How to get armada 1 to work on a modern pc

posted on September 5th, 2011, 1:24 am

Ive recently discovered how to get armada 1 to work on my Pc and wanted to share the different fixes

Windows 7

First try these settings before posting:  (This should correct the Out of Memory error, did for me)

-go to armada Dir C:/program files/activistion/star trek - armada
-Right click on armada.exe - properties (here comes the fun part)
-Go to compatibility tab
-Set it for windows xp sp2
-Run in 256 colors
-Set to run as administrator
-Check armada CD

If you still have issues using armada, feel free to post and we will try our best to sort the problem out. Please try to be as descriptive as possible


For memory issues or slow down:

4GB of RAM or more can cause the error message:
"Sorry, there is not enough memory to continue, Please make sure you have at least 50MB free on your hard drive and that the virtual memory is not disabled."
It can in fact still load in some cases, but will possibly cause slow down and incompatibility issues while running the game.

Problem:
Star Trek Armada appears to have an overflow error when indexing more than 2GB of RAM, so when it's counting up the memory available at 2GB it wraps to a negative number.

Two easy option are available:
-Remove 2GB of memory every time you want to play the game.
-Use Msconfig.

Using Msconfig
-Start menu
-Click search program and files
-type Msconfig
-Boot Tab
-Advanced Options
-Tick Number of Processors: 1
PCI Lock
Maximum Memory :
-If you have 4 GB put 2048 As the number to remove
-For 6 GB 4096
-For 8 GB 6144
-Click ok, apply, save


Be very careful editing this though. It has to be exactly that or you could break things. This will make Windows 7 think you only have 2GB of RAM next time you boot. To restore, simply run Msconfig again and follow the instructions above unticking the boxes, apply, save followed by a reboot.

posted on October 13th, 2011, 3:02 am

Nice job, this'll save people alot of hassle This can also work for A2 in most cases as well
I was right about to post something similar, you beat me to it

posted on October 13th, 2011, 3:12 am

It's technically outdated as the 1.3 Patch fixes these issues

posted on October 13th, 2011, 3:39 am

hmmm i had no such problems running Armada 1

my specs
1100t 6 core 3.3ghz
16gb DDR3 1333
Win7 X64bit
Radeon 6950

well maybe my computer adapted 

(and no i was not using 1.3 i was using 1.2)

posted on October 13th, 2011, 9:35 am

Whether out not stock (<1.3) a1 runs on a new system tends to vary from system to system. It is unpredictable.

posted on October 13th, 2011, 10:52 am

Hmmm....I don't remember running into any issues.  I just stuck the disc in, installed it, and played it.  I then realized "this isn't anywhere good as Fleet Ops!" and removed the disc and the game from my computer after a solid 15 minutes of playing. :-p 

posted on October 13th, 2011, 3:09 pm

Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's a thread on A2F with half the people asking how they can get the game to run on XP and the other half swearing it works great on XP with no tweaks.

posted on October 13th, 2011, 3:43 pm

It's pretty system specific as I recall  . A bit like A2 

posted on December 8th, 2011, 12:09 am

I have been thinking about playing the original Armada for a while, and read several of these posts before proceeding.  I followed Njm1983's  post (September 05, 2011, 02:24:54 AM), and it worked fine installing it on Win7 (SP1).  The only thing I did not do was the "run in 256 colors".  The "Run under WinXP SP2" in compatibility mode is the option that works.  I tried using "Win98/ME", and my mouse did not function at all.  I also did not encounter the possible over 4GB RAM problem that Njm1983 reported about.

Previously, I tried installing Armada on WinXP (SP3) and while it installed ok, the game play was weird.  The sound would skip or go to fast.  I played Armada for a hour in Win7 (SP1), and did not have any issues.  I am going to try again doing an install on my WinXP (SP3) system.

There was a similar post on Tech Support Forum.  While dated from earlier this year, the posts mentioned there are several Armada folks that play multi-player with something called Game Ranger.  I have to do some research, but I think I will be going to Game Ranger and downloading it.  There is also another piece of software that works well too: it's called Tunngle (do a search on Tunngle in Google or go here Free p2p VPN - Tunngle Home).  My friend an I play Company of Heroes v1.71 in it all the time, and it works pretty good.

Thanks to all for the help and suggestions; nothing like being able to play an old favorite again!


System:
OS: Win7 Ultimate (SP1); WinXP (SP3); it's a dual boot
CPU: Core i7 920 @ 2.6 GHz
RAM: 6GB
GPU: nVidia GTX 285
HDD: 2TB (Win7); 1TB (WinXP)
Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi Gamer
Monitor: NEC 19" CRT (that's right, a CRT; that's how I roll)

posted on December 10th, 2011, 3:18 pm

I think running A1 has more to do with the graphics card your using than any other factor.  I have two xp machines one with a GF 7600 graphics card and the other GF 8800 and the 7600 machine runs fine.  Both machines run close to 4GB memory.  No tweaking has been sucessful to date, including the recently released patch (thank you for that by the way).

posted on December 10th, 2011, 4:45 pm

Yes, I agree with Pepperman - the sound card and graphics screw up a lot of stuff for A1. I'm resigned to running A1 in safemode with the limited color palette in order to get it somewhat functional - and it can still crash on occasion.

We've actually been playing Fleet Ops on Tunngle for quite some time now