FAQ & Troubleshooting

Playing

Do I have to unlock missions? Is there a save game?

No. Every mission is available from the start, and you can fly them in any order. Missions are single sorties, so there's nothing to save. The only thing the game remembers between sessions is your joystick setup.

The mission ended as soon as I got back to base, and it says I failed.

Flying into your home zone ends the mission immediately. If any other objective isn't finished yet, the mission counts as failed. Check the Objectives panel before you head home. See Objectives & winning.

I'm shooting a ship and nothing happens.

That's expected: guns can't damage ships. Use bombs or a torpedo. Guns do work on trucks, tanks, parked aircraft and buildings.

My torpedo won't drop.

You're too high or too fast. The kill feed tells you which limit you broke and by how much. For the Avenger, get below 90 m and 378 km/h. For the Kate, get below 70 m and 342 km/h. Press ` to cut the throttle and bleed off speed. See Torpedo attacks.

My torpedo hit but didn't explode.

You probably dropped it too close. A torpedo has to run about 65–70 m before it arms. Release from 300–800 m out.

My bomb damaged my own aircraft.

A bomb's blast hurts any aircraft close to it, including yours. Release high enough to be well clear, and don't fly through your wingman's bomb bursts.

I can't find the enemy, or my wingman.

Press V. Markers point to the nearest enemy (aircraft or ship) and to your wingman, with the range in metres. When they're off-screen, an arrow at the edge of the screen shows which way to turn.

W makes the nose go up. Isn't that backwards?

It's the usual arcade layout: W climbs and S dives. On a joystick you can switch to "push forward to dive" by inverting the pitch axis. Press F2, select Pitch and press I.

How do I get better at dogfighting?

Fly Free Flight. Enemies keep coming, you respawn automatically, and nothing is at stake. Then read the general tips and the matchup table. After a lost fight, press F8 to watch the replay.

Is there a way to practise a mission without being shot down?

Yes. Press F9 for invulnerable mode. You take no damage and can't crash, and everything else fights normally. It's a good way to learn where the enemies come from.

Files & settings

Where are my screenshots?

Press F10 to save one. Screenshots are saved in the game's install folder as debug_shot_1.png, debug_shot_2.png and so on. The numbering starts again at 1 every time you launch the game, so move or rename the ones you want to keep before your next session.

The default per-user install is in C:\Users\your name\AppData\Local\Programs\Aces. To open it, type %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Aces into File Explorer's address bar. If you chose an install for all users, it's in C:\Program Files\Aces.

Where are my joystick settings saved? How do I reset them?

In joystick_bindings.json, in the same install folder. To go back to the default bindings, quit the game and delete that file.

Screenshots or joystick settings aren't being saved.

If you installed Aces for all users in C:\Program Files, Windows may not let the game write files into its own folder. Uninstall, then reinstall using the default per-user option.

How do I uninstall?

Use Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Aces → Uninstall, or the Uninstall Aces entry in the Start menu. Before you uninstall, copy out any screenshots you want to keep.

Who made the aircraft models?

The 3D models were made by various artists and are used under Creative Commons licences. On the Select Aircraft screen, click License / credit above the preview to see the author and licence for each aircraft.

Troubleshooting

The game won't start, shows a black window, or closes immediately.

1. Update your graphics driver from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel. The game needs OpenGL 3.3.
2. Try the Aces (Safe Mode) shortcut. It draws the game on the CPU and works without a working graphics driver, including in virtual machines and remote desktops. If you didn't install it, run the installer again and tick Install "Safe Mode".

The game is slow or stutters.

• If you're using the Safe Mode shortcut, switch to the normal one. Safe Mode is much slower.
• Run in a window rather than full screen (F11 switches between them). A smaller window means less drawing.
• On laptops with two graphics chips, make sure Windows runs aces.exe on the dedicated GPU: Settings → System → Display → Graphics.
• The first time you load a mission with big ships in it, it can take a moment to load them.

My joystick isn't doing anything.

• Press F1. If the stick is detected, its name appears with a live readout of its axes and buttons. Move the stick and check that the numbers change.
• If it isn't listed, unplug it and plug it back in. The game picks up sticks as they're connected.
• If it's detected but the aircraft doesn't respond, open F2 and bind Roll, Pitch, Yaw and Throttle yourself. See Setting up a joystick.
• If a control works the wrong way round, press I on that axis row in F2.

There's no sound.

Press K, because the game may be muted (MUTED appears in the bottom-right corner). Also check the Windows volume mixer and that the correct output device is selected.

The cursor disappeared.

Mouse-fly is on. Press M to turn it off and get the cursor back.