The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game Read Me File To read this file on-screen, use the Page Down and Page Up keys. You can also print the file by choosing the Print command from the File menu in any Windows word processing program. This READ ME file contains important information on the following topics: 1. The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game Quick Start: - Installing The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. - Playing The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. - Skipping the introduction. - Quitting the game. - Tips and Shortcuts. 2. Problems installing The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game: - Examining your hard drive. - Temporarily disabling other applications. - Checking your system hardware. 3. Problems Running The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game: - System freeze at the game startup screen. - General Protection Faults. - Out-Of-Memory error. - Special software that is not supported. - Windows 95 taskbar overlapping the program screen. - Conflicts with Screen Savers. - Turning off Microsoft Office Manager. 4. Performance Issues: - The program runs slowly. - Adjusting SmartDrive for better performance. - Tips for Notebook computers. - Choppy animation frames and sound. 5. CD-ROM Issues: - Increasing the CD-ROM drive reading performance. - Errors reading from the CD-ROM drive. 6. Video Display Issues: - Basic display requirement. - Problems when running in 8 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit or 32 bit color mode. - The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game looks best in 640x480 resolution. - Problems with Video for Windows. 7. Audio Issues: - Conflicts with other applications. - Audio driver problems. - IBM Aptiva Mwave sound card. - Sound Blaster 16 sound card. - Sounds play, but not very well. - Sound does not play at all. 8. Manufacturer's Contact Information for Video Display Cards. 9. Manufacturer's Contact Information for Audio Cards. 10. Notices. - Technical Support Services - Images in The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game - Questions in The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game 11. Credits: - The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game credits. - Byron Preiss Multimedia Company masthead. **************************************************************** 1. The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game Quick Start: **************************************************************** - Installing The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. With Windows 3.1: (i) Choose the Run command from the File menu. (ii) Type the following in the Run dialog box: D:\setup.exe (Where 'D' is your CD-ROM drive letter. If your CD-ROM drive letter is not 'D' then replace 'D' with the correct letter.) With Windows 95: (i) Choose Run from the Start menu. (ii) Type the following in the Run dialog box and click OK: D:\setup.exe (Where 'D' is your CD-ROM drive letter. If your CD-ROM drive letter is not 'D' then replace 'D' with the correct letter.) Restart Windows if a dialog asks you to do so. - Playing The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. With Windows 3.1: (i) Open The BPMC program Group. (ii) Double-click The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game Program Item icon. With Windows 95: (i) choose Programs from the Start menu. (ii) Select The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game item in BPMC program group. - Skipping the Introduction. To skip the introduction, click the mouse button while it is playing. To view the introduction again, quit and restart The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game from Windows. - Quitting the game. There are two ways to quit from The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. Method One: Hold down the ALT key and press the F4 key. Method Two: Go to the Options Menu (click the Options icon) and click Quit. - Tips and Shortcuts. You can select question categories using the 1-5 keys on your keyboard. **************************************************************** 2. Problems installing The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game: **************************************************************** If you encounter any error during installation, please try the following: - Examining your hard drive. Windows 3.x users: i) First exit Windows. ii) Run CHKDSK.EXE or SCANDISK.EXE in DOS to examine your hard drive. Windows 95 users: i) From System Tools group, Click the Scandisk icon to start. ii) Follow instructions to examine your hard drive. - If there is a problem in your hard drive, please consult the DOS manual or other hard disk management manual before you attempt to fix the problem. You may need to backup your data and other system files. - Temporarily disabling other applications. If you have any DOS TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) application (e.g. virus shield) or Windows screen saver running in the background, please temporarily disable it. You can enable it again after the installation. If you have other Windows applications running in the background, please close the ones you are not using. - Checking your system hardware. Please check your system hardware and make sure your machine is functioning properly. Any IRQ or DMA device conflict may create system instability, which will prevent software from functioning normally. **************************************************************** 3. Problems Running The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game: **************************************************************** - System freeze at the game startup screen. If you encounter system freeze at the game startup screen, this means there could be a corrupted component in VFW or the version of the existing VFW is not compatible with the game. Please read "Problems with Video for Windows" in section 6. - General Protection Faults. General Protection Faults may occur when there is not enough memory available to the application, or if the system is experiencing a conflict with particular software or hardware. A frequent cause of General Protection Faults is the use of outdated video drivers or audio drivers. Check to make sure you are using the latest video drivers and audio drivers available from your computer, video card or audio card manufacturer. When running the program, if a General Protection Fault occurs, quit and restart Windows. In many cases, the problem will not occur again. - Out-Of-Memory Errors. If you encounter out-of-memory errors, there is probably not enough memory available to the program. Consider doing the following to improve the memory usage. i) Close all unnecessary applications. ii) If you are using Windows for Workgroups, try to run windows without loading the network drivers by typing "win /n" at the DOS prompt. iii) Determine how much memory your computer has available by typing "mem" and pressing ENTER at the DOS prompt. You need a minimum of 8MB of total memory to use the program. If you do not have at least 8MB of physical memory, you may not be able to run the program until you add more physical memory. iv) Check the virtual memory setting. Try to use the Windows recommended virtual memory size; it may help to solve the out-of-memory problem. Please consult the Windows User's Guide for more information. v) If you are using Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11, you can try optimizing the memory usage by using Memmaker in DOS. - Special software that is not supported. The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game does not support special software that assigns custom functions to simulate the left, right or center mouse button. These functions should not be used while running the program. - Windows 95 taskbar overlapping the program screen. If you find that the Windows 95 taskbar is overlapping the program screen, you can hide the taskbar by doing the following: i) Click the Start button. ii) Choose Settings. iii) Click Taskbar icon. iv) Check the Auto Hide box. v) Click the OK button. To see the taskbar again, move the mouse cursor to the edge of your screen where your taskbar is located. - Conflicts with Screen Savers. It is recommended that you temporarily disable screen savers of any kind while running The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. Some screen savers may have conflicts with the program and cause General Protection Faults. - Turning off Microsoft Office Manager. If you have Microsoft Office installed (either the standard or the professional version), you should disable the Microsoft Office Manager (MOM) toolbar while running The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. The presence of the toolbar in The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game can cuse colors to be distorted. Check your Microsoft Office documentation for information on how to temporarily disable the Microsoft Office Manager toolbar. **************************************************************** 4. Performance Issues: **************************************************************** - The program runs slowly. If you find The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game runs slowly, your system may not be optimized for the best performance. Consider doing the following to improve the system performance. i) Run Windows 3.1 in Enhanced mode. To see if you are running Windows in Enhanced mode, from the Program Manager Help menu choose the About Program Manager (or from the File Manager Help menu choose About File Manager). In the bottom section of the dialog box, you should see the phrase "386 Enhanced Mode." If you do not see this phrase, you can force Windows to run in Enhanced mode by typing WIN/3 or WIN/E at the DOS prompt when launching Windows. Windows for Workgroups always runs in Enhanced mode and no message is displayed in the About dialog box. ii) If you are running Windows in Enhanced mode, set up a permanent Windows swap file for virtual memory on your hard disk. See your Windows User's Guide for more information. iii) Defragment ("clean up") your hard disk by running a defragmentation program (MS-DOS 6.2 and above includes the program "defrag"). - Adjusting SmartDrive for better performance. If your machine has only 8MB of RAM running Windows 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and having the 32-bit file access mode turned on in Windows, please set the cache size for Windows to minimum for optimial performance. For example: c:\windows\smartdrv.exe 2048 128 where "128" is the only cache size Windows will use in Windows environment. Please read your DOS and Windows User's Guide for details. - Tips for Notebook computers. Some notebook computers may be still using a display driver, audio driver and CD-ROM driver that came with the system. Those drivers are probably the earliest releases, and may not be optimized for the best data transfer and hardware utilization. Please check with the manufacturer for up-to-date device drivers. If you have Windows 95 running on your notebook computer, try to use the native Windows 95 32-bit device drivers for your sound card and CD-ROM drive. This may increase performance on your machine and make The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game run smoother. - Choppy animation frames and sound. The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game program reads most of its animation and sound data from the CD-ROM. If choppy animation or sound still occurs after you have optimized your system, including updating the CD-ROM driver and sound card driver (read the following sections for details), this is due to the nature of your CD-ROM hardware and CD-ROM interface card (including sound card that comes with a CD-ROM interface). Some earlier CD-ROM drives and CD-ROM interface cards may be a bottleneck preventing optimal data transfer, which is something not able to be fixed by software. **************************************************************** 5. CD-ROM Issues: **************************************************************** - Increasing the CD-ROM drive reading performance. Set up enough buffer for MSCDEX by putting /M:25 at the end of MSCDEX.EXE line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Some CD-ROM drives came with earlier releases of their DOS drivers. Old drivers may not be optimized for the best data transfer rate between the CD-ROM drive and the CD-ROM host. Contact your CD-ROM manufacturer for the latest drivers. If you are using Windows 95, make sure the CD-ROM Optimized Access Pattern in File System Properties is set up properly for the type of CD-ROM drive you have. e.g. if you have a Quad-speed CD-ROM drive, you should have the CD-ROM Optimized Access Pattern set up for Quad-speed or higher. If you are using Windows 95, try to use the native Windows 95 CD-ROM driver for your CD-ROM drive. Using the CD-ROM DOS driver in Windows 95 may result in slower performance. The CD-ROM DOS driver may also impede full 32-bit file system access. The file system performance may vary if it is not in full 32-bit pattern. Make sure that your CD-ROM drive is MPC2-compatible. An MPC2- compatible drive has an average seek time of less than one second and can transfer data from the compact disc at 300k per second while using less than 40% of the CPU bandwidth. Check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive to make sure it meets these requirements. An incompatible CD-ROM drive will slow down the performance of the program. - Errors reading from the CD-ROM drive. If your system has errors reading from the CD-ROM drive, please do the following checks: i) make sure the disc surface is clean. ii) Look to find out if there are any visible scratches on the surface of the disc. iii) check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive in order to find out if your CD-ROM drive is functioning properly. Do not remove the CD-ROM while the program is running. If the program cannot find the data files that it needs from the CD disc, you will see a message that tells you that your computer cannot read from the drive letter of your CD-ROM. If you have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure the drive is connected to your computer, plugged in, and turned on. If you still see the error message after checking the points above, check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive. **************************************************************** 6. Video Display Issues: **************************************************************** - Basic display requirement. The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game requires a video card that supports at least 640 x 480 resolution with 256 colors - Problems when running in 8 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit or 32 bit color mode. If there is a problem with animation playback and graphics--such as skipping frames and palette flashes, consider the following solutions: i) Set the screen resolution back to 640 x 480 with 8 bit color mode (256 colors), if the display is already running in 8 bit color mode, try setting it to 16 bit or other higher color mode. Please consult your video card user's manual on how to change your display resolutions. ii) Update the video card drivers. Make sure you are using the most recent video drivers available for Windows from your video card manufacturer; earlier releases of video drivers may not be optimized for best display performance. Please consult your video card user's manual on how to obtain the latest driver. Most of the video card manufacturers provide BBS, WWW and FTP sites for downloading updated drivers. - The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game looks best in 640x480 resolution. If The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game is too small on your screen, you are probably running in a resolution higher than 640x480. To make The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game as large as possible on your screen, change the screen resolution to 640 x 480. - Problems with Video for Windows (VFW). During the installation, the installer will check your system for required drivers. The installer will not launch VFW setup if there is already a version of VFW existing in Windows. If you encounter system freeze at the game startup screen, this means there could be a corrupted component in VFW or the version of the existing VFW is not compatible with the game. In such case, please try the following: Windows 3.1/Windows for Workgroups 3.11: The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game requires a complete version of Video for Windows v1.1e to be installed before starting the game, please reinstall VFW v1.1e from the CD as following: (i) Choose the Run command from the File menu. (ii) Type the following in the Run dialog box: D:\vfw11e\setup.exe (Where 'D' is your CD-ROM drive letter. If your CD-ROM drive letter is not 'D' then replace 'D' with the correct letter.) (iii) Follow instructions on the screen and finish the installation. Windows 95: During the installation, if the installer reports: "Missing The Intel Indeo Video Format" please reinstall video and audio compression drivers from Windows 95 CD before playing the game. **************************************************************** 7. Audio Issues: **************************************************************** - Conflicts with other applications. Audio problems can have many causes. Other applications that play sounds may interrupt sounds in The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. Most sound cards cannot play two sounds simultaneously. In some cases, playing two sounds simultaneously can result in a system crash or freeze; in such cases, what you need to do is to restart your system. However, a few applications that play sounds, such as some screen savers, may remove audio capability from all other Windows applications; if this is the case, you may see The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game start up without any sound. If you suspect you have such situation, quit the game and turn off these applications before launching The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. - Audio driver problems. If you experience problems with audio, you may need to update your sound card driver. It is always a good idea to use the most recent driver. Contact the manufacturer of your sound card to find out how to obtain a new driver. - IBM Aptiva Mwave sound card. If you own an IBM Aptiva Mwave sound card and are experiencing 'looping' or 'repeating' audio playback, please contact IBM to update the sound card driver. - Sound Blaster 16 sound card. If you own a Sound Blaster 16 sound card and experiencing distorted audio in Windows 3.1/Windows for Workgroups 3.11, please contact Creative Lab to update the sound card driver. - Sounds play, but not very well. Sounds that are distorted or "fuzzy" have several possible causes. The most likely one is simply that your speakers are not of high quality. It is also possible that the software settings on your sound card are causing distortion. For example, if the sound card volume or "WAVE file output" is set to near its maximum, it will produce amplification distortion, just as it would on a stereo system. To find out how to change your sound card settings, check the documentation that came with your sound card. - Sound does not play at all. If you do not hear any sounds, make sure that the volume for your speakers is set to an audible level. If the volume is set to an audible level, you can perform a simple test by using the Windows Media Player to play a .WAV file. If you still hear no sounds at all, something may be wrong with your sound card setup. Check your sound card IRQ and DMA settings, make sure those settings are not in conflict with other hardware devices. Also, check to see that the driver is installed correctly and, if necessary, reinstall it. Refer to the documentation that came with your sound card for more information on installing audio drivers. Please note that The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game requires an MPC2-compatible sound card to be installed and is not intended to run with drivers which use the PC internal speaker, such as the unsupported "PC Speaker" driver. Such a drivers will in most cases not play any sounds. If you have both a sound card and the PC Speaker driver installed, it is preferable to un-install the PC Speaker driver. ***************************************************************** 8. Manufacturer's Contact Information for Video Display Cards: ***************************************************************** ATI Technologies Tech Support: 905-882-2626 BBS: 905-764-9404 Internet: www.atitech.ca Boca Tech Support: 407-241-8088 BBS: 407-241-1601 Cardinal Tech Support: 717-293-3124 BBS: 717-293-3074 Celerite Graphics, Inc. Tech Support: 510-226-6390 BBS: 510-226-7851 Cirrus Logic Tech Support: 408-435-8808 BBS: 510-440-9080 Internet: www.cirrus.com Diamond Multimedia Tech Support: 408-325-7100 BBS: 408-325-7175 Internet: www.diamondmm.com Genoa Tech Support: 408-432-8324 BBS: 408-943-1231 Hercules Technology Tech Support: 510-623-6050 BBS: 510-623-7034 510-623-7449 Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd. Tech Support: 800-462-8769 BBS: 514-685-6008 Microsoft generic SVGA 640 x 480 256 color driver BBS: 206-936-6735 Internet: www.microsoft.com Number Nine Computer Corp. Tech Support: 617-674-0009 BBS: 617-862-7502 Oak Technology Tech Support: 408-737-0888 BBS: 408-524-9014 Orchid Tech Support: 510-683-0323 BBS: 510-683-0327 Paradise Tech Support: 800-832-4778 BBS: 415-968-1834 Sigma Designs Tech Support: 510-770-0100 BBS: 510-770-0111 STB Tech Support: 214-234-8750 BBS: 214-437-9615 Internet: www.stb.com Swan Technologies, Inc. Tech Support: 800-468-7926 BBS: 814-237-6143 Trident BBS: 415-691-1016 ***************************************************************** 9. Manufacturer's Contact Information for Audio Cards: ***************************************************************** Creative Labs (Sound Blaster) Technical Support 1523 Cimarron Plaza, Stillwater, OK 74075. USA. Voice: (405) 742-6622. FAX: (405) 742-6633. BBS: (405) 742-6660. Internet: www.creaf.com Turtle Beach Customer Support Voice: (717) 764-5265. FAX: (717) 767-6033. (Attn.: Customer Support) BBS: (717) 767-0238. (9600 Baud+, 8N1). BBS: (717) 767-5934. (2400 Baud, 8N1). CompuServe: 71333,2432 ESS No Consumer Support Line ESS does not manufacture cards, only distributes OEM chips. Users with an audio card using an ESS chip should contact the manufacturer of their card. Roland Corporation US 7200 Dominion Circle Los Angeles, CA 90040-3696 USA. (213) 685-5141. Adlib Gold Tech Support: (418) 529-6252 IBM Customer Support US Customer Support: (800) 772-2227 Canada Customer Support: (800) 465-6666 Internet: www.ibm.com The Microsoft Corporation (Windows Sound System) Microsoft FastTips, (800) 936-4200 CompuServe, go Microsoft, or go mask (Microsoft Knowledge Base). Microsoft Download Service: (206) 936-6735 8N1 (905) 507-3022 (Canada) Internet: www.microsoft.com FTP: ftp.microsoft.com Technical Voice Support: (206) 635-7040 (905) 568-3503 (Canada) Disney Sound Source Disney Software Attn.: Customer Service 500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-6385. Voice: (818) 841-3326 BBS: (818) 567-4027 8N1 Media Vision (Pro Audio Studio 16, Win Sound System, Jazz) Customer Support: Voice: (800) 638-2807 (510) 770-9905 BBS: (510) 770-0968 (2400 Baud, 8N1) (510) 770-0527 (9600+ Baud, 8N1) Internet: www.mediavis.com Logitech (SoundMan Wave) Product Support: Voice: (510) 795-8100 BBS: (510) 795-0408 FaxBack: (800) 245-0000. Packard Bell (Sound 144) Customer Service: Voice: Hardware (800) 733-4411 Software (801) 579-0161 (800) 263-0099 (Canada) Fax: (801) 579-0092 (905) 564-1142 (Canada) Auto Phone: (800) 733-4411 BBS: (801) 250-1600 8N1 (905) 542-7359 8N1 (Canada) Mediatrix Peripherals, Inc. (AudioTrix Pro) Voice: (819) 829-TRIX (800) 820-TRIX Fax: (819) 829-5100 BBS: (819) 829-5101 **************************************************************** 10. Notices: **************************************************************** - Technical Support Services For help using this disc, click the "Options" icon and then select "Help." If you still need assistance, please call our technical support line at (212) 886-2340, Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. - Images in The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game The images contained is this product are copyrighted and owned by their respective proprietors. All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or otherwise. Please see the document "credits.txt" for additional information concerning the copyrights, trademarks, and registered trademarks of the properties represented in The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. - Questions in The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game All brands used in this product are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective proprietors. While every effort was made to verify the accuracy of the questions contained in this product, there are nearly 5,000 questions, and nobody's perfect! If you think you know better then we do, send your comments to us in care of The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game. **************************************************************** 11. Credits: **************************************************************** - The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game credits. Chris Colborn Producer Artrix Interactive Studios Programming Manhattan Center Studios Morphix Animations Rebecca Wilkins Editor Steve Winfield Morphix Voice Gina Caroddo Manager of Quality Assurance Alan Wong Technical Testing Manager - Byron Preiss Multimedia Company, Inc. Byron Preiss President James R. Dellomo Chief Financial Officer John Mayo-Smith Technical Director Bill Wentworth Creative Director Jackie Snyder Marketing Director Tim Nolan Director, Arts and Commerce Chris Colborn Manager of Online Services David Lane Contracts & Licensing Director - USA Networks/The Sci-Fi Channel Special Thanks: Andrew Besch, Ellen Kaye, Jason Korfine and the Dominion staff. About Byron Preiss Multimedia Company Founded in 1992, Byron Preiss Multimedia Company develops and publishes a wide range of interactive multimedia software under several imprints. The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Game appears under the Arts and Commerce Imprint. Other Byron Preiss Multimedia titles appearing under the Arts and Commerce Imprint are The Seinfeld® CD-ROM, The Melrose Place® CD-ROM, The Multimedia Cartoon Studio, and The R. Crumb Screensaver & Companion. The Sci-Fi Channel features classic science-fiction, science fact, fantasy, and horror series and movies, and is available in more than 29 million homes. Please address any questions regarding this product to: Byron Preiss Multimedia Company, Inc. 175 Fifth Avenue Suite 2122 New York, New York 10010 welcome@bpmc.com http://www.byronpreiss.com. ©1996 Byron Preiss Multimedia Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Arts and Commerce is a trademark of Byron Preiss Multimedia Company, Inc. The Sci-Fi Channel and the Sci-Fi Channel logo are registered trademarks of USA Networks. Windows and Microsoft are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark and Indeo and the Indeo logo are trademarks of the Intel Corporation.