PC Gamer 2.3/1996-04_-_Disc_2.3.bin/patches/11h242.exe/11HFAQ.TXT

Text File | 1995-12-18 | 23KB | 500 lines

Virgin Tech Support Bulletin

Virgin Interactive Entertainment Technical Support
18061 Fitch Ave
Irvine, CA 92714
Phone:    [phone]
Fax:    [phone]
BBS:    [phone] [N,8,1  up to 14,400bps]
Internet:  http://www.vie.com/



Troubleshooting The 11th Hour: The Sequel to The 7th Guest
(Last revised: 12/13/95)


System Requirements

80486DX2-66 or better, 8 MB RAM, local bus video (VL-bus or PCI), double-
speed CD-ROM, sound card with PCM sound, hard drive with 4 MB free,
MSCDEX 2.2 or higher, MS-DOS 5.0 or higher or Windows 95, Microsoft-
compatible mouse

Recommended
Pentium processor, General MIDI sound card, PCI video card with 2 MB RAM,
quad-speed CD-ROM

Supported sound cards
Roland MT-32, LAPC-1, Sound Canvas, SCC-1; Sound Blaster and compatibles,
including Sound Blaster Pro/Deluxe, Sound Blaster 16/ASP, Sound Blaster
AWE 32; Pro Audio Spectrum 16; Gravis Ultrasound; Ensoniq Soundscape.


Installation Instructions

Insert disc one into your CD-ROM drive.  From DOS, type the letter of
your CD-ROM drive followed by a colon (e.g. D: ) and press ENTER.  Type
GO and press ENTER.

If the game has not yet been installed to your hard drive, the
installation program will run.  You will be asked where you would like to
install the game.  The default directory is C:\GAMES\11H.  First type the
drive letter to which to install the game.  Type in the path where you
would like the game installed and press ENTER.  (Just press ENTER twice
to accept the default directory.)

If you install the game to a directory other than the default, a hidden
file called Z_11HDIR.11H is created in the root directory of your C:\
drive.  Do not delete this file or you will have to re-install the game.
Once you complete the game, or wish to remove it from your system, you
may safely delete this file if you want.

Once the game is installed, the sound setup utility will run.  Here you
choose what kind of sound card you have in your system.  You must select
a sound card for both digital sound and music.  (You can use the same
sound card for both, of course.)  The game will not run if either of
these is set to ôNoneö or set to the wrong sound card.  If you want to
change your sound card at some point after the game has been installed,
change to the directory on your hard drive where the game is installed
(i.e. CD \GAMES\11H) and type SETSOUND.


General Information

Running the game
To run the game, insert a CD into your CD-ROM drive.  From DOS, type the
letter of your CD-ROM drive followed by a colon (e.g. D: ) then press
ENTER.  Type GO and press ENTER.

The first screen, ôWelcome,ö is the main menu.  Click on ôChange Setupö
to configure the game for your system, or click on ôThe 11th Hour Disc 1ö
to begin the game.  After the groovieÖ logo appears, the monitor adjust
screen comes up.  Adjust the brightness control on your monitor until the
ôXö inside the skullÆs socket is just barely visible.  (It will appear in
the skull on the far right.)  Click on the ôXö to begin the introduction
and the game.


The 11th Hour Demo
The 11th Hour Demo is a single CD containing one puzzle and one treasure
hunt clue.  It also contains a non-interactive looping demo.  All of the
troubleshooting in this document applies to the demo, as do the
installation instructions.  The default installation directory for the
demo is C:\GAMES\11HDEMO.


Checking the version of the game
To find out which version of The 11th Hour you are running, change to the
directory where it has been installed (i.e. CD\GAMES\11H) and type V32 /V


Updates to The 11th Hour
As of this writing, a beta update is already available for The 11th Hour.
This new player program can help improve performance on slower machines.
However, it only supports 16-bit video; 8-bit and 24-bit video is not
supported in this new player.  It is available on TrilobyteÆs web page at

    http://www.tbyte.com/

You are welcome to try this new player if you are experiencing any
difficulties with the game.  However, because it is beta, it is not
officially supported by Virgin or Trilobyte until it has been thoroughly
tested.  For the latest information on updates to the game, check out the
above web page.


Updates to this troubleshooting guide
This document is being updated with new information all the time.  You
can get the latest version by calling [phone] and requesting the
fax.  You can also check it out on the web at

http://www.vie.com/support/html/11hfaq.html


UniVBE
In order to work with the wide variety of video cards on the market, The
11th Hour uses the universal VESA driver known as UniVBE, made by SciTech
Software.  This VESA driver supports most existing video cards.  However,
it may not work with every single one, especially new ones that they have
not yet tested.   Errors such as ôUnable to set requested graphics modeö
generally indicate that UniVBE was unable to recognize your video card.
If UniVBE does not support your video card, you should ask your video
card manufacturer for a driver that brings your card up to VESA 2.0
compatibility.  You can also check with SciTech Software for updates to
their UniVBE program.  Their web page is

    http://www.scitechsoft.com/

Note that any version you download is shareware and should be registered.


The 11th Hour: The sequel to The 7th Guest Unresolved Problem Report
If a solution in this troubleshooting guide tells you that there is
currently no answer or if the listed solution does not work, you are
invited to fill out an Unresolved Problem Report (UPR) form to inform us
of your problem.

The Unresolved Problem Report (UPR) form is used to provide
Virgin/Trilobyte with information about your system so that we can better
diagnose problems that may occur with the game.  The information will
help us identify possible hardware incompatibilities and what we need to
address in future updates to the game.

Do not use this form as a request for technical support.  For technical
support, please call
[phone].

There are two ways to access the UPR form.

  Fax: To request that this form be faxed to you, call [phone].
Press 1 to access the fax server.  Enter 235#, then press # again.
Enter your fax number with the area code first, followed by #.  Press
1 to confirm your fax number.  Once you have completed the form, fax
it back to [phone].

  Internet: This form is also available on the world wide web.  Just go
to the following address:

http://www.vie.com/support/html/upr11th.html


Troubleshooting

Audio/Video Difficulties
Problem: IÆm getting choppy or garbled audio during the movies.
Solution: This can occur if your video card, CD-ROM drive, or CPU is not
able to meet the speed demands of the game.  Try the following:

  If you are running under Windows 95, try running in DOS mode instead.
Click on the Start button, choose ôShutdown,ö then click on ôRestart
the computer in MS-DOS mode.ö  This should improve performance.
  There are several options you can adjust in the game setup that can
improve movie playback performance.  (Please note that you will have
to exit and restart the game before any of these changes will take
effect.)  First make sure that you are running with interlaced video
enabled; non-interlaced video can only be used on the fastest systems.
  If interlacing is already enabled, try switching the game down to
quarter-screen video as opposed to full screen video.
  Try switching the audio from stereo to mono.  This should help clear
up the voices.
  Finally, you may need to drop from 16-bit color to 8-bit color.  All
of the movies and game sequences will appear in grayscale in this
mode.
  If you are still getting choppy or garbled audio during the movies,
then, depending on the type of video card and CD-ROM drive you have,
your system may not be able to handle the demands of the game.  (Make
sure you meet the minimum requirements for the game!)  You are invited
to fill out a UPR form to inform us of this problem.  If we can find
commonalties among the systems with this problem, we may be able to
address this issue in a future update.
  You might also want to try out the new beta update to the game, which
was designed for better performance on slower machines.  (See ôUpdates
to The 11th Hourö above.)

Problem: IÆm getting flashing lines/video corruption at the bottom of the
screen.
Solution: Go into game setup and turn off ôHardware page flipping.ö  Note
that you will have to exit and restart the game after making this change
before it will take effect.

Problem: Video palette is corrupt.  (The colors are all psychedelic or
corrupt.)
Solution: This can occur if your video card is not fully compatible with
the high color modes.  This problem has appeared on the Trident and
Hercules video cards.  From the ôWelcomeö screen, click on ôChange setupö
and switch to 8-bit color.  Note that you will have to exit and restart
the game after making this change before it will take effect.

It is also possible that UniVBE may have selected the incorrect
RAMDAC for your video card.  Run the UVCONFIG program and change
the RAMDAC selection for the appropriate one for your video card.
If you donÆt know the part number of your RAMDAC, you can determine
this by looking at your video card.  The RAMDAC is generally the
second or third biggest chip on the board, and you can check it
against the list of parts the UniVBE supports to find the one the
matches your system.  Try forcing UniVBE to use the correct RAMDAC
with UVCONFIG once you have determined what it is meant to be.

Problem: The mouse erases the screen as I move it around.
Solution: This problem has been found to occur on Trident video cards.
Try the following:
  Change to the directory where The 11th Hour is installed (i.e.
CD\GAMES\11H).
  Type UVCONFIG -D27 and click on OK.
  Type GO
  Click on ôChange Setupö and turn off ôHardware page flipping.ö
  Exit and restart the game so this change can take effect.

Problem: There is a flickering bar on the right side of the video.
Solution: This occurs on some video cards when interlacing is turned off.
Go back to Game Setup and turn on ôInterlaced video.ö  Note that you will
have to exit and restart the game before this change will take effect.

Problem: During a puzzle, my mouse cursor disappears; my mouse cursor is
shifted up, off-screen.
Solution: This problem has shown up on the Matrox MGA video cards, and
only appears in the following puzzles: Horseplay (Foyer), Moving House
(Music Room), Blood and Honey (Room at the Top), Railroad Switcher
(Attic) .  To correct this, go into Game Setup and turn off ôHardware
Page Flipping.ö  Note that you will have to exit and restart the game
before this change will take effect.

Problem: When I listen to the music in the ôMaking of...ö portion of the
game, a black bar appears across the screen, covering most of the
picture.
Solution: Click on the center of the screen to return to the ôMaking
of...ö main menu and click on the music screen to return.  The screen
will appear fully intact.

Problem: The game only runs in 8-bit color mode.
Solution: The following should work for S3-based video cards:
  Change to the directory where The 11th Hour is installed (i.e.
CD\GAMES\11H).
  Type UVCONFIG -D27 and click on OK.
  Type GO
  Click on ôChange Setupö and turn off ôHardware page flipping.ö
  Exit and restart the game so this change can take effect.

This can also occur if you have an ISA video card.  The game
requires a local bus video card to run properly.

It is also possible that UniVBE may have selected the incorrect
RAMDAC for your video card.  Run the UVCONFIG program and change
the RAMDAC selection for the appropriate one for your video card.
If you donÆt know the part number of your RAMDAC, you can determine
this by looking at your video card.  The RAMDAC is generally the
second or third biggest chip on the board, and you can check it
against the list of parts the UniVBE supports to find the one the
matches your system.  Try forcing UniVBE to use the correct RAMDAC
with UVCONFIG once you have determined what it is meant to be.

Problem: IÆm getting scratchy voices.
Solution: This can occur with certain sound drivers.  To correct this,
change to the directory where you installed The 11th Hour (i.e. CD
\GAMES\11H) and type SETSOUND.  Choose ôSelect and configure digital
audio driver.ö  Scroll up and select ôCreative Labs Sound Blaster or 100%
compatible.ö   If the program can detect your sound card with this
driver, this should clear up the scratchy audio.

Problem: The voices arenÆt in sync with the video.
Solution: This is not caused by anything on your system.  There is
nothing you can configure that would modify the audio synching.

Problem: I have an Ensoniq sound card and IÆm not getting any MIDI music.
Solution: Try the following:
  Change to your Ensoniq Soundscape directory (i.e. CD\SNDSCAPE)
  Type SSINIT
  Click on ôAdvancedö then click on ôMIDIö
  Make sure MIDI routing is set to internal for synthesizer
configuration.
  Exit SSINIT.
  Type MT32 OFF to set General MIDI mode.
  Change to the directory where you installed The 11th Hour (i.e.
CD\GAMES\11H)
  Type SETSOUND
  Choose ôSelect and configure MIDI music driverö and pick
ôEnsoniq SoundscapeÖ General MIDIö or ôGeneral MIDI (Roland MPU-
401 interface or 100% compatible)ö
  Choose ôSelect and configure digital audio driverö and pick
ôEnsoniq SoundscapeÖ Digital Audio.ö  (If you get scratchy sound
in the game, change this option to ôCreative Labs Sound Blaster
or 100% compatibleö instead.)
  Exit then type GO to start the game.

Problem: There is no sound in some of the puzzles.
Solution: There is no sound for the following puzzles/items:
  Cubed dice puzzle.
  Earring (treasure hunt object).
  The moves in the word labyrinth puzzle.
  Beans in space puzzle (Modern art in gallery).


Lock ups
Problem: The game locks up at the first screen with the skulls.
Solution: The game is not locked up here.  The text is asking you to
click on the ôXö that appears in the skullÆs eye socket.  If you cannot
see the ôXö then turn up your monitor brightness until it appears.

If you click on the ôXö and the game still doesnÆt continue, go
into game setup and turn off ôHardware page flipping.ö  Note that
you will have to exit and restart the game after making this change
before it will take effect.

Problem: The game locks up when it asks for another disc.
Solution: Go into game setup and turn on ôRequire RETURN to disk swap.ö
Note that you will have to exit and restart the game after making this
change before it will take effect.  From now on, you will need to click
the mouse or press ENTER after you change CDs.

Problem: The game locks up at a black screen after typing GO.
Solution: If you have a Number Nine video card, do the following:
  Change to the directory where The 11th Hour is installed (i.e.
CD\GAMES\11H).
  Type UVCONFIG -L32 and click on OK.
  Type GO

For other video cards, try the following:
  Change to the directory where The 11th Hour is installed (i.e.
CD\GAMES\11H).
  Type UVCONFIG
  Put a check by ôDisable linear frame bufferö and ôIgnore old VBE
BIOS.ö
  Click on OK.
  Type GO

If you experience this problem, there is a very good chance you
will also have to turn off hardware page flipping before the game
will run.  To do this, click on ôChange Setupö from the ôWelcomeö
screen.  Turn off ôHardware page flipping.ö  Note that you will
have to exit and restart the game after making this change before
it will take effect.

Problem: The game locks up at a black screen when I click on ôThe 11th
Hourö to start the game from the Welcome screen.
Solution: Go into Game Setup and turn off ôHardware Page Flippingö.  On
some video cards, having hardware page flipping enabled can cause the
game to lock up. Note that you will have to exit and restart the game
after making this change before it will take effect.

It is also possible for the game to lock up if you click too soon.
Wait a few seconds after the ôWelcomeö screen appears before
clicking to continue.

Problem: Locks up in the honey puzzle.
Solution: This problem only occurs on some systems.  If the game
continues to lock up here, you can bypass the puzzle by having your
techno-psychic ally solve it for you.  You may also want to fill out a
UPR form to inform us of your system configuration so that we may attempt
to address this issue in a future update.

Problem: Game locks when attempting to enter the gamebook.
Solution: None at this time.  Please fill out a UPR form to inform us of
your system configuration so that we may attempt to address this issue in
a future update.


Abort/Errors
If you are getting a screen full of information after typing GO, look to
the bottom lines of the screen for the appropriate error message.

Problem: ôCould not install the sound driver for digital/midi sound.
Please check the setup using setsound.ö
Solution: You do not have a sound card selected, or you have chosen the
wrong one.  You need to re-run the SETSOUND program to choose the
appropriate sound card.

Problem: ôThis program requires a VESA VBE 2.0 or higher compatible
SuperVGA.ö
Solution: This probably means that your video card is not compatible with
the VESA VBE 2.0 standard, and therefore, will not be able to run the
game.  Contact your video card manufacturer to see if they have a driver
that brings their video card up to VESA VBE 2.0 compatibility.

Problem: ôSystem does not have a linear frame buffer.ö
Solution: First make sure you are not in Windows.  Next, change to the
directory where you installed The 11th Hour (i.e. CD \GAMES\11H) and type
UVCONFIG.  Put a check by ôDisable linear frame bufferö then exit and try
the game again.  If you are still having problems, try booting with
EMM386.EXE in your CONFIG.SYS file.  (Loading EMM386 seems to resolve
this difficulty for some video cards.)

Otherwise, your video card may not be compatible with the game.
Contact your video card manufacturer to see if they have a driver
that brings their video card up to VESA VBE 2.0 compatibility.  If
you cannot get it to work, please fill out a UPR form so that we
can find out what video cards are generating this message and
possibly address this issue in a future update.

Problem: ôUnable to set requested graphics mode.  Please check your VESA
driver.ö
Solution: If you have a Diamond Viper video card, use the following
instructions to enable the proper VESA support:
  Make sure that you are booting up with EMM386.EXE in your
CONFIG.SYS.
  Change to the Viper directory on your hard drive (i.e. CD
\VIPER).
  Type VPRMODE VESA.
  Change to the directory where you installed The 11th Hour (i.e.
CD \GAMES\11H)
  Type UVCONFIG, then click on OK.
  Type GO.
  Click on ôChange Setupö
  Click on ôHardware Page Flippingö to turn it off.
  Return to the main menu and exit the game.
  Type GO to run the game again with the new settings.
  If this doesnÆt solve the problem, re-run UVCONFIG to make sure
that it selected the correct chipset for your video card.  (It
should be P9000.)  Exit and try the game again.
  If it still doesnÆt work, please fill out a UPR form, so that we
may attempt to address this in a future update.

For any other video card, try the following:
  Change to the directory where you installed The 11th Hour (i.e.
CD \GAMES\11H)
  Type UVCONFIG
  Put a check by ôIgnore old VBE BIOSö and ôDisable linear frame
buffer.ö
  Click on OK.
  Type GO

If it still doesnÆt work, then UniVBE is not properly identifying
your video card or your video card is not compatible with the VESA
VBE 2.0 standard.  You can attempt to use UVCONFIG to configure the
driver for your video card.  Otherwise, you should contact your
video card manufacturer to see if they have a driver that brings
their video card up to VESA VBE 2.0 compatibility.

Problem: "Unknown pixel depth, corrupt groovie2.ini file"
Solution: This can occur if you aborted the installation process before
it had completed.  Delete the game off your hard drive then reinstall.

Problem: ôUnable to write to open driver for writing"
Solution: This can occur if you aborted the installation process before
it had completed.  Delete the game off your hard drive then reinstall.

Problem: ôPointing device cannot be found.ö
Solution: This games requires a mouse driver to be loaded before it will
run.  You will need to locate and load your DOS mouse driver before
running the game.  Contact your computer or mouse manufacturer for help
loading a DOS-based mouse driver.

Problem: ôYour configuration has been set to 8-bit to allow safe
booting.ö
Solution: See ôThe game only runs in 8-bit color modeö in the Audio/Video
section of this troubleshooting guide.  Note that you will have to type
GO a second time to actually start the game after your configuration has
been changed.


Miscellaneous Questions
Problem: Do I need to register UniVBE as requested in the manual?
Solution: No.  The game installs a version of UniVBE the has been
licensed for your use.  The CD also contains the complete install of the
shareware version of UniVBE in the \VESA directory.

Problem: Is there a way to skip movies, cut scenes, movement?
Solution: Click the right mouse button during any of the above to skip
the sequence.

Problem: I was using AutoMove, and I still lost the puzzle.
Solution: The AutoMove does not guarantee a win; it simply offers the
best move available.

Problem: What happens if I deplete my techno-psychic allyÆs psychic and
technical reserves?
Solution: You do not need to worry about depleting her reserves.  There
will always be enough to last through every puzzle in the game.

Problem: My techno-psychic ally will not solve the final (ôPenteö) puzzle
for me.
Solution: You are on your own at this point.  She cannot help you here.