Star Trek Starfleet Academy: Support

TREKCORE > GAMING > STARFLEET ACADEMY > Support

Install the patch! It may fix the problem you're having! Download it here. Any problems that are fixed by the patch are not addressed in this page.

Information on this pages comes from the Help files that came with the game as well as Interplay's technical support pages. If you cannot find help on this page, you may want to visit the FAQ, as it has answers to non-technical questions related to the game.

1. I have the Gateway DVD bundled version and the game is not working.
2. Receiving the message DINPUT.DLL (or some other .dll file) is missing.
3. The D3D version of SFA is not working properly with my 3Dfx video card (the graphics seem to flicker when on the bridge view).
4. I receive the error: "Error initializing hardware D3D video mode 640 x 480" when running the D3D version of Starfleet Academy.
5. I have the DVD version of the game and the video is distorted.
6. The game locks up half way through the installation.
7. I have installed the patch but I am still not getting the external views.
8. How do I install the game on Windows NT 4.0?
9. The movies are choppy and seem to skip.
10. I can fire my weapons with my joystick, but I can't move the ship with the joystick or keyboard.

1. I have the Gateway DVD bundled version and the game is not working.
The DVD is designed for the Ravisent DVD player. If your Gateway has a different DVD drive, we have an update on the Downloads section. Once this has been installed your game should work properly.
   

2. Receiving the message DINPUT.DLL (or some other .dll file) is missing.
It sounds like you might not have DirectX installed on your system or it may be improperly installed. Unfortunately, this game needs DirectX installed to work correctly. You may want to install DirectX from your Star Fleet Academy game. The install files for DirectX are located on your Starfleet Academy CD #1. Run DXSETUP.EXE under the DirectX folder.

   
3. The D3D version of SFA is not working properly with my 3Dfx video card (the graphics seem to flicker when on the bridge view).
Download and install the latest drivers from the 3Dfx Interactive web site. These drivers should help resolve any graphical problems you may experience in SFA when using a 3Dfx based video card.
   
4. I receive the error: "Error initializing hardware D3D video mode 640 x 480" when running the D3D version of Starfleet Academy.
If you don't have the option "Direct3D Hardware Acceleration Enabled" check marked on the DXsetup menu, the game will not initialize D3D operation. To check this follow the steps below:
  • Double-Click on the My Computer Icon.
  • Double-Click on your C: Drive.
  • Double-Click on the Program Files folder.
  • Double-Click on the DirectX folder.
  • Double-Click on the Setup folder.
  • Finally, Double-Click on DXSETUP.EXE

This will bring up the DXsetup window. Make sure the option for "Direct3D Hardware Acceleration Enabled" is check marked. After enabling this option, try running the game again. If your video card does support D3D, we should not see the error again.

   
5. I have the DVD version of the game and the video is distorted.
When running Starfleet Academy with the Encore DVD kit from Creative Labs the video may appear to be distorted. In order to correct this problem the video alignment must be set at a 640X480 resolution while in Windows. To do this:
  • Set the screen resolution to 640X480 from within the display settings found in the control panel.
  • Run the Video Alignment program that ships with the Creative Labs Encore DVD kit. The program can be found in the directory where the program was installed or run by clicking Start-PC-DVD Encore-Video Alignment.
  • Set the screen resolution back to the original setting.
   
Q

6. The game locks up half way through the installation.
Make sure you are giving the game enough time to install to your hard drive. Because the game needs about 185 megs of hard drive space for installation, it WILL take a lot of time to install this game. If the game does not install even after waiting for a long period of time, then the troubles might be DirectX related.

This can happen when installing the game on a computer that does not have DirectX installed or that has DirectX improperly installed. Try installing DirectX from the DirectX folder on CD #1 before attempting to install the game again.

   
Q

7. I have installed the patch but I am still not getting the external views.
After installing the patch you will need to go to the controls menu and Reset the default controls to enable all of the added keyboard commands available within the patch. After resetting the controls you should then be able to utilize the function keys that give you external views.

   
Q

8. How do I install the game on Windows NT 4.0?
Playing SFA on a Windows NT operating system is not directly supported by Interplay. But you can try using the _SETUP file instead of the normal setup file to install your game. Using the normal setup file will give an error about not being able to install the game from Windows NT. Be sure to have Service Pack 3 installed for NT or your system will not have the DirectX support needed by the game and the installer.

   
Q

9. The movies are choppy and seem to skip.
If Skipping occurs during Movies, try adjusting your read-ahead cache on your CD-Rom drive to None. Settings other than this can actually interfere with the performance of the Movies. To set this do the following steps:

  • Right click on the "My Computer" icon.
  • Select "Properties" from the menu.
  • Select the "Performance" tab.
  • Select the "File System" button.
  • Select the "CD-ROM" tab in the new window.
  • Under "Optimze Access Pattern For:" select the "No Read Ahead" option.
  • Select the "Ok" button to save these settings and close the window.
  • You will need to reboot for these settings to take effect.
   
Q

10. I can fire my weapons with my joystick, but I can't move the ship with the joystick or keyboard.
This can happen if you have 2-axis, 2-button joystick selected in the Control Panel's Joystick icon. Make sure you have the correct setting selected for your joystick type in Windows 95. You may need to contact the manufacturer of your joystick for further assistance.