Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance Release Notes © 2007 Gas Powered Games. All rights reserved. Supreme Commander, GPGnet, and Gas Powered Games are the exclusive trademarks of Gas Powered Games Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Multiplayer Connectivity by Quazal. THQ and the THQ logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of THQ Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners. For news and updates visit http://www.gaspowered.com ________________________________________ CONTENTS End User License Agreement System Requirements Installation How to Install Basic Game Controls Gameplay Hints, Tips and Other Information Savegame Location Contact Information Multiplayer Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance GPGnet Contact Information General Information Performance Tips Technical Support Uninstalling Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance ________________________________________ THQ Inc. 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Notwithstanding anything else in this Agreement, no default, delay or failure to perform on the part of THQ shall be considered a breach of this Agreement if such default, delay or failure to perform is shown to be due to causes beyond the reasonable control of THQ. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of California and the United States without regard to its conflicts of laws rules and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in Los Angeles County, California. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods shall not apply to this Agreement. This Agreement represents the complete agreement concerning this License Agreement between you and THQ. © 2007 Gas Powered Games Corp. All rights reserved. Gas Powered Games and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance are the exclusive trademarks of Gas Powered Games Corp. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA Logo, GeForce and the “The Way It’s Meant to be Played” Logo are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and other countries. THQ and the THQ logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of THQ Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners. ________________________________________ SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2, Vista 1.8 GHz processor 512 MB RAM 8 GB available hard-drive space 128 MB video RAM or greater, with DirectX 9 Vertex Shader / Pixel Shader 2.0 support (Nvidia 6x00/ATI 9600 or better) Sound card, instancing required Broadband internet connection (DSL/Cable). RECOMMENDED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 3.0 GHz Intel or equivalent AMD processor or better 1 GB RAM or better 8 GB available hard-drive space 256 MB video RAM, with DirectX 9 Vertex Shader / Pixel Shader 2.0 support (Nvidia 6800 or better) Sound card, instancing required Internet connection with Cable/DSL speeds Note: recommended specifications provide optimal experience for single player and up to four players/medium-size map multiplayer INSTALLATION How to Install Place the Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance disc into your DVD-ROM drive. If the Installer does not automatically run within one minute, manually Explore the disc and run "Setup.exe" to launch the Installer. Follow the on-screen directions. NOTE: GPGnet can not be uninstalled from add/remove programs if the Microsoft .NET Framework is uninstalled first. To reinstall the Microsoft .NET Framework, visit the Microsoft Download Center ________________________________________ BASIC GAME CONTROLS o Show Key Bindings Screen F1 o Repair R o Reclaim E o Patrol P o Attack A o Capture C o Stop S o Dive D o Ferry F o Guard/Assist I o Transport U o Unit Pause Z o Suicide Selected Units Ctrl-K o Launch Tactical Missile L o Nuke N o Turn Build Mode On B o Cycle Fire State LeftBracket o Move M o Zoom In Q o Zoom Out W o Zoom In Fast Shift-Q o Zoom Out Fast Shift-W o Track Unit T o Track unit On Minimap Ctrl-Shift-T o Track Unit On 2nd Screen Ctrl-Alt-T o Create Ping Alert at Mouse Location F5 o Create Move Ping at Mouse Location F6 o Create Attack Ping at Mouse Location F7 o Create Marker at Mouse Location F8 o Move Marker Shift + Left-click o Delete Marker Ctrl + Shift + Right-click o Reset Camera V o Go to Commander Alt + , (comma) o Go to Idle Engineer Alt + . (period) o Recall Group 1 1 o Recall Group 2 2 o Recall Group 3 3 o Recall Group 4 4 o Recall Group 5 5 o Recall Group 6 6 o Recall Group 7 7 o Recall Group 8 8 o Recall Group 9 9 o Recall Group 10 0 o Set Group 1 Ctrl-1 o Set Group 2 Ctrl-2 o Set Group 3 Ctrl-3 o Set Group 4 Ctrl-4 o Set Group 5 Ctrl-5 o Set Group 6 Ctrl-6 o Set Group 7 Ctrl-7 o Set Group 8 Ctrl-8 o Set Group 9 Ctrl-9 o Set Group 10 Ctrl-0 o Select All Air Units Ctrl-A o Select All Naval Units Ctrl-S o Select All Land Units Ctrl-L o Select All Engineers Ctrl-B o Select Nearest Idle Engineer Alt-Period o Cycle Through Idle Engineers Shift-Period o Select Commander Alt-Comma o Select All Units and Buildings Ctrl-X o Select All Units And Buildings On Screen Ctrl-C o Select All Engineers On Screen Ctrl-Period o Select All Factories On Screen Ctrl-H o Select Nearest Factory H o Select Nearest Land Factory Ctrl-Shift-L o Select Nearest Air Factory Ctrl-Shift-A o Select Nearest Naval Factory Ctrl-Shift-S o Menu F10 o Toggles the UI On / Off Ctrl-Alt-F1 o Toggles Life Bars On / Off Alt-L o Toggle Range Overlay Ctrl-W o Toggle Unit Color Ctrl-E o Toggle Economy Overlay Ctrl-R o Rename Unit Ctrl-N o Split Screen On HOME o Split Screen Off END o Scroll Up Through Chat History (by page) Pageup o Scroll Down Through Chat History (by page) Pagedown o Scroll Up Through Chat History (by line) Shift-Pageup o Scroll Down Through Chat History (by line) Shift-Pagedown o Rotate Layout Alt-UpArrow o Rotate Layout Alt-DownArrow o Toggle Scores F2 o Quick Save F3 o Toggle Diplomacy Window F4 o Toggle Connectivity Window F11 o Pause Game Pause o Screen Shot Ctrl-F o Decrease Game Speed NumMinus o Increase Game Speed NumPlus o Reset Game Speed NumStar ________________________________________ GAMEPLAY HINTS, TIPS, AND OTHER INFORMATION Initial Deployment There is no single strategy that will always be effective in Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance--there are simply too many strategic variables. However, if you need some guidance in how to effectively begin a multiplayer or skirmish game, these steps will help get you started. Many of these tips can also help you during the single-player campaign. With your ACU, build one Mass extractor, two power generators and a Land Factory. Take advantage of the adjacency bonus when placing your factory. Continue to queue up the ACU's construction waypoints. Queue up the following buildings in this order: one Mass extractor, two power generators, one Mass extractor, two power generators and one Land Factory. As your first Land Factory is being built, queue up one scout and one Engineer. Do this three times until you have three Engineers. Move your scouts to areas that require intel, such as chokepoints and other strategic positions. Turn on the range overlay so you know exactly where radar coverage is provided. Have your first Engineer out of the Land Factory build one Mass extractor, two power generators and another Land Factory. Continue to move scouts into position and order your Engineers to fan out to nearby Mass deposits. Have your Engineers construct Mass extractors on all nearby Mass deposits. Change your Land Factory's queue to five light assault bots and one Engineer; place this build order on repeat. Set the waypoints for your factories to cover potential areas of assault. Build an Air Factory. Queue up one interceptor on repeat and create a patrol path for the Air Factory. From this point on, you're on your own. Good luck! ________________________________________ SAVEGAME LOCATION The save game, preferences files, replay files, and other associated game files can be located at: o XP: [root:]\ My Documents\My Games\ Gas Powered Games\ Supreme Commander Forged Alliance\savegames\[profile]\ o Vista: [root:]\Users\[name]\AppData\Local\Gas Powered Games\SupremeCommanderForgedAlliance\savegames\[profile]\ ________________________________________ MULTIPLAYER SUPREME COMMANDER: FORGED ALLIANCE LAN and Direct IP Multiplayer Connect: Players can connect to each other either locally over a Local Area Network (LAN) or remotely via direct IP connection. Both connection types use the TCP/IP protocol. To host or join either type of game, click Multiplayer LAN If you have players joining via Direct IP, you will need to tell them your IP address, along with the Port on which the game is running. The game will tell you the current Port number in the chat area of the Game Lobby. Host a LAN or Direct IP game: 1) From the Main Menu, click Multiplayer LAN. 2) Enter your nickname. 3) Click “Create”. 4) Enter the Game Name that you want other players to see. 5) Enter a custom port or leave it set to “Auto” (recommended). 6) Click “OK". If you wish to join a LAN game instead, simply click in the “Server List” window to highlight it, choose a server, and press Join/Observe as normal. Join a LAN game: 1) From the Main Menu, click Multiplayer LAN. 2) Enter your nickname. 3) Click on any available games in the highlighted Server List window. Information on that game will be displayed in the Server Information window to the right. 4) Click “Join” to play or “Observe” to just watch the game, if the host has allowed observers. You will then appear in the Game Lobby. Join via Direct IP: 1) From the Main Menu, click Multiplayer LAN. 2) Enter your nickname. 3) Click the “IP Address/Hostname” field at the bottom of the window. This area will become highlighted, and a cursor will appear in the field. 4) Enter a valid IP address or Hostname into the “IP Address/Hostname” field. 5) Enter the Port number in the “Port” field. 6) Click “Connect” to play or “Observe” to just watch the game, if the host has allowed observers. If the IP/Hostname and Port are valid, you will appear in the Game Lobby. GPGnet: GPGnet is an Internet gaming service provided by Gas Powered Games that lets players meet up, challenge other players, join games, and compete in a worldwide ranking system, all without paying any special connection charges. In order to use GPGnet, your computer must have the TCP/IP protocol installed, and must provide TCP/IP support for 32-bit applications. Product Key Required • You must have installed Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance with a valid product key in order to connect to GPGnet and play online. A product key cannot be connected to GPGnet by two PCs at the same time. If upon connection to GPGnet you receive an error message related to your product key, please re-install Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance and enter a valid product key. Online Knowledge Base • GPGnet includes an extensive Knowledge Base with troubleshooting information for both GPGnet and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. You can find the Knowledge Base by opening GPGnet and going to Help > GPGnet Knowledge Base. .NET 2.0 Framework Required • GPGnet requires the .NET 2.0 Framework installed in order to function. The necessary files are normally installed along with your installation of Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. Some users, however, must install the framework separately. If you receive an error message reading "can't find MultiplayerClient.exe," this is usually caused by a failure to have .NET 2.0 installed. You can locate the files by using Windows Update or by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/net. Firewall settings • Open ports 6112 to UDP traffic, and open 9103 to UDP traffic. These are among the most common ports used by online multiplayer games. Forged Alliance cannot be modified to use other ports. Also, open ports 30340 and 30341 to UDP traffic, for GPGnet to function. Make sure that GPGnet and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance appear on your Windows Firewall exception list, and the exception lists of other firewall products you are currently running. If you are behind a DMZ, disable all on-access scanners. Anti-virus software • Many users of antivirus software (such as Nvidia Access Manager, NOD32, Norton, PandaSoft, etc.) are unable to connect to GPGnet, experience poor performance or game crashes. If you experience trouble, we suggest that users place both Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance and GPGnet on the exception lists for these software products or otherwise disable them during gameplay. If you CAN connect to GPGnet, but CANNOT connect to games • First, please understand that Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is a peer-to-peer multiplayer game, meaning that open connections must exist between all the players attempting to play. While common for RTS games, this configuration differs significantly from server-client games such as first-person shooters and MMOs. If you CAN connect to GPGnet, but CANNOT connect to games, there is likely a firewall or antivirus conflict either with your own connection, or your opponent's connection. It is not uncommon for players to be able to connect to server-client games but be unable to connect to peer-to-peer games. Please see the steps above to open your connection to all necessary traffic in order to play. If you CANNOT connect to GPGnet • If you have firewall software, please make sure you have ports 30350, 30351, 9103 and 6112 open to UDP traffic. Automatic patch downloads • GPGnet automatically delivers patches of itself and for Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance to connected players. If patching fails, never seems to end or aborts, make sure you don’t have anything in the background that is either updating Windows or using your Internet connection during the patch download and application process. Routers with Symmetrical NAT • Certain routers that use symmetrical NAT may not work well with GPGnet and Forged Alliance. These routers are very rare, and most have firmware updates available to fix the problem. If you are using a router with symmetrical NAT, please contact the manufacturer to see if there are firmware updates available. ________________________________________ CONTACT INFORMATION General Information http://www.thq.com http://www.gaspowered.com Mailing Address THQ Customer Service 29903 Agoura Road Agoura Hills, CA 91301 Technical Support The THQ technical support department will attempt to help you resolve any problems that you may experience with Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. Please note that each GPGnet profile is stored on Gas Powered Games’ GPGnet servers and may be deleted by Gas Powered Games when abandoned by the GPGnet account owner who created it. Such abandonment is determined by the same rules that apply to GPGnet accounts. To prevent the deletion of your GPGnet profile, be sure to play with it long enough upon creation and often enough thereafter to prevent abandonment. Web-based technical support can be found on the support section of our web site at http://info.thq.com/support/ Prior to contacting our technical support representatives, we ask that you have the following information available. • Your phone number • Your e-mail address and Postal address • Model of computer you are using • The version of the Windows operating system you are using • Manufacturer information for the DVD-ROM, mouse, and keyboard peripherals you are using • The THQ game you are having problems with (e.g. , Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance) • Description of the problem or the error message you received Support web address: www.thq.com/support E-mail Address: support@thq.com Phone (US/Canada): 818-880-0456 Our support representatives will not answer questions pertaining to game playing hints, product release dates, and other non-technical issues. ________________________________________ PERFORMANCE TIPS Video Settings: - Primary Adapter: Lets the user choose between either windowed- or fullscreen-mode for the primary monitor (as defined in the user's desktop settings). For fullscreen, the user selects the desired resolution. - Secondary Adapter: Lets the user choose the fullscreen resolution for the secondary monitor (if available.) Note, this is only allowed if the primary adapter is set to fullscreen. Also, any change to this option requires a restart of the game. - Fidelity Presets: Lets the user set all remaining video options to a convenient preset value. This option will automatically change to "custom" if any single video option is changed. - Display World Border: Lets the user turn on or off the rendering of the background image (and sky cube when zoomed in). - Render Sky: Lets the user turn on or off the rendering of the sky cube. - Fidelity: Changes the rendering quality of terrain, water and meshes. Basically, it affects the amount of work the system is allowed to perform while rendering geometry. For example, in low fidelity units do not render reflections. - Shadow Fidelity: Alters the quality of shadow generation. Off: no shadows. Low: shadows are cast onto the terrain only. Medium: shadows are cast on terrain and meshes (trees, units, etc.) High: same as medium but filtered to soften edges. - Anti-Aliasing: Lets the user select the number of anti-aliasing samples (or no anti-aliasing.) - Texture Detail: Lets the user specify how detailed the textures should be. Basically, the user is using this to limit the size of the textures used. - Level Of Detail: Modifies the rate at which lower resolution models are "swapped in" as the camera pulls away. - Vertical Sync: When turned on, the system waits for a vertical refresh before presenting the next frame to the screen. Background Applications and Performance Programs that run in the background while on the Internet, such as ICQ, web browsers, voice communication applications, or file sharing programs cut into the speed at which Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance plays. Turning off these Internet-specific applications can also increase your game speed. Antivirus and firewall software also commonly contribute to performance issues. If you experience performance problems with Antivirus or firewall software try to configure the software to exclude Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance from security checks. Contact your software vendor for details. System RAM and Performance Another method of increasing performance in Supreme Commander is to add RAM to your computer if you are playing on a 512MB system. Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance can consume a great deal of memory in very large games causing the system to use virtual memory. This process is slower than using RAM directly, and while the speed of your processor is a factor in the performance of the game, additional memory can greatly enhance your game speed on baseline systems. Dual Core and Performance Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance will utilize your dual- and quad-core processor natively and automatically. Running a dual- or quad-core processor is one of the best ways to improve performance in Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. Updated Video Drivers It is highly recommended that you install the latest drivers for your video card. These can be downloaded from your video card manufacturer's Web site. Please visit http://www.nvidia.com or http://www.ati.com, depending on the type of card you have. Updated Sound Drivers If you are experiencing problems with audio, or general performance problems, you should check with your soundcard manufacturer's Web site to see if updated drivers are available. Motherboard Drivers Often motherboard drivers are overlooked when updating systems, and as a result most computers are running very old versions that simply do not work properly and may cause very noticeable slow downs and stability issues. Please check with your motherboard manufacturer to see if there are updated drivers available. Enabling or Disabling Secondary Monitor Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance may crash when enabling or disabling the secondary monitor. Disabling and Enabling Windows' Language Switching Steps to disable Windows’ on the fly language switching, which can interfere with in-game debug commands utilizing the Alt and Shift keys: 1. Open the “Control Panel”, and select “Regional and Language Options” 2. Open the “Languages” tab and press [Details…] 3. Press [Key Settings…] 4. Select “Switch between input languages” and click [Change Key Sequence…] 5. Uncheck the checkbox by “Switch input languages” Steps to re-enable Windows’ on the fly language switching which can interfere with in-game debug commands utilizing the Alt and Shift keys: 1. Open the “Control Panel”, and select “Regional and Language Options” 2. Open the “Languages” tab and press [Details…] 3. Press [Key Settings…] 4. Select “Switch between input languages” and click [Change Key Sequence…] 5. Check the checkbox by “Switch input languages” ________________________________________ TECHNICAL SUPPORT - Save Game Error: "Save Failed! Error writing data during serialization." This error occurs when you attempt to make a save file and are out of hard drive space. You need to clean up sufficient space on your hard drive before attempting to save again. - In windowed mode, if the screen goes black but music is still playing, attempt to manually resize the window. In this circumstance, the game has not crashed, it is likely just that an edge of the window was clicked but the resize mode hasn't completed. By manually clicking on the edge of the window, you can finish the resize command. - If your computer's desktop is set to 8-bit color mode, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance will crash on exit. 8-bit color mode is not supported, and you should set your desktop to at least 24-bit color mode. - All in game text becomes corrupted if the game is started in 16-bit color mode. Please use 24-bit color mode or higher to play Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance in a supported mode. - The game may remain running in the background if you crash out to the desktop. - The title bar and Window border are missing in windowed mode when changing the resolution in options when the Windows XP system theme is set to Windows Classic. - Some Logitech Web Camera drivers may prevent the game from launching. Either uninstall the Web Camera software or look for the file C:\Program Files\Common Files\Logitech\LVMVFM\LVPrcInj.dll and rename to file to LVPrcInj.noload before running Forged Alliance. The Web Cam software may not work correctly once you've renamed this file. - Game Speed is a debug feature. Changing Game Speed in-game is not recommended and may cause issues. - Issues may arise when ATI's Crossfire is enabled, and "Catalyst A.I." is enabled in the ATI Catalyst Control Center. Dual Monitor Mode: - It is possible to set your primary monitor out of range if you set an invalid resolution on your primary monitor and ANY resolution on your secondary monitor. To get out of this mode, go to your start menu and load Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance through the Safe Mode link. ________________________________________ UNINSTALLING Uninstalling Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance To uninstall Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance follow these steps: 1. Click on the Start menu 2. Choose Control Panel 3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs 4. Select Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance 5. Click Remove 6. Follow the on-screen instructions. When uninstalling Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, you are given the option to delete your saved games, screenshots, and replays. Your GPGnet profile will remain on GPGnet and you may still play over GPGnet from any system that has Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance installed. NOTE: GPGnet can not be uninstalled from add/remove programs if the Microsoft .NET Framework is uninstalled first. To reinstall the Microsoft .NET Framework visit the Microsoft Download Center ________________________________________