Star Trek: Elite Force II

Star Trek: Elite Force
Subseries of Star Trek
Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force	2000
Star Trek: Elite Force II	2003

Warnings

The Mac OS X version of this game does not work on Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) or later due to the removal of support for PowerPC apps.

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Star Trek: Elite Force II is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person FPS game in the Star Trek: Elite Force series.

The game received a single official patch post-release. It was the final Star Trek game published by Activision, which would enter a lawsuit with Star Trek rightsholder Paramount Pictures which would end the publishing contract a year earlier than it would have normally expired, affecting the game's shelf life. Like most games in the id Tech 3 engine, its source code was released to the public.

General information

Developer's forum

Memory Alpha - A massive wiki for Star Trek

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
GOG.com

A free demo version is available from Archive.org (English), GameFront (English) and GameFront (German).

Essential improvements

Patches

v1.1 Patch updates the game to the latest version.

Skip intro videos

Use a modified movie package
Download the package with blank movie files. Extract `pak50SkipIntroMovies.pk3` to `<path-to-game>\base`.

Fix broken low-gravity areas

If the frame rate is too high (due to high com_maxfps combined with high refresh rate or Vsync off), the player will not drop to the ground after jumping in these areas.

Set max FPS to 80 or below
Open `<path-to-game>\base\<user-id>.cfg` in a text editor. Add or change the line under the Cvars section: `seta com_maxfps "80" // or below`

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\base\<user-id>.cfg^{[Note 1]}
macOS (OS X)

Configuration file uses the Windows user name.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\base\save^{[Note 1]}
macOS (OS X)

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

General settings.

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See the WSGF entry.
Multi-monitor		See the WSGF entry.
Ultra-widescreen		See the WSGF entry.
4K Ultra HD		See the WSGF entry. HUD does not scale to higher resolutions, and may be too small at resolutions higher than 640x480.^[1]
Field of view (FOV)	Default is 80. See the WSGF entry.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	Low-quality; force through driver for much better quality.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	Both antialiasing options result in 2x MSAA; higher-quality antialiasing can be forced in GPU control panel.^[2]
Vertical sync (Vsync)	Disabling it causes zero-gravity physics to break, with the player failing to descend correctly, unless FPS is capped at 80 or below.^{[citation needed]}
60 FPS
120+ FPS	By default capped 85 fps. Set `com_maxfps` to desired value. More than 80 causes zero-gravity physics to break, with the player failing to descend correctly.
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Like many id Tech 3 games, Elite Force 2's volumetric shadows cause unsightly glitching on self-shadowing character models.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		See Mouse acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Mouse acceleration

Both mouse acceleration and mouse smoothing are disabled by default. There is an option to enable mouse smoothing under "Game Options". Mouse acceleration can be activated using console command cl_mouseAccel 1.

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, Music
Surround sound		With Creative ALchemy
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		A3D 3.0 & EAX 3^[3]
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
German				Retail only; download for GOG.com version.
Spanish				Partial fan translation download.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play
Online play		32	The official GameSpy service has been shut down; master server replacement available here.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting		Available for Windows (included with the game - install v1.1 Patch to update) and Linux.
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Buggy Shadows

Set Shadows to Simple

Stuttering

Edit the configuration file^[4]

Open <path-to-game>\base\<user-id>.cfg with a text editor.
Add these lines under the Cvars section

seta r_primitives "2"
seta com_hunkMegs "72"

Notes:

seta com_hunkMegs may not be needed.

The r_primitives number can be changed to the following:

* -1 = skips drawing results in black screen
* 0 = uses glDrawElements if compiled vertex arrays are present, or strips of glArrayElement if not present
* 1 = forces strips
* 2 = forces drawElements
* 3 = path for non-vertex array testing

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
OpenGL	1.4	^[5]

Executable	PPC	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Input	DirectInput
Multiplayer	GameSpy

Modifications

HaZardModding Co-op Mod for Elite Force II allows multiplayer coop and adds additional features, tweaks and options.
A Gate two Birds and the Beautiful Sky mod adds an all-new singleplayer campaign featuring a female protagonist.
The Aftermath Episodes mod adds an all-new singleplayer campaign, the mod is released in episodes.
Ultimate Patch Mod 1.1 is a community-made modification that fixes many issues in the game's multiplayer but mainly aims to adjust Elite Force II to be more like its predecessor.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon, 600 MHz
System memory (RAM)	128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	1.5 GB
Video card (GPU)	32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0 compatible
Other	4X CD-ROM

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	10.1.5
Processor (CPU)	PowerPC 7xx PowerPC G3
System memory (RAM)	256 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU)	3D accelerator
Other	4x CD-ROM drive

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ Verified by User:SirYodaJedi on 2022-11-25
IMO, the HUD is too small even at 480p. The game uses IdTech 3, so it is probably possible to rectify this with a mod.
↑ Verified by User:SirYodaJedi on 2022-11-25
Compared with AA forced via Nvidia Profile Inspector. The jaggies look identical regardless of "Nvidia AA" setting. Only geometric edges are antialiased, so the game uses MSAA, not FSAA, contrary to its label.
↑ Aureal A3D Central - 3D Sound Software list - last accessed on May 2023
↑ Star Trek Elite Force II GOG Community - last accessed on 2021-09-08
↑ Verified by User:Macgovern on 2024-04-04
Confirmed using game's own initialization log.

[gamedir-1] 1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[2] Verified by User:SirYodaJedi on 2022-11-25
IMO, the HUD is too small even at 480p. The game uses IdTech 3, so it is probably possible to rectify this with a mod.

[3] Verified by User:SirYodaJedi on 2022-11-25
Compared with AA forced via Nvidia Profile Inspector. The jaggies look identical regardless of "Nvidia AA" setting. Only geometric edges are antialiased, so the game uses MSAA, not FSAA, contrary to its label.

[4] Aureal A3D Central - 3D Sound Software list - last accessed on May 2023

[5] Star Trek Elite Force II GOG Community - last accessed on 2021-09-08

[6] Verified by User:Macgovern on 2024-04-04
Confirmed using game's own initialization log.

[Note 1]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Developers

	Ritual Entertainment
macOS (OS X)	Westlake Interactive
Publishers
	Activision
macOS (OS X)	Aspyr Media
Engines
	id Tech 3
Release dates
Windows	June 20, 2003
macOS (OS X)	November 2003
Reception
Metacritic	78
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	FPS
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Star Trek: Elite Force