Empires: Dawn of the Modern World represents the only truly global RTS where players control unique civilizations across a timeline that spans from the Middle Ages to the modern era.
EMPIRES®: DAWN OF THE MODERN WORLD™ DEMO README
This Readme file contains last minute information regarding the EMPIRES: Dawn
of the Modern World demo.
Minimum System Requirements
o Pentium® III or Athlon® 600 MHz processor or higher
o Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP operating system
o 128 MB of RAM (256 MB of required Windows® XP or multiplayer games of 3 or
more)
o 310MB of uncompressed free hard drive space plus 100 MB for the Windows® swap
file
o A 100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP-compatible computer system including:
DirectX® 9.0b
o 100% DirectX® 9-compliant true 16 bit sound card and drivers
o 100% DirectX® 9-compliant 32 MB video card and drivers*
o 100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP -compatible mouse and drivers
o 100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP -compatible keyboard
o 100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP -compatible quad speed (600 K/sec sustained
transfer rate) CD-ROM drive and drivers
REQUIRED FOR MULTIPLAYER MODE
Internet (via GameSpy®) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. A valid Gamespy®
account is required for online multiplay.
Internet play requires a 100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP -compatible 56 Kbps (or
faster) modem and drivers
LAN play (and high-speed Internet play over DSL and cable modems) requires a
100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP -compatible network interface card and drivers.
*3D Accelerator Card Required
A 100% DirectX® 9 or higher compliant 32MB or higher 3D video card and driver
is required to play EMPIRES: Dawn of the Modern World. Some 3D accelerator
card brands may not be compatible with the 3D acceleration features utilized by
EMPIRES: Dawn of the Modern World. Please check with the card’s manufacturer
to ensure DirectX® 9 compatibility.
Important Note: This product uses DirectX® 9 technology, which requires your
system to have the latest Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP drivers (for CD-ROM, video
card, sound card and input devices) that fully support DirectX® 9.
SUPPORTED CHIPSETS FOR Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP **
NVidia® GeForce™ Chipset
All ATI® Radeon™ Chipset
All Matrox® Parhelia™ Chipset
**Some but not all of the cards with the chipsets listed above have been tested
on Windows® 2000, ME, and XP. For Windows® 2000, ME, and XP 3-D support, please
refer to your hardware manufacturer for 100% DirectX 9 compliant drivers.
SCREENSAVERS AND POWER SAVERS
Screen savers and power savers can cause problems while playing Empires if they
are activated while you are in the game. Activision recommends disabling all
screensavers and power savers before starting.
MONITORS
Please make sure your monitor supports the game resolution you are trying to
play in. To check what resolutions your monitor supports, do the following:
1. Open up My Computer
2. Double-click on Control Panel
3. Find the Display icon and open it.
4. Choose the Settings tab.
5. Locate the resolution pointer in the Desktop Area box and drag it to the
far right.
The resolution choice shown is the maximum resolution your monitor is capable
of displaying. If you do not want to change to this resolution now, select
cancel. Your Desktop Area should be set to the game resolution you are trying
to play in or higher.
NOTE: Please make sure your monitor type is properly specified to insure
correct reporting of available video resolutions.
DUAL MONITORS
You may experience problems with playing Empires on two monitors. Activision
recommends disabling your second monitor before playing Empires to avoid such
issues from arising.
TASK SWITCHING WHILE PLAYING EMPIRES
If you task switch while playing Empires, it could cause serious issues with
the game. Using ALT-TAB or CTRL-ESC while playing Empires is not recommended,
especially during game load screens.
FIREWALL PORTS
If you are behind a firewall, you must open the following ports in order to
play Empires multiplayer:
6500 TCP
13139 UDP
27900 UDP
28900 TCP
29900 TCP
29901 TCP
33321 UDP
33335 TCP
NOTE: Activision in no way supports using firewalls while playing Empires:
Dawn of the Modern World. Activision recommends disabling all firewall
hardware and software before playing the game on-line.
CHANGING GRAPHICS SETTINGS IN GAME
If you change some of the graphics settings in-game, it may require a restart
of Empires for these changes to take effect.
CHANGING RESOLUTIONS AND SHADOWS
If you are changing resolutions to a 16-Bit setting, this could result in the
shadows options being disabled in the settings menu. To resolve the issue,
change your resolution to a 32-Bit color option. NOTE: Shadow Options and
32-Bit color are only intended for high performance machines.
USING GEFORCE CARDS TO PLAY THE EMPIRES DEMO
If you are experiencing poor performance or crashing while playing the Empires
Demo with a GeForce card, please turn the Texture Shaping and Anisotropic
filtering down on your card. If you are unsure how to do this, please refer to
your video card’s manual or nVidia’s website:
Nvidia.com
If you are playing on Windows 98 with a GeForce 3 Ti500 with the latest drivers
(version 45.23), you may experience issues starting the game. If you are
experiencing these issues, try using the previous version of these drivers
(version 44.03).
PROBLEMS STARTING THE GAME
If you are experiencing problems starting the Empires Demo, please try the
following things:
- Make sure the drivers for your video card are the latest version. To find
the latest drivers, visit your card manufacturer or chipset manufacturer’s
website.
- Make sure your video card is a supported chipset and has at least 32MB of
RAM.
- Make sure the 3D hardware acceleration is turned all the way up. You can
check this by running dxdiag.exe, clicking on the Display tab, and making sure
all of your DirectX features on this page are marked “enabled.”
- Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX. This can be downloaded at:
Microsoft.com
HARDWARE ISSUES
Because this is a pre-release demo, not all video cards are supported at this
time. Listed below are the cards that have been found to experience some
issues with the Empires demo:
ATI® Xpert™ 128
Creative Labs® 3D Blaster™ Annihilator
Creative Labs® Graphics Blaster™ Riva TNT
Kyro® I & II
Matrox® G400
SIS® Xabre 400
TM, ®, © 2003 Stainless Steel Studios. All rights reserved. EMPIRES: Dawn of
the Modern World and related marks are trademarks of Stainless Steel Studios.
© 2001 Activision, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision,
Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their
respective owners. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital
Software Association. This product is intended solely for private home use.
Public performance or other use is expressly prohibited.
