Imperialism(tm) II: Age of Exploration(tm) Version 1.0.3 Patch/Update Readme
Windows(R) 95 or Windows 98, and MAC
June 19, 1999
Table of Contents
I. What's New & Fixed
II. Installation
III. Gameplay Explanations & Manual Corrections and Additions
IV. How to Contact Technical Support
V. Copyright Information
I. What's New & Fixed (items 1 - 15 are included from the 1.02 patch)
While we make every effort to release software that is bug and problem free, there are always a few that slip through. Below is a list of bugs fixed, and features added/changed.
1. Fixed random events bug. Saving the game will no longer effect the random event seed.
2. Fixed the "chime" sound for last guy in MP game. The chime will sound when everyone else is done with their turn and is waiting on only one player.
3. Fixed the handling of the "Enter" key when saving and loading game.
4. Fixed the Researchers are idle error while doing last 3 projects
5. Fixed problem where countries continued boycotting minor nations even after returning to peace.
6. Fixed multiplayer problem where some events where not sent to all clients during multiplayer games.
7. Fixed/changed default behavior for locked grants, to stop paying them to a nation that a player goes to war with.
8. Added the ability to upgrade ships directly from the fleet book instead of having to hunt down individual fleets.
9. Enhanced the Builder unit's interface/functionality to work like the Explorer unit interface. Now the info panel below the Builder shows all resource tiles that can be either be developed or upgraded. By clicking on a listed resource the map will center on and cycle through all upgrade possibilities.
10. Rebalanced the Intro and Easy settings to make them more accessible.
11. Added 2 new game play options, 1. give the human player a $400 per turn grant (you can think of this as either tax collection, or possibly income from government holdings), and 2. an option that will slow the computer player down (from a production and development point of view) if it starts to get too far ahead.
12. Improved town builder status report text, that sometimes had confusing and/or incorrect text.
13. Added the ability to rename Ships and military units.
14. Added warning message when sending more troops into an attack than can actually be used in the attack.
15. Removed the tutorial turn limit
16. The readme now address a problem that some people have had with some soundcards, which basically tells them to not use sound acceleration which should then allow them to hear music of the CD. (see below in the troubleshooting section)
17. Made some tweaks to the tactical battle AI, Computer players sometimes didn't put generals in fort attacks when they should have.
18. Made some changes to the diplomacy AI to address the problem that some computer players wouldn't go to peace when stalled by very weak enemy Great Powers.
19. Some players have said that forts are too cheap, so we've added an option to adjust the cost of forts, by allowing for forts to cost more.
20. Modified downward the military advantage required for a computer player to join another Great Power's empire. This was set too high, making is very hard to get a Great Power to join another Great Power's empire by diplomatic means.
21. Made some changes to increase the Computer players valuation of provinces with coal, fur, and tobacco. They will now consider them to be more valuable.
22. Made a change to the AI to increase the priority of building coal mines, and then transporting the coal.
23. Addressed the issue that AI players would sometimes not build clipper ships when short on coal for other more "advanced" ships, even though the AI player still had enough available resources to build clipper ships.
24. Fixed problem where AI players were sometimes unable to build merchant ships while at war.
25. Fixed problem where late in the game AI players would sometimes set there transport orders too high on luxuries items (i.e., Tobacco, Sugar, and Fur), while not transporting enough coal.
26. Fixed very rare crash when two countries at war with each other, attack and reduce same level 1 fort of a 3rd nation causing a negative value for the fort.
27. Fixed crash when fast clicking buttons in tactical combat.
28. Fixed crash with "Unknown Error 25" on Macintosh
29. Fixed problem where purchased civilians would occasionally not show up in multiplayer game
30. Fixed problem where Aztec units had European unit pictures in battle report
31. Fixed problem where Horse Warriors gotten from colony didn't show up if Harquebusier technology hadn't been researched yet.
For any additional late breaking information, visit our website at www.imperialism2.com
II. Installation
PC
Download the Imp2_103.exe patch file to your hard drive. Double click on this self-extracting zip file. You will be prompted to identify the location where you installed Imperialism II. The default location is C:\Program Files\SSI\Imperialism II\. The patch file will automatically overwrite the neccessary files. Once the patch has completed updating Imperialism II, you can delete the Imp2_102.exe file, or store it in a "Patch Folder" for later reference (optional).
NOTE: The 1.03 patch can be installed over either the 1.0, 1.01, or 1.02 versions of the game without problem.
MAC
Download the Imp2patch103.hqx patch file to your hard drive. Then double click on it, or drag it to StuffIt Expander. There will be 3 files, "Imperialism II" and "MapView.rsrc" and "Strings.rsrc" that will be extracted. Drag the "Imperialism II" file into the Imperialism II game folder, and the "MapView.rsrc" and "Strings.rsrc" file into the "Resources" folder within the "Imperialism II" game folder. Once you have updated these 3 files you can delete the "Imp2patch102.hqx" file, or store it in a "Patch Folder" for later reference (optional).
NOTE: The 1.03 patch can be installed over either the 1.0, 1.01, or 1.02 versions of the game without problem.
III. Troubleshooting Questions & Answers (PC)
Problem: I'm having problems with my sound card or don't have one. Is there anything I can do?
Solution: Yes. Imperialism II does requires a sound card with current DirectX drivers to run properly. You should contact your sound card manufacturer and/or Microsoft to make sure you have the latest drivers and version of DirectX. SSI does not supply drivers or information for hardware.
Problem: I'm not hearing any music while playing the game, but I am hearing other sound effects. What should I do?
Solution: We've found that some soundcards that offer sound accelleration conflict with Imperialism II's handling of music playback. Turn off the option for sound accelleration.
Problem: I have installed Imperialism II but it will not run.
Solution: Make sure that you have a current version of DirectX installed on your system. Direct X 6.1 is required to run Imperialism II, and is included as part of the installation.
Solution: Make sure the Imperialism II CD is in your CD-ROM drive, as it is required to play.
Problem: After exiting a multiplayer Internet game I'm having problems starting a new game of Imperialism II. What should I do?
Solution: Restart your computer, then launch Imperialism II again.
Problem: I am running into problems with graphics, such as graphic glitches, palette flashes, desktop corruption, poor cursor response or the game hanging upon exit. How can I fix this?
Solution: While Imperialism II and DirectX should automatically reset the screen resolution and bit depth of your computer to 800x600x16 bit, on some systems it's necessary to manually change your video setting. To do this right-click on your desktop, select "Properties", then the "Settings" tab. Change the "Colors" option to "High Color (16 bit)", and the "Screen Area" slider to "800 by 600 pixels". Restart your system if required.
Solution: There is a setting for "Force Video Driver Compatibility" in the Preference Settings screen. Reset that setting from "Normal" to the "Force It" setting. This is likely to fix a wide array of graphics problems especially on Matrox video cards. If problems persist you should contact your video card manufacturer and/or Microsoft to make sure you have the latest drivers and version of DirectX. SSI does not supply drivers or information for hardware.
Problem: The Windows 95/98 Taskbar remains "on top" of Imperialism II's main interface after the game has been started.
Solution: Right-click on your Windows 95/98 Taskbar, select "Properties". Make sure the "Always on top" option is unselected.
Problem: I've been announced as the winner, but I decided to continue the game anyway because I wanted to own EVERY province. But now I'm experiencing some stability problems, what should I do?
Solution: Based on much lamenting from our beta-testers, it was decided to allow players to continue games beyond the minimum victory conditions. We've found that in some cases the game may become less stable. It is recommended that you save often if you decide to continue beyond victory.
Problem: In the Tactical Combat interface, rapidly clicking multiple times on either the End Turn button, or the Auto Play Current Unit button can cause problems.
Solution: Don't do this. There is no reason or benefit in doing so.
Troubleshooting Questions & Answers (MAC)
Problem: Can't successfully start or play Imperialism II Mac Multiplayer games over the Internet. Either can't find the Host's game, games become out of sync, and/or game crashes. What can I do?
Solution: Unfortunately none. This is a known problem that we continue to work towards addressing. But at this time we acknowledge that Internet play of Imperialism II is at best unstable, and at worst unplayable in its current state. However, LAN multiplayer remains an alternative for Macintosh multiplayer games of Imperialism II.
Problem: I'm having trouble finding the Host, or entering a Multiplayer LAN game when some or all of the computers being used have System 8.5.1 on them.
Solution: We've found that in some cases on heavily trafficked networks, computers with System 8.5.1 can experience packet delivery reliability problems via NetSprocket. Possible solutions are to play with no more than 2-4 players (2 is recommended), make sure virtual memory is off, allocate addition "real" RAM to Imperialism II if it is available (25000 MB or more is recommended as both the Preferred and Minimum settings), and, when possible, attempt to play on Macintosh computers that are using System 7.6.1, or 8.1.
Problem: I'm having trouble playing a Mac LAN game with more than 4 players.
Solution: Make sure Virtual Memory is off, and make sure at least 25,000 MB of RAM are free and allocated to the Imperialism II executable.
Solution: Play with fewer people in the game. Unfortunately, we are aware of problems associated with large-scale (more than 2-4 players) Mac multiplayer games. We are working towards a more satisfactory solution.
Problem: From within Imperialism II, how can I get back to the "Finder/Mac desktop"?
Solution: Click on the upper right corner to gain access to the Finder menu.
Problem: Imperialism II is running slowly.
Solution: Check to make sure you have enough available free Random Access Memory (RAM). Imperialism II requires at least 15.5MB of free RAM to play properly, this total can include Virtual Memory, but performance will be best if Virtual Memory is turned off. (Note: If you have more RAM, try allocating additional RAM to the "Preferred Size" setting for the Imperialism II application.)
Problem: I'm having problems playing Multiplayer. What's wrong?
Solution: Imperialism II requires more free Random Access Memory (RAM) to play multiplayer than single player does. Make sure you have at least 19.5MB of real free RAM (do not use Virtual Memory). If you have more RAM, try allocating additional RAM to the "Preferred Size" setting for the Imperialism II application.
Problem: I've been announced as the winner, but I decided to continue the game anyway because I wanted to own EVERY province. But now I'm experiencing some stability problems, what should I do?
Solution: Based on much lamenting from our beta-testers, it was decided to allow players to continue games beyond the minimum victory conditions. We've found that in some cases the game may become less stable. It is recommended that you save often if you decide to continue beyond victory.
Problem: In the Tactical Combat interface, rapidly clicking multiple times on either the End Turn button, or the Auto Play Current Unit button can cause problems.
Solution: Don't do this. There is no reason or benefit in doing so.
IV. Gameplay Explanations & Manual Corrections and Additions
1. The dialog box for "News from Around the World" will only show the 6 most important events that have transpired for the previous turn. This was a design decision, since the other option was to show all events, which could include several dozen events which had the net effect of slowing down gameplay as players would feel compelled to review all events. The decision to eliminate that "feature" was based on comments from our play-testers.
2. When using the "O" hotkey within the game to search for a specific Ocean/Sea zone, you must use the exact case sensitive text, since the search feature in Imperialism II is case sensitive. This is also true when using the "P" hotkey within the game to search for a specific Province.
3. When playing Multiplayer games, if the host of the game is eliminated from play, they are still required to run the game. This is required since important game info is maintained only on the host machine.
4. When playing a Multiplayer game, and one or more of the players participating cannot/do not want to continue playing, the host can remove them from the game. To do this the Host Control-clicks on the unwanted/absent player. In this case a computer AI player will take their place for the duration of that game (note: no human player can later take over for the AI).
5. In the Tactical Combat section of the manual (pages 58-66), inadvertently no mention of the 18 combat round time limit was made. A combat round is a complete cycle of both attacker and defenders having the opportunity to move and/or attack with all units. If at the end of 18 combat rounds there is no complete winner, then the battle is considered a draw and the defender will maintain ownership of the contested province.
6. In the Ship Statistics section on page 46, and on the insert card the description for "ARM" (Armor) should read: "Armor ratings represents the percentage reduction of damage inflicted on the ship. For example, if a Carrack with an ARM of 5 is shot at and hit with 20 points of damage, the Carrack would have the damage inflicted upon it reduced by 5% or 1 point.
7. On the included Technology Tree & Unit Reference card, the reference to Plains being able to be developed to level 4 is erroneous. Plains can not be developed other than having roads or rails, and ports built upon them.
8. In the Morale and the General section on page 61, the description of the General's capabilities should also include his command bonus, which allows 2 additional units to participate in attacks. This allows for a total of 14 units in an attack. This combined with successfully researching Nationalism, allows for a maximum of 16 units (including the General) to participate in attacks.
9. Starting in the year 1700, the time scale of Imperialism shifts from 2 years to 1 year per turn. This is completely normal, and is not a problem. In order to have historic research discoveries occur in roughly the correct time periods (from a historic point of view) it was necessary to implement a sliding time scale. In many ways this helps to model real life, where nations all across the World started to experience accelerated technology advances in the 1700's.
V. How To Contact Technical Support
If you have worked through these troubleshooting suggestions and still need assistance, you can contact SSI Technical Support by using the options listed below. If calling our tech support group it will be very helpful if you can tell us your computer make and model, and the brand names of both the video card and sound card you are using. If possible, have the computer both positioned near your phone and turned on. Please also be prepared to give us a detailed description of what happens when you try to run the program.
You can contact us in any of the following ways:
Online Support Request Form: http://feedback.learningco.com/forms/support_form.asp
Automated 24-hour Technical Support Service: 800-409-1497
24 Hour Fax: 319-395-9600
Technical Support Call Center: 319-247-3333
Business Hours: 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Mailing Address
The Learning Company
1700 Progress Drive
PO Box 100
Hiawatha, IA 52233-0100 USA
Attn: Imperialism II
VI. VI. Copyright Information
(c) 1998, 1999 Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI), a The Learning Company company. All Rights Reserved. Imperialism is a trademark of SSI. Imperialism II: Age of Exploration, Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI), and The Learning Company are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of The Learning Company, Inc. Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) a division of The Learning Company, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, Inc. All other company and/or product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers.
