Article: Q118461
Product(s): Microsoft Home Multimedia Titles
Version(s): WINDOWS:1.0
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s):
Last Modified: 08-NOV-2001
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Ancient Lands for Windows, version 1.0
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SUMMARY
=======
The following information is the contents of the TROUBLE.TXT file in the root
directory of the Ancient Lands CD. The text below remains as released in the
TROUBLE.TXT file, and has not been edited by PSS.
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TROUBLE.TXT
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Having problems running Microsoft Ancient Lands? Check the following
list of solutions. If you don't find the information you need here,
check the README file that was installed with Ancient Lands.
PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS
====================
Microsoft Ancient Lands uses your computer's system memory to
display pictures. If you find that Ancient Lands runs slowly
or if you encounter out-of-memory errors, the program probably
doesn't have enough memory. Consider doing the following to
improve your computer's performance:
* Close all unnecessary applications.
* Determine how much total memory your computer has available
by typing "mem" and pressing ENTER at the DOS prompt. You
need a minimum of 4MB (4,000K) of total memory to use Ancient
Lands. If you do not have at least 4MB of memory available,
you will not be able to run Ancient Lands until you add more memory.
* Ancient Lands needs a minimum of 5255K free in Windows for best
movie performance. To check the amount of free memory Windows
has available, start Windows, and from Program Manager pull down
the "Help" menu then choose "About Program Manager."
* If you are running Windows in Enhanced mode, set up a permanent
Windows swap file on your hard disk. A swap file of greater than
4MB (4,000K) is recommended. See your Windows documentation for
more information.
* Defragment ("clean up") your hard disk by
running a defragmentation program.
CD-ROM PROBLEMS
===============
NOTE - Do not remove the Ancient Lands compact disc from your
CD-ROM drive while Ancient Lands is in the process of playing a
sound or displaying a new picture, or is running in Slide Show mode.
If the Ancient Lands program cannot find the data files that it
needs from the Ancient Lands compact disc, you'll see a message
that asks you to select the drive containing the files. To find
the source of the problem, do the following:
* Make sure the Ancient Lands compact disc is correctly
inserted into the CD-ROM drive.
* Make sure that the Ancient Lands program is looking
for the compact disc on the correct drive. Check to
see if the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive has changed.
You can use the Windows File Manager to determine which
drive letter is assigned to the CD-ROM drive. The Select
Drive command in the Disk menu will say "CD-ROM" next to
the CD-ROM drive letter.
* If you have an external CD-ROM drive, make sure that the
drive is connected to your computer, plugged in, and turned on.
If you still see the error message after checking the points
above, check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive
or contact the company that supplied the drive.
* Make sure that your CD-ROM drive is MPC-compatible.
MPC-compatible drives meet the following criteria:
1. An average seek time of less than
one second;
2. A transfer rate of 150KB per second
while using less than 40% of the
CPU bandwidth.
Check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive to make
sure it meets these requirements. A CD-ROM drive that does not
meet the MPC specifications will exhibit slow performance and/or
"Audio blips/Interruptions" when sound is played.
PRINTING AND COPYING
====================
The screens in Ancient Lands are large color pictures. Depending
on the type of printer you have, printing a picture of the screen
may take several minutes. Also, screen resolution and printer
resolution are often not the same, so the resulting printout may
not match the quality you see on the screen.
You should be able to print grayscale images from Ancient Lands.
If you have a black-and-white laser printer you might need to
upgrade your printer driver. Call the dealer from whom you bought
the printer or the printer manufacturer. It is also possible to
print Ancient Lands screens in color on a color printer.
Because the pictures can be quite large, you may have difficulty
copying or printing in low-memory conditions. In this case, close
all other unnecessary applications and try again.
GRAPHIC DISPLAY PROBLEMS
========================
Ancient Lands will run in 16-color or 256-color screen mode.
The program will automatically detect what mode you are running
and display pictures accordingly. If your computer is running
in 16-color mode, and the video card will support 256 colors,
you can run the Windows Setup program to change the video driver.
This will enhance the image quality of Microsoft Ancient Lands.
For more information on changing video drivers, check your
Windows documentation.
ANCIENT LANDS IMAGES APPEAR BLACK AND WHITE
===========================================
Some color video cards display Ancient Lands images in black and
white. This problem can be solved by updating your video driver.
Contact your video card manufacturer for the updated 256-color
Windows video drivers.
ATI PROBLEMS
============
Microsoft Ancient Lands is incompatible with some advanced
features used by some video cards such as the Mach32 chip
set running the ATI drivers. For Ancient Lands to run on the
ATI driver, the "256 color palette" control in the "Advanced
features" of the "ATI Control Panel" needs to be set to ON.
For more information, see the documentation for your video card.
PROBLEMS WITH THE DISPLAY IN ANCIENT LANDS
==========================================
If you encounter problems displaying images or videos when
running Microsoft Ancient Lands, check the currently installed
video driver:
1. Run the Windows Setup application.
2. Locate the Display driver item in
the application window.
If the display driver item is VGA:
*Try running Windows in Standard Mode by typing "WIN /S"
from the system prompt. If standard mode Windows works,
try starting Windows in the enhanced mode with the
following command:
WIN /D:XV
If this solves the problem, make the following
modifications to your SYSTEM.INI file in the
[386Enh] section:
EMMEXCLUDE=A000-EFFF
VIRTUALHDIRQ=OFF
If the display driver item is NOT VGA:
1. Run the Windows Setup application.
2. Choose Change System Settings from
the Options menu.
3. Change the Display setting to VGA.
4. Choose OK and restart Windows.
5. Run Microsoft Ancient Lands and determine
if the display problems still occur. If
the problem still exists, follow the
suggestions described for VGA
drivers, above.
If the problem is solved, this indicates that your current
video driver selection is experiencing problems rendering
images in Ancient Lands. You might want to consider choosing
another video driver (if available) provided by your video
card manufacturer. To do so, run the Windows Setup application.
If the problem persists, contact your video card manufacturer
for updated video drivers.
AUDIO PROBLEMS
==============
Audio problems can have many causes. Other applications that
play sounds may interrupt sounds in Ancient Lands, because
your computer cannot play two sounds simultaneously. This
is generally a temporary clash that will resolve itself.
However, a few applications that play sounds, such as some
screen savers, may remove audio capability from all other
Windows applications. If you suspect you have such an
application, deactivate it or do not run it while running
Ancient Lands.
SOUNDS PLAY, BUT NOT VERY WELL
==============================
Sounds that are distorted or "fuzzy" have several possible
causes. The most likely one is simply that your speakers are
not of high quality. Low frequency sounds may not reproduce
well on some equipment.
It is also possible that the software settings on your
sound board are causing distortion. For example, if the
sound card volume or "WAVE file input" is set to near its
maximum, it will produce amplification distortion, just as
it would on a stereo system. To find out how to change your
sound board settings, check the documentation that came with
your sound board.
Your CD-ROM drive should be MPC-compatible.
MPC-compatible drives meet the following criteria:
1. An average seek time of less than
one second;
2. A transfer rate of 150KB per second
while using less than 40% of the
CPU bandwidth.
Check the documentation that came with your CD-ROM drive
to make sure it meets these requirements. An incompatible
CD-ROM drive may work, however, it may produce low-quality
audio or cause the sound to be interrupted while playing.
SOUND BREAKS IN MOVIES
======================
If your video display is set to 16 colors and you are running
Ancient Lands from a single-speed CD-ROM drive, you may experience
sound breaks in certain movies. Running in 256 colors will fix this
problem.
SOUND DOESN'T PLAY AT ALL
=========================
If you don't hear any sounds,
make sure that the volume is set to an audible level.
If the volume is set to an audible level and you still
hear no sounds at all, something may be wrong with your
sound board setup. Check to see that the drivers are
installed correctly and, if necessary, reinstall them.
To determine if the sound drivers are installed check
the Drivers section of the Windows Control Panel. For
more information on installing your sound drivers,
refer to the documentation that came with your sound
card. If you have any problems, contact your sound
board manufacturer for assistance.
Please note that Ancient Lands requires an MPC-compatible
sound board and is not intended to run with drivers which
use the PC speaker, such as the unsupported "PC Speaker"
driver. Such a driver will in most cases not play any
sounds, and if the driver setup option "Enable Interrupts"
is not checked, the system may lock up. Check the "Drivers"
configuration in your Windows Control Panel. If you have
both a sound board and the PC Speaker driver installed, it
is recommended that you remove the PC Speaker driver.
Media Vision Cards
==================
A small number of Media Vision sound card drivers
(Pro Audio - Spectrum cards) may have problems with
sound in Ancient Lands. If you have a Media Vision
card and do not hear sounds or are having other sound
problems, you might require updated drivers.
Contact Media Vision for current driver information.
If you are running Microsoft Ancient Lands on an EISA
machine and experience "scratchy" audio, try changing
the DMA channel on the sound card to DMA 7.
RUNNING UNDER MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT
====================================================
There are two potential problems with Ancient Lands
running under Windows NT version 3.0. First, there
is no VGA support for Ancient Lands, if you are running
Windows NT you need to be using a VGA+ (256-color)
or better display to use Ancient Lands.
ANCIENT LANDS MOVIES
====================
The Ancient Lands Movies play full-screen by
default. Some video drivers don't play movies
properly full-screen (on a black background).
If Ancient Lands detects a problem when playing
movies it should switch to playing movies in a window.
If you have problems playing movies full-screen or
if you would like to switch between playing movies
full-screen or in a window, change the "VideoInWindow"
line in your MSLANDS.INI file in your WINDOWS directory
as follows:
VideoInWindow=0 (This will make movies play full-screen)
VideoInWindow=1 (This will make movies play in a window)
Additional query words: kbhowto 1994multi media multimedia multi-media
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Keywords :
Technology : kbHomeProdSearch kbZNotKeyword kbAncientLands
Version : WINDOWS:1.0
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