Star Wars: Empire at War

Star Wars: Empire at War

Developers
	Petroglyph Games
macOS (OS X)	Aspyr Media
Publishers
	LucasArts
	Disney Interactive Studios
Engines
	Alamo Game Engine
Release dates
Windows	February 16, 2006
macOS (OS X)	April 2, 2007
Reception
Metacritic	79
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RTS
Themes	Sci-fi, Space
Series	Star Wars

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Star Wars: Empire at War is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view RTS game in the Star Wars series.

The game received the Forces of Corruption expansion pack in October 2006, and the two would be combined in the Gold Pack compilation in September 2007. In the initial support cycle, the base game received five official patches while Forces of Corruption received one, with both receiving fixes for issues on 2+ GB RAM systems and an issue specific to multiplayer lobbies.

From 2017 to 2021, the Steam version would receive a series of exclusive patches that deprecated GameSpy multiplayer with Steamworks, Steam Workshop integration, and several performance tweaks. When asked in a January 2018 Reddit AMA about the reasoning for not bringing equivalent updates to the GOG.com release, a developer stated that the reason was "timing and team availability". As of November 20, 2023, the Steam version's engine was converted to 64-bit to address out-of-RAM issues and received multiple new bug fixes and modding capabilities.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 7.00.00.0013 DRM Version 1.5 has SecuROM 7.00.00.0129 DRM.
Retail
GamersGate		Gold Pack
		Gold Pack
GOG.com		Gold Pack
Humble Store		Gold Pack
Steam		Gold Pack
Mac App Store (unavailable)		Does not support online play (LAN only).
Origin		Gold Pack. Included with EA Play Pro. Currently only visible in the EA App's Browse menu.

Free demo versions exist for Empire at War and Forces of Corruption.

Version differences

The Gold Pack includes the base game and the Forces of Corruption expansion.

The Steam version of this package is updated with Steamworks multiplayer support and unique bug fixes.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Expansion pack	The expansion pack includes sweeping balance changes, a new faction, corruption mechanics, and a new campaign.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Forces of Corruption

Essential improvements

Patches

Steam copies of the Gold Pack are patched to the latest version, with changes not yet backported to GoG or disc releases.

• Empire at War patch v1.05
• Forces of Corruption patch v1.1
• 2 GB RAM & MP Lobby Fix - for both the base game and the expansion.

Unofficial Forces of Corruption Patch

Community-created patch for the Forces of Corruption expansion, which fixes many issues that otherwise remain unresolved in the official patches, such as audio bugs, rendering issues, sweeping AI fixes, and general inconsistencies.

Game data

In-game general settings (Empire at War/Forces of Corruption).

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Petroglyph\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32470/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Petroglyph\Empire At War\Save\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32470/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Origin
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings (Empire at War).

In-game video settings (Forces of Corruption) (Steam).

In-game advanced video settings (Empire at War/Forces of Corruption).

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution			A widescreen FOV adjustment option is available in Video settings. Most elements scale properly and remain 4:3, but select graphics do not (e.g. Main menu logo).
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD			[citation needed]
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		Select windowed mode in video options (Steam only) or use the WINDOWED command line argument.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Filtering is handled via HLSL shaders, with Linear filtering by default. The game's shaders are now open-source, and can be recompiled with any anisotropic level, although each related individual file must be edited.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Forces of Corruption expansion only. Unknown type, controlled via slide bar.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		On DRM-less releases, Hz/FPS cap is 60 for widescreen, and 75 for 4:3 unless modified via registry. As of November 20, 2023, the cap now reflects the monitor's Hz cap.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Capped at 200 FPS. DRM-less releases are capped at 85 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

In-game key map settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

In-game audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Separated master, dialogue, SFX, and music sliders.
Surround sound		Uses Dolby Surround Sound. As of November 20, 2023, the Steam release enforces Miles Sound System's 2D/3D audio based on what speakers Windows is configured to use.
Subtitles		Subtitles only shown during cutscenes.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		Supports up to EAX 4. As of November 20, 2023, the Steam release no longer supports EAX in favor of the Miles Sound System.
Royalty free audio		A majority of in-game music directly lifts from the soundtracks of, or uses cues from, John Williams' Star Wars music with some new original pieces.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese				Retail, base game only.
Polish				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Russian				Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish

Network

In-game network settings.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	Versus
Online play		8	Versus The official GameSpy service has been shut down; Steam version has been updated with Steamworks support.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	1234, 3658-3660, 6500, 27900, 28910, 3783, 6515, 6667, 13139, 28900, 29900-29901, 29920
UDP	1234, 3658-3660, 6500, 27900, 28910, 3783, 6515, 6667, 13139, 28900, 29900-29901, 29920

This game supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic port configuration.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D User created game profile, see vorpx forum profile introduction.

Issues fixed

Game crashes

This usually occurs when starting a campaign or tutorial mission in the Forces of Corruption expansion pack.

Game crashes[citation needed]
Download GraphicDetails.xml. Go to <path-to-game>\Data\XML\ and drop the file there. Notes The non-Steam version of the Forces of Corruption expansion pack has compatibility issues with 64-bit systems that have more than 2 GB of system RAM.

Low framerate on Empire at War

Go to <path-to-game>\EAWX and rename sweaw.exe to swfoc.exe.[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
OpenGL	2.0	OS X only.
Shader Model support	2.0

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows			Retail and GOG versions are 32-bit; Steam version is 64-bit as of November 20, 2023.
macOS (OS X)			32-bit only.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	64-Bit Miles Sound System v8.0c/AIL_MSS_version 8.0c
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Multiplayer	GameSpy, Steamworks	Steam version uses Steamworks.

Command line arguments

Command	Description
WINDOWED	Runs the game in windowed mode
FULLSCREEN	Runs the game in fullscreen mode
SCREENWIDTH=[number]	Sets resolution width
SCREENHEIGHT=[number]	Sets resolution height
MONITOR=[number]	Specifies which monitor the game will be displayed on (starting from index 0)
LANGUAGE=[option]	Specifies the game language (e.g. ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN...)
MODPATH=[path]	Specifies which mod folder the game will load
LOWRAM	Optimizes the settings for configurations with low RAM
LOCALPORT=[number]	Specifies port for multiplayer

System requirements

Steam

Windows

macOS (OS X)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP3, Vista SP2, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 1 GHz AMD Athlon 1 GHz	Intel Pentium Dual Core
System memory (RAM)	512 MB	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon 9600 Nvidia GeForce 7200 Intel 965 64 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 2.0 support	ATI Radeon X1900 Nvidia GeForce 8600 256 MB of VRAM Shader model 3.0 support
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0c compatible
Other	56kbps or faster internet connection (required for multiplayer only)	1.5Mb DSL/Cable connection (required for multiplayer only)

Disc Version

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	2000	XP, Vista
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz AMD Athlon 1000+	Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon XP 2400+
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	2.5 GB	3.6 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon 7200 Nvidia GeForce 256 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible Shader model 2 support	ATI Radeon 8500 Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4200 64 MB of VRAM Shader model 3 support

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.6.6
Processor (CPU)	Intel 1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM)	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	4 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon X1600 Nvidia GeForce 7300 128 MB of VRAM