DP Tool Club 17/CD_ASCQ_17_101194.iso/vrac/nah115.zip/N115.ZIP/HELP!.DOC

Text File | 1994-08-03 | 7KB | 171 lines

HELP!
for version 1.15 of Nahlakh

Common questions about getting Nahlakh to run properly and
about the game itself:


I CAN'T TYPE 'NAHLAKH'!
Well, you can name the directory whatever you want, and I put a simple
batch file in called 'n.bat' that runs the game.


WHY ARE YOU RELEASING NEW VERSIONS EVERY [TWO/THREE/FOUR] DAYS?
I'm trying to keep it to a mininum. I have a fast modem, but I realize
this thing takes a long time to download at 2400. I think most people
would rather have the fixes right away, rather than waiting for them.
I usually fix bugs as soon as I hear about them, so why make you wait?


YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY LETTER!
Well, because I'm living in Berkeley right now, it takes the mail
about seven days to reach me (first it goes to Brentwood, and then my
mom forwards it to me in Berkeley). I would use my Berkeley address, but
I'm moving in a week or so.


IT LOCKS UP IN QUICK COMBAT!
Your people are not too smart in Quick Combat, so if things seem to have
locked up, press ESC and it will return to normal combat. There's probably
a monster wedged behind something somewhere.


WHY IS THIS ITEM GREEN?
The "green" (I thought they were more yellow, myself...) items are
above a certain value. You can set this value on the option screen (ESC
from the outside screen to get there). If the color annoys you,
set the "highlighted value" to something really high.


HOW DO YOU SELL THINGS IN SHOPS?
Use the PgUp/PgDown keys to get to the person holding the thing you want
to sell, highlight the item, and press 'S'.


I CAN'T FIND ANY LOCKPICKS!
Well, you're unlucky. Don't worry, they'll turn up eventually. Note that
a crowbar will also work to open those chests and doors...


HOW COME I CAN'T SELL THIS GEM I FOUND FOR LOTS OF MONEY?
The amount of money you get depends on the Merchant skill of the person
who talked to the storekeeper.


WHO HAS THE HIGHEST MERCHANT SKILL?
Check the party stats by pressing 'F' (while walking around), and then
'Z'. Probably one of your wizards, priests, or round guys. Or the alien.


WHY ARE SOME OF THE SKILLS HIGHLIGHTED?
The computer highlights your best weapon skill (or skills, if some are
tied). It used to be very difficult to decide what to buy each person
in the beginning until I put the highlighting thing in.


DO MY SKILLS EVER GO UP?
Skills go up gradually as you use them. They might seem to go up slowly,
but it's a really long game... everyone who's reached the end has
had Unearthly weapon or spell skills. Also, each adjective describing
a skill level covers about 3 to 5 actual numerical levels. And the
adjectives are heavily weighted on the negative side because in my
handy thesaurus, there were a lot more bad adjectives than good (but
'Ripping' is still my favorite [or should I say favourite?]).


DO MY ATTRIBUTES EVER GO UP?
There are trainers for all four attributes, eventually. It costs money.


MY CHARACTER HAS NO SKILLS!
Well, it might look that way, but in actuality, he has skills, just at
a really really low level. In a case like this, it might take a lot
of practice before a skill gets up to 'rotten'. Your starting skills
depend on your DX (left-hand column) and IN (right-hand column).


THE FIRST GROUP OF KOBOLDS KILLS ME!
Well, there's an easier dungeon below the first town. A secret door in
the dock guy's shop leads down there. There are two parts to the dungeon --
the thieves' guild (which is easy) and the crypts (which are much harder
than the kobolds). Therefore, I recommend you kill the thieves, kill the
kobolds, then the goblins, and *then* maybe you'll be able to kill the
crypt monsters. Good luck.


IT'S TOO HARD! THE [WORGS/DRAGONS/LIZARD MEN/FROG MEN/TROLLS] KILL ME!
Stay on the grass at first. The harder monsters hide in the hills and
forest, but they won't come after you if you don't disturb them.
The third town (and the associated monsters) is to the east of the
castle, but you have to go south, following the grass, then east, then
north to get there in one piece (unless you're really tough).

WHAT IS THAT '(e), (g)' THINGIE IN THE LOWER RIGHT-HAND CORNER?
That symbol means that the character is aiming for a body part (abbreviated
to its inital). If this is not what you want, change it by pressing 'a'.


THE SCREEN CHANGES COLORS AS I PLAY, AND EVENTUALLY BECOMES UNREADABLE!
Well, I thought I might have fixed this in version 1.12, but I didn't.
If this happens to you, PLEASE TELL ME! Only one person has reported it,
and I need to get this thing nailed down. Using the -notitle switch
might help.


IT DUMPS OUT TO DOS WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING AFTER I CREATE MY PARTY (or)
IT DUMPS OUT TO DOS WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING AFTER IT SAYS 'Restored.'
You probably have some sort of sound card conflict. Try deleting config.set
and restarting, saying you don't have a Soundblaster this time. If it
works, at least you've narrowed it down to your card. Copy your ct-voice.drv
file that came with your sound card to the Nahlakh directory. If it
works, congratulations. If it doesn't, contact me, and I'll see what I can
do. ([e-mail])

MY PRO AUDIO SPECTRUM (or some other newfangled card that supposedly
emulates a Soundblaster) DOESN'T WORK!
Well, sorry. I'm trying to figure out why this is happening (for all I know,
some PAS's work and some don't. If your card works, mail me and tell me
how you got it to work, please!). Incidentally, if you've got a CT-VOICE.DRV
file for a Soundblaster version 1.0, please mail a copy to me, because
I think this might be what the PAS people need.


HOW DO I SAVE IN DIFFERENT SLOTS?
You can't. There is no 'legal' way to do this because of the way each
game is saved (lots o' different files to keep track of). However, you
can copy games manually without fear of messing anything up (as long
as the slot you are copying to is empty or unwanted). A saved game is made
up of the files ending in '.sa?', where ? is the number of the slot (1-9).
If you want to copy slot 1 to slot 2, for example, type 'copy *.sa1 *.sa2'
at the DOS prompt. Whee!


THIS GAME HAS CRAPPY GRAPHICS!
Thanks, I drew them myself.


I WANT MUSIC! HOW COME THIS GAME DOESN'T HAVE MUSIC?
It did for a while, but it tended to lock up the computer when it
changed songs, and the music wasn't finished when the game was. Since
I've been working on Nahlakh for two and a half years, I decided
to release it without the music, rather than wait for the composer
to finish. Listen to your stereo.


WHY ARE YOU AN ANTHROPOLOGY MAJOR?
That's what my parents ask.


WHERE IN THE HELL IS BRENTWOOD?
The incorporated city of Brentwood is east of San Francisco, roughly
between Stockton and Antioch (if you know the area), or between
San Francisco and Sacramento (if you don't). It is an agricultural
community, and no movie stars or NFL athletes live in the vicinity
(that I know of, anyway).


The suburb of Brentwood in Los Angeles is something else entirely.


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