Ace of Spades

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Ace of Spades
Ace of Spades	2011
Ace of Spades: Battle Builder	2012
Open Spades	EA

Key points

Available for free

Low graphics means the game can run on virtually any computer

Small but active player base.

No in-game menus makes configuration difficult

Due to the release of Ace of Spades: Battle Builder, official support for the game has been phased out.

General information

Build and Shoot (Forum concerned with keeping the game alive)

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Official website		Downloads for all releases are available.

OS X Port[edit]

User EdwardR of the original Ace of Spades forums created a port of the game available to OS X users.^[1] More information can be found here.

Gameplay[edit]

Ace of Spades operates differently than most games. The game is only run when commanded to through URL parameters (denoted by aos://), and has no in-game menus. Surprisingly, the game is very versitle and customizable, despite these shortcomings.

To join a server online (and thereby start up the game), a user must first find a link to a server they wish to join. The most accessible and expansive server list can be found on Build and Shoot's website. If the game is installed, simply clicking on the link should automatically boot up the game and have you join the selected server.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\^{[Note 1]}

Video[edit]

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Game configuration.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See Game configuration
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Game configuration[edit]

Ace of Spades does not have any in-game menus. All configuration is done via INI files located within the installation folder. The following table lists the settings found within the game's configuration file, config.ini. OS X users should right click on the application, select "Show Package Contents," and navigate to drive_C > Ace of Spades to find the config.ini. Open the file with a text editor to reveal the following contents:

Setting	Description	Accepted variables
name	The name that appears when you log in (set during first run)
xres	Game resolution in the X	(Default: 800)
yres	Game resolution in the Y	(Default: 600)
vol	Volume of game	(Default: 10)
inverty	Whether or not the mouse controls should be inverted in the Y	(Default: Disabled [0])
windowed	Allows game to run in windowed mode	(Default: Disabled [0])
language	Changes language in-game
mouse_sensitivity	Allows user to set mouse sensitivity¹	(Default: 5.000000)
show_news	Whether or not news is displayed when game is run	(Default: 1)

¹ OS X users should not edit the mouse sensitivity.

Input[edit]

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See Control configuration.
Mouse acceleration		See Game configuration.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Control configuration[edit]

Because Ace of Spades does not have any in-game menus, the only way to change the controls is through the controls.ini configuration file. All controls are entered as keyboard scancodes via hexformat. Use this table for reference. For example, to map a key to W, the hex would be 0x11. The possible key mappings are located below.

Key	Default mapping
move_forward	0x11
move_backward	0x1F
move_left	0x1E
move_right	0x20
jump	0x39
crouch	0x1D
sneak	0x2F
sprint	0x2A
view_map	0x32
reload	0x13
cube_color_up	0xC8
cube_color_down	0xD0
cube_color_left	0xCB
cube_color_right	0xCD
cube_color_sample	0x12
quit_game	0x1
save_map	0x3B
volume_up	0x4E
volume_down	0x4E
view_score	0x0F
show_mouse	0x3F
change_team	0x33
change_weapon	0x34
last_weapon	0x10
toggle_graph	0x57

Audio[edit]

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles		No speech
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		32
Online play		32

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated		Games can only be created via `server.exe`
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	32887
UDP	32887

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed[edit]

OS X Users Experience Odd Mouse Problems In-Game[edit]

Edit Wineskin settings^{[citation needed]}

Right-click on the Ace of Spades app
Select "Show Package Components"
Open "Wineskin"
Select "Advanced", then "Options"
Check "Focus Follows Mouse"
Select "Tools", then "Winetricks"
Search for "grabfullscreen," and choose "grabfullscreen=y"
Select "Run." The game should now work correctly.

Notes

This will not work in windowed mode.

Running Ace of Spades through Steam[edit]

Due to the nature of the game and how it works, running the game through Steam is next to impossible. However, there is one way to get it to work.

Add to Steam^{[citation needed]}

Open your Steam library
Select "+ADD GAME" at the bottom of the screen, then select "Add Non-Steam Game"
Select "Browse" in the new window
Locate the folder in which you installed Ace of Spades
Select "client.exe," and then select "Open"
Click "Add selected programs."
Pick a serverlist, and locate a server which you want to connect to.
1. Keep in mind, for convenience's sake, it may be best to select a server which you connect to often.
Right-click the link you would normally click to connect to the server, and select "Copy shortcut" or "Copy link address"
Locate "client" within your Steam library; Right click it, and select "Properties"
Rename "client" to Ace of Spades (Or whatever you might want to call it)
Add the server address to the end of the Target, e.g. -aos://1379434439:35887
Select "Close."
Now, starting the game via Steam will make automatically connect you to the server you inserted.

Notes

This fix will only show that you are playing Ace of Spades in your Steam friends list. The overlay will not appear in-game.

The only way to get this fix to work is by selecting one server to connect to, and shaping the shortcut around it. It's not necessarily convenient, but it's the only way it'll work.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)

Notes

↑ When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, and %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\ (more details).

References

↑ http://forumarchive2.spadille.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1774

[gamedir-2] When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, and %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\ (more details).

[1] ttp://forumarchive2.spadille.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1774

[1]

[Note 1]

Developers

	Ben Aksoy
Engines
	Voxlap
Release dates
Windows	April 4, 2011