I Only See Blue-Gray
Colors On Screen
Does
your screen look like this? This means that your Video Card does not
support the fogging that Sacrifice uses.
To
correct this problem you need to Disable Fog in the Video Options Menu.
For NVidia Video Cards
If
your fogging fails to work (the screen is all one color), then there
is an option you need to enable in the driver. Right click on the desktop,
and choose properties. Find the driver settings, and locate the option
"enable fog table emulation". Check this and fogging should
work. If this does not work then please Disable Fog in the Video Options
Menu.
Characters Missing Limbs
You
need to disable triangle strips from either the Options Menu or the
In-Game Options Menu. Or, simply redetect default settings (this will
detect your Voodoo 2 card and auto-disable triangle strips).
If
you do not have a Voodoo 2 Video Card then this option will also help.
Textures Disappearing
If
you look in the top right of the screen when this is happening, you
should see the word FAIL printed in red letters. This is due to your
machine running out of Video Ram and/or AGP Ram and being unable to
upload all the textures that are being used.
To
correct this you need to lower the texture settings and character texture
resolution in the Video Options Menu.
Character
texture resolution is the option that has the most impact, but the texture
resolution setting can also help.
I
See The Word ‘Fail’ In The Top Right Of The Screen
If
you look in the top right of the screen when this is happening, you
should see the word FAIL printed in red letters. This is due to your
machine running out of Video Ram and/or AGP Ram and being unable to
upload all the textures that are being used.
To
correct this you need to lower the texture settings and character texture
resolution in the Video Options Menu.
Character
texture resolution is the option that has the most impact, but the texture
resolution setting can also help.
Slow
Frame Rate
Here are a few tips to increase your
frame rate -
Raise Desired
Frame Rate
This slider allows you to change the
target frame rate in the game. By adjusting the frame rate you can find
the best balance between level of detail and frames per second on your
machine. The recommended and default setting is 20 frames per second.
This allows for high playability with a high polygon count. (Note: Setting
at 20 fps does not limit performance to 20 fps).
If you increase the target frame rate,
the game will always try to hit 30 fps. This will cause models to be
drawn with less detail, this increasing the frame rate.
Lower Detail
Level
This reduces how many polygons are
used per model, and how range affects the # polys used.
Disable Scarring
This slider allows you to adjust the
maximum number of scars that will be displayed on the landscape during
battle. Scars on the landscape are patches of blood, or black charred
areas caused by explosions and spell casting. By reducing the maximum
number of scars displayed on the landscape at once, this frees up more
memory, allowing for an even smoother frame rate.
Lower Character
Texture Resolution
This slider allows you to change the
texture resolution of the creatures and wizards in Sacrifice. Higher
resolutions make the level of character detail sharper and more refined.
This takes up
more VRAM that your machine might not
be able to spare, so keep this in mind before selecting a high level
of resolution.
The higher the texture resolution,
the less character textures will fit in video memory, and the more the
game will have to page textures into memory; this results in periodic
game slowdowns.
Lower Screen
Bit-Depth
Try running at 16bpp instead of 32bpp.
Lower
Screen Resolution
Try
lowering your screen resolution by one or two notches; especially on
older video cards. The higher the resolution, the more demands on your
system.
Disable Widgets
Widgets are the little decorative things
you see on the terrain, such as blades and tufts of grass. Turning widgets
off improves the performance, but takes away some of the beauty of the
environment.
Disable Lightmaps
& Detail Maps
This stops the computer doing multiple
rendering passes on the landscape, the light maps determine how far
back lighting effects appear in the distance.
Texture Filter
Mode
This button allows you to adjust the
texture filter mode from point, bilinear, or trilinear.
Point texture filtering offers low
quality textures with high machine performance.
Trilinear texture filtering offers
the highest quality textures with lower machine performance.
Bilinear is a mix of the two.
Lower Texture Resolution
Changes
that resolution of all textures not on the characters. You must exit
to windows and restart the game for this feature to take effect.
Ground Stains Disappear
Sacrifice
can only store a set number of these, once that number has been reached
those oldest will be removed.
Gamespy Specific Information
Proxy/Router/Firewall
Setup
GameSpy
Peer SDK Uses Outgoing TCP Connections On Ports 6667, 27900, And 28900;
And Outgoing UDP On Port 28900.
GameSpy
Hosts Must Allow Incoming UDP On Port 6500.
General
GameSpy Housekeeping Protocols Require Outgoing TCP On 29920, Outgoing
UDP On 29910 And Incoming UDP On A Dynamic UDP Port (It's Not Fixed).
Directplay
Initial TCP Connection: Client 47624 Outbound, Host 47624 Inbound
Directplay
Subsequent TCP Connections: 2300-2400 Inbound And Outbound
Directplay
Subsequent UDP Connections: 2300-2400 Inbound And Outbound
It
Says I Need To Install IPX
In order to play LAN
games your PC must have IPX installed. This is simple to install and
can be done as follows –
Open Control Panel
Select Network
Click Add
Double click Protocol
Select Microsoft from
the left
Select IPX/SPX-compatible
Protocol from the right
Click OK
The PC will need to reboot to complete the settings but should work
properly next time you start or join a LAN game.
I'm In The
Game Lobby And I Can't Join A Game
If the color of the game you are trying
to join is RED (the name will be
VERS# ), it means that the person has a different version of Sacrifice
to you. This will occur when a patch has been released. You need to
check www.sacrifice.net for details of where to download the patch.
Available games for you to join are displayed
in GREEN Text (please note that some
hosts may have added a password to these games, this option is available
so that you and your friends can play without worrying about anyone
else joining your game).
You may already have the latest version
... in which case the host of the game you are unable to join has an
older version of Sacrifice.
We have asked Gamespy to implement an automatic
announcement when you enter the lobby before joining an Internet Game,
so that all on-line players will be aware that a patch for Sacrifice
is available.
We need everyone to be playing with the
same version, so if you update …. Make sure to tell your friends.
Can’t Join Or Host A Game
This
will indicate that you are playing Sacrifice from behind a firewall
or proxy server. On a home system you will need to consult the document
accompanying the firewall/ proxy you are using or contact the manufacturer.
On
an office system you will need to contact the System Administrator.
You
will also need to include the following information – click here.
What
Does Log-In Failed Mean?
If you receive this message
then you will need to check that your computer is connected to the Internet.
The simplest way to check is to open up your web browser and type in
www.sacrifice.net.
Do you see the Sacrifice
site?
Yes I saw the
Sacrifice Site: This may indicate that the Gamespy Server maybe down.
This is a temporary problem and you should check periodically to see
if it has been resolved.
No I did not see
the Sacrifice Site: This would indicate that your Internet Connection
is not working. You will need to contact your ISP Provider for technical
support.
Why
Does My Internet Game Run Badly?
Here are some suggestions that you can try to reduce Internet
lag:
Try
toggling the following settings in the Modem Control Panel:
-
Error correction
- Data compression
- Flow control
- Also try connecting at a lower baud rate.
To check these settings go here:
- Click on Start.
- Click on Settings.
- Click on Control Panel.
- Click on Modem.
- Click on Properties.
- Click on the Connection tab.
- Click on the Advanced tab.
At the top there will be two check boxes, Use error control
and Use flow control. Remove the checks from both boxes. Click on OK,
then click on OK, and click on OK again.
If this does not solve the problem you may need to update the
modem driver. This is especially true if modems are software only or
largely software based. This can have serious problems with DirectX.
Contact your computer or modem manufacturer for help in updating the
modem's driver.
If
you are using the Internet, you may want to make sure your Internet
Service Provider is not timing you out or routing you through a proxy
server or firewall. These indirect TCP/IP routes can have unusual effects
on game play. Contact your Internet Service Provider to find out if
you can ensure you get a direct connection to the Internet.
More
information on Proxy Servers and Firewalls can be found here.
Problems With Aureal Sound Cards
Aureal/ Creative
have not updated their drivers to support Win98SE, Win ME, or W2k.
As a result, their drivers are not compatible with these Os’s. The
issues are probably many (I've read see http://www.vortexofsound.com/,
like Power Management, Plug and Play, Window's New Driver Model (WDM)
etc.
We've experienced occasional sound
dropping issues with the Aureal Vortex 8830 audio card (driver 5.0.2184.1).
To remedy this problem you will need to re-boot your PC.
Why
Does The Sound Skip In The Game?
Good
general game performance (having a solid frame rate) is the best antidote
to sound skipping. See this section
on how to improve your frame rate.
Also
see this section on selecting a different sound provider.
Check
for the latest Sound Card Drivers here.
What
Are The Different Sound Providers
DirectSound 7+ Pan & Volume (Default
Provider)
This provider
gives 3D sound support using the basic features of the 2D DirectSound
API. Use this provider as a fallback if you encounter problems with
any other provider. It should work well in all cases with any sound
card.
DirectSound 3D Hardware Support
This provider uses DirectSound 3D to
access the accelerated 3D sound capabilities of your sound card. This
provider will only work if your card has 3D sound capabilities and you
are using the appropriate sound card drivers. If your Sound Card does
not support 3D Sound then you can select DirectSound 3D Software Emulation
(see below).
DirectSound 3D Software Emulation
This provider will use DirectSound
to emulate 3D sound using software. This provider takes more CPU than
the others and provides less quality, but it will give 3D spacialized
sound without special 3D sound hardware.
DirectSound
7+ Full HRTF & DirectSound 7+ Light HRTF
These providers uses DirectSound3D
7+'s new 3D spacialization algorithm to emulate 3D sound in software.
The Full version will take more CPU than the Light version, but it will
provide a higher quality 3D spacialization. This provider gives 3D sound
without any 3D sound hardware.
Creative Labs EAX & Creative Labs
EAX 2
The EAX providers are essentially identical.
They are also mostly the same as the DirectSound3D Hardware support
provider.
The EAX provider
however will take advantage of support for more simultaneous 3D voices,
so if you have a Creative Labs EAX card such as the Sound Blaster Live!,
you will experience more complete and full 3D sound from Sacrifice
using one of these providers.
F.
Stratos 3 Problems
Some people
have reported a lock-up in the mission, until this is patched this solution
can be used to complete the level - If you eliminate Buta first & Abraxus,
your ally, is eliminated the black screen problem will occur, therefore
you need to eliminate Sorcha first.
I
NEED MORE HELP NOW
|
STILL
GOT PROBLEMS?
EMAIL
INTERPLAY SUPPORT WITH YOUR DXDIAG REPORT & A DESCRIPTION
OF YOUR PROBLEM
support@interplay.com
|
BEFORE
EMAILING PLEASE GO to the directory where you installed DX7.0a (on my
computer it was installed under Program Files->DirectX->Setup)
and click in the only shortcut in there called DXDIAG.
Choose
"Save all information" and save the file.
Attach
the text file when you're emailing so that we will have a complete listing
of all your hardware and drivers all at once.
Please
also always include our replies to you so that we can easily track our
conversation.
Also include in THAUM.ERR which is located
in the directory where you installed Sacrifice.
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