Troubleshooting FAQ

(Up to Guides, FAQs, and ReadMes)

This FAQ is for technical problems and will only apply to users of the latest Beta version of Worms Armageddon, or users either trying to update to this version, trying to install WA or trying to access WormNET.

TryMedia versions are not supported. If you have one, try getting a refund and buying a CD version from Team17 store.

If you have any questions regarding this FAQ, please add your comments to the talk page.

Installing WA

I can't install Worms Armageddon. The auto-run installation screen disappears, and nothing else will work.

Disabling DMA (Direct Memory Access) has been known to solve this. To disable DMA,

1. Start Menu → Control Panel → System
2. Click the Hardware tab, then click Device Manager
3. Expand the System Devices sublist
4. Double-click "Direct memory access controller"
5. Select "disable" from the Device Usage drop-down list

The installation freezes at 100%, and the game fails to install when I quit it.

Keep waiting, the installation will eventually complete after a few minutes. Cause of this problem is unknown.

I am encountering other problems with installing the game

madewokherd has written an alternative Automatic Installer for W:A. It allows installing W:A on 64-bit Windows operating systems, among others.

Patching/updating WA

When installing the 3.0 patch, I get the error "Failed to find installation path"

This is caused by missing or incorrect Registry entries created by the WA installer. This can be solved by reinstalling, or editing the registry entries as follows:

1. Start menu → Run → regedit
2. Navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Team17SoftwareLTD\WormsArmageddon\"
3. Double-click the PATH string and make sure the directory location is correct

I get a "Bad Integrity" error when trying to run the Patch or Update file

The file is corrupted. Try deleting it and downloading it again.

Starting WA

"C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications..."

This file has a nasty habit of corrupting itself, so Microsoft supplied a backup copy for such circumstances. Simply copy the "Autoexec.nt" file from "C:\Windows\Repair" to "C:\Windows\System32". If your Windows is installed in a different location, substitute C:\Windows with that location.

If this doesn't work, see the Q324767 article from Microsoft support.

I get a "No CD" Error

You probably tried to patch WA when it did not need patching. Uninstall the game and try installing only the update.

"ltkrn10n.dll was not found"

You tried installing an outdated Beta patch on top of an unpatched version of the game. Download and install the latest Beta update.

When trying to run the game, the Sold Out installation setup sometimes insists that I install the update, even when I have already done so

Ignore the message.

"The WA.exe file expects a newer version of Windows. Upgrade your Windows version"

Windows 98/ME compatibility has been accidentally broken in 3.6.29.0. This will be fixed in the next update. For now, downgrade to 3.6.28.0.

This problem is caused by the Visual Studio 2008 compiler, which no longer generate binaries compatible with Windows 98 and ME. All future 3.x versions will be built with Visual Studio 2005.

"Graphics subsystem error - Unable to set desired video mode"

Your video card or video drivers do not support the video mode required by W:A. If you are using Windows Vista on a notebook computer with an Intel video chipset, this is a known problem - Intel has chosen to no longer support old games such as Worms Armageddon for their Vista drivers. The only work-around is to emulate W:A. Otherwise, try updating your drivers.

I get a black screen when I try to run WA, then it crashes to desktop or I have to restart the computer

Disabling the introduction screens has been known to solve this. To do this, right-click the WA shortcut icon, select properties, and in the "Target" text box, type "/nointro" at the end of the path.

This must be outside of the quotation marks for it to work. For example,

"C:\Worms Armageddon\wa.exe" /nointro

Front-end problems

I can't see the bottom or right side of the screen in the front end

Your font sizes are set to a large value. W:A does not support non-standard font sizes. Open the Display Properties Control Panel applet, click Advanced... on the Settings tab and set font sizes to Normal size (96 DPI).

The frontend and menu system suffers flickiness, lacks background sound, messed up animations, or unusually slow/fast animations

Locate your WA directory and open the Tweak folder, then double-click the file "SlowFrontEndWorkAround_On.reg". If this doesn't solve the problem, do the same with "SlowFrontEndWorkAround_Off.reg". If this still doesn't work, do the same with "SlowFrontEndWorkAround_AntiFlicker.reg". If none of these work, your video card is too modern. These problems will be fixed in a future update. See this thread for more details.

The game uses all CPU in the front-end (menus)

See the solution in the previous question. Note that it might not be possible to achieve good visuals and low CPU usage at the same time.

When returning from a game, I get a black screen with some white areas

This is a problem with DirectX for which a workaround has not yet been found. For some reason, the colour palette is set to two colours (black and white). To restore the colour palette, minimize by clicking at the bottom of the screen or pressing Shift+Escape, then restore the game.

WA crashes or minimizes when I try to edit the map, or edit or create a team

This is caused by having a program with an "Always On Top" feature. MSN Messenger is a common culprit. Try closing other programs, or finding this setting and disabling it.

WA crashes when I try to edit a map

This problem is considered to be caused by a change in the behavior of graphic drivers and/or DirectX. The next Beta update will include a workaround. In the meantime, try updating your video drivers.

WA crashes when I try to edit or create a team on Windows Vista

If you enabled any compatibility options for W:A, disable them. The crash is caused by a problem in Windows Vista's compatibility layer.

WA crashes when I minimise and then try to maximise

There are some known problems with minimisation in the front-end - such as if a message box appears while the game is minimised. Until those are fixed, there will inevitably be cases which cause W:A to crash while minimised or being restored.

"ERROR: Could Not open/create team File" when editing teams

This error message is displayed when W:A can't write to the directory you installed it to. It usually happens when you change the default installation path and install W:A under "Program files". On Windows Vista, this will result in W:A not being able to write to its folder. To resolve the situation you can do one of the following:

• reinstall the game to a directory where non-administrators have write access (e.g under your user profile folder - the default installation path should work as well)
• run the game as administrator (not recommended; you will have to do it every time, but you can enforce this in the compatibility options)
• edit the directory's permissions to allow non-administrator users to write to it (for advanced users).

It is not possible to generate or load maps

This can happen when W:A can't write to the directory you installed it to. See the answer to the previous question.

In-game problems

Right-clicking in-game fails to open the weapons menu

The program StrokeIt can be responsible for this. Either disable the program when playing, or find the program option that allows you to prevent it from interfering when WA is running.

In-game plays extremely slow on Windows Vista

If you're using an nVidia graphics card, updating your drivers has been known to fix this issue.

The water and sky are black

Like with the above problem - if you're using an nVidia graphics card on Windows Vista, updating to the latest driver version has been known to fix this issue.

Players quit with a "desynchronization error"

Desynchronization errors are usually caused by a bug in the game. Search the Team17 forums if the problem is known. If it isn't, please post the replays of that game from all players (or at least the host's and the player that desynchronized).

Note that there are several known issues which may cause desynchronization errors when using 3.6.29.0. There are expected to be fixed in the next Beta.

The game colours get all messed up

Your screen may look like this. (It's beautiful, isn't it?)

This happens when another application is stealing W:A's palette. W:A logs such occurrences to the file palette.log in your W:A folder. If you can, try closing the programs listed there.

Often it's a component of Windows itself that's stealing W:A's palette (usually csrss.exe). If you are using Windows Vista/7, having any Windows Explorer folder open while you play the game has been known to fix it. If this doesn't work, try terminating the explorer.exe process using Task Manager before starting W:A. (Don't worry if the taskbar and desktop icons disappear, that's to be expected.) You can later start it back from Task Manager (which you can open by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Ctrl+Shift+Esc), by going to File → Run....

Equivalent batch command for terminating the explorer.exe process
taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe WA.exe Start explorer.exe

You could also try wkColorFix, an experimental WormKit module which suspends explorer.exe while the game is running (and not minimized).

Another known work-around is to disable the Indexing Service and/or Automatic Updates services (Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services).

The sound stutters (or plays unsmoothly) in-game

This has been known to happen with a slow/defective CD drive or a damaged CD. Try creating a CD image of your W:A CD.

The game doesn't react to some of the keys I press

Some keyboard have limits on how many and which buttons may be pressed simultaneously. If you find that the game does not recognize some key presses when you hold down some buttons (such as several arrow keys and the space bar), you may need to change your keyboard or use a key remapper. See this thread on the Team17 forums for details.

The game freezes while playing online

This problem is caused by the high-resolution timer on your computer stepping backwards. This throws W:A into an infinite loop, as it tries to make up for aeons of passed time. To work around this problem, run the Tweaks\TimerWorkaround_On.reg registry script.

The weapon panel moves randomly in either direction

Bug demonstration on YouTube

This problem has the same underlying cause as the one above—the high-resolution timer on your computer has stepped backwards. To work around this problem, run the Tweaks\TimerWorkaround_On.reg registry script.

When I minimize the game, I can't restore it

If you are using Windows Vista/7 and running W:A "As Administrator" - don't. User Interface Privilege Isolation causes W:A to not receive certain messages. You can temporarily work around this and restore the game by using the "Bring to front" option in Task Manager, however the long-term solution is to set up the game in such a way that it does not need to run with elevated privileges.

The game crashes when playing an Instant Replay

This is a known issue in 3.6.29.0. You can work around it by disabling instant replays in the scheme options, or downgrading to 3.6.28.0.

WormNET

I have been banned for no reason!

If you get a message that you're banned when connecting, check the green text in the message log at the bottom. This usually happens when you, someone on your network or someone who had your IP address previously had a virus or open proxy on their computer. For that reason, your IP was added to a blacklist. This is done to prevent flooders, spammers and griefers from connecting to WormNET using public proxies and vulnerable/infected computers and causing trouble.

To remove your IP from the blacklists, visit DroneBL and EFnet RBL, submit your IP address (it should be filled in automatically) and, if you're listed, send a removal request. You should also scan your computer for viruses and malware, otherwise you'll be blacklisted and banned again. Once you removed yourself, just wait for your WormNET ban to expire (this currently takes 12 hours), and you should be able to connect again.

I see the error "Unable to detect IPX protocol" when clicking "Test network"

Ignore this error. IPX is an outdated network protocol, obsoleted by TCP/IP.

When I try to connect to WormNET, nothing happens

PeerGuardian can cause this by blocking the WormNET IP address. Consider reconfiguring or disabling PeerGuardian.

When I try to connect to WormNET, the game freezes up (possibly with messed up colours)

ZoneAlarm (and possibly other firewalls) can cause this by producing a pop-up in the background when it detects your computer trying to connect. Configure ZoneAlarm so that it already gives Worms Armageddon access to the Internet. While you're there, you'll also want to allow it to act as a server, otherwise you will receive the same or similar problems when you try to host (see below).

When I join WormNET, the content of the channel list, player list and the message of the day box never loads

Restarting the game or your computer has been known to fix this.

No one can join my games

Consult the Hosting Guide.

I can't join my friend's game

Your friend may need to do some network set-up first - see the previous question.

When I try to host a game, the game freezes up

Certain Norton security products (and possibly other firewalls) can cause this by producing a pop-up in the background when it detects your computer trying to open a port. Configure your firewall/antivirus product to allow unrestricted access to W:A.

When I try to join games, I keep getting a "Checksum 15" error

This occurs when the game has been improperly updated. Follow the installation tutorial carefully.

When I try to team in, nothing happens

This problem can be caused by a misconfigured device on your network. Your computer is trying to send the team as a packet larger than the maximum transmission unit of a network node between you and the game's host. Normally when this happens, the said node will send back an ICMP packet, and your computer (or another routing device) will reconfigure to fragment the data into smaller segments (see Path MTU discovery). However, if you are using a firewall or router configured to block ICMP messages, auto-reconfiguration will fail, and the packet will be silently dropped, creating a "black hole connection".

To work around this problem, you can:

• contact your ISP or network administrator
• reconfigure your router or firewall to stop blocking ICMP "Fragmentation Needed" (Type 3, Code 4) messages
• manually set the MTU of your operating system to a lower value (might lower network performance)
• use a VPN service such as Hotspot Shield (not recommended)

Miscellaneous

Replay (.WAgame) files are not associated with W:A

Worms Armageddon creates .WAgame associations when you start W:A. However, if you run W:A from a limited user account, it will not be able to do so. To resolve the issue, run W:A once with administrative privileges (in Windows Vista: right-click on the shortcut, "Run as Administrator").

An alternative solution to many problems

Many hardware/software/OS incompatibility problems can be solved by Emulating Worms Armageddon, if you don't mind a performance trade-off.

Getting support

If your problem can't be solved by following this FAQ, create a new thread on the Team17 Worms Armageddon Support forum. You could also search the forum for similar problems.

I downloaded Worms Armageddon from the Internet without paying. Can you help me?

Please consult this advisory video. (Adobe Flash Player required)