It will work exactly like the graphics server (and consume less resources), but you won't have the benefit of the graphical interface (i.e. you won't see chat messages, clients on the server etc etc). No, you cannot interact with the console server. All you can use is use the scroll bar to see the logged events. Q. WHAT TOOLS DO I NEED TO ADMINISTER MY SERVER? A. There are several. Read this forum section for more info on this. Q. HOW DO I BROWSE FOR SERVERS USING ALL SEEING EYE? A. Read the documentation that came with the ASE browser. The command line parameters supported by the game are listed above. ASE already has filters setup for the game.

    If when you scan for servers, the UC servers (which you know exist and are online) do not show up (may happen if you are behind a firewall or router), you can add the server manually.

    Left-click on the Universal Combat Special Edition game icon, then press INSERT. In the dialog box, enter the server IP:PORT, then un-check the "Private Server" box. Once all servers have been added, you can then (on the right pane), select them, right-click, then do a "scan", then a "ping" to get the correct stats. If you are behind a router and you are getting a ping of 9999 on the servers, go to View/Options/Network, auto-detect your connections settings and check the "Broken Router" box if the problem persists.
    Q. THE SERVER INI FILE HAS MORE OPTIONS. CAN I CHANGE THEM? A. Most of these options are hardcoded internally. Don't change them unless you know what you are doing. Q. HOW CAN I CREATE MY OWN SCENARIOS FOR MY SERVER? A. You can't. Q. HOW CAN I CHANGE THE SERVER STARTUP OPTIONS PRESENTED WHEN A CLIENT CONNECTS? A. You can't. These options are hard-coded into the server in order to prevent tampering. Q. HOW CAN I BAN SOMEONE FROM MY SERVER? A. You can't. If you don't want someone on your server, password protect it. Q. HOW CAN WE HOST AND PLAY A CO-OP GAME? A. The default MP0000.SCR (ROAM) scenario supports both co-op and deathmatch modes. What this means is that you and a bunch of friends can join a server as the same RACE/CASTE and engage forces hostile to your race/caste. NPC auto-generation can also be enabled on the server for increased engagements.

    The game also has two co-op specific scenarios which must be configured on the server using the UCSERVERCONFIG tool. The scenarios are MP0001.SCR and MP0002.SCR. Q. IS PLAYER TO PLAYER TRADING SUPPORTED IN MULTIPLAYER? A. Yes. You can transfer items in Logistix to a cargo pod, then deploy the cargo pod for the other person to collect using their tractor beam or shuttles. There is no method of transfering money (GalCreds) between players. Q. I AM A MARINE OR PILOT PLAYING ON A PLANET. HOW CAN I GO TO ANOTHER PLANET? A. Marines can fly shuttles and gunships. When you deploy, find one in the region you are in. Q. HOW DO WE SCORE IN MULTIPLAYER? A. Your stats display, as well as the online clients list, will display combat kills as well as Experience Points earned during combat engagements. Q. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT I CAN DO IN SINGLE PLAYER THAT I CAN'T IN MULTIPLAYER? A. Yes. Multiplayer presents a whole heap of complexities, cheat loopholes, performance issues etc. As such, some single play features are disabled. Some may become server side config options if time permits.

    1. You cannot deploy OTS weapons (because it is possible to kill everyone on a planet with it and there is no defense against these type of weapons.
    2. You cannot call for a tow (because it can be exploited as a cheat)
    3. You can tow other units but with the following restrictions
      • You cannot tow NPC objects. So, no cheating by e.g. towing a sam from one base and dropping it somewhere else.
      • You cannot tow another player's support assets (e.g. fighters).
      • You cannot tow another player if he is in fp mode. And instead of killing him (as it does in single play), it just won't lock. So, no cheating by killing first person players using the tractor beam.
      • You cannot tow another player unless he is in his asset (command craft/fighter/vehicle) and has manually activated the SOS emitter using CTRL+ALT+T. If this is on, you can tow this player from place to place but he can also disable it at any time using the same key (it is a toggle), thereby breaking the tractor lock. Naturally, doing it from 25K feet in a vehicle means you're as good as dead.
      • You cannot tow ground vehicles from one planet to another. Then again, you can't do it in the single play game either.
    4. You cannot use the Navitron computer because it does not access the multiplayer galaxy map.
    5. You cannot save/restore games.
    6. You cannot capture stations.