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Overview

Act Cadenza Strife (or ACS for short) is a 2D Fighting Game, created by Anibache, with characters from all of the major "Tales of" series titles.

The game is currently in version 5.518, as of July 8, 2013. It features up to 38 Playable Characters (with bonus downloadable content; 36 without it), and 39 Cameo Character appearances from all 12 of the "Mothership" Tales games, as well as 5 "Bosses" (Mithos Yggdrasill from Tales of Symphonia, Nereid from Tales of Eternia, Alexei Dinoia from Tales of Vesperia, Yuris from Tales of Rebirth, and Little Queen from Tales of Graces ƒ) which, with certain criteria completed, may be faced within the game's Story Mode, and (with the exception of Yuris) are designed to be extremely overpowering versions of similar playable characters.

Installation Tutorial

A.C.S. Installation Tutorial Video

To install ACS, first, access the main file server here: ACS Download Folder. Download all the files in the main ACS folder on Mediafire, titled "ACS (v_.___)". Downloading stuff in the DLC folder on Mediafire is not necessary. Run all the extractors to the same folder , so that there are no files in sub-folders. Make sure all the files are extracted to one folder. Make sure that there are no abnormal characters (periods, hyphens, brackets etc.) in the file path.

Then, finally, download the current patch file here: ACS Patch Download Folder. Put it in the ACS folder. Run it. If you get an error about the file CharacterSelect_2.demo, simply copy the existing CharacterSelect.demo and add the _2. Run it again and it should complete the patching process.

Now, if you want, you can delete the executable files (.exe).

Additional Resources

CAUTION!!! Before doing anything in this section, back up your original ACS files!!!

Downloadable Content by Anibache, creator of ACS, is available here:ACS DLC Download Folder. The "DLC.zip" file contains an alternate format for the character select screen, an alternate set of pictures for the character displays in the selection screen, and 4 alternate title screens. To use these, go into their respective folders, take the files inside of them, and copy them to the main ACS folder, overwriting the files that already exist there. The "dammy.zip" file is required if you want access to the bonus character, Kyle Dunamis . Overwrite the currently existing dammy.player file with the one from this download. To use him, select the blank box between Kohak Hearts and Rid Hershel . The "icon.zip" file contains some alternate icons for the ACS executable file.

Some players prefer their stages to not have background music. For some older computers, this can mean the difference between 60 FPS 100% inputs and 45 FPS 70% inputs. This improvement is especially important when recording videos or playing with other people over the internet. In this case, Anibache has generously provided BGM-less versions of the stage files. You may obtain them here: no-BGM.lzh For those unfamiliar with the .lzh file extension, you'll need a program like WinRAR to extract the archive.



Patching

The ACS Patcher in the process of patching.

The ACS Patcher completed patching. 1 of 2

Periodically,will post updates to the ACS game. You can check if there is a newer version bychecking the Main Page

When downloading the newest files, you don't need to download everything all over again. All you have to do is download the files uploaded on the date posted beside the date on the Main Page. This significantly decreases the amount of time during patching (as well as saves you a lots of bandwidth, considering ACS is almost 1GB).

For example, if the Main Page says the latest version is 5.308b, as of Apr. 23, 2011, you don't need to download any file prior to that.

Skip-Patching

Skip-Patching is a method of patching that involves patching a patched version of ACS. That is, if the current downloadable version of ACS is 5.0, the first patch (as well as your current version) is 5.1, and there is a new patch for version 6.0, the player may simply download the second patch (labled 5.0 to 6.0) essentially going from 5.1 to 6.0. This may cause errors when playing online.

FAQ's and Troubleshooting

Q: How do I get rid of the Japanese characters that cover the screen when I enter VS. Mode?

or

Q: I can't access Game Options. What do I do?

A: First, open the folder that ACS is saved in, and find the file named "game.ini". Open it in Notepad, or a similar program. You will see many options, the following options can be safely changed:

Option Values Result Editor.TestPlay.HitJudge=# 0-1 Turns displays/hides hitboxes and other information Editor.TestPlay.StageNb=# 0-?? Changes the stage Editor.TestPlay.time=# 0-99 The time in seconds of each match in VS. Mode. Editor.TestPlay.VSSinglePlay=# 0-? The number in rounds in one game in VS. Mode.

To get rid of the Japanese characters, change Editor.TestPlay.time to equal 0.

Q: When I start up the game all I see is a blank, black screen or a paragraph of Japanese characters. How do I continue?

A: If you have already set your controls, press any of them. If you have not, press G. If you're unsure what your controls are, click Option > Keyboard.

Q: How do I play, or combo using certain characters?

A: For general tips, pointers and the like, head over to the Beginner's Guide, or for more in-depth, character specific information, check out the character's page.

Q: When I start the game there's an error with TOA1.player. Why can't I play?

A: This means that you either: only downloaded the ACS.exe file, downloaded but didn't extract the character files, or didn't place the files in the main game folder. For more information, refer to the Installation Tutorial.

Q: When I use the Flynn Patch, there's an error with TOV8.player. What's wrong?

A: This means that you don't have Flynn's player file. Before you ask where to get it, well... you can't really. Anibache distributed the file to certain VIP's, and is not currently playable for the majority of the public.

Q: When I open ACS, it immediately closes. What's wrong?

A: This error is barely understood, but several factors may lead to this error. Below are some possible causes:

Whenever possible, avoid copy-pasting, as this may be one cause of the problem. Another problem is caused when the file path contains abnormal characters (periods, hyphens, brackets etc.). For example, the file directory "C:/My Documents/A.C.S." may cause errors while "C:/My Documents/ACS" will not.

Additionally, this error could be replicated by running ACS in Compatability Mode on Windows 7. It has also been proposed that the error could be caused by running ACS (a 32-bit application) on a 64-bit system running Windows XP. For the most part, all of these are hypotheses.