Combat: Task Force 121

Combat: Task Force 121

Developers
	Direct Action Games
Publishers
North America	Groove Games
Europe	City Interactive
Russia	1C Company
Engines
	Unreal Engine 2
Release dates
Windows	March 20, 2005
Reception
Metacritic	40
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, FPS, Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary

Warnings

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

Combat: Task Force 121 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action, FPS and shooter game.

It was retrofitted by City Interactive as America's Secret Operations (in Europe).

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Simple disc check.
Amazon.com		Simple disc check.
GamersGate (unavailable)

This game is not available digitally.

Essential improvements

Patches

• Retail Patch (patch 1.01) - English Version
• Retail Patch (patch 1.02) - English Version

Skip intro videos

Instructions
Go to <path-to-game>/Movies/. Delete or rename amd.wmv, attract.wmv, direct_action_games.wmv, esrb_online.wmv, groove.wmv and title.wmv.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Groove Games\Combat\*.ini %APPDATA%\Groove Games\Combat\Profiles\<user-id>.ini

Combat.ini contains general settings.

User.ini contains camera FOV, mouse, keyboard/controller bindings and other settings.

<user-id>.ini contains profile settings.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%APPDATA%\Groove Games\Combat\Profiles\<user-id>.ini

Video

Video Settings.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor		See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen		See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD		See Widescreen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)		85° by default. See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed		Toggle with Alt+↵ Enter. See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Off by default. To turn it on, see Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		See Run the game at screen refresh rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Widescreen resolution

Custom resolutions can be set manually. Note that image is Vert-, and FOV should be increased to compensate for the first two options.

Set custom resolution in-game
While in game, open the console with ~. Enter setres XXXXxYYYY (for example setres 1920x1080).

Edit ini file
Launch the game at least once then close it. Open Combat.ini. Go to the [WinDrv.WindowsClient] section. Set FullscreenViewportX and FullscreenViewportY to the desired resolution. Notes HUD is stretched. Some menu elements become cropped.

Use the Widescreen Fix
Notes Weapon and camera FOV are fixed both during gameplay and in-engine cutscenes. Menu elements are no longer cropped. HUD and menus are stretched.

Field of view (FOV)

Set default FOV in-game
While in game, open the console with ~. Type fov x, where x is the desired FOV.

Edit ini file
Launch the game at least once then close it. Open User.ini and <user-id>.ini (Username is inside the Profiles folder). Define FoV in following lines: DesiredFOV=85.000000 DefaultFOV=85.000000 Notes Game could start to randomly reset those values. If so, edit those values in <path-to-game>\System\DefUser.ini too. Weapon FOV stays the same.

Windowed

Edit ini file
Launch the game at least once then close it. Open Combat.ini. Find the section [WinDrv.WindowsClient]. In that section, find an entry WindowedViewportX= and set its value to the desired window width. In that section, find an entry WindowedViewportY= and set its value to the desired window height. Set StartupFullscreen= to False to start the game in windowed mode.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

Edit ini file
Launch the game at least once then close it. Open Combat.ini. Change the line LevelOfAnisotropy=1 to any value desired (between 1 and 16).

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Edit ini file
Launch the game at least once then close it. Open Combat.ini. Change the line UseVSync=False to UseVSync=True. Notes Vsync is broken on Windows versions above 7. See Game's Vsync doesn't work on Windows 8/8.1/10/11 for a fix.

Input

Control Settings.

Control Settings (2).

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration		Enabled by default, see Mouse acceleration to disable it.
Mouse sensitivity		Max of 10. For higher, see Mouse sensitivity.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Set UseJoystick=True in Combat.ini under [WinDrv.WindowsClient].
Full controller support
Controller remapping		Edit in User.ini.
Controller sensitivity		Edit in User.ini.
Controller Y-axis inversion		Edit in User.ini.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Mouse acceleration

Edit ini file
Launch the game at least once then close it. Open User.ini and <user-id>.ini (Username is inside Profiles folder). Change the line MouseAccelThreshold= to 0. Notes [Engine.PlayerInput] entries are created upon inverting mouse y-axis or adjusting sensitivity in the game settings.

Mouse sensitivity

[Engine.PlayerInput] entries are created upon inverting mouse y-axis or adjusting sensitivity in the game settings.

Set custom sensitivity in-game
While in game, open the console with ~. Enter setsensitivity x (for example setsensitivity 5).

Edit ini file
Open User.ini and <user-id>.ini (Username is inside Profiles folder). Change the line MouseSensitivity= to the desired value.

Jerky/Uneven mouse movement

Edit ini file

Launch the game at least once then close it. Open User.ini and <user-id>.ini (Username is inside the Profiles folder). Go to the following lines and change 6.0 to 0.1: MouseX=Count bXAxis | Axis aMouseX Speed=6.0 MouseY=Count bYAxis | Axis aMouseY Speed=6.0</nowiki> Change the line MouseSmoothingMode= to 1 and MouseSamplingTime= to: 0.008 for 125Hz polling rate 0.002 for 500Hz polling rate 0.001 for 1000Hz polling rate Change the line MouseSensitivity= to 50 in User.ini (more or less, if needed to adjust). Open Combat.ini. Go to the [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice] section and change ReduceMouseLag= to False. Notes Opening the control settings in-game to adjust mouse sensitivity will reset the value to 10 or below, making aiming way too slow.

Audio

Audio Settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Effects.
Surround sound		Up to 7.0 output with DirectSound3D restoration software or OpenAL. See Surround sound.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		EAX 3.
Royalty free audio

Surround sound

By default the game ouput to stereo on modern versions of Windows. This will force the game to use the system OpenAL device as ouput and restore surround sound.

Forcing the game to use system OpenAL device may lead to audio dropouts, missing and substituted audio samples.

Restore surround sound
Launch the game at least once then close it. Open Combat.ini. Set Use3DSound=True and UseDefaultDriver=False, and save.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play		16
Online play		16	GameSpy services have been shut down; see GameSpy for workarounds.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Game's Vsync doesn't work on Windows 8/8.1/10/11

Install dgVoodoo2

Use crosire's d3d8to9 wrapper
Download d3d8.dll from here. Place it in <path-to-game>\System.

Poor performance on Windows 8/8.1/10/11

Install dgVoodoo2

Use crosire's d3d8to9 wrapper
Download d3d8.dll from here Place it in <path-to-game>/system.

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Maximum selectable refresh rate is 60 Hz. This does not limit FPS, but may set the monitor's refresh rate to 100 Hz, which may result in screen tearing on a 120 or 144 Hz monitor.

Set fullscreen refresh rate
Launch the game at least once then close it. Open Combat.ini. Find the line DesiredRefreshRate=60. Change the value to set the monitor's refresh rate. For example, 120 or 144. Notes Modifying any video options will undo the custom refresh rate.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	8	Minimum required DirectX version listed is 9.0, however the game uses Direct3D 8 for rendering.
OpenGL

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	OpenAL
Multiplayer	GameSpy

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	98, ME, 2000, XP	XP
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz	Intel Pentium III 1.2 GHz
System memory (RAM)	256 MB	512 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	800 MB
Video card (GPU)	TNT2 class card 32 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0 compatible	ATI Radeon 9000 series NVIDIA GeForce FX series 128 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0 or higher compatible
Sound (audio device)	16-bit DirectX 9 compatible	16-bit DirectX 9 compatible