Frequently Asked Questions
Q. It says "ACK!!! An error occured! But I don't know what kind!"
or something like that. What do I do?
A. I don't know.
Q. It says "Game Desynchronized" or something. What do I do?
A. Look in net.txt
Q. It says "Error: Error switching to graphics mode" or something
like that. What should I do?
A. Use the command line options -res, -bpp, and -fullscreen or
-window to force it to start in a graphics mode your video card
and video driver like. Example:
"twwin -res 640 480 -bpp 8 -fullscreen -nosound" runs the windows version
of TimeWarp at 640x480 with 8 bits per pixel in a fullscreen mode. This
is generally a safe setting, although 8 bits per pixel looks ugly.
Once you get it running, click on options and then select "Set Default" so
that those settings will be the default the next time you run it.
Note: "twdos -res 320 200 -bpp 8 -fullscreen" will cause TimeWarp
to run in standard VGA mode (13h). TimeWarp is actually playable at
this outdated resolution. "twdos -res 320 240 -bpp 8 -fullscreen"
should also work on any VGA card. This can also be usefull if you want
to run twdos on a windows NT dos box that doesn't permit dos programs
to use super VGA mode graphics.
Networking FAQ
Q. I can't find networking in the menu. Where is it?
A. Click on "Extended Menu".
Q. When I try to start a network game it says "Networking is disabled
(compile time) in this version of TimeWarp". What do I do?
A. Use the windows binary (twwin.exe) instead of the DOS binary
(twdos.exe).
Q. The client asks me for an IP Address and Port number. What should I
tell it?
A. Give it the IP address of the server, and leave the port number at
15515. By the way, you can usually also enter a name instead of an IP
number (e.g. orz.res.wpi.net instead of 130.215.232.159)
Q. What's my servers IP address?
A. Run "winipcfg" on your server. It will tell you.
A2. If you're running win2k/NT, you type "ipconfig"
or "ipconfig /all" instead of "winipcfg".
Q. What are the keys used for controlling a network game?
A. The client will use the keyboard setup 0 on the clients machine. The
server will use keyboard setup 0 on the servers machine. These default to
thrust = keypad8, left = keypad4, right = keypad6, fire = enter,
special = leftshift.
Q. I'm playing on a LAN, with very low ping times, like 5-10 milliseconds,
but the game feels laggy. How can I get rid of the lag?
A. Edit server.ini on the server. A line near the top will look like
"Lag = 175". Change the 155 to something lower, like 35 or something.
Q. I'm playing with high ping times, and game is slow and jerky
sometimes... How do I fix this?
A. The slowdowns and/or jerks can be removed by changing the line in
the servers scp.ini that says "Lag = 175", increasing that by 200.
Doing this will actually increase how long it takes for your key presses
to take effect, butit's often worth it to get rid of those annoying
pauses and slowdowns. If your ping is sufficiently high you might also
want to slow down the timescale of the game, by lowering "Turbo" in
server.ini from 1.0 to 0.7 or even 0.5 .
Q. How do I measure my ping time?
A. On one computer, type ping x.x.x.x , where x.x.x.x is the IP address of
the other machine. A good ping under 100 ms is good, a ping time under 200
ms is decent, a ping time under 300 ms is mediocre, and anything over that
may be too slow or laggy for some people even if the Lag parameter is set
optimallly.
Q. I get the error message "Game has Desynchronized" or
something like that.
A. Start a new game. Try to make sure that both your server and client are
using exactly the same version of TimeWarp (look in version.txt to find out
what version you have). Modifications to .ini files won't cause desynchs,
but modifications (or deletions) of .dat files will. If none of the above circumstances apply, tell me about it.
Q. I don't have anyone to play against. How do I find someone?
A. Check the TimeWarp webpage (http://timewarp.sf.net/) for
the latest method of reaching other TimeWarp players.
Known Bugs
Version 0.05u6:
known major bugs:
Networking occaisonally desynchs for no known reason.
Reports of sound not working on Windows ME.
Windows XP support is reported to be flaky.
known minor bugs:
Slylandro lightning messed up again
Version 0.05u5:
known major bugs:
none
known minor bugs:
Joystick setup doesn't work, and some joysticks don't work at all
VUX warp-in screwed up
Ships warp in near the planet
How to Report Bugs
You can use our Bugzilla Bug-Tracking Systems
and include this information:
1. The version where you found the bug (e.g. 0.05u6 or a recent alpha version)
2. The executable where you found the bug (e.g. twwin.exe or twdos.exe)
3. The circumstances where the bug occured (e.g. sometimes right
after I select a new ship in combat)
4. The manifestation of the bug (e.g. the screen freezes and it won't
respond to anything).
5. Anything else you think is important. (e.g. I keep my pet gerbil inside
of my computer, so the processor will keep him toasty warm)