Millennium Auction/AUCTION_1.bin/setup/exes/readme.txt

Text File | 1994-06-19 | 17KB | 475 lines

                      Millennium Auction Readme file.


Introduction:
--------------

This text file contains important information which is not included
in any other documentation.


Sections
   * System Requirements
   * Performance
   * Uninstall
   * Demo/World History
   * TroubleShooting


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
---------------------

Game requires
        Windows 3.1
        MPC compliant 8 bit sound card or better
        MPC level 1 CDROM
        MSCDEX 2.1 or above
        Mouse
        4M RAM
        10M Free Hard Disk Space
        Super VGA Card (640 x 480 x 256 colors)


Recommended
        8M RAM
        Double Speed CDROM drive
        Sound Card with Wave Table synthesis for MIDI
        Accelerated Video Card
        Run in 640 x 480 x 256 colors

This game uses Video for Windows v1.1a (TM).  This is installed during
the Auction setup process.

Millennium Auction will play in any resolution above 640 x 480 x 256
colors.  To change your machines video driver see the section VIDEO
RESOLUTION below. The game will simply center itself on the screen
and cover the desktop behind it during gameplay.


PERFORMANCE:
-------------

For best performance it is best to close down all other applications,
including any screen savers.

Ensure that you have the latest version of your video, audio and
CDROM drivers.

If there are problems with audio breakup on the various video files
(e.g. Video news, Nuria Intro), check to see that the following is
set in the win.ini file (located in your Windows directory).
NOTE: This is automatically set during setup but other applications
may change this setting.

[MCIAVI]
SkipFrames=1

This ensures that if your CD is not able to play the video at the
correct speed (e.g. due to a slow CDROM drive), Video for Windows will
drop frames to maintain audio/video synchronization.

Use DOS version 6.2 if possible. The smartdrive in DOS 6.2 can cache
CDROMs as well as hard drives.  Try to use as much RAM as possible for
caching the CDROM while allowing enough extended memory for
Millennium Auction to run (see low memory conditions).
NOTE: Ensure that SMARTDRV.EXE is loaded after the MSCDEX.EXE line
in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  Otherwise the CDROM will not be cached
correctly.

Performance may be improved by increasing the buffers for MSCDEX.
MSCDEX is a program usually installed by a line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.
Such as:
        c:\dos\mscdex.exe /d:mycd /m:10
It allows  DOS  to communicate  with your CD device.
Performance can be improved by increasing the number of buffers to 15
with the "/M:15" option.

If you have EMS (Expanded) memory, add the "/E" option so that these buffers
don't eat into your conventional memory.
This should only be done on machine with 8M or more RAM since the
expanded memory takes away from the extended memory available to
windows and the game.


UNINSTALL:
-----------

Prior to installation of Millennium Auction the following system
files (which need to be modified in order to use Video for
Windows 1.1a) are copied to backup files with the same name but an
extension of .auc as follows:
   system.ini  ---> system.auc
   win.ini     ---> win.auc
   control.ini ---> control.auc
   reg.dat     ---> reg.auc
These are located in your Windows directory (ex: c:\windows).

Please refer to uninstal.txt file in the root directory of the Game CD
for complete information on uninstalling Auction.


DEMO/WORLD HISTORY:
--------------------

To stop the Demo or the One World History movies hit the ESCAPE key
and click on the EXIT icon (the icon all the way on the right).


NOTE:
If for some reason one of the movies should 'stop' before completion
then this is possibly due to lack of memory.  This may
be attributable to Conventional or Extended memory. (see below).
To quit the demo in this situation follow the steps outlined above.



TROUBLESHOOTING:
-----------------

It is always a good idea to get the latest drivers for the various
hardware on your machine.  There are many ways for you to get the most
recent sound and video device drivers.  The dealer who sold
you your hardware should have access to the most recent device drivers.
Additionally, most hardware manufacturers have BBS numbers which
enable you to download their drivers and other information via modem.
Most hardware manufacturers have forums on the on-line services
where you can access their technical support or driver libraries via modem.

If there are problems upon automatically entering the infolink
(registration screen) during game startup (the game may freeze), check
that the following is set in your win.ini file (located in your
Windows directory):

[MCIAVI]
DefaultVideo=Window

NOTE: Setup correctly sets this value.  However other applications
may overwrite these settings.



Setup:
-------

If there is a problem with installing the game during the copy
process, then the most likely reason is that there is a conflict
between the Millennium Auction setup and some of the TSRs installed
on your machine.
In order to solve this problem please reboot the machine with the
following configuration.
NOTE: Only the CDROM driver and himem.sys are required to run
install.

Config.sys:
device  =c:\dos\himem.sys
device  =c:\XXX.sys  /D:MSCD001     (Your CDROM driver)
Files   =40
Buffers =20

Autoexec.bat
device  =c:\dos\mscdex.exe /D:MSCD001

Now after the install process you may use your original config.sys
and autoexec.bat in order to play the game.


Fonts:
-------
Millennium Auction uses TrueType fonts. For the proper fonts to display
throughout the game you should have installed two of the TrueType fonts
that ship with Windows version 3.1. These fonts are Arial and Times New
Roman. Also, you must use the Fonts icon in the Control Panel
to enable TrueType fonts (this is usually done already).

If you have any problems with font overflow on any text please choose
the 'small' font for your driver (if this exists) the next time you
play the game.



Music (MIDI):
--------------

Check that the mixer volume levels for the audio card are set
at a reasonable volume for midi output.

If you're having trouble hearing music in Millennium Auction,
remember that most MIDI music problems are caused by incorrect
MIDI mapper settings.

The Windows MIDI mapper sends MIDI notes either to an on-board
synthesizer or to an external synthesizer.  If the MIDI map is
wrong, the notes will be sent to wrong place and no music will be heard.

Please consult with your card manufacturer for the correct midi
mapper settings for your sound card.

NOTE: Ensure that ALL 16 channels are correctly set in the MIDI
Mapper.
If all 16 channels are not correctly set then you will probably get a
message stating that the file may not play properly on the current
machine.

Setting up the correct MIDI Mapper settings:
   Click on the Control Panel in the Main Group
   Click on the MIDI Mapper icon
   Click on Setups (this should already be selected)
   Click on Edit Button
   Ensure that all 16 channels for the Port Name (third column) are set
   to the same name.
   Click OK and save the changes.

   NOTE: For MediaVision ProAudioSpectrum family of cards,
         use Voyetra OPL3/FM Synthesis for the Port Name.

If you can play and hear the file th_intrb.mid from the
\DIALOG\CREDITS subdirectory of the Millennium Auction CD 1, with the
Windows Media Player (which is found in the Accessories program group)
then your MIDI map is OK.


Video Resolution/Video Cards:
------------------------------

Ideally, Millennium Auction should be run at 640 x 480 x 256 colors.

Changing Display drivers:
Usually, this can be done by accessing "Windows Setup" which is normally
located in your Main program group. Some video drivers require that
you exit windows and run "setup" from the DOS prompt.

Consult the owner's manual of your video card for additional information.

NOTE: Changing the resolution at which Windows is run will cause
Video for Windows to invoke its Profiler the first time an AVI file is
played.
This may leave a minor visual artifact on the screen when the Eidolon
logo animation is played at the start of the game.


S3 based cards:
   Older versions of S3 card drivers are known to have problems with
   the GetPixel call. (This may cause a crash in picking up the
   action holograms in the infolink). The problem may be avoided
   by ensuring that you click on the action hologram (not the area
   around it).  It has been found that newer versions of drivers
   solve this problem.


ATI Mach32 cards:
   ATI Mach32 drivers may be configured to prevent applications from
   modifying the system's palette. If you have this card and are having
   palette problems (bad/strange colors) playing Millennium Auction:
   start up the ATI Flexdesk application, select Advanced, and turn on the
   256-color option.

   If there is a General Protection Fault in ATIRLE.DRV then you
   should disable the ATI Interceptors.  Please refer to ATI for
   instructions on disabling these.




Sound Cards:
-------------

Millennium Auction will work with any MPC compliant sound card.
If you do not hear any sound, check that normal sound is available by
testing a sound file using Sound Recorder (SoundRec.exe) in your
Windows Accessories Group.

If you still do not hear any sound check the following:

1) All cables are properly connected (see your sound card's
documentation)

2) Check that all speakers are switched on.

3) Check that the mixer volume levels for the audio card are set at a
reasonable volume.

4) Check that the SoundMapper is installed in the Control
Panel so that ADPCM audio is able to play on the machine.
There should be at least the following three settings available:
        Microsoft ADPCM Codec
        Microsoft IMA ADPCM Codec
        Microsoft PCM Converter
The game uses both PCM and Microsoft ADPCM files.

(Try playing any .wav in HELP\OTHER\help101.wav on the Auction CD 1
with the Windows Sound Recorder).


SoundBlaster 16 cards:
   Ensure that drivers are upgraded to a drivers dated February 1994
   or later.


MediaVision Sound Cards:
   If using a MediaVision sound card and the game hangs in the bidding
   room, this can usually be fixed by disabling the auction room crowd noise.
   In the auction.ini file, in the directory in which the game was installed,
   is an entry disable-murmur=0, set this to 1 to disable auction room crowd
   noise.
   NOTE: The install process checks to see if the MediaVision driver
   is older than version 2.0. If this is the case then the murmur is
   disabled automatically.

   There are new drivers from MediaVision which fix this problem, but
   as of this release they are not yet available.  The drivers are
   version 2.0.  These drivers may be purchased as part of the
   Microsoft Sound System Software v2.0.


MS Sound System:
   Millennium Auction may not run reliably with the older version of
   Microsoft Windows Sound System drivers. Please upgrade to version 2.0
   of the Sound System drivers.




CDROM Drives:
--------------

Make sure your CD-ROM meets the MPC Level 1 specifications:
   150 KB/sec. sustained transfer rate
   1 second maximum average seek time
   CPU utilization is < 40% in achieving the above results.

Any Windows-compatible CD-ROM that meets the above specifications
should work. If you are having problems, first make sure that your CD-ROM
is working properly with other Windows applications. If the drive is
not working properly with other Windows applications, check to make
sure that the proper Windows drivers are installed. If
the problems persist, contact the manufacturer for assistance.

If the CDROM drive letter has changed since the installation, you
will get a dialog box asking for the new CD drive letter.
After inserting the CD please wait a couple of seconds in order to
give the drive enough time to initialize itself.
Alternately if you have the correct CDROM in the drive keep pressing
the Retry button for about 5 seconds.  If this still does not work
then check the troubleshooting section.


Low memory conditions:
-----------------------

The game may have difficulty running, or may not run at all in low
memory conditions.  This may depend on either conventional memory,
which is DOS memory below 1MB, or extended (XMS) memory.  You might
see the following message when playing Auction if you are in one
of these low memory conditions:

"Millennium Auction was unable to open a data file.  This may be
caused by not enough available RAM or not enough available memory
below 1MB. Some video or audio may not run but gameplay will be
unaffected."

NOTE: This message will be displayed the first time Auction is unable
to open a data file. This message will be displayed only once. If
later in the same game Auction cannot open data files, this message
will not be displayed then.

When Auction is unable to open a multimedia data file such as a
video/animation, waveform audio, midi music, or bitmap image
the requested action will be skipped but otherwise the game
will continue. For example, if from the Gallery you click on
the TV to see the news or on a bidder to hear a conversation, and
there is insufficient memory to play the video files or show the
bitmaps, the screen may flash as Auction tries to load these files
but will return to the Gallery after failing to load and play the
data.


Checking Memory
----------------

The easiest way to check the amount of memory available is to quit
windows and to type "mem /c" (without the quotes) at the DOS prompt
to view the amount of conventional memory, and the amount of extended
memory.

IDEALLY you should have at least
        570k of conventional (DOS) memory
        2.75MB of extended memory
        5MB permanent swap file


Conventional Memory (DOS Memory below 1MB)
-------------------------------------------

Even on machines with 8 or more megabytes of RAM Millenium Auction may
be unable to open and play certain data files if there is insufficient
"conventional" memory available. This is because the multimedia capabilities
of Windows itself, which Auction relies upon, requires this type of
memory to function.

In order to rememdy this problem, it may be best to try one or more of
the following:

  *  Try removing as many TSRs as possible. (increases conventional
     memory).

  *  Try removing your RAM drive (RAMDRIVE.SYS).
     This will increase both conventional and extended memory.

Try to load as many of the TSRs as possible into High Memory.


Extended Memory (XMS Memory)
-----------------------------

The extended memory problems should only occur on machines with 4M
or less of RAM. If you encounter these problems it may be best to
try as many of the following as possible.

  *  Often on a 4M machine smartdrive uses 1M of XMS memory.
     Set your Smartdrive line to the following
          smartdrv.exe 256
     in your autoexec.bat file (see your DOS manual for instructions).

     This will ensure that smartdrive does not use more than 256k for
     its cache.  Note that only SmartDrive that is supplied with DOS
     6.2 allows caching of the CDROM.  However the game does read
     files off the Hard Disk and this could be useful.

  *  Try removing your RAM drive (RAMDRIVE.SYS).
     This will increase both conventional and extended memory.

  *  Try removing any expanded memory managers (such as EMM386.EXE).
     This will increase extended memory but may reduce conventional memory
     if TSRs cannot be loaded in the upper memory area.

  *  Make sure that you have a permanent swap file, and have
     defragmented your hard disk


NOTE:
The amount of DOS memory required will vary from machine to machine.
The reason is that Windows itself and the various video/audio drivers
needed to run Windows require a large amount of DOS memory (on the order
of 400k).  However, it has been found that some video and audio drivers
require more DOS memory than others and will therefore only allow a few
kilobytes of DOS memory to remain for other applications (such as Auction).


For Technical Support, contact Eidolon at:
[phone]
9am - 5pm EST
Monday - Friday

Also feel free to contact Eidolon using fax or E-mail

Fax:        [phone]
Compuserve: 70743,2726
INTERNET:   [e-mail]

It is also possible to write to Eidolon at
        Technical Support
        Eidolon Inc.
        5716 Mosholu Ave.
        Riverdale, NY 10471