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Star Wars: Empire at War

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Star Wars: Empire at War
Star Wars: Empire at War cover
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
Star Wars: Empire at War on HowLongToBeat
Star Wars: Empire at War on IGDB
Star Wars: Empire at War guide on StrategyWiki
Star Wars: Empire at War on MobyGames
Star Wars: Empire at War on Wikipedia
Star Wars: X-Wing (series)
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Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire 1997
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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 1999
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Star Wars Math: Jabba's Game Galaxy 2000
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Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds 2001
Star Wars: Starfighter 2001
Star Wars Galaxies 2003
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (series)
Star Wars: Battlefront (series)
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Star Wars: Republic Commando 2005
Star Wars: Empire at War 2006
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Star Wars Eclipse TBA

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".[1] 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.[2][3]

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)
CD key
SecuROM 7.00.00.0013 DRM Version 1.5 has SecuROM 7.00.00.0129 DRM.
Windows
Retail
DRM details are not known
macOS (OS X)
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Gold Pack
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Gold Pack
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Gold Pack
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Gold Pack
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Gold Pack
Windows
Mac App Store (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Does not support online play (LAN only).
macOS (OS X)
Origin
Origin
Gold Pack. Included with EA Play Pro. Currently only visible in the EA App's Browse menu.
Windows
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
Windows

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.

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).
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) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32470/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Petroglyph\Empire At War\Save\
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/32470/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Origin
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings (Empire at War).
In-game video settings (Empire at War).
In-game video settings (Forces of Corruption) (Steam).
In-game video settings (Forces of Corruption) (Steam).
In-game advanced video settings (Empire at War/Forces of Corruption).
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.[3]
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Capped at 200 FPS.[4] 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.
In-game key map settings.

Audio

In-game audio settings.
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.[Note 2]
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.[5]
Russian
Retail only. Patch for digital release here.
Spanish

Network

In-game network settings.
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

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]
  1. Download GraphicDetails.xml.
  2. 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.[2]
macOS (OS X)
32-bit only.[6]

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System 64-Bit Miles Sound System v8.0c/AIL_MSS_version 8.0c[Note 2]
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer GameSpy, Steamworks Steam version uses Steamworks.

Command line arguments

Command[7] 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
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3, Vista SP2, 7
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium III 1 GHz
AMD Athlon 1 GHz
System memory (RAM) 512 MB
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
Sound (audio device) DirectX 9.0c compatible
Other 56kbps or faster internet connection (required for multiplayer only)

Disc Version

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 2000
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz
AMD Athlon 1000+
System memory (RAM) 256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 2.5 GB
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon 7200
Nvidia GeForce 256
32 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Shader model 2 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


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/32470/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (32470) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.
  2. 2.0 2.1 From the Debug Kit:
    Using 64-Bit Miles Sound System - MSS_VERSION 8.0c; AIL_MSS_version 8.0c
    Audio: MSS2DDigitalDriverHandle: rate 44100, format 'DIG_F_STEREO_16' (3), name 'DirectSound - MSS software mixer'
    Audio: MSS3DDigitalDriverHandle: rate 44100, format 'DIG_F_STEREO_16' (3), name 'DirectSound - MSS software mixer'
    AudioClass: 3D audio currently using MSS multichannel spec: '@ Windows Speaker Configuration'
    MSS: Default mixer channels / max samples = 64

References

  1. Official Petroglyph Games AMA Thread : RealTimeStrategy - last accessed on 2023-07-28
    "/u/Ted-PG:

    It really came down to timing and team availability. The people that were able to donate their time to the patch had a good amount of Steam API integration experience. Because this was something unfunded, we couldn't go and hire or pull people off other projects to build a free patch to support GoG at the time. In addition, it was simply easier (for them) to map the old SteamSpy functionality over to Steam versus GoG.

    If we end up in a situation where we have available resources to make a GoG version, we'll look into that too.
    "
  2. 2.0 2.1 STAR WARS™ Empire at War: Gold Pack - Maintenance Patch Update - Steam News - last accessed on 2023-11-20
  3. 3.0 3.1 STAR WARS™ Empire at War: Gold Pack - Official Patch Update Thread (Updated 11/20/23) - General Discussions - last accessed on 2024-01-06
  4. "Maintenance Patch Update," May 11th, 2017, Disney - Star Wars® Empire at War™: Gold Pack on Steam - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  5. Star Wars Empire at War page missing localization. - last accessed on 2021-07-11
  6. MacOS Catalina, 64-bit, 32-bit, and related Questions – Aspyr Support - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  7. Steam Community :: Guide :: Poweruser Guide: FoC Windows start, Parameters, Launch Sets - last accessed on May 2023