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Total Annihilation

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Total Annihilation
Total Annihilation cover
Developers
Cavedog Entertainment
Publishers
1997-1999 GT Interactive
1999-2003 Infogrames
2003-2013 Atari
2013-present Wargaming
Release dates
Windows September 27, 1997
Mac OS (Classic) September 17, 1999
macOS (OS X) April 23, 2013[1]
Reception
Metacritic 86
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Top-down view
Controls Multiple select, Point and select
Genres RTS
Themes Sci-fi
Series Total Annihilation
Total Annihilation on HowLongToBeat
Total Annihilation on IGDB
Total Annihilation guide on StrategyWiki
Total Annihilation on MobyGames
Total Annihilation on Wikipedia
Total Annihilation
Total Annihilation 1997
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms 1999

Warnings

The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.

Total Annihilation is a singleplayer and multiplayer top-down view RTS game in the Total Annihilation series.

General information

Total Annihilation Wiki - A wiki for everything Total Annihilation.
Total Annihilation Universe - A huge fan site for the entire Total Annihilation series.
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
Windows
Mac OS
GOG.com
DRM-free
Commander Pack
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Commander Pack
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Commander Pack (despite expansion content not mentioned on store page)
Windows
ZOOM Platform
DRM-free
Commander Pack
Windows
A free demo version is available from Archive.org.

Version differences

The Commander Pack includes the base game with both The Core Contingency and Battle Tactics expansions.

Monetization

Type Notes
Expansion pack The expansion packs include new units, maps, missions and terrain types.
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
The Core Contingency Includes a map editor.
Windows
Mac OS
macOS (OS X)
Battle Tactics
Windows
Mac OS
macOS (OS X)

Essential improvements

Official downloads

All of the official content for the game (v3.1 patch, units, utilities, etc.) can be found on the TA Universe file repository.

Skip intro videos

Delete/rename video files[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\Data\
  2. Delete or rename 1.ZRB and 2.zrb.

Unofficial v3.9.02 beta patch

Main information thread and links
Updated distribution for modern systems and variants adapted for mods (information/feedback thread)
Includes the megamap feature (including zooming in and out akin to Supreme Commander), replay support, bug fixes, interface tweaks, engine-level improvements and other tweaks.

Game data

In-game interface settings.
In-game interface settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cavedog Entertainment\Total Annihilation\
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/298030/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\SAVEGAME\[Note 2]
Mac OS (Classic)
macOS (OS X)
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/298030/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game graphics settings.
In-game graphics settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
For custom/unlisted resolutions, run the game with the -screenwidth XXXX -screenhight XXXX command line arguments.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Windowed

Windowed without Unofficial patch[citation needed]
  1. Add -d to the end of the shortcut target
This will mute all sound effects, regardless of Sound settings.
Windowed with Unofficial patch[citation needed]
  1. Download and install TA Patch Resources v1.0
  2. Download and install TA Patch v3.9.02 Beta
Use Total Annihilation.exe instead of TotalA.exe

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Can only change scroll speed
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Controller types

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.
In-game music settings.
In-game music settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio
On Windows, CD music might not play correctly; see the troubleshooting guide for solutions.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
Retail only.
German
Retail only.
Italian
Retail only.

Network

Multiplayer support requires DirectPlay.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
10
Online play
10 Official servers are offline; Total Annihilation Forever is a community replacement.

Connection types

Hosting/discovering game lobbies on a LAN network[2]
  1. Download IPXWrapper and extract it to <path-to-game>
  2. For 32-bit OS, run the file directplay-win32.reg as administrator.
    For 64-bit OS, run the file directplay-win64.reg as administrator.
  3. Pick "IPX Connection for DirectPlay" and leave the search address blank.

Notes

This fix may not be necessary for versions of Windows older than XP

Issues fixed

Game does not recognize installed version of DirectX

Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2 or SP3[3]
Install the updated version of the unofficial 3.9.02 beta patch[4]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 5
ExecutablePPC16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
[5]
Mac OS (Classic)

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Cutscenes Smacker
Multiplayer MPlayer.com, HEAT, Kali

Modifications

Total Annihilation: Escalation

Also known as TA:ESC, it is a complete mod for both skirmish and multiplayer settings.
Active development.
Includes bugfixes for the remaining issues in the game, improved AI, quality-of-life improvements such as extended menus and tweaked interface
Adds new units with balance changes for the existing ones, as well as enhanced visuals such as new textures, enhanced FX and proper widescreen support.
Incompatible with other 3rd party mods.[6]
Singleplayer campaign is disabled.[7]
Minimum supported resolution of 1024x768. Widescreen is supported if the height is 768 pixels and above.

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 100 MHz
System memory (RAM) 16 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 35 MB
Video card (GPU) VGA 256 colour or better
DirectX 5.0 compatible
Sound (audio device) Sound Blaster compatible
Other 4X CD-ROM


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/298030/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (298030) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.
  2. 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

  1. Mac Game Update: 22 New Additions ● GOG.com - last accessed on 9 June 2023
  2. Lan play, page 2 - Forum - GOG.com - last accessed on May 2023
  3. Verified by User:Plok on 2022-12-05
  4. Verified by User:Plok on 2022-12-05
  5. Total Annihilation: Commander Pack on GOG.com - last accessed on 2020-01-14
    "Mac notice: The game is 32-bit only and will not work on macOS 10.15 and up."
  6. TA:ESC FAQ - last accessed on May 2023
  7. Single Player For This Mod? - last accessed on May 2023