Thank you for looking at Rapid Fire! INSTALLATION ------------------- Create a directory for rapid fire. then change to that directory and type pkunzip -d a:\rfire.zip. Then type rfire. So your command should look something like this. cd\ mkdir rfire cd rfire pkunzip -d a:\rfire.zip then type rfire Problems running the Rapid Fire? -------------------------- Rapid Fire REPORTS BAD INSTALLATION/MISSING DATA DIRECTORY ---------------------------------------------------- When the files are installed correct, there should be a subdirectory called 'DATA' on your hard drive. If that is not present, then the Rapid Fire game will not work. If you unzipped the game from an rfire.ZIP file, make sure that you use the '-d' flag with pkunzip, or else this subdirectory will not be created. Game FAILS WITH CRITICAL ERROR (blue screen) --------------------------------------------- If you get Critical Error #165, then you either don't have any EMS or XMS memory, or else your sound card is either not Sound Blaster compatible, or your card IS compatible but the sound card driver is not loaded. Some sound cards need to have some driver loaded in your config.sys in order to properly act like a Sound Blaster card. MEMORY ------ NOTE: You can check your current memory status by typing 'MEM' at the DOS prompt. This will report the 'largest executable program size', which is what you need to know. It also reports EMS and XMS RAM available too. Memory is the biggest cause of problems. After you get the memory message and exit, type the command 'TYPE MEMFAIL' at the DOS prompt. You will then get a report explaining the short coming. If you don't have any EMS or XMS memory, then you will need HIMEM.SYS or/and EMM386.SYS in your config.sys file. If you don't have enough DOS ram, please read on. If the game refuses to run because of memory limitations, you will have to free up some more memory to run the game. But I have 8 Megabytes!!!!!???? If you have 4Meg RAM in your computer, you have more than enough to run rapid fire, but the way it is configured is the problem. The amount of memory in your computer is irrelevant because DOS can only use the first 640k of RAM. What matters for DOS programs is how the first 640k is configured. Don't be angry with us for this problem, for some reason, Microsoft never upgraded DOS beyond the initial IBM PC's 640k capabilities! HOW TO FREE UP MEMORY --------------------- If you aren't comfortable with editing your config.sys file, then perhaps you have made boot disks for other games. Try 'em out. You'll need one that boots with more than 590k free and an EMS memory driver. Many DOS games have required this in the past. If you do want to try editing your config.sys file, make sure you make a back up copy of your original, and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BOOT DISK because if you louse it up, your computer might not boot up. Please use these suggestions as general only. To be sure of what you are doing, consult your DOS manuals. What you'll want in general is to have the following in your config.sys file, which is the root directory of your drive c: ( you of course need to change the following to use the correct name of the DOS directory that you have on your system. ) device=c:\dos\himem.sys rem If the following line has 'NOEMS' on it, TAKE THIS 'NOEMS' out! device=c:\dos\emm386.sys dos=high If you don't have any EMM386.SYS in your DOS directory then, just leave out the 'emm386' line above. The game will run using XMS memory only, but performance will be slightly lower. You may also need to have a sound card driver in there too, in order to get sound to work. You may want to use 'LOADHI' to load this sound driver high. Please refer to your DOS manual on how to load things high. Also, you may want temporarily REM out some of your TSR's in your autoexec.bat file. In particular, the CDROM drivers can take up alot of conventional DOS ram. It may be possible to 'LOADHI' those, so they are still loaded, but in 'high' memory that doesn't use up any of the precious lower 640k. Of course buying a commercial memory manager like QEMM or others will also free up lots of memory, and have extensive manuals packed with info. NOTE: If doing things like the above suggest don't even come close to freeing up enough RAM. If this is the case, then perhaps your hard drive is 'STACKED'. In this case, your RAM is being used up by this compression software. Please consult your manual. Contacting Me --------------------------------------------- When I'm not snowed under trying to build new and better games. I like to hang out on some online services like AOL. You can send E-mail to me on compuserve 75537,2716 or by AOL Neojerry. You can also contact me by postal service- Jerry Maddred P.O. box 1887 Hampton,VA 23669