Earthsiege Help

Opening Theme

Earthsiege Updates/Patches

Earthsiege's original requirements:

MS-DOS 5.0 or greater
386SX minimum
2x CD-ROM
4 MB RAM
4.5 MB Hard drive space, 32 MB recommended
VGA
SoundBlaster or 100% compatible, Pro Aud Spectrum, ADLib, Gravis Ultra Sound, Ensoniq SoundScape, General MIDI
Mouse

Audio Problems
- Poor quality or no sound

Game Specific Bugs

Windows XP Help

Audio Problems

Audio problems are common in the later Sierra DOS SCI games. There's no single fix for all these games. You can try the Windows version, if running on 32-bit Windows.

Problem - Poor Quality / No Sound (Win9x and XP):
The game has no sound or the music is of poor quality.

Solution 1 (preferred):
Play the game in DOSBox. It also will work with the MT-32 sound module, if you are fortunate to have one.

Solution 2:
Use VDMSound. The game work well with VDMSound. The sound will be as good as you audio hardware, and as with DOSBox, it works with the MT-32 sound module.

Solution 3 (DOS/Win9x):
Install DOS drivers for your soundcard. Without DOS drivers installed you won't have sound in a DOS window in Windows 9x. If you can't find DOS drivers for your soundcard, there is an alpha (developmental) version of VDMS that you can try.

Speed problems

As with many of the Sierra VGA games, some of the games in the Space Quest Collection Series have a few speed bugs. These bugs can also be avoided by playing the game in DOSBox. If you can't or don't want to use DOSBox, you can try using a Slowdown Utility.

Here is a list of problems with solutions/workarounds.

Problem - :

Solution #1 (preferred):
Play using DOSBox. Even the Windows version can be played in DOSBox if you install Windows 3x in it, first.

Solution #2:
Use a Slowdown Utility.

Extras
- Earthsiege Manual (PDF file) [3.16 MB]
- Earthsiege Tips
- Metaltech: Earthsiege Expansion Disk
- Official Starsiege Tribes Series Forum
- Find it on eBay
- Google

Game Specific Bugs

Problem - Game Crashes On Launch:
Earthsiege installs in DOSBox with no trouble, but crashes immediately when launched in DOSBox. During install, the audio hardware detected by SOUNDSET.EXE is Gravis Ultra Sound.

Solution #1:
Apply this patch.

Solution #2:
If GUS is disabled in the dosbox.conf, SOUNDSET will detect SoundBlaster 16. The game will work with SoundBlaster 16.

Problem - Campaign 4 Mission 8 Lockup:
The game locksup during mission usually around Campaign 4 Mission 8 after the Expansion Pack is installed.

Solution:
Apply this patch.

Problem - Introduction Plays Too Fast:
The introduction races by at a fast rate.

Solution:
Check your soundcard settings in the dosbox.conf. The CD version of this game requires a sound card with digital to analog conversion (DAC) to play the introduction properly. Without a sound card the introduction will race by, and there may be a loud humming sound from the PC speaker. This will also occur with a sound card that is incompatible, or improperly set up.

Problem - Intro Dosen't Play Right:
After loading the Expansion Pack, the introduction has changed to a series of still frames.

Solution:
Using the disk version of the Expansion Pack with the CD version of the game disables the introduction. This is normal.

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