SHERLOCK HOLMES CONSULTING DETECTIVE 5/23/94 Version 5.1 Viacom New Media 648 S Wheeling Rd Wheeling, IL 60090-5767 USA TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- * Special Update Information 1. Manual Addendum Sherlock Configuration Sherlock Switches Video Player Volume control Opening leads Trial Scoring 2. Video Card Chipset Compatibility Video Board Manufacturers 3. Sound Card Compatibility AdLib Gold Aria Aztech /Reveal Microsoft Sound System Pro Audio Spectrum Jazz 16 Sound Blaster Sound Master II Gravis Ultrasound Other Sound Boards Sound Board Manufacturers 4. CD-ROM Drive Compatibility Optimizing Your CD-ROM Drive CD-ROM Manufacturers 5. Machine Compatibility Compaq Dell Packard Bell 6. Software Compatibility Microsoft Windows Microsoft DoubleSpace Stacker 4.0 Memory Managers 7. Sherlock Holmes Boot Disk 8. Questions & Answers 9. Updates & Technical Support Bulletin Board Systems Technical Support * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * SPECIAL UPDATE INFORMATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MS SOUND SYSTEM --------------- Due to the the MS Sound System (MSS) version 2 sound card, the version 5.1 update is being distributed. Earlier versions of the game do not detect the new sound chip used by the new MSS cards. SOUND BLASTER ------------- Version 4 Sherlock Holmes CDs have a problem testing the IRQ channel on original 8-bit Sound Blaster sound cards. This problem has been fixed in all version 5 and greater updates. ARIA ---- Sound card which use the ARIA chipset have a Sound Blaster compatibility problem that does not allow the card to be initialized properly. A work- around has been integrated into version 5 and greater updates. The game still may require a ROM update or TSR program from the sound card manufacturer to fix sound quality. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1. MANUAL ADDENDUM --------------- SHERLOCK CONFIGURATION ---------------------- Sherlock Holmes - Consulting Detective will only run in VGA. When you run the program, the game examines your system's video and audio configuration automatically and then starts the game. This automatic detection of the video and audio configuration makes it easier and faster to run the game because it does not require a setup or installation program. The game is also completely contained on the CD which means it does not require any hard disk space except for saved games. SHERLOCK SWITCHES ----------------- Sometimes you may want to run Sherlock Holmes in a specific mode or configuration, even if it is not the one the program chooses. To ensure Sherlock Holmes runs in a particular configuration, include the necessary switch on the Sherlock Holmes command line when you start Sherlock Holmes. For example, to start the Sherlock Holmes demo, type SHERLOCK -D. You can specify one the following switches. Use this switch To do this --------------- ---------- -D Run Sherlock Holmes in Demo mode. This switch runs the self running demo of the Sherlock Holmes game. Pressing the ESC key will exit the demo. -I Disable IRQ test on the sound card The -I switch used to turn off IRQ testing before Sherlock Holmes starts may cause the game not to play any audio. See "COULD NOT INITIALIZE SOUND CARD" in the Q&A section for more information. VIDEO PLAYER ------------ There are new features for the video player that give you better control over the scenes. The controls are similar to that of a VCR's. Here's a brief description of the video controls. Replay - Starts playing from the beginning of the scene. Play - Starts playing from where you are in the scene. Pause - Pauses at the current frame. If you were already paused, you will start playing. Stop - Stops the video scene. Shuttle Reverse - Shuttles the scene backwards. Shuttle Forward - Shuttles the scene forwards. Scroll Bar and Thumb - The thumb's position in the scroll bar shows where you currently are in the scene. Clicking anywhere on the scroll bar will bring up that frame and pause. If you hold the button down the thumb will follow the cursor. VOLUME CONTROL -------------- By pressing the CTRL and or keys simultaneously, you will be able to increase or decrease respectively the volume while playing Sherlock Holmes. This feature is not supported by all sound cards. OPENING LEADS ------------- STARTING THE GAME Place the CD into the CD drive attached to your computer. Then, follow the instructions that apply to your system: Select the CD drive from the DOS prompt (e.g., to select the D drive, type D:), type SHERLOCK and press the ENTER key. CONDUCTING THE INVESTIGATION Throughout Sherlock, you will use a magnifying glass or pipe cursor to make a selection. Just be sure that the glass or the pipe's mouthpiece is over the item so you can select it. THE INSTRUCTIONS To give you a better idea of what tools you will use to conduct your investigations, choose The Instructions option from the Table of Contents. 1. Click The Instructions from the Table of Contents to display the picture gallery of investigative tools. 2. Click the picture of a tool for more information. 3. When you have finished listening to the tool descriptions, click Holmes' Book to return to the Table of Contents. HOLMES' INTRODUCTION To get better acquainted with those individuals and institutions that may assist you, choose Holmes' Introduction from the game's Table of Contents. 1. Click Holmes' Introduction and view the video of Sherlock Holmes introducing the Baker Street Regulars. The controls for watching this video and all other video segments are similar to that of a VCR's. The Scroll Bar below the control buttons advances or rewinds the scene. 2. When the video sequence is complete, click the hollow square Stop button to close the video scene and display the picture gallery of the Baker Street Regulars. 3. Click the picture of the person or place for more information. 4. When you have finished learning about each person or place, click Holmes' Book to return to the Table of Contents. CHOOSING A CASE To begin your investigation, click one of the three mysteries. A short video introduces you to the case. CONTINUING A CASE After you have finished viewing the case introduction and gathered starting clues, click the hollow square Stop button. This closes the video scene and opens the Map. COLLECTING CASE CLUES The Map displays eight investigative tool icons. You use them to gather evidence. Holmes' Book Horse and Carriage Notebook Holmes' Files Directory Baker Street Irregulars Newspaper Scoring and Trial To use a tool, just click its icon. Remember: your goal is to gather the most information from the least number of persons or places while visiting each as few times as possible. SELECTING A PERSON OR PLACE To go see or get information on a person or place, you must first select its name in either the Notebook or the Directory. For example, if you want to visit Inspector Lestrade, use the following steps: 1. Click the Directory icon to open it. 2. Click the "L" tab to open a list of names beginning with that letter. 3. Click the name "Lestrade, Inspector." SEEING A PERSON OR PLACE Once a name is selected, the Horse and Carriage, Holmes' Files, and the Baker Street Irregulars tools become available for your selection. Just click the tool icon to use it. - Horse and Carriage Click this icon to travel to the selected person or place. To close this tool, click the Stop button. - Holmes' Files Click this icon to look up Holmes' notes on the selected person or place. To close this tool, click the square Stop button in the lower left-hand corner of the file. - Baker Street Irregulars Click this icon to read a telegram containing street information about the selected person or place. To close this tool, click the square Stop button in the lower left-hand corner of the telegram. SWITCHING TOOLS To close a tool and open another one, click the icon of the tool you wish to use next. CONVINCING THE COURT When you think you've gathered enough evidence, click the Scoring and Trial icon to enter the courtroom (see the "Scoring and Trial" section of the player's guide for more information). TRIAL ----- There are improvements to trying your case in court. The judge has been digitized into a video scene. You can use the new features of the video player to better understand what the judge is asking. If you are asked to name a person or place, use your directory or notebook to choose one. When you feel you have the right choice, click on the "Confirm Answer" icon. Multiple choice questions work about the same. Choose the correct answer, then click on "Confirm Answer" icon and repeat the procedure for your second choice. The Judge will then appear after your second choice has been confirmed. SCORING ------- Pertinent Travel Clues = 7 points Travel (All other clues) = 10 Points Holmes Files = 1 Point Baker Street Irregulars = 5 points Red Herrings (BS Irreg.) = 10 points Red Herrings (Travel) = 20 points A "Pertinent Travel Clue" is one of the essential clues that you must see to be able to solve the case and visit the judge. This is done by sending Holmes and Watson off to a selected destination by way of the carriage. The number of these clues vary depending on the mystery. All other video sequences which contain clues, although not essential clues, are considered "Travel." If you use "Holmes' Files" you will have a point added to your score each time you access it. The files have no impact on you being able to get into court. Whenever you send the Baker Street Irregulars to visit an area with a clue, five points will be added to your score. Sending the Baker Street Irregulars to visit a dead end, a red herring, will add ten points to your score. The Baker Street Irregulars will send a telegram stating what information they could or could not find from the person/location they were sent to. The Baker Street Irregulars are your key to solving the mystery with a lower score - but you will also find, useful information is freely given to them in RARE circumstances. Sending Holmes/Watson to visit a dead end, or red herring, will add twenty points to your score. A red herring occurs when there are no clues to be found at a location, and Holmes/Watson are "wasting their time." A brief video clip or illustration will inform you that you have come to a dead end. 2. VIDEO CARD ---------- CHIPSET COMPATIBILITY --------------------- Sherlock Holmes - Consulting Detective only supports VGA. Some video cards may produce what looks like static or lines in parts of the video scenes. Usually this is due to a slow video card or a slow CD-ROM drive. Random pixels of red, blue, or green may appear when the game is used with older video cards. The following video cards/chipsets have been tested with Sherlock Holmes and will work in VGA. Make/Model Chipset --------------------- ------------ ATI Graphics Ultra Pro ATI ATI Graphics Ultra XLR ATI Diamond SpeedStar Pro Cirrus Logic Generic Trident Orchid Pro-Designer II ET4000 Orchid Pro-Designer IIs ET4000 Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 S3 Paradise SVGA WD90c3x STB Systems Power Graph HiColor ET4000 Video Seven VRAM II Headland Willow ET3000 Diamond Viper VLB Weitek P9000 Paradise VGA Paradise VIDEO BOARD MANUFACTURERS ------------------------- Company Bulletin Board Tech. Support Main ----------------------------------------------------------------- Ahead Systems 510-623-0961 510-623-0900 ATI Technologies Inc 416-764-9404 416-882-2626 416-882-2626 Boca Research 407-241-1601 407-241-8088 407-997-6227 Diamond Computer Systems Inc 408-730-1100 408-736-2000 408-736-2000 Hercules Computer Technology Inc 510-623-7034 510-623-6050 9600 baud 510-623-7142 2400 baud National Design Inc 512-329-6327 800-253-8831 512-329-5055 Orchid Technology Inc 510-683-0327 510-683-0323 STB Systems Inc 214-437-9615 214-234-8750 214-234-8750 Trident Microsystems Inc 415-691-1016 415-691-9211 Tseng Labs 215-579-7536 215-968-0502 Western Digital Imaging/Paradise 714-753-1068 714-932-4900 415-960-3360 9600 baud 800-832-4778 714-753-1234 2400 baud NOTE: PHONE NUMBERS MAY CHANGE, SO CHECK YOUR PRODUCT'S DOCUMENTATION FOR AN UPDATED LISTING. 3. SOUND CARD COMPATIBILITY ------------------------ Sherlock Holmes - Consulting Detective has a volume control by using the CTRL-PgUp and CTRL-PgDown keys on your key board. Volume control is only usable for those sound cards that have software volume control support. If your card does not work with the game's volume control, check with your sound card's manufacturer for the proper way to change the volume. ADLIB GOLD ---------- The AdLib Gold card requires a "SET GOLD=" command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to allow programs like Sherlock Holmes to identify the settings on the card. If you have difficulty running Sherlock Holmes with the AdLib Gold sound card, try running the AdLib Gold setup program. ARIA ---- Sound cards which use the Aria chipset by Sierra Semi-Conductor have been tested in Sound Blaster mode with the game. For the game to run correctly, a SET BLASTER environment command must be in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Special updates may be needed to allow the game to recognize the card as Sound Blaster compatible. Updates may also be needed if the audio plays at a higher than normal pitch. These updates can be obtained from the sound card's manufacturer. AZTECH / REVEAL --------------- The Reveal Sound FX/16 and the Sound Galaxy NX Pro 16 are both manufactured by Aztech Labs. These cards may allow the game to play but without audio. If this occurs, simply run the SETMODE program found in the sound cards UTILITY directory with the appropriate switch to make the card Microsoft Sound System compatible. example: C:\MMP16P\UTILITY\SETMODE /MSS The above example is most often used with Packard Bell multimedia machines. The directory path and command switch may be different depending on the sound card or multimedia package purchased. See your sound card's manual for more information. MICROSOFT SOUND SYSTEM ---------------------- The Microsoft Sound System board may require an environment variable that lets Sherlock Holmes know the card's settings. If you have this sound card or a compatible and are having difficulty, insert the following lines into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to set the Port Address, IRQ, and DMA. SET WSS_IRQ=xx SET WSS_DMA=xx Substitute "xxx" with a valid Port Address, IRQ, or DMA. Sherlock Holmes supports the following settings as long as they do not conflict with other cards already in the machine. IRQ channels: (16-bit slot) 7,9,10, or 11 (8-bit slot) 7 or 9 DMA channels: 1 or 3 PRO AUDIO SPECTRUM ------------------ The Pro Audio Spectrum (PAS) setup inserts a device driver, MVSOUND.SYS, in your CONFIG.SYS file that sets the PAS and Sound Blaster compatibility. Sherlock Holmes requires this driver so that the PAS and Sound Blaster portions of the card do not conflict. Sherlock Holmes supports the following PAS and Sound Blaster settings. Pro Audio Spectrum Sound Blaster -------------------------------------- ----------------------------- Port Address: 220,230, or 240 Port Address: 220,230, or 240 DMA channel: 1 or 3 DMA channel: 1 or 3 IRQ channel: 2,3,5,7,10,11,12, or 15 IRQ channel: 2,3,5, or 7 Sherlock Holmes will not support an IRQ if it is shared with another card in the machine. PAS Plus cards may need the SB_ON command removed from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file for Sherlock Holmes to work properly. Loading the MVSOUND.SYS driver high in memory may cause problems on some machines. Using DMA channels 5-7 will cause an "IRQ or DMA conflict" error. If this message appears: edit the CONFIG.SYS file, find the MVSOUND.SYS device driver, change the "D:" setting to "D:3", save the changes, reboot, and try again. When attempting to run Sherlock Holmes, if the screen clears and then redisplays the DOS prompt: check the MVSOUND.SYS driver for compatible IRQ and DMA channels; and look for the letters "u" or "w" at the end of the MVSOUND.SYS device line, if found remove them. JAZZ 16 ------- The Media Vision Jazz setup inserts a device driver, JAZZ.SYS, in your CONFIG.SYS file that sets the Sound Blaster compatibility. Sherlock Holmes requires this device driver and Set Blaster command so that it can recognize the sound card and its configuration. Sherlock Holmes supports the following Sound Blaster settings. Sound Blaster ----------------------------- Port Address: 210,220,230,240,250, or 260 DMA channel: 1 or 3 IRQ channel: 2,3,5, or 7 Sherlock Holmes will not support an IRQ if it is shared with another card in the machine. Loading the JAZZ.SYS driver high in memory may cause problems on some machines. Using a DMA channel 2 will cause an "IRQ or DMA conflict" error. The default Address 220, IRQ 5, and DMA 1 is recommended. SOUND BLASTER ------------- The Sound Blaster setup provides an environment variable, SET BLASTER, in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Sherlock Holmes requires this variable so that it can detect the type of sound card to use and the way it is configured. SET BLASTER=Axxx Ixx Dxx Txx Substitute each "xxx" with the appropriate Port Address, IRQ, or DMA. Sherlock Holmes supports all the Sound Blaster revision 1.0 settings but only supports the following Sound Blaster Pro, 16, and 16asp settings. Port Address: 220 or 240 DMA channel: 1 or 3 IRQ channel: 2,3,5,7, or 10 Sherlock Holmes will not support an IRQ if it is shared with another card in the machine. Original 8-bit Sound Blaster customers must add the SET Blaster line manually to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If you have an IBM PS/2 machine and are using the Micro-channel version of the Sound Blaster card, it is recommended that the card be a revision 5 card or greater. Revision 4 cards are known to have problems and may not work properly with Sherlock Holmes. Contact Creative Labs or IBM for more information. NOTE: IF THE SET BLASTER ADDRESS DOES NOT MATCH THE HARDWARE JUMPER SETTING, SHERLOCK HOLMES WILL INDICATE THAT IT FINDS AN ADLIB GOLD SOUND CARD AND THAT THERE IS AN IRQ OR DMA CONFLICT. SOUND MASTER II --------------- Sherlock Holmes has no means to detect the COVOX Sound Master II sound board directly. We have provided three environment variables (SMIIPORT, SMIIDMA, and SMIIIRQ) that you can set to tell Sherlock Holmes what port, DMA and IRQ your board is set to. Insert the following lines into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to set the boards Port Address, IRQ, and DMA: SET SMIIPORT=xxx SET SMIIDMA=xxx SET SMIIIRQ=xxx Substitute "xxx" with a valid Port Address, IRQ, or DMA. The following is a list of valid settings. Port Address: 220, 240, 280, or 2C0 DMA channel: 1 or 3 IRQ channel: 2,3,5, or 7 Sherlock Holmes will not support an IRQ if it is shared with another card in the machine. GRAVIS ULTRASOUND ----------------- The Advanced Gravis Ultrasound card supports Sound Blaster compatibility though the SBOS driver. For SBOS to function properly it must be loaded using the "-X2" switch and EMM386.EXE must be remarked (REM) or removed from the CONFIG.SYS file. The Ultrasound card only supports the following Sound Blaster settings: Port Address: 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, or 260 DMA channel: 1 IRQ channel: 2,3,5,or 7 The Port Address is set using a hardware jumper on the card and the IRQ and DMA channels are set using software settings in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. The MIDI IRQ channel is also used as the Sound Blaster mode IRQ. Sherlock Holmes was tested with the Ultrasound card using the SBOS driver version 2.08. However, due to the SBOS Sound Blaster emulation the audio quality was not 100%. SOUND BOARD MANUFACTURERS ------------------------- Company Bulletin Board Tech. Support Main --------------------------------------------------------------------- Advaced Gravis 604-431-5927 604-431-1087 ATI Technologies Inc 416-764-9404 416-882-2626 416-882-2626 Aztech Labs, Inc 510-623-8933 510-623-8988 Computer Peripherals 805-499-5751 Creative Labs 405-742-6660 405-742-6622 Diamond Computer Systems Inc 408-730-1100 408-736-2000 408-736-2000 Media Vision 510-770-0527 800-638-2807 510-770-8600 9600 baud 510-770-1661 Microsoft 206-936-6735 Toptek Technology 818-962-2851 818-960-9211 NOTE: PHONE NUMBERS MAY CHANGE, SO CHECK YOUR PRODUCT'S DOCUMENTATION FOR AN UPDATED LISTING. 4. CD-ROM DRIVE COMPATIBILITY -------------------------- Sherlock Holmes requires a CD-ROM drive that meets or exceeds a continuous-read data transfer rate of 150K per second. Although, some CD drives may have difficulty when used with a slow machine and/or video card. CD-ROM drives may be slow because either the hardware itself is slow or because the device drivers require too much processing time to find and transfer data. Drives with an average seek time of approximately 250-380 milliseconds (ms) tend to have both better hardware and device drivers. The following drives are known to have difficulty on slow machines. CHINON : CDA-431, CDS-435 PHILIPS : CM-205, CM-206 PIONEER : DRM-600 (6-disc Jukebox drive) MAGNAVOX: CDD-461 MITSUMI : CRMC-LU005 NEC : CDR-25, CDR-36, CDR-37, CDR-38 SONY : CDU-31a, CDU-535 NOTE: Sherlock Holmes will not work with the Tandy 1000, the Mitsumi CRMC-LU002, or the BSR 6800MX CD-ROM drives on most machines. These drives have a very slow seek time and use device drivers that require too much processing time. Some CD-ROM drives may have difficulty reading a CD containing 600MB of data or more. This is because the laser head may not be capable of reading the outermost part of the CD disc. The following drives are known to cause Sherlock Holmes to display a message "There has been a CD read error" and in most cases this this can not be helped. Check with the CD-ROM manufacturer for information regarding your drive's capability or new drivers. NEC : 3XE, 3XI PHILIPS : CM-206, CM-206 TEXEL : DM-3024, DM-5024 OPTIMIZING YOUR CD-ROM DRIVE ---------------------------- So, you purchased a CD-ROM drive or a complete multimedia PC machine and Sherlock Holmes does not work properly. Have you checked for IRQ or DMA conflicts? Are you trying to run the game from Windows when it is a DOS game? Have you checked to make sure the device drivers are up-to-date? Any one of these could cause poor performance in this game or cause it not to run at all. One of the most common problems is that the CD-ROM drive may not meet the game's requirements. Check the average access time and data transfer rate to make certain it is compatible with the game. The CD-ROM drive's ability to locate and transfer data accurately and quickly may make a difference in many multimedia games. Here are a few more suggestions: * Check the CD-ROM manual for setting a buffer size in the CD-ROM's device driver * Close any TSR or menu programs before running the game * Create a system boot disk with only the device drivers needed for the sound card, CD-ROM, and mouse (see Create Boot Disk) * Remove any expanded memory managers such as QEMM or 386MAX; or add the NOEMS switch to EMM386 * Remove any disk cache software such as Smartdrive * Remove any CD cache software such as Lightning CD or CD Speedway, if your machine is slow * In your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, set the buffer setting used by the MSCDEX.EXE driver to /M:10 CD-ROM MANUFACTURERS -------------------- Company Bulletin Board Tech. Support Main ----------------------------------------------------------------- Chinon America 800-441-0222 213-533-0274 Mitsumi 408-970-9699 408-970-0700 NEC 800-366-0476 708-860-9500 Philips / LMS 719-593-4207 719-593-7900 Sony Electronics Inc 408-955-5107 408-894-0555 408-432-0190 Texel 800-886-3935 408-980-1838 Toshiba America 800-999-4273 714-583-3000 NOTE: PHONE NUMBERS MAY CHANGE, SO CHECK YOUR PRODUCT'S DOCUMENTATION FOR AN UPDATED LISTING. 5. MACHINE COMPATIBILITY --------------------- COMPAQ ------ Sherlock Holmes may have trouble identifying video compatibility on the Compaq Prolinea series. This can be easily solved by downloading the appropriate VESA driver from Compaq's BBS. Technical Support: 800-345-1518 Bulletin Board: 713-378-1418 DELL ---- Sherlock Holmes may have difficulty on some of the Dell multimedia machines that use the Sound Blaster 16 card. In some cases, the MPU 401 UART address in the SET BLASTER command does not match the hardware jumper address set on the card. This occurs when the setup software for the Sound Blaster 16 card is used to auto scan the card for the current settings. To solve this problem, you may need to refer to your Sound Blaster 16 Getting Started manual. First, check the SET BLASTER command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file for the current MPU 401 UART address. This address is identified by the starting letter "P" and then the address. SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6 Next, determine the address setting on the board inside the machine by comparing the jumper setting on the board to what is in the manual. If they do not match, change the SET BLASTER command to the setting on the board. Technical Support: 800-624-9896 Bulletin Board: 512-338-8528 PACKARD BELL ------------ Some Packard Bell machines have built-in Video 7 Super VGA. The built-in video uses a newer version of the Headland chipset and often comes with only 512K of video RAM. One result of this is that the mouse leaves trails on the screen. To correct the problem, contact Packard Bell's Technical Support and order a 512K video upgrade. This will fix the mouse trails problem. Some of the Packard Bell multimedia machines come with Aztech Labs' Sound Galaxy NX Pro 16 sound card. This card may require the SETMODE program to change the card to be Microsoft Sound System compatible. This program can be found in the "C:\MMP16P\UTILITY" directory. Run SETMODE if the game does not play any audio. 6. SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY ---------------------- MICROSOFT WINDOWS & OS/2 ------------------------ Sherlock Holmes is a DOS-based program. It is not designed to be run under Microsoft Windows nor OS/2. Please exit Windows or any other shell program to a DOS prompt before playing the game. If any attempts are made to run the game under Windows or OS/2, unique problems may occur. In addition, if Windows is running, major demands will be placed on the machine's processing power which can cause the system to lockup. OS/2 users should create a MS-DOS or PC-DOS boot disk if the machine is not set up for a dual boot of OS/2 and MS-DOS. This will allow the machine to boot without OS/2 and the game to run properly. MICROSOFT DOUBLESPACE --------------------- Microsoft DoubleSpace is a hard disk compression program that approximately doubles the available space on your hard drive. DoubleSpace has been known to cause frequent lockups while running Sherlock Holmes. It is recommended that DoubleSpace be removed from memory before running Sherlock Holmes by creating a boot disk which does not contain DoubleSpace. To create a boot disk without DoubleSpace, run the CDBOOT program on this CD and select the option to create a boot disk. Then turn off the computer for 10 seconds and then reboot with the boot disk. When saving a game, save it to the boot disk. Saving games to a DoubleSpace drive without DoubleSpace running may damage the compressed files already on the hard drive. STACKER 4.0 ----------- Stacker is a hard disk compression program that approximately doubles the available space on your hard drive. The latest version of Stacker, version 4.0, has been known to cause frequent lockups while running Sherlock Holmes. It is recommended that Stacker be removed from memory before running Sherlock Holmes by creating a boot disk which does not contain the Stacker program. To create a boot disk without Stacker, run the CDBOOT program on this CD and select the option to create a boot disk. Then turn off the computer for 10 seconds and reboot with the boot disk. When saving a game, save it to the boot disk. Saving games to a compressed drive without Stacker running may damage the compressed files already on the hard drive. Stacker version 3.0 has been tested with Sherlock Holmes with no bad side effects. However, it may make it difficult to free enough conventional memory to run the game with some machine configurations. MEMORY MANAGERS --------------- A memory manager has a few functions: loading files above 640K, converting ROM addresses into high memory, emulating expanded memory, and maximizing available conventional memory. But by doing all this, the machine may become unstable and lockup. Some of the memory managers used are: QEMM by Quarterdeck, 386MAX by Qualitas, and EMM386 by Microsoft. If you experience frequent lockups and are using any of the above memory managers, try running the CDBOOT program and create a boot disk. This will eliminate these programs and hopefully make your machine more stable for running Sherlock Holmes. If you must use a memory manager, then try to use it in its more basic or most stable form. QEMM, for instance, has an option called Stealth mode which is not compatible with Sherlock Holmes. EMM386 uses MemMaker to mix and match the best loading order of device drivers and TSR's in upper memory. As a result, MemMaker causes some difficulties with sound and CD-ROM drivers operating properly. The CDBOOT program will use EMM386 if it is found and remove any MemMaker commands automatically. 7. CD-ROM BOOT DISK ---------------- A CD-ROM boot disk is a system disk that contains the least amount of system software to start a machine with a CD-ROM drive attached. If you are having difficulty running the game or cannot free the conventional memory required to load the program; we strongly recommend that you create a CD-ROM boot disk as described below. There are two ways to create a boot disk for Sherlock Holmes: manually or using the CDBOOT program. Creating a boot disk in either case will require a blank floppy disk that must be used in your A: drive. In any case it is recommended that CDBOOT be used to create the boot disk. To run CDBOOT, go to the CD-ROM DOS prompt, type CDBOOT and press the Enter key. Follow the instructions on the screen to create a boot disk. This program will prompt you for the necessary information. When the boot disk is complete, leave the disk in the A: drive and reboot your machine. If Sherlock Holmes still won't load, turn off the computer for 10 seconds, reboot, and then try running the game again. Due to the fast pace changes in the computer industry, the CDBOOT program may not install the CD-ROM drivers correctly. This will occur most often when a CD cache (cash) program has been installed. If this should happen, edit the original CONFIG.SYS file and write down the device line for the CD-ROM drive. Then edit the CONFIG.SYS on the boot disk and insert that device line for the CD drive at the end of the file. 8. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ------------------- Q. I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FREE MEMORY TO PLAY SHERLOCK HOLMES. A. Sherlock Holmes requires approx. 520K of free conventional memory to load the program. Free the amount of memory needed by removing any unnecessary device drivers/TSR's from memory or create a CD-ROM boot disk using the CDBOOT program found on the CD. Q. I GET THE MESSAGE "COULD NOT INITIALIZE MOUSE." A. Make sure that the mouse is connected and that a DOS-level mouse driver is loading in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. Read your mouse's users manual for directions on how to load a mouse driver for DOS programs. If you have Windows and need a mouse driver, check your Windows' diskettes for the file MOUSE.CO_ or MOUSE.SY_. Use the EXPAND utility that comes with DOS to decompress one of the files to your hard drive. Example: EXPAND A:\MOUSE.CO_ C:\MOUSE.COM Then add the driver to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or CONFIG.SYS depending on the type of driver. 1. At the DOS prompt "C:\", type EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT 2. Add the line C:\MOUSE.COM 3. Save and exit the Edit program 4. Reboot the computer Q. I GET THE MESSAGE "COULD NOT INITIALIZE SOUND CARD." A. Possibility 1. This may be an indication that you have a DMA or IRQ conflict with your sound card. Check the IRQ and DMA settings on the sound card, make sure they are not being used by any other hardware on your machine. Possibility 2. You may have an older sound card that Sherlock Holmes is having difficulty testing or thinks there is an IRQ conflict. If you know the card is compatible and is set properly, try using the switch -I. This will tell Sherlock Holmes to ignore testing the IRQ. Q. I GET THE MESSAGE "COULD NOT FIND COMPATIBLE SOUND CARD." A. Possibility 1. The sound card is set to a non-standard Address. Change the address to one of the valid addresses listed in the sound card section above. You must select an address for the correct corresponding sound card. Possibility 2. If you are using a Sound Blaster or compatible sound card, the "SET BLASTER" line may be missing in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This line tells a DOS program what settings your sound card is set to, and is normally created when you install the card's drivers onto your hard drive. Reinstall or install the drivers for your sound card according to the directions in the sound card's manual or insert a SET BLASTER line yourself based on the card's settings. For a description of the SET BLASTER line, see the sound card section above. Possibility 3. If you are using PAS16/PAS Plus cards (Pro Audio Spectrum 16), the device driver loaded to enable the PAS portion of the card may be using the same IRQ and DMA that the Sound Blaster portion is currently using. Change the settings of the MVSOUND.SYS driver to IRQ 7 and DMA 3 or any other available setting. IRQ 5 and DMA 1 cannot be used because it is already used by default for the Sound Blaster portion of the card and DMA channels 5-7 cannot be used because they are not supported. Possibility 5. You are using an incompatible sound card or do not have a sound card installed. Sherlock requires a Sound Blaster sound card or 100% compatible or one of the sound cards listed on the box in order to play. Q. MY SYSTEM IS LOCKING OR CRASHING AT, BEFORE, OR DURING THE TITLE SCREEN. A. Possibility 1. This is a sign that the sound card is set to an IRQ already in use by another part of your machine's hardware. It is very important to set the IRQ on the sound card to one that is only used by the sound card. Possibility 2. Using DOS 6.0 with the DoubleSpace feature causes random locking on many machines. To eliminate DoubleSpace, create a boot disk with the CDBOOT program found on the CD. Possibility 3. The game will not work with the buffered DMA setting on the ATI Stereo FX card enabled. Disable the "Buffer DMA Play" setting using ATI's setup program. Possibility 4. The game may be receiving device driver interference due to the drivers using too much processor time, attempting to screen incoming data for viruses, tracking system activity, etc. Try creating a CD-ROM boot disk by running CDBOOT at the CD-ROM DOS prompt. Possibility 5. If you use a Pro Audio Spectrum Plus card, make certain that the "SB_ON" file is not loading in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. This is not required for Sherlock Holmes to use your sound card. This line may be removed or commented out, with a REM statement, from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file; then restart your machine. Possibility 6. Using a Pro Audio Spectrum card's SCSI port with a Toshiba XM-3301 or XM-3401 may cause garbage on the screen during the video scenes. Try adding "/S30" to the TSLCDR.SYS driver: DEVICE=C:\PAS\TSLCDR.SYS /D:MSCD001 /S30 Q. WHEN I MOVE THE MOUSE, MY MACHINE LOCKS UP. A. If your mouse is using the same IRQ as your sound card or CD-ROM drive, the interrupt conflict will cause the machine to lock up when the mouse is moved. Change the IRQ so that each device has its own unique interrupt. See the manual for your mouse, sound card or CD-ROM drive for instructions on changing the IRQ. Q. THE PROGRAM'S SOUND AND MOTION HESITATE MOMENTARILY. WHY? A. Possibility 1. There is device driver interference with data transfer from CD-ROM. Try creating a CD-ROM boot disk with the CDBOOT program. Possibility 2. The CD-ROM drive or its device driver cannot keep up with the demands placed upon it by Sherlock Holmes. Check with the manufacturer of your CD-ROM drive or interface for a software or hardware update. Possibility 3. If you load an Expanded Memory Manager such as EMM386, QEMM, or 386MAX, you may experience problems because your machine is too slow when a memory manager is loaded. Expanded memory managers tend to slow the machine by approximately 25-40%. Try disabling or removing the memory manager from the CONFIG.SYS file and reboot before playing Sherlock Holmes. EMM386 users should try using the NOEMS switch. Q. I DON'T GET SOUND WHEN THE VIDEO IS PLAYING. A. Possibility 1. If any device is sharing the DMA channel with the sound card, you will not hear any audio. See your sound card's manual for instructions on changing the DMA and make sure the speakers are plugged into the correct port on your sound card. Possibility 2. Some sound cards may have multiple sound card support in which one may not be 100% compatible. Try setting the card for a different sound card compatibility. The Sound Galaxy NX Pro 16 and the Sound FX 16 cards need to be set for Microsoft Sound System compatibility using the SETMODE program which came with the cards. Other cards which do not play any audio may not be compatible with the game. Q. THE QUALITY OF THE AUDIO IS VERY POOR. IT ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE THEY'RE TALKING UNDERWATER! A. If you load EMM386, QEMM, 386MAX, or another Expanded Memory Manager (EMM),you may experience poor audio quality because your machine runs too slow with an EMM loaded. With an EMM program running, your machine's processing power is cut by approximately 25-40%, which can affect Sherlock. Disable or remove the EMM from the CONFIG.SYS file when playing Sherlock Holmes. Q. I GET THE MESSAGE "THERE HAS BEEN A READ ERROR ON THE CD" A. Possibility 1. Sherlock Holmes requires a continuous-read CD-ROM drive with a 150 KB/sec data transfer rate. Some CD-ROM drives, such as the NEC 25, 35, 36, 36M, and 37 drives, are known as "packet-read" drives, which may corrupt the data coming off the CD-ROM drive when used with Sherlock Holmes. CD drives which use the parallel port may also experience this problem. Possibility 2. The CD may be dirty or damaged causing read errors. Visually check the underside of the CD for smudges, scratches, etc.. If it's not scratched, you should be able remove the smudges with a clean cloth. If the CD is scratched, send the CD and plastic case back to Viacom New Media with a check for $10.00 (US only) for a replacement. Q. THE PROGRAM QUITS AND DISPLAYS THE MESSAGE "3 POINTERS LEFT ALLOCATED." A. There are not enough FILES allocated in the CONFIG.SYS file. Add the statement "FILES=20" to the CONFIG.SYS file or modify the existing "FILES" statement. Q. THE VIDEO SCENES NEVER PLAY. A. There are not enough FILES or BUFFERS allocated in the CONFIG.SYS file. Add the statement "FILES=20" and "BUFFERS=20" to the CONFIG.SYS file or modify the existing "FILES" and "BUFFERS" statements. Q. THE GAME WILL NOT LET ME SAVE MY GAME AND GIVES ME A MESSAGE, "PERMISSION DENIED" A. If you get this message, you are probably trying to save the game to a write-protected disk or your CD-ROM drive. If it is a floppy disk you are saving to, check the write-protect tab on the disk; a 5 1/4" disk should have a notch cut out on the right hand side and a 3 1/2" disk should have a small square on the right hand side that has been closed so you cannot see through it. You cannot save to your Sherlock Holmes CD, you will have to select another drive. Q. I'VE DONE EVERYTHING SUGGESTED, AND IT STILL DOESN'T WORK. A. If you are still having difficulty, please contact technical support for any additional information on possible Sherlock Holmes disc updates or problem solutions through the methods listed below. Have the following information ready when you call: * Name and model of the computer * Brand and model of CD-ROM drive * Processor type and speed * CD-ROM's average seek time (386dx33, 486dx2 50) * Brand of sound card * Name and model of the video card * Sound card's Address, IRQ, and * DOS version DMA settings * Memory manger * Version of the Sherlock Holmes * Listing of the CONFIG.SYS and CD disc AUTOEXEC.BAT NOTE: TECHNICAL SUPPORT WILL NOT GIVE HINTS TO SOLVING THE GAME! 6. TECHNICAL SUPPORT & UPDATES --------------------------- BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS ---------------------- Updates may be found on the following systems at the locations listed below. Also, questions may be directed to these on-line accounts; addresses are listed at the end of this document. America Online Keyword VIACOM CompuServe CD-ROM Forum (GO CDROM) Multimedia Forum (GO MULTIMEDIA) In the above areas, look for a file mentioning "Sherlock Holmes" and, where possible, search for a file using the keyword "SHERLOCK" or "VIACOM". Before downloading an update, check the description for its version information. Then, verify the version of Sherlock Holmes you are currently using to make certain that the update you are downloading has not already been included on your CD. If you are uncertain what version of Sherlock Holmes you have, look on the face of the CD diskette. Listed there is the version number of your Sherlock Holmes program. Downloading an earlier version of the software will not solve any problems, since each revision to Sherlock Holmes includes the patches that were in the previous versions. TECHNICAL SUPPORT ----------------- Before calling Technical Support, have the following information ready: * Name and model of the computer * Brand and model of CD-ROM drive * Processor type and speed * CD-ROM's average seek time (386dx33, 486dx2 50) * Brand of sound card * Name and model of the video card * Sound card's Address, IRQ, and * DOS version DMA settings * Memory manger * Version of the Sherlock Holmes * Listing of the CONFIG.SYS and CD disc AUTOEXEC.BAT Other questions or comments? Please feel free to contact us at: Viacom New Media Technical Support 648 S Wheeling Road Wheeling, IL 60090-5767 USA Phone: 708-520-4440 (Mon. - Fri., 9AM - 6PM CST) Fax: 708-459-7456 America Online: VNMSupport AppleLink: VNM.SUPPORT CompuServe: 76702,1604 Prodigy: HPRY23A Internet: vnmsupport@icomsim.com Copyright 1993-94 Viacom New Media. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft is a registered trademark and Microsoft Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks herein are the property of their respective owners.