PC Player 1996 June

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ PC Player 1996 June / PCP0696.ISO / TORIN / README.TXT < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1995-09-07 | 14.3 KB | 336 lines

"TORIN'S PASSAGE DEMO" README FILE for DOS Thanks so much for checking out our "Torin's Passage Demo." This sample is just a small piece of the actual game, but we've tried to include enough to show you some of the game's humor, animation, backgrounds and puzzles. Torin's has lots of great new features (many of which you find in this demo), but it also has something which we can't include here: a plot that will keep you guessing, involved, and intrigued while you're solving puzzles and exploring the five worlds of Strata. This file isn't like your normal README file, with a few warnings about bugs and stuff. We have none! <G> (or :-) for you Internet folks...) It's so simple, I bet you'll have no problems installing and playing it, either in Windows or DOS. However, Sierra's crack tech support team is so proud of their big new Question & Answer file, they asked me to include it. Heck, we've got loads of room! Why not? But don't let it scare you. In fact, why don't you just ignore everything below the next paragraph! Again, on behalf of our entire development team, thanks for trying "Torin's Passage." I'm really proud of this game and know you'll like it too. Al Lowe Game Designer ****** Note: To run Torin's Passage in DOS, you need at least 540K of free conventional memory, and a minimum of 8MB of RAM. Rob "Not as funny as Al Lowe" Kenny Lead Programmer ****** ======================================================================== TECHNICAL TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS In order for you to receive the best possible performance, here are some additional technical tips and information. TABLE OF CONTENTS * Installation Procedures * Handy To Know * DOS Problems and Solutions * DOS Error Messages and Solutions * Memory Troubleshooting * Sound Card Troubleshooting INSTALLATION PROCEDURES To install Torin's Passage under MS-DOS, follow these instructions: 1) Insert the Torin's Passage CD into your CD-ROM drive. 2) From a MS-DOS prompt, type the CD-Drive letter followed by a colon and press the <ENTER> key. For example, if your CD-ROM drive is labeled as your D drive, you would type: D: <ENTER> 3) At your CD-Rom drive label prompt, type: INSTALL <ENTER> This will not work if you type D:INSTALL <ENTER>. 4) Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation. HANDY TO KNOW A list of BBS and Tech Support Numbers for Sound Card, Video Card, and Miscellaneous Computer Peripheral / Software Manufacturers is provided on the Torin's Passage CD. To view this file, type "EDIT D:\CONTACT.TXT" (if your CD-ROM drive is D:). DOS PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS Problem: Your video card's VESA driver is not listed during INSTALL's VESA test. Solution: Although we try to provide as many VESA drivers as possible, your particular video card may not be listed. If this is the case, exit INSTALL, and do one of the following: - Look in your video card manual to find the command to enable VESA on your particular video card. Run this command to enable VESA, then rerun the Torin's Passage INSTALL program. - If you cannot find your video card's special VESA driver program or have no information how to enable VESA, try using one of the VESA drivers provided on the Torin's Passage Demo CD in the \INSTALL\VESA\VESA directory. Once you see the VESA enabled message, rerun Torin's Passage INSTALL program. If you do not see a VESA enabled message, please call your video card manufacturer for more assistance. Problem: The game runs too slow Solution: Here's some things to try: - Make and use a boot disk. - Add the following line to the boot disk's A:\AUTOEXEC.BAT: C:\DOS\SMARTDRV /512 Problem: Random crashes on Compaq Presario CDS 524, 920, etc. Solution: Make a boot disk. DOS ERROR MESSAGES AND SOLUTIONS -INSTALLATION Problem: The INSTALL program fails with the message "Invalid directory. Bad command or file name." Solution: This means you typed "D:INSTALL". Please type "D:" and press ENTER, then type "INSTALL" and press ENTER. Problem: "Can't create output file" during installation. Solution: You need to free up more hard drive space before installing the demo. -STARTING AND RUNNING THE DEMO Question: How do you start the demo? Answer: Assuming you installed the demo to the C:\SIERRA\TORDOS directory, type in the following MS-DOS commands: C: CD\SIERRA TORDEMO Problem: "No VESA support detected" message when the demo tries to start. Solution: This means your video card's VESA program was not run before the game started. VESA allows DOS games to run in colorful, crisp high-resolution. Please refer to your video card manual for more information to run your particular VESA program to enable high resolution in DOS. Some examples are "VVESA.COM", "VESA.COM", and "VMODE VESA". More Information: We have provided many popular VESA drivers for you on the Torin's Passage CD. They are located in the \INSTALL\VESA\VESA directory on the CD. Please refer to the READ.ME file in this directory for more information. Problem: "Fatal: Unable to find mouse driver" Solution: This means your DOS mouse program was not run before the game started. Rerun INSTALL and choose MAKE A BOOTABLE FLOPPY DISK to help us find and use your DOS mouse driver. More Information: DOS needs a mouse program to be run before it can use the mouse. To see if a mouse program is hidden on your hard drive, type "DIR \MOUSE /S /P". Let's say you see: Directory of C:\MSMOUSE MOUSE COM Directory of C:\WINDOWS MOUSE DRV MOUSE INI A mouse program will end in ".COM" or ".EXE", so the mouse drivers in C:\WINDOWS in this example won't do. To run the mouse driver in MSMOUSE in this example, type "C:\MSMOUSE\MOUSE.COM". You should see a message saying your mouse is now enabled. You can now play Torin's Passage. If there is no .COM or .EXE file that has to do with your mouse, please refer to your mouse documentation or computer dealer for more assistance. Problem: You get no music on any Sound Blaster compatible card, or you get a blank screen when the game starts, or the game gets stuck on the opening Sierra logo. Solution: Check if your SET BLASTER environment variable is enabled and at the correct setting. To check this, at the C: prompt, type SET and press <ENTER>. You should see a line that says BLASTER = A220 I7 D1 (or something similar). If you do not see such a line and your sound card is on Address 220, IRQ 10, and DMA 1, at the C: prompt, type SET BLASTER = A220 I10 D1 and press <ENTER>. This line tells MS-DOS how to access your sound card. Now you can run the demo. Problem: In MS-DOS, using a Reveal or Aztech Labs sound card, the music is fine but the speech is barely audible. Solution #1: The chipset used to emulate the Sound Blaster digital to analog conversion is not 100% compatible with the Sound Blaster driver built-in to the game. Install Torin's Passage demo in Windows for full sound. Solution #2: Rerun INSTALL and choose Windows Sound System for AUDIO. Problem: "EMM386 Error 6 or Error 12... " The error number may vary. Solution: This is caused by a memory conflict. Running the game from the boot disk will usually correct this problem. Please see the Memory Troubleshooting section of this README. Problem: "Can't allocate X bytes in ..\(somename).cpp" Solution: You are running low on conventional memory. Please rerun INSTALL and make a boot disk. Problem: "Out of Low Memory" or "Out of High Memory" Solution: Make a boot disk. Please make sure you have enough memory to run the game. If you have 4 meg of RAM instead of 8 meg, the game may try to run, but will fail when more memory is required. Problem: "CDR 101 Error reading" or "DOS Error, Read Error". Solution: This can be caused by an outdated version of the MSCDEX file. MS-DOS version 6.2 and above should use MSCDEX version 2.23 MS-DOS version 6.0 should use MSCDEX version 2.22 MS-DOS version 5.0 should use MSCDEX version 2.21 If you have MSCDEX version 2.20, please get a later version. Problem: "Error 105: ResSound (or ResView): Attempt to load wrong type" Solution: This type of error is usually caused by corrupted program files or a bad installation of the game. To correct this, delete the game and run CHKDSK /F or SCANDISK to detect and correct any hard drive errors. Then, boot up with a Torin's Passage boot disk and reinstall the game in a clean Windows environment. Please see "Create a Boot Disk" under Memory Troubleshooting for complete steps. Problem: "Error 99: Error Loading Resource 999.PAL, restype.cpp(56) Solution #1: This type of error is usually caused by having the wrong game CD in the drive when you try to start Torin's Passage. Please make sure the Torin's Passage CD is in the drive before you start the game. Solution #2: If you booted with a non-CD boot disk or bypassed your CD-ROM drivers on bootup, you'll get this error message. Please reboot and make sure your CD-ROM is responding beore starting the game. Problem: "Unable To Allocate XXXX Bytes" even with a boot disk. Solution: Torin's Passage doesn't require a lot of conventional memory, but some users have found adding these lines to the Torin's Passage boot disk's CONFIG.SYS solves their problems: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DOS=HIGH -MAKING AND USING A BOOT DISK Problem: "Can't find FORMAT.COM--Unable to make boot disk" Solution: This is caused when our boot disk maker program cannot find FORMAT.COM on your hard drive. This usually happens if you installed PC Tools or Norton Utilities. These utilities rename FORMAT.COM to either FORMAT!.COM or XXFORMAT.COM. If this is the case, please type the following commands CD\DOS COPY FORMAT!.COM FORMAT.COM COPY XXFORMAT.COM FORMAT.COM One of these commands will help restore your FORMAT command back to normal, and will allow our boot disk maker to work. Problem: "Can't make bootdisk since you're not using COMMAND.COM" or "Boot disk was not created" Solution: This can be caused if you are using 4DOS or NDOS (in Norton Utilities). Get to a C:\> prompt. Type: SET and press the ENTER key. COMSPEC should equal C:\COMMAND.COM or C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM. If COMSPEC = 4DOS.COM or NDOS.COM, the boot disk maker will not work. To correct this, type: SET COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM This will allow our boot disk maker to work. When you reboot without a boot disk, the COMSPEC will return to your original setting. Problem: "Invalid Drive Specification" using a boot disk on a Western Digital IDE controller. Explanation: The Western Digital IDE hard drive controller displays a message "Press the SPACEBAR to boot from a floppy disk." If you insert the boot disk and reboot before seeing this message, you'll get the message "Invalid Drive Specification" and won't have hard drive access until you reboot without the boot disk. Solution: Remove the boot disk from the floppy drive. Reboot your computer. When you see this message, insert the boot disk and press the SPACEBAR. Problem: "Invalid Drive Specification" using a boot disk on larger Seagate hard drives, such as the Seagate 800 meg hard drive. Explanation: Seagate hard drives larger than 528 meg use a disk manager called "EZ-DRIVE". If you insert the boot disk and reboot before seeing this message, you'll get the message "Invalid Drive Specifica- tion" and won't have hard drive access until you reboot without the boot disk. Solution: Remove the boot disk from the floppy drive. Hold down the CTRL key and reboot your computer. You'll see a message "Insert bootdisk and hit ENTER to reboot". Insert the boot disk and press ENTER. -OTHER PROBLEMS If you don't see your question listed, most difficulties with Torin's Passage can be resolved by simply running the game with a boot disk. Please see "Create a Boot Disk" under Memory Troubleshooting. Also look at the file D:\THEGUIDE.TXT (if your CD-ROM drive is D:). MEMORY TROUBLESHOOTING ****** If you get this far, please note that Torin's Passage requires 8 Megabytes of memory to play. Rob "Not as funny as Al Lowe" Kenny Lead Programmer ****** Some game players have experienced difficulty getting enough memory to run Torin's Passage. This usually occurs on computer systems with 8 Megabytes of RAM, but can happen on machines with more memory. If you are having trouble starting the game because of memory problems or are receiving memory-related errors during the game (such as an "Out of Hunk" or "Out of Memory" message), please make and use a boot disk. Create a Boot Disk: Sierra has included a boot disk maker with Torin's Passage. You can create a boot disk by doing one of the following: -Rerun INSTALL on the CD and choose MAKE A BOOTABLE FLOPPY DISK -Type "BOOTDISK -c -p" at the D:\> prompt (if your CD-ROM is D:). The "-c -p" option must be in lowercase. Once you have created a boot disk, turn off your computer. Please leave the boot disk in your A: drive and turn on the computer. This will start the demo for you automatically, allowing us to use all the memory available in your computer. SOUND CARD TROUBLESHOOTING Torin's Passage can adjust the volume of sound in the game. If you need more control, most sound cards' speech and music volume can be controlled separately through software provided by the sound card manufacturer. Here is a list of some common sound cards' mixer volume control commands in DOS. Sound Blaster 16: Type C:\SB16\SB16MIX Vibra 16 in AST Advantage: Type C:\VIBRA16\MIXERSET Sound Galaxy 16 in Packard Bell: Type C:\SOUND16A\UTILITY\MIXTSR or type C:\SOUND144\MIXTSR Compaq Presario CDS 524, 920, etc.: If DEVICE=C:\CPQDOS\VOLCTRL.EXE is in CONFIG.SYS on the boot disk, then: Press CTRL-RIGHTSHIFT to increase volume Press CTRL-LEFTSHIFT to decrease volume Proaudio Spectrum Family: Press CTRL-ALT-U to increase volume Press CTRL-ALT-D to lower volume Sound Blaster 8 bit: No software control. Adjust thumbwheel on the back of the sound card. Thunderboard: No software control. Adjust thumbwheel on the back of the sound card.