Knowledgebase Article 39

ASC 2

In the first step ASC tries to find a configuration file. In looks in these locations:

1. If a name was passed through as command line option, it is used
2. If an environment variable ASC_CONFIGFILE is present, its value is used
3. If a config file is present in the directory where the ASC2.exe is present, it is used (this allows ASC to run from USB-Sticks!)
4. The Registry Key entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Advanced Strategic Command\InstallDir2
5. The CSIDL_PERSONAL directory (for example C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\ASC\)
6. The CSIDL_APPDATA directory (for example C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\ASC\)
7. The CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA directory (for example C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ASC\)

If a configuration file is found, the pathes listed there will be used.

If no configuration file is found, a new one in CSIDL_APPDATA is created and it will contain the directory CSIDL_PERSONAL, CSIDL_APPDATA, CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA and the directory where the ASC2.exe file is located.

ASC 1

The Installation program of ASC creates a registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ADVANCED STRATEGIC COMMAND/InstallDir which contains the directory it was installed to. ASC looks for its configuration file ASC.INI in this directory. The configuration file in turn contains the directories where ASC searches for its data files and where to store its savegames.

The registry entry is necessary for starting ASC by double clicking on an ASC mail game. Without a registry entry, ASC wouldn't know where to find its data. This means, you can easily delete the registry entry and the only thing that will stop working is the abilitiy to start ASC by double clicking on a mail game.

When you have deleted the registry entry, you can easily install different versions of ASC into different directories.

If you encounter any problems with could be caused by invalid or missing data files, although they seem to be there, check the registry entry and look at the ASC.INI it points to.

Last change: Sun, 2007-08-05 7:58