Sins of a Solar Empire Technical FAQ

You've got Sins of a Solar Empire home. You've installed it and you go to play and POW. Something goes wrong! What the heck? Look in here to see if your issue is addressed. If not, make a post and we'll do our best to help you out!

• My multiplayer games keep crashing!

Almost all of the crash reports we've received in this regard were caused by some of the players using Mods that the other players weren't. If you're going to use Mods in a multiplayer game, either all players must use the same Mod (and version) or no Mods can be used. Otherwise this will create stability issues and de-sync problems the longer you play.

• My game is crashing for another reason...

If you had the game installed on your PC previously (i.e., during the beta), you must uninstall it before installing the final game.

• I have an NVIDIA card and my game or video driver keeps crashing!

NVIDIA has resolved this issue as of driver version 174. Check NVIDIA's website for the latest version (if you have a laptop and the OEM does not have the latest version, try laptopvideo2go.com instead).

• Where are the files kept for Sins of a Solar Empire (such as screenshots and such?)

Vista:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\

XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\

Please note these directories may be Hidden by default. To unhide them, go to your Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View and set yourself to view hidden files and folders.

Note: If you're running the game through Stardock Central under Windows Vista, it will save your game settings under an Admin folder:  C:\Users\ADMIN_NAME\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\

We are working to correct this behavior. 

• Why does the direct digital download version cost $5 more than game costs at the store?

The direct version is the Collector's Edition which includes additional non-game content such as a music CD (which you can download), PDF files of maps and tech trees, and a Windows theme.

• Where is my Sins settings file found?

This file is located at:

Vista:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting\user.setting

XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting\user.setting

Please note these directories may be Hidden by default. To unhide them, go to your Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View and set yourself to view hidden files and folders.

• The game blue screens or I get video corruption when I play.

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video and sound card. This is particularly important if you have an older video card. The game will have problems on outdated drivers.

• The game crashes in Vista.

This could be due to a known Vista bug which can be addressed here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940105

• How can I open my settings file if I need to change something?

You can open this and most Sins files with a simple text editor such as Notepad. We strongly recommend against using programs like Microsoft Word, however, as they introduce their own hidden formatting elements that may cause crashes.

• My game has crashed and told me it saved a "minidump" file. What do I do?

Please open Windows Explorer to the location below and see if your dump file is there.

XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp\Sins Dump

Vista: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\Sins Dump

If there is a minidump file present, please zip it up along with a copy of a dxdiag from your PC and a description of what you were doing when it occurred to support(at)ironcladgames(dot)com. Please note that you must provide your Sins of a Solar Empire serial number in your email to receive support (anti-piracy measure).

• My game has a bug, what do I do?

You can send the save and/or recorded game that recreates the bug along with a description of how it occurred to us. Using the info above, locate the save/recorded game and compress it into either .zip or .rar format, then email it to us at support(at)ironcladgames(dot)com. Please note that you must provide your Sins of a Solar Empire serial number in your email to receive support (anti-piracy measure).

• I try to start Sins but I get an "Audio Engine Failed To Initialize" error.

This is an indication that your sound card drivers are out-of-date, that you don't have a sound card, or that you don't have any speakers connected (Vista). Please try installing a valid, up-to-date sound driver for your system. A sound card is required to play the game.

• I try to start Sins but the screen is a mess of color or is black and never loads the game.

Possible solutions:

1. Try turning off movies in the user.setting by changing ShowIntroMovies TRUE to ShowIntroMovies FALSE.
2. Try manually changing the resolution of the game in user.setting by changing the values associated with WINDOWEDWIDTH and WINDOWEDHEIGHT.
3. Try manually changing the MULTISAMPLETYPE setting to a value between 0 and 4 in the user.setting file.
4. Try updating your sound card drivers to their latest version (this is especially important on brand new machines).
5. Make sure you video drivers are up to date.
6. Make sure you have the latest DirectX 9c.
7. Try manually reducing all your texture levels in user.setting (set them to 0 for the lowest setting).
8. Try updating to the latest version of Sins using Stardock Central.
9. Try running in windowed mode (ISWINDOWED FALSE to TRUE) also set in user.setting.
10. Try reinstalling Sins (make sure you uninstall and manually delete anything that might have been left over)
11. Try changing the game resolution to the same resolution as your desktop.

• I can't connect to Ironclad Online (ICO) or any LAN games.

Make sure your software firewall (including the Windows Firewall) has not blocked Sins of a Solar Empire. With some firewalls it may appear that Sins has frozen, as the firewall is waiting to receive confirmation to proceed. You may need to exit Sins and restart the game in Windowed mode (IsWindowed in user.setting) in order to get around the firewall's pop-up. Alternatively, you could configure your firewall prior to starting Sins. You also have to be able to connect to both port 6000 and port 7000 on ICO.

• Sins won't continue when I try to host a multiplayer game.

Your TCP/IP or Winsock settings could be corrupted. To confirm this, turn on logging (using the instructions above) and attempt to host a game again. If your log file is filled with "Socket'ServerAcceptedSocket0' failed recv: An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket." then this is most likely the problem.

The solution to fixing your corrupted settings can be found here.

• Other players aren't able to connect to the game I'm hosting.

As of version 1.11, Sins uses Alloy by default so no one should have problems hosting. However, if you choose to disable Alloy in the online hosting options, the following is how to make sure you are capable of hosting. (Note that in some situations you won't have the rights to the make the following changes and Alloy is your best bet - this is typical of tight corporate networks or a university campus situation).

Your user.setting file has an entry for GameHostPort (default is 6112). Make sure your router has this Port Forwarded to your computer's IP address or has UPnP enabled. If you use Port Forwarding, it's important that you set your PC to have a static IP address to maintain your settings.

XP
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

Vista
C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

All computers behind a router should have their own unique GameHostPort setup in case the original host leaves and a new host for the game is needed. Be sure to restart your game after changing these settings. Keep in mind these are NOT the ICO ports of 6000 and 7000 (see above).

Example (computers behind router):

Computer IP                user.settings -> GameHostPort                  Router Port Forwarding Setting

192.168.1.47                             6112 6001 ->                                       192.168.1.47
192.168.1.201                           6113 6002 ->                                       192.168.1.201
192.168.1.35                             6114 6003 ->                                       192.168.1.35

• Q: Where can I get more help with setting up my computer for multiplayer?

 

One site we recommend is: http://portforward.com/default.htm