PC/CD Gamer UK 1/PCGAMER01.bin/patch/op/read.me

Text File | 1994-07-15 | 19KB | 444 lines

OUTPOST: The Read Me File 1.1
*************************
We'd like to thank you for purchasing this marvelous game.
You're a fine human being.

This document and the other text files included with OUTPOST
contain a tutorial, helpful gameplay hints, performance improvement
notes, technical notes, and game changes/updates.

***********************************************
HELPFUL HINTS
*************

The TUTORIAL.TXT file and the OUTHINT.TXT file included in the
OUTPOST directory contain additional information that is not
included in the manual.  The additional information consists of:

    *Quick Start Tutorial
    *Helpful Hints

and additional technical information.  In addition, the saved
game starter colony, TUTOR.OPS, which was built using the
methods in the tutorial, is included.  You can also use the
TUTOR.OPS file as an Easy level starter game by selecting the
Load Game option from the game's control panel.

The Quick Start Tutorial and the Helpful Hints are particularly useful
for the first time OUTPOST player.  They provide assistance for the
new player to develop a better understanding of the dynamics of the
interdependent activities of building a colony.

 BEGINNER LEVEL:

This version of the game incorporates a new difficulty level setting
for OUTPOST players.  If you'd like to try it, select BEGINNER
when the game asks you which difficulty level you require.  On the
Beginner level, you have no mined resource restrictions, allowing
you to learn how to construct your colony, control morale, use
power, and manipulate your population without limitations on new
construction.  Your colonists will still die due to accidents and
old age, and they will still require food to eat and air to breathe,
but they won't be dying due to a lack of mined resources.

 SAVE GAMES:

Games can only be saved from the main game screen where you see
the diamond-shaped map.  If you encounter a problem saving a
game, try running another turn before you select the Save Game
option.  This will complete the internal processing steps required to
save a particular state of the game.

 SITE MAP COLOR MARKERS:

Colored markers identify locations on the site map.  Red diamonds
mark potential mines, white diamonds mark depleted mines, light
blue dots mark your colonies, and a dark blue triangle marks the
rebel colony location.  If you don't have an Orbital Observer satellite,
the rebel colony will remain invisible on your site map unless it
becomes abandoned, in which case the marker will change into a
light blue dot.

 ELEVATION MAP COLORS:

The main thing to remember about the false color elevation map is
that black areas represent clear terrain.  You can reach the elevation
map if you right click on the site map, then select the Tools and
Elevation Map options.  The best area to start your colony is black
with a red diamond (mine marker) nearby.

 DEFECTION LEVELS:

Defections will occur when morale in a colony drops below 200 for
an extended period of time.  Your colonists will defect to the rebel
colony at an increasing rate for every turn in which morale is below
200.  If morale hits zero, the colony will empty out quickly.

The reverse of this is also true.  If your colony's morale rises above
800 for a prolonged period, rebel colonists will defect to your colony.
The rate of immigration will increase as your morale gets closer to
1,000.  This increased population load means that the immigrants
will have to be housed and fed, just like your regular colonists;
otherwise morale will start dropping.

Defections can also result in a "ghost town" ending for your colony,
as well as the ability to assume ownership of the abandoned rebel
colony.  Both possibilities are described below.

 GHOST TOWN ENDING:

If your colony is completely abandoned due to colonist defections,
you will find that your colony is suddenly inactive and you are unable
to get reports by clicking on your structures.  An AI message will
inform you that your colony is abandoned.  At this point, you still
have access to the AI interface News Briefs, which will give you the
final news reports from your colony.

 ACTIVATING AN ABANDONED REBEL COLONY:

When the rebel colony has been abandoned, the dark blue triangle
changes into a light blue dot, just like the one that marks your home
colony.  You can assume ownership of the rebel colony by left
clicking on the site map where the rebel colony is located, then left
clicking on the rebel Command Center. You will then be able to see
the rebel colony executive report.  When there are multiple colonies
available, clicking on any Command Center makes that the active
colony.  Until another colony's Command Center is selected, all
reports you see will only relate to the active colony.

When you assume the operation of a rebel colony, you will have the
capability of bulldozing their structures and rebuilding the colony, or
starting to build new structures right away using normal building
methods.

A right click on any friendly Command Center will bring up the
"Move Colonists" interface.  This friendly little box asks for the
number of colonists you'd like to move, which colony you'd like to
move them from, and which colony you'd like to move them to.
After you fill in your responses, run a turn to move that portion of
your population.

 GETTING SHAFTED

If you're having trouble digging deeper mine shafts or air shafts,
keep this in mind:

1.  To extend a mine shaft to a deeper level on planets where this is
     possible, place a robominer directly on an existing underground
     mine shaft.
2.  To extend an air shaft to a deeper level on planets where this is
     possible, place a robodigger directly on an existing underground
     air shaft.

 WHEN ROBODIGGERS DIG

On the surface of the planet, a robodigger can only dig a new level
when it starts next to a surface tube connecting it to its home
colony.  Because the robodigger constructs the air shaft for the
underground levels, the tube connection is required to carry air and
power to underground structures.

 EXPLODING ROBODIGGERS

If you find that you've built your colony in an area surrounded by
impassable terrain, don't give up hope.  Place a robodigger on the
impassable location of your choice and set it to "Self-Destruct".  As
if by magic, the robodigger will destroy itself and leave clear terrain
in its place two turns later.  Underground, the contained explosion of
the robodigger will also destroy any structures on the eight tiles
immediately surrounding it.

 PLAYING THE OUTPOST SOUNDTRACK ON YOUR
 CD PLAYER:

The orchestrated OUTPOST soundtrack is the classic "Mars, the
Bringer of War" movement from the Gustav Holst symphony, "The
Planets."  You can listen to this dramatic soundtrack by inserting the
CD into any handy CD player, or by using the Windows Media Player
on the CD-AUDIO setting to play it from your CD-ROM drive.  Skip to
Track 2 and play the theme.
(The score to "The Planets" is copyright G. Schirmer, Inc.)

***********************************************

IMPROVING GAME PERFORMANCE


PREFERENCES FOR SPEED:

To improve the performance of OUTPOST on slower machines,
choose the "Preferences" button on the control panel that starts the
game, or right click on any area outside the tile map diamond when
you're playing the game.  Select Control, then Preferences.  Click on
the boxes for each option you wish to de-select.  If the box has no
"X" in it, the option is turned off.  Press the OK button to return to
the normal game screen.  To be sure the change in options has the
desired effect, save your game, exit, and restore the game.

If you're looking for a hardware solution, the animated sequences
will run best on CD-ROM drives that are double-speed or faster.
Increasing your amount of system RAM to 8 Megabytes or better will
also improve game performance.

We also recommend that you run OUTPOST using a Swap File under
Windows.  In order to do this, you need to launch Windows in
Enhanced mode.  For more information about creating a swap file
and launching Windows in Enhanced mode, consult your Windows
documentation.  If you continue to run into problems, a good
troubleshooting technique is to increase the size of your swap file.

SOUND CARD OPTIONS:

OUTPOST supports Windows-compatible sound cards.  During the
install process, you are asked if you have certain sound cards
installed on your system because they require modified music files to
play correctly.  If you responded with the "I have no idea" option,
and you have since learned that you have a Roland MT-32, CM-32,
or LAPC-1 sound card, re-install the game and select that option to
improve the quality of the OUTPOST music.
***********************************************

MICRO SOLUTIONS TO MACRO PROBLEMS

Problem:  After installing OUTPOST, I double-click on the game
icon but all I see is a black screen.

Solution:  Use the ALT-TAB function to find the Midi Sequencer
window.  Make sure the "Don't display this warning in future" box is
checked and then select "OK." Make sure to restart Windows so the
changes can take effect.

Problem:  The animated sequences are all distorted when I run in
32,000 or 16 million color modes.

Solution:  Some video cards may experience graphics distortion if run
in high color mode.  Selecting a 256 color driver will remedy this
problem.

Problem: "Some of the text within the dialog boxes or buttons
appear to be cut out. How do I solve this problem?"

Solution: Make sure you are selecting a video driver that uses small
fonts. Windows video drivers that have a Large Font option will
display incomplete text message within OUTPOST dialog boxes.  For
information about changing your video driver, consult your Video
Card or Windows documentation.

Problem: "Some of the text within the dialog boxes or buttons
appear to be cut out. How do I solve this problem?"

Solution: Make sure you are selecting a video driver that uses small
fonts. Windows video drivers that have a Large Font option will
display incompletetext message within OUTPOST dialog boxes.  For
information about changing your video driver, consult your Video
Card or Windows documentation.
***********************************************

MORE TECHNICAL NOTES FOR WINDOWS CD-ROM USERS:

WINDOWS USERS:

We highly recommend that you disable your screen savers while
playing OUTPOST.  If you are in the middle of game play and your
screen saver kicks in, you may experience audio break-ups and/or
video break-ups.  You will also want to disable any audio
enhancement utilities such as Whoop-it-up, Icon hear-it, etc...as they
may cause audio problems during simulation play.

AUDIO BREAK-UP QUESTIONS:

If you experience audio cutouts during the game you may need to
alter the audio buffer size of the MSCDEX driver located in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  You can do this by adjusting the
/m:AUDIOSIZE parameter.  We recommend that this value be set to
at least 10.  If you experience slow movement or audio cutouts
consistently, you may wish to lower the size of this buffer.  For more
tips, please refer to the "OTHER NOTES" section.

GENERAL QUESTIONS:

Q:  "I have never installed a Sierra game through Windows.
What do I do?"

A:  To install OUTPOST through Windows, you need to do the
following:

1)  Enter Windows.
2)  From the FILE menu, select RUN.
3)  Type d:\setup (or whatever your CD drive letter is) and click on
the OKAY button.
4)  Follow the prompts.
This will allow you to play the game through Windows.  It will create
an OUTPOST program group.

Q: "What resolutions does the game run in?"

A: OUTPOST will support most Window video drivers but requires a
640x480 256 color driver or better.

Q: "I've got an SVGA video card, but OUTPOST does not appear to
be running in 256 colors?"

A: You may not be running in 256 color display mode.  Check this by
going to the MAIN program group and double-click on the Windows
Setup icon to see your current display mode.  "VGA" indicates that
you're running in 640 x 480 in 16 color.  To run in SVGA's 256
color mode, the SVGA display driver would need to be loaded.
These SVGA drivers are provided by the video card company rather
than by Microsoft. Most 256 color video drivers do not come
standard with Windows, so you may need to contact your hardware
or your video card manufacturer to obtain the specific drivers for
your video card.  If you're unfamiliar with installing these drivers,
consult your video card manual or your dealer for more information.

Q: "What's the difference between BASE and EXTENDED sound
cards?"

A: The basic difference between the two is with the number of
instruments and notes that each can play.  Examples of sound cards
that often run in BASE MIDI mode include the original Sound Blaster,
Thunderboard, and Pro Audio Spectrum cards.  BASE level MIDI
cards are configured to use channels 13 through 16 in the MIDI
Mapper.

Examples of EXTENDED MIDI devices include the Roland MT-32,
CM-32, LAPC-I, and various General MIDI devices such as the
Roland Sound Canvas and the Wave Blaster.  Many of the newer FM
sound cards such as the Soundblaster 16 and the Pro Audio
Spectrum 16 may also use a special Extended MIDI mapper setting
which enables them to play in extended MIDI mode.  EXTENDED
level MIDI cards are configured to use channels 1 through 10 in the
MIDI Mapper.  If you have an FM Synthesis card, choosing
EXTENDED MIDI might not dramatically improve the music you hear
within the game.

Q: "The music is fine but the audio and/or voice volume is low, or
vice-versa.  What can I do?"

A: Many sound cards also come with Windows mixer software that
can adjust the SYNTHESIZER and DAC volume levels separately.  Try
running this utility and adjusting the input levels of the various
devices.

Q: "The music is fine, but the voices hesitate or skip.  What can I
do?"

A: Basically, the audio will hesitate or skip if played during an
animated sequence. Waiting for the audio to finish before running the
animated sequence, or vice-versa, will normally remedy this problem.

Q: "I've got a Roland MT-32 (or a Sound Canvas, or a General MIDI
device) and a Sound Blaster.  The speech is okay, but the music and
sound effects are incorrect.  What can I do?"

A: Quit the game, reset the EXTENDED sound device, then restart
the game.  This will flush the odd sounds that may have been loaded
by a previous game or MIDI play option.  If you have a Roland MT-
32, try using the specific MID file created for this device.

OTHER NOTES

If you are experiencing random lockups, make sure that you are
using the latest Microsoft CD-ROM extensions driver, version 2.23.
MSCDEX 2.23 is also shipped with MS-DOS 6.2 or above and
should be found in your DOS directory.  Contact Microsoft or your
local dealer if you need the latest Microsoft CD-ROM driver.

If you have any random problems running under Windows, you may
be running third party shells such as HP's Dashtop, Norton Desktop,
PC-Tools or Kids Desk.  Please refer to their documentation for
troubleshooting tips.

If the audio still skips after trying the suggestion outlined in the
first section of this README file, try the following troubleshooting
steps:

1: On most CD-ROM drives, there is a /M:X stock buffers parameter
for the MSCDEX line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.  Adding /M:20 should
help to eliminate audio skipping and choppy video segments.

Example of AUTOEXEC.BAT line:

LH C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /V /M:20

NOTE - the above line is provided only as an example.  Your
MSCDEX statement will most likely be different than the example
noted above.  Your path and switches might be different.  In any
case, the /M:X value can be added at the end of the MSCDEX line.

2: In the SYSTEM.INI file found in your WINDOWS directory, try
increasing the DMABufferSize line to 256.  This line will appear in
the [386ENH] section of this file and should read as follows:

DMABufferSize=256

As with other Windows applications, installing OUTPOST will update
your SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files.  If you want to immediately
restore your system environment after installing OUTPOST CD-ROM,
we took the added precaution of backing up your original WIN.INI
and SYSTEM.INI files into the \WINDOWS directory.  The WIN.INI
file is renamed WIN.OPS, and SYSTEM.INI is renamed SYSTEM.OPS.
Normally there is no need to restore these files, since these files are
constantly updated every time you use Windows.  Do not copy
and/or rename these files in your WINDOWS directory after installing
OUTPOST, or you'll lose any changes made during the initial
OUTPOST setup.
***********************************************

GAME CHANGES/UPDATES

ADDITIONS

The following features were added to OUTPOST since the game
manual was written:

* A BEGINNER level for new OUTPOST players.

* Tutorial and Hint text files.

* The TUTOR.OPS starter colony saved game.

***********************************************

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

If you continue to experience any problems, or if you have any
questions concerning any of the above steps, our Technical Support
Team will be more than happy to assist you.  Please call (206) 644-
4343 between 8:15 am and 4:45 PM Monday through Friday Pacific
time.  We can also be reached by fax at [phone] or by mail
at the following address:

            SIERRA ON-LINE
             P.O. BOX 85006
            BELLEVUE, WA  98015-8506
            ATTN:  TECHNICAL SUPPORT

You can also reach the Technical Support Department on the
following
services:

Sierra BBS..................[phone] (Settings 8,N,1 & up to
9600 bps)
CompuServe Access: GO SIERRA
Compuserve..................GAMAPUB (Technical Support ID
76004,2143)
PRODIGY.....................(Technical Support ID WBWW55A)
GEnie............................Private E-Mail: SIERRA.SUP
America Online.............Keyword: Sierra

Please outline the problems along with specific information about
your
computer system, and we will gladly respond to your fax, letter or
BBS
message as soon as possible.

Try our new automated line for Technical Assistance.  This new
service
offers a complete listing of the most common technical issues
experienced with Sierra family products and has optional fax-back
technology so you can obtain a printout of these issues.  The number
for this service is [phone].