Important: With Stars! being a very old commercial game, you will need to find and use serial codes to be able to use the full functionality of the game. Included in the stars26i.rar archive you will find a text file named code.txt listing 16 serial codes compatible with this version of Stars!. You will then be able to, using those serial numbers, host and play games with your friends.

Please note that version 26i is not the latest version of Stars!. The latest version is 26JRC4 or 27JRC4. While it is possible for you to download the available patches to upgrade to the latest version, please note again that the serial codes provided in the text file are codes which were leaked on the internet and thus blacklisted in the J patch and up. Those codes are provided to you solely to be used with the matching stars26i.rar archive.

It is possible for you to visit http://starsautohost.org/sahforum and ask that a new serial number be generated for you, for a minimal donation fee.

http://starsautohost.org/sahforum/in...30dd#msg_num_2

If you wish to join the AutoHost site and take part in the games hosted with their automated host then you will require a valid and unique JRC4 serial number.

More information about different versions and patches for Stars! can be found here:

http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Patches_and_versions

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Because Stars! was designed to run on Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, you may experience problems running version 2.7 on later Windows versions. In particular, version 2.7 requires wavemix.dll, which is no longer supplied with Windows. To install it, simply copy it into your [c:\windows] directory (or wherever you installed Windows.)

You will find wavemix.rar supplied in this archive.

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For those who will want to play and host a game without having access to the internet and the Wiki, you will find a text file named "How_to_Host_a_Game_v2.0_by_Omonubi.txt" in the archive. While it is an old version, most/all of the relevant parts for hosting games are still accurate today.

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Here are some very useful links which will help you play, learn, and perfect your Stars! skills:

Stars! AutoHost forum. Forum of the very popular AutoHost tool, still used today to automatically host and manage Stars! games. A lot of old veteran and elite players still visit this forum. A great place to read old posts and ask specific questions to old players.
http://starsautohost.org/sahforum

Stars! Wiki. The best place to look for information about Stars!. Compiled by Gible, this site is a carbon copy of several sources compiled in one place for your browsing pleasure.
http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Main_Page

Here is a quick list of links on the Wiki to get you started, compiled again by Gible:
http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Stars!_FAQ
http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Abbreviations
http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Fled...ist_-_Mar_2007
http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/%22R..._199 7_v2.6/7
http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Mong..._February_2000
http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/How_...h_January_1999

Here is a final link which could greatly spoil a specific part of the game if you wish to learn everything by yourself. It is, however, something that you should know if you wish to play competitive games against other human opponents. (Spoiler Alert) http://wiki.gible.net/index.php/Mystery_Trader (Spoiler Alert)