The purpose of this page is to document information and tricks for the game Star Trek 25th Anniversary (DOS).
If you find any error on this page, please post in the
Star Trek topic. Some bugs described here might only occur in v1.0 (Floppy Disk version).
Most of the glitches described further below are not useful for speedruns. They are only documented to give an overview of the game's glitches.
General Techniques
- Press U and I key to bring up the item menu instantly.
- You can use other crewmembers to do a simple "Use" command. For example, you can have Spock use the synthesizer controls in mission 3 and have Kirk put in the polyberylcarbonate at the same time.
- The pathing in the game is not optimal, so instead of clicking on doors/things, you might want to click on the floor (with the "walk" cursor) to make Kirk walk more directly towards destinations.
- When in the ship, when a message is going to pop up in 1 or 2 seconds, the game disables the hotkeys (such as K, N, O) as to prevent you from orbiting or beaming until the message is shown. But if you press F3, you can use your cursor to select people such as Kirk to beam/orbit earlier.
Glitches
Ship Weapons glitch
During ship combat, you can shoot projectiles and pause the game (e.g. by pressing K to bring up Kirk's menu). The projectile cooldown will run out while the game is paused like this, essentially allowing you to shoot projectiles in quick succession without moving the ship.
Mission 1 Alien glitch
Giving the key item (the metal) to the alien while performing other actions causes glitches in the game. See
here.
Mission 3 Orbit glitch
If you press O to orbit at the same time as the dialogue comes up after defeating the enemy ship, you will orbit the planet and you can beam over. But after playing through the mission, the skipped dialogue will come up again forcing you to play the mission again.
This glitch seemingly skips dialogue but will not let you move on later. Avoid this in speedruns!
Mission 3 Synthesizer glitch
Have Spock use the synthesizer controls. If you have Kirk put in polyberylcarbonate or the virus cure at a specific time, then two things will be inside the output slot.
Another variant of this bug is that you can have Spock use the controls, and have Kirk pick the polyberylcarbonate or the virus cure back up. If done at a specific time, the synthesizer will produce the proper end product but Kirk will have picked up the source material. For example, the synthesizer can produce the Hypo (= end product) while Kirk picks up the virus cure (= source material).
Neither of the two bugs are useful in speedruns.
Mission 4 Orbit glitch
In mission 4, despite being told to go to planet Harlequin, you can select any planet on the star map. Your crew will still tell you you arrived at Harlequin. Before the dialogue about the enemy ships approaching appears, you can press O to orbit and beam over. After doing so and playing through the mission, the skipped dialogue will still come up and you will be stuck in orbit (unable to move) while being attacked by enemy ships.
Like the previous bug, this one also seemingly skips dialogue which will inevitably appear later on. Avoid this in speedruns!
Mission 5 Electricity glitch
During the trial, if you choose the correct dialogue options, you will be sent to a dungeon with electricity blocking your way. If you touch the electricity, Kirk dies and you get a gameover.
You can touch the electricity, but the "walk" command will make Kirk walk away from the danger.
Mission 5 Globe glitch
If you shoot the pulsing red globe twice quickly, before a dialogue can come up from shooting the 1st time, the globe will be destroyed but everyone besides Kirk will die. The red pixels on the floor are the only remains of your crew, and they are clickable - you can click on the pixels to talk to your crew and make them rematerialize. Going to a different room will also make everyone appear again.
Mission 5 Beam glitch
After going through the dungeon, if you call the Enterprise and choose to beam to Vlict's position while walking into a loading zone, the "beam up" animation is skipped.
Mission 6 Orbit glitch
You can buffer a O keypress before the Starfleet's message comes up, allowing you to orbit the current planet. The skipped message will come up now.
You can buffer a K keypress to bring up Kirk's menu and beam over to the planet before the message comes up. This leads to a dead-end: After playing through the mission, the skipped Starfleet admiral message comes up and you have to play the mission again.
Or you can clear the message first, but you will not be able to beam over ("This isn't our destination.").
Mission 7 Unwinnable situation (CD Version)
It is possible to make the game unwinnable in mission 7 (CD version), if you divert power to the shields before diverting power to weapons first. If you do that, you cannot switch it back and you cannot learn that the weapons are jammed, therefore you cannot continue.
Post-mission actions
After getting the Starfleet admiral's report after each mission, the game automatically turns black and starts the next mission. But you can buffer a keypress to prevent this from happening, allowing you to orbit the planet again.
After arriving at the planet and clearing the "Entering standard orbit." message, the game would turn black and start the next mission. But you can again prevent this from happening by opening Kirk's menu (press K) and beaming over. Therefore allowing you to play the mission again.
Softlocking
It is possible to softlock the game in a few instances.
In mission 3, in the synthesizer room, walk near the right door and then "use" the door. (Unconfirmed)
Un mission 5, near the end of the dungeon, you have to shoot down a Klingon. If you shoot his body again after he fell to the ground, Kirk will assume a firing stance but nothing will happen and the game cannot continue.