Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations

I'm really sorry for posting this in th wrong place, but the tech support section doesn't seem to get any traffic and I really want to install Fleet Ops... :sweatdrop:

So anyway, I've been lurking around here for, well, more than a year, on and off... And I finally got broadband, after nagging my parents for a number of years, so now I am capable of downloading (and hopefully playing) Fleet Ops, something I've been itching to try.

However, I understand there are some problems with installing Fleet Ops on Windows Vista (indeed, I have experienced the decoder bug first hand after I attempted to install Fleet Ops before I knew about the Vista related issues). I have since downloaded the so-called 'fix' for this, but now I have no idea what to do with the .zip file.

So I ask, what is the step-by-step procedure for installing Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations on a machine running Windows Vista? I think I have all of the required software on hand (Armada II CD, download of Fleet Ops 3.0 PR, 3.0 PR patch, Fleet Ops Multimedia and Vista patch .zip file), but what do I do now? I have removed the messed up Fleet Ops and Armada II files from my computer and am now ready to install a fresh, vanilla copy of Armada II...

So, step-by-step where do I go from here?

The problem is bigger than most imagine. May I first ask you if you have experiences with virtual machines or do one of your family/friends have a computer with Windows XP on it? If yes I promise you you'll play FO on your machine very soon. Otherwise I have to dissappoint you because up till now there is no other way to get FO running on Vista. You would have to install FO on a XP machine and then copy it via LAN onto your Vista machine and then replace the exe with the ".zip" (which includes a fixed exe for Vista users you actually have to use).

As mentioned there are two ways I know of you can bring FO on your Vista machine.

1. Virtual XP machine --> install FO --> copy to you Vista machine --> replace exe

2. Install on a friends or families XP machine (all lower than Vista) ---> use LAN to copy it from there onto your machine --> replace exe

As a matter of fact, we do indeed have an XP machine (and an ME machine and a 98 machine... :lol:)... what do I have to do, exactly?

Well... there are plenty of threads that explain this, but just load FO as you would normally do on the XP machine (downloading the patch, media files etc and running them). Copy that folder and put it in your My Documents folder on the Vista machine. Replace the .map thingy with the zip file and play your heart out!  :thumbsup:

Triarii? I like your name =). Did you ever play Rome Total War?

As a matter of fact, yes, R:TW was is one of my favorite games. When I first went to the Rome: Total War forums on Heaven Games back in 2005, I thought to make my user name Triarii. People don't generally like the Triarii unit in R:TW (they say it sucks), but when I used them in the tutorial, I thought the way they called out "TRIARII!!!" when you clicked on then was really cool... it kinda stuck with me... and became the user name I tended to use wherever I went for quite some time (eventually to be replaced by Captain Trek or some variant thereof).

But that's all off topic... :sweatdrop:


I can do that... that's simple enough... But... is there any other way for me to copy the files other than using a LAN connection? We, err, don't have one... :sweatdrop:

Sure: use a CD or a DVD-R or a flashdrive  ^-^

Ok then. Go and install Fleet Ops on your XP machine or whatever and then send a copy of this Fleet Ops folder to your Vista machine, or take an USB stick for transferring. Whatever you like.
Once the Fleet Ops copy is on your Vista machine replace the FO exe with the exe in the .zip.
Launch FleetOps and have loads of fun...

Ok, three things...

1: Is it OK to replace the files before I copy the thing to my Vista?

2: Do I only overwrite the .exe file, or do I use all three files that came in update.zip?

3: If I do have to use all three files, here does the FleetOps.mad file go?

1. yea, it is ok to overwrite every file before copying (the patch works for xp too btw)
2. replace all files
3. that goes to the root folder of fleet operations, too. just where you copy the fleetops.exe file also

Well, it didn't work... >:(

When I try to play Fleet Ops now, I still get the same error on attempting to start up after replacing FleetOps.map with FleetOps.mad...

Screw it, I'm going to try installing in safe mode... >:(

EDIT: Okay, now it works! I didn't know about the program files problem. Once I moved my folder to the desktop, the thing started working! YES!!! :woot:

Thanks for all the help, guys! :thumbsup:

that is good to hear. :)

have fun :thumbsup:

Yep... the only problem now are the horrific Armada II voices... hmm... maybe I can fix that myself... :shifty:

interesting.... :) if you like you can then send me your "fix" via email ;)

All I've really done so far is to replace the construction and scout ship voice sets for the Federation, Romulans and Klingons with their Armada I counter parts. I've also replaced that abysmal stoned sounding computer vocie with its Armada I counterpart. Of all the bad voices in Armada II, the computer voice pisses me off the most. Why on Earth didn't you guys replace the computer voice like you did for the Klingons and Romulans? >:(

Ah, anyway, if you like I might also be able to find some voices that might work for this game from some of my other games, if you like... Doubt I'll find anything useless, but I can always try, right? :thumbsup:

Ooh cool  :D
Nice going Triarii  :thumbsup:
Wouldn't it be possible to take sound-bits from the actual series to use?

I don't think we could find enough of the right sound-bits from anybody except the well known characters though... I think some people would find it a bit jarring to suddenly hear their favorite characters out of nowhere when they click on some nodescript Steamrunner class or something...

I was going to suggest we give some of the sound clips from Star Trek: New Worlds a try. Lousy game, sure, but some of the voice acting for the various units was actually pretty decent... Unfortuneately, retrieving the sound files might be more trouble than it's worth because New Worlds has this very strange way of storing its infomation files. Most of its sound files are simply wave files that are plainly visible when you go into the New Worlds program files, but a few (including, unfortuneately, all the voice sets for the units) seem to be missing from the files, even though they play when you go into the game... :pinch:

You might be able to get them off the disk though... I don't know...

Since I've never actually played the game, is it a DVD and do you have to keep the CD/DVD inside the computer while you play? If so, then perhaps the files are on the disk, and thus you have to burn a copy of the disc to get those files (try using some emulation software; maybe Nero or CloneCD, or even Virtual Drive). It should be feasible to get those files though  :D

Yea, you need the disk to play New Worlds. But why would the thing copy most of the sound clips to your hard drive (all of the briefings, all of the music and most of the base related things like "colony is under attack" and "transporter pad complete") and not all of them? That seems pretty stupid. Alas it must be true... :rolleyes:

Well, I had a look on the disk and the sound data is in something called a cabinet folder...

I was tempted to say that the disc would do this to make you ask questions... but that would be mean  :( (I'm in a funny mood today so you'll have to excuse me :ermm:)
Seriously though, I think it is so you are forced to use the disc (makes it more difficult to play the game without using a disc... think about AoE II: you can play without the disc, but then you have no music... not very effective). Or it could be that the developers were, well, just plain stupid  :rolleyes:

So, how do I get the wave files out of the cabinet folder? :ermm:

Do you have any of those programs I mentioned: Really any program that can copy DVD/CD's will work (a couple basic ones are downloadable off the internet); just copy and then locate the file... or if you said that you found the "cabinet folder" I would just copy that folder specifically. I'm not exactly sure of the format of this CD, but the copying process should work like any normal info CD. I'm not sure that I can help beyond this point, as I am not too savy...  :crybaby:

Hmm... does anyone here have any skill with .CAB files?