Actua Tennis PC Product code ATW1PA02 "Readme.txt" last updated for version: F1.0 1. Introduction & System Requirements 2. Keys And Controls 3. Miscellaneous 4. Compatibility Notes 1. Introduction --------------- This program is a Windows 95 executable. It only runs under Windows 95. You must have Microsoft DirectX installed on your machine for this program to run. You may use the keyboard, a joystick, or any other Windows 95 compatible game controller to control the player. 2. Keys And Controls -------------------- In addition to the player controls set up in the front end, the following keys may be used in-game: '1' - '5' Camera view selection. '1' is the lowest and '5' the highest of the views. Note that only views '4' & '5' will be available if you are playing a multiplayer game on one computer. 'S' Scoreboard view. This looks at the scoreboard for as long as you hold the key down. You cannot use this view while the ball is in play. 'P' or 'Esc' Pause/Play on. This alternately pauses and unpauses the game. While paused, the 'Quit Yes/No' prompt is displayed. To quit the game, move your directional controller left to highlight 'Yes' and press Button A to quit the game. 'R' Enter Replay mode. You cannot view a replay while the ball is in play. Press 'R', or Button A or B, to quit a replay. 'F1' In-game Options. This pauses the game and displays the Options screen. Use your directional controller, or the cursor keys, to select and change options. Press 'F1' or 'Esc' to return to the game. 3. Miscellaneous ---------------- General Troubleshooting: For best results, do not run any other programs at the same time as Actua Tennis. Other programs can take system resources (e.g. system memory, CPU power) away from the game, and can also cause device driver conflicts and other nasty problems. Most often, if you have trouble running the game, you can fix the problem by quitting all other programs before running Actua Tennis. Hints: Any small icon by the system clock on the Windows 95 task bar is an indicator that another program is running. Also, look out for any programs listed in StartMenu->Programs->StartUp. To close a program, press Ctrl-Alt-Del once, select the program on the task list, and click on the 'End Task' button. IMPORTANT! Do not close any program or driver associated with your sound card, mouse, video card, 3D accelerator, or input device (e.g. MS Sidewinder joypad). You will need these running in order to run the game properly with these devices. Video card problems: Check the Compatability notes below for instructions about specific graphics adapters. We have endeavoured to ensure that Actua Tennis works with all common graphics adapters. However, you may experience difficulty obtaining some video modes, either in fullscreen or windowed operation, especially if your machine has less than 32Mb of RAM. We recommend that you attempt to run the game with various combinations of 8-bit and 16-bit graphics, fullscreen and windowed operation, 'fast' and 'true' transparency, and find a combination that works for you. If you wish to run the game in a window, reducing the colour depth and/or resolution of your Windows desktop before running Actua Tennis will free video memory for use by the game. If all else fails, you should contact the manufacturer of your graphics adapter and request the latest DirectX 5 compatible driver for your model of video card. Transparency: The 'Transparency' setting on the Video Options screen affects the speed, realism, and memory requirements of the 3D rendering process. Transparency is used in-game to represent the players' rackets, the net, and onscreen text box backgrounds. 'True' transparency is best for 16-bit and lower resolution 8-bit screen modes, although due to the limited colour range available in 8-bit modes, some colours will not look very good with this technique. 'Fast' transparency uses a dithering effect to avoid the time-consuming colour conversions used by the 'True' method. 'Fast' transparency is recommended for high resolution modes, particularly 8-bit modes. Network games: You must have the Actua Tennis CD in your CD-ROM drive in order to host a network game. To join a network game as a client, you do not need a CD, but you must have installed at least the Medium Install option. Replays and commentary are disabled in network games. The options for Intervals, Ball Boys, and Super Shots are also switched OFF in network games. Game 'locks up' or 'stalls' waiting for commentary, or commentary 'loops': You may experience a delay before hearing commentary after a rally. The players will not move for a second or two i.e. the display will not change, and then the players will suddenly seem to 'jump' or move rapidly forward as the display 'catches up' with the game clock after the delay. Part of the commentary may then be heard to stutter, or get stuck in a loop. This delay occurs because the game is loading commentary from the CD, and is particularly noticeable when using modern high-speed drives, which may take several seconds to speed up before reading data. Choose one of the following solutions... o Re-install Tennis using the maximum installation option. Commentary will then be played from the hard disk drive, without the delay. o Obtain the latest 32-bit multi-threaded driver for your make and model of CD-ROM drive. Consult the documentation that came with your PC or CD-ROM drive to obtain the exact model, and the address or website of the manufacturer. o Open the windows 95 Control Panel and select System. Under Performance, select File System and then CD-ROM. Experiment with different settings of the "Optimize access pattern" option. This may remedy the problem. o Disable commentary in the Audio Options screen. If none of these solutions is possible or desirable, do not panic! The game will not suffer as a result of this delay, and it will not affect your chances of winning the match in any way. Mouse pointer moves slowly in menus: You may find that the mouse pointer moves slowly or jerks across the screen, particularly if your machine has a slower CPU, slow hard disk, or not much RAM. Run the Windows 95 'Disk Defragmenter' program to speed up your hard disk's access. If this does not solve the problem, switch menu music off in the Audio Options screen. Game Options: An Auto Replay will only be shown if the Commentator A.I. requests one, therefore if Commentary is turned OFF, no Auto Replays will be shown. 4. Compatibility Notes ---------------------- 3Dfx & D3D: There is a conflict between the 3Dfx/Glide and D3D drivers, and 3Dfx Interactive recommend that you RESET YOUR MACHINE if you wish to change between the two. You should find that the performance of the 3Dfx/Glide driver is better than that of the D3D driver. Matrox Millenium II video card: You may experience slowdown or distortion of the menu music in conjunction with this video card. If you have, or can download from Matrox, driver version 3.68, then you can switch off the PCI RETRIES option in the driver control panel. You may be unable to play the game in D3D mode using this video card. The loading screen will be replaced by a black screen, which will persist until you reset your machine. You must switch off the BUS MASTERING option in the driver control panel. Hercules Stingray 128 video card: You may experience difficulty with this video card in running the game in high resolution modes. Due to the driver incorrectly reporting the available video memory, some high resolution modes will be listed as available, but will not be supported by the card. If this is the case, you will most likely see a black screen or a frozen image on entering the game, and pressing Escape will exit the program and return you to the Windows desktop. Setting the Transparency option to 'True' will prevent this problem occuring. In addition, you may find that the game will not display all of the screen if you select a resolution higher than your Windows desktop resolution. You may not be able to see all of your player, and/or the right hand side of the court, if this is the case. If you wish to run the game in a high resolution, first ensure that you enlarge your Windows desktop to at least the same resolution that you wish to play the game in. All 3D accelerators - 'glitches' on court surface and tennis players: If your video card comes with a resident driver or configuration tool (normally visible as a small icon next to the system clock on your taskbar) or a Control Panel extension (an icon in the Control Panel with the name of your 3D accelerator card) then you should check whether there is an option, switch, or checkbox labelled MIP-MAPPING. If there is one, then for best results with Actua Tennis, you should switch it OFF or select "0 levels" of detail. Visit our website at: www.gremlin.co.uk Email comments to: webmaster@gremlin.co.uk Copyright (c) 1998 Gremlin Interactive Ltd. All rights reserved. All trademarks acknowledged.