Total Annihilation

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.

Total Annihilation
Total Annihilation	1997
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms	1999

Key points

Modding tools are available

Small but dedicated community

General information

Total Annihilation Wiki - A wiki for everything Total Annihilation.

Total Annihilation Universe - A huge fan site for the entire Total Annihilation series.

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GOG.com		Total Annihilation: Commander Pack
Humble Store		Total Annihilation: Commander Pack
Steam		Total Annihilation: Commander Pack

Total Annihilation: Commander Pack includes both The Core Contingency and Battle Tactics expansions.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
The Core Contingency
Battle Tactics

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

official patches

Skip intro videos[edit]

Delete/rename video files^{[citation needed]}

Go to <path-to-game>\Data\
Delete or rename 1.ZRB and 2.zrb.

Official downloads[edit]

All of the official content for the game (patches, units, utilities, etc.) can be found here.

Unofficial patch[edit]

Unofficial patches made by TA community TA Patch Resources v1.0 and TA Patch v3.9.02 Beta.^[2] This patch has been know to cause a crash at startup, notes on the cause and how to fix it can be found here.

Game data[edit]

In-game interface settings.

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cavedog Entertainment\Total Annihilation\
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/298030/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\SAVEGAME\^{[Note 2]}
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/298030/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video settings[edit]

In-game graphics settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		For custom/unlisted resolutions see Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
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 the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Widescreen resolution[edit]

Set custom resolution^{[citation needed]}

Add the parameters -screenwidth XXXX -screenhight XXXX

Windowed[edit]

Windowed without Unofficial patch^{[citation needed]}

Add -d to the end of the shortcut target

This will mute all sound effects, regardless of Sound settings.

Windowed with Unofficial patch^{[citation needed]}

Download and install TA Patch Resources v1.0
Download and install TA Patch v3.9.02 Beta

Use Total Annihilation.exe instead of TotalA.exe

Input settings[edit]

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration		Can only change scroll speed
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Audio settings[edit]

In-game audio settings.

In-game music settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Notes
LAN play
Online play		servers were down

Hosting/Discovering game lobbys on a LAN network^[3]

Download ipxwrapper-0.5.0 from http://www.solemnwarning.net/ipxwrapper/
Unzip the ipxwrapper files into the total annihilation folder (example: "C:\CAVEDOG\TOTALA")
If you have a 32 bit OS, run the file "directplay-win32.reg" as administrator.
or
If you have a 64 bit OS, run the file "directplay-win64.reg" as administrator.
Pick "IPX Connection for DirectPlay" and leave the search address blank.

Notes

This fix may not be necessary for versions of Windows older than XP

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)			^[4]

Middleware[edit]

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Smacker
Multiplayer	DirectPlay

System requirements[edit]

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95	98, 2000, ME, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 100 MHz	Intel Pentium 166 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	48 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1.1 GB
Video card (GPU)	VGA 256 colour or better

Notes

↑ ^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>/298030/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (298030) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.
↑ When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, and %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\ (more details).

References

↑ Mac Game Update: 22 New Additions ● GOG.com
↑ Total Annihilation v3.9.02 Beta Patch - Total Annihilation Universe
↑ Lan play, page 2 - Forum - GOG.com
↑ Total Annihilation: Commander Pack on GOG.com - last accessed on 2020-01-14
"Mac notice: The game is 32-bit only and will not work on macOS 10.15 and up."

[Proton_path_note-3] 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>/298030/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (298030) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[gamedir-4] When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, and %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore\ (more details).

[1] Mac Game Update: 22 New Additions ● GOG.com

[2] Total Annihilation v3.9.02 Beta Patch - Total Annihilation Universe

[5] Lan play, page 2 - Forum - GOG.com

[6] Total Annihilation: Commander Pack on GOG.com - last accessed on 2020-01-14
"Mac notice: The game is 32-bit only and will not work on macOS 10.15 and up."

[1]

[2]

[Note 1]

[Note 2]

[3]

[4]

Developers

	Cavedog Entertainment
Publishers
	GT Interactive
	Wargaming.net
Release dates
Windows	September 30, 1997
Mac OS (Classic)	September 17, 1999
macOS (OS X)	April 23, 2013^[1]
Reception
Metacritic	86
Taxonomy
Monetization	Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Top-down view
Genres	Strategy
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Total Annihilation