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1996-12-20
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---------------TABLE OF CONTENTS---------------
SECTION 1 - HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS DEMO
SECTION 2 - ABOUT THIS DEMO
SECTION 3 - SETUP PROCEDURES
A. MS-DOS
B. WINDOWS 95
SECTION 4 - COMMON SETUP AND CONFIGURATION PROBLEMS
A. SOUND
SECTION 5 - BEFORE RUNNING THIS DEMO
SECTION 6 - TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS
A. MEMORY
B. VIDEO
C. SOUND
D. PERIPHERALS
SECTION 7 - CREATING A BOOT DISK
SECTION 8 - THREE WAYS TO PLAY FROM AN MS-DOS PROMPT
A. MS-DOS 6.22
B. MS-DOS MODE
C. MS-DOS PROMPT OF WINDOWS 95
SECTION 9 - IF YOU STILL HAVE PROBLEMS...
SECTION 1 - HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS DEMO
IBM PC-compatible computer
Pentium 90 MHz processor or higher
8 MB RAM
2 MB of uncompressed hard disk space
(not including 5 MB for downloaded files and 9.5 MB for decompressed files)
16-bit high-color SVGA video card with VBE 2.0 compatibility
100% Sound Blaster 16 compatible sound card
Microsoft MS-DOS 6.22, Windows 3.1x, or Windows 95 operating system
Gravis MultiPort is supported (for two-player fun!)
SECTION 2 - ABOUT THIS DEMO
Here is some important information that you should know before you
set up and start playing the Blast Chamber Demo.
The game requires at least 2 MB of UN-compressed free hard disk space.
Blast Chamber Demo will not work properly using compressed hard disk
space (such as Stacker and DoubleSpace).
Blast Chamber requires MS-DOS 6.22 or later. Other operating systems
(e.g., OS/2 Warp and Windows NT) are not supported.
Although Blast Chamber might work just fine with them, we have not
tested thoroughly with them. If you have a problem using unsupported
operating systems, it is best to contact the operating system company
to try and work out compatibility issues.
Blast Chamber for MS-DOS requires that your system has a standard
VESA video driver. Please verify that you have one loaded before
launching Blast Chamber for MS-DOS.
SECTION 3 - SETUP PROCEDURES
A. ----------MS-DOS----------
(1) At the DOS prompt, log into the directory where you
have decompressed the Blast Chamber Demo (we assume you
decompressed the Blast Chamber Demo to the C:\BCHAMBER
directory).
(2) At the C:\BCHAMBER prompt, type SETUP and
press Enter.
(3) Follow the on-screen instructions carefully.
(4) When setup is complete, you will be given the choice
of starting the Demo or being returned to DOS. From DOS, to
begin playing the Blast Chamber Demo, type BLAST and press
Enter.
B. ----------WINDOWS 95----------
(1) Double-click on My Computer.
(2) Double-click on the hard drive where you decompressed the
Blast Chamber Demo (for these instructions, we assume
this is drive C:).
(3) Double-click on the folder where you decompressed the
Blast Chamber Demo (assuming you decompressed the Blast
Chamber Demo to the C:\BCHAMBER
directory).
(4) Look for the Setup.exe icon in the BCHAMBER folder.
Double-click on this icon to start the Blast Chamber Demo
Setup program, and follow the on-screen instructions.
(5) After setup is complete, you will be offered the
choice of playing the demo or exiting setup.
(6) To play the demo after it has been configured, double-click
on the My Computer icon. In the window that opens,
double-click on the icon for the hard disk drive where
Blast Chamber was decompressed. Look for the BCHAMBER
folder icon. Double-click on this icon to open the folder;
look for the BLAST.EXE icon and double click on it to
start the game.
If the above process does not work for you, click on the Start button,
choose Shutdown and restart the computer in MS-DOS mode. At the MS-DOS
Prompt, go to the directory where you decompressed Blast Chamber
and follow the MS-DOS instructions above.
NOTE: If your system came pre-installed with Windows 95, you may not
have the necessary MS-DOS drivers for your sound card to play the game.
Please contact your system manufacturer for these DOS drivers.
SECTION 4 - COMMON SETUP AND CONFIGURATION PROBLEMS
A. ----------SOUND----------
In order for Blast Chamber to run properly, you must correctly select
and set your sound device for digital audio. Selecting an incorrect
sound device or setting may cause Blast Chamber to lock up or play
with poor sound and choppy video. If you are unfamiliar with your
sound device and its settings, we recommend you let the installer auto-
detect your sound card.
Auto Detect feature will attempt to identify your digital sound
hardware and settings. Select "Attempt to configure sound driver
automatically" and proceed with the Auto Detection sequence.
The program has a list of sound cards and tries to match your
card to one on its list. If the card responds to the matching
process, then the card's name and the program's best
guess of its settings are displayed.
At this point, if you know the card it selected is wrong, read
further to find a solution to your problem. Otherwise, select YES for
"Test Sound Effect Driver?" If your Digital Sound Device
has been set correctly, you will hear an audible sound confirming
a successful match.
Some sound cards do not react well to the matching process and may
lock up your computer. If this happens, restart your system and try
the manual method for selecting your sound device.
Some sound cards can be mistaken for other cards. As such, the Auto
Detect may incorrectly identify a card and the Test will not provide
an audible sound indicating a successful match. In this case you
should try the manual method for selecting your sound device.
Here are a couple of methods to try and find out what your sound card
and the proper Port, IRQ and DMA settings are for your computer:
View your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files which are found at the
root directory of your hard drive (note: some Windows 95 users may not
have these files). Look at the lines that load the set
parameters of your sound card for clues to what the I/O Port (A220),
IRQ (I5) and DMA settings (D1) should be set to.
Also, for more clues type SET at a MS-DOS prompt and press Enter. Look
at the BLASTER = line. Record that information and use it to manually
detect your sound card.
NOTE: Many sound cards will pass the test when Sound Blaster is
selected, as many can emulate an 8-bit Sound Blaster. For best sound
quality, we recommend you select a sound device
that best matches your 16-bit sound card. We also recommend that you
always try to configure for 16-bit sound. Selecting 8-bit (e.g.
Soundblaster) will cause poor sound quality and may affect movie
playback speed.
SECTION 5 - BEFORE RUNNING THIS DEMO
When playing the Blast Chamber Demo, we strongly
recommend that you run under the following conditions:
Before playing, close all other applications and disable your
screen saver. We highly recommend running Blast Chamber
Demo as a stand-alone DOS application.
SECTION 6 - TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS
A. ----------MEMORY----------
Blast Chamber Demo requires a minimum of 8 MB of main memory (RAM).
On some machines, even if you have the required 8 MB of RAM,
Blast Chamber may report that you do not have enough free extended or
conventional memory.
During game start up, Blast Chamber will determine if there is
enough free memory to properly run. If it is determined that there is
not enough memory available, then the program will let you know how
much additional memory is needed. In many cases you may be able to
remove/disable only one or two TSRs (Terminate and Stay Resident
programs) or drivers that are not needed to run Blast Chamber, to make
this memory available.
You might also try disabling SMARTDRV, changing your CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT so that some of your drivers are loaded into conventional
rather than high memory or setting your EMM386 line to NOEMS. Since
these modifications affect your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files,
you should consider making these changes to CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files on a boot disk. See section on creating a boot
disk.
B. ----------VIDEO----------
This demo supports the VESA VBE standard for Super VGA graphics.
Many Super VGA Graphic cards are VESA VBE compatible at the hardware
level, requiring no special action on your part to get the game
running correctly.
If you are having video problems running this
demo, contact your video card manufacturer for assistance.
***Question***
I Have a Cirrus Logic video card. When I try to play the game I
receive scrambled video. What do I do?
***Answer***
Your card is most likely experiencing difficulties meeting the
VBE 2.0 mode required to play the game. Please contact your video
card manufacturer for assistance.
***Question***
I have a Trident video card and I can't get the game to start correctly
***Answer***
We suggest you try playing in MS-DOS Mode.
Please follow these instructions:
(1) There is a file named TRIVESA.EXE on our web site. It contains
updated video drivers which you require for the game to play. Our
web site is at http://www.activision.com/. Choose [Customer
Support] then [Downloads] to locate the file.
(2) After TRIVESA has been downloaded exit to DOS MODE.
(3) Type TRIVESA, from wherever it was downloaded to. If you do not
know where it is, go to DOS Mode type CD\ and press <Enter>, then
type DIR TRIVESA.* /s, and press <Enter>.
(4) Follow the instructions that occur after typing TRIVESA.
If after you still have problems, please contact Trident at
415-691-9211.
***Question***
I can not seem to get my ATI video card to support 2.0 VBE.
What should I do?
***Answer***
If you are unable to play in either the Windows 95 or DOS
modes, please contact ATI at (905) 882-2626.
The ATI cards have many different BIOS versions. Each BIOS version
does something a little different. Example: Some support VESA 2.0,
some just 1.2. Some older drivers work with WIN95 for our games,
while other newer ones may not, depending on the BIOS.
Using a program they supply, ATI can help find your card's specific
part number. ATI Customer Support can then use your part number
to find your card's BIOS. After the correct BIOS is determined, ATI
can determine the card's features and help troubleshoot your video
problems.
***Question***
I am experiencing slow game performance. What should I do?
***Answer***
We recommend playing in 320x200 resolution if you are
experiencing slow game performance. To change the resolution
setting in Windows, double-click the Setup.exe icon. In DOS,
type Setup at the C:\BCHAMBER> prompt (assuming you decompressed
the Blast Chamber Demo to the C:\BCHAMBER directory), select
"Resolution Setup" and select 320x200.
C. ----------SOUND----------
In order for Blast Chamber to run, your sound card must be configured
for digital sound. Please use the SETUP utility provided with the game.
In the PC environment, sound card detection and configuration is often
difficult process. Although many cards can be automatically detected
and configured, there are cases where this is not true. It is often
necessary to use a manual card selection (select a card manufacturer
and model) and configuration.(select I/O, DMA and IRQ). Because of the
complexity of some sound cards, it may be necessary to try several
options. ON SYSTEMS WITH A SCSI DISK CONTROLLER,
YOU SHOULD SKIP THE AUTO DETECTION ALTOGETHER.
You should always use the Test option to verify that a valid
configuration was selected.
It is often possible to determine the resources needed by your sound
card (resources include I/O address, DMA channel, and IRQ interrupt
number), either from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (if in DOS), or from the
SYSTEM utility (if in Windows 95).
To run SYSTEM utility from Windows 95, select Start, Settings,
Control Panel, then select System icon. When in the SYSTEM
control panel, select the Device Manager tab, select "Sound,
Video and Game Controllers", select your sound card,
and the Resources tab to see the settings for your sound card.
A typical entry in the CONFIG.SYS file would be as follows:
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 T4
This indicates I/O port 220, IRQ 5, and 5 for high DMA
(i.e.16-bit sound). Whenever possible use high DMA.
Many software configurable sound cards require that a separate utility
is run, before the card can be used. For example Sound Blaster 16
requires that the card is configured using the SB16SET utility.
Please refer to your sound card manual for the method used for your
card. IF YOU DO NOT CONFIGURE YOUR SOUND CARD
CORRECTLY, YOU MAY EXPERIENCE DMA OR IRQ
CONFLICTS WITH OTHER CONTROLLERS (E.G. NETWORK
CARDS WILL FAIL).
***Question***
My Program runs under MS-DOS but not under a Windows 95 DOS Prompt.
***Answer***
The DMA used for your sound card for DOS and DOS Prompt may be
different. You may have to reconfigure the sound card settings, by
typing SETUP from wherever you decompressed Blast Chamber to
(e.g. C:\BCHAMBER).
***Question***
My sound cards worked fine before I ran the Blast Chamber Setup
utility. Now they do not work.
***Answer***
On systems with two sound cards, it is not always possible to detect
both cards at the same time. Within the SETUP utility you should
configure your sound card using the manual mode (do not use Auto
Detect).
***Question***
I am using arrow keys to select the sound card and arrow keys to
select the resources, but the card still does not work.
***Answer***
You must press enter after you highlight the sound card name. Only
after that can you select resources for that card.
***Question***
On my Compaq machine the SETUP auto detects the card as Sound
Blaster, but I know that it is not correct.
***Answer***
Try to manually select ESS AudioDrive.
***Question***
I have an IBM Aptiva with a MWAVE card (i.e. sound/modem card). I am
getting choppy sound and video. What should I do?
***Answer***
We are sorry, but the Blast Chamber Demo, which utilizes the
Miles Sound System, does not support the MWAVE sound card.
Try turning sound OFF in Setup.exe by selecting "None"
for Sound FX.
***Question***
I have a Packard Bell and have no sound when playing the MS-DOS demo
of Blast Chamber. What should I do?
***Answer***
Please use the mixer utility provided by Packard Bell. Follow the
instructions listed below for volume control settings.
(1) From DOS Mode prompt type CD\SOUND144\UTILITY and press <Enter>.
SOUND144 can be replaced with FORTE16 or SOUND16A depending on
the sound card you have.
(2) Type MIXTSR and press <Enter>
(3) Hold down the ALT key while you press the / key. (This will
activate a menu.)
These will be your options:
TAB = Moves your selection choice to the next device to manage.
Right arrow = Turns the volumes up.
Left arrow = Turns the volumes down.
S = Save
E = Exit
Once you are finished choosing your settings in the volume control area
follow the next 2 steps.
(1) Type CD\BCHAMBER and press <Enter>
(2) Type BLAST and press <Enter>
D. ----------PERIPHERALS----------
***Question***
I am experiencing difficulty in selecting options and controlling the
onscreen player with my gamepad.
***Answer***
The gamepad may not have been configured properly. Exit Blast
Chamber Demo. Ensure that the gamepad is securely plugged in.
In Windows, double-click the Setup.exe icon (or in DOS, type
SETUP at the C:\BCHAMBER> prompt), select "Control Setup"
and follow instructions for configuration. Make sure that you have
installed the gamepad manufacturer's drivers for DOS (not just
for Windows); refer to the instructions that came with the
gamepad or contact the gamepad manufacturer.
SECTION 7 - CREATING A BOOT DISK
If you experience problems playing Blast Chamber or receive messages
telling that you do not have enough memory to play. You will probably
need to create a Boot Disk. A Boot Disk lets your machine boot from a
floppy disk and will not load memory-extensive programs, freeing more
memory up for Blast Chamber. These instructions assume that you are
in MSDOS, not in Windows 95.
Step 1: Place a diskette in your A: drive. The next step will erase any
data on the disk, so a new, blank floppy disk should be used. Make sure
that the disk is the same density as the drive (use a 1.44 MB disk in a
High Density 3.5" drive, etc.).
Step 2: At the C: prompt, type FORMAT A: /S and press Enter. The DOS
Format utility will format the disk and add the necessary DOS files
required to boot from the floppy disk.
Step 3: Change to drive A by typing A: and pressing Enter. Then type
EDIT CONFIG.SYS and press Enter. The DOS Editor program will appear.
Type in the lines
following [CONFIG.SYS] in the example below. When you are finished
typing the lines, press ALT-F to bring up the File menu, and then
type X to Exit the DOS Editor program. When it asks you if you want
to save your file, choose Yes.
[CONFIG.SYS]
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM. SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=40
BUFFERS=15,0
STACKS=9,256
(Optional: insert your VESA driver line here)
In the CONFIG.SYS file shown above, replace the last line in the
example with the line from your current CONFIG.SYS file on
drive C:, if your graphics card requires a VESA driver.
Step 4: Type EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT and press Enter. The DOS Editor
program will appear.
Type in the lines,
like the [AUTOEXEC.BAT] example below.
When you are finished typing the lines, press ALT-F to bring up the
File menu, and then type X to exit the DOS Edit program. When it asks
you if you want to save your file, choose Yes.
[AUTOEXEC.BAT]
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $P$G
(Insert your PATH statement here)
SET SOUND=C:\SB 16
SET BLASTER=A220 15 D1 H5 P330 T6
C:\SB I6\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\SB 16SET /P /Q
SETMIDI=SYNTH:I MAP:E
C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.EXE
CD\BCHAMBER
BLAST
In the AUTOEXEC.BAT file shown above, you would replace the third line
with the SET PATH command from your current AUTOEXEC.BAT
file on drive C:.
You may also have special lines in your C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file that
help your sound card to function properly. It is very important that
you copy those lines into this new file on A: so your sound card can
work.
Replace the examples on lines 4 through 8 with the appropriate lines
from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
If you do not know which line from your current AUTOEXEC.BAT
are for your sound card, you should
contact the hardware manufacturer of the item in question.
Line 9 which loads your mouse driver is only an example. The command
to load your mouse driver is most likely different than our example.
Replace line 9 with the command that loads your mouse driver. Note
that the mouse driver is not needed for the Blast Chamber Demo, since
the mouse is not used by the demo. So you could leave this line out
entirely.
Step 5: Leave the disk in the drive and reboot your system. The demo
should start and everything should be working properly.
NOTE: Some systems require special steps in order to boot from a floppy
disk. If you are not in the Blast Chamber directory after attempting to
boot from the floppy, contact the system manufacturer to learn what
steps must be taken to start from a boot disk.
SECTION 8 - THREE WAYS TO PLAY FROM AN MS-DOS PROMPT
The demo version of Blast Chamber can run from a DOS prompt or from
Windows 95 (assuming that your Windows 95 system is configured
properly). With today's PC compatible systems, there are three ways to get
to the DOS prompt:
A. ----------MS-DOS 6.22----------
Booting into DOS 6.22 (also called by Windows 95 "Previous version of
MS-DOS" ). This is a good method to run Blast Chamber, and
it is the only way on a system without Windows 95. On systems with
Windows 95 you may be able to select this mode, during booting process,
by pressing the F8 key. Depending on the method used to install Windows
95, this option may not be available.
Advantage: Avoids potential conflicts between Windows 95 display &
sound drivers and the DOS drivers used by the Blast
Chamber demo. SETUP works reliably.
Disadvantage: On systems with Windows 95, your 16-bit CD-ROM and
Mouse drivers may not be installed (CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files may have to be updated). But
remember that the Blast Chamber Demo doesn't use the
CD or the mouse.
B. ---------MS-DOS MODE----------
Boot into DOS 7.0, by clicking the START button, then choosing SHUTDOWN.
Now choose RESTART THE COMPUTER IN MS-DOS MODE.
Advantage: Avoids potential conflicts between Windows 95 display &
sound drivers and the DOS drivers used by the Blast Chamber
game. SETUP works reliably.
Disadvantage: On systems with Windows 95, your "old style DOS" CD-ROM
and Mouse drivers may not be installed, and you may
have to find and load 16-bit drivers in order to be able
to access the CD-ROM drive, or the mouse. But remember
that the Blast Chamber Demo doesn't use the CD or mouse.
C. ----------MS-DOS PROMPT OF WINDOWS 95----------
To use the MS-DOS prompt of Windows 95, click the START button, then
choose PROGRAMS. Now choose MS-DOS Prompt.
Advantage: Guarantees that the CD-ROM driver and the Mouse driver are
available (without a need to load older 16-bit drivers).
The Virtual Memory available to Windows can also be used
by the game (this improves performance of the game on
machines with more than 8 MB of RAM).
Disadvantage: It is often impossible to do automatic sound card
detection, since Windows intercepts all of the I/O and IRQ
requests, and returns unpredictable results to the
auto-detection software. Even after manual setup, there
is a potential for DMA or IRQ conflicts between the
resources allocated by the Windows 95 Resource Manager,
and the resources detected by the DOS setup program.
On some systems (we have seen this on an HP machine) the
VESA BIOS calls are not supported in the DOS Box
(i.e. They are supported in MS-DOS MODE).
SECTION 9 - IF YOU STILL HAVE PROBLEMS...
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about the
Blast Chamber Demo or any other Activision product, please feel free
to contact us. Before contacting Customer Support, please
consult this Blast Chamber Help file. It contains the answers to
some of our most frequently asked questions and may quickly
provide a solution to your problem. If, after reviewing this
Blast Chamber Help file, you are still experiencing problems,
please feel free to contact us through any of the services
listed. So that we can better help you, please be at your
computer and have the following information ready:
1. Complete product title (Blast Chamber Demo for DOS).
2. Exact error message reported (if any) and a brief description
of the problem.
3. Your computer's processor type and speed (e.g. 486DX2/66,
Pentium 90...)
4. Video and sound card makes and models (e.g. Diamond Stealth 64
video, Sound Blaster 16 sound...)
Online Services
---------------
Internet E-mail:
support@activision.com
World Wide Web:
http://www.activision.com
Services with Activision Forums, E-Mail and File Library Support:
America Online: Use keyword "Activision" to locate the Activision
forum.
CompuServe: 76004,2122 or [GO GAMBPUB]
Activision BBS: 310-479-1335 Up to 28,800 baud; Settings: 8 Bits,
No Parity, 1 Stop Bit (8, N, 1)
North America
-------------
In the U.S. Fax:
310-479-7355, 24 hours a day
FaxBack:
310-473-6453, 24 hours a day
Mail:
Activision
Customer Support
P.O. Box 67713
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Phone:
Call our 24-hour voice-mail system for answers to our most
frequently asked questions at 310-479-5644.
In the UK and Europe
----------------------
Activision
Long Island House, 3A
1/4 Warple Way
London, W3 ORQ
United Kingdom.
Technical Support: 0990-143-525
Customer Service: 0181-742-9400
You can contact UK Customer Service between the hours of
1:00pm and 5:00pm (UK Time) Monday through Friday (except
holidays).
In Australia and the Pacific Rim
--------------------------------
Activision Australia and Pacific Rim
P.O. Box 873
Epping, NSW 2121
Australia
Technical Support: 1902 962 000
SECTION 10 - JUST FOR FUN
If you read all the way down here, you deserve a small
reward. You can take screen shots of Blast Chamber
Demo (suitable for making wallpaper or anything you
like). During the game, hit F1. This feature will pause the
game, take a snapshot, and save it in C:\BCHAMBER
as a targa file. It can then be opened using a standard
image reader.