PC Format Collection 11

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Text File | 1995-01-09 | 17.3 KB | 422 lines

Most Common Problems Wing Commander III : Heart of the Tiger Compiled by : Anthony L. Sommers Assistant Project Leader Wing Commander III QA Team Jeremy Mappus Todd Wachhaus Wing Commander III QA Team ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Famous Wing Commander III Dots! Problem Lockups before the intro (after several "dots") The "dots" signify the progress of the initialization phases of the game. Here are some things to check : 1) Set up a boot disk according to the instructions in the install guide. 2) VESA driver is current and up to date. Try "UNIVBE", or playing in VGA with "WC3 -V". 3) You have a 100% compatible mouse driver. Attempt to REM out your mouse line and see if the problems persist. 4) You have a clean hard disk with at least 25MB of free space. 5) Check sound card settings and compatibility. 6) Make sure your CPU is 100% Intel compatible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem Error : A processor exception has occurred. Your system may be unstable at this point. Hardware : SB16 Mitsumi CD-ROM model FX001/FX001D CONFIG.SYS : DEVICE=C:\<path>\MTMCDAE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:340 /A:0 WHY this happens : The MTMCDAE.SYS pulls the DMA and IRQ off the sound card for data transfer. The card, when bought, has the jumpers off (for the DMA and IRQ). If these are not set, then the ERROR will occur. Also, if the DMA and IRQ are conflicting with something in their computer, the ERROR will also occur. The Mitsumi CD-ROMs are the ONLY ones that use the DMA and IRQ on the SB16 sound card. HOW to solve : Use the MTMCDAS.SYS driver found in the same directory. This driver transfers data by software polling. Although it uses more CPU time, it does not require an interrupt or DMA channel. If this driver is not in the directory, look on the disks that came with the CD-ROM. As an alternate solution, you may try /T:S on the MTMCDAE.SYS line. Use this if the customer does not have MTMCDAS.SYS on his/her hard drive. Mitsumi BBS 408-970-0761 Sales 516-752-7730 Tech Support 408-970-9699/9730 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem Random lockups/exceptions for NO reason Hardware : CYRIX 486 (SLC, DLC, SRX2, DRX2) These have been found to be incompatible with the game. They cause random lockups and Exception 13s. The AMD microprocessors seem to function adequately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem LONG load times HOW to solve : The following are suggestions to help alleviate long load times : 1) Check to see if you are using disk compression. If so, there may not be anything else that can be done. (Of course, suggestions 2-6 may be attempted...) 2) CHKDSK and/or SCANDISK to check for hard disk file damage. DELTREE C:\WC3 and the save game directory (if it is different) if any damage is found. 3) DEFRAG or SPEEDISK completely before re-installing Wing III. Do a full optimize for the savegame drive. For example : DEFRAG C: /F or SPEEDISK C: /F 4) If enough disk space is available, try copying all 42 MB to the HD. Try lower settings if less disk space is available. 5) If you have enough memory, you may try to squeeze in a 100K SMARTDrive cache. After SMARTDRV.EXE, specify the savegame drive letter. It is DEFINITELY NOT HELPFUL to have an amount lower than 100K, this will increase load times. For example : C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE C 100 6) If SMARTDRV.EXE will not load, try using BUFFERS=99 in CONFIG.SYS. Each buffer uses 532 bytes of conventional memory, so this will use approximately 50K. *7) More RAM will definitely shorten load times ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem Movies "streak", or are of poor quality If "streaks" are seen, either your gamma correction or monitor brightness is TOO high. Adjust the brightness of your monitor and/or gamma correction so that "Origin Presents" and "A Chris Roberts Game" fades to complete darkness. This should lessen the "streak"ing effect. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem malloc () failed This error may occur if you MANUALLY flew toward the way point. ALL (not most, not some, ALL) nav points should allow you to auto-pilot to the next nav allowing you to complete the nav area task. This may involve killing fighters, linking with transports, mining jump buoys, etc. For example : If the you must escort transports, the you MUST auto-pilot link with the transport by flying within 1000 units of the transport to establish the link. The auto-pilot light will then light up, and auto-piloting is possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem No descriptions in gameflow A 100% Microsoft compatible mouse driver must be installed in order to get gameflow descriptions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem No Flightstick Pro or Thrustmaster documentation There is no mention how the Flightstick Pro or Thrustmaster FCS Mark I is supported in the documentation for the game. They are supported as follows : Flightstick Pro Coolie Hat UP F1 (Forward View, Toggle Cockpit On/Off) Coolie Hat LEFT F2 (Left View, Pan Left -it DOES pan) Coolie Hat RIGHT F3 (Right View, Pan Right -it DOES pan) Coolie Hat DOWN F4 (Rear/Turret View) Trigger FIRE Guns Left TOP Button Joystick Button 2 Middle TOP Button "Y" - Lock target and Match Speed Right TOP Button Fire Missiles Thrustmaster (w/o the programmable Mark II) Coolie Hat NOT SUPPORTED Trigger FIRE Guns TOP Thumb Button Joystick Button 2 BOTTOM Thumb Button Fire Missiles Pinky Button "Y" - Lock target and Match Speed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem WING3.ADV compiler errors HOW to solve : Edit the WING3.ADV file and remove the ( and ) (open and close parentheses) from the lines w/ LALT and LCTL. Recompile, and it should work fine. REM WING COMMANDER THREE by ORIGIN SYSTEMS REM Written and Tested November 1994 REM ************************************************************************ REM Base Switch Settings REM Black Hat switch = Digital REM Red Switch = Digital REM Game Settings: Regular Joystick if FCS is plugged into WCS REM GAME 1 70 REM DIGITAL CONTINUOUS 70 MS Delay BTN UB ENT REM WEAPON FIRE BTN MB TAB REM AFTERBURNERS BTN LB Y REM TARGET AND MATCH SPEED BTN HU F1 REM FRONT VIEW/COCKPIT TOGGLE BTN HR F3 REM RIGHT VIEW BTN HD F2 REM REAR VIEW BTN HL F4 REM LEFT VIEW BTN 1 /U S REM SHIELDS VDU /M G REM TOGGLE GUNS /D (LALT W) REM "WHAT'S YOUR STATUS" <- This line here BTN 2 /U D REM DAMAGE VDU /M M REM CONFIGURE MISSLE /D (LALT A) REM "ATTACK MY TARGET" <- This line here BTN 3 /U P REM POWER VDU /M L REM LOCK TARGET /D (LALT B) REM "BREAK AND ATTACK" <- This line here BTN 4 /U ] REM INCREASE CURRENT POWER SYSTEM 5% /M T REM NEXT TARGET /D (LALT T) REM RANDOM TAUNT <- This line here BTN 5 /U [ REM DECREASE CURRENT POWER SYSTEM 5% /M a REM AUTOPILOT /D W REM FULL MISSLES BTN 6 /U (LCTL ]) REM TOGGLE LOCK CURRENT SYSTEM <- This line /M E REM DROP DECOY /D F REM FULL GUNS RKR UP | REM NULL FUNCTION RKR DN | REM NULL FUNCTION THR 30 1 = - \ \ \ \ REM THROTTLE CHARACTERS BTN MT /P /N BSP /R = REM THROTTLE CONTROL FROM IDLE TO OFF ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem Crackling sounds from sound card in SVGA Hardware : Cirrus Logic GD-542x Orchid Kelvin 64 WHAT happens : In SVGA, you hear crackling/static/popping sounds from the sound card. HOW to solve : The following are possible suggestions : 1) If the you have the Cirrus Logic GD-542x video card, you may download 542XVGA.EXE from the Cirrus Logic BBS. It upgrades the video BIOS from 1.2 to 1.41. Cirrus Logic BBS 510-440-9080 General 510-623-8300 2) If you have the Orchid Kelvin 64 there is currently no solution for this problem. Orchid Technology BBS 510-683-0327 General 510-683-0300 Sales 800-767-2443 Tech Support 510-683-0323 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem Reboots when (R)eplaying/switching disks Hardware : BUSLogic 542S SCSI Host Adapter HOW to solve : You will need to use EMM386.EXE and exclude DC00-DFFF. The address range is used by the host adapter and may conflict with Wing III. You must consult your documentation for specific information on which range to exclude. For example : DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM X=DC00-DFFF BusLogic BBS 408-492-1984 Tech Support FAX 408-492-1542 Tech Support 408-492-9090 Tech Support 408-988-7338 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem Exception 13 (or reboot) when switching disks Hardware : PAS 16 A SCSI CD-ROM Drive connected to the PAS 16 CONFIG.SYS : DEVICE=C:\<path>\TSLCDR.SYS /D:MVCD001 /R HOW to solve : 1) Some video cards reboot if in SVGA when this occurs. We are currently researching this, but a solution at this time is to go into the Options menu and make sure "Frame Rate Switch" is off, and the video mode is set to VGA. If you want to play in SVGA, you can manually switch to SVGA with ALT-3 or ALT-4. 2) You will need to download 316.EXE or 318S-MV.EXE from the MediaVision BBS to upgrade TSLCDR.SYS to version 3.16 or 3.18. 316.EXE should be sufficient. 318S-MV.EXE is only needed if you have a Sony 55S or a Sanyo 94S CD-ROM drive. 316.EXE contains : MSCDEX EXE 25,377 02-12-93 6:00a README DOC 1,344 10-04-93 4:04p TSLCDR SYS 35,201 04-26-94 3:36p 318S-MV.EXE contains : MSCDEX EXE 25,377 02-12-93 6:00a TSLCDR SYS 35,425 11-11-94 10:53a README DOC 1,372 12-06-94 4:50p NOTE : MSCDEX.EXE included in this executable is version 2.21. Version 2.23 is a requirement for the game. If you do not already have Version 2.23 (it is shipped w/ DOS 6.2 and up), you will need to contact Microsoft for the latest version. Media Vision BBS 510-770-0968 14400bps BBS 510-770-0527 General 800-684-6699 Tech Support 800-638-2807 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem CVMManager::GetPtr () Requested: 397984, Available: 379932 Hardware : Generally 8MB machines CONFIG.SYS : DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE 7168 RAM DEVICE=C:\<CD-ROM Driver> /M:<Large number> AUTOEXEC.BAT : C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE <Large number> C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /E /M:<Large number> Why this occurs : You will find this error code on mission J003 on disc 3. Basically, you have just barely enough extended memory to run the game, but not enough to load the mission data. HOW to solve : You will have to load all drivers possible into conventional, and try not to use as little extended memory as possible. 1) REM out EMM386.EXE and DOS=UMB. This will load all drivers into conventional memory, freeing upper memory. 2) On the CD-ROM driver line in the CONFIG.SYS, remove the switch or lower the amount of CD-ROM buffers allocated (if this is what the /M switch for that particular driver does). 3) REM out SMARTDRV.EXE from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 4) Remove the /E switch from the MSCDEX.EXE line and lower the buffers from the number specified after the /M: to 5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Problem Write failed on file SWAPFILE.$$$ Hardware : Badly fragmented hard drives Try : 1) Make sure you have enough free space on the drive you're trying to run the game on. You should have at least 25MB of uncompressed space. If the hard drive is compressed, the size should move up to 50MB. 2) Make sure there are NO lost allocation units, cross- linked/truncated files, bad sectors, etc. Use SCANDISK or CHKDSK to check for the presence of file damage and repair accordingly. 2) DEFRAG completely with "DEFRAG C: /F" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Miscellaneous Notes 1) Media Magic 16 sound cards (MAGICS20 and ISP16) work great with the game, but in the installation program, should be set as Sound Blaster Pro. Sound Blaster/Compatibles will cause lockups. The following lines will appear in AUTOEXEC.BAT if the customer has any of these cards : AUTOEXEC.BAT : SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 SET SOUND16=C:\MAGICS20 C:\MAGICS20\SNDINIT /B AUTOEXEC.BAT : SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 SET ISP16=C:\ISP16 C:\ISP16\ISPINIT /B 2) It is very important that 100% Microsoft-compatible mouse drivers are used. It has been noted that non-100% Microsoft-compatible mouse drivers will cause lockup during game initialization or during the movies. 3) The Media Clips MAD 16 sound card has been found to be incompatible with the game. It will not work with any options other than FM Music (no sound works fine). You can recognize a MAD 16 by spotting the following lines in the configuration files : CONFIG.SYS : DEVICE=C:\MAD16\CDSETUP.SYS /T:S /P:340 /I:5 AUTOEXEC.BAT : SET MAD16=C:\MAD16 SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 4) The HERCULES Graphite video card will not work with our game unless the following line is used before running the game : C:\HERCULES\VESA C:\HERCULES\HG_OLD1.CRT 5) If CPU Speed is rating slower than normal, make sure that both internal and external CPU caches are enabled. Also, check to see that the turbo button is on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- END OF FILE --