Readme File v1.0
11/12/98
Please read through the DirectX 6 section of this document. This section has information that is vital to successfully running Tomb Raider 3 on your system.
DirectX 6
Tomb Raider 3 is one of the first games to use Microsoft's DirectX 6. In order for you to play the game, you may need DX6-compliant drivers for your video card and sound card. Your video and sound card must be 100% compatible with DirectX. Please note that although DirectX 6.0 is installed with the game, your video and sound card drivers will not be upgraded to DirectX 6 drivers. You may need to obtain the latest DX6 drivers from your card manufacturer. If Tomb Raider 3 does not run properly on your video card, and there are no DX6 drivers available for your video card, you will have to run the game in software mode. Keep checking your manufacturer's web site for new drivers, they may correct problems you are experiencing, and may even help the game run faster on your system. There are various web sites listed in the Driver Information section of this document.
Signs indicating that you
may need an updated driver:
DirectDraw errors being
displayed.
Game crashes or hangs.
Graphic glitches and other graphical
problems appear during the game.
Sound squeaking or crackling in
game.
Windows desktop is distorted or
corrupted when exiting the game.
Please refer to the Technical Help section for more information.
To best prepare
your system to run the game, please follow this procedure:
1. Run ScanDisk
on your hard drive. This
program is found on your Windows Start Menu, in Programs/Accessories/System
Tools.
2. Run Disk
Defragmenter on your hard drive.
This program is also found on
your Windows Start Menu, in Programs/Accessories/System Tools.
3. Run a quality virus scanner on your hard drive.
To install Tomb Raider 3 to your hard drive:/P>
1. Place the Tomb Raider 3 CD in your CD-ROM drive.
2. After a few seconds, the Autorun Menu will come on screen. Select the Install option. If this menu does not appear, click the Start button, select Run and type D:\autorun (where D is the letter of your CD-ROM drive), then click OK.
3. During the installation, the program will detect whether you have certified DirectX 6 drivers which allow Tomb Raider 3 to run properly under all configurations. Your current drivers may be updated as necessary.
4. The Tomb Raider 3 installation routine will then install the game files to your hard drive. At the end of the installation, you may be prompted to Restart your computer.
5. Upon completion of installation, run Setup to make sure your graphics card is configured properly.
6. Click the Play button on the Autorun Menu or select Tomb Raider 3 in the Core Design folder on the Start Menu to begin the game.
There are a large number of options available in the Setup window, which allow you to configure the graphics, sound and controls within the game. You may need to change some of the graphics settings to achieve the best possible performance (frame rate and detail level) on your particular graphics card. Please refer to the Technical Help section for more details on graphics configuration.
The Setup window is accessed by clicking the Setup button on the Autorun Menu, or by selecting Tomb Raider III - Setup from the Start menu.
MINIMUM
SPECIFICATIONS:
Without hardware acceleration: Pentium™ Class 166MMX MHz or 100%
compatible processor
With hardware acceleration: Pentium™ Class 133MHz or 100% compatible
processor.
Windows® 95 or Windows® 98
16 MB RAM
4MB SVGA card 100% Windows® 95 or Windows® 98 compatible sound
and video card
4X CD ROM DRIVE
DirectX 6.0 (included)
Keyboard
RECOMMENDED
Pentium™ Class 200MHz (or greater) or 100% compatible
processor
32 MB RAM
3D acceleration recommended (100% Direct3D compliant accelerator cards
supported)
NOTE: It may be necessary for you to update your hardware drivers to run this game.
Tomb Raider 3 will not run on Windows NT 4.0, and was not designed to run on Laptops.
A couple of Lara's controls were changed slightly late in the development process and we were not able to update the manual accordingly. Here are the final control settings:
In-Game Controls (DEFAULTS)
Lara
Cursor Keys | Use the Cursor Keys to move Lara around the playing area |
Ctrl | Action |
Space Bar | Draw/Holster Weapons |
Alt | Jump |
End | Roll |
< | Draw Flare |
Shift (w/Cursor Keys) | Walk/Side-step |
? | Sprint when moving forward (ALT will make Lara dive and roll forward) |
Ins (Keypad 0) | Look |
> | Duck |
> (w/Cursor Keys) | Crawl |
ESC | Pauses and displays Menu Rings |
Hot Keys
1 - 8 | Directly select available weapons |
9 | Use large Medi-pack |
0 | Use small Medi-pack |
F5 | Shortcut to Save Game Passport page |
F6 | Shortcut to Load Game Passport page |
- (Keypad) | Shrink game window (in-game only) |
+ (Keypad) | Increase game window (in-game only) |
Vehicles
During her travels, Lara will come across a number
of vehicles, here's how you control them:
Underwater Propulsion Unit
Left/Right Cursor Keys | Turn Left & Right |
Ctrl | Fire Harpoon |
Alt | Accelerate (release button to slow down) |
End | Release hold |
Quad Bike
Left/Right Cursor Keys | Turn Left & Right |
Ctrl | Accelerate |
Alt | Reverse |
? | Hand Brake |
End + Left or Right | Dismount |
Note: Holding the Handbrake, pressing the Accelerator several times, then releasing the Handbrake will provide Turbo-Boost. You'll need this turbo boost to make certain jumps!
Kayak
Up/Down Cursor Keys | Paddle Forwards & Backwards |
Left/Right Cursor Keys | Turn Left & Right |
Shift + Left/Right | Paddle Turn - Left or Right |
End + Left/Right | Jump out |
Boat
Left/Right Cursor Keys | Turn Left & Right |
Ctrl | Accelerate |
Alt | Reverse |
End + Left/Right | Disembark |
Mine Cart
> | Duck |
Alt | Brake |
Ctrl | Swing wrench |
End + Left/Right | Jump Out |
Tomb Raider 3 supports a wide variety of Windows 95 compatible game controllers. However, there are no default settings for the joystick buttons, so you will need to assign the various controls to the joystick buttons yourself.
At the Main Title screen, highlight Controls (cursor keys icon) and press the Enter key. The Default Keys should now appear on screen. Press the right cursor key to bring up the User Keys screen. It is here that you will be able to assign the joystick buttons. Highlight the particular control you want to assign by using the cursor keys. Press the Enter key to select that control, and then press the joystick button you wish to use. The text will flash on and off if you have assigned two controls to the same button. Once you have assigned controls for all of the joystick buttons, press the ESC key to exit the Controls screen.
There is no hot
key to exit Tomb Raider 3. To exit the game, you can press ALT-F4, or do
the following:
Press the ESC key, press down arrow, press the Enter key on the Passport
(Game) icon, press right arrow twice (Exit to Title) and press the Enter
key. Once you are at the Main Title Screen, Press Enter on the Passport
(Game) icon and right arrow twice (Exit Game) and press the Enter key.
Tomb Raider 3 has a built in screen grabber for your viewing pleasure. Hitting the " key during gameplay will snap a screenshot called TOMB0000.TGA and place it on your hard drive in the C:\Program Files\Core Design\Tomb Raider III (or wherever you installed the game). The files will be numbered incremently as you snap them. Please do not try and map this key to one of Lara's in-game controls.
In the unlikely
event that you actually want to uninstall the game, there are 2 easy ways
to do so:
1) Go to the Start Menu, Core Design/Tomb Raider 3 folder, and select
Uninstall Tomb Raider 3.
2) Insert the TR3 CD, and then click on the
Uninstall button
on the Autorun menu.
There are many 3D accelerator cards available on the market, and they all will perform differently under the same conditions, depending on the chipset, amount of video memory, and drivers installed. The key to getting the best performance out of your graphics card is to set the card to a higher resolution, while maintaining a good frame rate with no texture loss. Many accelerator cards will run Tomb Raider 3 very efficiently at 640x480, 16-bit color.
If you notice texture drop out or texture corruption - white blank spots or bad textures on menu text, objects, terrain and characters including Lara, you will need to lower the graphics resolution. The card has run out of texture memory. You will need to lower the graphics resolution to a setting where the texture corruption disappears. The graphics resolution can be changed in the setup window, and can also be changed in-game by selecting the Sunglasses Icon. Turning off Z-Buffering may help to fix this problem as well. If the results are unsatisfactory, you can run the game in software mode by running Setup, and selecting Software Mode.
If you are experiencing very low frame rates, you may want to lower the screen resolution. You can also reduce the screen size, which will leave a border around the viewable area. The "-" key on the keypad will reduce the screen size (while in-game), and the "+" key on the keypad will increase the screen size (while in-game). Reducing the resolution and screen size will help Tomb Raider 3 run faster.
When using the Sunglasses Icon in-game to increase the resolution, you will have to be a little careful. Some of the graphic options such as Z-Buffering can be supported at lower resolutions, but may not be supported at higher resolutions. If you increase the resolution in-game to a resolution which does not support the currently selected graphics options, the game may crash your system. For example, the 3Dfx Voodoo1 cards will not run the game with Z-Buffering on in 800x600 mode. If you have Z-Buffering on, and increase the resolution in-game to 800x600 the game will crash. If you wish to run the game in 800x600 mode on a 3Dfx Voodoo1 card, make sure Z-Buffer is turned off.
DirectX
Installation
If there are any problems installing DirectX 6 when the game
is installed, DirectX can be installed directly from the CD. To install
DirectX 6, go to the "DirectX" directory on the game CD, and
run the "dxsetup.exe" program.
Sometimes DirectX will replace your audio or video drivers with drivers that do not work with your hardware. If you suspect DirectX has messed up your system, you should be able to restore the original drivers by going to the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS section in the Windows 95 CONTROL PANEL. This can be found on the Windows Start Menu, under Settings.
When you double click on the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS icon, you should see a list of all of the programs that are registered with Windows 95 in the Add/Remove Programs Properties panel. If you see a listing for "DirectX Drivers", double-click it to open the DirectX Setup window. At the bottom of this window, there should be a button labeled Restore Display Drivers. Clicking on this button should restore the original video drivers. Click on the Restore Audio Drivers button to restore the original audio drivers. Though DirectX will remain on your system, the restoration of the older drivers may then allow you to run the program. If not, you should probably contact your system vendor for 100% DirectX 6 compatible drivers for your video and/or sound cards OR visit the web site of your hardware manufacturer and download the latest drivers. There are various web sites listed in the Driver Information section of this document.
Additional help with DirectX
may be found on the Microsoft DirectX web site:
www.microsoft.com/directx/
Tomb Raider requires that you have at LEAST 4 Mb of VRAM on your 3D card. We do not support any 2 Mb cards.
3Dfx cards
If you have a video card that uses the 3Dfx Voodoo1 or Voodoo2
chipset, and you are using older DX5 drivers, you may experience problems
such as graphic glitches. Please visit your card manufacturer's web site
to check if there are new DX6 drivers available for your card. Just in
case your card manufacturer has not released DX6 drivers yet, we have provided
3Dfx reference drivers for Voodoo1 and Voodoo2 cards on the CD, in the
Support directory.
To install them, double-click
on the executable file and follow the instructions. Please note that installing
these reference drivers will deactivate any manufacturer-specific applets
or control panels provided with your card. You will therefore want to visit
your card manufacturer's web site to see if they have DX6-compliant drivers
available, before installing the reference drivers we have provided on
the CD.
S3 Virge VX/GX/DX
& GX2
You may be able to play Tomb Raider 3 on S3 Virge based cards
in hardware, but Tomb Raider 3 is not supported on these cards. If you
experience any problems running the game or viewing the FMV's on an S3
Virge card, we recommend you play in Software Mode.
If you find you are not hearing any sound within the game one of the reasons might be that when Windows 95 or Windows 98 was installed on your PC the ability to play the Microsoft Audio Compression files was not selected.
To check to see if this is
the problem, please follow the following steps:
[You will need your Windows 95/98 CD]
1. Go into Control Panel
and open the Add/Remove Programs applet.
2. Click on the Windows Setup tab.
3.: You should see a selection item called Multimedia which will
have one of the following 3 next to it:
- A check in a white box
- A check in a gray box
- No check in the box
If you have the first of these, then this technique is not the solution to the problem. Please refer to other areas of the document or our on-line support.
If you have a check in a gray box, then please click on the Details button and place a check in the box next to the "Audio Compression" entry.
If there is no check in the box, then simply click in the box to check it.
Press OK to all the dialog
boxes and Windows Setup will copy the necessary files to their hard drive.
There is also a driver issue with some sound cards and Microsoft's Compressed Audio Format. If you experience any 'skipping or stuttering audio' please try the following to clear up the problem:
1. Exit out of the game
and run the TOMB3 Setup Option from the Start Bar.
2. Look at the Sound Adapter Check Box.
3. Switch from Primary Sound Driver to the other available device
(most likely Yamaha).
4. Click OK
EIDOS Interactive maintains a web page with links to all major video and audio card manufacturers, which is a good first stop if you're looking to upgrade your drivers. You can reach this page at: http://www.eidosinteractive.com/techsupp/ts-links.html
Most common 3D Card manufacturer's
Web sites:
3DFX
3D Labs
ATI
Canopus
Creative Labs
Diamond Multimedia
Inc
Matrox Graphics Inc
Nvidia
Power VR
Rendition
S3
STB
If you experience any problems with the drivers installed by DirectX, we have included drivers on the CD that have been confirmed by the manufacturers to work with Tomb Raider III.
The latest drivers (as of 11/12/98)
for the following hardware can be found on the TR3 CD, in the "Support"
directory:
3DFX products (Voodoo1, Voodoo2)
Matrox products
ATI products
Creative Labs products
Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for installing their drivers.
If you continue to have problems, the EIDOS Technical Support information is listed below.
If you need technical assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us, after reading the manual fully, and of course this Readme file. For your convenience, if you cannot get through to a representative by phone and you have access to a fax machine or the Internet, please consider contacting us through one of these alternative methods.
When contacting us, please
be sure to provide us with as much information as possible. Make sure to
note the exact type of hardware that you are using in your system, including:
your sound card, CD-ROM drive, amount of RAM present, speed and manufacturer
of your processor, and the specific type of modem that you are using (for
questions involving multiplayer gaming). Also, make sure to include the
title and version of the game, and a detailed description of the problem.
Technical
Support Phone Number
Our support phone number is 415-547-1244.
We are available to help you Monday-Friday from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. (Pacific
Standard Time).
Our tech support personnel
will do their very best to get our software working on your system, so
please be patient with them. Certain times of the year (around Christmas,
or when we release a brand new game) the Tech Support lines can get rather
busy. You may be asked to leave a message about your problem and they will
call you back. If you must do this, please leave a 'best time to call'
and our Tech Support people will make their best efforts to contact you
in that time frame. If you need faster support please use our Website and
check the Tech Support web pages (see below). This is where the most common
problems can be fixed with easy step-by-step instructions, and we recommend
trying it before contacting the Tech Support line. The answer to your question
just might be sitting right there.
Hints and tips will not be given
out over the Technical Support line, please call the Eidos Hint Line, or
refer to a strategy guide for additional help.
1-900-773-4367
The cost of the call is $0.95
per minute. You must be 18 years old or have parent's permission to call.
A touch-tone phone is required. The hint line is not available in Canada.
Technical
Support Fax
For your convenience, we also offer the option of faxing us
with your technical questions at:
415-537-0095 or 415-547-1202
When sending us a fax, please
include your name, return fax number with the area code, and a voice phone
number so we can contact you if we experience any problems when trying
to fax you back.
Technical
Support Email Address
Eidos Email Technical
Support
Technical
Support Web Address
http://www.eidosinteractive.com/techsupp/
Technical
Support Mailing Address
Eidos Interactive
651 Brannan Street, 4th floor
San Francisco, CA 94107
Attn.: Customer Support
EIDOS technical support
worldwide:
EIDOS
Interactive UK
EIDOS
Interactive USA
EIDOS
Interactive Germany
EIDOS
Interactive France
Register
Tomb Raider 3 Online
When you register 2 or more Eidos Interactive
products, you are automatically entered into the Eidos Club. The Eidos
Club includes a quarterly newsletter, special offers, rebates, updates
on Eidos products and more!
http://www.tombraider.com/tr3/reggame.html
Eidos
Interactive Company Store
For the latest and greatest Eidos merchandise, you can now visit
the Eidos Interactive Store. You can go to the web site at http://www.eidosstore.com
Earthlink
Earthlink is a great way to connect yourself to the internet.
The Earthlink ISP software is included on the TR3 CD, in the Earthlink
folder.
EIDOS / Core Design Web links:
Official Tomb
Raider Site
Official Tomb
Raider Lara © Merchandise
Core Design Ltd
EIDOS Interactive
UK
EIDOS Interactive
USA
EIDOS Interactive
Germany
EIDOS Interactive
France
EIDOS Games
EIDOS Store
Unsupported sites:
Here are a few links that can
give you everything you want to know about the Tomb Raider Universe:
Tomb Raiders
Tomb
Raider's Travellers Guide
Tomb
Raider Archives
Happy Raiding!!!
Click this link for information on
For the Sony Playstation
Be sure to check out
the EIDOS Store, EIDOS TV and the many other EIDOS related web sites by
visiting
either of the EIDOS / Core Design
Web links above.
Tomb Raider III & Lara Croft © & TM 1998 Core Design Limited. © & Published 1998 by Eidos Interactive Limited. All Rights Reserved.
HFCIT!