Copyright: Copyright ©Activision 1996


Customer Support

Technical support for playing HyperBlade on a network is available through our online services only. Due to the complex nature of network games, please provide the following information when requesting technical support for the network portion of HyperBlade.

NOTE: Except where noted, the following requested information can usually be found:

In Windows 95:	Click on the Start button, select Settings, open the Control Panel and double-click on the System icon. From there, click on the Device Manager tab.

1.	What kind of processor does each machine have?

2.	What kind of video and sound cards do the machines have? Are they configured correctly for your Microsoft Windows 95 operating system?

3.	Are you using a gamepad or joystick? If so, what brand and model? What is it using as a game port (e.g. sound card, dedicated game port)?

4.	What size Install did you use?

5.	How much free disk space do you have? (This can be found by double clicking on MY COMPUTER and right mouse click on the drive you are installing to. Now choose properties.)

6.	How much RAM is in each machine? (This can be found by right mouse clicking on MY COMPUTER and choosing Properties.)

7.	Is your virtual memory configured manually or was it set by Windows 95? If manually, what are the specifications? (This information can be found by going to the Performance tab adjacent to the Device Manager tab.)

In addition, please note the following information:

1.	Can you see other computers on the network?

2.	What is your network configuration?

3.	What brand of network card do you have?

4.	What network software are you running? What version number?

Activision Online Services

Services with Activision Forums, E-mail and File Library Support

Microsoft Network: From any MSN window, pull down the Edit menu and select Go To and then Other Location. At the prompt, type "Activision" and click OK.

America Online: Use keyword "Activision" to locate the Activision forum.

 	CompuServe: 76004,2122 or [GO GAMBPUB]

Activision BBS: (310) 479-1335 Up to 28,800 Baud; Settings: 8 Bits, No Parity, 1 Stop Bit (8, N, 1)

Internet

support@activision.com or http://www.activision.com


How do I Start Network Game Play
How do I Start Network Game Play?

There are two ways to start the network version of HyperBlade.  If you have the CD:

1.	Start HyperBlade as you normally would.

2.	From the lobby choose Players Only.

3.	Within the locker room choose the Multi-Player option.

4.	Follow the instructions in the Status Box to set up a multi-player game.

To Host the game, you must have the CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive. Players joining a game may play HyperBlade without the CD-ROM in their computer, ONLY if they have installed the game using the Best Performance option.

To join a game without the CD:

1.	Navigate to the folder where HyperBlade is installed (the default location is C:\PROGRAM FILES\ACTIVISION\HYPERBLADE).

2.	Double-click on HyperX.exe to start HyperBlade.

3.	From the lobby choose Players Only.

4.	Within the locker room choose the Multi-Player option.

5.	Follow the instructions in the status box.


Minimum System Requirements for the Network Portion of HyperBlade

To play the network portion of HyperBlade you will need one of the following:

- Novell Network

- Novell-compatible IPX network (e.g., Windows 95)

You will also need to meet the Minimum system requirements:

- 100% IBM PC-compatible computer

- Pentium 90 Mhz processor

- 16 MB RAM

- Double-speed CD-ROM drive (300K/second sustained transfer rate)

- 80 MB of uncompressed hard disk space

- VESA local bus or PCI video with 1 MB RAM

- 256 Color SVGA (640 x 480) video card

- 100% Microsoft-compatible mouse and driver

- Dedicated game card is highly recommended for joystick

Direct 3D, a component of DirectX 2, is utilized to improve game performance. Please make sure you are using the most updated video drivers that support Direct 3D.

Please Note: In order to play on a network, the HyperBlade CD must be in the host's CD-ROM drive at all times. Players joining a game may play HyperBlade without the CD-ROM in their computer, ONLY if they have installed the game using the Best Performance option.

HyperBlade may have trouble working with some 1993 or earlier Matsushita CD-ROM drives. These CD-ROM drives have trouble reading beyond 63 minutes on CDs, and HyperBlade uses the full CD. These drives were sold under the names of Panasonic, JVC, Reveal, Creative Labs and Plextor. Game play may occasionally slow down and the CD-ROM drive will be accessed constantly. We highly recommend that you upgrade to a newer CD-ROM drive to avoid problems with other programs in the future.


Network Game Play

General Tips

For optimum network game performance, the machine with the fastest CPU should host the game. You may also experience difficulty making connections if you are playing on a network with a lot of network traffic, especially IPX games. The only solution to this is to play HyperBlade at times when there is less extraneous network usage.

Players Disappearing From Screen

This sometimes happens when players unexpectedly quit out of the game. Normally, the computer should take over for the player who has left so that the game can continue. If a player disappears from the screen, it is likely that the game is out of sync and the remaining network players may not see the same actions occuring on their screens.

TCP/IP Connection

We have found that the TCP/IP connection is generally more stable in heavy network traffic situations than IPX, and we recommend choosing it if available on your network.

Playing Network Games With an IBM Aptiva

We have experienced difficulty making network connections when playing multi-player HyperBlade with IBM Aptiva computers. Users will see the error message "Network connection failed because HOST and CLIENT had different asset files." If you are experiencing difficulty making a connection because of this problem, try the following:

Navigate to the folder where HyperBlade is installed, and open the DATA folder. Using a text editor, open the file BOOIE.INI. Under the [Options] heading, add the following line:

NetNoVerify=1

Playing More than 3 Network Games in a Row

You may notice game play anomalies in the simulation if you play more than four network games in a row. If you find your network game behaving erratically, we recommend that you quit HyperBlade and restart the game to fix this problem.

Network Game Play Anomalies

When playing HyperBlade on a network with heavy traffic, you may sometimes see game play anomalies such as gliding through solid objects and difficulty tracking the rok on client machines. While we have tried to make the network game as robust as possible, there is no current solution to this problem other than to play HyperBlade when there is less traffic on your local area network.

General Network Troubleshooting

-	Make sure that you have DirectX 2 installed on all computers.

-	Start a game in single player mode to make sure that HyperBlade is correctly installed on the machine.

-	Make sure you have a copy of the game CD inserted into the host.

IPX Protocol

-	If you are connecting using IPX protocol, make sure you have Client For Netware Networks installed.

-	If you are connecting using IPX protocol, make sure you only have one IPX protocol installed on your computer. The Microsoft IPX/SPX Protocol is 32-bit and is preferred to the Novell IPX ODI protocol, which is 16-bit.

TCP/IP Protocol

-	If you are connecting using TCP/IP, make sure you have Client for Microsoft Networks installed.

-	If you are connecting using TCP/IP, make sure you have your protocol correctly configured. You may need to check with your network administrator for an IP address to use when setting up your computer on the network.

I have trouble acting as the host for games.

-	Make sure you can see other computers on your Network Neighborhood.

-	Make sure you have DirectX 2 installed.

-	Make sure you have a copy of the HyperBlade CD in your CD ROM drive.

-	Make sure others are selecting the same protocol that you’ve chosen.

I have trouble connecting as a guest for network games.

-	Make sure you can see other computers on your Network Neighborhood.

-	Make sure you have DirectX 2 installed.

-	Make sure you are selecting the same network protocol as the host.

-	If IPX, make sure you only have one IPX protocol installed on your computer.

-	Players joining a game may play HyperBlade without the CD-ROM in their computer, ONLY if they have installed the game using the Best Performance option.