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ЦЭЭЭФФФФФњ EL-FISH ADDENDUM & QUICK START GUIDE ------------------------------------ SYSTEM INFORMATION ------------------ Harware Required: IBM or 100% Compatible, 386 or above. 4 MB of RAM, 3 1/2 1.44 MB High Density floppy disk drive, Hard disk with at least 10 MB free space, VGA or SVGA card with color monitor, Microsoft-compatible mouse, Math Co-processor highly recommended! Sound blaster, Adlib, Covox, Roland or 100% compatible sound cards optional. Software required: MS-DOS 3.3 or above GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------- This appendum/Quick Start guide contains all the DOS-specific information needed to start and play El-Fish on an IBM compatible computer. El-Fish Is A Glutton. El-Fish is a very technologically advanced piece of software that requires massive amounts of mathmatical calculations and pushes the limits of today's home computers. As a result, it eats up memory - both RAM and hardrive space - and it uses all the computer power you can give it. If you don't have a math coprocessor some of the features andfunctions may take a while. Have patience. (note: the 486DX - not the 486SX - has a built in math coprocessor.) Included disks El-Fish comes on 3.5@ 1.44 MB high density disks. 5 1/4 1.2 MB disks are available free from Maxis. See the enclosed coupons in the El-Fish box for details. Screen Resolutions El-Fish runs in two resolutions on DOS machines: -Regular Resolution - 376 X 348, 256 colours -High Resolution - 640X 400, 256 colours El-Fish will run in regular resolution on any VGA card. .It will run in high resolution on SOME SVGA cards. The cards we've tested and know will run El-Fish in High Resolution are: COMPANY CARD NAME Trident TVGA Video-7 VRAM II Egro ATI Technologies VGAWONDER, XL24 Orchid-Technology ProDesigner IIs Video-7 WIN.GVA Video 7 FastWrite VGA Add-On America Renoir Ultra-SVGA Everex systems Viewpoint Premium Radius SVGA multiView Cardinal Tech. VGA700 Cardinal Tech. VGA765 Genoa Systems Multimedia VGA 7900 Genoa Systems Super VGA 6300 Infiniti Systems Extended VGA Trident MicroSys. TVGA 9000 Portacoom Tech. Eclipse II Other cards may also run in high resolution. If you have a card that's not on the list above, please note it on your reg card in the comment section, and tell us if it will or won't run high res. El-Fish. On some cards you may first need to run a VESA driver. See the docs and disks that came with your card for information on the VESA and VESA drivers. NOTE:- RUNNING EL-FISH IN HIGH RESOLUTIN REQUIRES MORE COMPUTER POWER AND SLOWS DOWN PARTS OF THE PROGRAM. iF YOU DON'T HAVE A 486DX OR A MATH COPROCESSOR, AND YOU FIND EL-FISH RUNS TOO SLOWLY, REINSTALL IT TO RUN IN REGULAR RESOLUTION. Included Files Your main goal in El-Fish is to create fish and aquariums, but we included a few finished fish and aquariums to help you get started. There are also some Roe files - Generic data to create fish - Located in the Fish direcxtory. Some of the Roe are wonderfully strange mutants. See the Roe Library section of the User Manual for details. INSTALLATION ------------ El-Fish must be installed to a hard disk before you can play with it. Here's how: 1. Put El-Fish disk 1 into your A: or B: floppy drive. 2. Type A: [ENTER] or B: [ENTER], Depending on your drive. 3. Type INSTALL [ENTER] 4. Follow the instructions on the screen: Enter your name when asked, answer any questions, and change disks when prompted. 5. After the installation is done, remove the final El-Fish floppy disk from your drive. STARTING EL-FISH ---------------- After installtion (see above), make sure you are in the ELFISH directory, and type ELFISH [ENTER] TROUBLESHOOTING --------------- If El-Fish doesn't run on your computer, try making a boot disk, as explained below. If it still doesn't work then call Mindscape Technical Support on (0444) 239600. If possible, be at your computer when you call, and have El-Fish package and disks with you. We have included on El-Fish disk 1 a program called INFO.EXE. It analyses your computer and lists vital information that will help our technicians track down and solve any problems. If you cannot be at your computer when you call, please run INFO.EXE before you call and copy down the information it writes on your screen. Making a boot disk If El-Fish won't run on your computer using your normal setup, make a boot disk and boot from it when you want to run El-Fish. Step 1. Place a blank disk in the A: drive and FORMAT it with system operation: FORMAT A:/S. This will format the disk and copy your system files onto it all in one step, making it bootable. If you are running a version of dos earlier than 5, then you will also need to copy your COMMAND.COM file from the root directory of your hard drive to the boot disk. Step 2. Copy your mouse driver (usually called MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.SYS) to the boot disk. Step 3. Create an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the boot disk: 1) type A: [Enter] 2) type COPY CON AUTOEXEC.BAT [Enter] 3) type PROMPT $p$g [Enter] 4) type Mouse [Enter] (if you are using MOUSE.COM) 5) type C: [Enter] 6) type CD\ELFISH [Enter] 7) type ELFISH [Enter] 8) press the F6 key, then [Enter] Note: if ELFISH is not in C:\ELFISH, change lines 5 and 6 to the correct drive and directory. If you are using MOUSE.COM to run your mouse leave line 5 out of the CONFIG.SYS file below. If you are using MOUSE.SYS, remove line 4 from the AUTOEXEC.BAT and run the mouse from the CONFIG.SYS file. Step 4. Create a CONFIG.SYS file on the boot disk 1) Type A: [Enter] 2) Type COPY CON CONFIG.SYS [Enter] 3) type FILES=25 [Enter] 4) type BUFFERS=25 [Enter] 5) type DEVICE=MOUSE.SYS [Enter] (if you are using MOUSE.SYS) 6) Press the F6 key, then [Enter] Note: if you are running disk-doubling or disk-compressing software for your hard disk, you will have to add one or two lines to the CONFIG.SYS file. See the manual that came with your compression software for details Step 5. Reboot your machine with the new El-Fish Boot Disk in Drive A: When you are finished playing, remove the disk from the drive and reboot your hard disk to return to your normal setup. Be sure to label the disk so you can easily find it next time you want to play El-Fish. FOR TECHNICAL EXPERTS ONLY If el-Fish won't run with your normal setup, and you dont want to use a boot disk, and you feel comfortable with editing your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and wont blame us if you mess it up, then make sure your FILES and BUFFERS setting are both set to at least 25. If that doesnt do it, try diabling your expanded memory manager. Be sure to reboot after editing your CONFIG.SYS. And be Careful QUICK START ----------- First install El-fish as explained above. After the title screens have had their say and gone away you will find yourself looking at the Main Menu, where all El-Fishian activites begin. +--Title bar with Helpful Messages +----------------------------|-------------------+ |------------------------------------------------| | _______________________ | | | | | | +----------------> | <------------------ These buttons | | | |____________| | let you create | | | | | | and view | | | | | | aquariums | | | | <------------------ These buttons let | | |-----------------------| | you design and | | | | | view slideshows | | |_____________^_________| | of multiple tanks | +------------------------|-----------------------+ | | | These buttons let you inspect,copy and | archive your tanks, fish and | decorative objects. | These buttons let you create and modify fish El-Fish is easy to use, and fairly self explanatory. Just remember these few things - you can always return to the main menu by repeatedly clicking on the EXIT button or pressing the Escape key on your keyboard. - Click on various buttons to activate the different features and functions. - You can always get context sensitive help at any time by pressing the F1 key on your keyboard. - Keep and eye on the title bar at the top of the screen for helpful messages. - See the user Manual for a compplete tutorial and reference that will tell you everything you could ever want to know about El-Fish. And then some. For Now Click on the VIEW button in the SLIDE SHOW section of the main menu and relax. When you're ready to dive into El-Fish and begin, press the Escape key on your keyboard to end the slide show. Be sure to check out the tutorial in the User Manual. LAST MINUTE INFO ---------------- UTILITIES --------- A few utility programmes come with El-Fisg, including Mconvert (a program that converts MIDI files into a format that El-Fish can play) and PCONVERT (a program that converts drawings or scan in PCX format or TIFF files into objects that can be placed into El-Fish Tanks). A complete explanation of these and other utilities cn be found in the User Manual, but heres some last minute information. - MCONVERT only works with standard MIDI files and only works properly on files that only have instruments on channels two through thirteen. It works best with MIDI files for the Roland MT-32. - PCONVERT only works on graphics files that are saved in 8-bit (256 colour) modes A file called PALETTE.PCX is included and can be found in the ELFISH directory. Load it into your paint programme before drawing objects. It contains the proper palette for conversion. SETUP ----- one additional utility has been added at the last minute that isnt even mentioned in the manual it is called SETUP.EXE SETUP lets you quickly and easily update El-Fisg if you change your video card or if you change or add a sound card without repeating he entire instalation process. To run SETUP, make sure you are in the ELFISH directory, type SETUP [Enter], and follow the directions on screen. -=- Dox Typed by Manx!