===APPENDIX B: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS===================================== This appendix will answer many of your questions about 3-D Dinosaur Adventure and help you solve problems you may have. If you do not find the answer to your question here you can call Knowledge Adventure, Inc. at (818) 249-0212, or write down your question and fax it to us at (818) 542-4205. Before calling Knowledge Adventure, please be seated at your computer with the DOS prompt on the screen. You can also read commonly asked technical questions and answers, among other things, on the Knowledge Adventure Bulletin Board System. The BBS is available to you 24 hours a day at (818) 248-0166 (N, 8, 1), 1200 to 14,400 baud. ABOUT INSTALLATION My disk compression program indicates that I have enough disk space, but 3-D Dinosaur Adventure will not install completely. Why not? Programs such as Stacker(r) that compress your files on the hard disk may indicate that you have enough disk space to install 3-D Dinosaur Adventure completely when you really do not. These programs report on your disk space based on how much they are usually able to compress your files. The files that 3-D Dinosaur Adventure copies to your hard disk are already compressed and your disk compression program will not be able to compress them further to give you more space. Try to move or remove any files you don't need in order to make room for 3-D Dinosaur Adventure, then start the Install program from the beginning. ABOUT STARTUP 3-D Dinosaur Adventure won't start or it freezes on the first screen. What's wrong? You may have incorrect sound and music drivers installed. Use the SETUP.EXE program supplied with the software to change this configuration. First, change to the DINO3D directory on your hard drive, then type SETUP and press to run the program. Choose the correct sound device from the list offered. If the problem persists, see "About sound and sound devices." If you have correctly installed your sound device, edit the KA.CNF file in the DINO3D directory on your hard drive so that ExtraMemory is set to None. See "About program defaults" for more information about the KA.CNF file. Also try unloading any TSR programs and reboot your computer from a DOS system disk. ABOUT MICE I can use the keyboard with 3-D Dinosaur Adventure, but my mouse doesn't work. What should I do? If you find that the cursor does not respond when you move the mouse, type CD\DINO3D and press at the DOS prompt from your hard drive. Then type MOUSE and press . Restart 3-D Dinosaur Adventure and try your mouse again. If this solves the problem, you can modify the mouse commands in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS file to use the mouse driver supplied with 3-D Dinosaur Adventure instead of the one currently being used by your system. If you are a Windows user, try exiting Windows first (using File Exit). Then, to start 3-D Dinosaur Adventure from the DOS prompt, change to the DINO3D directory, and then type DINO3D and press . If you have a Mouse Systems(r) mouse or trackball, or a Mouse Systems-compatible mouse, you may experience the hand pointer jumping to the bottom left corner of the screen. If so, you are using a version of the Mouse Systems mouse driver that is not compatible with the Microsoft mouse standard. Please try the mouse driver that we have provided by following the instructions above, and the mouse should then work perfectly. ABOUT SOUND AND SOUND DEVICES When I try to run 3-D Dinosaur Adventure, I don't hear any music and I get the message, "Warning: Couldn't initialize music driver; Music output disabled." What's wrong? You may have configured 3-D Dinosaur Adventure for the WaveBlaster rather than the Sound Blaster 16. Run the SETUP.EXE program described under "About startup." If the problem persists after you have followed the instructions above, your SoundBlaster's I/O address has probably been reconfigured. In order for 3-D Dinosaur Adventure to find your card, you must specify the correct I/O address in the KA.CNF file. See MusicDevParams under "About program defaults" for more information about changing the KA.CNF file. To change the address with the SETUP program, run SETUP.EXE and select the correct sound device from the list offered. After the program runs the sound and music tests, use the arrow keys to select Change Sound Settings. You will be prompted to select the I/O address, the IRQ vector, and the DMA channel that match your sound device. After selecting the DMA channel, you will be returned to the Sound Test screen, and may test those settings with the options Play Digitized Sound Test and Play Music Test. Once you are satisfied that both music and sound are working, select Save Sound Setting and Exit; your new configuration will be saved to the KA.CNF file. If, after selecting new settings, you are still not hearing music during the music test, and you have checked your sound card's correct address, it's likely that your sound card and another device (such as a CD-ROM drive or scanner) may be sharing the same I/O address. Such a conflict may cause either 3-D Dinosaur Adventure or the SETUP program to halt. Write down the current configuration of all of the device cards in your computer. Try changing some of the settings (jumpers or dip switches) to various configurations until all of your programs work correctly. If you wish, you can pull the peripheral cards out of your computer and test just your sound card with 3-D Dinosaur Adventure. Add cards one by one until you find the problem. When I try to run 3-D Dinosaur Adventure, I don't get sound other than music and I get the message, "Warning: Couldn't initialize sound driver; Sound output disabled." What's wrong? Follow the advice given for the previous question, but also check and correct the IRQ Vector and DMA Channel for your sound device. See SoundDevParams under "About program defaults." Nothing happens when I click on parts of the screen that are supposed to play sounds. What's wrong? The problem may be that you do not have enough RAM for certain sounds to load and play. Try unloading memory-resident programs or device drivers in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files to free sufficient memory to play those sounds. If the sound is not working, make sure 3-D Dinosaur Adventure is configured correctly for your SoundBlaster 16. To see the program's current configuration, type TYPE KA.CNF from the DINO3D directory on your hard drive and press . To edit the configuration file in Windows, click on the 3-D Dino Config icon. To change the configuration, run the SETUP.EXE program described under "About startup." Run the test program supplied with your SoundBlaster 16 sound card to make sure it is working. Make sure that your volume control dial is turned up, and that your speakers have power if they are externally powered. If it is still not working, you may need to reconfigure your SoundBlaster's jumper board settings to another I/O address, or the software settings for the IRQ vector and DMA channel. If you've changed any of the settings on your sound card since installing 3-D Dinosaur Adventure, you must let the program know these new settings. See MusicDevParams and SoundDevParams under "About program defaults." I purchased the WaveBlaster after installing 3-D Dinosaur Adventure. How do I get the software to recognize my new piece of hardware? Type SETUP at the DOS prompt from the 3-D Dinosaur Adventure directory on your hard drive and press . Then select WaveBlaster from the menu and 3-D Dinosaur Adventure will be reconfigured to work with your General MIDI daughter board. ABOUT HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY Can I use 3-D Dinosaur Adventure on an EGA or laptop display? 3-D Dinosaur Adventure won't run on some laptops because it uses a special high-resolution VGA mode. It will not work on an EGA monitor, or on the internal-plasma or LCD monitors on laptop PCs. Most laptops, however, have a connector for an external monitor, and 3-D Dinosaur Adventure will work fine with your laptop hooked to an external color VGA monitor with the internal LCD monitor disabled. ABOUT SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY I have trouble running 3-D Dinosaur Adventure after using certain memory-resident programs. What should I do? 3-D Dinosaur Adventure requires approximately 520 kilobytes of RAM in order to run. Even when there is adequate total RAM to run the program, there may be conflicts with other programs occupying memory. If you experience difficulty in running 3-D Dinosaur Adventure under these circumstances, please remove other programs from memory before starting 3-D Dinosaur Adventure. ABOUT PROGRAM DEFAULTS Is there a way to change certain defaults in 3-D Dinosaur Adventure? Yes. You can change the default configurations by using a text editor (e.g., the DOS text editor if you are using DOS version 5 or later) to alter the KA.CNF file in your DINO3D directory on your hard drive, or by clicking on the 3-D Dinosaur Adventure Config icon if you are running 3-D Dinosaur Adventure under Windows. The case of letters and spacing between words do not matter. SoundDevice: Type SOUNDBLASTER 16 here. This setting can also be easily changed by running the SETUP.EXE program described under "About startup" and under "About sound and sound devices." AutoMovie: Type ON or OFF to make movies in the Reference section play automatically or only when you click on the Audio/Video button. Printing: Type DETECT, YES, or NO to indicate whether you want the program to automatically detect if your printer is hooked up, or to assume that it is on or off. PrinterPort: Type LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3 to indicate which printer port your printer is hooked up to. MusicVolume: Type a value from 50 to 80; the lower the number, the softer the music volume while digitized sounds are playing. This setting does not change the overall music volume; music volume is altered only while digitized sounds are being played. MouseSensitivity: Type a value from 10 to 100; the lower the number, the less sensitive your mouse is to your movements. Lower numbers make it easier for younger children to handle the mouse. Music: Type ON or OFF to turn the musical accompaniment on or off. DigitizedSound: Type ON or OFF to turn the digitized sound on or off. ExtraMemory: Type AUTOMATIC, XMS, EMS, or NONE to indicate whether you want the program to detect extra memory and use it automatically or to use only extended, only expanded, or no extra memory. MusicType: Type ADL if you have an Adlib-compatible sound device, or RLD if you have a Roland-compatible sound device like the WaveBlaster General MIDI daughter board. CDDRIVE: Indicate the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive. HDDRIVE: Indicate the drive letter of your hard drive. CDROOT: Indicate the path of the CD-ROM directory containing your 3-D Dinosaur Adventure files. HDROOT: Indicate the path of the hard drive directory containing your 3-D Dinosaur Adventure files. MusicDevParams: 3-D Dinosaur Adventure will look for your sound card at the address set in the factory. You need not change these default parameters unless you have changed the factory settings (switches, jumpers) on your sound card. Type an I/O address for your MIDI audio device (e.g., A240). See the documentation that came with your SoundBlaster. The WaveBlaster uses a different I/O address than the SoundBlaster 16, and this parameter should reflect this. This setting can also be easily changed by running the SETUP.EXE program described under "About startup" and under "About sound and sound devices." SoundDevParams: 3-D Dinosaur Adventure will look for your sound card at the address set in the factory. You need not change these default parameters unless you have changed the factory settings (switches, jumpers) on your sound card. Type an I/O Address, IRQ Vector, and DMA Channel for your digitized sound audio device (e.g., A220 I7 D3). See the documentation that came with your SoundBlaster. This setting can also be easily changed by running the SETUP.EXE program described under "About startup" and under "About sound and sound devices." ABOUT OTHER TOPICS How can I print the graphic images? NOTE: Images in this product may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. To print images, use the VGA Screen Capture Program (VGACAPT.EXE) supplied with 3-D Dinosaur Adventure. First make sure that you have at least 530KB of lower RAM available. Unload any unnecessary TSR programs. To see how much memory is available, type CHKDSK and press . Then, to start Dinosaur Adventure 3-D (where your hard drive is C), type: C: and press CD\DINO3D and press DINO3D -V and press You can then capture a graphic by pressing to create a bit-mapped file called SCREEN0.BMP. (Make sure that you turn off any sound or music that is playing before you press .) Press again to create SCREEN1.BMP, and so on. These bit-mapped files can be retrieved and printed from within many graphics programs. Due to the video modes employed, the Screen Capture Program will not work within the Movie Theatre, the 3-D Dinosaur Museum, the Theme Park, or the Save the Dinosaurs Game. ---------- What can I do about video problems like stripes on the screen? You may need to move some DIP switches on your video card. For example, if you see horizontal stripes on the screen while using Headland Technology's Video-7(r) VRAM card to display VGA graphics, move DIP switch number 8 to the position opposite the one that it is currently in. This will enable IBM nonstandard video modes to display correctly without affecting the operation of your other software. This problem can also occur if the BIOS on your video card is not current.