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░░▒▒▓▓██ WACKY WHEELS v1.1 ON-DISK TECHNICAL SUPPORT ██▓▓▒▒░░ Copyright 1994 - Beavis Soft Distributed by Apogee Software Ltd. P.O. Box 496389 ■ Garland, TX 75049 ■ Hints line: (214) 278-5655 =================== SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS =================== ■ Wacky Wheels requires MS/DOS 5.0 or greater. It also requires a 386 computer with a minimum of 2 megabytes of memory. Apogee recommends a 486 computer with 4 meg of memory for optimal performance. A sound card is also recommended. ======================== BEFORE RUNNING THIS GAME ======================== ■ This game is not designed to be run under MicroSoft Windows. Windows takes up far too many system resources that our programs require for efficient and proper operation. When running this program, DO NOT LAUNCH FROM WINDOWS. Run it directly from DOS. If you are in the Windows environment, quit Windows and then run the program. (NOTE: Using the MS/DOS Icon does not exit you from Windows. That is a shell from Windows. You need to completely close down the Program Manager to totally exit from Windows. To test this, type the word exit. If nothing happens, then you're at the DOS prompt. If you return to Windows, then you were only shelled.) ■ Any kind of menu program such as Dos Shell will most likely cause problems. We recommend running our programs completely from the DOS prompt. To test this, enter the word "exit". If nothing at all happens, then you are completely at the dos prompt, and not "shelled" from anything else. If you type exit, and return to another program (such as Windows or the MS/DOS Shell), then you need to completely exit the program that you returned to before attempting to run Wacky Wheels. ■ Wacky Wheels is a protected mode game, which means that it doesn't really care about how much conventional memory you have, it looks at your TOTAL memory. Wacky Wheels requires a minimum of 2 meg of memory, but 4 megs is really recommended. If you only have two meg of memory total on your computer, you will have to boot clean in order to get the game running. Read further on in this file for a more detailed explanation of what a protected mode program is. ========================== WACKY WHEELS DETAILED HELP ========================== ■ Apogee strongly recommends that before you make any suggested changes to either your hardware or software setup, that you consult your manuals to make sure that any changes will not irreparably alter your computer, or its configuration. Modifying your system or software can be dangerous, and we will be unable to assist with any resulting problems from such alterations. ■ If your copy of Wacky Wheels locks up, you may wish to check some settings in your CMOS configuration. If any of these are on, then switch them off: Hidden Refresh, Hardware Video Shadowing, Turbo Switching. Also, if you have this one, make sure it is enabled: HD1 Block Mode. ■ If you have a Diamond SpeedStar video card, disable Zero Wait State. ■ If you hear static when you are playing with a Sound Blaster or compatible card, make sure to turn the MIC and LINE volumes to zero. Your card may be seeing input from these, and it would cause static. (For a Sound Blaster Pro, this program is SBP-SET; see your card's manual for precise instructions on how to do this.) If you still continue to hear static after doing this, try disconnecting any parallel port devices. IRQ5 and IRQ7, which are used by sound cards, are often frequently used by printers as well. If you have both plugged in, it may cause static, and poor sound performance. ■ If you are running a Compaq computer, and the game tells you that you do not have a VGA card, and you know for a fact that you do, or you experience lockups, this is what you'll need to do. You'll need to contact Compaq for an update. The reason for this is that Compaq has some video cards that do not conform to all proper detection methods. There is a device driver available from Compaq that will fix this problem. The driver's name is FINDVGA.SYS. Compaq does have this file available for download on their BBS with the filename SP0117.ZIP. ■ If you are playing with a joystick, and your performance seems erratic, make sure to calibrate the joystick in the setup program. ■ If you notice the game running slowly on your system, here are a few suggestions on improving game performance. » Disable your disk cache. Wacky Wheels does its own internal caching, and sometimes external caches such as SmartDrive can get in the way, and slow things down. » Disable your upper memory manager (QEMM, 386Max, EMM386, etc). Since Raptor is a protected mode game, the services of these programs are not needed. If you only have 2 meg of ram, this may be necessary to get your game to run in the first place. » Try changing graphic details. There are three levels of detail provided in Wacky Wheels. If you are running on high, try medium to see if it helps the speed on your computer, and then try low if it is still not fast enough. » Try reducing the amount of digital channels in the setup program. Some system configurations have problems with having Wacky Wheels set for higher than 4 digital channels. ■ If you are running a compressed drive such as DoubleSpace or Stacker, this can also cause problems. Wacky Wheels has been tested under MS-DOS's new DriveSpace, and it does work. It also has been tested under Stacker (v3.0, v3.1, & v4.0), and it works there, too. However, we have logged an incompatibility with MicroSoft's old DoubleSpace compression utility. If you are running DoubleSpace, it most likely will not work for you. To try and get it running, move Wacky Wheels to an uncompressed portion of your hard drive, and do not load your compressed disk driver in your config.sys and/or autoexec.bat files. That should also help. It may be possible to totally bypass the driver during the boot-up process (depending on which version of DOS, and which driver you're running). See your manuals for information on how to boot without your driver (if possible). ============================ HOW TO USE THE SETUP PROGRAM ============================ Before you run Wacky Wheels, you must run the setup program. This is a separate program that cannot be called from within Wacky Wheels; so all changes must be made outside the game. This program lets you select what type of controller you wish to use to play the game, and what sound card, etc. Once you run the setup program, you can use the arrow keys to move up and down in the menu lists. At the bottom of every menu is an option to quit that particular menu. Selecting that option will take you to the previous menu you were in. Here is a brief summary of the options inside the Wacky Wheels setup program: ■ CONTROLS This option will let you define the keys to be used during game play with the various controlling devices you can play the game with. There are options in this menu for both player one and player two. The player two controls will apply if you are playing two people on the same computer. If you are playing a modem game, and you are player two (you are the person being called), then you will use the Player ONE controls. Modem play is the only time the player one controls are used as player two. ■ SOUND SETUP This option will let you pick the sound card you have in your computer, and other sound related issues. One note here on Sound Blasters. If you have a Sound Blaster card, or are using Sound Blaster emulation via some other sound card, you must have the BLASTER environment variable set properly before Wacky Wheels will let you select a Sound Blaster. Please see the section on "SET BLASTER" for more information on setting this up properly. There is also an option here where you can set the volume levels of the three sound portions to the game (music, sound effects, car engine sound). If you have a Gravis UltraSound, there will be a small delay while the setup program caches the music onto your card to use in the demo. ■ DETAIL LEVELS This option will let you select what detail level will be used at various times on your computer. If the game seems to be running slowly on your computer, this is where you would lessen the detail levels to make for faster gameplay. ■ MODEM/SERIAL SETUP This is where you would set up the various options for modem and serial (null-modem cable) play. Since the help for this section would be somewhat exhaustive, it will be explained in detail elsewhere in this document. Please look for the section entitled "MODEM PLAY" for more help on setting up your modem for play with Wacky Wheels. For serial (null-modem) play, there is only one setting to select, and that is what com port on your computer you are hooking the cable up to. ■ RESET SCORE TABLES This option will let you restore all the various score tables to the default settings. You will be prompted as to whether or not you actually want to do this if you select this option. ■ EXIT SETUP PROGRAM This option will quit the setup program, and will put you back in the world of DOS. Since DOS is not very exciting, you should run WW at this point to get to more Wacky Wheels! ==================================== WACKY WHEELS COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS ==================================== ■ There are a few command line parameters you can try to use to alter game performance. Some of these will help speed up the game on slow computers, and others are helps to aid game play. A command line parameter is something that you type on the command line after the name of the program you're running. The /2 switch will be used as an example. To use that one, you would need to start the game like this... WW /2 The command line parameters for Wacky Wheels are stackable, which means that you can use more than one at a time, if you need to. An example of a stacked set of command line parameters would look like this... WW /2 TURBO Here is a list of the common command line parameters you can use with Mystic Towers, and what they are used for. (These commands will do nothing if you try and use them on the setup program. They're for the game only.) < Game Performance Commands > /2 » This forces the game to run faster. This is useful if the game seems to be running slowly on your machine. /3 » This forces the game to run even faster than /2 does! Be careful, since the use of this parameter can make the game run too fast to be enjoyable. You should only use this if you have a really slow computer. /DEBUG » This will generate a file in your game directory called ERR.LOG. ERR.LOG will be a standard ASCII text file, which will give more detailed information about problems you've run into. If you contact Apogee Technical Support, it will be a great help to have this information handy. < Car Movement Commands > TURBO » If you use this parameter, and then press the brake and the fire at the same time, you will speed ahead with a burst of energy, as if you hit one of the turbo portions on a racetrack. JUMP » If you use this parameter, and then press the brake and the accelerator at the same time, you will jump forwards, as if you hit one of the jump portions on a racetrack. < Weapon Commands > HOG » Will give you 99 hedgehogs per race. ICE » Will give you 99 ice cubes per race. FIRE » Will give you 99 fireballs per race. NOTE: You can only use one weapon command at the same time. If you try using more than one at the same time, only the first one will be used. For example, if you try something like this: 'WW HOG ICE', only the hog command will be used. ========================================== HOW TO GET WACKY WHEELS RUNNING UNDER OS/2 ========================================== Create a program reference object for the WW.EXE program. Open the settings notebook to the Session page and click on the "DOS Full Screen" button. On that same page, click on the "DOS Settings" bar and make sure that the following settings are present: AUDIO_ADAPTER_SHARING = OPTIONAL COM_DIRECT_ACCESS = OFF COM_HOLD = ON COM_RECEIVE_BUFFER_FLUSH = NONE DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION = 0 DOS_BREAK = OFF DOS_FCBS = 16 DOS_FCBS_KEEP = 8 DOS_FILES = 40 DOS_HIGH = ON DOS_LASTDRIVE = Z DOS_RMSIZE = 640 DOS_UMB = ON DPMI_DOS_API = AUTO DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT = 4 DPMI_NETWORK_BUFF_SIZE = 8 EMS_FRAME_LOCATION = NONE EMS_HIGH_OS_MAP_REGION = 32 EMS_LOW_OS_MAP_REGION = 0 EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT = 0 HW_NOSOUND = OFF HW_ROM_TO_RAM = ON HW_TIMER = ON IDLE_SECONDS = 60 IDLE_SENSITIVITY = 100 INT_DURING_IO = ON KBD_ALTHOME_BYPASS = ON KBD_BUFFER_EXTEND = OFF KBD_CTRL_BYPASS = ALT_ESC KBD_RATE_LOCK = OFF MOUSE_EXCLUSIVE_ACCESS = OFF PRINT_SEPARATE_OUTPUT = ON PRINT_TIMEOUT = 15 VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP = OFF VIDEO_FASTPASTE = OFF VIDEO_MODE_RESTRICTION = NONE VIDEO_ONDEMAND_MEMORY = OFF VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION = OFF VIDEO_ROM_EMULATION = OFF VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION = OFF VIDEO_WINDOW_REFRESH = 1 XMS_HANDLES = 32 XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT = 4096 XMS_MINIMUM_HMA = 0 OS/2 NOTES: ■ All of the above settings were tested under OS/2 2.1 GA with the OS/2 2.11 Service Pack. The game has not been tested under OS/2 3.0, as only the beta version of this was available during development of Wacky Wheels. ■ We were not able to test modem play under OS/2. However, we did test serial play via a direct link under the settings shown above. If you have problems with either serial or modem play, you may wish to obtain a copy of Ray Gwinn's SIO/VSIO communication drivers. These are available from most BBS systems and in the OS2SHARE forum on CompuServe. As of this writing, the most current release is usually found as SIO132.ZIP. These settings are not officially supported by Apogee. Your mileage may vary. Thanks to Lee Jackson of Apogee Tech Support for the OS/2 settings. ============================================= HOW TO GET WACKY WHEELS RUNNING UNDER WINDOWS ============================================= You can't. At least you can't without extreme difficulty or with any kind of reliability. Apogee strongly recommends that you not attempt this, and run the game directly from DOS; shutting down Windows' Program Manager. Running from the MS/DOS icon is only shelling from Windows, it is not running from DOS. Running our games under Windows is more like run ing them AGAINST Windows, and you will save yourself a lot of headache if you not attempt this. Apogee does not support running under Windows, and cannot help if you try. ========== MODEM PLAY ========== ■ This section of the document will give you assistance with getting modem play running on your computer. If you have difficulty running Wacky Wheels in modem play, we urge you to not call Apogee Technical Assistance on the voice support lines. It will be extremely difficult to diagnose your problem. We recommend in cases of modem trouble that you contact Apogee online. The contact information is at the bottom of this document. ■ There are a few global rules that will apply no matter what you do in Wacky Wheels modem play, and they are: » You must have a 9600bps modem or higher. » When connected to another computer, both sides MUST use the same port speed. I » The init string you are using MUST disable data compression. » Make sure you are running from DOS. » Optionally, you can have your init string monitor the DTR, and if dropped, have the modem enter command state. This will allow Wacky Wheels to more easily hang up the modem when disconnecting. This command is usually &D1. » There is no Rule #6 (Bruce). ■ Please check your modem manual for the proper init strings. Apogee technical support is unable to assist with specific modem string setups. You will need to prepare your modem init strings from the information you have at your disposal in your modem manual. ■ We will now take you through the various options of modem setup for Wacky Wheels, via a description of what all the options in the Modem/Serial Setup portion of the SETUP.EXE program do. » SERIAL LINK SETUP will let you define what com port you wish to use for null modem play, if you choose to play like this. » COM PORT ADDRESSES/IRQ's will let you alter the default parameters for any of the com ports. This can do very very bad things to your game, so unless you're 100% sure that you know this needs to be changed, it is probably not a good idea to alter anything in here. » INTERBYTE DELAY is something that will rarely be used. For some extremely fast computers, there is a possibility that your computer will try and send information too fast, and the modem connection will not be able to keep up. In these rare instances, you can use the Interbyte delay, and it might help you out. There is a more detailed explanation of interbyte delay on the actual screen in the setup program. In 99% of the cases out there, this should be left at zero. » MODEM LINK SETUP will bring up a further sub menu. That menu is where the nitty gritty of modem setup will occur. Here is a list of those options. ■ MODEM PORT will let you choose what com port to use for modem play. ■ MODEM TYPE will read the modem.pck file in your game directory, and will bring up a listing of all the modem strings available. Scroll down the list to find your modem. If it is not listed, try "Generic". ■ DIALING METHOD will let you choose the prefix to be used before the phone number dialed. There are options for ATDT (Tone dialing), ADTP (pulse dialing), and a custom option. The custom will let you put in such things as call waiting disable, reaching outside lines from office systems, etc. ■ OPPONENTS PHONE DIRECTORY will let you enter the names and phone numbers of the people you wish to play in Wacky Wheels. You can enter up to six names and numbers. ■ TEST CONNECTIONS AND SPEEDS is a very important feature, and we strongly recommend using this before playing a game. This will connect to another computer playing Wacky Wheels in Modem play, and will simulate game conditions without actually running the game. This is a good test to see if your modem configuration file is running properly. When conducting your test, make sure that you and your friend choose the same connect rate, or the test will fail. When the test is completed, a frame rate will be reported. A frame rate of 12 or better is optimal (12 is sufficient, and rates above 12 are rare), and you should shoot for a frame rate of 12 when doing your tests. If your frame rate is slower than this, check your modem init string (check the global modem rules at the beginning of this section) to make sure it's got the proper settings, and you may need to use the Interbyte delay (the number of users who will need the interbyte delay is extremely low). There is a lot of onscreen help in the test connections section, and you should read all the help available there; as there is plenty of good information there. So, you're sitting there saying "I just want to set up and play!". OK, here's a list of the steps you'll need to follow to get Wacky Wheels up and running: 1) Select a modem port. 2) Select a modem type. 3) Select a dialing type (the default is ATDT) 4) While it's optional, we strongly suggest you test modem connections before playing the game, since it will be a good indicator of how your computer will perform during game play. Here are some miscelleanous modem tips and information: ■ Remember that you need to pick the same port speed as your opponent. ■ If you have trouble connecting at the higher listed rates, try a lower port speed. These are not actual connect rates, these are port opening speeds. ■ Slowdowns during game play can be caused by several things. It can be your modem string, or it can be something simple like a bad phone connection, or general bad phone lines in your area (or your opponents). ■ If you are the person making the call, you are player one, and you will have control over the menus. The person being called will be player two. ■ When playing over the modem, and you are player two, you do not use the player two controls, you both use the "Player One" keyboard configuration. ■ If you experience modem flakiness after connecting once, you might wish to physically turn your modem off and then back on again. Some modems do not reset properly, or react better if you switch them off and then on again. ■ The modem.pck file is a standard ASCII file. You can edit this as you desire, but you must follow the convention that is in the file. If you alter the file format, you may not be able to pick modems properly. Please see the notes in the modem.pck file for editing information. ■ If you have difficulty in getting your modem working, and you discover a modem string that does work for you, please contact Apogee online and let us know what you found, and the string will be added to the MODEM.PCK file, and used the next time the file is updated or released. ■ Apogee will periodically update the modem.pck file. If you wish to be on an Internet E-Mail list of people to receive the updated modem config list for Wacky Wheels, please contact Apogee online. Our contact addresses are at the bottom of this file. ■ Join the Apogee Modem Players Directory! Apogee will be keeping a list of people who are interested in playing Apogee modem games. This will be a listing of people's names and E-Mail addresses. We will not be keeping a list of voice phone numbers, only names, E-Mail addresses, and area codes that they live in. If you're interested in joining or receiving this list, please send E-Mail to Apogee Online. Our contact addresses are at the bottom of this file. This file will always be available on Software Creations, and on our Internet ftp site. You can also get the list via Internet E-Mail too. Please send mail to Apogee Online for more information about obtaining the list. ======================= WHAT IS PROTECTED MODE? ======================= As promised earlier in this document, here is an explanation of Protected mode. This information is not necessary to get the game running, but it's included as background information for the curious. Historically, DOS programs have always required that you run them in the first 640k of ram. This was a limitation imposed on DOS back when v1.0 was the only thing around. For compatibility's sake, this is the way things have remained. Any memory above 640k could only be used for data storage, not for program execution. That's why you always saw those dreaded "Out of Memory" messages. As time went on, certain programs, (and later DOS itself) gained the ability to load part of themselves "high", leaving more conventional (the first 640k) of memory available. You still had the limitation of the 640k barrier, but some more breathing room was made by these memory advances. More recently, advances were made in memory management so that programs could run in protected mode. Protected mode is a special way of programming so that your program doesn't have the 640k barrier. Depending on how the program is written, the entire thing is in protected mode, or it requires the use of a DOS "Extender" to run that way. Raptor is such a program. Raptor uses a DOS extender to access much more memory than it would have been able to if it were written the old way. A game of this complexity would have never been able to have been written if the old 640k barrier method of programming was used. Well, you might be asking, what about my older programs? Can't I just use a DOS extender, and have that run something like "Wolfenstein 3D", and never get those out of memory errors? Well, it's not as simple as that. If a program is using a DOS extender, it has to be written a special way. A DOS extender isn't just a magic wand that you can use to wipe away your memory problems for non-protected mode programs. The program has to be written a special way to make use of the DOS extender. To summarize, Protected mode (sometimes referred to as "flat memory") is a way for a DOS program (either by itself, or through the use of a DOS extender) to access more than just the first 640k of memory for program execution. Because of this, more complex programs (such as Raptor) are able to be written. If using the old 640k barrier method (sometimes referred to as "segmented memory"), this type of program would not have been possible. If you're still confused, don't worry about it. As I said above, this information is not necessary for the proper play of Raptor. It's in here for background information only. If you're still inclined, check out some DOS programming books available at your library or a book store. They have far more verbose explanations of this than would be possible in this document. ========================== THANKS TO THE BETA TESTERS ========================== Apogee wishes to extend a heartfelt thanks to the Apogee Beta Team. Without them, it would be far more difficult to produce the quality games we do within a reasonable amount of time. Thanks guys (and Gals). ============================ CONTACTING TECHNICAL SUPPORT ============================ Apogee thanks you very much for playing our games. Customer satisfaction is a high priority of Apogee's, and we strive to please everyone. Our Technical Support staff is available to assist all of our customers in solving any technical problems that may be experienced. Our Technical Support Department is available to answer your questions Monday through Friday during the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Central Standard Time. The phone number for the Tech Support Department is (214) 278-5655. However, the voice line isn't your only channel of contact. We are also reachable via a fax machine at (214) 278-4670, (24 Hours a Day) or you can write to us. Our mailing address is: Apogee Software POB 496389 Garland, TX 75049-6389 United States of America Voice: (214) 278-5655 Fax: (214) 278-4670 (24 hrs) If you do contact our Technical Support department, please be at your computer, and have it ready for assistance. If you can't be at your computer, please have printouts of the following things available, so that we may assist you better. It may be possible do provide technical support without these things, but it will be much more difficult. If you are calling with a Wacky Wheels problem, try running the game again with the WW /DEBUG command line until you get the same error. Make sure to have the ERR.LOG file with you when you call. The needed files are CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT, plus what happens when you execute the "MEM /C" command (or just MEM if you get an error using MEM /C). ============= APOGEE ONLINE ============= Apogee Technical Support can also be contacted via a variety of electronic medium. Several major online services are monitored, and Apogee's E-Mail addresses are listed below. Also, a variety of Bulletin Board networks are monitored as well, and those are also listed. ■ Major Online Services Internet -> joe.siegler@swcbbs.com CompuServe -> 74200,553 America Online -> APOGEE GEnie -> APOGEE Delphi -> APOGEE Prodigy -> CXVP94A Portal -> ApogeeSoft See the appropriate instructions for these various services on how to send private mail to these addresses. All of these services have Internet E-Mail gateways, but please, if you're sending Internet E-Mail, use the swcbbs.com address. ■ Bulletin Board Networks There are several BBS networks that are monitored for Apogee messages. Our Online Support Representative monitors all of the following BBS networks. Fidonet, Relaynet (Rime), Intelec, Ilink, U'NI-Net, & Smartnet. All of these BBS networks have Games, Shareware, and Apogee conferences. Fidonet -> 1:124/9006 Rime -> APOGEE (or 1674) And of course, we can be reached on Software Creations, the Apogee BBS. Software Creations can be reached by calling 1-508-368-7036. Apogee games are uploaded to Software Creations FIRST, before anywhere else in the world!! [ END OF FILE ]