Madden NFL(tm) '98 v1.1 Installation Instructions ------------------------- Before installing the patch, you must have a properly installed version of the game on your hard drive. To install the patch, simply double-click on the file MADDEN98v1_1.EXE and it will run the self-extraction program followed by the setup program. If you receive any errors during the installation, please re-install the game and try again. This will update your version of Madden NFL(tm) '98 to version 1.1. This patch will reset your season schedules and stats. There are a variety of new features implemented as well as bugs fixed (including the Kickoff bug where the kicker appears to miss the ball and all of your players circle the kicker). Below is a description of features added: - 3Dfx Support If you have a 3D accelerator card that is based on the 3Dfx chipset, you will be able to enable support for this device. This will enhance the overall quality and framerate of the action game portion of Madden NFL(tm) '98. To enable this mode, at the "Game Setup" screen, click on "Game Prefs", a window will appear. Click on the "Graphics" button. Under the "Graphics" settings you will see a few new boxes. Click on the "3DFX" check box to enable it (an "X" will appear). To disable 3Dfx support, click on the box again and the "X" will disappear, disabling the option. If you have problems getting the accelerated modes to work with the patch, we recommend that you re-install DirectX(tm) 5.0 from the CD. 3Dfx additions: - Graphically represented Rain/Snow - Enhanced stadiums, fields, and skies - Higher framerate (all graphics move faster and smoother) - Degrading Field conditions (Rain/Snow only) - Frame Interpolation This option was implemented for use on faster machines (Pentium(r) Pro / Pentium(r) II) that are capable of high frame-rates in the action game. This option will give you the ability to take advantage of the extra power/speed offered by your newer computer, by making the animations run smoother by drawing more frames. You may experience erratic results by using this option with slower machines, and it is not recommended for machines slower than 233MHz. If you experience any slow down of gameplay with this option enabled, we recommend turning the option off. We have experienced best results with the combination of the 3Dfx acceleration in conjunction with Frame interpolation. - Play banners On / Off This option will turn On / Off the Post-Play banners that appear on the right-hand side of the screen which display information about the previous play. To enable/disable this option, click on the box beside the text "Play Banners." - Locked out rosters for Remote Play games When you enter the Remote Game Setup screen, you will be prompted with a message asking you if you would like to use the rosters from the 98 NFL Season. Clicking "Yes" to this option will use the rosters from the 98 NFL season mode, which are rosters that you cannot edit (modify player attributes, etc). If you have updated rosters (downloaded from EASPORTS.COM web page), this option will also use those updated rosters. If you click "No" to this option, you will be able to only select rosters from the GM modes of the game (97 NFL League, custom teams, historical teams, etc.). When a remote game is started, both players must have checked the "Yes" or "No" box. If the two players choose different answers to this question, you may experience erratic results. - Custom team play in Remote Games You will now have the ability to play with custom, special, and or historical teams in remote games (modem, LAN games). - Coach mode in Remote Games You will now be able to play remote games in coach mode (call plays only). - Export Stats This is a button that you will find in the stats screen accessed from the Pause Menu during or after a game (while still in the game), and in the Franchise Stats screens of the GM / 98 NFL Season modes. This option will export the stats of the selected team to a .DAT file. From the action game, you will need to do this for both teams. While in an action game, from the Stats screen, click on "Export Stats." Now select "Toggle Teams," and press the button again. For the visitor team, you will get a file called VISITOR.DAT, and for the home team, you will get a file called HOME.DAT. These files will be placed in the folder C:\Program Files\EA Sports\Madden 98\Madden98\Exe. From the Franchise\Stats screens, you will only need to do this once for each team you would like to export. Simply press "Export Stats" when you would like to export whatever stats you have on screen. This will create a file called GAMESTAT.DAT in the folder C:\Program Files\EA Sports\Madden 98\Madden98\Exe. Every time you press the button "Export Stats" from either screen, any existing .DAT files that you have saved in the past will be overwritten. If you wish to save old files, you must either move these files to another folder, or rename them. If you would like to view these files, you will need to run the conversion tool provided in this patch to convert these files into text files. To use this tool, from the C:\Program Files\EA Sports\Madden 98\Madden98\Exe folder, double-click on the file STATS_CONVERT.EXE. This will convert any .DAT files that you have saved out to tab delimited .TXT files. You can now open these files with any spread sheet program that supports/converts tab-delimited text files to spread sheets. When you open the file, be sure to check the "Tab Delimited" box on opening (or whatever option you have available for this conversion). You will now have a standard spread sheet file that will display your rosters, player ratings, and stats of the team. You may also use a text file reader if you wish, however the arrangement of the data may be in an illegible form. This feature was implemented with remote leagues in mind as it will serve as an end of game result file that can be sent to the league administrators for them to verify results, as well as post stats/results on their pages. You can use this for stat printouts if you like or for any other purpose. If you are in a modem league, most admins will simply want you to send the .DAT file(s) to them, so that they can run through the conversion utility and check results. You do not need the conversion tool to do this. You only need this tool to convert the files to be readable. - Stats/Toggle Team This is a button that will now appear in the Stats screen during a game (from the pause menu). This button will enable you to see the other teams stats during or after the game. - Player Names on Field In the action game, on offense you will see names of the skilled players (receivers, backfield players, QB, etc.) underneath the player. On defense, you will see only the name of the player that you are controlling underneath the player. After the ball is snapped, all of the names will disappear. - Bump and Run defense When you are on defense, before the snap of the ball you can set your defenders into a "bump and run" type of coverage. This will bring your defensive backs and linebackers closer to the line before the snap, and will enable you to play defense in tighter coverage for short passes and run plays. To activate the "bump and run," press button 4 before the ball is snapped. Known Problems -------------- - 3Dfx mode sound problems On some machines, certain video cards with 3Dfx acceleration enabled, because of the increased framerate, the audio may become a bit garbled sounding. This may be even worse when using the frame Interpolation option (because it allows higher framerates). If you experience this problem, we recommend not using the Frame Interpolation option to better the problem. You also may turn off Pat Summeral to make it better. - 3Dfx Voodoo Rush problems On some machines with 3Dfx Voodoo Rush based boards (single board solution cards with 3Dfx), you may experience graphic problems. We are aware of this problem and are currently working on a fix for this problem that should be release in verion 1.2. - 3Dfx driver problems (Invalid Instruction in DDHELP upon exit to Win95) If you are using a 3Dfx driver that is newer/older than the one supplied with DirectX 5 final release (the version on the CD), you may have problems exiting to Windows 95 and having your desktop resolution not reset. If you see this happen, your 3Dfx DirectX driver is probably incompatible. If you installed DirectX(tm) 5.0 from the Madden NFL(tm) 98 disk, you will not have any problems. You can check to see if you have the proper driver by running the DirectX(tm) applet from the Win95 Control Panel and select "Restore Drivers." After selecting this, you will see a list of drivers, all of which should read "Certified" after the driver/device name. If your 3Dfx driver/device line does not say "Certified" after it, then you should reinstall DirectX 5 by double-clicking on the file DXSETUP.EXE from within the Redist\DirectX folder from the CD (ex. D:\REDIST\DIRECTX\DXSETUP.EXE).