*Sticky* For all of you that are new to the Empire at War community!

[Gr3atsaga]

I will start off by first saying, Welcome! Star Wars Empire at War is a really great RTS, which means Real Time Strategy. Something you should all know, EAW means Empire at War and FoC means Forces of Corruption - the expansion for EAW.

I am here to help anyone who needs help with any error related to this game and to provide support and ease of access to the utilities you need to get the most out of this game - because if you do not know already, Lucasarts, Petroglyph, and Valve are not going to help you with it at all. If you have the game installed and have tried to play multiplayer, you may have noticed that there is not a lot of people online at any given time. That is quite the story, which I will talk about in a second post.

If you have purchased the game through Steam, you do not need to worry at all about game patches, but if you have purchased Retail Empire at War and Forces of Corruption, or Retail Gold Pack, you need to do a bit of updating.
If you are wondering if you need to update, you can always tell what update you have by looking in the lower left corner on the main menu in both games.

Retail Gold Pack EAW Version: v1.05.48824 08-07-2007 13:22:30
Steam Gold Pack EAW Version: v1.05.48825 08-12-2009 22:26:28

Retail Gold Pack FOC Version: v1.01.58931 08-07-2007 13:26:12
Steam Gold Pack FOC Version: v.101.58933 08-12-2009 23:13:13


One thing I should note is that if you are having trouble playing with someone when you are playing Steam Gold Pack or Retail Gold pack and they are playing the other, there is an official fix - though the issue was never mentioned by Lucasarts. Download the "EAW_RAM_MPLobby_update" if you are having trouble playing in EAW FOC_RAM_MPLobby_update" if you are having trouble with FOC. You might be thinking, "Well how in the world would that fix it?", well I have no idea either, as it was never discussed or even mentioned by Lucasarts, but I have tested it myself. I think what it does is allow for you to play with the other version, it does not change your version number.


The Latest Patch for Empire at War is 1.5 (or 1.05), you only need to apply this update if you do not have Forces of Corruption installed, as when you install Forces of Corruption it auto-patches Empire at War for you. http://www.lucasarts.com/support/update/EAW1_5.html
There are two links on that page, the first one that is shown in orange is the "EAW_RAM_MPLobby_update" which applies a fix to allow Windows Vista and Windows 7 users that have an "Exception" error when trying to launch the game - which occurs to some people when they have more than 2gb of Ram on Windows Vista and Windows 7. It also fixes connectivity issues between Retail Gold Pack and Steam Gold Pack EAW.
If you want to download that update, click on the orange link and it will take you to the bottom of a new page, click the Download now link and install the update.
The Second Link on the first page is for the 1.5 patch, click download now at the bottom of the page and install it.

The Latest Patch for Forces of Corruption is 1.1 (or 1.01), you need to apply this update if you are playing Retail Forces of Corruption. Retail and Steam Star Wars Empire at War Gold Pack both have patch 1.1. http://www.lucasarts.com/support/update/EAWFOC1_1.html
Just like the EAW page, there are two links. The first one is the "FOC_RAM_MPLobby_update" and it fixes the "Exception" issue for FOC that occurs for the same reason as well as connectivity issues between Retail Gold Pack and Steam Gold Pack FOC.

If you have trouble installing either patch, you could try running the installation from your documents folder, but most likely you need to reinstall your game, or it could mean that you already have it. The error "No original installation found" is very infamous, and can occur for a number or reasons. There are other fixes that do not mean having to reinstall the game, but that is for advanced computer users only as it involves editing registry values. If you would like to attempt to repair it without having to reinstall, contact me for more information.

I hope that this little bit has helped you with your game. If you need more information, want to ask me about a specific issue, or to play with me you can add me and I would be glad to meet your requests. Once again, welcome to the community and happy playing!

[sparkyboy]

Thanks a lot! I'm having trouble with the game freezing when I'm about halfway through conquering all the planets. I tried updating the RAM fix and it installs on EaW but for FoC it gives an error message "Unable to write to installation folder. Installation failed." I've been playing the game for over a year with no problems until a couple of weeks ago. Steam has tried to resolve the issue but so far no luck. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Gr3atsaga]

Originally posted by sparkyboy:

Thanks a lot! I'm having trouble with the game freezing when I'm about halfway through conquering all the planets. I tried updating the RAM fix and it installs on EaW but for FoC it gives an error message "Unable to write to installation folder. Installation failed." I've been playing the game for over a year with no problems until a couple of weeks ago. Steam has tried to resolve the issue but so far no luck. Any advice would be appreciated.

Well, first off I should ask if it is EaW or FoC that freezes when conquering planents, and whether you are running retail or steam. If you are running steam, the RAM fixes are automatically added to your game. What's weird, though, I have started noticing problems with FoC that I have never had before for like the past month. One really big one would be units not firing at mining facilities built on mining pads unless they are extrememly close. My t4-bs could be in range of a mining facility with missiles on and not fire unless they are right next to it. It seems to only happen when I tell them to fire upon it, though. I think they will not have that problem if I just move them in the area, I haven't tried it though. Quite obviously there has been no patches or updates at all, so idk... maybe the servers are starting to bug out. Anyway, get back to me with a little more information, and I can probably poke around and find you a fix. I should also ask you if it happens on all campaigns, with all factions, and the like, and whether you are running or mod or have any mods at all.

[Lone-Raven-Knight]

been tryin to use download links but it refuses to work for me

[funewchie]

Originally posted by sparkyboy:

Thanks a lot! I'm having trouble with the game freezing when I'm about halfway through conquering all the planets. I tried updating the RAM fix and it installs on EaW but for FoC it gives an error message "Unable to write to installation folder. Installation failed." I've been playing the game for over a year with no problems until a couple of weeks ago. Steam has tried to resolve the issue but so far no luck. Any advice would be appreciated.

I'm sure it's not the case, but when it freezes, it's not when you fire the Death Star laser on a planet, is it?

Because that's a known glitch that freezes the game. The glitch happens if the Death Star blows up a planet with Han and Chewbacca on it.

[joansam]

Any idea why mods would have a blank map list for multiplayer campaigns?

[Dexter de Gerlache]

Originally posted by Lone-Raven-Knight:

been tryin to use download links but it refuses to work for me

i've been haveing the same problem

[Corcek]

Has anyone come across a fix for version mismatch between steam user myslef and a friend get version mismatch for FOC.

And on EAW get a sync error when we try to play galactic conquest

[Gr3atsaga]

Originally posted by CoG Rav3r:

Has anyone come across a fix for version mismatch between steam user myslef and a friend get version mismatch for FOC.

And on EAW get a sync error when we try to play galactic conquest

Huh? I am not understanding the problem in the first 2 lines.

Sync errors are probably caused by one of your firewalls not completely letting the connection between you two through. Though, without much knowledge in the area of internet connection, I can't help you much. Check your router's firewall as well as antivirus programs with built-in firewalls - one antivirus I know that causes problems is PC Tools Spyware doctor.

[Corcek]

fair enough but what about FOC whats with the version mismatch i mean we both own it on steam

[Corcek]

sorry i should no by now to re read my posts lol

[I am Revived]

Empire at War: Campaign: Empire: 2nd Mission (Land Invasion). Everytime I attack the planet, an exception comes ups. Any ideas on how to fix that? Do you know what could be the cause?

[Gr3atsaga]

Originally posted by revived:

Empire at War: Campaign: Empire: 2nd Mission (Land Invasion). Everytime I attack the planet, an exception comes ups. Any ideas on how to fix that? Do you know what could be the cause?

Don't know much about exception errors in campaign, but for some reason I want to say that perhaps its a hardware/software issue? Maybe a directx issue or something.

[Vinyl Wookiee]

how do i get 1.1 patch since i need it for UEAW?

[Gr3atsaga]

Originally posted by Vinyl Wookie™:

how do i get 1.1 patch since i need it for UEAW?

You have v1.1...

[Vinyl Wookiee]

when I try to install UEAW it says i need 1.1.