GamesDemosfreebiesOnline StoreCommunitySupport
Support

Support Home

Foreign Support

Promotion General Mills, Canada

What's New

Consumer Service Policies

General Troubleshooting

DOS Trouble Shooting

Mac Trouble Shooting

Game Console Trouble Shooting

Patches

Sales

Links

Search


Total Annihilation - Mac

Installation | Error Messages | Lockups & Crashes | Multiplayer Problems | Hints/Walkthrough | Downloads


Special Note to Mac OS 9 Users

We have just released a patch to help with the disc-swapping bug introduced by Mac OS9. Click here to download the patch.

Minimum System Requirements

The minimum requirements for Total Annihilation are:
  • A 150 MHz PowerPC
  • 16MB of RAM*
  • 40MB of hard drive space (for installation only)
  • Mac OS 7.5.3
  • A 4x CD-ROM drive
  • A Monitor capable of 640x480 resolution with 256 colors
  • At least 120mb of free hard drive space
*If your computer has less than 48 Megabytes of RAM, you'll also need at least 36MB of hard drive space assigned to Virtual Memory.

For a better gameplay experience, we recommend a 200Mhz PowerPC with at least 64MB of RAM.

If you wish to play on the Internet or across a direct modem connection, you'll need a 28.8K modem or better.

Installation and Startup

To install Total Annihilation on your system:
  1. Close all open windows on your screen
  2. Insert CD#1 into your CD-ROM drive.
  3. Click on the TA Installer icon.
  4. Follow the onscreen instructions.
  5. If don't wish to install the expansion packs now, double click the Total Annihilation icon to begin the game.
To install the expansion packs:
  1. Insert CD#3 into the drive
  2. Double click the TA Expansions Installer icon.
  3. Choose to install the Core Contingency, Battle Tactics, or both. These files will be installed in the first Total Annihilation folder that's found on your hard drive.
  4. When the installer finishes, re-insert CD#1 before playing.
NOTE: CD#2 is not required for installation. You will need it at various points during the single player missions, so keep it in a safe place. Installation Problems:

"The Installer launches but then hangs after a few seconds."
    The Mac "Talking Alerts" feature is known to cause some installers to fail. To disable talking alerts:

    1. Open the Speech Control Panel
    2. Select Options
    3. Uncheck both boxes
    4. Exit the Control Panel
    5. Run the Installer

Error Messages

"When I attempt to launch, my computer reports that 'This application needs 35.8 Megs of RAM' but the box says I only need 16MB!"
    If your computer has at least 16Mb of RAM but less than 48Mb, then you'll need to allocate 36 megabytes of hard drive space to Virtual Memory before the game will play. Please note that the game plays better in physical RAM than in virtual RAM, so if you have the means to add more memory to your system, you should.

    To adjust your Virtual Memory Settings:

    1. Click the on the Apple menu.
    2. Select Control Panel.
    3. Select Memory.
    4. Set Virtual Memory and 32-bit addressing to ON.
    5. Set Virtual Memory to 36 megabytes or more.
    6. Restart your computer so that your changes can take effect.
"After upgrading my system to OS9, my computer reports that it can no longer run the game."
    An update patch has been released that will allow the game to run on systems running OS9. You can download the patch by clicking here.

Lockups & Crashes

"The game freezes or crashes back to your desktop when I try to load a 64MB map in skirmish or multiplayer mode."
    You can only play 64 MB maps if you have at 64MB of Ram installed on your computer. If you have adequate RAM installed and the problem occurs anyway, then you'll need to assign additional RAM to the game. Detailed instructions on this procedure can be found in section 2.2 of the README file in your Total Annihilation folder.
"The lockup or crash occurs at launch, at a menu, or at some point within a game."

Multiplayer Problems

"Can I play against someone who's playing on a PC?"
    Unfortunately, you can't. The PC version uses Microsoft's DirectPlay for network games, which is not recognized by Apple's NetSprockets. You can only play against other MAC users.
"I can't connect to other users on my LAN using AppleTalk."
    Try using the TCP/IP protocol instead. To do this, you must make some changes to your AppleTalk and TCP/IP control panels.

    1. Open the AppleTalk Control Panel
    2. Set to Ethernet
    3. Save your changes and close AppleTalk
    4. Open the TCP/IP Control Panel
    5. Set to Ethernet
    6. Set to Manual IP
    7. Set the IP address to 1.1.1.5
    8. Save your changes and close the Control Panel. When you get the message about the subnet mask, click OK.

    You must repeat this process for each computer in the LAN game, but replace the last digit in the IP address with a number from .1 to .9 (not .5, you used that already!)

    Once all of the computers are set up, launch Total Annihilation on the host computer, then:

    1. Choose Multiplayer
    2. Uncheck AppleTalk
    3. Host a new game.

    On each of the joining machines:

    • Launch Total Annihilation
    • Select Multiplayer
    • From the pull down menu, change AppleTalk to TCP/IP.
    • Enter the host's IP Address (1.1.1.5 from the example above)
"The game slows to a crawl or freezes completely when there are a lot of units on the screen."
    The units in TA are completely 3d rendered, meaning that more units on your screen will result in more work for your video hardware, which will slow down the game. This is of course more evident on slower computers with minimal RAM.

    If the game freezes up completely, simply hit pause, and wait a few minutes for your video hardware to catch up before resuming. If the problem happens often, ask the host to reduce the number of units allowed in the game.
Control Issues:

"Page 23 of the game manual says to use 'Control + A' to select all of my units, but it won't work."
    The correct hotkey to select all of your units is Command + A.
"Is there any way to tell my units to attack anything they see such as metal extractors and factories?"
    You can type +shootall in the text box at any time during the game to instruct your units to obliterate anything they see.
Miscellaneous:

"Are there any downloadable units that I can add to the game?"
    The same units that can be downloaded for the PC version of the game will also work in the Mac version, provided that they are in .UFO format. Please be aware that the units found on the Cavedog website and most fan pages are compressed into self-extracting executable files that will only run on a PC.

    If you have access to a PC, you can extract the .ufo files, transfer them to your Macintosh, and then copy them into the Internet Files subfolder of your Total Annihilation folder.
E-Mail SupportBack to Top

Click the Email Support button below to contact us if the above FAQ has not answered your question.

 

Questions and Comments About This Site?

© 2003 Atari
Read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service