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Frequently Asked Questions (Stand: April 2021)

Basic Troubleshooting

IMPORTANT: If the problem remains ask for help either on the forum or via IRC #0ad, the game is maintained by volunteers who do all sorts of tasks, be patient.

Issue possible Solution
Crash when starting the game Do you have any antivirus software running? Try disabling it temporarily or add an exception for 0AD.
Crash when starting a match Try disable Post-processing in the game options, while leaving Prefer GLSL on.
Game does not render correctly/
Rainbow colors
See this forum thread Game does not render correctly (22/Feb/21).
No replay files are generated Do you have any antivirus software running? Try disabling it temporarily or add an exception for 0AD.
Errors are displayed Try to disable all mods not compatible with the new version.
Registering for the Game Lobby does not work:
"Certificate expired"
"The stream has been closed by the server"
"An I/O error occurred"
Try to disable TLS via Settings => Options => Lobby
No image "disableTLS.jpg" attached to FAQ
PS: There is a limit in the number of accounts you can submit per hour, try again later.
"Authentication Failed" This message usually appears, when you have got a typo in your password or username. If you are sure your password is correct, you could create a forum account and contact user1.
The multiplayer lobby is empty You are probably using an older version of the game, see play0ad.com/download for the latest version.
How to play online? Go to Multiplayer --> Game Lobby
I forgot my Game Lobby password Resetting is currently not possible via the GUI, you would need to create an account on the forum and contact user1.
How to play via LAN? See this forum thread with detailed instructions - Multiplayer on LAN (16/Jan/17).
My friend cannot join my game and I cannot join their game. If you forward the port, everyone will be able to join you. If you use STUN when hosting, probably many but not everyone will be able to join you. If you can't join someone else's game, there's nothing you can do about it other than informing the host that he should port forward or host your own game.
What is port forwarding UDP 20595? A port forward is a way of making a computer on your network accessible to computers on the internet, even though they are behind a router. It is commonly used in gaming, security camera setup, voice over ip, and downloading files. After you have forwarded a port you are said to have an open port. 0 A.D. uses the port 20595.
How to do port forwarding? This can be adjusted in your router settings, try googling the manual of your router and follow the instructions from there.
Increasing the User Interface Add gui.scale = "1.2" to your user.cfg file, you can increase this number if you like, this will likely become an option with A25.
No image "user_cfg.jpg" attached to FAQ
Where do I find my replays, save files and configuration files (e.g user.cfg)? see wiki/GameDataPaths
Game is lagging Yes, this is a general problem with the game. It will lag on most machines it is actually CPU bound, not your GPU. Try to play on smaller maps & limit population. The game will only run as fast as the slowest CPU allows in multiplayer games.
Frame rate - CPU and GPU workload (1) Every frame that is calculated by the GPU is "prepared" by the CPU, one of them will limit your frame rate (FPS). When you select graphics effects, you create additional workloads for your GPU and CPU, causing your framerate to drop. Current PCs are mostly CPU limited in 0 A.D. because the game is not yet multi-threaded. That means they usually only use 1 core. Since graphics effects mostly affect the GPU, you can (on newer PCs) choose the higher graphics effects without sacrificing performance.
(2) Heating up the hardware leads to thermal throttling of the hardware. This effect is especially known for mobile PCs. If the hardware gets too hot, it throttles its performance until the hardware cools down again. Therefore, a limited but constant frame rate is usually better than a frame rate that fluctuates due to thermal throttling.
(3) VSync will also limit the framerate to the framerate of the monitor (I estimate 60 frames/Herz).
See forum thread - Recommended FPS Throttling? (16/Dec/20)
When hosting a game, the PC/laptop can barely cope with the required technical prerequisites, leading to game lag. A way to ease the load on the PC/laptop is:
(1) Host a game, but let the host PC/laptop be a spectator.
(2) When the match starts, turn all graphics settings on the PC/laptop to a minimum, then choose one of the player's perspective. The idea is that normal observer/overload perspective allows you to see every detail on the map, which increases load. If you switch to a player's perspective, the PC/laptop only needs rendering what that player can see. This would only require the PC/laptop to render a small portion of the map, hence the load is smaller. Even better: Add an unassigned player and switch to that perspective. The unassigned player will never explore or expand, so its field of view would be limited to just the starting civic centre.
See forum thread - Is it possible to run 0 A.D. in a "server-mode"? Or otherwise consuming less resources when only hosting? (20/Apr/21)

Gameplay

Question Answer
How to beat the AI and get better in this game? Read these forum posts and you will defeat the AI and most likely become a competitive player in the Game Lobby
The road to expert (4/Jul/16)
Civ analysis for A24 (12/Mar/21)
Ultimate guide on how to win in A24 with Persians (8/Apr/21)
Are there Youtube channels about this game? The three most popular channels are:
0AD Newbie Rush
Tom 0ad
ValihrAnt - 0AD & AOE2
How to enable mods? See wiki/Modding_Guide
How do you destroy a building instead of capturing it? Hold Ctrl before Right clicking on the building you want to destroy.
How does capturing work? The buildings have capture points for all players. If a player reaches 100% of the capture points for that building that player gains control over that building. Capture points can be gained by ordering units to capture that building or by that building standing inside a players area of influence (the player-coloured borders).
Where can I find all keyboard combinations for the game? (1) Either in the game itself via the GUI Hotkeys button or
(2) see wiki/HotKeys
How do I find idle units? (1) There is a button right below the minimap
(2) You can also press .
How do you select all idle workers? Press Alt + .
How do you select only military units? Press Alt and draw a rectangle over your units.
Can you make groups of units? Select a bunch of units and then press Ctrl + 1, you can make more multiple groups by using different numbers. To select this group, press the 1 key or another key to which you have assigned your group.1 key or another key to which you have assigned your group.
How does trade work? Select a trader and send it from your market to any allied market. It will give you some free resources over time.
How is my Game Lobby rating calculated? [NEEDS EXPLANATION, it uses ELO like chess, but more details would be nice]
How are the total, economy, military and exploration score calculated? (1) Total = Sum of economy, military and exploration score
(2) Economy = Sum of all resources + trade income, divided by 10
(3) Military = Sum of enemyUnitsKilledValue, unitsCapturedValue, enemyBuildingsDestroyedValue and buildingsCapturedValue, divided by 10
(4) Exploration = percentMapExplored, multiplied with 10

Modding

Question Answer
How to get started? The game itself is developed to be highly modifiable, to get started see wiki/Modding_Guide and wiki/Mod_Layout.
Taking a look at small existing mods (e.g ffm_visibility or Battle Mod) might help to better understand how things work.
Some total-conversion mods are: Hyrule Conquest, Delenda Est or 0AD City Builder.
What to do if I need help? (1) You can ask via IRC 0ad (general questions) or 0ad-dev (technical questions).
(2) You might find old threads in the Game Modification subforum answering your questions, otherwise you can create a topic and ask for help there.
Can I use the game assets? Yes, you only have to comply with the 0AD license.
"0 A.D. is released as open source: you can freely use, copy, modify and distribute the game's source code and data files, as long as you include attribution to Wildfire Games and let anyone freely modify and distribute any of your own modifications to the game's files."
Where to find the source code? Here you can find all the information on how to get the source code and build the game: wiki/BuildInstructions.

Map making

Question Answer
How to get started? The game comes with a Scenario Editor (aka Atlas) see wiki/Atlas_Manual and Scenario Design/Map making in our forum.
Can you recommend a video? This tutorial was made by a Youtuber called Tom0ad - How to easily turn ANY Country into a 0AD Map! - 0AD Map Making(28/Mar/21)

Miscellaneous

Question Answer
How to keep up with the game? For casual players there is no channel that summarizes progress. From time to time there are a some social media posts and a development report, but they are rare.
For players with technical background, you can read the logs, check committed patches on Phabricator or the timeline on Trac.
When will the game be released? When it will be ready. Unfortunately we can't be much more specific than that, there are too many things we just don't know. We're working on the game in our spare time, so we don't know how much time we'll have to make the game. We've never developed a game before, so we don't know how long it will take to do one or the other.
Will you put the game on Steam? We're going to look at putting the game on Steam to make it easier for people to find out about it, but not until we get to the beta stage at the earliest. We want the game to be as good as possible so people don't miss it among all the other games that are there. [NEEDS UPDATE @wraitii]
Does 0AD use any social media accounts? You can find a list of all accounts at the bottom of our homepage play0ad.com.
Does 0AD have a Discord? There is no official Discord, but there are unofficial servers:
https://discord.gg/KJPwF94
https://discord.gg/VbE9U3r
https://discord.gg/ztUnc2dg
https://discord.gg/xgpMArvu
https://discord.gg/jywnFzFA
How about more factions? Currently, there are no plans to add more factions until the game reaches the beta stage. However, there are mods that add more factions to the game (see github.com/0ADMods).
Will you add single-player campaigns? It has been committed to the development version with changeset 24979 (2/Mar/21), you can find more information in this forum thread Tutorial Campaign (29/Jan/21).
Where can I download the game? The game is free and open source, you are welcome to donate if you like.
Does the game have an in-game store, is it freemium or pay-to-win? Everything of the game is totally free and open source. We use donations to pay for server hosting, etc.
How can I contribute? Look here. You can also introduce yourself on our forums or dive into our IRC-channel #0ad-dev on QuakeNet
There are basically four important channels:
(1) trac.wildfiregames.com - for managing bugs and the wiki
(2) code.wildfiregames.com (aka Phab or Phabricator) - for managing patches before they are committed into the game
(3) wildfiregames.com/forum - discussion/feedback/miscellaneous
(4) transifex.com/wildfire-games/0ad - translating the game
Where and how should I report bugs? See wiki/ReportingErrors
Can you recommend a presentation or video about 0ad? (1) PDF-presentation - Sogyo Presentation (1/Feb/20)
(2) Video - 0 A.D. Empires Ascendant, a FLOSS Game (25/Nov/20)
What to do if I have a question that is not part of this FAQ? Join IRC 0ad (general question) or 0ad-dev (technical question) or see help & feedback section of our forums many other questions have already been answered. You may also ask any new questions there.

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Note: See TracWiki for help on using the wiki.