Darkspore

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This game is no longer playable in any capacity. This game is covered here for historical reference.
Darkspore
Darkspore cover
Developers
Maxis
Publishers
Electronic Arts
Release dates
Windows April 26, 2011
 
 
 
 
Darkspore guide on StrategyWiki
Darkspore on Wikipedia
Spore
Spore 2008
Darkspore 2011

Key points

Servers were shut down on March 1, 2016.[1]

General information

Official website
EA Answer HQ
Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Icon overlay.png
Always online (requires a constant internet connection to play)
Windows
No longer sold digitally as of August 23, 2013.

Version differences[edit]

Limited Edition[edit]

Retail editions of the game. Contains special pre-order items along with unique in-game content.

Digital Deluxe Edition[edit]

Digital edition of the game distributed by EA. Contains the same unique items as the limited edition along with a unique special hero called Meditron.

Essential improvements[edit]

Installing mods[edit]

Instructions[citation needed]

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System Location
Windows %APPDATA%\DarksporeData\Preferences\
Linux (Proton) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/99890/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location[edit]

All save game data was stored online on Maxis/EA's servers.

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings[edit]

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.
Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Darkspore has been shown to work on multiple monitors,[2] though it is not officially supported.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
"On" or "Off"; no additional settings.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
Brightness can only be set while in fullscreen.

Widescreen resolution[edit]

Command line argument[citation needed]
  1. See Command line arguments.
  2. Use -r:widthxheight for example -r:1920x1080.
Set via in-game options[citation needed]
  1. Make sure your computer is running at your non-standard resolution (e.g. multi-monitor setup).
  2. Go to %APPDATA%
  3. Delete the DarksporeData folder.
  4. Start Darkspore (it will launch in its default resolution).
  5. From the in-game options set the Screen Size (resolution) to one of the resolutions available.

Input settings[edit]

In-game keybindings.
In-game keybindings.
Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Only keys can be rebound, not all keys can be used. Attacking on left click can be disabled.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Audio settings[edit]

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.
Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Stereo and 5.1 Surround sound are available.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

A re-install is required to change localization.
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
French
German
Polish
Russian

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Online play

Connection types

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

Issues unresolved[edit]

Error 73003[edit]

Effect[edit]

Affected users will find that they can start up Darkspore, but attempting to log into their account will fail, displaying error code 73003.[3]

Brief history[edit]

  • Error 73003 was a long-standing, login issue with Darkspore that affects only specific users and has resisted multiple fix attempts by Maxis.
  • The exact cause is unknown, though the Error Code's description as provided by Maxis to the Official Darkspore Forums' Community Moderators is "Unable to login to sporenet".
  • The error has been fixed for some users in the past following server updates, but at the same time, others users have found themselves become affected by it.

Attempting to determine the cause[edit]

All testing by the community so far leads to the issue being account side on EA/Maxis' end.
In each of the following cases, an account unaffected by Error 73003 was tested and was able to log in.
Known to have no effect:

  • Uninstalling Darkspore, removing all user data and then reinstalling it.
  • Attempting to log in on a different computer on the same network.
  • Attempting to log in on a different computer on a different internet connection.

Possible workaround for players yet to purchase Darkspore[edit]

Assuming that Error 73003 can affect players attempting to play the demo, players should download the Demo before purchasing Darkspore and should check that they can play the demo on their account. If they cannot, they should create a new Origin account and attempt to log into Darkspore with that account when playing Darkspore. This process should be repeated until an account is not affected by Error 73003. The player should then purchase Darkspore for this account.

Contacting EA if you are affected[edit]

A number of players have talked about how they have contacted an EA Game Advisor complaining about being affected by this error. A lot claim to have received money off of other games and in some cases, full games of similar value when trying to obtain a refund for their purchase. These claims cannot be confirmed however.

Issues fixed[edit]

Darkspore not available for play. Try again during a scheduled play test[edit]

Check computer clock and wait[citation needed]
  1. Make sure your computer's clock is correct.
  2. Wait a few minutes to see if Darkspore will resolve the issue itself by contacting Maxis' server.
Download the newest patcher/launcher[citation needed]
  1. If the above fails, download the newest patcher/launcher from ea.com.

Patcher error [102][edit]

This occurs when Darkspore is installed into a folder that your user account cannot modify.
Run as administrator[citation needed]
  1. Right click on Darkspore.exe or your shortcut to it and "Run as administrator".
Reinstall to a folder with lower privileges[citation needed]
  1. Reinstall Darkspore to a location that does not require administrative privileges to modify.

Login error [4001000][edit]

This occurs when there is something invalid with your account details, likely an invalid date of birth.
Contact an EA game advisor[citation needed]
  1. Follow the EA Answer HQ guide to contacting a game advisor to get them to fix your account details.

Most graphical glitches/bugs[edit]

A lot of forced graphics settings do not play nice with Darkspore and can mess with Darkspore's graphics.

Known graphical glitches include:

  • Green outlines around everything.
  • Massively distorted 3D models.
  • Missing text/icons.
  • Very brightly glowing heroes.
Update your graphics drivers[citation needed]
  1. Ensure that your graphics drivers are up to date.
  2. See Drivers.
Set all Darkspore graphics settings to "Application Controlled"[citation needed]
  • For AMD graphics cards, open Catalyst Control Centre and go to the Gaming tab. Either change all the System Settings to "Use Application Settings" where available, or create individual application settings for <path-to-game>\Darkspore\DarksporeBin\Darkspore.exe.
  • For Nvidia graphics cards, open the Nvidia Control Panel and set all settings for <path-to-game>\Darkspore\DarksporeBin\Darkspore.exe to 'Application controlled' where available.

Ingame reg row key consumption widget is temporarily unavailable[edit]

Originally, logging into Darkspore with an account that does not have a Darkspore retail key registered to it, would open an in-game web browser displaying a page where you could activate your retail key or cancel. This page is no longer available.
If attempting to play the demo[citation needed]
  1. Go to %APPDATA%
  2. Delete the DarksporeData folder.
  3. Launch and log into Darkspore.
If attempting to log into an account that does not have a retail key registered to it yet[citation needed]
  1. Redeem your retail key (serial code) in Origin, see Redeem Your Serial Code In Origin.
  2. Once done log back into Darkspore with the account you redeemed the key on (you may need to restart Darkspore).

Unable to save hero[edit]

The server performs validity checks when saving your heroes and will refuse to save them if it finds a problem not picked up by the client.
Clear out excess items (Error code 500)[citation needed]
Supposedly an issue with memory when you have a very high number of parts/details.
  1. If you have sold items in the buyback section, clear them by starting a mission and then quitting back to the Arsenal.
  2. If still not fixed, sell unequipped parts and details to lower your total number of parts/details (you will need to clear the buyback section once done).
Reset your hero (Other error codes)[citation needed]
  1. In the editor, reset the hero that is failing to save.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP SP3 Vista SP2, 7
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 10 GB
Video card (GPU) 256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
Shader model 3.0 support
A persistent internet connection is required at all times.[4]

Notes

  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>/99890/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (99890) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. ↑ EA - Online Service Updates - last accessed on July 4, 2016
  2. ↑ YouTube - Darkspore on 6 monitors
  3. ↑ EA Answer HQ - Thread in Darkspore section
  4. ↑ EA Help - Darkspore Minimum Requirements