Complete Basketball 94-95: README.TXT Contents

PSS ID Number: Q122468 Article last modified on 12-21-1998

1995

WINDOWS

====================================================================== 1995 WINDOWS kbreadme kbmm

The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Complete NBA Basketball for Windows, ’94-’95 edition

SUMMARY

This article contains a copy of the information in the README.TXT file included with Microsoft Complete Basketball, 1995 edition.

NOTE: This Readme document refers to the Microsoft Download Service (MSDL). As of 12/31/1998, the MSDL service is no longer available. To download support files, visit one of the following Microsoft Internet sites:

http://support.microsoft.com/support

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles

MORE INFORMATION

================================================================ MICROSOFT COMPLETE NBA BASKETBALL ================================================================ This README file contains additional information about Complete NBA Basketball not included in the User’s Guide.

To read this file on-screen, use the Page Down and Page Up keys. You can also print the file by opening this file in any Windows word processing program and choosing the Print command from the File menu.

This file contains important information on the following topics:

COMPLETE NBA BASKETBALL PERFORMANCE
CD-ROM PROBLEMS
PRINTING AND COPYING
COMPLETE NBA BASKETBALL DISPLAY
AUDIO PROBLEMS
RUNNING UNDER MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT

================================================================ 1. COMPLETE NBA BASKETBALL PERFORMANCE ================================================================ Complete NBA Basketball uses your computer’s system memory to display information quickly. If you find that Complete NBA Basketball runs slowly, or if you encounter out-of-memory errors, Complete NBA Basketball probably doesn’t have enough memory. Consider doing the following to improve your computer’s performance:

Close all applications that you aren’t using.
Set up a permanent Windows swap file.

Windows works best when hard disk space has been allocated for swapping a file into or out of your computer’s memory. To set up a permanent Windows swap file on your hard disk, open Windows Control Panel (usually in the “Main” program group of Program Manager), and double-click the “386 Enhanced” icon. Then click the “Virtual Memory” button to see whether your current swap file is temporary or permanent, to check the size of the current swap file, and to make changes. Windows usually creates a temporary swap file by default, but if your disk is full or fragmented, this temporary file can become unavailable. If you can, make the size of the permanent swap file at least 4096K.

Look at the Help menu in the Windows Control Panel or in your Windows documentation for more information.
Defragment or optimize your hard disk by running a defragmentation program.

For example, MS-DOS 6.0 includes a utility called Microsoft Defrag. Some other popular utilities are PC Tools, Norton Utilities, and Mace Utilities.
Add more RAM (memory) to your computer.

You can determine how much memory is available by starting MS-DOS, typing “mem”, and pressing ENTER. This starts a program that will tell you how much memory you have. You need at least 4 megabytes (sometimes listed as 4096 kilobytes, or KB) of RAM, and at least 4 megabytes in your hard disk’s Windows swap file to run Complete NBA Basketball.

For complete details on improving performance, consult your Windows documentation.

=========================================================== 2. CD-ROM PROBLEMS ===========================================================

NOTE - Do not remove the Complete NBA Basketball compact disc from your CD-ROM drive while running Complete NBA Basketball. If this occurs, in most cases you will need to restart your computer and run Complete NBA Basketball again.

If the Complete NBA Basketball program cannot find the data files that it needs from the Complete NBA Basketball 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 Complete NBA Basketball compact disc is correctly inserted into the CD-ROM drive.
Make sure the Complete NBA Basketball 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 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. In your Windows directory, open the BKTBALL.INI file. The section called [BKTBALL] should have an entry called “CD.” The path should be set to the drive on which your CD-ROM drive appears. For example, if you CD-ROM drive is drive D:, the entry would appear as follows:

[BKTBALL] cd=D:
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 an error message after checking the points above, check the manuals that came with your CD-ROM drive for information on how a CD-ROM is to be set up, or contact the company that supplied the drive.

=========================================================== 3. PRINTING AND COPYING ===========================================================

Printing and copying are available from most screens in Complete NBA Basketball for images, text, and statistics. Depending on the type of printer you have, printing an image 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.

Because the pictures can be quite large, you may have difficulty copying or printing in low-memory conditions. In this case, close all other running applications and try again.

Pictures copied from Complete NBA Basketball and pasted into a word processing program may look different if the word processor is not set up to display 256 colors. The picture should still print correctly on a color printer; only the display in the word processing program is affected.

=========================================================== 4. COMPLETE NBA BASKETBALL DISPLAY ===========================================================

REQUIREMENTS

Microsoft Complete NBA Basketball requires a 256 color display to run. If your computer’s display is less than 256 colors, you need to install a 256 color driver, or obtain one from your video card’s manufacturer.

Complete NBA Basketball also requires a 640 X 480 or higher display. If your monitor displays at less than a 640 X 480 resolution, and Complete NBA Basketball does not run, check to make sure that you have a 640 x 480 or higher display driver installed.

To check which video driver is currently installed on your computer:

    1. Run the Windows Setup application (this is usually
         found in your Main Program group).

    2. Locate the Display driver item in the application
         window.

For information on installing a different display driver, choose Contents from the Help menu in the Windows Setup application or consult your Windows documentation.

DISPLAY PROBLEMS

In some situations, Complete NBA Basketball may encounter video display problems when using high resolution video drivers from various video card manufacturers. The problems include:

Images and illustrations appearing grainy or having “glitches”
Videos displaying garbled images or crashing Complete NBA Basketball

Most problems can be fixed by obtaining new drivers from your video card manufacturer. Contact the manufacturer of your video card to determine if there are newer versions available. Their phone number should be in the manuals that came with your video card or personal computer. Another option for obtaining updated drivers is the Microsoft Download service, an electronic bulletin board that can be accessed via a modem at (206) 936- MSDL (6735).

If you experience problems with the display of images and graphics in Complete NBA Basketball, such as multiple versions of a single button or images drawn on the screen incorrectly, try the following:

In your Windows directory, open the BKTBALL.INI file using Notepad or any other word processing program.
In the [BKTBALL] section of the BKTBALL.INI file, change the RLEFIX setting to 1, for example:
```
          RLEFIX=1
```

Although this should fix display problems, changing the RLEFIX setting will cause images to display more slowly.

FONT DISPLAY PROBLEMS

Complete NBA Basketball uses two TrueType fonts for its display. If you receive a message stating that one of the fonts is unavailable, make sure that TrueType fonts are enabled on your computer.

From the Windows Control Panel, select Fonts and then click the TrueType button.
In the True Type dialog, make sure the Enable True Type Fonts check box is selected (an X appears in the check box when it’s selected).
If the Enable True Type Fonts check box is selected, in the Fonts dialog, click Help for more information on adding fonts.

The fonts you need are installed with Windows and can be found in the Windows system directory. Make sure to add all the Arial and Times New Roman fonts to your computer.

LARGE FONT DRIVERS

If you are using a Large Font driver, some statistical columns in the Team Rosters section may appear clipped and some statistics in NBA Basketball Daily may appear clipped or overlapped. Switching to the Small Font version of the driver will fix this problem. For more information on installing or changing video drivers, consult your Windows documentation.

ATI/MACH32 DRIVERS

If you are using an ATI video card and video driver, and you’re having display problems, make sure you reset the RLEFIX setting in Complete NBA Basketball’s BKTBALL.INI file as described above.

Also, for Complete NBA Basketball 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. See your video card documentation for more information.

If you are using a MACH32 video card and driver, image quality will be lost if Crystal fonts are enabled. Make sure that Crystal fonts are disabled.

Open the MACH32 Utilities program group.
Open the Mach FlexDesk Control Panel.
Click on the Crystal button to get to FlexDesk Crystal Tune.
Choose “off” under the “Crystal” options and click on OK to save this setting.

Image quality will also be lost if you are using a Super VGA video driver with a MACH32 video card. Run Windows Setup (described above) to check your video driver and switch to the MACH32 driver for better image quality.

If you continue to have problems, try contacting ATI Technologies to see if they have a newer version of the driver you’re using.

For information about ATI video cards, contact ATI Technical Support at (416) 756-0711. The ATI cards and driver products referenced here are manufactured by ATI Technologies, Inc., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products’ performance or reliability.

CIRRUS LOGIC DRIVERS

The 64k-color Cirrus Logic video driver, v1.32, that shipped with the Compaq ProLinea and Presario (and presumably other systems having these drivers) is incompatible with the VfW 1.1 drivers shipped with Complete NBA Basketball, 1994. As a result, during Complete NBA Basketball Setup, your system may crash when profiling your video display. This problem does not occur with the latest versions of the 64K-color Cirrus Logic video driver, v1.41 and v1.43.

To upgrade your Cirrus Logic video drivers, contact Cirrus Logic product support at:

Cirrus Logic 3100 W. Warren Ave. Fremont, CA 94538 (510) 623-8300

The Cirrus Logic driver products referenced here are manufactured by Cirrus Logic, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products’ performance or reliability.

TOSHIBA DRIVERS

If you are using the Toshiba t44v480c.DRV video driver, Complete NBA Basketball video may appear pink. To fix this problem, go into your WIN.INI [drawdib] section and change 1,0,0,0 to 5,0,0,0. The [drawdib] section should appear similarly to the example shown below:

[drawdib] t44v480c.drv 640x480x8(5)=5,0,0,0

Save your WIN.INI file and then try playing video in Complete NBA Basketball again.

64,000 COLOR DRIVERS

If your machine has a 16 bit video card, and you are using a 64,000 color driver, some images in Complete NBA Basketball may not display. To fix this problem, switch to a 256 color driver. For more information on installing video drivers, consult your Windows manual.

=========================================================== 5. AUDIO PROBLEMS ===========================================================

Although you can install and run Complete NBA Basketball without a sound card, to hear the sounds that come with the product, a sound card is required. If you’re sure you have a sound card, read through the troubleshooting information listed below, or consult the user manual that came with your sound card for more information.

GENERAL SOUND ISSUES

Audio problems can have many causes. Other applications that play sounds may interrupt sounds in Complete NBA Basketball 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, turn it off or do not run it while running Complete NBA Basketball.

SOUNDS PLAY, BUT NOT WELL

Sound distortion is often caused by sending a higher volume or amplitude of sound than the speakers are able to handle. Also, if the volume control on your audio card is set too high it may cause distortion from the amplifier on the audio card. Sometimes speakers that are not of high quality will distort at a lower volume than better speakers.

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. This is normally done with either a volume dial on the back of your audio card (in the rear of your computer where the speakers plug in) or with a program that is often called a “mixer,” which is usually installed in the Windows Control Panel of the Main program group. Some audio cards use both types of controls, and they must both be adjusted.

Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum Cards

Audio clips may sound “scratchy” (that is, distorted) when played from the Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum card. To correct this problem, change the Media Vision driver DMA setting to 7.

To change the driver setting:

Choose the Drivers icon in the Windows Control Panel.
Select the Media Vision Wave/MIDI/Aux driver, and then choose Setup.
Under the DMA setting, set the selection to 7.
Choose OK, and then choose Restart Now.

Audio clips should now play correctly.

The Pro Audio Spectrum sound card and driver products referenced here are manufactured by Media Vision, Inc., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products’ performance or reliability. For more information, call Media Vision, Inc. Technical Support at (800) 638-2807 or (510) 770-9905. On CompuServe, Media Vision can be reached by typing GO MEDIAVISION at any prompt.

SOUND DOESN’T PLAY AT ALL

If you don’t hear anything when you play sounds in Complete NBA Basketball, be sure that:

A sound card is installed.
A speaker is connected to the jack on your sound card (not to the CD-ROM drive).
The volume is set to an audible level.
You have Sounds turned on in the Complete NBA Basketball Sounds dialog box. This can be accessed from the Options menu.

You can test sounds with the Sound option in the Windows Control Panel. If you hear no sound during the tests, open the Drivers option to check the installed sound driver files. These drivers must be compatible with your sound board. Be sure that a driver for WAVE audio and the entry “[MCI] Sound” appears in the Drivers dialog box. If “[MCI] Sound” is missing, click the Add button in the Drivers dialog box. Then, select “[MCI] Sound” in the list of drivers and click OK. The Drivers application will ask you to insert one of your Windows installation disks that contains the driver, so be sure to have these disks on hand.

If necessary, try setting up your sound board again. If you still can’t hear sounds, contact the sound board manufacturer to verify that you are using the correct drivers and that no hardware conflicts exist.

Please note that Complete NBA Basketball requires a sound board to be installed and is not intended to run with drivers which use the PC internal 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 crash. Check the “Drivers” configuration in your Windows control panel. If you have both a sound board and the PC Speaker driver installed, it is preferable to un-install the PC Speaker driver.

Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 and 16ASP Sound Cards

Compressed audio clips may fail to play if you are using a Sound Blaster 16 or Sound Blaster 16 ASP sound card. This problem occurs because some computers are unable to use the 16-bit DMA (direct memory access) channel on the Sound Blaster cards.

To correct this problem, switch the HDMA channel to use DMA or 8-bit DMA. You must change this setting in the following two places:

The Drivers dialog box in the Windows Control Panel

-and-
The SBCONFIG.EXE configuration program included with the Sound Blaster cards

To change the settings, follow these steps:

Choose the Drivers icon in the Windows Control Panel.
Select the Sound Blaster 16 Wave/Midi driver and choose Setup.
Under the HDMA setting, set the selection to DMA.
Choose OK, and then choose Do Not Restart Now.
Exit Windows.
At the MS-DOS prompt, switch to the SB16 directory and run SBCONFIG.EXE.
Follow the instructions provided by this configuration program. It assists you in selecting and testing the following variables:

Variable Select

Base I/O port Autoscan MidiPort address Autoscan DMA interrupt Current 8-bit DMA Current 16-bit DMA Use 8-bit DMA

After you have finished making these selections, the SBCONFIG program will restart your computer.

Restart Windows.

All compressed audio should now play correctly.

For more information regarding Sound Blaster cards and about this problem, contact Creative Labs technical support at (405) 742-6622.

Sound Blaster is manufactured by Creative Technology Ltd., a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product’s performance or reliability.

SOUND PLAYS, BUT SKIPS

If audio breaks up or skips periodically it is usually an indication that your CD-ROM drive does not have a fast enough Data Transfer Rate. Complete NBA Basketball requires that your CD be capable of transferring data at a rate of 150 KB per second while utilizing 40 percent or less of the CPU. You can continue to use your CD-ROM drive to run Complete NBA Basketball, but you will continue to experience this choppiness in audio and animation clips.

PROBLEMS USING SOUNDBLASTER PRO

On rare occasions the Sound Blaster audio driver WSSSBPRO.DRV may have problems playing very short sound files, causing Basketball to crash. If you encounter this problem, turn off button sounds in Basketball:

Click the Options button.
In the Options dialog box, click the Sound/Animation button.
In the resulting dialog box, click the Button Sounds radio button to turn off button sounds.

For more information on Sound Blaster, contact Creative Labs technical support at (405) 742-6622.

=========================================================== 6. RUNNING UNDER MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT ===========================================================

The Windows NT 3.1 version of the Indeo video decompressor from Intel was not officially released and tested before Windows NT 3.1 was finished. Although Complete NBA Basketball will run under Windows NT 3.1, its videos will not play unless you have installed the decompressor.

KBCategory: kbreadme kbmm KBSubcategory: Additional reference words: kbhowto 1995 multi media multimedia multi-media ====================================================================== Version : 1995 Platform : WINDOWS ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1998.

Microsoft KB Archive/122468