For questions see the readme file inside the IMG. Open with MagicDisc(tested and working). This is a a clean version since I own the original.I will seed but I need your support too so please seed as much as possible.

This is a VIRUS FREE copy. Here are some thongs you should know:

1. General   (back to top)
Welcome to the Darkstar One Universe!

The following pages offer useful tips and help in case you experience difficulties with Darkstar One.


2. Changes and Additions to the Manual   (back to top)

    * 15 "Controls and Keyboard Shortcuts":

          o Note: By pressing "Y" (Select target's target) your target will automatically switch from your "friendly" target to the opponent that your friendly target has locked. Therefore, you are assisting a friendly target by using the "Y" key.


    * Uninstallation:

          o Note: Please note that uninstalling Darkstar One will not delete any savegames or configuration files. These files must be deleted manually. The default path for these files is C:Documents and SettingsUsernameMy DocumentsAscaron EntertainmentDarkstar One. If you do not wish to keep any personal data from Darkstar One, you may delete this folder.


3. System Requirements   (back to top)
In order to run Darkstar One, your system should meet the following requirements:

    * CPU 1.6 GHz
    * 512 MB RAM
    * Graphics card with 128 MB RAM, DirectX®-9 compatible, with Pixel/Vertex Shader 1.1 support:
      (nVidia® GeForceTM 3 or ATI® Radeon® 8500 or higher)

      Note:
      Cards of the GeForce 4 MX series - with the exception of GeForce 4 MX 4000 - are not supported!
      (Reason: These cards do not have Pixel/Vertex Shader 1.1 support)

    * DirectX compatible sound card
    * DVD-ROM drive
    * 6.5 GB free Hard Drive (HDD) space
    * Microsoft® Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 4 or Windows XP with Service Pack 2
    * DirectX 9 (included with game)


Recommended requirements for a fast, smooth-running game:

    * CPU 2.6 GHz
    * Graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DirectX-9 compatible, with Pixel/Vertex Shader 3.0 support:
      (nVidia GeForce FX 6600 or higher or ATI Radeon X800 or higher)
    * DirectX compatible sound card
    * DVD-ROM drive
    * 5.1 surround sound card with surround speakers or headphones
    * Mouse with mouse wheel
    * 6.5 GB free Hard Drive (HDD) space
    * Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2
    * DirectX 9 (included with game)
    * Optional: 4-axis joystick (preferably with throttle and rudder)


Important Notice: We cannot guarantee that Darkstar One will run on all laptops and notebooks due to the numerous and varied systems available. Additionally, the graphics chipsets of laptop/notebook models are not always identical to those of desktop computers. If your laptop/notebook fulfills the minimum requirements, Darkstar One will most likely run; however, we regret that we are unable to offer any guarantee to this effect.


WARNING: If you are using Windows XP or Windows 2000, please make sure that you have administration rights in order to install and play Darkstar One. (On home computers the main user is normally the administrator of your system.)


4. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)   (back to top)
Q: The game will not start. What am I doing wrong?

A: A number of reasons could be the cause:

    * Please make sure that your system meets the minimum requirements. Please refer to "3. System Requirements".

    * Please make sure that you have installed the latest video, sound and motherboard drivers for your system.
      Please refer to "6. Driver Help" for additional information.
      Note: Driver CDs, which are included with the hardware at time of purchase might be already outdated by a newer version!




Q: Why is my DVD not being recognized when I start the game?

A: A number of reasons could be the cause:

    * There might be conflicts with the copy protection. If you have Virtual CD-ROM Drives (installed by Daemon Tools, Alcohol 120 % or GameJack) these should be deactivated or preferably uninstalled.

    * Please make sure that you have installed the latest drivers for the chipset of your mainboard.

    * If you have a mainboard with an nForce chipset, you should reinstall your mainboard drivers and select No when you are prompted to install the SW Drivers.

    * If you have a second DVD ROM drive in your system, please try to install and run the game from that drive.



Q: The game does not run smoothly. What can I do to increase performance?

A: There are several means by which to improve performance:

    * Make sure that your system fulfills the minimum requirements. Please refer to "3. System Requirements" for details.

    * Make sure that there are no other applications running in the background! These will decrease performance significantly, especially on systems meeting only the minimum RAM requirement. In extreme cases, running applications in the background may lead to frequent crashes.

    * Set your resolution to 1024x768 (lowest setting).

    * FSAA ("Full Scene Anti-Aliasing") may decrease performance significantly. The FSAA settings are in the Options screen. If you experience performance problems, select a lower FSAA rating (4x and 2x options are available), or disable it completely.
      When using graphics cards with 128 MB RAM, FSAA should always be deactivated; the same applies for CPUs with a capacity of less than 3 GHz.

    * The Graphics settings under Options should always be adjusted according to the system: PCs meeting the "Minimum Requirements" should be set to Low; PCs meeting the "Recommended Requirements" of RAM, CPU and graphics card may be set to High. All other systems should be set to Medium.

    * Deactivating Shadows under Options will also increase performance considerably.

    * Decrease the Color Depth to 16 Bit. However, the increase in performance might be negligible unless you are using an older graphics card or are running a high resolution.

    * Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to find a standard solution in order to run the game smoothly while maintaining a high graphics quality as performance depends on many factors. However, here are a few more tips for (customized) fine tuning:

          o When using graphics cards of the nVidia GeForce FX 5xxx series (i.e. cards from GeForce FX 5100 to GeForce FX 5950 Ultra), set Effects and Object Details under Options to Low ("Shader 1.1"). (Reason: These graphics cards are Shader-2.0 compatible; however, their capacity is often insufficient to perform smoothly and adequately.
            Note: Older graphics cards, which are restricted to Shader 1.1, will be unable to accept settings higher than Low under Effects and Object Details.

          o Lower the Texture Quality. This will increase the game performance considerably at the cost of the quality of graphics.
            The Texture Quality setting should be no higher than Medium for graphics cards with 128 MB RAM or less. Only systems with more than 512 MB RAM and graphics cards of at least 256 MB RAM should be set to High.



Q: The game stalls for no apparent reason for several seconds or is extremely jerky. What can I do?

A: These are the most probable reasons:

    * FSAA ("Full Scene Anti-Aliasing") has not been set to Application Controlled in your graphics driver options. This might set the default value too high (2x, 4x or even higher). You should activate this option and adjust the settings in game under Options. Additionally, you should deactivate the Anisotropic Filtering or set it to Application Controlled as well.

      (Note: The following steps may vary depending on the graphics card or the driver version. It is also possible that they might not apply at all. The steps listed apply to nVidia- and ATI graphics cards [referring to the latest driver versions available at the creation date of this Readme file]; however, the settings for other graphics cards should be very similar and you might find these steps useful as an indication.)

      For nVidia- ("GeForce"-)graphics cards:
          o Click on Start, then click on Control Panel.
          o Double click on Display and select the tab Settings.
          o Click the Advanced button on the bottom right.
          o Click on the tab with the name of your graphics card (for example GeForce 6800 GT).
          o There should be an "additional window" on the left side. If that window is not open, click on the small green vertical bar on the left. This should open the additional window.
          o Click on Performance & Quality Settings in the left window.
          o Select Using global driver settings from the pull-down menu below Application.
          o Select Antialiasing Settings in the lower part of the window and make sure the selected setting is Application-controlled..
          o Repeat those steps for the setting of Anisotropic Filtering. This filter should also be set to Application-controlled.

      For ATI- ("Radeon"-)graphics cards:
          o Click on Start, then click on Control Panel.
          o Double click on Display and select the tab Settings.
          o Click the Advanced button on the bottom right.
          o Click on the ATI 3D tab.
          o Click on the Default button.

    * The Texture Quality is set to High under Options and your graphics card has less than 256 MB RAM or your PC has 512 MB RAM or less (or both). Please readjust your Texture Quality settings to Medium - or Low if the problem persists.

    * Graphics Quality under Options is Medium or even High, despite barely meeting the minimum system requirements.

    * Please be sure that your system meets the minimum requirements of "3. System Requirements".



Q: The game does not run stable and crashes frequently. What could be the problem?

A: A number of reasons could be the cause:

    * Please make sure that your system meets the minimum system requirements. Refer to "3. System Requirements" for more details.

    * Do not set your graphics settings under Options too high. Excessive settings may cause an instable game or frequent crashes!

    * Set Graphics Quality to Low under Options when your system only barely meets the minimum system requirements.

    * Make sure that there are no (!) other applications running in the background! This applies especially but is not limited to anti-virus software and firewalls.

    * The Windows swap file may be too small. Ensure that Windows is set to automatically control the virtual memory in order to avoid this problem.

    * Please make sure that you have installed the latest video, sound and motherboard drivers for your system.
      Refer to "6. Driver Help" for more information.

    * If you own an ATI- ("Radeon"-)graphics card, re-installing older ATI drivers has solved these problems in extremely rare cases (for example Catalyst driver version 5.5). However, resorting to this solution should be an extreme measure after all other steps have failed!



Q: Is there any way to improve the quality of graphics for my system?

A: All relevant options are available in game. For some graphics cards it is possible to force anisotropic filtering and 6x or even 8x FSAA in the graphics driver settings; however, we strongly discourage using these settings. These settings will yield only marginally better graphics and they will decrease the performance substantially leading to crashes in extreme cases.
We recommend leaving the graphics card driver settings on "Default" to ensure that the application controls the respective settings.



Q: I own a Joystick / Gamepad etc., but I am unable to configure it properly in game. What is the reason?

A: One of two reasons might be the cause for this problem:

    * Please ensure that the joystick / the gamepad is configured and working properly. Click on Start, then select Control Panel and finally Game Controllers. If your joystick / gamepad does not work properly, you are facing a problem with your controller. Usually, re-installing the drivers should solve the issue.

    * You might have more than one joystick / gamepad plugged in. In that case, the game might not recognize the proper controller. Please unplug the additional controller and re-start the game. The device should be recognized now.



Q: I have advanced in the game to the mission where I am supposed to operate a flak; however, I am unable to move! What can I do?

A: This issue seems to arise when you are playing in window mode. There are two solutions:

    * Use Alt-Tab in order to switch to another application ("Change Task"). Return to the game by using Alt-Tab again and if you see the default Windows mouse cursor, click on the Darkstar One window in order to activate it.

    * Alternatively, change from window to full screen mode briefly (go to Options and change settings under Graphics).

     The flak should be operable now.




Q: Why are Windows ME, Windows 98 (SE) and Windows95 no longer supported?

A: Due to the age of these operating systems, we cannot guarantee that Darkstar One would run. As stated on the box, the earliest supported operating system is Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4.




5. Technical Notes   (back to top)
Windows 2000 / XP

Please make sure that you have the latest updates and Service Packs installed with Windows XP / Windows 2000. The most recent updates on the creation date of this Readme file are Service Pack 2 for Windows XP and Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000. In order to install these Service Packs, please run a Windows Update from the Internet Explorer / Tools / Windows Update.


6. Driver Help   (back to top)
Important Notice: Always ensure that you have deactivated all applications (especially your Anti-Virus software) before installing a driver as the additional applications might interfere with the self-configuration of the driver you are installing.

If you are experiencing problems with your game, an outdated - graphics card - driver might well be the cause. Even if you have only recently purchased your graphics card, the drivers might be outdated as the card could have been manufactured several months earlier and only the drivers available at that time will be included with your hardware. Here is how you can find the latest drivers:

Before installing any drivers please make sure that you know exactly which chip-set type your graphics card features!

NVIDIA
("GeForce")

Hope this helps... Seed and enjoy