°°±±²²ÛÛ "BLAKE STONE: ALIENS OF GOLD" v2.1 ON-DISK TECHNICAL SUPPORT ÛÛ²²±±°° Copyright 1993/1994 Apogee Software, Ltd / Jam Productions P.O. Box 496389 þ Garland, TX 75049 þ Hints line: (214) 278-5655 Game designed by JAM Productions, Inc. =================== SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS =================== þ Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold requires a minimum of a 386SX/25 computer, with 528k of free conventional memory, and MS-DOS v5.0+. Blake Stone also supports EMS & XMS for data storage, and is recommended due to greater game speed if EMS/XMS are used. The Sound Blaster & Sound Blaster Pro sound cards are also optionally supported. ======================== BEFORE RUNNING THIS GAME ======================== þ This game is not designed to be run under MicroSoft Windows. Windows takes up far too many system resources that our programs require for efficient and proper operation. When running this program, DO NOT LAUNCH FROM WINDOWS. Run it directly from DOS. If you are in the Windows environment, quit Windows and then run the program. (NOTE: Using the MS/DOS Icon does not exit you from Windows. That is a shell from Windows. You need to completely close down the Program Manager to totally exit from Windows.) þ Any kind of menu program such as Dos Shell will most likely cause problems. We recommend running our programs completely from the DOS prompt. To test this, enter the word "exit". If nothing at all happens, then you are completely at the dos prompt, and not "shelled" from anything else. If you type exit, and return to another program (such as Windows or the MS/DOS Shell), then you need to completely exit the program that you returned to before attempting to run Blake Stone. þ Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold (v2.1) requires MS/DOS 5.0 or greater. Any previous version of DOS may be sufficient in order to run the game. The chief reason behind this requirement is that these older versions of DOS are sometimes incapable of providing enough conventional memory in order to execute Blake Stone. þ Blake Stone (v2.1) REQUIRES 540,000 bytes of free conventional memory in order to execute properly. See the section on "How do I make more memory available?" later on in this document for more help in this area. þ The music in this game is Adlib music, and all game play sounds are Sound Blaster digitized effects. An example of the digitized effects are the door noises, your weapons firing, and the various speech from the people you'll meet in the game. þ Attention Acer/Acros owners! Apogee had a problem right after the release of v1.0 of this game where Acer (and similar) computers would lock up when attempting to run the game. In version 1.0 this was solved by the use of the "NONG" parameter. THIS IS NO LONGER USED IN VERSION 2.1! This problem has been fixed, and this parameter is no longer even in the game. If you use it, nothing will be harmed, but the NONG parameter no longer exists. ========================= BLAKE STONE DETAILED HELP ========================= þ If the game crashes with a $81-03 error, then you need to check a few lines in your CONFIG.SYS file. The values listed here may or may not be in your file. If they are not, you will need to add them. If they are in the file, but the values are less than what is stated here, they will need to be altered to match what is here. If they are greater than the values listed here, then you can just leave what you have alone. The four lines are: FILES=30 BUFFERS=30 STACKS=9,256 FCBS=16,0 If, for some reason, the errors still occur after you've added these things to your file, try changing the FILES=20 to FILES=99. If you are unfamiliar or are unsure on how to make these changes, please consult your DOS manual, the assistance you'll need for this procedure is there. þ If the game crashes with an error that reads "Can't open MAPTEMP.BS1 (It could also be MAPTEMP.BS6 if you have the registered version)", you will need to check the values of a few lines in your CONFIG.SYS file. The values listed here may or may not be in your file. If they are not, you will need to add them. If they are in the file, but the values are less than what is stated here, they will need to be altered to match what is here. If they are greater than the values listed here, then you can just leave what you have alone. The four lines are: FILES=30 BUFFERS=30 STACKS=9,256 FCBS=16,0 þ If the game crashes with any other error that begins with $81 or an $8F, this is usually the result of some sort of corruption of your copy, or a conflict with your upper memory manager. Try reinstalling your game, and if you're running on a compressed drive such as Stacker or DoubleSpace, try moving the game to an uncompressed drive, and playing without the compression driver loaded. You can also try running the game like this; it might help your problem.. BSTONE NOEMS NOXMS þ If the game crashes with any one of the following errors, it means your SET BLASTER line is set up improperly. Run the supplied utility program called SETBLAST.EXE for assistance in properly setting this up. The errors to watch out for here are: $9104, $9105, and $9106. þ If, when you start the game, you get the error screen saying that you have insufficient memory in order to play the game, go to the "How do I make more memory available?" section later on in this document. There is help for this issue there. If, however, you are running DR-DOS, then there is a separate issue to be addressed. DR-DOS preallocates 64k of conventional memory to any .EXE file that it believes to be compressed. Since the Main Blake Stone executable file *IS* compressed, DR-DOS is allocating 64k of conventional memory from whatever you have to begin with, almost certainly leaving you with insufficient memory in order to play the game. There is a fix for this available from Novell. You need to contact Novell and obtain "DR-DOS Patch 326". This will optionally allow you to eliminate the preallocation that DR-DOS is doing. At the time of the writing of this document, Novell DOS 7 was not released, and we do not have any idea if this will still apply to that version of DOS. Check with Novell for more information. This patch is available in several places online as well. þ Software Creations BBS -> 1-508-368-7036 with filename DRDOS326.ZIP þ Novell BBS -> 1-408-649-3443 with filename PATCH326.ZIP þ Internet -> Email "drdos@novell.com" þ CompuServe -> GO NOVLIB, File Area 12, Filename PAT326.EXE þ America Online -> Do keyword search for "DR-DOS", and get filename PAT326.ZIP. þ If you're playing the game, and it locks up when loading a level, (or locks up at any other time), there are a few things that you can try to resolve this problem. First, try running the game using the NOEMS NOXMS parameters. See the section on "Command Line Parameters" for more detailed information on how to do this. Another idea here would be to check your sound card settings. þ Not all clone sound cards properly emulate the Creative Labs Sound Card. This program was written for a Creative Labs Sound card, and functions properly on all Creative Labs cards. During the testing of this game, it was made to work on these following cards with very little effort. They are: Pro Audio Spectrum 16 and the Gravis UltraSound Card. Other clone cards should work, but if you're having problems, make sure to run the SETBLAST.EXE program, as it sets up an environment variable in your system that is required for proper execution. We get a lot of questions from people wanting to know why they have to use this if they don't have a Sound Blaster. Well, it's simple. This command has NOTHING to do with what type of card you use. Apogee games that use digitized sounds expect a sound card to be at specific settings. If they are not, then the game needs to be told where to send it's sound output to. The way to do this is with the environment variable BLASTER. Apogee has provided a program with this archive called SETBLAST.EXE. This will assist in properly setting up the SET BLASTER line in your autoexec.bat file. There is online documentation explaining this further. Consult that documentation for more assistance. þ If you are having lockup problems, or sound problems, you can run the supplied utility program called SETBLAST.EXE. This program will check your system's sound settings, and ensure that they are properly set. This program will let you pick IRQ's, DMA's and port addresses until you get one that is correct. When you get one that is correct (the program will alert you if what you are trying to use is incorrect), it will modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file by placing the correct SET BLASTER line at the end. Once you have quit the SETBLAST.EXE program, you need to reboot your computer, and then your sound problems should go away. An improperly set sound card can often cause system lockups. þ If your IRQ is set to 10, you will not get proper sound performance, and your computer may also lock up. Blake Stone requires that your IRQ be set at 7 or less. IRQ10 is a 16 bit sound IRQ, and since the sounds that Blake Stone makes are 8 bit, IRQ10 is unusable. Please run the SETBLAST.EXE program for some more detailed assistance in properly setting up your sound card. þ If you are running a Compaq computer, and the game tells you that you do not have a VGA card, and you know for a fact that you do, or you experience lockups, this is what you'll need to do. You'll need to contact Compaq for an update. The reason for this is that Compaq has some video cards that do not conform to all proper detection methods. There is a device driver available from Compaq that will fix this problem. The driver's name is FINDVGA.SYS. Compaq does have this file available for download on their BBS with the filename SP0117.ZIP. þ If you notice the game running slowly on your system, here are a few suggestions on improving game performance. ¯ Disable your disk cache. Blake Stone does it's own internal caching, and sometimes external caches such as SmartDrive can get in the way, and slow things down. ¯ Try disabling the ceiling and floor textures during game play. This can be done by using the [C] & [F] keys respectively. ¯ Reduce the window size. You can do this during game play by pressing F5 or from the OPTIONS menu under CONTROL. ¯ Increase the amount of free memory your system has before running the game. See "How do I make more conventional memory available?" ¯ If you are a Sound Blaster or compatible sound card user, try disabling the Digitized sounds. Press F4 during game play to bring up the sound menu, or use the "SOUND" menu under "GAME OPTIONS" when in the menu system. ¯ If you are an AdLib or compatible sound card user, try disabling the Background Music. Press F4 during game play to bring up the sound menu, or use the "SOUND" menu under "GAME OPTIONS" when in the menu system. =================================== BLAKE STONE COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS =================================== þ There are a few command line parameters you can try to use to help other things that might turn up when playing the game. A command line parameter is something that you type on the command line after the name of the program you're running. The /NOJOYS switch will be used as an example. To use that one, you would need to start the game like this... BSTONE NOJOYS (or BSTONE -NOJOYS, or BSTONE /NOJOYS) The command line parameters for Blake Stone are stackable, which means that you can use more than one at a time, if you need to. An example of a stacked set of command line parameters would look like this... BSTONE NOJOYS NOMOUSE Here is a list of the common command line parameters you can use with Blake Stone, and what they are used for. VERSION ¯ Displays the compile date and version of your copy of Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold. SYSTEM ¯ Displays and other information technical information about your system. This is primarily used if you would need to contact Technical Support. If you do contact Technical Support, please have this information ready. This shows such information as if the game detects a mouse, a joystick, etc. Please note that the memory available figure here IS NOT the amount of conventional memory you have available on your computer. This figure is only how much is left over after the game has been loaded. If you need to know your conventional memory figure, go to DOS and execute the "MEM" command. The figure you're looking for will be in the "Largest Executable Program Size" line. NOEMS ¯ Used to disable checking for EMS memory. Useful in helping to solve memory manager conflicts. Is almost always used in tandem with the NOXMS switch. NOXMS ¯ Used to disable checking for XMS memory. Useful in helping to solve memory manager conflicts. Is almost always used in tandem with the NOEMS switch. NOJOYS ¯ Disable Joystick detection. If for some reason the game is moving you in one direction, and you can't get it to go any other way, it might mean the game thinks you have a joystick, when you don't. When using the "SYSTEM" parameter, if the program detects a joystick and you don't have one, use this parameter. NOMOUSE ¯ Disable mouse detection. This will disable the use of your system's mouse during game play. HIDDENCARD ¯ This switch overrides the video card detection routines if the program seems to be improperly detecting your video card and not letting you play the game. NOAL ¯ This will turn off detection of an Adlib sound card, and will essentially prevent you from hearing any of the background music. (You will be unable to turn on background music from the game menus if you use this parameter.) NOSB ¯ This will turn off detection of a Sound Blaster card. This parameter will essentially cease any digitized sounds from being generated from the game. (You will be unable to select any digitized sounds in the game menus when you use this parameter.) NOPRO ¯ This will disable the stereo effect of the game. If you are running a Sound Blaster Pro or 16 card, you will get the benefit of stereo sounds, and depth sounds. What this means is that a character further down the hallway will not sound as loud as a character standing right in front of you. If you wish to have all the characters speak at the same volume, use this parameter. ENABLEGP ¯ If you are attempting to run Blake Stone on a laptop, and are having problems with your gameport detection, use this parameter. NOTE TO ACER OWNERS -> Do not use this parameter on your computer, as it will lock up your computer! If you had version 1.0 of Blake Stone, and had to use the NONG parameter, you do NOT want to use this. The NONG parameter is not in v2.1 of Blake Stone. If you had to use NONG in v1.0, and you use ENABLEGP on v2.1, you will lock up your computer. Do not use this parameter unless you know for sure you need it. NOSS ¯ Disable checking for the Disney Sound Source. If you have one of these products, and are having problems, this parameter may be useful in tracking down problems. SST ¯ Disable checking for the Tandy Sound Source. SS1 ¯ Disable checking for the Sound Source on LPT1 SS2 ¯ Disable checking for the Sound Source on LPT2 SS3 ¯ Disable checking for the Sound Source on LPT3 ==================================== HOW DO I MAKE MORE MEMORY AVAILABLE? ==================================== If Blake Stone returns a message that says you do not have enough memory to run the game, or the program behaves erratically when it is executed, you will need to make more conventional memory available. We get a lot of questions like "I have 8 meg of memory, what do you mean I need more memory?" If this sounds like a question you might ask, then read the section called "The 640k barrier". There are virtually millions of ways a config.sys file can be arranged to provide memory, and you'd be reading this document forever if we tried to explain them all, so we'll just give you one simple example that will work. It is a simple setup, and will provide you with enough memory in order to run the game. Furthermore, there are also several versions of DOS out there. We will provide examples that use MS/DOS commands. If your version of DOS is not MS/DOS, you would need to use the appropriate substitute commands for the MS/DOS counterparts. If you are unfamiliar with editing your configuration files, or are uneasy about it, get a friend of yours that is familiar with the procedure to help, or check your DOS manual on how to use the Text (ASCII) editor that comes with your version of DOS. SAMPLE CONFIG.SYS ----------------- DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM DOS=HIGH,UMB DEVICE=C:\DOS\DRVSPACE.SYS /MOVE The fourth line should only be used if you're using MS/DOS's DriveSpace utility. (That would also most likely be the place you have a Stacker, SuperStor, or other some disk compression driver). Other things that would go in here would be sound drivers (SoundBlaster 16, Pro Audio Spectrum 16, etc..). SAMPLE AUTOEXEC.BAT ------------------- @echo off SET BLASTER=Aw Ix Dy Tz LH C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM You would only put the mouse line in there if you use the mouse to play the game, and you would only use the SET BLASTER line if you are playing with a sound card. See the supplied SETBLAST.EXE program for more assistance on setting up your SET BLASTER line. If you do not have a sound card, then the SET BLASTER line, and the SETBLAST.EXE program are not needed. If you are running MicroSoft DOS v6.0 or later, you can also try this to get your game running. When you start your system, you will see a message that says "Starting MS/DOS". If you press the F5 key during this time, you will get a message that says "MS-DOS is bypassing your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT" files. This is what's more commonly known as "booting clean", since you've bypassed your system startup files. At this point, you can change to the directory you've installed Blake Stone to, and the game should run fine. If you do find that you need some sort of modified config.sys and autoexec.bat files in order to run this game, you might wish to explore what is about to be said. Later revisions of DOS (MS/DOS 6.x+, and DR-DOS 6+) have built into them the capabilities of "Multiple Boot Configurations". If you are familiar with these procedures, it will be a snap to do. If you are unfamiliar, you need to consult your DOS manual. The process varies greatly from computer to computer depending on how you have your system set up, so this will not be explained here. However, the time spent learning this procedure from your DOS manual will benefit you greatly elsewhere, in addition to this game. If you are running DR-DOS, then there is a separate issue to be addressed. DR-DOS preallocates 64k of conventional memory to any .EXE file that it believes to be compressed. Since the Main Blake Stone executable file IS compressed, DR-DOS is allocating 64k of conventional memory from whatever you have to begin with, almost certainly leaving you with insufficient memory in order to play the game. There is a fix for this available from Novell. You need to contact Novell and obtain "DR-DOS Patch 326". This will optionally allow you to eliminate the preallocation that DR-DOS is doing. This issue was more of a factor in v1.0 of Blake Stone, but may still apply for v2.1 depending on how you have your system configured. This patch is available in several places online as well. þ Software Creations BBS -> 1-508-368-7036 with filename DRDOS326.ZIP þ Novell BBS -> 1-408-649-3443 with filename PATCH326.ZIP þ Internet -> Email "drdos@novell.com" þ CompuServe -> GO NOVLIB, File Area 12, Filename PAT326.EXE þ America Online -> Do keyword search for "DR-DOS", and get filename PAT326.ZIP. This document does not pretend to be your DOS manual, but it does give you a basic explanation as to why you may not have enough memory in order to run a program of ours. If you are still having trouble getting this program to run after attempting the steps outlined above, you need to consult your DOS manual on "How to make more conventional memory" available. Your DOS manual has far more exhaustive examples on how to do this than we could possibly document here. Apogee Technical Support is unable to assist beyond what is documented here. If you are still having trouble getting the program to run, it is not a fault of our game, it is a limitation of DOS. Please check your DOS manual, or call MicroSoft's Technical Support Department. ================ THE 640K BARRIER ================ This section isn't actually needed in order to get our programs running. What is contained in here is for the most part background information to better assist our customers in understanding why they need to make more conventional memory available. When MicroSoft first made DOS 1.0, 640 kilobytes (KB) was set aside as the highest amount of memory that a computer could have. The 640KB of memory is what is called "conventional memory". To maintain compatibility with older versions, this was never changed. Advances in memory management have made access to memory beyond 640KB, but this memory can only hold data; the program actually has to run in the first 640KB. This first 640k is called "Conventional Memory". Here is a brief discussion of the different types of memory available on your computer. The most important one is Conventional memory. þ CONVENTIONAL MEMORY starts at 0k and normally ends at 640k. (The cases where this is not the case are EXTREMELY rare) If you are not using some sort of memory manager (such as DOS's EMM386, Quarterdeck's QEMM, or Qualitas' 386MAX), this is the only type of memory you have. Conventional memory is used by DOS as well as device drivers and TSR's (Terminate and Stay Resident Programs). A TSR is a program that is loaded into your computer's memory (usually from the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files) and stays there. Most programs remove themselves from memory after execution, a TSR does not. Device drivers and TSR's are programs that enable the computer to use additional hardware such as a mouse, scanner, CD-ROM, expanded or extended memory, etc. A program such as an Apogee game is NOT a program that can be loaded as a TSR. If all you have is conventional memory, anything that you would load as a TSR would come out of this section of memory. Take too much away, and you're not left over with enough memory to run our product. If you are getting an out of memory error from our program, it is this memory that you are running out of. Whether you have 1 meg, 8 meg of memory, or 32 meg of memory, it's irrelevant. Only the first 640k of memory is available for program execution. Please do not confuse this with hard drive space. Your hard drive space is not memory, and is not relevant nor should be considered in this example. þ UPPER MEMORY starts at 640k and ends at 1024k. Normally, this area is used for things such as system ROM, video and hardware cards, and the like. On most PC's hardware does not use the entire upper memory area, and with the use of the aforementioned memory managers, (EMM386, QEMM, 386MAX, etc.) you can move some TSR's into this memory area. These unused areas are called Upper Memory Blocks (UMB'S), and this where some TSR's can be loaded. þ EXTENDED MEMORY (XMS) is the memory addressed above 1024k. Extended memory requires the use of a memory manager, such as MS/DOS's HIMEM.SYS. This region of memory is not usable for standard program execution; it can only be used for data storage. Apogee programs that use this type of memory (such as Wolfenstein & Blake Stone), only use this to store level or graphic data. The actual program itself is running in conventional memory. þ HIGH MEMORY AREA (HMA) is the first 64k of extended memory. This is a special region of memory that is most commonly used to load DOS high. When you issue the DOS=HIGH command in your config.sys file, the amount of conventional memory that was previously being occupied by DOS itself is moved into this region. þ EXPANDED MEMORY (EMS) is another type of memory that some MS/DOS programs can make use of. Like XMS, this memory is not available for program execution, it's only used for data storage due to it's nature. An explanation of this type of memory is rather technical, so it will not be delved into here. If you're curious, check your DOS manual, or your memory manager manual. When you first start up your computer, there are two files that your computer looks at: CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. These two files contain lists of device drivers and TSR's that are automatically run when starting your computer. Each of these takes up space, and it is taken away from the 640k of conventional memory. As more and more programs are loaded from the autoexec.bat and config.sys files, you have less and less available from the original 640k. Since it is this memory that programs run in, you can see that the amount taken away from the programs executed in config.sys and autoexec.bat would want to be kept to a minimum. This can be accomplished by either reducing the amount of programs loaded in from config.sys and autoexec.bat, or moving them to high memory via the use of EMM386, QEMM, 386MAX, or some other memory management program. ============================ CONTACTING TECHNICAL SUPPORT ============================ Apogee thanks you very much for playing our games. Customer satisfaction is a high priority of Apogee's, and we strive to please everyone. Our Technical Support staff is available to assist all of our customers in solving any technical problems that may be experienced. Our Technical Support Department is available to answer your questions Monday through Friday during the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. Central Standard Time. The phone number for the Tech Support Department is (214) 278-5655. However, the voice line isn't your only channel of contact. We are also reachable via a fax machine at (214) 278-4670, (24 Hours a Day) or you can write to us. Our mailing address is: Apogee Software POB 496389 Garland, TX 75049-6389 United States of America Apogee Technical Support can also be contacted via a variety of electronic medium. Several major online services are monitored, and Apogee's E-Mail addresses are listed below. Also, a variety of Bulletin Board networks are monitored as well, and those are also listed. If you do contact our Technical Support department, please be at your computer, and have it ready for assistance. If you can't be at your computer, please have printouts of the following things available, so that we may assist you better. It may be possible do provide technical support without these things, but it will be much more difficult. The needed files are CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT, plus what happens when you execute the "MEM /C" command (or just MEM if you get an error using MEM /C). þ Major Online Services America Online -> APOGEE CompuServe -> 74200,553 Delphi -> APOGEE Genie -> APOGEE Prodigy -> CXVP94A FidoNet -> 1:124/9006 Internet -> joe.siegler@swcbbs.com þ Bulletin Board Networks There are several BBS networks that are monitored for Apogee messages. Our Online Support Representative monitors all of the following BBS networks. Fidonet, Relaynet (Rime), Intelec, Ilink, U'NI-Net, Smartnet, & City2City. All of these BBS networks have Games, Shareware, and Apogee conferences. And of course, we can be reached on Software Creations, the Apogee BBS! [ END OF FILE ]