1N@JJJJJK Strike Commander In-house Pre-Installation Tester (SCIPIT) OSITEST.EXE tests your machine for hardware and software conflicts that have been known to conflict with Strike Commander. Run this program before attempting to install Strike on your machine. OSITEST.EXE requires a system configuration identical to that of Strike Commander. (i.e. 2.3 MEGS EMS/XMS memory, and 600 Kbytes of DOS memory.) CONFGTST.EXE does not require a special configuration, but will not be able to check for hardware incompatibilities. You need three files to run this test program: OSITEST.EXE CONFGTST.EXE JEMM.OVL Available Options: 1) Calibrate Joystick: Calibrates your joystick and writes out 2 files used by Strike Commander, JOYA.DAT and JOYB.DAT. These should be placed in your SC directory. Problem: The calibration routine locks up the computer. ie. The button doesn't let you exit. This is due to a port conflict. Either you have two enabled joystick ports or another external device (eg sound card) is using the joystick port address. Solution: Having two or more game ports active at the same time will not work. Most sound cards have the ability of disabling the game port part of the card. Make sure that all other game ports on your system have been disabled except for the one you actually have a joystick plugged into. Problem: The X and Y values for the joystick are stuck on zero, but does exit from the routine. There are two possible reasons; either the joystick port you are using has been disabled, or your joystick was not plugged in when you turned on your computer. Solution: Turn off your computer. Make sure that your joystick is plugged into an enabled joystick port. Turn on your computer. Problem: The calibration routine seems to run fine (it finds non-zero X and Y joystick values), but each time it claims the results are invalid. Some game cards do not provide large enough X and Y values for the calibration routine to work correctly. Typical max. X and Y values (lower right corner of joystick) should be at least 300. Solution: Some game cards have adjustable game port outputs. By adjusting the sensitivity of the card, you should be able to calibrate your joystick successfully. 2) Calculate machine performance index: Different makes and models of computers with the same CPU installed may run Strike at different speeds because of differences in the devices external to the CPU. This routine attempts to predict the frame rate (number of screen refreshes per second) you can expect during an average play of the game. (The higher the frame rate, the "smoother" the game appears to play.) For Strike Commander, the OSI rating divided by 10 will be give you the average frame rate for a typical mission. e.g. An OSI rating of 81 would mean that you should expect 8.1 frames per second (FPS). NOTE: This is an average of overall performance. When the screen is filled with terrain and texture-mapped objects (like a city block), the frame rate can degrade by as much as 50 percent. When little or no terrain is visible, the frame rate can be twice the average. -----------|------------|--------------| CPU | FPS | SMOOTHNESS | -----------|------------|--------------| | | | 386 SX |0.0 <=> 1.9 | unhealthy | | | | -----------|---------------------------| | | | 386 25 |2.0 <=> 3.9 | rough | | | | -----------|---------------------------| | | | 386 33 |4.0 <=> 5.9 | playable | | | | -----------|---------------------------| | | | 486 33 |6.0 <=> 7.9 | good | | | | -----------|---------------------------| | | | 486 50 |8.0 <=> 11.9| excellent | | | | -----------|---------------------------| | | | 486 66 |12.0 > | like butter | | | | -----------|---------------------------| 3) Check for software conflicts: Checks to make sure that FILES= has been set to at least 25 in your current configuration. See the Strike installation guide or your DOS manual for information on how to change this setting. Having FILES set below 25 may cause Strike to exit with an error code 19xx. Checks to make sure the sound driver MVSOUND.SYS, if present, is not loaded into upper memory. Strike Commander will not run correctly when this driver is loaded high. 4) Test original Strike install diskettes: The routine checks each of your original 8 Strike installation disks for bad sectors that would cause the INSTALL program to unpack the game incorrectly. If a bad sector is detected, you should get a new set of disks from the store where you originally purchased the game. NOTE: This test routine will not work properly under OS/2 (even in a DOS window). You must boot under MS-DOS or a 100% compatible system. 5) Check for hardware conflicts: Checks system ROM BIOS and the hard drive for conflicts with Strike. NOTE: This test will not be available if you typed CONFGTST at the DOS prompt. To run this test, you must set up your system as described in the Strike install guide, and then type OSITEST at the prompt. Problem: "Memory at $E000 is already being used by ROM or a hardware device." When your system is set up to use XMS memory only, Strike will attempt to use a portion of upper memory that may already by used by ROM or a hardware device. Solution #1: Using the "-f" option when running INSTALL and SC will fix most of these problems. To test if this solution will work, Try running OSITEST with the "-f" option. e.g. type OSITEST -f If the test program still detects this problem, try solution #2. If the problem goes away when using the "-f", use must always type INSTALL -f SC -f to run these other programs, or try solution #2. Solution #2: Follow the instructions in the Strike install guide for making a boot disk using an EMS configuration. (using EMM386 or QEMM or a like product.) Using this configuration, Strike will safely use the page frame provided by the EMS manager. Problem: "ROM BIOS or a TSR program has corrupted memory at $xxxx." Older BIOS's and some unfriendly TSR programs are corrupting memory that Strike is using. Solution #1: Make a boot disk as described in the Strike install guide. Solution #2: Check your CMOS setup. Some older BIOS's have a "continuous backfill of shadow RAM" feature that tends to corrupt memory used by Strike. Try disabling this feature. You may need to upgrade your ROM BIOS. Problem: "Double buffering is NOT required for your hard drive." Your CONFIG.SYS file loads SMARTDRIVE as a device driver. Solution: You may safely remove this line from your CONFIG.SYS file because it isn't needed. Problem: "Double buffering required for drive C:" Solution: You must leave the double buffering disk manager in your system configuration. WINDOWS 3.1 and DOS ver 6.0 both come with a disk manager program. The following line should always be in your CONFIG.SYS file in order to play Strike Commander: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE Note #1: The path to the program SMARTDRV.EXE may be different on your machine. Note #2: Adding this line to your CONFIG.SYS will only install the double buffering manager; it does not install a disk cache. Please refer to your MS-DOS manuals for more on installing a disk cache. | | | | -----------NwZ7e!ZMe! 2wC,Z 0gpgVTZ3oRh4 w>RheZ wHZB N5zffN^: Rd:   I $ A C  Y ' ) + V ~  Ce$Fq'Rt 68:<^#ksu#%'S%ln"i;=I!466ERLEELZ\hI$&oz HJLNP Arial guide, and then type OSITEST at the prompt. Problem: "Memory at $E000 is already being used by ROM or a har