Known bugs in Starflight and Sarflight II

Problem: Starflight worked fine on my XT, but the screen screws up when I try to play it on my modern computer!
Solution: Grab Jouko Orava's TSR program staremu.zip to get your screen looking even better than it did in 1981.

Problem: Starflight worked fine on my XT, but on my pentium computer I can't pick stuff up when I'm on a planet surface!
Solution: This might be unfixable without help from EA (your old copy probably won't work on your new computer). Here's some mail from someone who's been through this ordeal...

Problem: Starflight II worked fine on my XT, but on my modern computer it's way too fast and/or I can't talk to aliens!
Solution: There are many third-party programs available now that can slow down your computer while you play starflight (try here). There is also evidence to suggest that the alian-speach problem is caused by disk caching. Try turning it off in your BIOS config, deactivating 'smartdrv', or using utilities such as ICD. Detailed explanations can be found here.

Problem: Starflight 2 won't resume my saved games!
Solution: A new set of batch files will partially solve the problem. Denzil Boyter has also created a TSR to overcome the limitations of the batch file workaround. Read more about this issue here.

Problem: I receive the message "Please insert the disk with the correct STARA.COM." when playing Starflight under Windows95.
Solution: Enable 'Direct Disk Access' on the starflight .COM files and/or remove any TSR's. James Hanback and Pierre Savoie explain.

Problem: Starflight II worked fine on my old Mac, but on my PowerPC all the text is screwed up!
Solution: This is caused by the color mapping on PowerPC's running MacOS before version 8.5. Play SF in black and white to solve, or upgrade to MacOS 8.5. Explanation. Other Mac tips.

Problem: I'm using Mac OS 8.5 or greater and Starflight I and II have no sound and/or crash when I leave the starport!
Solution: No known solution to the sound problem. Explicitly turn the sound off in the game's options menu to prevent crashing when leaving the starport. Explanation. Other Mac tips.

Here are some unintentional features that even the game designers didn't know about.

If you can add something to this page (new bugs and/or solutions), email the following address: lorin(at)tec4.ca.removethisfromaddress. Please note that in order for me to include it on this page, more than a couple people have to be experiencing the same problem.

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