Trouble Shooting If nothing happens when the CD is inserted into the drive, autoplay can also be started by double clicking on the CD icon found in 'My Computer'. If neither of these starts the installation, either begin installation manually or enable autoplay on your CD ROM/DVD drive (instructions on how to do this are found below). Manual Installation If your machine does not have autoplay enabled, the game can also be installed by opening the 'My Computer' window and then double clicking on the CD icon to open a window displaying the contents of the CD. From this window find the file named SETUP and double click it, this will start the installation process. Moving game files to a new folder or drive If you wish to move the games files to a different drive or folder, it is recommended that you uninstall the game and reinstall it in the new destination. Simply copying files to a new destination can result in the game failing to run. Reinstallation If you need to reinstall the game, either autorun the CD and select the 'reinstall' option from the menu screen that appears or follow the instructions above for a manual installation. Enabling Autoplay on your CD/DVD drive Autoplay can be enabled as follows Right click on the 'My Computer' icon and select 'Properties'. From the 'System Properties' window that opens, click on the 'Device Manager' tab A list of components in your machine will appear, click the + sign next to the CDROM label, highlight the drive that appears and select the 'Properties' icon at the base of the Window. From the Window that opens, click the 'Settings' tab. On the 'Settings' screen there should be an Option named 'Auto insert notification', ensure that there is a tick next to this. Click 'OK' to exit the CD properties screen then close the 'System Properties' window. Your machine will probably say it needs to restart, once this is done autoplay should be enabled on your machine. Installing DirectX 8 Warrior Kings requires that DirectX 8 is installed to allow certain functions to operate. The Warrior Kings installation program will automatically check to see if you have this on your system. If not it will automatically load it for you, so nothing to worry about. If you are experiencing problems with DirectX 8 then please refer to the chapter on DirectX 8 issues. WINDOWS CONFIGURATION When running Warrior Kings, it is recommended that you check the following configuration settings of Windows; Colour Mode You will need to have windows set to a colour mode of True Colour (32bit) colours or higher. The colour mode can be changed as follows; Click the right mouse button when on the desktop, and select the option 'Properties' from the menu that appears. A window titled 'Display Properties' will appear, click on the 'Settings' tab to bring up the display settings screen. From this screen the colour mode ('Colours') and screen resolution ('Screen area') can be altered. Active Desktop If you have Microsoft's Active Desktop enabled, it is recommended that you disable it before running Warrior Kings. Close Other Programs Before starting Warrior Kings, you are advised to close down all other programs that may be running. Doing this will ensure that Warrior Kings is able to use the maximum system resources available. Windows Virtual Memory Virtual Memory is basically when Windows uses hard drive space as extra memory. It does this by creating a swap file on the hard drive and writing data to it, the result is that software that may need more memory than the machine it is being run on physically has will still run. Games software typically needs a fairly large amount of space for a swap file, with around 100Mb typically recommended, or more. The Virtual memory can be managed in two ways, automatically or manually. To check which method is being used on your machine, follow these steps; Right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties' from the menu that appears. The 'System Properties' window will open, click on the 'Performance' tab and then click on the 'Virtual Memory' icon. A window titled 'Virtual Memory' will now be open. If the option "Let Windows manage my virtual memory settings" is highlighted then your virtual memory is being automatically managed by windows. If this is the case please ensure that your C: drive has enough free hard drive space (100Mb or more). This can be checked by double clicking on the 'My Computer' icon, right clicking on the (C:) drive and selecting 'Properties', the free space on the drive will be listed in the properties window that opens. If the option "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings" is highlighted, you are manually setting the limits of the swap file for Virtual memory. If this is the case we recommend that you ensure that the maximum amount listed is not less than 100. Mouse Drivers "If you have a LOGITECH mouse, DO NOT USE "web wheel", and ensure that you have assigned the wheel to "MS standard scrolling" and "scroll in active window only" and the centre wheel button to "middle mouse button" and NOT TO ANY OTHER ASSIGNMENT." VIDEO CARDS Video Card Requirements Warrior Kings requires a video card with at least 16Mb of memory that can display 16bit colour. The primary video card in your machine MUST have at least 16Mb of memory for Warrior Kings to run, the memory of any additional accelerator cards will not be taken into account. If your video card has insufficient memory the game will not run correctly, or at all. In the finished product an explicit message will be displayed. Direct X In order to run, the video card must be compatible with Direct X (and must also typically be using certified drivers). Possible symptoms of your card not being DirectX compatible include the machine displaying a black screen when you start the game, the graphics of the game being corrupted or the colour within the game being incorrect. Monitor Settings If you experience video problems, it is also possible that the cause could be that your monitor is not configured within Windows. This can be checked as follows; Click the right mouse button on the desktop and select 'Properties' from the menu that appears. On the 'Display Properties' window that appears, click on the 'Settings' tab. Click on the 'Advanced' icon (users with the original version of Windows will have to click on the 'Change Display Type' icon at this point). Click on the 'monitor' tab in the new window. If your monitor is not the one currently named, click on the 'Change' icon (users of the original version of Windows will need to click on the 'Change' icon next to 'Monitor Type'). If you received a driver disk with your monitor, use that. If not, you will need to manually configure your monitor. Under Windows you can select your monitor from the list displayed (Click on 'Show all Devices' to get a complete list if your monitor is not named under 'Show Compatible Devices'). Under Windows 98 you will need to select the option to 'Display a list of all drivers in a specific location', and once again select 'Show all Hardware' if your monitor is not listed under the 'Show Compatible Hardware' option. Multi-Monitor Systems If you have a computer with more than one graphics accelerator card that is DirectX 8 compatible, then Warrior Kings may not select the accelerator card that you want when it starts up. You can specify the card that Warrior Kings uses by changing some if its system settings in the registry. WARNING, we only recommend that advanced users attempt this. Warrior Kings saves its persistent graphical settings in the following place in the system registry: 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Black Cactus/Warrior Kings/Renderer' You can browse and edit the registry with the 'regedit' program, which is part of the default Windows installation. You need to set the 'save_enumerations_to_file' key to 1. This will make Warrior Kings save a file called 'enumerations.txt' into its working directory when the game exits. This file contains a list of all available accelerator devices that Warrior Kings can use. An example of the contents of this file on a multi-monitor system is: Device('nv4_disp.dll'): 'NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400' Driver: 'HAL' Device('nv4_disp.dll'): 'NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500' Driver: 'HAL' Now, you can tell the game to attempt to use one of these cards by editing the 'prefered_device' and 'prefered_driver' keys in the registry. To use the 'GeForce3 Ti' card in the above sample: set 'prefered_device' to NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500 set 'prefered_driver' to HAL Drivers If any graphical problems are encountered, we recommend that you try using the latest video card drivers from the manufacturer of your video card or its chipset. The Internet addresses of some of the main video card and chipset manufacturers are listed below, if yours is not covered please check your cards documentation for a link. Chipset manufacturers 3DFX Interactive Inc (3DFX Voodoo, Voodoo2) www.3dfx.com 3D Labs Inc (Permedia 2) www.3dlabs.com ATI (ATI All-in-wonder, Xpert) www.atitech.ca Matrox Graphics Inc (Millennium, Mystique) www.matrox.com Nvidia (Riva 128, Riva TNT) www.nvidia.com Rendition (Verite 1000, Verite 2000) www.rendition.com S3 (Virge, Savage 3D) www.s3.com Video Card Manufacturers Canopus Corporation www.canopuscorp.com Creative Labs www.creativelabs.com Diamond Multimedia www.diamondmm.com Guillemot International www.guillemot.com Hercules www.hercules.com Miro www.miro.de Number Nine www.nine.com STB www.stb.com Videologic www.videologic.com SOUND CARDS Sound Card Requirements Your machine MUST have a sound card in order to load. If your machine does not have a sound card the game will fail to load. You will need to have a Direct X compatible sound card (it will also typically need to be using certified drivers). Possible symptoms of your card not being DirectX compatible include receiving no sound whilst playing, sound effects playing but stuttering or static playing rather than sound and music. See Section 3 for details on how to check your sound cards compatibility. Volume Settings If all the drivers for the sound card are OK but you are still receiving no sound, check the volume controls within Windows are set correctly. To do this; In the bottom right of the desktop, next to the clock, should be a speaker icon. Right click on this and select 'Open Volume Controls' from the menu that appears. A window titled 'Volume Control' should open, ensure that all the volume meters are set correctly and that none of the boxes labelled 'Mute' are ticked. Checking Sound Playback To check that the sound is working correctly within Windows Open 'My Computer' by double clicking on its icon and then double click on the Control Panel icon on the window that appears. From the Control Panel, double click on the 'Sounds' icon. Highlight one of the options (eg. 'Asterisk') and ensure there is a speaker icon next to its name. If there is not click 'browse' and select a file, the folder C:\Windows\Media will normally contain some. Click on the play button next to 'Preview:'. A sound sample should now load and play, if you do not hear anything then your sound card may not be set up correctly within Windows. Specific Sound Card Problems If your sound card is not Direct X certified you may encounter audio corruption. To check whether your sound card is certified, see section 3 (Checking Certification). Obtaining DirectX compatible drivers from your hardware manufacturer can solve the problem. Drivers If any problems are encountered, we recommend that you try using the latest audio drivers from the manufacturer of your sound card. The Internet addresses of some of the main sound card manufacturers are listed below, if yours is not covered please check your cards documentation for a link. Creative Labs www.creativelabs.com Diamond Multimedia www.diamondmm.com Guillemot International www.guillemot.com Videologic www.videologic.com Yamaha www.yamaha.com CD ROM/DVD DRIVES Systems with multiple CD drives If you are running the game on a system that has more than one CD or DVD drive (due to either multiple drives or having one drive with multiple trays) we recommend that the Warrior Kings CD is always placed in the first drive (ie. on a system with E:, F: and G: drives, place the CD in E:). Windows drivers In order to install Warrior Kings your CD/DVD will need to be using Windows based drivers. If it is running using MS-DOS based drivers you will be unable to install the game (an error titled 'SEVERE, Unable to install Direct X Media' is the typical symptom). In this case, please install Windows drivers for your CD/DVD drive. To check which drivers you are using Right click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties' from the menu that appears. From the 'System Properties' menu that appears click on the 'Performance' tab. Under the heading 'Performance Status', File System should be listed as 32-bit whilst at the bottom of the box it should say "Your system is configured for optimal performance'. If this is not the case you may need to obtain Windows based drivers for your CD/DVD drive from its manufacturer. CD Errors If you receive a Blue Windows error screen saying there was an error reading the CD whilst installing or playing the game, it could be the result of one of the following. Removing the CD whilst a game is in progress. A CD that is scratched or dirty. This can be checked by examining the CD for scratches, fingerprints etc.. If any are found the CD may need cleaning, this can be done with either a commercially available CD cleaner or by wiping the CD with a soft dry cloth (always ensure that you wipe the CD in a straight line from the centre to the outer edge). There may be a problem with your CD/DVD ROM drive. Ensure that you are using the Windows based drivers. If you are experiencing similar problems with other disk intensive software it could be that the drive itself is not working properly. UNINSTALLATION The game should always be removed either from the uninstall option on the START menu or from the add/remove menu (details on how to do this are below). It should not be manually deleted from the hard drive, as this will result in data being left in the Windows registry. Uninstalling Game via START menu To remove Warrior Kings via the START menu, open the START menu, then open the Programs / Warrior Kings folder. From here select the option 'Uninstall Warrior Kings' to remove the game from your machine. Uninstalling game via Add/Remove Programs To remove the game using the Add/remove Programs function of Windows Double click on 'My Computer' and then double click on the 'Control Panel' icon in the window that opens. Double click on the 'Add/Remove Programs' icon. Highlight the Warrior Kings line on the 'Add/Remove Programs Properties' window and click on the 'Add/Remove' icon. Problems Uninstalling Game If any problems are encountered during the uninstallation of the game that result in it being impossible to remove it, we recommend that you try reinstalling Warrior Kings. Once this has been done it should be possible to uninstall it without any problems. Files Left Behind When Warrior Kings is uninstalled, you may find that some files are left behind. These files consist of options settings and save games. If you do not wish to keep these files you will need to manually delete them from your system. OPTIMIZING GAME SPEED There are a number of ways in which machines can be optimised to improve the speed of games. Ensure No Other Software is Running For details on how to check which other programs are running on your machine. Disable virus checking software while running WK. Virtual Memory Ensure that there is enough free hard drive space for Virtual Memory. The performance of a machine can also be improved by manually setting up a permanent swap file on a separate physical drive (this should only be attempted by advanced users). Screen Savers/Desktop Themes Disabling any third party Screen Savers or Desktop Themes may have an effect on improving system performance. Hard Drive Maintenance Ensure that your hard drive is working efficiently. This can be done using Scandisk (to check for damaged or corruption of the hard drive) and Defrag (to defragment the hard drive and possibly reduce load times). To access these utilities; Double click on 'My Computer' Right click on the hard drive you wish to check and select 'properties' from the menu that appears. When the drive properties window opens, click on the 'Tools' tab. To run Scandisk, click on the 'Check Now' icon under the heading 'Error Checking Status'. To run Defrag, click on the 'Defragment Now' icon under the heading 'Defragmentation Status'. TROUBLESHOOTING If a problem does occur, we recommend that you exit the game and restart Windows before attempting to run . again. If you are having trouble exiting the game, it can be done manually as follows Press the CONTROL, ALT and DELETE keys together. From the 'Close Program' menu that appears highlight the name Warrior Kings. Click on the 'End Task' icon. General Solutions If you are having problems running Warrior Kings, there are a number of things that you can initially try Manually Install DirectX DirectX may need to be reinstalled, see section (3) for details on how to do this. Reinstall Game Sometimes problems may have occurred during the installation of the game. Simply uninstalling Warrior Kings and then installing it once more can fix these problems. Close Other Programs Ensure that Warrior Kings is the only thing running. Check that Direct X Drivers are Certified See the relevant section for details on how to check that your video and sound card drivers are certified by Direct X. If they are not you may need to obtain the latest drivers from your cards manufacturer. Potential issues with DirectX 8 Installing DirectX may result in any manufacturers video card utilities being disabled. These utilities will no longer be accessible, and any options to change video settings etc. will revert back to the control of Windows (to access the display properties, right click the mouse over the Windows desktop and select 'Properties', from the Window that then opens select the 'Settings' tab to enter the 'Display Properties' screen). If after installing DirectX 8, you restart your machine and encounter problems (eg. a black screen is displayed rather than the Windows desktop) you may need to restore your old video card drivers. In order to see the Windows desktop to do this, start your machine in 'Safe Mode'. This can be done as follows Start your machine, and when the BIOS screen appears (a screen listing CPU type etc. in a table) press the F8 key. Your should now be met with the Windows Startup Menu. Select the Safe Mode option from this menu using the cursor keys and then press RETURN. Windows will start and you will be met with a message telling you that Windows is running in 'Safe Mode'. Press RETURN to continue loading Windows. Once Windows finished loading, press the right mouse button and select 'Properties' from the menu that appears. From the 'Display Properties' menu, choose the 'Settings' tab and then click on 'Advanced' (if you are using the original version of Windows, this will be named 'Change Display type'). From the new window that opens click on the 'Adapter' tab, then click on the 'Change…' icon (if using the original version of Windows, click on the 'Change' icon next to 'Adapter Type'). The installation process for adding video drivers will now begin, use the drivers originally supplied for your video card, and follow the manufacturers instructions. Changing Hardware If you change any of the hardware within your machine, you will need to reinstall DirectX again. This is to ensure that the new hardware is Direct X certified, as the drivers supplied with the hardware may not be. Checking Certification In order to ensure that Warrior Kings works correctly on your machine, you will need to have your video and display drivers certified by Direct X (for details of what certification means see the section 'Certification' below). If you encounter any problems running the game, the first thing to check is that your video and sound cards are certified, this can be done as follows Open the Start menu by clicking on the START icon at the bottom left of the screen, from here click on the 'Run' option. A window titled 'Run' will open, in the box labelled 'Open:' type in the following; C:\PROGRAM FILES\DIRECTX\SETUP\DXDIAG.EXE A window titled 'DirectX Diagnostic Tool' should now be open. If this window does not open, you may not have DirectX6 installed, see above for details on how to install it from the CD. If the window does appear there are a number of things that can be checked. Video Driver Certification Click on the 'Display' or 'Display 1' tab at the top of the 'DirectX Diagnostic Tool' window. From the screen that appears, you can find out the name of your video card, the amount of memory it has and you can also test its 2D (DirectDraw) and 3D (Direct3D) features. To check certification, under the heading 'Drivers' the 'Certified :' heading should be accompanied by Yes. Also, under the 'Notes' heading the first line should say 'No driver problems found'. If this is not the case on your system, then you may need to obtain new video card drivers from your manufacturer. A list of Internet sites where drivers can be found is listed below under 'Video Cards'. Sound Driver Certification Click on the 'Sound' tab at the top of the 'DirectX Diagnostic Tool' window. On the screen that appears, under the heading 'Driver' it will say whether it is certified (Yes or No) whilst under the heading 'Notes' the first line should read 'No driver problems found'. If this is not the case on your system then you will need to obtain new sound card drivers from your manufacturer. A list of Internet sites where drivers can be found is listed below under 'Sound Cards'. Certification If a driver is 'certified' by DirectX, it means that it has been tested by Microsoft for full compatibility with the latest version of DirectX. Uncertified drivers have not been tested by Microsoft, and although they may still run DirectX games, it is not guaranteed. In order to guarantee full compatibility with current software, every driver should be certified (this typically applies to sound and video card drivers). Direct Media Direct Media is required to view the games introduction. If you are not seeing the rendered introduction upon starting the game you may not have Direct Media on your machine. Direct Media can be installed by reinstalling . and answering YES when asked if you wish to install Direct Media. Check the websites for the latest information WWW.warriorkings.com www.Blackcactus.com Please report any bugs to bugs@blackcactus.com