Microsoft KB Archive/183596

Outwars: Contents of Readme.doc File

PSS ID Number: Q183596 Article last modified on 05-25-1999

WINDOWS:1.0

WINDOWS

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The information in this article applies to:

 == Microsoft Outwars, version 1.0 == 

= SUMMARY =

This article contains a copy of the Readme.doc file included with Outwars version 1.0. This file is located in the root folder of the Outwars CD-ROM.

= MORE INFORMATION =

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OUTWARS SETUP

Turn on your computer and start Windows 95. Insert the Outwars compact disc in the CD-ROM drive. Outwars should begin automatically. Follow the directions on your screen.

If Outwars does not begin automatically, you can load the game manually from the Windows 95 desktop. To load the game manually:

Click the My Computer icon on the desktop. Click the letter of your CD-ROM drive. Double-click Owsetup.exe to begin installation. When installation is complete, click Play in the CD-ROM Start-up dialog box or double-click the shortcut on your desktop.

If you have to reboot at the end of setup, you may not see the prompt to register Outwars online. You can register Outwars online after setup by clicking on the “Outwars Online Registration” shortcut on your Start menu.

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EXTRAS ON CD2

There are several extra items available on CD2 which are not automatically installed. These items are installable through the right-click menu when CD2 is in your CD-ROM drive.

These items include:

Internet Explorer 4.01: IE 4.01 is required for Zone play. MS Info: This application will give you detailed information about your system. Support technicians will ask you for this information if you call. Drivers.htm: This is an HTML page that contains links to the Web sites of some vendors of D3D-compatible 3D accelerator boards. If you are experiencing problems with the Outwars graphics, you may be able to obtain updated drivers for your 3D accelerator from one of these links. MSDUN 1.2b: This is an update to MS Dial-Up Networking. It is for installation and use on Windows 95 only. WS2: This is a 2.0 update to MS Winsock. It is for installation and use on Windows 95 only. VTCPUP: This is an update to the TCP/IP protocol for Windows 95 machines only. It requires that you install Winsock 2.0 first. WARNING: DO NOT INSTALL VTCPUP WITHOUT INSTALLING WINSOCK 2.0. Games sampler application: Take a look at some of the other great Microsoft titles available today.

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SAVING A SINGLE PLAYER GAME

To save the game:

Successfully complete a Solo Campaign mission. In the Debriefing screen, click Save. Click on either an empty or previously saved game slot (You will be prompted if you attempt to overwrite a saved game. Click OK if you wish to do so or click Cancel). Type a name for the saved game. Click Save.

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MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY

To play a multiplayer game, you must have Direct Play 5.0a or a later version. If you chose not to install DirectX 5.2 during the Outwars installation:

Insert Outwars CD1 into your CD-ROM drive. On your Desktop, double click the My Computer icon. Right click the icon for your CD-ROM drive. Click DirectPlay 5.0a.

-or-

On Outwars CD1, open the DPLAY50A folder, double click Dplay50a.exe, and follow the prompts.

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MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY AND DIRECTX 5.0

You may experience a long pause if a player is dumped from the game while you are playing in the TCP/IP protocol. This is due to a DirectX 5.0 setting.

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HOSTING A MULTIPLAYER TCP/IP GAME

If you want to host a multiplayer TCP/IP game, you MUST connect to the Internet before starting Outwars.

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MULTIPLAYER SHELL RESTRICTIONS UPDATE

Occasionally, you may be able to select restricted weapons in the multiplayer game shell. You will be reassigned available weapons in the game.

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ALT-TAB IN MULTIPLAYER SCREENS

Alt-Tab is disabled in most multiplayer screens in order to prevent Direct Play timeouts. If you alt-tab from the chat screen in the game shell, you may cause your game to hang.

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SCREEN MINIMIZATION IN MULTIPLAYER GAMES

If, during a multiplayer game, your screen is automatically minimized by another Windows application such as a Schedule + Reminder, you must re-enter the game within 2 minutes or you will be dropped from the game. This is a standard DPlay timeout.

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OUTWARS AND ADVANCED POWER MANAGEMENT

If you have APM (Advanced Power Management) for your monitor, you may want to disable the sleep feature in your control panel before playing Outwars. This minimizes the chance of a crash or disruption when your monitor is automatically powered down.

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DELAY BETWEEN END OF GAME AND SCORE SCREEN

It is normal to experience up to 1 minute of lag time between the end of a multiplayer game and the score screen when playing Outwars on the Internet. This delay is due to Internet latency.

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OPTIMAL INTERNET MULTIPLAYER GAMEPLAY

Outwars multiplayer gameplay performs best over the Internet with four players or less. You may experience some performance degradation with a greater number of players.

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JOYSTICK

The generic term “joystick” is used to refer to all input gaming devices, including the Microsoft Gamepad, other than a “keyboard” or “mouse.”

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CENTERING JOYSTICK

If you have a joystick plugged into your computer’s game port, but prefer to use mouse and keyboard for Outwars, you should ensure that the joystick is disabled in the OptionsDevices menu.

If you start the game and your character is running instead of standing still, center your joystick or disable it in the Options Devices menu.

Most joysticks have an auto-center function. The Microsoft Force Feedback Sidewinder Pro may require that you center it manually.

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INTELLIMOUSE SUPPORT

The “wheel” button on the Intellimouse is defaulted to be a weapons toggle switch. This is not customizable in the OptionsDevices menu.

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ENABLING DIRECT 3D

To enable a supported 3D-accelerator card:

Click Options in the main menu screen. Click Graphics. Click Direct 3D to highlight the button to green. Use the scroll arrows, located immediately above the Direct 3D button, to select the proper driver.

NOTE: If you use Direct 3D, some lighting effects will not work. For example, you will not be able to toggle your helmet light.

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3D GRAPHICS HARDWARE

Outwars works best with the following 3D chipsets: Riva 128, 3Dfx, or Renditions. If you experience problems while using a 3D graphics card, switch to the software version of Outwars (The “Permedia 2 PCI” card is known to have problems running Outwars).

You may also experience graphics problems if your video drivers are not updated. If you still experience problems after you have upgraded the video drivers, contact the hardware vendor.

Outwars is designed to run optimally on 3D graphics cards with 4 MB of RAM. If your 3D graphics card has less than 4 MB of RAM, you may experience lower quality graphics.

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GAMEPLAY IS SLOW/JUMPY

If you are experiencing performance problems with Outwars in DDraw or D3D mode during gameplay:

Press ESC. Scroll down to Details. Switch fogging off (known to enhance performance for the Riva 128 and Rage II chipsets).

If performance is still slow:

Press ESC. Scroll down to Details. Change detail to Medium or Low.

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COLLISION AND LOW FRAMERATES

If you are experiencing problems with being able to move through solid objects in the game, it may be related to a low frame rate. You may be able to increase your performance by lowering your resolution or reducing detail under the menu.

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CHANGING RESOLUTIONS IN GAME

On certain configurations, you may experience problems while lowering screen resolution during gameplay. You should be able to lower your resolution in the UI under the Optionsmenu without problems.

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NON-INTEL PROCESSORS

Some non-Intel processors may cause occasional performance problems; for more information, please contact the hardware vendor.

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SOUND PROBLEMS WHILE USING 3D GRAPHICS HARDWARE

If the sound in Outwars is distorted or breaks up while using a 3D graphics card, lower the image resolution.

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SOUND PROBLEMS WITH MINIMAL INSTALL

If the sound jumps between spoken text and CD music, you may need to install the sound and waves files from the Outwars CDs. To do so, reinstall Outwars using a Typical install or if you select a Custom install, include the sound and wave files.

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SOUND PROBLEMS DURING HEAVY PROCESSING

You may experience choppy sound if your computer bogs down during heavy processing. This problem is expected. However, it should occur infrequently if your system meets the minimum requirements.

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SOUND PROBLEMS DUE TO OUTDATED HARDWARE DRIVERS

If you experience sound problems such as sound effects and voices being doubled or not being played smoothly, you may need to upgrade your sound card’s drivers. If you still experience problems after you have upgraded the drivers, contact the sound card’s vendor.

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DIRECTX AND VOLUME CONTROL

During the DirectX setup phase of installing Outwars, if you do not have volume control installed on your system, you will be prompted to insert your Win95 CD in order to copy these files.

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INTERNET EXPLORER

The Zone requires Microsoft Internet Explorer. You can install a copy of Internet Explorer from the Extras folder located on Outwars disk 2.

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QEMM 8.03

If you play Outwars while QEMM 8.03 is active, you may experience problems such as your computer hanging and the screen going black.

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GUILLEMOT INTERNATIONAL MAXI SOUND GAME THEATER 64

You may experience sound problems while playing Outwars if you use the Guillemot International Maxi Sound Game Theater 64 sound card. To fix, try using the most recent drivers.

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CAPTURE THE FLAG

To score while playing Capture the Flag, you must have your flag on your base.

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OUTWARS AUDIO: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Question: Sometimes I hear music and sometimes I don’t. Is Outwars supposed to work like this? Also, sometimes I can hear music playing loudly and then all of a sudden it stops quite abruptly. What’s going on here?

Answer: Your question seems to indicate that your CD Music and WAV music controls are not balanced. You can balance these in the Sound Options screen or while playing the game.

Due to the varying speed and intensity of gameplay in Outwars, the developers created an interactive music system to have the background music follow the action in the game. This system uses real digital audio rather than general midi, giving the composers the power to write great music and have it sound great on any sound card. The interactive music system in Outwars combines CD Audio from the CD-ROM drive and streamed WAV files from the hard disk. These two music sources need to have their volumes balanced for the interactive music system to work properly. Note that this does not mean that the CD music volume should be set to the same value as the WAV music volume. In fact, you will probably find that when your music controls are balanced, CD music volume and WAV music volume will differ.

To balance your CD and WAV music controls from the Sound Options screen, go to the Main Title screen and click the Options button. On the Options screen, click the Sound button. Now you will be at the Sound Options screen. You will see audio controls to adjust the overall volume, sound effects volume, music volume, and bass and treble amplification. There are two controls under “Interactive Music Balance” for the music volume controls. These two controls are called “WAV Music Volume” and “CD Music Volume.” For the best balance, make sure you have Outwars CD #1 in your CD-ROM drive. For optimum music performance, the music you hear from each of these controls should be as close to the same volume as possible. Again, note that this does not mean that the controls should be set to the same value. In fact, you will probably find that the controls will not be set to the same value when the CD music and WAV music are balanced. The WAV music should have started playing right as you entered the Sound Options screen. If you now click on the volume value for “CD Music Volume,” the WAV music will stop and you will hear the same song start playing off of the CD. However, if you don’t have a CD in your CD-ROM drive, you won’t hear any music. Note that it may take a few seconds to start playing the CD music the first time you do this, due to the seek time to find the CD audio track. Now you can click on the volume value for “WAV Music Volume” to start the WAV music playing again. The idea here is that you can adjust the volumes so that the volume of the WAV music is as close as possible to the volume of the CD music.

Question: I adjust the “Bass Volume” and “Treble Volume” in the Sound Options screen, but nothing happens.

Answer: Not all sound cards have bass and treble controls, so the bass and treble adjustments will not have an effect on your audio output if you are using such a card in your computer system.

Question: Should I use “3D” sound, or “Stereo” sound?

Answer: For the best audio experience, choose “3D.” It takes a little more processing time than “Stereo,” so if your game seems to be running slow, you might speed it up a bit by choosing “Stereo.” “3D” implements QSound’s proprietary 3D audio software, which creates a 3D effect for sound all around your head, all with just two speakers. Also, if you are playing the game with headphones rather than speakers, make sure you have “Headphones” selected.

Question: It sounds like I’m hearing two songs at the same time. Am I set up correctly to use the interactive music system?

Answer: It seems from your question that you’re probably using your CD-ROM drive’s external headphone jack and volume control for CD Audio rather than using your sound card. The interactive music system will not sound right when your CD Audio output is coming from your CD-ROM drive’s external headphone jack. Instead, you should have your sound card’s CD Audio cable connected to your CD-ROM drive. This internal cable connection, which is described in the sound card’s user manual, allows CD Audio from your CD-ROM drive to be sent to your sound card and out through speakers or headphones connected to your sound card’s external output jacks. Using the sound card to send CD Audio to your speakers or headphones enables the interactive music system to work properly.

If you’re using two CD-ROM drives simultaneously, Outwars will run, but the interactive music system won’t work properly unless you have the audio outputs of both CD-ROM drives hooked up to sound cards.

Question: The sound is too boomy and I hear lots of crackling and pops. What’s going on? How can I fix this?

Answer: It appears that your bass volume may be set too high. In the Sound Options screen, you can adjust bass and treble volumes. This may correct your problem. Also, you might want to check which output jack you are using on the sound card. If you are using powered speakers or headphones, you will probably want to use the non-amplified output jack, sometimes just called “Line Out.” Many sound cards have an amplified output jack, sometimes called “Speaker Out,” which is designed to send audio to non-powered speakers or headphones. If you are using powered speakers or headphones and are plugged into the amplified output jack of your sound card, you may experience sound distortion (crackling and pops). In addition, if you have a subwoofer, check it’s volume control knob. Turning the volume down may reduce some of the “boomyness” you are experiencing.

Additional query words: 1.00 msgame read me igz z4

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========================================================= Keywords : kbreadme kbimu Version : WINDOWS:1.0 Platform : WINDOWS Issue type : kbinfo ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1999.