Multiplayer Information
The game was released by Activision. On 9th of September 2021, so roughly 19 years later, to honor the occasion of 55 years of Star Trek, the game got re-released on GOG. In principle, EF 2 is the story line successor of EF 1, also based on the Quake 3 engine. The place is no longer called Voyager but Enterprise and the Tricorder is used much more often. A few more weapons, the graphics a bit better, that's EF 2. The gameplay of the singleplayer is much better compared to the first part, especially regarding the puzzles, while the multiplayer has lost some pace.
After a law suit Star Trek games from Activision were no longer distributed. In the meantime however, it is available via GOG once again.
The GOG release comes with its own installer, which works just find. Just run it and you will end up with EF 2 version 1.1 installed.
You install from CD 1 and 2, but you only need CD 1 to play.
The installation from CD may cause problems if your destination partition size exceeds 2 TB. In such a case it is necessary to install manually by copying the required files from the CD. Otherwise you will be fine just installing it with the auto play installer. Continue with Patching, if needed.
Simply copy the required files from the CD into a new folder and place it where you want the game to be saved to. The required files for EF 2 are the following ones:
Star Trek Elite Force II ├── base │ ├── cgamex86.dll │ ├── ctf_tartirus.pk3 │ ├── ctf_vor2.pk3 │ ├── dm_ctf_voy1.pk3 │ ├── gamex86.dll │ ├── global │ │ ├── default.cfg │ │ ├── defaultcontrols.cfg │ │ └── defaultoptions.cfg │ ├── hm_ctf_exigent.pk3 │ ├── locpak1.pk3 │ ├── locpak50.pk3 │ ├── pak0.pk3 │ ├── pak10.pk3 │ ├── pak15.pk3 │ ├── pak16.pk3 │ ├── pak20.pk3 │ ├── pak30.pk3 │ ├── pak31.pk3 │ ├── pak32.pk3 │ └── pak50.pk3 ├── EF2.exe ├── EF2.ico ├── snddrivers │ ├── Mss32.dll │ ├── Mssa3d.m3d │ ├── Msseax.m3d │ ├── mssmp3.asi │ ├── msssoft.m3d │ └── vssver.scc ├── support.ico ├── unins000.dat ├── unins000.exe ├── unins000.ini ├── unins000.msg └── version.inf
For tools like the official EF 2 patch installer to recognize the manually installed game, you have to add your game to the Windows registry. In order to do so adjust the paths and CD-key in the following example .reg file to match your own and import it into the registry by double clicking it.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Activision\Elite Force II] "InstallDrive"=".\\" "InstallPath"="Z:\\Games\\Star Trek\\Star Trek Elite Force II" "Language"="US" "StartMenuFolder"="C:\\Users\\<username>\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Star Trek Elite Force II" "Version"="1.0" "ef2key"="<The 16 characters of your CD key, all in upper case, no spaces>" "PATH"=".\\"
Depending on the version the game has after installation (can be seen in the main menu in the lower left corner), you might have to install the latest patch. Version 1.10 is the newest patch level. If you use the GOG version, this patch is already part of the installation. You might consider installing the coop mod, too. You can get the patch from here:
As always, the crack is optional for the CD version, but saves you having a CD image or the CD inserted. The GOG version does not need it, as the CD check has been removed from it. The game also runs fine under Windows 10. Higher versions have not been tried yet.
There are multiple variations to get the game going on the Steam Deck. Three of them are using Lutris, Heroic or Bottles.
seta r_mode "-1" seta r_customheigh "800" seta r_customwidth "1280"
It might occur, that you deleted the game without doing a proper uninstall. After that, the EF 2 installer still thinks, the game is installed while it is long gone. Therefore you cannot reinstall it anymore. This problem can be solved by deleting the EF 2 registry data. In order to do so, delete the reg-folder \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Activision\Elite Force II. After that, the installer will work just fine once again.
Due to limited buffer size when obtaining the list of available OpenGL extensions the game may be unable to determine the correct OpenGL extensions to use. This may heavily impact the performance of the game in a negative way. The easiest way to work around this issue is renaming the binary (.exe) from EF2.exe to quake3.exe. This enables certain optimizations by graphics card manufacturers in their drivers, like re-ordering the available extensions, so the more important extensions (for quake3 based games) will not be cut off.
Just like EF 1, EF 2 also depends on master servers to find game servers online. Currently available master servers are:
51.75.78.236, 2021-10-17)51.75.78.236, 2021-10-17)88.198.203.25, 2019-06-20)The currently recommended one is master.hazardmodding.com (or alternatively master.stef2.daggolin.de). As a replacement server (in case the first one fails), you may also use ef2master.sfu-server.de. Those cannot simply be used in a cvar, like in EF 1. So you have to turn to other means to use it:
The most convenient option is using the masterserver patcher ef2_multiplayer_master_server_fix-100.exe (downloadable from here). It patches the masterserver address in memory, so you won't need to alter your game at all. Simply start it instead of the normal executable. This also works with EF2.exe renamed to quake3.exe and it also allows for using the sv_master1 cvar. This way you can query a community master server (or announce your own game servers to it) once again.
This step is only recommended for more experienced uses, that know what they are doing. Using one of the above mentioned servers without any additional means may also be facilitated by editing the hosts file of your Windows system (%windir%\system32\drivers\etc) to let ef2master.activision.com point to either one of the mentioned servers. To find out which server uses which IP, simply run ping <server-domain> in the CLI. It will print the currently used IP of that domain. When setting the coresponding line in the hosts file, make sure to not break it. Domain name resolution might suffer otherwise.
This step is not recommended at all, as it may break your game's binary file. If you really know what you are doing, proceed. You can also try and alter the original EF2.exe directly with a hex-editor. Be aware that this might mess up the file to the point were you cannot use it any longer. So make backups of it before you try this.
Many settings and some features are only available either by editing the configuration files or by entering the data into the console of EF 2. By default the console is available by pressing the key below the ESC key (left of 1). On a UK layout keyboard this is ¬, ~ for US layout and ^ for DE layouts.
Be aware: Some settings cannot be set in this fashion. They have to be provided already during game/server start, which only works by providing the parameters via CLI or setting it in a .lnk file.
The game does not support widescreen resolutions like 1080p in the menus but today there are other options. The easiest way is to use the coop mod, which also brings you widescreen support in the main menu. For the actual game interface (not the menus) you can set it manually:
set_ws.cfg.seta r_mode "-1" seta r_customwidth "1920" seta r_customheight "1080" seta r_customaspect "1"
The r_customaspect value may be necessary to be set, depending on the aspect ratio of your x to y resolution:
0 (default)12By default every time you start EF 2 it will play the usual vendor videos. In order to get rid of those, use the pk3 from here. It replaces those videos with empty ones, basically making them go by instantly.
By default, the installation folder of EF 2 is in Program Files (x86) and saves and configuration settings are stored inside the game's folder. As this folder is also by default not writable for normal users (and also admins may have to confirm changes), the system prevents players from successfully saving their settings or add maps. These are the two locations you should look for your saves, maps, configs, etc.:
| OS | Location |
|---|---|
| Windows up to Win Vista | Game folder |
| Windows from Win 7 on | %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\<name of your EF game folder>\ (only when stored in folders Program Files or Program files (x86) of your Windows drive). |
See also Virtual Store on the matter.
The configuration files for EF 2 are named like the Windows user name you are playing as. So when playing as Administrator, the config file is named Administrator.cfg. It is placed inside the folder base inside your EF 2 installation or the virtual store folder.
See also section Coop for a single player campaign Coop mod.
EF 2's campaign can also be played in coop mode with the corresponding mod. It also includes many other fixes, e.g. resolution scaling fixes. However, it also may make your saved games incompatible. So if you decide to use it, it might be better to make a backup of your installation or do the coop patching right from the start.
There is also an amateur interview with the creator of this mod on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDlX5Eguw3w.
As for EF 1 there are single player cheats in the second part as well. The console must be usable (in the config or on the Windows console start with the switches +set ui_console 1 +set cheats 1, can also be specified in a shortcut) and then enter one of the following cheats on the EF2 console:
| Cheatcode | Effect |
|---|---|
god | invulnerable, unlimited ammunition |
noclip | No clipping mode |
notarget | Invisible |
modellist | Spawn List |
health 100 | 100 % health |
give <weapon> | Give weapon weapon |
kill | Suicide |
maplist | List of maps |
quit | Quit game |
shaderlist | show shaders |
kick | Kicks user from server |
tiki | ? |
rcon | use remote console |
flushlips | ? |
inventory | show inventory |
taunt | does what it sounds like |
vstr <name> | runs the vstr named name |
meminfo | Show memory usage |
echo <text> | print <text> |
toggle | ? |
reset | Reset game |
altbind | alternative binding |
altbindlist | List of alternative bindings |
freeze | Pause game |
systeminfo | System information |
devmap | ? |
centerview | Center crosshairs |
record <replayname> | Start replay recording |
stoprecord <replayname> | Stop replay recording |
demo <replayname> | Play replay |
alisdump | ? |
skinlist | Show skin list |
gfxinfo | Show graphics card info |
playsong | Playing a piece of music |
widgetcommand | ? |
notepad | ? |