July 1990 (Updated: 02/20/99)

SC2, November 1992 (Updated: 02/20/99)

It has been canned/scrapped/forgotten about.

Here is all the information I have on it:
After reviewing the Pre-Alpha copy of StarCon we have decided to go back to the drawing board because the game didn't look very good. The last time I saw it, the graphics were not sharp and didn't look like very good competition for Colony Wars (much less Colony Wars 2). In the long run the game would have looked bad and you wouldn't have liked it. So ..overall I am disappointed that the game won't come out, but I am happy they made that decision now rather than later.
This doesn't mean we are going to ditch the StarCon/StarControl series..it just means that we didn't like how the game was going.
The internal team working on StarCon have been moved to other projects, but the outside development team is being kept on for a while to see if they can improve things.
Here is the latest information I have:
I am pretty sure Accolade has ditched that title. They may decide to resurrect it later..but for now there are no plans. (Updated: 02/20/99)

Leave a message 'addressed' to them on the SC Discussion Board. Fred posts under 'Wimbli' or 'The Ancient One', although Paul hasn't posted yet.
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

This response is from a kind gentleman at Accolade. Actually it makes A LOT of sense from a business stand point. So before you get mad, THINK about it.

Freeware? You mean we should give our games away for free? It is called CAPITALISM and what that means is that we charge people MONEY for things that we create.

But honestly...At this point in the games life it is not even worth our time to give it away for free. In order to do that we would have to create a version that we could give away for free (removing all password stuff) and then putting it on our web site (which we would have to create a page for and that takes time and resources). It would be a headache for someone Im sure and no one here would want to work on a freeware version of a game that no-one really wants. If you look at the number of people that would really want an old 386x game to run on their new systems that number would be very low. Though Star Control fans REALLY like the game, the rest of the population has already voted on how we should sell this game by purchasing it or not. And the numbers have shown that there are not a lot of people out there that want an old game like that. Kinda see what Im saying?

Why do we want to spend our time making one of our REALLY OLD games into a freeware version when we could be spending our time and resources on making a new game that could earn us BIG MONEY and that everyone could play? Did you know there is 1 PlayStation in every 5 houses? How many people out there want to run an old 386 game on their new Pentium systems? And how many of those people have the knowledge of DOS to get the game running? So you can see that we want to concentrate our time and resources that are going to make our company the most money we can get for our work.

Maybe if we released Star Control 2 for the PlayStation with some other games on the same CD, then we could put out a CLASSICS CD..but even then how would it do versus all the new titles that are coming out?
(Updated: 05/26/99)

It is! Subconsciously, of course. Now, where'd I put that hyperwave transmitter?...
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

There used to be a legal debate: Accolade holds the right to the Star Control name where as TFB hold the rights to everything else related to the game (characters, storyline etc.) I suppose that, if a company approached them, they'd be happy to make another Star Control.
Contributed by: Lex, Tomer Gabel (Updated: 11/27/99)

Comments by Fred Ford: Unfortunately after six years of further coding and media failure, I no longer have a complete set of source. Also, I'm not very sentimental about old stuff.
(Updated: 03/10/00)

This cheat increases the number of precursor artifacts in the Full Game and it works with the Genesis emulator and game ROM.

1. Enter the full game and pick a scenario, escalation is a good one for this.
2. Figure out whether you want visible stars or not and tap the B button.
3. After you hit the B button, immediately press it down again and hold it while holding DOWN and LEFT on the controller.

• Actually, you don't need to hold B, or the down arrow. Just tap B once to get to the "ENTERING NEW STAR CLUSTER" screen, then press and hold the left arrow till the star cluster appears.

Comments by Fred Ford: We occasionally enjoyed a strategy game with crazy modifications to ships. There's nothing quite like a super-fast VUX that can turn on a dime. Of course, relics on every star make for very unbalanced and unpredictable games. So it didn't make sense for this to be an obvious option and thus we added it in as a cheat. I feel a little guilty that so many people like the Genesis version of SC1, because after we had completed essentially a bare bones port of the PC version in three months Accolade just wanted to publish the game. We wanted to optimize it for the Genesis to make it run at speed and add more console-like features. Sigh.
Contributed by: Captain Zeep-Eeep and Led (Updated: 08/28/00)

Comments by Fred Ford: Yes, we were just giving ourselves plenty of elbow room to torture you guys with sequels and prequels.
(Updated: 03/10/00)

Well, if you don't find what you need at

I highly recommend that you go to Pluto first, instead of flying directly to Earth, and get Fwiffo there, because you really need him to defeat that Avenger!
Contributed by: *Angelfish* (Updated: 03/10/99)

Yes, don't ever detonate the Utwig Bomb. Also do not surrender to the Ur-Quan, because then it's game-over.
Contributed by: *Angelfish* (Updated: 03/17/99)

No one knows for sure.

Yes, Ilwrath have those devices in their ships - Avengers. (har, har, har)
Contributed by: Orz (Updated: 02/20/99)

Negative.

Comments:
It is rumored that the cloaking device existed in a beta version of the game that exists somewhere on the Internet (I have never found it).
Threads on the cloaking device tend to be biggest on the Star Control Discussion Board. Don't believe it? Then see :) There have ALWAYS been believers.
*Angelfish* posted the image to the right on the SC Discussion Board. He was the first person to claim actual proof and a location for where it could be found. This screenshot is a *FAKE*.
There had been 2-3 threads on the board, where it became clear that the CD does not exist.
Fred Ford's comments on the topic: "No, there is no cloaking device. Yes, there was going to be one, but we couldn't figure out a way, given the limitations of two players fighting on the same screen, to make it functionally better/more interesting than the Ilwrath's." (Updated: 02/20/99)

YES!

Comment by *Angelfish*:
Well, I've searched all the files in SC 2 for 'cloaking device' and I didn't find it! But I did find all the other devices in that file, though. So we may be sure that the cloaking device doesn't exist. (although it really should)
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 03/10/99)

This is actually debatable. They are not evil nor bad in MY opinion, but many people would say that they ARE definitely evil Eternal1 marionettes, devices whatever. And to contrary, when I played SC2 my first and second time I thought that the Orz are very kind. I think that they were allies and friends of the Human Race.
Contributed by: Orz

Comments:
Here is what Fred has said about the Orz: "...we wanted the Orz to be much scarier and if you ever took them into Quasi-space with you bad things would happen. We really wanted them to creep you out so that you were never sure whether or not it was a good idea to be allied with them." (Updated: 02/20/99)

It is very likely. There are many arguments which support this and no contra-arguments. 99% sure thing.
Contributed by: Orz (Updated: 02/20/99)

The humans created the Androsynth, at first as equals, but jealous 'true' humans stripped the Androsynth of rights, making them little better than slaves. The Androsynth fled Sol in a tremendous escape effort, setting up home in the Vulpeculae constellation, where they have hoped to gain revenge for many years.
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

I have a wonderful and elaborated reason for that. Here it goes! In the manual for SC1 it says the whole program is ComSim Central. It is a program made for practice and learning for new Alliance pilots so they know how to maneuver their ships against enemy ships. It says, "Each new commander is heartily encouraged to review the characteristics of enemy craft while at ComSim (SC1 in general)" It notes that SC1 is just simulation and just practice for pilots. (we being the pilots) It is sorta a preparation for SC2. W/ SC1 it also states that the ships are simulated upon data collected over the past, as well with the Hierarchy ships. So these are stimulations of ships. They are not real (in the game) So certain analyzes could be incorrect. Like the names of the commanders on the Hierarchy ships as well as the names of the ships. So in ComSim central they just assumed the names of the commanders based on data collected (as well as corrupted) over the war. This is also a good explanation for why the Ur-Quan changed their names from Lord to Master in the inconsistencies section. It is because we never truly knew the names to begin with. Contributed by: Bonsai!

Buggered if I know. Possibly the Spathi made a 'new model', but more likely the Creators wanted a better name. ;) Contributed by: Greenish9
(Updated: 08/25/99)

No-one knows, although there are many theories. They simply disappeared and were replaced by the Orz.
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

The Ur-Quan do, of course. The Faz are also out there somewhere, under a slaveshield. The Mael-Num might be the Melnorme. And, mysteriously, the Orz refer to the Taalo in the present tense.
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

Wimbli's Trident and the Glowing Rod, both of which can be bought from the Druuge.
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

No! If you do, the starbase commander will NOT be happy, and the starbase crew might start to think twice about joining you... Use Mycon Deep Child shells instead.
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

10.
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

Pkunk Furies. They're fast and can fire to the side - strafe the battle platform!
Contributed by: Greenish9 (Updated: 02/20/99)

Greenish9: Unknown, as the creators of SC2 have not yet made another SC game. It might be the Galacticus, mentioned in the SC3 timeline.

Jerry: It's NOT the Galacticus. The Galacticus is the precursor vessel, presumably the same one used in SC3, named by W.T. Quick in SC: Interbellum. It has no known abilities, so it's probably the vessel from #3, as that was a lame, stripped down version of the godship in #2. The most probable answer to this question is the Precursor Vessel found in Anshar on Exquivo, home of the Exquivan.

Amir: The Galacticus is NOT the ship from SC3 the Galacticus was lost in hyperspace when it collapsed (SC3 time-line) there is no idea what the mark 2 is but it ain't the Galacticus either cause the Galacticus was lost and the mark 2 was still there in the end of SC2 that came (presumably) 80 years after the end of SC3.

Francis: It ain't the Galacticus, that's for sure. According to the creators when they visited #Star Control look in the Creators' Chat Log), it's a Precursor cruiser, unlike the ship you flew in SC2, which was a Precursor tug. Time to copy and paste from the log...
[18:17] <_Stilgar> Fwiffo- what WAS the Mark II?
[18:18] The Mark II was a precursor cruiser as opposed to a precursor tug which is what you guys flew.
[18:19] Yes, I remember the Ur-Quan saying it was a service vessel?
[18:20] Yes "What? A human in a Precursor service vehicle? How did you escape the slave shield human, or are you a rogue?"
Contributed by: Greenish9 and Jerry Hinn and Amir and Francis (Updated: 06/01/99)

Orz: In SC2 timeline, the Slylandro.

Jerry: Taking into consideration SC3 -- The Eternal Ones. The Precursors are the second oldest known, although not the second oldest (remember that they discovered artifacts that warned them of the Eternal Ones' hunger; how would those have been without other races?). The Precursors made the Mycon, Mmrn-mhrm, and Daktaklakpak, probably in that order. Other notably old races are the Arilou and Slylandro, but both of those races are only one cycle old, and so really don't have that much of a leg on the competition. The Orz are of indeterminate age, but probably date back from the first Eternal One harvest.
Contributed by: Orz and Jerry Hinn (Updated: 03/10/99)

Its a bug in most of the released versions of SC2 (doesn't happen in the CD-ROM version). What you do is you go to the Sol starbase, go to the upgrade facility, and sell all your planet landers. When you sell the last planet lander, you will receive MAXINT (a very, very, very, very, large number) of planet landers...sell them all and get tons of money. (Updated: 02/23/99)

1. Renzo just found this neat little useless trick I had never heard about.

   Add the command line switch '/frenzy' when executing SC2 Melee. For example:

   C:\STARCON2\MELEE /frenzy

   This makes melee run really, really fast. Like, well, a frenzy! Contributed by: Renzo
   

2. I think I discovered a "cheat" for Starcon2. Please follow these steps:

   1. Play Melee -> Androsynth vs. Chenjesu (no matter the order)
   2. Chenjesu launches a DOGI
   3. Androsynths transforms itself into a comet
   4. Comet hits DOGI

   by doing this, the Guardian is left with the comet's turning rate(faster).
   Also, after this, you can inflict damage to your enemy with only touching it (when it's not in comet form).
   **I have only tested this with the diskette version of SC2. Contributed by: Renzo

3. I also found this cool trick in SC2. If you are being chased by... lets just say Mycons while informing them about Organon you can lose them by taking orbit around a planet and then sending a lander down. When you leave all the ships in the system should just be entering the system. Contributed by: The Chosen Pkunk

(Updated: 08/25/99)

Taalo Shield, Dnyarri, Utwig Super Bomb, Sun Device, Clear Spindle, Aqua Helix, Wimbli's Trident, Rosy Sphere, Umgah Caster, Burvixese Caster, Broken Ultron, Portal Spawner, Glowing Rod, Deep Child Egg Case Fragments

You can, in fact, acquire another artifact/device in SC: Moonbase Debris. It's just not that of much because as soon as the Starbase is working for you, the artifact is processed into RU.
Contributed by: Orz and Bagg (Updated: 03/12/99)

Humans had a good industrial base, they were also used as soldiers. Additionally, about twenty years after the war a human captain acquired a precursor ship and defeated the Ur-Quan and ended the Doctrinal Conflict.
Contributed by: Orz (Updated: 03/10/99)

Although it is a long story, it can be explained so:
Kohr-Ah wanted safety by exterminating other races, while the Kzer-Za thought that it is right to just close them under slave shields. The winner of the conflict would determine the method.
Contributed by: Orz (Updated: 03/10/99)

A fungus-like race, which like hot temperatures, do not die in vacuum and have quasi-immortality: their personalities transfer to their descendants. New Mycons come from Mycon Egg sacks which breed underground. They are bred by Precursors as terraformers.
Contributed by: Orz (Updated: 03/10/99)

Yes, there are a few things you don't need to do, like getting the Shofixti back (this starts at Admiral ZEX!!!) and getting the Burvixese Caster (because the Spathi will give you the Umgah Caster, which serves the same purpose). The only races you truly need to be allied with you are the Syreen and the Chmmr, though first time through that would be pretty dang hard without some of the other races. Also, you don't need the Portal Spawner, though you'll be wasting a lot of fuel without it.
Contributed by: *Angelfish* and Bagg (Updated: 06/01/99)

No, you can't.
Contributed by: *Angelfish* (Updated: 03/10/99)

• DO NOT ever use the Utwig Bomb. That would be bad.
• Insult alien races, because you can't solve the game if you aren't allied with various alien races. And they will never change their attitude towards you once you've insulted them (the Pkunk might forgive you if you apologize for insulting them - after they've fought you). Although some races don't mind that you insult them.
• Try to win the game by blasting thousands of Urquans to debris, because for every ship you destroy, one takes it's place. (Ur-Quan have unlimited ships)
• Forget to save the game.
• Mention this to the Orz: 'Okay, okay, you don't want me talking about the Androsynth, if I did, what would you say?' Because then they will go *ngaaaaaah* and *Dance* with you.

No "official" explanation, it's a plot teaser meant to make the Orz much more creepy.
Contributed by: Lex, Tomer Gabel (Updated: 11/27/99)

As far as I know you CANNNOT get them to join you. If so, there has been no general consensus on how to do it. (Updated: 06/06/99)

Not that I know of :( The Kohr-Ah will continue to take over all your Kzer-Za (Green) Ur-Quan colonies until only the original is left. So its not even worth making a new Kzer-Za colony. The Arilou are merely advisors, and don't help out militarily. (Updated: 03/30/2000)

SC2 will run in Windows BUT sound must be turned OFF. I have heard some people say they have gotten the game to run with sound perfectly under windows. I have had 4 machines over the years and not one of them could run SC2 with sound in Windows. It probably depends on the machine and sound board. If SC2 runs really slow in Windows, or if the sound doesn't sound correct, or it locks up/crashes, you will need to turn off the sound. Heres how you do that:

Goto 'Start'. Click once.
Goto 'Run'. Click once.

Click for full image

Type in the drive letter, directory and executable file names for SC2.
For example: C:\STARCON2\starcon2
Add a command line switch to the end of the line that turns off the sound.
To do this, type at the end of the line: '/s:silent'
Heres what the whole command would look like for example:
C:\STARCON2\starcon2 /s:silent
(Updated: 02/20/99)

SC2 is using the wrong color palette. You need to tell the game to load using default colors from the BIOS. Here's how you do that:

In Windows95/98:

Goto 'Start'. Click once.

Click for full image

Goto 'Run'. Click once.
Type in the drive letter, directory and executable file names for SC2.
For example: C:\STARCON2\starcon2
Add a command line switch to the end of the line that loads the colors from the BIOS.
To do this, type at the end of the line: '/g:bios'
Heres what the whole command would look like for example:
C:\STARCON2\starcon2 /g:bios

In DOS:

Click for full image

Change directory to you Star Control 2 directory.
Add a command line switch to the end of the line that loads the colors from the BIOS.
Type after you type 'starcon2': '/g:bios'
Heres what the whole command would look like for example:
starcon2 /g:bios
(Updated: 02/20/99)

You probably copied the files to your harddisk from a CD-ROM didn't you? Or maybe you are playing directly from the CD-ROM? Well you can't save changes to a CD-ROM! And if you copied the files then the file still thinks it is on the CD-ROM. So you have to make the file 'setup.pkg' able to be written to. Heres how you do that:

Click for full image

In Windows95/98:

Right-Click on the file 'setup.pkg'.
From the little window that pops up, click 'Properties'.
In the new window that pops up, un-check 'Read-Only'.
Click 'Apply'. It is done. Try editing your keys now.

In DOS:

Click for full image

Change directory to you Star Control 2 directory.
Type this:
attrib -R setup.pkg
Please note: Case matters. Refer to the image for more detail.
It is done. Try editing your keys now.
(Updated: 02/20/99)

SC2, being an old DOS game, requires conventional memory (the first 640 kilobytes of your machines memory) and then expanded memory for sounds and music. If you don't have enough memory, then the game simply won't run. This is the problem you are experiencing, not enough conventional memory. Even if your machine has 32 MEGS of memory, SC2 doesn't care. If this is the first time you have ever heard of conventional memory, then you missed the oh so fun days of DOS gaming (sarcasm). Here are some suggestions on how to free some conventional memory up:

1) If you are trying to play SC2 from the CD-ROM, COPY the ENTIRE GAME to the harddisk. Do this because the CD-ROM drivers require memory that you need to get freed up!
2) Now edit your autoexec.bat and config.sys to match these:

config.sys: (In Windows type 'sysedit' in Start->Run or in DOS type 'edit config.sys')

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM
DOS=HIGH,UMB
rem DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\ATAPI_CD.SYS /D:MSCD000 **

autoexec.bat: (In Windows type 'sysedit' in Start->Run or in DOS type 'edit autoexec.bat')

rem LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD000 /M:12 /L:E **
rem LH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.EXE **
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 ** (sound initialization)
LH C:\WINDOWS\AU30DOS.COM ** (sound driver)

** please note that these lines will be slightly different on your machine because each CD-ROM drive, mouse and sound card has its own DOS drivers and configuration.

3) notice the 'rem' before the CD-ROM Driver lines. This makes DOS ignore those lines when loading the machine. When you need those drivers again, just take out the 'rem'.
4) This same exact autoexec.bat and config.sys gets me more than 590k of free conventional memory on my Micron P2 450 MHz 128 meg, plenty to run SC2.
5) Also, make sure you 'rem' out any mouse driver lines. A mouse is NOT needed at all for SC2!
6) If you can't get the sound to initialize, but have another DOS program that does work with sound, try running that program first. This might get the sound working so you can then run SC2 with sound in DOS. (Updated: 02/23/99)

As far as I know, there has never been an instance of someone getting the sound to work on a SB Live! card under *normal* circumstances. Here is the technical reason from Jan Lönnberg on why SC1 and SC2 does not work with the Live! sound cards... "The SB Live's DOS SB16 emulation drivers ignore non-DMA PCM (also known as "direct DAC access") sound - thus, you get no digital sound in games like Wolfenstein 3D, SC2, etc...

SC2's timing system wreaks havoc with Windows's timing, so Windows changes the timer settings back messing up SC2 in the process. Besides, the Windows-based SB16 emulation doesn't seem to notice SC2 either.

In fact, the best results so far are under DOSEmu on Linux. Creative's SBLive drivers produce no sound at all in DOSEmu, while the ALSA drivers produce some sort of distorted version of SC2's sound (sounds like the driver playing back at too low a sample rate).

Using DOSEmu may be the best option in the future. As currently supplied, DosEmu has a bug that scrambles sound on some cards - I've produced a kludge that allows SC2 to produce mostly correct sound, and I'm working on a better fix.

In short, the SB Live! isn't a real Sound Blaster, and the emulation drivers that are supposed to intercept attempts to use a Sound Blaster simply ignore the SB commands that SC2 tries to use." (Updated: 07/19/00)

Get rid of any weird joysticks you have connected to your system. Certain Microsoft joysticks apparently cause this problem. This is the result of some joysticks designed for Windows '95/'98 misusing the joystick port. (got this from a post by Nova (Jan Lonnberg) on the SC Discussion Board) (Updated: 08/15/99)

I got Star Control 1 to play on my Macintosh. MAC users wanting to play the first 2 Star Control games can with the magic of Virtual PC by Connectix. (I don't work for them I am just saying that) The PC DOS version is only $50 these days and will work good with SC on almost any Power Mac. Contributed by: Chris A. (Updated: 08/25/99)