READ THIS FIRST: Continuum problems & tricks FAQ - Updated Aug 09 with Windows 7 info

[Stabwound]

Note: This guide was written over 5 years ago, and some of it is likely very outdated. Maybe some year I'll update it.

I decided it might be a good idea to create a sticky thread in this forum to combine all the solutions for problems that are posted here. There are a lot of repeated questions and I think it would help. I'll also add some nifty hints and tricks that I've come across. If you have any comments please send me a private message my clicking on the Private Messages link at the top of the page, or use this link if you are already logged in. If you have any additions to add to this thread you can post them in the thread located here forum and if they're decent enough I will add them and give you full credit.

I'll update this main post with any info on new additions to the thread.

Dec. 22, 2004:

• Added a post with ways to raise your FPS (framerate) if gameplay is jerky.
• Added a post by sourthyme with ways to fix problems with the menus in Continuum not working correctly.
• Added a post with ways of fixing the "inverted colors" glitch.
• Added some bad news for people that want to play Continuum from school.
• Added a post on the solution to the problem some have with menures.dll when trying to launch Continuum.
• Added a post on how to retrieve your username/squadname if you've lost the password or have had it stolen.
• Added a post with info on where to go if you've been banned and you think you are innocent.
• Added a post on where to go if you have a complaint to lodge against a staff member.

Dec. 23, 2004:

• Added a post on how to test your self made maps.
• Added a post with info from Lance and mirrorimage on a fix for a certain system-clock related crashing bug.
• Added a post on how to add a nifty background to your ALT+TAB chat window.
• Added another part to an older post with another way to raise FPS on lower-end systems.
• Added another part to an older post on how to fix the problem where the in-game radar becomes corrupted with random colors.
• Added a post on why you might get a message about having tried too many times to log in.

Dec. 27, 2004:

• Added a post with info from Heatha on how to have the alt+tab chat window displayed in windowed mode.

Jan. 5, 2005:

• Added a post with info on the fairly unknown Auto feature in Continuum profiles.
• Added a post with info on how you can spectate 2 players at once.

Jan. 9, 2005:

• Added a post with info on how you can edit the colors.bm2 file to change in-game radar colors.

Feb. 3, 2005:

• Added a post with info on SS servers/ports and which ports you have to have open on a firewall to play.

Feb. 6, 2005:

• Added a post with info on how to get rid of the annoying "hum" noise that constantly plays when you are in a ship.

Feb. 14, 2005:

• Added a post with info on how to use up to 20 different macros on a single macro set.

Jun. 22, 2005:

• Added a post with a few useful commands that you might not know about.

Mar. 15, 2006:

• Added a post with info on how to fix an "out of range" error on your monitor when launching Continuum.

Oct. 9, 2006:

• Added a post with info on how you can run Continuum under Linux.

Feb. 14, 2007:

• Added a post with info on a temporary fix for messed up radar in Windows Vista.

Aug. 30, 2009:

• Added a post explaining how to fix the issue with running Continuum under Windows 7 and it not being able to download new zones, save profile info or logs.

[Stabwound]

If you are trying to play the game, and the screen is all jerky, you probably have a framerate problem.

If you are flying around, and the gameplay is very choppy, there are a few things you can do to try and fix the problem.

In the main Continuum menu:
View -> Advanced Options -> Check "Avoid Page Flipping"

If that doesn't work:

In the main Continuum menu:
View -> Advanced Options -> Check "Disable Clipping" as seen in the first image



Try the game again. If that doesn't work:

In the main Continuum menu:
View -> Options -> Graphics Tab -> Change Color Depth to "8".



I find that those tips will fix 99% of framerate problems. If not, you can try updating your videocard drivers, or closing any unnecessary programs that are running in the background.

If that STILL doesn't help, you can try this. Press Control+ALT+Delete to bring up the Task Manager. Next, click the Processes tab and find Continuum.exe -> Right Click on it, go to Set Priority, and select Above Normal. This will make the CPU give a higher priority to Continuum than other programs, and in doing so could make it run better. This will probably only help on lower end systems, but you never know.

[Stabwound]

If you have problems with the main Continuum menu not working correctly, here is a post by sourthyme that can help fix it.

Originally posted by sourthyme

I had this problem once and I fixed it by re-installing my Display Drivers (For NVIDIA).

Main menu problems. When clicking on the main menu, Continuum freezes and needs to be terminated, and other problems occur such as invisible menu boxes when right-clicking on the desktop. This usually happens in computers that came with pre-installed Geforce drivers such as HP Pavillions.

To FIX this:
1) Download the drivers from the manufacturer website. (www.nvidia.com). Do not run this program yet. Update the drivers may not fix this problem.
2) Uninstall your device drivers. Start->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs, Select "NVIDIA Display Driver" from the list. Select Uninstall All Display Devices. Windows will ask you to restart and the Display may change/run slowly because the OS is not completely using your Graphics card.
3)Run and install the manufacturer drivers that yuo downloaded in step 1. This will ask you to restart the computer. Once the computer is restarted you can change the video settings as usual.

This should work...

Also, you should not install Windows SP2 on AMD 64 HP Pavillion computers. There are some freezing and sudden computer crashes that happen.

RADIOMARU

[Stabwound]

If you try to play the game, but the graphics soon turn all crazy colours (red/blue/purple etc) there are a few things you can check:

Usually this is caused by some program you have running in the background popping up a window that somehow shows through the Continuum window. Try disabling any programs that auto-update (such as anti-virus software or firewall software) or any other programs that pop up windows or do things on their own (messenger programs, etc).

If this happens a lot, you might try changing Continuum's color depth:

In the main Continuum menu:
View -> Options -> Graphics Tab -> Change Color Depth to something else, and try.



If that fails, try updating your graphics drivers. I'll edit this post at a later time with a small tutorial on updating your graphics drivers.

[Stabwound]

If you are trying to play Continuum from your school/college and all of the zones show up red, read this:

Most schools have firewalls in place to keep people from playing games like Continuum, so people will actually do schoolwork. There is currently no known way to get around a firewall to play Continuum, short of asking your school's network admin to open the ports for you or get you an account that isn't blocked by the firewall. This probably isn't going to happen.

If you are able to, I have a list of which ports to open in a post here.

[Stabwound]

If you get an error with menures.dll when you try to launch Continuum, you haven't installed it correctly.

First, download the full Continuum 0.40 package here.

Once you've downloaded that, double click on it and install it. You are ready to play the game.
If everything went well, the game should load up when you click on your new shortcut.

[Stabwound]

If you have forgotten your password or your username has been stolen, read this:

First of all, if you used a legit e-mail address when you registered the name, you can log into TrenchWars with any name, and use the command ?lostpassword (username) and the billing server will send a new temporary password to that e-mail address. If you didn't enter a valid e-mail address, or you no longer have access to the e-mail account you used to sign up, then try the next step.

You can fill out the Username/Squadname Retrieval form located here. If the name is really yours, you will be able to get it back. They check your IP address and MAC ID, as well as the time zone bias to see if your current info matches the recorded info for the username/squad, so if you are trying to bullshit them to get someone's username, or if it's been a long time since you lost the username, you may be out of luck.

[Stabwound]

If you've been banned and you think you're innocent, read this:

If you are banned and you think that you are innocent or the ban was unfair, you can email twbans@gmail.com with your BanID and why you think you should be unbanned. It may take a few days for a response, so if it's only a short ban you might be better off just waiting it out.

If you are caught under a network-wide ban (netban) you can contest the ban. Read the information located here.

[Stabwound]

If you have a complaint to lodge against a staff member, read this:

If for some reason you feel the need to bitch about a certain staff member, you can email complaints@trenchwars.org and your complaints will be read by a few of the upper staff, so don't worry if you think your complaint will be deleted if the person you are complaining about reads it.

[Stabwound]

If you've made a map and you want to be able to test it, read this:

If you've made a level in *.lvl format, there is an easy way to test it. Download Subspace 1.35 here and unzip it. Now, all you have to do is delete the local.lvl, and bring your map into the folder and rename it to local.lvl. Now, load up Subspace and go to Play Game. Next, click Practice Offline and if everything went right, you should now be flying around in your newly created map. If the resolution is too small for you, you can change that easily by clicking on Resolution at the top of the menu before going into the main game.

[Stabwound]

If Continuum crashes as soon as you enter a zone, read this:

Continuum has an issue with incorrect system clocks. According to a bug found by Lance and researched by mirroreimaj in this thread, any system clock date after January 18, 2038 will crash Continuum.

Correct your system clock by double-clicking on the date in the lower-right corer of the screen.

If that doesn't work, you can try updating to Continuum 0.39pr1 which has apprently fixes crashing problems for a few people. Read how to do this in a previous post in this thread located here.

[Stabwound]

Want to know how to change the ALT+TAB chat background? Read this:

If you want to make your ALT+TAB chat window to look like this, read on:



Take any image you want for a background, and save it as a .bmp file. You have to actually convert it to a .bmp- renaming it isn't enough. You can do it easily by opening the image in MSPaint and going to Save As and selecting 24 bit bitmap .bmp in the dropdown box. If you can't see file extensions in Windows (the .bmp at the end of the file), first go to an Explorer window and click Tools at the top on the toolbar. Next go to Folder Options. Next click the View Tab and scroll down and take the checkmark out of the box beside Hide extensions for known filetypes. Now you will be able to see the file extension of .bmp.

After you have your image as a .bmp, rename it to chatbg.bm2 and copy/paste it into your Continuum/Graphics folder. If you did everything right, you should have a nice little background in your chat window.

[Stabwound]

If you have a scrambled radar in-game, read this:

Some people have a problem with the in-game radar becoming corrupted looking with tons of random colors etc. If you have this problem, the way to fix it is to change your radar from Large to Small or vise-versa by

In the main Continuum menu:
View -> Options -> Radar Tab -> Change the Radar Mode drop down menu to either Small or Large depending on what it's already set to. Try the game and see if it works. If not, you can try changing some of the other options on the right side of the Rader menu box, such as "Transparent Radar", etc.

If the radar is fixed, you can try setting it back again if you want, and if you're lucky it might stay fixed.

[Stabwound]

If you get the message "You have tried the wrong password too many times, please try again in a few hours", read this:



The Continuum billing server (the server that handles all player/squad data) has protection to keep people from guessing other people's passwords. If it detects that you've had too many failed logins because of incorrect passwords, it will lock you out for a few hours. A lot of people get this message when they forget their password, so if you can't guess your password within a few tries, log in with another name and use the command ?lostpassword (username) and the billing server will send you a new temporary password for the name to the email you used when you registered the name.

[Stabwound]

Want to have the nice alt+tab chat window available even in windowed mode? Read this:

According to info from Heatha in this post, you can enable the chat window in windowed mode by following these steps:

In the main Continuum menu:
View -> Options -> Graphics Tab -> Change the "Chat Window" drop down box to read Always show.



After doing that, the alt+tab chat window will always be shown, even in windowed mode.