On some machines installing the 1.01 patch for Homeworld Cataclysm seems to fail. Usually this is in the form of a freeze or a crash while installing. Without this patch one of the many errors you may encounter on newer machines will be:
"Unable to open file: Cataclysm.big"
To get around the freeze/crash while patching follow the steps below:
- Download the Homeworld Cataclysm 1.01 patch. Make sure you download the patch specific to the region where you bought the game. Keep in mind after patching you will not be able to load saves made before the patch!
+ Download link 1 <– Softpedia (US version)
+ Download link 2 <– Shacknews (US version)
+ Download link 3 <– local mirror of extracted patch files (skip steps 2-5)
+ Download link 4<– Assam Kiiith’sid Storehouse (All regions) NOTE: the /x command line option has been found to not work with this specific patch version. Do not use it. - Create a shortcut to the patch .exe. On most versions of Windows this can be done by right clicking the patch .exe file and then clicking Create shortcut.
- Add the /x command line switch to the patch shortcut. Right click on the newly created shortcut and select properties. In the target field add a space and then the following command line option:
/x
e.g. C:\Users\<YOU>\Desktop\HWCPatchV101_USA.EXE /x - Enable run as administrator. While still in the shortcut properties select the compatibility tab and select Run this program as administrator. This setting is needed for the
/x
paramter to work. - Run the patch from the custom shortcut you created. Double click the patch shortcut you created to run the patch with the
/x
command line option you supplied. This should change the patch installation prompt to ask you where to extract the files contained within the patch. The prompt will look something like this:
- Copy all the extracted patch files into your Homeworld Cataclysm directory. Once you’ve selected all the files to be extracted, go to where you extracted them and move them into your Homeworld Cataclysm installation directory, overwriting any files that may have already been there. Once this is done try running the game again!