SFC 3 v531 Beta patch instructions.. please pay attention to instruction #9 for trouble shooting tips after installing the patch.
1) Uninstall Starfleet Command III using Add / Remove Programs file in your Windows Control Panel.
2) Delete the SFC3 game folder off of your system.
3) Reinstall Starfleet Command III from the game CD, do not install Direct X 8.1 and do not install Gamespy Arcade from the Game CD, just the Starfleet Command III game itself. Comonly the install folder is C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3.
4) Check for the latest version of your video card drivers from the manufacturer of your video card. For Geforce cards, check the NVidia web site, for Radoen cards, check the ATI web site. Never get video drivers from a place that is not the manufacturer of your video card. If you own a laptop, please check with the manufacturer of your laptop for updated drivers.
5) Make sure your version of Windows is up to date. Go to microsoft's windows update and get all available updates for your Windows Operating System.
6) As a recommendation, Download and reinstall Direct X 9.0b, if you do not have Direct X 9.0b, it is strongly recommended that you update to Direct X 9.0b or you will cause others to crash in Gamespy Arcade or Dynaverse 3 servers. Direct X 9.0b is not compatible with previous versions of Direct X under direct play and people using Direct X version older than 9.0b will cause players who have upgraded ( 90% of players) to have severe in game lag, locked loading screens, or Crash to Desktop issues. This is stated in the Microsoft Direct X FAQ. Installing an older version of Direct X on top of Direct X 9.0b will cause Direct X 9.0b to corrupt.
7) Disable any Anti-Virus that you may be running on your system while installing the patch. After patching, you may re-enable your Anti-Virus.
8) Download and install ONLY the v531 patch installer below, this is a stand alone installer and does not need any other Starfleet Command III downloads. This file is to be used on a clean, unaltered, unpatched version of Starfleet Command III.
US/UK :
SFC 3 Patch v531 US/UK German :
SFC 3 Patch v531 German9) Near the end of the install Process, a file will open stating the v531 Readme information, this file will be located in your SFC3 game folder after patching. It contains all the trouble shooting tips for Starfleet Command III. The file name is SFC3 Readme v531.rtf.
Server Kits :
US/UK :
SFC 3 Server Kit v531 US/UKGerman :
SFC 3 Server Kit v531 GermanHope that this helps.
Pestalence