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Spider-Man: Sinister Six Readme File August 5, 1996 To read this file on-screen, use the Page Down and Page Up keys. You can also print the file by choosing the Print command from the File menu in any Windows word processing program. This READ ME file contains important information on the following topics: 1. Installing Spider-Man: Sinister Six Demo: 2. Spider-Man: Sinister Six demo quick start: - Playing the demo from Windows 95. - Playing the demo from DOS on a Windows 3.1 machine. 3. Problems installing Spider-Man: Sinister Six demo: - Examining your hard drive. - Temporarily disabling other applications. - Checking your system hardware. 4. Problems Running Spider-Man: Sinister Six Demo: - Out-of-memory error in Windows 95. - Out-of-memory errors in DOS. - Error message: no input device found. - Error message: missing CD-ROM. - Special software that is not supported. - Creating a boot disk. 5. Performance Issues: - Defragmenting your hard disk. - Improving performance with SmartDrive. - Tips for notebook computers. - Choppy animation frames and sound. - Running the program through DOS 6. CD-ROM Issues: - Increasing the CD-ROM drive reading performance. - Errors reading from the CD-ROM drive. - Problems finding the CD-ROM drive. 7. Video Display Issues: 8. Audio Issues: - Conflicts with other applications. - Audio driver problems. - Sounds play, but not very well. - Sound does not play at all. 9. Manufacturer's contact information for video display cards. 10. Manufacturer's contact information for audio cards. IF YOU EXPERIENCE ANY PROBLEMS PLAYING THE GAME FROM THE WINDOWS 95 DESKTOP ON A LOW END 486, TRY PLAYING THE GAME FROM A WINDOWS 95 DOS WINDOW OR RESTART YOUR COMPUTER IN DOS MODE AND LAUNCH THE GAME FROM THE C: PROMPT. SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS. **************************************************************** 1. Installing Spider-Man: Sinister Six demo: **************************************************************** Windows 95: i)Choose your CD-ROM drive by clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop and clicking the icon representing your CD drive or by selecting your CD drive through Windows Explorer. ii)Click Setup.exe and follow the instructions to install and set up the Spider-Man demo. DOS and Windows 3.1: Spider-Man must be installed from Windows 3.1 and then launched from DOS. i)From the file manager, select the letter representing your CD-ROM drive. ii)Click Setup.exe from the CD to launch the installation program. Follow the program's instructions to install Sinister Six. **************************************************************** 2. Spider-Man: Sinister Six Demo Quick Start: **************************************************************** - Playing the Demo from Windows 95. You can also launch the demo from the Spider folder on you hard drive. Open the spider folder in Windows Explorer and click on SIXDEMO.bat to launch the demo. - To Play the Demo from DOS on a Windows 3.1 machine. i) Exit Windows 3.1 by quitting the program. ii) At the C: prompt type CD SPIDER to access the Spider directory. iii) At C:\SPIDER type SIXDEMO to launch the demo. After a cinematic introduction, the demo's main menu will appear on the screen. Click on Fight to fight a villain, Easy Puzzle to play an easy version of a puzzle, Hard Puzzle to play a difficult version of the same puzzle, and Character to have a showdown with the Shocker. Choosing Quit returns you to DOS or the Windows 95 desktop. Combat Choosing Fight from the main menu brings you into combat with Mysterio. Use your mouse to position the target over Mysterio's energy spheres. You must destroy them before they zap you. While this demo only supports a mouse in combat, the final release will support a joystick and keyboard as well as a mouse. Solving a puzzle Sinister Six offers both hard and easy modes of play for both combat and puzzles. This demo allows you to sample a hard and an easy version of one of the game's puzzles. Easy Version In the easy version of the puzzle Spider-Man must destroy the device that Shocker is using to generate a barrier of seismic energy. Use the cursor to move Spider-Man about the alley. The cursor shape will change whenever the cursor is placed over a spot with which Spider-Man can interact. Click the cursor to initiate Spider-Man's action. Hard Version In the hard version of the puzzle, Spider-Man must deactivate a device that Shocker is using to generate a barrier of seismic energy. You should be able to solve the puzzle based on the clues Spider-Man provides in his voice-over. If you need extra help, read the following paragraph. READ NEXT PARAGRAPH ONLY IF YOU REQUIRE EXTRA HELP WITH THE HARD PUZZLE. The numbers on the left of each row and the top of each column te1l you how many groups of black squares there are in each group. If there is just one number in a line, for example 3, then you should color in three consecutive blocks in that line. Lines with two numbers are a little more difficult. For example, if you see a grid line with 3 5, this tells you that in that line you will color in 3 blocks, then leave one or two blank blocks, then color in five other blocks. Hint Feature The completed game will feature a hint function with four levels of hints, starting with suggestions and finally providing a solution to the puzzle. If you are stuck you won't need to call a 1-900 line or purchase a clue book for help. Character Choosing Character from the main menu allows you to confront the Shocker. The mouse cursor will appear as a spider icon when placed over Shocker. Click on Shocker to speak to him. A conversation menu will appear on screen. Clicking on the speaker icon plays a Spider-Man voice-over in which Spider-Man considers a question he could ask. Clicking on the text of the question will cause Spider-Man to ask that question. You can escape from a dialogue at any time by right clicking the mouse or striking the ESC key. **************************************************************** 3. Problems installing Spider-Man: Sinister Six Demo: **************************************************************** If you encounter any error during installation, please try the following: - Examine your hard drive. Windows 3.x users: i) First exit Windows. ii) Run CHKDSK.EXE or SCANDISK.EXE in DOS to examine your hard drive. Windows 95 users: i) From System Tools group, Click the Scandisk icon to start. ii) Follow instructions to examine your hard drive. If there is a problem in your hard drive, please consult the DOS manual or other hard disk management manual before you attempt to fix the problem. You may need to backup your data and other system files. -Temporarily disabling other applications. If you have any DOS TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) applications (e.g. virus shield) or Windows screen saver running in the background, please temporarily disable it. You can enable it again after the installation. If you have other Windows applications running in the background, please close the ones you are not using. -Checking your system hardware. Please check your system hardware and make sure your machine is functioning properly. Any IRQ or DMA device conflict may create system instability, which will prevent software from functioning normally. **************************************************************** 4. Problems Running Spider-Man: Sinister Six Demo: **************************************************************** - Out-of-memory errors in Windows 95. Spider-Man: Sinister Six will work in the Windows 95 DOS prompt window on most of the systems. However, if you encounter out-of-memory errors, there is probably not enough memory available to the DOS environment. Consider doing the following to improve the memory usage. i) Close all unnecessary applications. ii) Check the virtual memory setting. Try to use the Windows recommended virtual memory size; it may help to solve the out-of-memory problem. Please consult the Windows User's Guide for more information. iii) If problems persist restart your computer in DOS mode by selecting Shut Down from the Start menu and click the Restart in DOS mode option. - Out-Of-Memory Errors in DOS. i) Determine how much memory your computer has available by typing MEM and pressing ENTER at the DOS prompt. You need a minimum of 8MB of total memory to use the program. If you do not have at least 8MB of physical memory, you may not be able to run the program until you add more physical memory. ii) Try optimizing the memory usage by using Memmaker in DOS. - Error Message: No Input Device Found. Spider-Man: Sinister Six requires a mouse and a mouse device driver loaded before starting the game. If you encountered such an error message, this means either the mouse is not connected properly or the device driver is not setup correctly. - Error Message: Missing CD ROM. Spider-Man: Sinister Six reads data from the CD-ROM. If you encountered the above message, please check your CD-ROM drive to make sure the CD disc is inserted. Also check your system CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. Make certain that the CD-ROM device driver and parameters are setup properly. Refer to your CD-ROM manual for details. - Special software that is not supported. Spider-Man: Sinister Six does not support special software that assigns custom functions to the left, right, or center mouse button. These functions should not be used while running the program. - Creating a boot disk. If you encountered any EMM386 error, not enough memory error, or your system froze while playing Spider-Man: Sinister Six, it is possible that there is not enough free conventional memory available to the program or that there is a memory conflict between different DOS TSR programs. In such a case, you should create a boot disk withsimplified CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. Win 3.1 users: i) Insert a disk into the floppy drive. ii) Open File manager. iii) Select Format Disk from the Disk Menu. iv) Make sure the Make System Disk check box is checked. v) Click the OK button to format. The next step is to create a new CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on the disk. You can use any .txt editor to perform the editing. The following is a CONFIG.SYS sample: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS DOS=UMB,HIGH DEVICEHIGH=<put your cd-rom device driver here> DEVICEHIGH=<some sound cards require you to put a device driver here> DEVICEHIGH=<some mouse require you to put a mouse device driver here> FILES=25 LASTDRIVE=G The following is a AUTOEXEC.BAT sample: PROMPT$P$G SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:10 LH <some mouse need to put device driver here> LH <some sound cards may need to put additional drivers here> CONFIG.SYS examples: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS BUFFERS=30,0 FILES=25 DOS=UMB,HIGH LASTDRIVE=G DEVICEHIGH =C:\DOS\D011V200.SYS /D:MSCD001 AUTOEXEC.BAT examples: @ECHO OFF PROMPT $p$g PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS; SET TEMP=C:\temp SET SOUND=C:\SB16 SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P300 T6 SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q LH c:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /d:mscd001 /m:10 LH C:\DOS\mouse.exe Win 95 users: i) Insert a disk into the floppy drive. ii) Double click 'My Computer' on the desktop. iii) Right mouse click the floppy drive icon. iv) Select Format. v) There will be a format dialog box popup. vi) Make sure the Copy System Files box is checked. vii) Click the Start button to format. **************************************************************** 5. Performance Issues: **************************************************************** - Defragmenting your hard disk. If the program runs slowly, you can try to defragment (clean up) your hard disk by running a hard disk defragmentation program. - Improving performance with SmartDrive. Make sure you have SmartDrive 5.0 or above and MSCDEX 2.23. This new version of SmartDrive can cache data being read from the CD-ROM drive, greatly improving performance. Make sure SMARTDRV is after MSCDEX in your Autoexec.bat. For information on the current SmartDrive settings type SMARTDRV at the DOS prompt. For help with SmartDrive type SMARTDRV/? at the DOS prompt or consult your DOS User's Guide. - Tips for Notebook computers. Some notebook computers may be still using display, audio, and CD-ROM drivers that came with the system. Those drivers are probably the earliest releases, and may not be optimized for the best data transfer and hardware utilization. Please check with the manufacturer for up-to-date device drivers. If you have Windows 95 running on your notebook computer, try to use the native Windows 95 32-bit device drivers for your sound card and CD-ROM drive. This may increase performance on your machine and make Spider-Man: Sinister Six run smoother. - Choppy animation frames and sound. The Spider-Man: Sinister Six demo reads data from the CD-ROM. If choppy animation or sound still occurs after you have optimized your system, including updating the CD-ROM driver and sound card driver (read the following sections for details), this is due to the nature of your CD-ROM hardware and CD-ROM interface card (including sound card that comes with a CD-ROM interface). Some earlier CD-ROM drives and CD-ROM interface cards may be a bottleneck preventing optimal data transfer. -Running the program through DOS The program may be sluggish when running through the Windows 95 DOS shell on a 486. If the performance is less than optimal, restart your system in DOS and launch the demo by typing SIXDEMO at the Spider directory. **************************************************************** 6. CD-ROM Issues: **************************************************************** - Increasing the CD-ROM drive reading performance. If you are running the game in a pure DOS environment (not the DOS prompt in Windows 95), try to increase buffer size for MSCDEX by putting /M:25 at the end of the MSCDEX.EXE line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Some CD-ROM drives came with earlier releases of their DOS drivers. Old drivers may not be optimized for the best data transfer rate between the CD-ROM drive and the CD-ROM host. Contact your CD-ROM manufacturer for the latest drivers. If the game is running under a DOS prompt in Windows 95, make sure the CD-ROM Optimized Access Pattern in File System Properties is set up properly for the type of CD-ROM drive you have, e.g., if you have a quad-speed CD-ROM drive, you should set the CD-ROM Optimized Access Pattern for Quad-speed or higher. If you are using Windows 95, try to use the native Windows 95 CD-ROM driver for your CD-ROM drive. Using the CD-ROM DOS driver in Windows 95 may result in slower performance. The CD-ROM DOS driver may also impede full 32-bit file system access. The file system performance may not be optimal if it is not in full 32-bit mode. Make sure that your CD-ROM drive is MPC2-compatible. An MPC2- compatible double-speed drive has an average seek time of less than one second and can transfer data from the compact disc at 300k per second while using less than 40% of the CPU bandwidth. Check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive to make sure it meets these requirements. An incompatible CD-ROM drive will slow the performance of the program. - Errors reading from the CD-ROM drive. If your system has errors reading from the CD-ROM drive, please do the following checks: i) make sure the disc surface is clean. ii) Examine the surface of the disc for any visible scratches iii) check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive in order to find out if your CD-ROM drive is functioning properly. - Problems finding the CD-ROM drive. Do not remove the CD-ROM while the program is running. If the program cannot find the data files that it needs from the CD, you will see a message telling you that your computer cannot read from the drive letter of your CD-ROM. If you have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure the drive is connected to your computer, plugged in, and turned on. If you still see the error message after checking the points above, check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive or contact the company that supplied the drive. **************************************************************** 7. Video Display Issues: **************************************************************** - Some VGA cards may require an external VESA driver. If you encounter system lockup with a blank screen, you may need to run a VESA driver before starting the game. Spider-Man: Sinister Six requires a VGA card BIOS with VESA standard build-in or a VESA driver to be loaded before starting the game. Many VGA card manufacturers supply their own VESA drivers. You can contact your VGA card manufacturer to obtain the VESA driver for you VGA card. Another option is to install SciTech's UniVBE, a shareware universal VESA driver. If you install UniVBE and still experience video display problems contact your VGA card manufacturer to obtain a VESA driver for your card. The latest version of UniVBE can be obtained at SciTech's web site at www.scitechsoft.com or from SciTech's ftp site on America On-Line, AOL keyword: SciTech, and FTP: ftp.scitechsoft.com **************************************************************** 8. Audio Issues: **************************************************************** - Conflicts with other applications. Audio problems can have many causes. If the game is running under a DOS prompt in Windows 95 and other Windows applications are playing sounds at the same time, this may interrupt sounds in Spider-Man: Sinister Six. Most sound cards cannot play two sounds simultaneously. In some cases, playing two sounds simultaneously can result in a system crash or freeze; in such cases, you must restart your system. However, a few applications that play sounds, such as some screen savers, may remove audio capability from all other Windows applications; if this is the case, you may see Spider-Man: Sinister Six start without any sound. If you suspect you have such a situation, exit the game and turn these applications off before launching Spider-Man: Sinister Six. - Audio driver problems. If you experience problems with audio, you may need to update your sound card driver. It is always a good idea to use the most recent driver. Contact the manufacturer of your sound card to learn how to obtain a new driver. - Sounds play, but not very well. Sounds that are distorted have several possible causes. The most likely one is simply that your speakers are not of high quality. If you are playing sound through a high-quality stereo system, try adjusting the tone controls. The 11k digital audio files in Spider-Man: Sinister Six will sound best with the treble control turned down slightly. It is also possible that the software settings on your sound card are causing distortion. For example, if the sound card volume or WAVE file output is set to near its maximum, it will produce amplification distortion, just as it would on a stereo system. To find out how to change your sound card settings, check the documentation that came with your sound card. - Sound does not play at all. If you do not hear any sounds, make sure that the volume for your speakers is set to an audible level. If the volume is set to an audible level, check your sound card IRQ and DMA settings. Make sure those settings are not in conflict with other hardware devices. Also, check to see that the driver is installed correctly and, if necessary, reinstall it. Refer to the documentation that came with your sound card for more information on installing audio drivers. Most of the Windows 95 sound card drivers support DOS mode audio functions in a DOS prompt. If you are running this game under a DOS prompt in Windows 95, you can perform a simple test by using theWindows Media Player to play a .WAV file. If you still hear no sounds at all, something may be wrong with your sound card setup or the sound card driver setup. Refer to your sound card manual for more information on proper installation. ***************************************************************** 9. Manufacturer's Contact Information for Video Display Cards: ***************************************************************** ATI Technologies Tech Support: 905-882-2626 BBS: 905-764-9404 Internet: www.atitech.ca Boca Tech Support: 407-241-8088 BBS: 407-241-1601 Cardinal Tech Support: 717-293-3124 BBS: 717-293-3074 Celerite Graphics, Inc. Tech Support: 510-226-6390 BBS: 510-226-7851 Cirrus Logic Tech Support: 408-435-8808 BBS: 510-440-9080 Internet: www.cirrus.com Diamond Multimedia Tech Support: 408-325-7100 BBS: 408-325-7175 Internet: www.diamondmm.com Genoa Tech Support: 408-432-8324 BBS: 408-943-1231 Hercules Technology Tech Support: 510-623-6050 BBS: 510-623-7034 510-623-7449 Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd. Tech Support: 800-462-8769 BBS: 514-685-6008 Number Nine Computer Corp. Tech Support: 617-674-0009 BBS: 617-862-7502 Oak Technology Tech Support: 408-737-0888 BBS: 408-524-9014 Orchid Tech Support: 510-683-0323 BBS: 510-683-0327 Paradise Tech Support: 800-832-4778 BBS: 415-968-1834 Sigma Designs Tech Support: 510-770-0100 BBS: 510-770-0111 STB Tech Support: 214-234-8750 BBS: 214-437-9615 Internet: www.stb.com Swan Technologies, Inc. Tech Support: 800-468-7926 BBS: 814-237-6143 Trident BBS: 415-691-1016 ***************************************************************** 10. Manufacturer's Contact Information for Audio Cards: ***************************************************************** Creative Labs (Sound Blaster) Technical Support 1523 Cimarron Plaza, Stillwater, OK 74075. USA. Voice: (405) 742-6622. FAX: (405) 742-6633. BBS: (405) 742-6660. Internet: www.creaf.com Turtle Beach Customer Support Voice: (717) 764-5265. FAX: (717) 767-6033. (Attn.: Customer Support) BBS: (717) 767-0238. (9600 Baud+, 8N1). BBS: (717) 767-5934. (2400 Baud, 8N1). CompuServe: 71333,2432 ESS No Consumer Support Line ESS does not manufacture cards, but only distributes OEM chips. Users with an audio card using an ESS chip should contact the manufacturer of their card. Roland Corporation US 7200 Dominion Circle Los Angeles, CA 90040-3696 USA. (213) 685-5141. Adlib Gold Tech Support: (418) 529-6252 IBM Customer Support US Customer Support: (800) 772-2227 Canada Customer Support: (800) 465-6666 Internet: www.ibm.com The Microsoft Corporation (Windows Sound System) Microsoft FastTips, (800) 936-4200 CompuServe, go Microsoft, or go mask (Microsoft Knowledge Base). Microsoft Download Service: (206) 936-6735 8N1 (905) 507-3022 (Canada) Internet: www.microsoft.com FTP: ftp.microsoft.com Technical Voice Support: (206) 635-7040 (905) 568-3503 (Canada) Disney Sound Source Disney Software Attn.: Customer Service 500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-6385. Voice: (818) 841-3326 BBS: (818) 567-4027 8N1 Media Vision (Pro Audio Studio 16, Win Sound System, Jazz) Customer Support: Voice: (800) 638-2807 (510) 770-9905 BBS: (510) 770-0968 (2400 Baud, 8N1) (510) 770-0527 (9600+ Baud, 8N1) Internet: www.mediavis.com Logitech (SoundMan Wave) Product Support: Voice: (510) 795-8100 BBS: (510) 795-0408 FaxBack: (800) 245-0000. Packard Bell (Sound 144) Customer Service: Voice: Hardware (800) 733-4411 Software (801) 579-0161 (800) 263-0099 (Canada) Fax: (801) 579-0092 (905) 564-1142 (Canada) Auto Phone: (800) 733-4411 BBS: (801) 250-1600 8N1 (905) 542-7359 8N1 (Canada) Mediatrix Peripherals, Inc. (AudioTrix Pro) Voice: (819) 829-TRIX (800) 820-TRIX Fax: (819) 829-5100 BBS: (819) 829-5101 c) Copyright 1996 Byron Preiss Multimedia Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Brooklyn Multimedia is a trademark of Byron Preiss Multimedia Company, Inc. Spider-Man is a registered trademark and The Sinister Six is a trademark of Marvel Entertainment Group. Spider-Man, Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Hobgoblin, Dr. Octopus, Vulture, Mysterio, Chameleon, Shocker, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc and are used with permission. Copyright (C) 1996 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved. Windows and Windows 95 are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.