(This article is currently under construction!)
1 Information
Urban Assault Trial is the official demo version of Microsoft Urban Assault created by TerraTools and Microsoft.
2 Overview
Urban Assault Trial is the official demo of Urban Assault created by Microsoft and TerraTools. It was developed and released to public following the commercial worldwide release of Urban Assault, as a free demo version of the game.
Urban Assault Trial contains a fraction of the content from the full game, as well as completely new 5 single-player levels (including updated tutorial missions) and 2 multiplayer levels. The download options for the trial version installer file were available on the official TerraTools and Microsoft Urban Assault websites long time ago. The demo version was also frequently included in various types of Microsoft Demo/Trial/Shareware distribution CDs in the late 1990s.
3 Official Microsoft Description
The Urban Assault Trial Version contains 6 single-player levels, including two training mission levels. Each level exhibits a diverse sampling of vehicles, technology upgrades, and enemy adversaries found in the 41 levels of the full Retail Version. In addition two multiplayer levels are available out of the 55 in the full Retail Version. Both are playable over a LAN with IPX or TCP/IP protocol, and one can be played over the Internet Gaming Zone with a low-bandwidth connection. An online HTML Help is also available, providing complete details on game features, background story, and strategies.
With this Trial Version, players will be able to:
- Create 7 different types of vehicles out of the 15 available in the Retail Version (even more in multiplayer).
- Jump into and take control of any of the available vehicles.
- Deploy squads to various targets using the map.
- Use the Squadron Manager to reorganize squads and set their aggressiveness levels.
- Conquer important power stations and technology upgrades.
- Combat against a sample of enemy vehicle classes and host stations (12 out of 35).
The Urban Assault Trial Version is 12.9 MB compressed and takes up 27 MB when installed. The system requirement is:
- Multimedia PC with minimum Pentium 133 MHz or equivalent processor
- Windows® 95 operating system or higher
- 16 MB of RAM
- 27 MB minimum of free uncompressed hard-disk space
- Local bus SVGA video card with a minimum of 1 MB of VRAM
- Windows compatible sound card plus speakers or headphones
- Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
Optional:
- 3D graphics accelerator card compatible with the Direct3D® API for best graphic quality. Note some 3-D accelerator cards may not be fully compatible with the 3-D acceleration features of Urban Assault.
- 28.8 or higher baud modem for head to head play
- Internet access required for play on the Internet Gaming Zone (connect time charges may apply)
- Joystick controller (Urban Assault supports force feedback input devices compatible with the DirectInput® API)
***DirectX 5 or later required for gameplay.
4 Downloads
Urban Assault Trial is hosted and available for download on our main file repository server.
Direct Download Link:
Urban Assault Trial
The UA Demo version is now also available in the OpenUA package variant:
OpenUA Standalone - Trial Version
5 Installation
5.1 Windows
Launch the official MSUADEMO.exe installer file with the administrator privileges. It is highly recommended to set the compatibility mode of the executable to older Windows versions as well (such as Windows 95 / 98 / XP).
During the installation, the installer will ask for an installation directory. The default installation path is set to Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games of the main drive. On modern Windows, UAC virtualization may interfere with folder read/write permissions, which may cause issues when running the game that is installed inside the protected directory (such as the Program Files above). Therefore, it is recommended to install the game into an unprotected directory (see the Troubleshooting section).
After the installation process is successfully finished, launch ua_trial.exe file from the main game folder, or via the automatically-created Urban Assault Trial shortcut on the desktop to start the game.
For uninstalling Urban Assault Trial version, launch UNINSTAL.exe file that is located inside the demo (Urban Assault Trial) folder. The uninstaller will handle the process automatically after confirming.
5.2 Linux
The official Urban Assault Trial installer and the game software are only available in Windows API by default. However, alternatives such as Wine can be used. The OpenUA package variant of the demo is also available on our website.
6 Troubleshooting
For troubleshooting the common technical issues, please check the Game Troubleshooting (Windows) article. The majority of troubleshooting methods described in the article also apply to the demo version as well. Alternatively, open a new support ticket on the forums to receive direct technical support and assistance for Urban Assault Trial.
7 Trivia
- In the final demo campaign level 'Sturmfront', there is a large urban area comprised of numerous skyscrapers in the north-western parts of the map. The layout of these skyscraper sectors forms two alphabets, 'SK', when viewed on the map or the briefing satellite image. This is a hidden Easter Egg/reference from one of the leading level designers of the game - Stefan 'Opti/Metzel Hetzel' Karau. A similar city layout can be also found in the Debug level.
- According to the mission briefing text in 'Sturmfront' mission, the name of SDU6 is Dietmar 'DIDI' Köbelin (one of the original Urban Assault developers!)
8 Notes
- The official Microsoft description of Urban Assault Trial states it contains 6 single-player levels. However, this is not the case in the final public release of the demo version, where there are total 5 single-player levels included. Although it does include a new multiplayer level, named 'Anarchy' (which is based on the single-player level 'Sturmfront'), which is distinct from the multiplayer level with the same name in the Metropolis Dawn Expansion Pack.