CotN uses a unique font called Avery Standard. If the text in the game appears as Arial and seems too large, you may need to copy the file Avery Standard.ttf into your \Windows\Fonts directory. (\Avery Standard.ttf) After copying the file you may need to restart your computer for Windows to detect Avery Standard properly.
DirectX 9.0b is required to run the Children of the Nile. If you do not have at least DirectX 9.0b installed, DirectX 9.0c can be installed from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0A9B6820-BFBB-4799-9908-D418CDEAC197&displaylang=en
The following settings are recommended for the best balance between performance and viewing. They may be adjusted from the Game Settings options on the opening menu.
*Important* Run the game in 32 bit color (Color depth changes may require the game to be restarted to take affect)
Close all other applications.
Run the game in 1024x768.
Lowering the resolution to 800x600 increases performance on some low end systems.
Pentium 4 and 'high end' machines may run the game at resolutions of 1600x1200 or higher. (Maximum resolution is determined by what your video card and monitor can support).
Lower end machines, including the minimum system, should play at the default game speed of 1.0. Performance problems may occur at higher speeds on lower end systems.
The following video settings may also be adjusted in the game from the Game Settings menu to improve performance:
Deselect Hi-Res Filter
Deselect Vertical Sync
Set the Level of Detail (LOD) index modifier slider to the center
Set the Rear Clipping Plane slider to min (left)
Set shadows to fixed (or off)
Set the Water and Sky Quality to Low
Video Chipsets- CotN has been tested for compatibility on Nvidia and ATI chipsets.
The most recent sets of Nvidia drivers may cause graphical problems such as corrupted textures and invisible objects on some machines. The most recent suite of drivers which does -not- cause problems can be found at http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_45.23.html (for win2k/xp) or http://www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_45.23.html (for win98/ME).
We have found the DX9 ATI cards can sometimes be unstable in the Direct 3D environment. A good work around seems to be to turn off the fast write option provided by recent Catalyst drivers. To do this, right click on your desktop; go to the Settings Tab followed by the Advanced Button below. If you have the card and driver combination that may be having problems you will see a set of ATI tabs. Select the SMARTGART Tab and turn off Fast Write, then hit the Apply button. Upon rebooting the game should be stable.
These changes were made after our manual went to press. The electronic version of the manual in your Documents folder is up to date.
- (Page 8) The challenge levels were renamed "Normal" and "Hard." In Hard games, people become dissatisfied more quickly, food is more difficult to produce, and you need more prestige to employ more educated workers.
Cast Shadows -- Some low-end systems with older graphics cards may incorrectly allow you to select the shadows: cast option on the video tab of the game settings screen. If the game locks up or hangs after selecting the shadows: cast advanced graphic option, you may need to restart your computer and deselect the shadows: cast option in order to continue playing.
Alt-tab'ing in and out of the game can occassionally cause graphical glitches and/or instability on some systems.
The scenario and campaign editors are unsupported bonus features, intended primarily for users with some prior experience creating games. The editor manual (Editor Manual.pdf) is included to provide additional guidance for such users. Tilted Mill only supports scenario included on the Children of the Nile CD.
