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[Supreme Cmdr]

This is a FAQ detailing common errors and problems found with the demo and full version of All Aspect Warfare. This is specific to the Steam-based release of the demo and full version, however some information may be usable for other releases.

This information is for your benefit and provided with no guarantees as to its effectiveness. Fixes and documentation are as is and while I have the hope it helps solve the more common problems, make sure you follow through.

There is an online knowledgebase that will be updated as necessary and may provide more support should these fixes listed not help.

CURRENT STEAM REVISIONS:
All Aspect Warfare DEMO 1.00.21 DEMO (4AUG09)


REQUIREMENTS (ABSOLUTE)
========

• Minimum:
  • OS: Windows XP or Windows Vista
    
  • Processor: Dual Core CPU (Intel Pentium 4 3.4Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 X2 3.0GHz or faster
    
  • Memory: 1GB
    
  • Graphics: 256MB GPU with Shader Model 3 (nVidia GeForce 7900 / ATI Radeon X1300 or faster)
    
  • DirectX®: DirectX 9.0 March 2009 Runtime
    
  • Hard Drive: 600MB
    
  • Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible (on-board or add-in)

• Recommended:
  • OS: Windows XP or Windows Vista
    
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 / AMD X2 6000 or faster
    
  • Memory: 2GB
    
  • Graphics:512MB GPU with Shader Model 3 (nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS / Radeon HD2900 XT or faster)
    
  • DirectX®: DirectX 9.0 March 2009 Runtime
    
  • Hard Drive: 1 GB
    
  • Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible (on-board or add-in)

ERRORS
========

Err: Unable to create shadow map depth surface.

Solution: Ensure that you are running the absolute latest driver revision for your video card.

• http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html
  
• http://www.amd.com/u...MDHomePage.aspx

You may also need to reinstall your driver as the installation may have been corrupted or failed to install properly.



Err: Generic Crashes (Generic Windows Crash)

Solution: Verify the integrity of your cache files for the game.

Ensure that you are running the absolute latest driver revision for your video card.

• http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html
  
• http://www.amd.com/u...MDHomePage.aspx

You may also need to reinstall your driver as the installation may have been corrupted or failed to install properly.

Run the windows DirectX Web-Installer to ensure you have the latest DirectX pieces.



Err: STEAM reports "Not Available" (SRC)

Solution: Reinstall the following C++ Redistributable packages, and reboot.

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)
  
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)

Err: Low performance/framerate

Solution: Reduce your video settings to ensure you aren't overtaxing your hardware. Despite what you may think about your machine, each game is different.

For more specific information see this post regarding tips as to how to configure your game.

[Supreme Cmdr]

The game was optimized to run at 720p (1280x720) or 1280x768 with the default graphics settings.

We the developers know what is justified for our game and which isn't. You, the gamer, aren't expected to know that but rather to make assumptions as to what you think is acceptable.

Its like your car. You see the speedometer can go to 200 km/h - at which it (due to dynamics) becomes highly unstable - so they dont' expect you to be going any higher than the speed requirements set by common sense, the law etc. Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should.

So, if we were to lock the graphics options and screen resolutions to what we believe to be acceptable standards - and not allow you to change them - you'd be very upset because now you have a computer which - you believe - can handle anything. Which of course it can't, but its OK to think otherwise. Which is why most games don't let you do that. They lock it. On the consoles, you have no choice. So no matter if your HDTV is 1080p compliant, your games will run - and in some cases upscale - to 720p.

The game sets the minimum requirements for the game to run. If you don't mess with it, then everything is fine.

If you want to increase those settings, you can - and in which case, you're on your own.

If are going to be mess with settings that are not developer recommended, you should do it carefully and in stages until you hit the sweet spot. I would do it in this order. You do one, test, then do the next and so on.

• DISPLAY RESOLUTION
  
• TEXTURE FILTERING
  
• TEXTURE QUALITY
  
• LIGHT SHAFTS
  
• SHADOWS
  
• FSAA

When doing the above, be sure to read the manual which describes the impact of each.

RESOLUTION: Some LCD monitors have crappy scalers and so running games at any resolution short of the native res will yield some horrible results. e.g. if you have an LCD with a 1680x1050 native res but your rig is not powerful enough to run the game at that resolution, try running the game with the [un-supported] windowed option. Just add /w to the game's shortcut. If you have the Steam version, go to the game's properties tab and add it there. You can then run the game at a lower resolution and which may yield better visual results.

LIGHT SHAFTS are the most expensive rendering options. Even more expensive than Shadows (which aren't even worth turning off since they are so fast, but use up lots of video memory).

FSAA will completely fail depending on your driver version, amount of memory you have on the video card and the other graphics options you have set. There have been reports (64-Bit machines) of some drivers causing crashes when FSAA is set too high. So if you have unexplained crashes, try turning off FSAA by setting it to 0, then 2, then 4 etc and see if that solves your problem. If it does, update your video driver or don't set it any higher than the setting that yields the best stability results.

3D AUDIO can also cause issues on some add-in audio cards. The HARDWARE AUDIO CHANNELS should be set to 0. Though you can do 3D audio processing in hardware, most sound cards have crappy support for this - so you may want to still have this set to 0 even if you have a discreet (i.e. PCI, PCIe etc) sound card.

Doing the above, you can check the fps using either our own display CTRL+F12 or something like Fraps.

Stop when you get to the point where it becomes acceptable and stable.

If you mess things up, reset everything or go to the game's install folder or the Steam apps folder -if you have that version- at steamapps\common\all aspect warfare and delete the GAME_CONFIG.INI file. When you start the game, a new one with defaults will be created.

If you use the RESET option and you get a crash, thats a driver problem. In which case you can only use the above method to revert to the default settings.