CALL OF DUTY™: UNITED OFFENSIVE™ README
Last Updated: 2004-08-25

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION & IMPORTANT NOTES

INSTALLATION & SET UP
1. Minimum System Requirements
2. CD Key
3. Anti-Virus Software

NEW PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
1. Particle Detail
2. Vehicle Trails
3. Shell Shock Screen Blur

GAMEPLAY TIPS
1. Anti-Tank Weapons

MULTIPLAYER & INTERNET
1. Lag in Multiplayer Games
2. Issues When Using Firewall Software
3. Score Limit in Base Assault Game Type

VIDEO TROUBLESHOOTING
1. Latest Drivers Required
2. Multiple Monitors

OPERATING SYSTEM SPECIFIC TROUBLESHOOTING
1.  Shift Key in Windows® 2000/XP Interrupts Game
2.  Windows® Key Interrupts Game in 2000/XP
3.  Game Icons Are Missing From Start Menu And/Or Desktop In Windows® 2000/XP
4.  Admin Rights Needed To Load and Play On Windows® 2000 or XP

MISCELLANEOUS
1.  Launching Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ from the Call of Duty™ Mod Menu

INTRODUCTION & IMPORTANT NOTES

Refer to this document if you encounter difficulties with one or more aspects of installation or running the Call of Duty™ United Offensive™ expansion pack.  Many of the most commonly encountered issues are covered here.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Use of the in-game console is not supported by Activision®.  Please do not contact Activision Customer Support with issues that arise from using console commands in-game.

NOTE FOR MOD USERS:  It is recommended that any user modifications that have been installed to the Call of Duty™ directory be removed. These modifications are not supported by Activision® and may not be compatible with some of the new features that are included in Call of Duty™: United Offensive™.

INSTALLATION & SET UP

1.  Minimum System Requirements

- Full version of Call of Duty™
- 3D Hardware Accelerator Card required – 100% DirectX® 9.0c compatible 32MB Hardware T&L-capable video card and the latest drivers*
- English version of Microsoft® Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP
- Pentium® III 800MHz or Athlon® 800MHz processor or higher
- 128MB of RAM (256MB or more recommended)
- 8x Speed CD-ROM drive (1200KB/sec sustained transfer rate) and latest drivers
- 1150 MB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 400MB for Windows® 98/ME swap file, 600MB for Windows® 2000/XP swap file)
- 100% DirectX® 9.0c compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers
- 100% Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest drivers
DirectX® 9.0c (included)

MULTIPLAYER REQUIREMENTS:
- Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported
- Internet play requires 56 Kbps (or faster) modem and latest drivers
- LAN play requires network interface card and latest drivers

IMPORTANT NOTE: *Some 3D accelerator cards with the chipset listed here may not be compatible with the 3D acceleration features utilized by Call of Duty™ United Offensive™.  Please refer to your hardware manufacturer for 100% DirectX 9.0c compatibility.

SUPPORTED CHIPSETS:
- All ATI® Radeon™ cards
- All nVidia® GeForce™ chipsets
- Matrox® Parhelia™

IMPORTANT NOTE: Users with 128MB of system RAM in their computers may experience long level load times between maps.  For best performance on a system with 128MB of system RAM, it is recommended that you select as part of the installation the low-end performance option.  This performance option installs lower resolution textures that may lessen the overall visual quality of the game.  If for any reason, you wish to remove the low-end performance option, simply uninstall and reinstall the game.

2. CD Key:

A. Installation and the CD Key

When installing Call of Duty™ United Offensive™ you will be prompted to enter your CD authentication key.  The authentication key appears on the CD packaging.  It is important that you enter the key string in its entirety exactly as it appears on the CD package.  The Master Server verifies the CD key each time you connect for online play.

B. The game tells me my CD key is invalid:

The number one problem with CD keys is mistyping.  Double and triple check the characters you have entered.

C. Some common sense about your CD key:

Each CD key is unique - protect it from loss or theft by keeping a copy of it in a safe place.  Without it, you cannot reinstall the game or play online.  You may hear of so-called "CD Key generators" being available for illicit download on the Internet.  They do not work as advertised, and often attempt to steal legitimate keys off your machine, reveal personal information or install viruses, worms and/or trojan horses on your machine.  Do not download and/or use them under any circumstances.

3. Anti-Virus Software

The use of anti-virus software may increase installation time.  We recommend that you disable anti-virus software during the installation of the product and re-enable the software after the installation is complete.

NEW PERFORMANCE OPTIONS

The "Options" menu in Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ allows you to adjust a number of different graphic, sound, and general performance settings.  This menu is useful for fine-tuning both the visual quality and overall game performance, in order to maximize enjoyment and ensure smooth play.  Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ automatically detects system hardware and sets all values to optimal settings, taking into account your system's processor speed, available system RAM, video card power, video RAM, sound card capabilities, and various other factors.  You may wish to modify these settings, and this section is intended to be a guide to the new settings included with Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ and the impact of changing them. A guide to changing the original settings can be seen in the original Call of Duty™ readme, included with the game.

Particle Detail
This option controls the level of detail used for the new particle system in Call of Duty™: United Offensive™. The game will choose the best setting for your system when you launch it. If you would like to modify this setting, you can choose from Low, Normal, or High. If you are experiencing performance problems, lowering the Particle Detail setting may help. 

Vehicle Trails
This option controls the puffs of dust and dirt that spray up when driving vehicles in Multiplayer. While Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ will automatically select the best choice for your machine, if you are experiencing performance problems, disabling this option may help. 

Shell Shock Screen Blur
This option controls the amount of motion blur seen when the player experiences shell shock. While Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ will automatically select the best choice for your machine, if you are having performance issues, disabling this option may help.

GAMEPLAY TIPS

1.  Anti-Tank Weapons

As with most other weapons, your stance has an impact on the accuracy of the new anti-tank weapons, such as the Bazooka and Panzerschreck.  Try firing these weapons in the crouched or prone position to increase the accuracy of your shot.

MULTIPLAYER & INTERNET TROUBLESHOOTING

1.  Lag in Multiplayer Games

Hosting a listen server (a server where the game is played and hosted at the same time) on a low-specification machine may result in lag for players who join the server. For optimal Multiplayer performance, hosting on a high-end system is recommended.

2.  Issues When Using Firewall Software

If you are using firewall software and you are experiencing problems, make sure your firewall software is set to allow UDP packets on port 28960.  Call of Duty™ United Offensive™ uses this port for connection, message of the day, server browsing, etc.

In general, we do not advise setting up a Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ server on a machine that is also either a NAT server (such as Microsoft's Internet Connection Sharing) or set up with ipForwarding for a Local Area Net (LAN) onto the Internet. These machines see clients on your LAN as different addresses from the Internet and thus you cannot authorize these clients. 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Activision Customer Support does not support playing multiplayer through firewalls or shared connections.

3.  Score Limit in Base Assault Game Type

A minimum of 3 points must be reached for a victory in the Base Assault game type.

VIDEO TROUBLESHOOTING

Please note that Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ will automatically configure optimal video 
settings based on your computer's hardware.  If your hardware changes after install or if you wish to rescan, in the Main Menu: click OPTIONS, then click the OPTIMAL SYSTEM SETTINGS button, then click APPLY.

1. Latest Drivers Required

For best performance and video quality, please make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card when running Call of Duty™: United Offensive™.  If you have an ATI®, NVIDIA®, or Matrox® video card, you can find drivers on their websites:

http://www.ati.com/
http://www.nvidia.com/
http://www.matrox.com/

2.  Multiple Monitors

If you are running a machine with multiple monitors and the video card for each monitor is an OpenGL® compliant video card (e.g., GeForce™ series cards), you may experience problems running the game, as the game will recognize both video cards.  Simply disable one of the monitors in the Windows® Display Properties.

Playing Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ with dual monitors is not a supported feature.

OPERATING SYSTEM SPECIFIC TROUBLESHOOTING

1.  Shift Key in Windows® 2000/XP Interrupts Game

If you press the Shift key 5 times consecutively in Windows® 2000 or Windows® XP the following message may appear:

"By pressing the SHIFT key five times you have turned on the StickyKeys feature in Windows® 2000 [or Windows® XP].  With this feature, you can lock down the CTRL, ALT, or SHIFT keys.  This is useful if you are unable to hold down more than one key at a time.

Click OK to turn this feature on.  If you do not want to use the feature, click Cancel.”

To avoid this happening in the future, click the Settings button on the window referenced above.  When the accessibility options screen appears, click the "Settings" button in the "Sticky Keys" portion of the window.  On the next window (should be labeled "Settings For Sticky Keys"), uncheck in the box that says, "Use shortcut," then click on "Apply," and close the windows.  The problem should not occur once the shortcut has been disabled.

2.  Windows® Key Interrupts Game in 2000/XP

If the Windows® key is pressed during game play, the Start Menu will interrupt the game. 
Should this happen, simply press the Escape (Esc) key to close the menu and return to the game.  Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent this from happening again except by being careful not to hit those keys while playing.

3.  Game Icons Are Missing From Start Menu And/Or Desktop In Windows® 2000/XP

When installing Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ while logged into Windows® as a specific user, the game icons will only show up when logging in as that user.  For example, if you log into Windows® as "Joeuser", install the game, then log out and log back in as "Janeuser", the game icons will not show up.  If you wish to play the game, make sure you log into Windows® as the same user you were logged in as when you installed the game.

4.  Admin Rights Needed To Load and Play On Windows® 2000 or XP

If you are running Windows® 2000 or Windows® XP, you must have Administrator rights to properly install and play the game.

MISCELLANEOUS 

1.  Launching Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ from the Call of Duty Mod Menu

Call of Duty™: United Offensive™ is only supported when launching through either the Start Menu shortcut or Desktop shortcut icons.