Many technical FAQs are covered here: http://www.anno1503.com/english/support/ . While the solutions presented here are reported to work, I cannot be held responsible for them having unintended consequences. On this page:
- 10.1 How many bugs are there?
- 10.2 How do I take a screenshot?
- 10.3 Can I stop the statue video playing?
- 10.4 Can I play without the CD?
- 10.5 Why aren't sounds played at non-normal game speed?
- 10.6 Can I turn auto-save off?
- 10.7 Can I play save-games from other language versions?
- 10.8 Can I copy or rename save games?
- 10.9 Why don't the Moors have music?
- 10.10 All ships and AI players disappeared. What happened?
10.1 How many bugs are there?
Sir Henry maintained an unofficial bug list, a translation of which can be found here: http://digilander.libero.it/anno1503/gamedata/bugs/bugs.html . The non-German release version (released with patch 1.04.02) contained more than 70 known or suspected bugs, most of which are either rare (only affect certain players sometimes) or just annoying (rather than fatal). The expansion pack added a few more, including one which greatly increases the amount of Iron Ore deposits on reload. The original German version has many more, including fundamental errors, such as many of the second (play) CDs being corrupted, and a map graphics issue affecting ATI cards. The later issues were thought to be fixed by patches prior to other versions being released. Of course, not *everything* that works differently to the way you expect is a bug: It's not a "bug", it's a "feature"... erm maybe ;-) .
10.2 How do I take a screenshot?
Press Shift + S. The image will be stored as a Targa (.TGA) format file, named screen001.tga (where 001 increments with each screenshot), in the main Anno 1503 directory on your hard drive. Targa format is not supported by all image editing packages - many suggest using IfranView, http://www.irfanview.com/ . Ravell warns: "Move them to another folder because when you start a new game the numbering of the screenshots will start at screen001 again, so if there's any older pictures they'll be overwritten." The total number of screenshots in one session seems to be limited to about 30.
10.3 Can I stop the statue video playing?
Ravell writes: "Copy the folders music and videos from CD2 to the 1503 folder [on your hard drive]. Open up the video folder and rename 1002.bik to _1002.bik . The video won't play anymore (it can't play it from the folder AND it's not loading it from the CD) ...BUT... the screen will go black for a second."
10.4 Can I play without the CD?
Tom Sailor writes: "You can copy the /music and the /video files [directories] to your hard disk [copy the directories into the main game directory on your hard drive]. Then you'll only need the CD to start the game." Bomi notes that this requires at least patch 1.01.
10.5 Why aren't sounds played at non-normal game speed?
From Kay Bennemann: "It's intentional that you only hear the ambient sound (swords clashing, people working, etc.) when you play in 'normal' game speed - if you choose different speeds, this sound is muted. And with good reason: While testing the sound playing at different game speeds we decided that it can become quite a nuisance, especially with the 'fast' setting."
10.6 Can I turn auto-save off?
Yes, from Lothark: "Change the attribute for the file lastgame.sav to read only."
10.7 Can I play save-games from other language versions?
Yes, there are no restrictions. If you want to change the language version of your game, try replacing file texte.dat with one containing the appropriate translations. HJB notes: "you'll have a nice mix because lots of things are hard coded and the spoken WAVs are still in the previous language".
10.8 Can I copy or rename save games?
Save games are stored in the folder [Drive/.../Anno 1503]/SaveGame/[Profile] where "Drive/.../Anno 1503" is wherever you choose to install the game, and "Profile" is the name of the player. Files ending in .sav are saved games. "User.dat" appears to contain user preferences. All files except lastgame.sav use 'GUID' names (long hexadecimal strings). In single player mode, these can be renamed to something else and the game will still recognise them. Bomi notes that multiplayer games are expected to need the original GUID name to function. Bomi wrote a tool (in German) to manage save games. It is available here: http://www.bomibomanns.de/ANNOTools/ .
10.9 Why don't the Moors have music?
It's a bug. From LotharK and Baco: From the install folder, open data/music.dat in a text editor, and find the lines:
Group: "GROUPE_MAUREN"
And change the first line to:
Path: "races\moorish\*"
10.10 All ships and AI players disappeared. What happened?
Don Enrico writes: "The bug appears when a siege tower is built and manned (with crewmen like the ones you use to man cannons and mortars): After saving and re-loading the game, all ships and all computer opponents are gone. There is no way to fix a corrupted savegame." This bug exists only in the expansion.