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-
- Conquest of the New World
- Version 1.05A
- Update Notes
-
- May 9, 1996
-
-
- INTRODUCTION
-
- This README file accompanies the version 1.05A release of Conquest of the New
- World. This file will provide you with late-breaking information about
- changes to the game design, along with tips on installing and playing the
- game.
-
- This version is an interim bug fix release. It includes some new features,
- such as Commonwealth, but does not include Play-by-Email support. That
- feature will be available in version 1.10. Version 1.05A is identical in
- operation to version 1.05; the only difference is a few changes to this
- README file.
-
- This release is a patch to the full game. You must own a complete copy of the
- game on CD-ROM in order to use this patch.
-
- You should use this patch only on versions 1.00 (U.S.) or 1.01 (European) of
- Conquest of the New World. It will give you a new executable file, but
- expects all other files to be identical to those installed with versions 1.00
- or 1.01. Subsequent patch releases will include all of the features in this
- release plus additional changes, so you do not need this file if you are
- already running a newer version of the code.
-
- For basic information on installation, system requirements, and
- troubleshooting, please consult the README.TXT file on your Conquest of the
- New World CD-ROM.
-
-
- VERSION HISTORY
-
- 1.00: Initial U.S. release.
-
- 1.01: Initial European release; various string fixes and AI adjustments.
-
- 1.05: Second U.S. release; also works with European data files, but strings
- associated with Commonwealth will be in English.
-
-
- INSTALLING THE UPDATE
-
- The version 1.05 update for Conquest of the New World can be installed easily
- as follows:
-
- 1) Copy the file CNW105.EXE (or CNW105.ZIP) to the directory that
- contains your copy of Conquest of the New World. The game must have already
- been installed on your hard disk before you can use this patch. This file
- contains a compressed version of the game.
-
- 2) You may wish to make a backup copy of your current version. The only
- file that you need to back up is CNWMAIN.EXE. If you wish to make a backup,
- do it now.
-
- 3) In Windows, double-click on the file CNW105.EXE or CNW105.ZIP to
- install the new version. This process will overwrite the file CNWMAIN.EXE in
- the directory that contains the update file.
-
- 4) In Windows (any version), if you have the file CNW105.EXE, you can
- also use the MS-DOS prompt and type CNW105 to perform this procedure. For
- CNW105.ZIP under DOS, you'll need to type PKUNZIP CNW105.ZIP.
-
-
- REMINDERS
-
- Network play requires that at least one machine on the network have access to
- the CD-ROM of the game. Whenever a player resumes a network game in progress
- or joins a newly forming net game, the computer will check locally and then
- over the network for the presence of the CD.
-
- In order to prevent problems between different versions of the game, such as
- CRC errors, the program requires that all machines on any given network be
- running the identical version of the software. Any machine which has the new
- code will not allow games to be played against people with older versions of
- the game. Users can determine which machines on the network have incorrect
- versions by bringing up the Network Status window. The information lines for
- all machines with versions that differ from the one on the current machine
- will be displayed in red. Be sure to install the update on every machine
- before starting a new network game.
-
- To summarize: you can't play multiplayer using version 1.00 against version
- 1.05 of the game. But since 1.05A has the same executable file as 1.05, those
- versions can play against one another.
-
- The virtual memory code for this game creates a temporary swap file on the
- hard disk. The game therefore requires that at least 8 megabytes (preferably
- 16 megabytes or more) of disk space be available when the game is started.
- Additional disk space will be necessary for each game file created
- (approximately 500K bytes). Failure to provide this amount of free space may
- cause the program to report "Out of Memory" errors even if sufficient RAM is
- available.
-
- Clarification: you can use the Shift key to speed up the up and down arrows
- for numeric values in the Trade dialogs, the War College, and so on. But you
- need to press Shift before clicking the arrow, not after.
-
- Back door: You can exit your game without saving if you wish to redo a turn.
- Hold down the Shift key and press the Esc key. This will exit to DOS without
- saving the changes made since the last save.
-
-
- DETAILED INFORMATION ON THIS RELEASE
-
- The following is a list of all important changes which have been made in the
- game since the 1.00 release.
-
- * Saved games: Saved games from previous versions should still work correctly
- with this release. Some problems will be fixed when games are loaded under
- the new code.
-
- * Fixed problems with "stuck units" which caused a number of related
- symptoms:
- - Units which are unable to move even though they have nonzero move
- allotment remaining.
- - AI acting nonaggressive
- - AI taking a long time to make moves sometimes
-
- * Fixed end of Island Scenario so that it works properly when Unlimited.
-
- * Native tribes do not assist in their own demise
-
- * Added safety code to prevent corruption of saved game files when the AI
- players reach their maximum RAM utilization.
-
- * Fixed a bug which could cause CRC errors under certain circumstances.
-
- * Computer players are now fully enabled to get on boats and cross oceans to
- settle colonies or attack other players.
-
- * Added code which allows insertion of CD after game is launched
-
- * Fixed the end-of-game screen so that elements of the screen no longer
- overlap one another in six-player games.
-
- * Commonwealth is now enabled in this release. Players may Sue for
- Commonwealth when they have done at least 60% of the damage to the Mother
- Country's attacking forces as would be required to reach Independence.
- Players who achieve Commonwealth status may later declare Independence again.
- They must do 60% of the damage to the Mother Country that would normally be
- required to reach Independence. Note that the victory condition for
- Independence is not simply the winning of three battles, but the destruction
- of a specific number levels of the Mother Country's units (100 levels).
-
- The Commonwealth button will become enabled during any War for Independence
- when the player has done an amount of damage to the Mother Country equal to
- 60% of the damage required to gain Independence. Clicking the Commonwealth
- button will stop any pending attacks, although it will not make the Mother
- Country instantly happy with you. It will also award 500 victory points.
-
- When a player achieves Commonwealth, future taxes will be reduced to 20% of
- their former value. Trade prices for sales of commodities will improve. If
- the player was not a Craftsman, prices will improve to the equivalent of a
- non-Independent Craftsman. If the player was already a Craftsman, prices will
- be the same as those for a fully Independent player without the Craftsman
- ability.
-
- Players who achieve Commonwealth will still be subject to the Mother
- Country's dictates regarding relations with other players.
-
- * In previous releases, the attacking forces of the Mother Country during
- Independence were smaller than they should have been. This has been
- corrected. The Mother's combat contingent will be two to three times larger
- now.
-
- * Serial play: Serial port and modem games are now much less likely to lose a
- connection. Connections are generally much more robust. Some reported
- problems with COM1, which caused an inability to connect, should also be
- resolved.
-
- * Bug fix: At process time, the non-sentient natives would occasionally
- attack a colony which was subjugated by the Mother Country, causing a crash.
- This will no longer happen. It is very rare.
-
- * Bug fix: Fixed a Divide by Zero error which occurred in certain rare
- circumstances when the AI tried to found a colony on a small island; this was
- detected during automated computer play of the game.
-
- * Bug fix: Points for Federation. Victory points were being computed
- incorrectly. The game should now award the proper 50 points per Federated
- tribe.
-
- * Bug fix: Trade with destroyed colonies. In certain cases, the code was not
- responding properly to the destruction of a colony, and would crash trying to
- trade with it. The code now cleans up after itself. This fix is retroactive.
- If an old file with this crash is loaded, the bug will no longer occur.
-
- * Bug fix: Stuck ships. The computer players would occasionally get their
- ships stuck on some corners of continents. This no longer happens.
-
- * Other minor changes were made to AI behaviors, string lengths, and so on.
- These will not ordinarily be noticed.
-
-
- CAVEATS (THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW)
-
- THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS A FULL ON-LINE HELP SYSTEM. SIMPLY RIGHT-CLICK ON ANY
- UNIT, BUILDING, WINDOW, OR BUTTON TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO USE IT.
-
- If you have a problem with the game (especially if it is repeatable), please
- send a note to us at support@interplay.com so we can investigate and solve
- it. Give us as much detail as possible about your hardware, your operating
- system, and the actions that led up to the problem.
-
- Likewise, if you see a feature that you really like or really hate, please
- tell us. We design our games for you -- the dedicated gamer -- and we want
- to hear what you have to say, good or bad. Our goal is to bring you a
- satisfying and challenging gaming experience. Send comments to
- cnw@interplay.com. We cannot respond to each person individually, but we do
- read our mail and will give careful consideration to all suggestions.
-
-
- TROUBLESHOOTING
-
- If the program experiences slowdowns during play (the spinning globe appears
- when moving units around the map, or for no apparent reason at all), this is
- most likely due to a problem with the sound code. In general, on fast
- machines (any Pentium-class unit), the globe should not appear during a
- player's editing of a turn or during combat. The problem can be fixed or
- reduced in a number of ways. The following are, in order, the most likely
- steps to take to reduce this problem.
-
- 1. Turn off sound to see if it makes a difference.
- 2. Be sure that SMARTDRV and EMM386 are off. These can cause serious
- slowdowns in some cases.
- 3. If under Windows 95, try to adjust the Windows 95 CD-ROM cache settings.
- The system can be set to optimize its performance for a variety of hardware
- configurations. Changing the numbers may clear up the problem (there is no
- one fixed setting that applies to all makes and models of computers and
- CD-ROM drives; the proper settings must be determined empirically for each
- individual machine).
- 4. Copy the file CNWSNDC.WAD from the CD-ROM to the hard disk, in the same
- directory as the game. This will allow the game to read all of the sounds in
- the game from the hard disk, at the expense of requiring an additional 35
- megabytes of space.
-
- When running under Windows 95, be sure that your swap file is set to at least
- 20 megabytes. Even running in a DOS box, the game makes use of Windows'
- virtual memory system. Better yet, just leave the swap file management under
- Windows' control (this should be the default on your machine anyway).
-
- Windows uses a number of special key sequences to switch between tasks.
- Because Conquest of the New World changes the video mode during play, some
- configurations may experience problems when switching tasks under Windows. We
- recommend that you not use these keys while playing the game. In addition,
- you may wish to set up a shortcut to your DOS box that has all of these keys
- disabled, and run the game from that. Likewise, new Windows machines have
- special Windows keys on the keyboard. These can also cause problems and
- should be avoided.
-
- Performance of the game can be improved through the use of a small hard disk
- cache -- 128 kilobytes or so -- if you have enough RAM to dedicate for it.
- Larger cache sizes are not necessary. However, on some systems, the disk
- cache can interfere with the proper operation of the virtual memory system in
- the game. If you experience crashes while running the game, disable all disk
- cache software and try again.
-
- The CONQUEST.BAT file contains one line which sets up virtual memory. When
- running on machines with 12 megabytes or more, virtual memory can be disabled
- by deleting or commenting out the line which contains the "SET DOS4GVM"
- command. This will result in a slight performance increase. If the game
- crashes or reports "Out of Memory" errors, you should put back this line or
- reconfigure your machine to make more memory available.
-
- Older versions of EMM386 may cause problems with the virtual memory in the
- game. Since EMM386 is not required by the game, we recommend that you remove
- it from your machine while running Conquest of the New World.
-
-
- HOW TO REACH US
-
- Interplay support sites:
-
- Internet E-mail: support@interplay.com
-
- Web Site: http://www.interplay.com
-
- America On-Line: Keyword INTERPLAY
- or E-mail IPTECH
-
- Compuserve: GO GAMEPUB
- or E-mail 76702,1342
-
- Genie: Type M805;1 or go to the Bulletin Board in Scorpia's area
-
- Prodigy: Use the Web browser to our Web Site
- or E-mail PLAY99B
-
- FTP Site: ftp.interplay.com
-
- Interplay's phone: (714) 553-6678
-
- Interplay's Fax: (714) 252-2820 Attn: Customer Service
-
-
- Strategy guide available from Prima Publishing. To order call
- 800-531-2343. Also available at better bookstores and multimedia
- outlets nationwide.
-
-
- Please let us know what you think! We love feed-back, and it helps us make
- the games that you want to play!
-
- Gameplay comments and suggestions: cnw@interplay.com
-
-
- Quicksilver Software, Inc. Web Site: http://www.quicksilver.com
-
-
-
- Thanks for taking the time to play Conquest of the New World. Now for the
- legal stuff...
-
-
-
- SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE
-
- This version of Conquest of the New World (the "Software") is intended
- solely for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use. You may not
- decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Software, except as permitted
- by law. Interplay Productions retains all rights and title in the Software
- including all intellectual property rights embodied therein and derivatives
- thereof. You are granted a revocable, nonassignable limited license to
- create derivative works of this Software solely for your own personal
- noncommercial home entertainment use and may publicly display such derivative
- works to the extent specifically authorized by Interplay in writing. A copy
- of this authorization, if any, will be provided on Interplay's World Wide Web
- site, and may also be obtained by contacting the legal department at
- Interplay at (714) 553-6655. The Software, including, without limitation,
- all code, data structures, characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game
- play, derivative works and all other elements of the Software may not be
- copied, resold, rented, leased, distributed (electronically or otherwise),
- used on pay-per-play, coin-op or other for-charge basis, or for any
- commercial purpose. Any permissions granted herein are provided on a
- temporary basis and can be withdrawn by Interplay Productions at any time.
- All rights not expressly granted are reserved.
-
-
- Copyright (c) 1996 Interplay Productions. All rights reserved.
-
-