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1995-07-26
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Torin's Passage TECHNICAL TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS
Thank you for purchasing Torin's Passage. In order for you to receive the
best possible performance with this adventure, Sierra has included
additional technical tips and game information that was not available
when the documentation was printed. The following supplemental
information should be considered part of the game documentation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
* Installation Procedures
* Handy To Know
* DOS Problems and Solutions
* DOS Error Messages and Solutions
* Memory Troubleshooting
* Sound Card Troubleshooting
INSTALLATION PROCEDURES
To Install Torin's Passage under MS-DOS, follow these instructions:
1) Insert the Torin's Passage CD into your CD-ROM drive.
2) From a MS-DOS prompt, type the CD-Drive letter followed by a colon
and press the <ENTER> key. For example, if your CD-ROM drive is
labeled as your D drive, you would type: D: <ENTER>
3) At your CD-Rom drive label prompt, type: INSTALL <ENTER>
4) Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation.
HANDY TO KNOW
A list of BBS and Tech Support Numbers for Sound Card, Video Card,
and Miscellaneous Computer Peripheral / Software Manufacturers is
provided on the Torin's Passage CD. To view this file, type
"EDIT D:\CONTACT.TXT" (if your CD-ROM drive is D:).
DOS PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
Problem: Your video card's VESA driver is not listed during INSTALL's
VESA test.
Solution: Although we try to provide as many VESA drivers as possible,
your particular video card may not be listed. If this is the case,
exit INSTALL, and do one of the following:
- Look in your video card manual to find the command to enable VESA
on your particular video card. Run this command to enable VESA,
then rerun the Torin's Passage INSTALL program.
- If you cannot find your video card's special VESA driver program or
have no information how to enable VESA, try using the generic VESA
driver we have included on Torin's Passage CD. To do this, type:
D:\INSTALL\VESA\VESA\GEBERIC\UNIVBE (and press the ENTER key)
Once you see the VESA enabled message, rerun Torin's Passage INSTALL
program. If you do not see a VESA enabled message, please call your
video card manufacturer for more assistance.
Problem: The game looks too dark
Solution: In the game directory on your hard drive, edit the
\SIERRA\SCARYDOS\RESOURCE.CFG file. Add the line "brightness=10"
after the last line. If the movies are too dark, increase the
"vmdRgb" value up to 100. The default is 35.
Information: If there is no brightness line, the default is 0.
Problem: The game runs too slow
Solution: Here's some things to try:
- Make and use a boot disk.
- Add the following line to the boot disk's A:\AUTOEXEC.BAT:
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV /512
Problem: Random crashes on Compaq Presario CDS 524, 920, etc.
Solution: Make a boot disk.
DOS ERROR MESSAGES AND SOLUTIONS
Problem: "Fatal error: Can't find text entry for 'VideoPrompt' "
Solution: This means you typed "D:INSTALL". Please type "D:" and press
ENTER, then type "INSTALL" and press ENTER.
Problem: "Can't create output file" during installation.
Solution: You need to free up more hard drive space.
Problem: "MsgBox called before errorMgr initialized: No VESA support
detected"
Solution: This means your video card's VESA program was not run before
the game started. VESA allows DOS games to run in colorful, crisp
high-resolution. Please refer to your video card manual for
more information to run your particular VESA program to enable high
resolution in DOS. Some examples are "VVESA.COM", "VESA.COM", and
"VMODE VESA".
More Information: We have provided many popular VESA drivers for you
on the Torin's Passage CD. They are located in the \INSTALL\VESA\VESA
directory on the CD. Please refer to the READ.ME file in this
directory for more information.
For Novices: To run Torin's Passage, you need to run a "VESA" program
first. If your CD-ROM driver is "D:", the quickest way to do this
is to type: "D:\INSTALL\VESA\VESA\GENERIC\UNIVBE"
This will set up your video card to run Torin's Passage in DOS.
"UNIVBE" is a Universal VESA driver, copyright of SciTech (c) 1993-
1994.
Problem: "Fatal: Unable to find mouse driver"
Solution: This means your DOS mouse program was not run before the game
started. Rerun INSTALL and choose MAKE A BOOTABLE FLOPPY DISK to help
us find and use your DOS mouse driver.
More Information: DOS needs a mouse program to be run before it can use
the mouse. To see if a mouse program is hidden on your hard drive,
type "DIR \MOUSE /S /P". Let's say you see:
Directory of C:\MSMOUSE
MOUSE COM
Directory of C:\WINDOWS
MOUSE DRV
MOUSE INI
A mouse program will end in ".COM" or ".EXE", so the mouse drivers in
C:\WINDOWS in this example won't do. To run the mouse driver in
MSMOUSE in this example, type "C:\MSMOUSE\MOUSE.COM". You should see
a message saying your mouse is now enabled. You can now play
Torin's Passage. If there is no .COM or .EXE file that has to do with
your mouse, please refer to your mouse documentation or computer
dealer for more assistance.
Problem: "EMM386 Error 6 or Error 12... " The error number may vary.
Solution: This is caused by a memory conflict. Running the game from
the boot disk will usually correct this problem. Please see "Create
a Boot Disk" and "Create a Clean Windows Environment" under Memory
Troubleshooting.
Problem: "Can't find FORMAT.COM--Unable to make boot disk"
Solution: This is caused when our boot disk maker program cannot find
FORMAT.COM on your hard drive. This usually happens if you installed
PC Tools or Norton Utilities. These utilities rename FORMAT.COM
to either FORMAT!.COM or XXFORMAT.COM. If this is the case, please
type the following commands
CD\DOS
COPY FORMAT!.COM FORMAT.COM
COPY XXFORMAT.COM FORMAT.COM
One of these commands will help restore your FORMAT command back to
normal, and will allow our boot disk maker to work.
Problem: "Can't make bootdisk since you're not using COMMAND.COM" or
"Boot disk was not created"
Solution: This can be caused if you are using 4DOS or NDOS (in Norton
Utilities). Get to a C:\> prompt. Type: SET and press the ENTER
key. COMSPEC should equal C:\COMMAND.COM or C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM.
If COMSPEC = 4DOS.COM or NDOS.COM, the boot disk maker will not
work. To correct this, type: SET COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM
This will allow our boot disk maker to work. When you reboot
without a boot disk, the COMSPEC will return to your original
setting.
Problem: "Can't allocate X bytes in ..\(somename).cpp"
Solution: You are running low on conventional memory. Please rerun
INSTALL and make a boot disk.
Problem: "Out of Low Memory" or "Out of High Memory"
Solution: Make a boot disk. Please make sure you have enough memory
to run the game. If you have 4 meg of RAM instead of 8 meg, the
game will try to run, but will fail when more memory is required.
Problem: "CDR 101 Error reading" or "DOS Error, Read Error".
Solution: This can be caused by an outdated version of the MSCDEX file.
MS-DOS version 6.2 and above should use MSCDEX version 2.23
MS-DOS version 6.0 should use MSCDEX version 2.22
MS-DOS version 5.0 should use MSCDEX version 2.21
If you have MSCDEX version 2.20, please get a later version.
Problem: "Invalid Drive Specification" using a boot disk on a Western
Digital IDE controller.
Explanation: The Western Digital IDE hard drive controller displays a
message "Press the SPACEBAR to boot from a floppy disk." If you
insert the boot disk and reboot before seeing this message, you'll
get the message "Invalid Drive Specification" and won't have hard
drive access until you reboot without the boot disk.
Solution: Remove the boot disk from the floppy drive. Reboot your
computer. When you see this message, insert the boot disk and press
the SPACEBAR.
Problem: "Invalid Drive Specification" using a boot disk on larger
Seagate hard drives, such as the Seagate 800 meg hard drive.
Explanation: Seagate hard drives larger than 528 meg use a disk manager
called "EZ-DRIVE". If you insert the boot disk and reboot before
seeing this message, you'll get the message "Invalid Drive Specifica-
tion" and won't have hard drive access until you reboot without the
boot disk.
Solution: Remove the boot disk from the floppy drive. Hold down the
CTRL key and reboot your computer. You'll see a message "Insert
bootdisk and hit ENTER to reboot". Insert the boot disk and press
ENTER.
Problem: "Error 105: ResSound (or ResView): Attempt to load wrong type"
Solution: This type of error is usually caused by corrupted program files
or a bad installation of the game. To correct this, delete the game
and run CHKDSK /F or SCANDISK to detect and correct any hard drive
errors. Then, boot up with a Torin's Passage boot disk and reinstall
the game in a clean Windows environment. Please see "Create a Boot
Disk" under Memory Troubleshooting for complete steps.
Problem: "Error 99: Error Loading Resource 999.PAL, restype.cpp(56)
Solution #1: This type of error is usually caused by having the wrong
game CD in the drive when you try to start Torin's Passage. Please
make sure the Torin's Passage CD is in the drive before you start the
game.
Solution #2: If you booted with a non-CD boot disk or bypassed your
CD-ROM drivers on bootup, you'll get this error message. Please
reboot and make sure your CD-ROM is responding beore starting the
game.
Problem: "Unable To Allocate XXXX Bytes" even with a boot disk.
Solution: Torin's Passage doesn't require a lot of conventional
memory, but some users have found adding these lines to the
Torin's Passage boot disk's CONFIG.SYS solves their problems:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH
If you don't see your question listed, most difficulties with
Torin's Passage can be resolved by simply running the game with a boot
disk. Please see "Create a Boot Disk" under Memory Troubleshooting.
Also look at the file D:\THEGUIDE.TXT (if your CD-ROM drive is D:).
MEMORY TROUBLESHOOTING
Some game players have experienced difficulty getting enough memory to
run Torin's Passage. This usually occurs on computer systems with 8
Megabytes of RAM, but can happen on machines with more memory. If you
are having trouble starting the game because of memory problems or are
receiving memory-related errors during the game (such as an "Out of
Hunk" or "Out of Memory" message), please make and use a boot disk.
Create a Boot Disk: Sierra has included a boot disk maker with
Torin's Passage.
Type "BOOTDISK -c -p" at the D:\> prompt (if your CD-ROM is
D:). The "-c -p" option must be in lowercase. The INSTALL program
has an older version of the boot disk maker, but it may not pick up
all CD-ROM drivers.
SOUND CARD TROUBLESHOOTING
Torin's Passage's can adjust the volume of sound in the game.
If you need more control, most sound cards' speech and music
volume can be controlled separately through software provided by the
sound card manufacturer. Here is a list of some common sound cards'
mixer volume control commands in DOS.
Sound Blaster 16: Type C:\SB16\SB16MIX
Vibra 16 in AST Advantage: Type C:\VIBRA16\MIXERSET
Sound Galaxy 16 in Packard Bell: Type C:\SOUND16A\UTILITY\MIXTSR
or type C:\SOUND144\MIXTSR
Compaq Presario CDS 524, 920, etc.: If DEVICE=C:\CPQDOS\VOLCTRL.EXE
is in CONFIG.SYS on the boot disk, then:
Press CTRL-RIGHTSHIFT to increase volume
Press CTRL-LEFTSHIFT to decrease volume
Proaudio Spectrum Family: Press CTRL-ALT-U to increase volume
Press CTRL-ALT-D to lower volume
Sound Blaster 8 bit: No software control. Adjust thumbwheel on card.
Thunderboard: No software control. Adjust thumbwheel on back of card.