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Shattered Steel

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Shattered Steel
Shattered Steel cover
Developers
BioWare
Additional Development Pyrotek Game Studios
Mac OS (Classic) Logicware
Publishers
Interplay Entertainment
Release dates
DOS September 27, 1996
Mac OS (Classic) December 1997
Windows (DOSBox) July 29, 2008[1]
macOS (OS X) (DOSBox) October 26, 2012[2]
Linux (DOSBox) September 26, 2021
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives First-person
Controls Direct control
Genres Action, Shooter, TPS
Vehicles Robot
Themes Sci-fi
Shattered Steel on HowLongToBeat
Shattered Steel on IGDB
Shattered Steel on MobyGames
Shattered Steel on Wikipedia

Shattered Steel is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action, shooter and TPS game.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
Use DOSBox for DOS version.
DOS
Mac OS
Epic Games Store
DRM details are not known
Windows
macOS (OS X)
GOG.com
DRM-free
Pre-packaged with DOSBox.[3]
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Expansion Pack Freeware, available here. Included in GOG.com version.
DOS

Essential improvements

Run in DOSBox

To improve DOSBox performance make the following changes to the DOSBox configuration file:

  • Change core=dynamic to core=normal (if not already)
  • Change cputype=auto to cputype=486_slow
  • Change memsize=16 to memsize=31
  • Change mpu401=intelligent to mpu401=none

DOS/32A

DOS/32A is a more advanced extender and open source replacement to DOS4GW. It can improve both performance and stability of Shattered Steel greatly.

To make SS8MEG.BAT compatible with DOS32A, replace the line set DOS4GVM=MAXMEM#16000000 with SET DOS32A=/EXTMEM:16000000.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files[citation needed]
  1. Go to MOVIES in the installation folder.
  2. Delete or rename FILM7.MVE and INTRO.MVE.

Notes

The Interplay, BioWare and Shattered Steel screens will still be shown.

Patches

Patch 1.12 updates the retail version to the latest version. The GOG.com version already has this patch.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
DOS <path-to-game>\OPTIONS.CFG
Windows <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Linux <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.

Save game data location

System Location
DOS <path-to-game>\PLAYER.CFG
Windows <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X) <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Linux <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

Video

General settings.
General settings.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
640x480 max.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
For DOSBox toggle with Alt+ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS
120+ FPS
Can be forced to run in 320x200 mode with the parameter -no640. Movies can also be forced to run in "windowed mode" with the parameter -window.

Input

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Sound FX and Music.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Cockpit/mission voice commands are not subtitled.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file.
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio
Redbook audio initialization can be skipped with -nocd parameter. Note does not disable CD check.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Brazilian Portuguese
Retail only - MagnaHome.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
16 Versus, Co-op
Online play
For DOSBox use DOSBox IPX/modem emulation.

Connection types

Issues fixed

Mech won't stop turning

Change joystick timing setting[citation needed]
  1. Edit the DOSBox configuration file; for the GOG.com version this is dosboxShatteredSteel.conf.
  2. Change timed=true to timed=false (if it is already set to this, try timed=true instead).
  3. Save your changes and run the game again.
  4. If problems persist ensure the in-game axis handling (Incremental or Absolute) matches the real axis.

SOUNDSET.EXE says it can't find the setup file (GOG.com)

Create a setup.ini[4]

Create a setup.ini file in the game installation folder and paste this text into it and save it:

[PROGRAM] 
Title = HMI Sound Operating System Setup Utility 
Copyright = (C) Copyright 1995 - Human Machine Interfaces Inc. - All Rights Reserved 
ConfigFile = hmiset.cfg 
DigitalTest = test.wav 
MIDITest = test.hmi 
MIDIMelodic = melo-ss.bnk 
MIDIDrum = drum-ss.bnk 
Stereo = Yes 
16Bit = Yes 
EnableSCSI = Yes 

[SYSTEM] 
Devices = 1 
DigitalPFX = DIGITAL 
MIDIPFX = MIDI 

# < ID String > = < name >, < ID >, < Port >, < IRQ >, < DMA >, < MIDI Index > 
[DIGITAL] 
Device000 = No Digital Device , -1 , 0 , 0, 0, 0, No, No 
Device001 = Sound Blaster , 0xe000, 0x220, 5, 1, 1, No, No 
Device002 = Sound Blaster Pro , 0xe001, 0x220, 5, 1, 1, No, No 
Device003 = Sound Blaster 16/AWE32 , 0xe015, 0x220, 5, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device004 = Ensoniq SoundScape , 0xe01d, 0x330, -1, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device005 = Microsoft Sound System , 0xe00b, 0x530, -1, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device006 = Pro Audio Spectrum 16 , 0xe003, 0x388, 7, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device007 = Gravis UltraSound , 0xe023, 0x220, 11, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device008 = Gravis UltraSound Max , 0xe027, 0x220, 11, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device009 = ESS AudioDrive , 0xe019, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, No, No 
Device010 = Roland RAP-10 , 0xe021, 0x330, 9, 5, 1, No, No 
Device011 = Toptek Golden 16 , 0xe00b, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device012 = Thunderboard , 0xe000, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, No, No 
Device013 = Adlib Gold , 0xe009, 0x388, -1, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device014 = NewMedia .WAVJammer , 0xe02b, -1, -1, -1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device015 = I/O Magic Tempo , 0xe02f, 0x38c, 11, -1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device016 = ARIA Chipset , 0xe000, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, No, No 
Device017 = Sound Galaxy NX Pro 16 , 0xe000, 0x220, 7, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 
Device018 = Reveal FX/32 , 0xe01d, 0x330, -1, 1, 1, Yes, Yes 

[DETECTION] 
DeviceOrder = 6, 7, 4, 5, 3, 2, 1, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15 

# < name >, < ID >, < MIDI Type > 
[MIDI] 
Device000 = No MIDI Device , -1 , 0 
Device001 = MPU-401 , 0xa001, 0 
Device002 = Roland Sound Canvas , 0xa001, 0 
Device003 = General MIDI , 0xa001, 0 
Device004 = Sound Blaster , 0xa002, 1 
Device005 = Sound Blaster Pro , 0xa002, 1 
Device006 = Sound Blaster 16 , 0xa009, 0 
Device007 = Sound Blaster AWE32 , 0xa008, 0 
Device008 = Ensoniq SoundScape , 0xa001, 0 
Device009 = Microsoft Sound System , 0xa009, 0 
Device010 = Pro Audio Spectrum 16 , 0xa009, 0 
Device011 = Gravis UltraSound , 0xa00a, 0 
Device012 = Gravis UltraSound Max , 0xa00a, 0 
Device013 = ESS AudioDrive , 0xa002, 0 
Device014 = Roland RAP-10 , 0xa001, 0 

# < Default >, < Port >, .... 
[MIDISETTINGS] 
Device000 = 1, -1 
Device001 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340, 0x350 
Device002 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340, 0x350 
Device003 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340, 0x350 
Device004 = 1, 0x388 
Device005 = 1, 0x388 
Device006 = 1, 0x388 
Device007 = 1, 0x620, 0x640, 0x660, 0x680 
Device008 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340 
Device009 = 1, 0x388 
Device010 = 1, 0x388 
Device011 = 1, 0x220 
Device012 = 1, 0x220 
Device013 = 1, 0x388 
Device014 = 4, 0x300, 0x310, 0x320, 0x330, 0x340

"World1.pol not found" error

This issues commonly occurs if you installed the game on an older version of Windows without restarting in MS-DOS mode then attempt to run the game from DOS there after.[5]

Edit file DIR.FLT[citation needed]

Change the various paths and drive letters to Shattered Steel's install location ensuring they're 8.3 name compatible. You could also replace them with .\ though this requires having the game's directory be the current active one.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DOS video modes VGA, SVGA

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Human Machine Interface (HMI) audio drivers

System requirements

DOS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 5.0
Processor (CPU) 486 @ 66 MHz
System memory (RAM) 8 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 25 MB
Video card (GPU) VGA
Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
Processor (CPU) 1.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1 GB
Video card (GPU) DirectX 7 compatible
Mac OS
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7.5.3
Processor (CPU) PowerPC 601
System memory (RAM) 16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Other 2x CD-ROM drive
macOS (OS X)
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.6.8
Processor (CPU) Intel Core Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1 GB
Video card (GPU) Intel UHD Graphics 630
64 MB of VRAM
Linux
Minimum
Operating system (OS) Ubuntu 16.04
Processor (CPU) 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 1 GB
Video card (GPU) OpenGL compatible
256 MB of VRAM


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data.

References