Homeworld

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Homeworld
Homeworld cover
Developers
Relic Entertainment
macOS (OS X) Aspyr Media
Publishers
Original Sierra Entertainment
Current Gearbox Software
OS X Aspyr Media
Release dates
Windows September 28, 1999
OS X August 6, 2015
 
 
 
 
Homeworld
Homeworld 1999
Homeworld: Cataclysm 2000
Homeworld 2 2003
Homeworld Remastered Edition 2015
Homeworld 2 Remastered Edition 2015
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak 2016

Key points

For Windows 8 and later use apply Homeworld hardware acceleration fix.
Mod tools come bundled on the disk
Small but dedicated community
The audio settings include an equalizer (!)
HUD doesn't scale on higher resolutions

General information

Relic Entertainment Official site
Encyclopedia Hiigara - A wiki for everything Homeworld related
Homeworld Shipyards - A fairly old but big Homeworld fan site
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
 
 
 
Amazon.com
 
 
 Sold Out Software re-release.
 
Amazon.co.uk
 
 
 Sold Out Software re-release.
 
GOG.com
 
 Homeworld Remastered Collection
 
Humble Store
 
 Homeworld Remastered Collection
 
Mac App Store
 
 Homeworld Remastered Collection. Currently no online multiplayer or mod support.
 
Steam
 
 Homeworld Remastered Collection
 
The Homeworld Remastered Collection contains Homeworld, Homeworld 2, Homeworld Remastered Edition and Homeworld 2 Remastered Edition.
The included serial key is only required during setup.

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

The latest patch is Homeworld 1.05.

A full list of all available patches can be found here.

Command-line parameters[edit]

The following command-line parameters may improve quality on newer systems, or enable extra functionality:

Argument Description
/triple Enables OpenGL triple buffering, improves graphical quality and removes flickering at higher resolutions. Use unless it causes problems.
/enable3DNow Enables the 3DNow processor instruction set if available. Use unless it causes problems.
/enableSSE Enables the SSE processor instruction set if available. Use unless it causes problems.
/disableAVI Disables the intro movies when the game starts.
/nofastfe Disables the fast graphical frontend. Use this only when having graphical problems like flickering
/noglddraw Don't use DirectDraw to setup OpenGL renderers. Try this is you're having problems getting OpenGL to work.
/safeGL Don't use possibly buggy optimized features of OpenGL for rendering. Try this if you're having problems getting OpenGL to work.
/pilotview Enable pilot view. Focus on single ship and press Q to toggle.
/heap BYTES Allows the game to use up to BYTES bytes RAM for the heap since by default the game isn't allowed to use much.

256 MB should suffice: /heap 268435456 but if you have more, try raising it to 1 GB: /heap 1073741824

Game data[edit]

In-game general settings.
In-game general settings.

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System Location
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Save game data location[edit]

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\SavedGames\
macOS (OS X)

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings[edit]

In-game general graphics settings.
In-game general graphics settings.
In-game advanced graphics settings.
In-game advanced graphics settings.
Graphics option Option WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
 
Field of view (FOV)
Determined by the aspect ratio (see Widescreen resolution).
Windowed
See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Force from the graphics card control panel (use the OpenGL renderer).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Use the command line parameter /triple
60 FPS
120+ FPS
No frame rate cap.

Widescreen resolution[edit]

Widescreen can be enabled by changing the ScreenHeight and ScreenWidth registry keys in HKLM\Software\Sierra On-Line\Homeworld


For Windows 10 x64 you need to be run the program as Admin for the registry entries to be created (right click properties on the application under compatibility set run as administrator).[citation needed]

Set resolution in registry[citation needed]
  1. Open the Registry Editor:
    • Vista and later: open the Start screen/Start menu, type regedit and press ↵ Enter.
    • Windows XP: press ⊞ Win+R, type regedit and press ↵ Enter.
  2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Sierra On-Line\Homeworld
  3. Edit the ScreenHeight and ScreenWidth values to match your chosen resolution.
  4. If the resolution doesn't take effect after doing the above, try running the game in Administrator mode.

Windowed[edit]

Add -window to the game's path. For borderless fullscreen windowed mode add -noBorder as well. If you do not use -noBorder you must run the game at less than maximum screen resolution or it will crash.

Input settings[edit]

In-game key map settings.
In-game key map settings.
Keyboard and mouse Native Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio settings[edit]

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.
In-game speech settings.
In-game speech settings.
Audio options Native Notes
Separate volume controls
An in-game equalizer is also available.
Surround sound
Subtitles
On by default
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio CC Notes
English

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
8 Versus
Not available in the Homeworld Remastered Collection/Steam version.[1]
Online play
8 Versus

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP (outbound) 15000-15300, 21000-21999, 30000-30999
UDP (outbound) 15400-15401

Issues fixed[edit]

"Invalid or missing Homeworld CD - Please insert CD"[edit]

Installing the 1.05 Patch will fix it.

Hardware Acceleration[edit]

Using OpenGL or D3D (in the video options) enables hardware acceleration, which gives you 32-bit colour, and the ability to use graphics techniques invented since the game's release. Hardware Acceleration works best on Windows XP or later when the game is run using compatibility mode for Windows NT 4.0. For Windows 8 and later use the Homeworld hardware acceleration fix to apply this compatibility mode.

Windows 8 hardware acceleration[edit]

On Windows 8 the "Windows NT 4.0" compatibility mode is no longer listed, and no other modes manage to get OpenGL working; D3D mode works, but bugs out at non-default resolutions.
Apply the fix[citation needed]
  1. Download the Homeworld hardware acceleration fix.
  2. Extract it anywhere and run install.bat.
  3. The game now runs in Windows NT 4.0 compatibility mode so hardware acceleration works correctly.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 6.1
OpenGL 1.x
Software renderer
64-bit executable

Middleware[edit]

Middleware Notes
Multiplayer WON

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95, NT 4.0 98
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium II 233 MHz Intel Pentium II 350 MHz
System memory (RAM) 32 MB 64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 80 MB 600 MB
Video card (GPU) 4 MB of VRAM
DirectX 6.1 compatible 		12 MB of VRAM
OS X
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 10.9.5
Processor (CPU) Intel 2.2 GHz
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 20 GB
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon HD 3870
Nvidia GeForce 640M
Intel HD 4000
512 MB of VRAM

References

  1. ↑ Gearbox Software Forums - Where is lan in the classic homeworld?