Microsoft KB Archive/279849

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Article ID: 279849

Article Last Modified on 10/17/2005


APPLIES TO

  • Microsoft Midtown Madness 2


This article was previously published under Q279849

SUMMARY

This article is part 2 of a series of two Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that present a systematic approach to troubleshooting game controller problems.

279858 Midtown Madness 2: Game Controller Problems Troubleshooting (Part 1)


MORE INFORMATION

Calibrate as a Different Device

Use the Game Controllers Control Panel to configure your game controller as a different device.

Note You can configure on the SideWinder Standard or the SideWinder 3D Pro as a different device.

For example, to configure a SideWinder 3D Pro joystick as a 3-axis 4-button joystick with Rudder/Pedals, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Game Controllers, and then click Microsoft SideWinder 3D Pro.
  3. Click Remove, and then click Yes.
  4. Click Add, click 3-Axis, 4-Button Joystick, and then click OK.
  5. Click Properties.
  6. Click the Settings tab. Click to select the Rudder/Pedals check box.
  7. Click Calibrate, and then follow the instructions on the screen to calibrate the game controller.


Note Axis 3 is the throttle control, and axis 4 is the rudder control.

  1. Click Test to verify that the game controller functions properly.
  2. When you finish calibrating and testing the game controller, click OK. Click OK again.

If the issue continues to occur, continue to the next method.

Lower sound quality

Sometimes controller problems are related to using high sound quality. If the controller is not functioning, or is cutting in and out, turning off or reducing the sound quality before starting a race might solve the problem:

  1. From any screen, select Options.
  2. Click Audio.
  3. On the Audio Options screen, click to clear the Sound FX check box, the City Sounds check box, and the Play Music check box to turn off music and sound effects.


-or-

Set Stereo FX to Mono to play sound effects and music in mono.

  1. In the Sound Quality list, select Low to reduce the quality of sound effects.
  2. Click Done and then click the arrow repeatedly to return to the screen where you were before you selected Options.

Adjust the Controller Settings in the Game

  1. Start Midtown Madness 2.
  2. Click Control.
  3. Adjust the Controller Dead Zone slider to reduce twitches of driving.
  4. Adjust the Steering Sensitivity slider to make your controller more or less sensitive to your movements, and so that it is reponsive without being twitchy.

Disable Sound in the Game

If your sound card cannot correctly process game port signals and high quality game sounds at the same time, you may be able to work around the issue by turning off the sound in the game.

When you install Midtown Madness 2, several troubleshooting shortcuts are installed in the installation folder for the game.

The default location of the Midtown Madness 2 folder is:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Midtown Madness 2


When you open the folder, double-click the No Sound shortcut.

This shortcut disables both the introductory movie and sound in the game.

Use this shortcut if you think there is a conflict between Midtown Madness and the audio adapter installed in the computer.

For more information about Midtown Madness shortcuts, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

231828 Midtown 1.0/2.0: Description of the troubleshooting shortcuts


If the issue continues to occur, continue to the next method.

Remove and Reinstall Midtown Madness 2

  1. Remove Midtown Madness 2
    1. Insert the Midtown Madness 2 CD in the CD-ROM drive. Press and hold down SHIFT when you insert the CD to prevent the program from starting automatically.
    2. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
    3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
    4. Click the Install/Uninstall tab. Click Microsoft Midtown Madness 2 , and then click Add/Remove or click Remove (on Microsoft Windows 2000).
    5. Click Uninstall, and then select Remove Driver Profiles.
    6. Click OK.
  2. Delete the Midtown Madness 2 folder. By default, Midtown Madness 2 is installed in the following folder:

    drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Midtown Madness 2

    where drive is the drive letter of the hard disk on which Midtown Madness 2 is installed.
  3. Quit All Other Running Programs

    To quit all other programs that are running on your computer before you install Midtown Madness 2 use the method appropriate for your version of Microsoft Windows.
    • Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition (Me)
      1. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE.
      2. In the Close Program dialog box, click any program except Explorer or Systray (these are components of Windows), and then click End Task.

        If you receive a message that states that the program is busy or is not responding, click End Task again.
      3. Repeat steps a and b to quit all unnecessary programs that are running on your computer.
    • Windows 2000
      1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.
      2. Click the Applications tab. Click any program, and then click End Task.

        Repeat this step to quit all unnecessary programs that are running on your computer.
      3. Quit Windows Task Manager.
  4. Reinstall Midtown Madness 2.
    1. Click Start, and then click Run.
    2. In the Open box, type the following, and then click OK.

      cd-rom:\setup.exe

      where cd-rom is the drive letter of the CD-ROM drive.
    3. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to install the program.

If the issue continues to occur, proceed to the next method.

Obtain and Install Updated Device Drivers

Contact your game controller and sound card manufacturers (if your game controller is connected to a 15-pin gameport on your sound card) to obtain and install the latest version of the drivers for your game controller and sound card.

For information about how to contact your hardware manufacturer, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and software vendor contact information, A-K

60781 Hardware and software vendor contact information, L-P

60782 Hardware and software vendor contact information, Q-Z


To determine the manufacturer and the model of your sound card, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click System.
  3. Click the Device Manager tab.
  4. Expand the Sound, video and game controllers list. Note the manufacturer and model of your sound card.
  5. Click OK, and then close Control Panel.

If the issue continues to occur, proceed to the next method.

Configure the Sound Card to Use Only One DMA Channel

If your game controller is connected to a 15-pin gameport, your game controller may perform better if you configure the sound card to use only one DMA (Direct Memory Address) channel.

Note Some programs are unable to run with only one DMA channel. If you experience this issue, restore your original sound card settings.

To configure a legacy sound card driver on a Windows 95-, Windows 98-, or Windows ME-based computer or a native sound card driver on a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0-based computer to use single-mode DMA:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Multimedia.
  3. Click either the Devices or Advanced tab. Expand the Audio Devices list.
  4. Click the sound card, and then click Properties.
  5. Click Settings.
  6. To configure the sound card to use single-mode DMA, see your sound card documentation, or use one of the following procedures:
    • Click to select the Use Single-Mode DMA check box. Click OK until you return to Control Panel, and then restart the computer.
    • In the DMA Channel (16-bit) box, click Disable. Click OK until you return to Control Panel, and then restart the computer.
    • In the High DMA box, click Use DMA. Click OK until you return to Control Panel, and then restart the computer.
    If you cannot use the sound card driver to configure single-mode DMA, click Cancel until you return to Control Panel, and then proceed to the "Disable Force-Feedback Effects" method in this article.

To configure a native sound card driver on a Windows 95-, Windows 98-, or Windows ME-based computer to use single-mode DMA, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click System.
  3. Click the Device Manager tab.
  4. Expand the Sound, video and game controllers list.
  5. Click the sound card, and then click Properties.
  6. Click the Resources tab.
  7. Under Resource Type, locate the Direct Memory Access (DMA) lines. If you see more than one Direct Memory Access (DMA) line, configure the sound card for single-mode DMA. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Click to clear the Use Automatic Settings check box.
    2. In the Settings Based On box, click a Basic Configuration that uses only one DMA channel setting.

      If you see a message about a conflict in the Conflicting Device List box, repeat this step to select another basic configuration that uses only one DMA channel and does not conflict with any other devices.

      If you do not see a message about a conflict in the Conflicting Device List box, click OK, and then click Yes.
    3. Click Close, and then restart the computer.
    If you see only one Direct Memory Access (DMA) line, or if you cannot find a basic configuration that uses only one DMA channel, click Cancel twice, and then proceed to the next method.

Disable Force-Feedback Effects

If you use a SideWinder Force Feedback Pro 1 joystick or SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel, disable the force-feedback effects. To do this:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Game Controllers.
  3. Click to select Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Pro or Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Wheel.
  4. Click Properties.
  5. Click the Settings tab. Drag the Force Feedback slider to the Off position.
  6. Click OK, and then click OK again.


-or-

Start Midtown Madness 2.

  1. Click Options and then click Control.
  2. Click to clear the Force Feedback check box.
  3. Click Done.



Additional query words: kbimu homegame msgame joystick gamecontroller gaming device

Keywords: kbhardware KB279849



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