To the SFC 3 Community,
Kenneth Yeast and Ann Cox of Taldren (or formerly of Taldren depending on the current situation) have given permission for the release of the last testers build for SFC 3, Version 534. This is Taldren's parting gift to the SFC 3 community. I hope that all of you will enjoy the last fixes made by David Ferrell under sanction of Taldren. Revisional fixes done by Pestalence in order to help playability both on the Dynaverse and GSA.
Revisions done to the CommonSettings game folder to match Game manual and original specifications of ship items such as they were in v464, v500, and v531.
No changes outside Original game content have been made. These changes have been sent to Kenneth Yeast, former Taldren CA CEO with file by file verification to show that no Taldren Original Work is being altered.
Happy Gaming folks.
Proper Patch Install Method:
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. Commonly the location of the folder is C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3.
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. Commonly 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 Radeon 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 9.0c, if you do not have Direct X 9.0c, it is strongly recommended that you update to Direct X 9.0c or you will cause others to crash in Gamespy Arcade or Dynaverse 3 servers. Direct X 9.0c is not compatible with previous versions of Direct X under direct play and people using Direct X version older than 9.0c 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 9.0c will cause Direct X 9.0c to corrupt and will requite DirectX 9.0c to be reinstalled to fix the corruption. You can get the new DirecX 9.0c from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/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) Install ONLY this v534_b patch on to SFC 3. 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.
DL Location :
http://www.nightsoft.net/effhq/files/SFC3_Patch_1.01_Beta_2_Build_v534_b.exe (40.5 MB)
9) All Troubleshooting steps for SFC 3 are listed below. Please refer to them if you experience problems with Starfleet Command III. You can also refer to the SFC 3 Readme v534.rtf file included in your SFC 3 game folder after patching.
For those wishing to run v534_b servers, here is the current DL Location :
http://www.nightsoft.net/effhq/files/SFC3_Beta_Server_Kit_Build_v534_b.exeRemember to turn off any Anti-Virus software prior to Server Kit install.. you can re-enable Anti-Virus once the kit is installed. Anti-Virus may corrupt the install of the Server Kit.
SFC 3 Game Fixes Client Side:
30 July 2004
SFC3 Patch version 1.01 Build 534_b
1) Dynaverse - Planet and Base hexes flip normally. Defense Value now changes by 1 per victory or loss.
2) Scimitar now player selectable by default in skirmish and campaign modes.
3) Full Nemisis Add-On material enclosed. Includes Nemisis readme file and Nemesis Concept Art which was not contained in any previous game version patches (only in the Nemisis v464 Add On pack).
4) Borg Armor health too weak in v534 and v534a patch levels. Borg Armor health raised to patch v500 and v531 levels in HullItems.gf.
5) Borg tractor health too low in v534 and v534a patch levels. Borg tractor health raised to v500 and v531 levels in HullItems.gf.
6) Expanded trouble shooting in the SFC 3 Readme v534.rtf file.
Trouble Shooting Clients and Players:
1) If you are using Windows, Your DVD and Keyboard language settings must be set the same as your native Windows Language Version.. example :
If you have Windows OS Englinsh (US) version windows, but have your DVD region or Keyboard region set to German, then SFC 3 will have problems operating. Please ensure that your language regional settings for DVD and keyboard match the native language of your Windows OS.
2)If you are using an Anti-Virus, turn off Anti-Virus before installing the patch. Anti-Virus is known to corrupt the patching process of thousands of programs. Once you are done patching, You can turn your Anti-Virus back on.
3)When installing Star Trek Starfleet Command III®, Do not install DirectX® 8.1 or Gamespy Arcade from the game CD, these items will corrupt DirectX® 9.0c on your system.
4)Make Sure that your system is completely up to date from Microsoft® Windows® Update web site (
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp ).
5)Make sure you you are using the latest version of DirectX® on your system. It is recommended to install DirectX® 9.0c (or newer) on your system. If you already have DirectX® 9.0c, it is recommended to reinstall DirectX® 9.0c as many games will install components that may cause DirectX® 9.0c to corrupt. Those not using DirectX® 9.0c (or newer version) is urged to update to the latest version of DirectX® for Multi-Player in Star Trek Starfleet Command III® as DirectPlay® components of DirectX 9.0c (and newer) is not compatible with earlier versions of DirectX® and may cause drops in missions, out of sync, or severe lag during game play. This is stated in the Microsoft DirectX® FAQ. To update DirectX® 9.0c (or newer), you can visit the Microsoft Web Site located at
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx . Please check this site periodically as well as Windows® Updates in order to ensure that your DirectX® is the latest version with all the security updates.
6)Before Installing the SFC 3 Patch 1.01 Beta 2 Build v534, make sure that you DO NOT install the separate installer items below. The items below are designed for an unpatched game streight out of box (v464) and the items below are already included in the v534 patch, which means that installing the below items before or after the v534 patch will cause the game to corrupt when you install the patch.
A) SFC 3 DirectX 9 Fix
B) Nemisis Add-On Package
C) Borg Mini Compaign
7)Windows® XP® Users : Right click on your desktop shortcut and select Properties. In the Properties pop up dialogue box, click on the Compatibility Tab, look near the bottom of the Dialogue box for "Disable Visual Themes" and put a check into the box next it. Click OK.
8)Players may experience CTD prior to mission loads. This may be caused by software running in the background, such as Logitech Mouse Dirvers, certain brands of Firewalls, Connection Accelerators, Web Accelerators, etc. It is recommended that you click on the Start Button, click on RUN, type in MSCONFIG and click OK. Then in the Pop-up Dialogue box, click on the START-UP Tab and uncheck everything that is absolutely not needed at system start up. the majority of times, on Windows XP machines, You can uncheck everything. On Windows 98 / ME, you must leave SYSTEM TREY and SCANREGISTRY checked, and the rest can be unchecked in most cases.
9)People also need to keep their Video Card drivers up to date from the Video Card manufacturer. Such as Geforce owners can go to the NVidia web site and check for latest version of drivers and Radeon card owners can go to the ATI web site for their drivers. Never get drivers from the Windows Update Website as they are known to cause problems when gaming. If you upgrade your drivers and you experience game problems such as crashing or improper ship rendering, then back step your drivers 1 version at a time until the game works properly. For some video card users, you may have to adjust your desktop color resolution to 16 bit, but only after exhausting the Driver Version methods. Laptops owners will need to check the manufacturer of their laptop for newer video driver versions as video card manufacturers will not support laptop or notebook computer video cards.
10)SFC 3 is registry dependant. This means that the directory you instgalled to from the game CD the last time you installed the game, the game will have to be launched from that directory in order for the program to operate properly. As such, I have 2 examles :
#1. If you installed SFC 3 once from the game CD to say for example C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3 and then you copied the SFC 3 game folder and pasted it into a different directory and renamed the Copy of the SFC 3 game folder, let's say for example, to SFC 3 GAW, then because the last place the CD installed to is C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3, te player will have to rename his SFC 3 game folder to something like SFC3Orig and rename the SFC3GAW folder to SFC3 and put it in the C:\Program Files\Activision folder in order for the game to operate correctly online.
#2 If you installed the SFC 3 game from the CD first to C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3 and then reinstalled SFC 3 again from CD to C:\Program Files\Activision\SFC3DOM, in order to play the first install of the game, you will need to rename SFC3DOM to something else like SFC3DOMWAR and then rename the SFC3 folder to SFC3DOM.-You can just rename the game folders as you wish to play the game, however SFC 3 is Registry Key reliant in order to play Multi-player. Problems that occur when playing SFC 3 outside the proper game folder are as follows :
1) Lock-ups or non connection during Direct Play test when joining the Dynaverse
2) CD Key in Use error
3) Dropping during mission
4) Ghosting in missions or on server
5) Causing the Server Economy for your race to not update correctly
6) Causing Server to give incorrect mission matching paramaters
7) Causing others to drop during missions.
8) Failing to join in missions.
9) Causing others to fail in joining in missions.
There are more problems that occur, but these are the top 9 problems occurring when running SFC 3 outside the proper game folder, not counting the problems that occur due to game bugs. These problems also occurs to those using a No CD exe file crack instead of the Taldren authorized No CD sfc.ini tweak mentioned below.The SFC.INI tweak mentioned below is designed to let the game operate properly. A NO CD EXE FILE CRACK is designed to rewrite code within the game exe file, which in itself is 100% illegal plus it removes the CD Key checks and the Install path check to the system registry, which would be identical to playing SFC 3 outside the CD Install folder as mentioned above.
In order to properly check which folder you need to launch the game from, the v534 patch will automatically show you the folder that your game should be launched from. If you are still not sure which folder the game should launch from, then go to your Start button, click on Run, type in "regedit" (without the quotes) and then look for
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Activision\Star Trek Starfleet Command III
and look for the sub key of "Install Path". This is where you must launch SFC 3 from in order to reduce the number of problems that you may experience with the game. Do not attempt to change the registry entry nor add entries to the system registry.. SFC 3 only allows for 1 valid entry in your system registry which is created by your CD install of the game (the last time the game was installed from CD).
Once you get the patch and server kit downloads, please update your mirrors with this file and delete any previous v534 patches so that confusion will be a minimum.. The goal is to get everyone playing SFC 3 to v534_b.
Topic: SFC 3 patch v534 Revision B (v534_b) (Read 7295 times)