home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
PC Gamer 9
/
1995-08_Disc_9.iso
/
playnet
/
doom1n2.exe
/
arj
/
LOCKUPS!.WHY
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-01-20
|
5KB
|
89 lines
#^$%&@! IT LOCKED UP! HELP! (Updated: 1/20/94)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Playing multiplayer DOOM over a modem is quite a bit more complex than the
usual two player modem or even network play most people are used to. The
demand on your computer system, even with 16550 UARTs, is much higher during
a multiplayer modem game than when playing a normal modem game. If you are
experiencing lockup problems when playing DOOM with APCiDOOM, please read and
try the following solutions:
1) If you lock up before the game begins, someone in the game is taking too
long to load. You must be able to load DOOM in under 45 seconds. If it
takes you longer than 45 seconds from the time you type "DOOM" on the
command line until the time you see your player's gun, you need to defrag
your drive or use a drive cache. Running DOOM on a compress drive is
not recommended.
2) If you are using a 16550 UART, or an internal modem, be sure that the UART
is compatible with DOOM. Several internal modems and older serial cards
either use older, faulty 16550 chips or a emulator. These UARTs often
fail when playing data-intensive network games such as DOOM. Test your
UART by playing a three or four player game with players that you know
have no hardware problems. If the game locks up, odds are that your UART
is not compatible. NEVER FEAR! Choose APCiLINK SETUP under the FILE menu
in APCiDOOM and click on the MORE button. Remove the "X" from the SCAN
FOR BUFFERED UART box. Click OK to save the change. Click OK to exit
APCiLINK SETUP. This corrects 99% of the lockup problems.
3) Boot cleanly. Many "terminate and stay ready" (TSR) programs cause
problems when playing multiplayer DOOM. Known troublemakers are
expanded memory managers, pop-up utilities, and disk compression utilities.
You can bypass loading most of these programs by holding down your left
shift key while your system boots. You may then load any required
device drivers (such as a mouse or network driver) manually. Try playing
DOOM with only your mouse driver loaded.
4) If you continue to lock up after changing your UART setting and removing
all memory-resident programs, you may need to change your computer's BIOS
settings. Not all of the following settings are used by all computers,
but if you have any of the following options they should be configured as
shown below:
- HIDDEN REFRESH should be off or disabled.
- HARDWARE VIDEO SHADOWING should be off or disabled.
- TURBO SWITCH(ING) should be off or disabled.
- HD1 BLOCK MODE should be off or disabled.
5) Take it apart. If you're still locking up, it's time to look under the
hood and see which devices are conflicting with each other. Common
hardware problems include:
- Sound cards should be on IRQ5 or IRQ7. If your sound card isn't,
move it so it is!
- Nonstandard COM port settings. Be sure that your serial ports are on
STANDARD ADDRESSES AND IRQS! APCiDOOM expects to find the following:
Port Base IRQ
~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~
COM1: 0x3F8, IRQ4
COM2: 0x2F8, IRQ3
COM3: 0x3E8, IRQ4
COM4: 0x2E8, IRQ3
- Too many serial ports in one machine. Try to remove any unused serial
ports. Often, disabling a COM port on a "multifunction" card will not
remove it entirely from the system. These "phantom" ports can cause
conflicts with internal modems installed on the same address and IRQ.
- IRQ conflicts. Place your modem on COM1 and your mouse on COM2. This
is the most "stable" configuration. NEVER place your modem and mouse
on the same IRQ. In English, if your modem is on an even COM port
(2 or 4) the mouse better be on an odd port (1 or 3) and vice-versa.
- Other conflicts. Pull everything out of your system that isn't needed
to run DOOM. Try playing. If it works, stick something back in and
try again. Keep adding cards until you find the one that is causing
the problem. Once you find it, be sure that it doesn't use the same
memory address, IRQ, or DMA channel as another card already in your
system. If it does, move it!
If you have tried everything in the above list and it still doesn't work, try
borrowing a friends modem or serial card. If that doesn't work, try playing
on a friends computer with your modem or serial card.
Happy DOOMing!