Empires: Dawn of the Modern World

Empire Earth
Empire Earth	2001
Empires: Dawn of the Modern World	2003
Empire Earth II	2005
Empire Earth III	2007

Warnings

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

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view RTS game in the Empire Earth series.

General information

Known as Empires: Die Neuzeit in Germany and Empires: L'aube d'un Monde Nouveau in France.

Official manual

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v3.10.020 DRM. Patch 1.2 removes the DRM as well as the disc check.^[1]
GOG.com		Patched to 1.3. Multiplayer key not provided.
Steam (unavailable)

Essential improvements

Patches

The newest patch is 1.3. Patches for the game can be found here.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SSSI\Empires\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2690/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Data\Saved Games^{[Note 2]}
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/2690/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Campaign progress is stored in <path-to-game>\Users\default.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

Video Settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD		Any resolution above 1920x1080 crashes the game during gameplay (excluding cutscenes)
Field of view (FOV)	See Adjust zoom distance.
Windowed	See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See 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 Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	See Run the game at screen refresh rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Widescreen resolution

Force windowed^[2]

Run the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SSSI\Empires.
Change the Game Window Width and Game Window Height decimal values to the desired resolution.

Notes

The HUD elements are stretched.

Enforcing widescreen resolutions can distort the minimap, making it inaccurate.

Adjust zoom distance

The game's zoom level will be very close on high resolutions such as 1920x1080.

Use Empires Dawn Of The Modern World Zoom Changer^[1]

Enable in-game clock

The game can display a little clock showing the game speed & map time but the setting cannot be found in any menu.

Press `F11` in-game.^[1]

Edit configuration file^[1]
Go to the Configuration file(s) location Set the `ClockDisplay` value to `1`.

Windowed

Force windowed^[3]
Download and run DxWnd. Click on Edit, then Add. Set the path to `<path-to-game>\Empires_DMW.exe`. Set the desired window position and size. Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed. Click on DirectX tab, set DirectX 8. Click OK, then File and Save.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Disable Vsync^[3]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Double-click on `Wait for VSync`. Change the value to `0` to disable Vsync.

Input

Input 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

Audio Settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles		Subtitles only in cutscenes and ingame video sequences.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Retail only.
German				Retail only; download for GOG.com version
Spanish				Retail only.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play		GameSpy services have been shut down;^[4] see GameSpy for workarounds.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)^[5]
TCP	6500, 28900, 29900, 29901, 33335
UDP	13139, 27900, 33321

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

Issues fixed

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Fullscreen mode defaults to 75 Hz, even if the screen refresh rate is set higher than that.

Set screen refresh rate^[3]
Go to the configuration file(s) location. Double-click on `Custom Refresh Rate`. Select Decimal and change `75` to the screen refresh rate.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	6.5e^[6]
Multiplayer	GameSpy

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98. 2000, ME, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 600 MHz AMD Athlon 600 MHz	Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB (Online multiplayer: 256 MB)	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1.1 GB
Video card (GPU)	32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0b compatible	64 MB of VRAM

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (2690) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.
↑ When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Verified by User:Nessy on 2021-02-02
↑ Empires: Dawn of the Modern World | WSGF - last accessed on 2024-03-01
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Verified by User:Keith on 2017-09-18
↑ Pricing | GameSpy Technology
↑ scribd.com | Official ReadMe
↑ Verified by User:Nessy on 2019-06-15
Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.

[Proton_path_note-2] 1.0 ^1.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (2690) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[2] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[3] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[4] The app ID (2690) may differ in some cases.

[5] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[6] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[gamedir-3] When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[2021-02-02-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Verified by User:Nessy on 2021-02-02

[4] Empires: Dawn of the Modern World | WSGF - last accessed on 2024-03-01

[2017-09-18-5] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Verified by User:Keith on 2017-09-18

[6] Pricing | GameSpy Technology

[7] scribd.com | Official ReadMe

[8] Verified by User:Nessy on 2019-06-15
Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.

[1]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Developers

	Stainless Steel Studios
Publishers
	Activision
Engines
	Titan
Release dates
Windows	October 21, 2003
Reception
Metacritic	81
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Multiple select, Point and select
Genres	RTS
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Medieval, Industrial Age, World War I, World War II
Series	Empire Earth