1. Installation and Setup

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THIS CHAPTER READS LIKE IT WAS WRITTEN BY A BUNCH OF INCOM ENGINEERS ...BUT DON' T BE INTIMIDATED. IT' S NOT LIKE YOU' RE TRYIN' TO HELP AN ANGRY WOOKIEE RETROFIT A CORELLIAN FREIGHTER. . . NOW THAT' S A CHALLENGE. YOU GOT IT EASY. JUST FOLLOW THE ONSCREEN DIRECTIONS, AND YOU' LL BE RUNNING WITH A HERD OF BANTHAS IN NO TIME.

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INSTALLATION NOTES

• By default, the game installer will install the game in a C:\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\Program Files\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\StarWarsGalaxies folder, but you can change this location.
• If the installer does not automatically launch, double- click on the My Computer icon on your desktop, then double- click on your computer 's CD-ROM or DVD drive. Double- click on SetUp. exe to install.
• Windows 2000/ XP users, please note that you must be in the Administrator Profile to install.
• You may need to disable virus-scanning software for a successful install.
• Star Wars Galaxies™ requires DirectX 9.0. If the installer detects that you don't have DirectX 9.0 installed on your computer, it can automatically install the update for you.
• You may also need to update your video-card drivers to the most recently released versions. Visit your video-card manufacturer's Web site to find the proper downloads.
• Every time you launch the game, you will need to agree to our End User Licensing Agreement/Terms of Service ( click the check box located under your Password).
• If you already have a Station Name and Password ( perhaps created when you joined the starwarsgalaxies.com Web site), you can use these to login and create your account.

System requirements may change over time, and you may need to upgrade your current system (or obtain a new system) to play the Game.

1.1. The Launchpad

Whenever you launch Star Wars Galaxies (using a shortcut on your desktop or by selecting Star Wars Galaxies from your Start menu), the game will initiate the Launchpad. The Launchpad will ask you for your Username and Password, and will then check for (and automatically download) any patches.

You can use the Launchpad to:

• Instant Login: Select one of your characters to log directly into the game world.
• Chat: Discuss Star Wars Galaxies with other players.
• Account: Provides account management that includes the ability to change your Password and billing options.
• News: Connects you to a Web page containing the latest news about the game.
• Set-Up Options: Access a variety of performance and graphics options that allow you to change the game resolution, run the game in a window, as well as disable various audio features. Please note that if you do not change any of the default settings, the engine will scale according to your hardware.  All of the options below default to "off."  Changing any of these options will allow the game to run in a mode other than the default. The options are:

GRAPHICS

Game Resolution
This option allows the user to specify different screen resolutions for running the game in full-screen mode, and specify different window sizes for running the game in windowed mode.  Also allowed is the selection of different refresh rates per resolution.  In windowed mode, however, the refresh rate will be determined by your Windows settings.

Vertex/Pixel Shader Version
If your graphics hardware supports them, vertex and pixel shaders are used to improve graphic quality.  This option allows the user to scale down graphics quality to gain performance.  Vertex and pixel shaders can also be disabled, giving the user the lowest possible graphics quality settings.

Windowed Mode
Select this option to run the game in a window.

Borderless Window
Select this option to remove the border when running the game in a window.

Disable Bump Mapping
At the expense of render performance, the engine will use vertex and pixel shaders to improve the surfaces of most objects.  You must have vertex and pixel shaders enabled to see bump mapping.  If bump mapping is disabled, vertex and pixel shaders will still be used (assuming they've been enabled with Vertex/Pixel Shader Version, above); however, most of the surface detail will be lost. 

Disable Hardware Mouse Cursor
If your graphics hardware supports it, the hardware mouse cursor will be set to default.  Using the hardware mouse cursor will improve the speed the mouse renders.  If the hardware mouse cursor is disabled, the mouse will update along with the game's frame rate.

Use Low Detail Textures
Select this option for lower-quality textures.

Use Low Detail Normal Maps
Select this option for lower-quality bump maps (surface detail).

Disable Multi-Pass Rendering
Many of the game's graphics effects take multiple passes drawing the object multiple times.  Turn this option off to improve render performance at the expense of visual quality.

Disable Vsync (allow tearing)
Disabling vsync will cause the game not to wait for your monitor's refresh in order to draw the next frame.  With this disabled, you may see tearing lines across the screen; but the game should not be capped at your monitor's refresh rate.

Disable Fast Mouse Cursor
By default, there is an optimal path for rendering the mouse cursor.  On some hardware, this introduces problems.  If the mouse cursor does not appear correctly, select this option.

Use Safe Renderer (slower)
We recently introduced two additional code paths for rendering the game:  optimal vertex and pixel shaders, optimal vertex and pixel shaders disabled; and the original code path the game originally tested and shipped with.  If you notice any problems with the optimal render paths, select this option at the expense of optimal performance.

SOUND

Disable Audio
Use this option to completely disable the game's audio.

Miles Provider
Use this option to select different sound modes if your audio hardware supports them.

GAME

Skip Intro Sequence
Use this option to disable the game's intro movie.

Disable Character System Level Of Detail Manager
By default, the character system will attempt to render only the first n skeletal system objects with the highest level of detail, the next n + n at the next level of detail, and so on until the remaining objects are all at the lowest levels of detail.  Disabling this option will allow all skeletal system objects to render at their highest possible level of detail based on various metrics (which can be controlled via the in-game options menu).

ADVANCED

Disable World Preloading
The game will attempt to cache between 500 and 1000 planet-specific files in the first loading screen you see for a new planet.  This allows us to not have to hit the disk when walking around the game and an asset is needed.  Selecting this option will allow you to get in the game faster, but at the cost of decreased I/O performance.

Use Low Detail Characters
Select this option to skip the first detail level in any character system object. This will allow you to run faster at the cost of decreased visual quality.

Use Low Detail Meshes
Select this option to skip the first detail level in any static mesh object. This will allow you to run faster at the cost of decreased visual quality.

Disable Texture Baking
The game will create a single texture for most of the textures in the game made up from composite textures.  In a future release, we will attempt to provide a fallback texture in the even the graphics hardware does not support this feature; however, for now, you will see the default texture (which looks like a green forest).

Disable File Caching
The game will attempt to cache between 10000 and 40000 non-planet specific files in the first loading screen you see.  This allows us to not have to hit the disk when walking around the game and an asset is needed.  Selecting this option will allow you to get in the game faster, but at the cost of decreased I/O performance.

Disable Asynchronous Loader
By default, the game will use a background thread to load assets as the player walks around in an attempt to eliminate stuttering when an asset is needed and must be fetched off of disk.  Disabling this will severely impact performance, but may be helpful in an environment where true multi-tasking is not supported.

1.2. Choosing A Galaxy

As noted in the Quick Start Guide, a "Galaxy" is the online environment where your character will live and adventure (in other games, a Galaxy might be called a "server" or a "shard "). When you select a Galaxy, consider the following:

• Nearly all of the Galaxies have essentially the same content. Tatooine, for example, is found on each Galaxy.
• You can't travel between Galaxies. Once you create a character on a Galaxy, he or she will always remain there.
• You can only create one character per Galaxy.
• You can have up to 8 characters total, and you can always delete characters to create new ones.

1.3. In-Game Options (Ctrl + 0 Keys)

The In-Game Options menu allows you to change everything from your graphics settings to your control scheme. At any point, you can review and change your options by hitting the ESC key, and then choosing Options from the Main Menu.

CONTROLS
The Controls menu allows you to select different control schemes and create your own keyboard maps. You can reassign any keyboard command by double-clicking on the action you want to change, hitting the new key, and then clicking OK .

GRAPHICS
The Graphics options enable you to get the most from your PC. In general, the default settings are geared toward performance; you can improve the game' s appearance by adjusting various options, but this is likely to impact the game' s overall performance.

Conversely, if you' re having performance problems, you can turn off or reduce various options.

Most of the options are self-explanatory, but some are covered here in more detail:

• Field of View: Increase field of view to show more of the world; reduce field of view to increase performance.
• Terrain High Detail Range: Sets the level of detail for the terrain around your character. Reducing the terrain detail may greatly improve performance.
• Render Non-Collidable Flora, Render Distant Radial Flora, and Render Nearby Radial Flora: Turning off any of these may increase performance.
• Shadows: Choose from full, detailed shadows on everything (worst performance) , detailed shadows on characters only, or blob shadows. Turn off shadows completely for the best performance.
• Object Detail: Increasing the level of detail on objects decreases performance.

SOUND
Audio options and sound volumes are customized from this menu. Move the slider to the far left on any of the volume settings to turn off a particular type of sound.

GAME OPTIONS MENU
The Game Options menu offers dozens of controls to help customize your in-game experience. A handful of these are covered here:

• Timestamp (Under Chat): This puts an automated timestamp for all chat messages, which might be useful if you receive a great many messages or tend to frequently switch between chat channels.
• Away from Keyboard Auto Response (AFK): Click this box to disable or enable the AFK auto response (it is enabled by default) . If you 're AFK, players who try to contact you will receive an automated message. You can edit this message or change the time limit until AFK is activated.
• Alarm Clock: The alarm clock is useful for monitoring your time online. If you want to quit the game at a specific time, only play for a set amount of time, or set up a time to meet with friends, use the alarm clock to create reminders.