Pac-in-Time other
Mindscape's "PAC-IN-TIME" HELP TEXT ------------------------------------ Welcome to "PAC-IN_TIME" Help! Since you are reading this, it is likely that you have received an error message when attempting to boot the game, and possibly a message that indicated you do not have enough free Conventional memory, Expanded (EMS) memory, or both. Please note that the "PAC-IN-TIME" program requires 571K free Conventional memory and 256k bytes of free EMS. Attaining these limits, though not impossible to do, can sometimes be tricky. >>>BE SURE TO READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT BEFORE DOING ANYTHING!!!<<< BASIC MEMORY ------------ First, a word abut memory in general. Most modern computers are shipped from the factory with more than 1 megabyte of RAM memory (4 or 8 Mb are common configurations). The first Mb is divided into 2 sections known as Lower (or Conventional) memory, which is the first 640K of RAM, and High memory, which is the remainder of the first megabyte. All of the memory above the first megabyte is called Extended, or XMS, memory. HOWEVER, MANY PROGRAMS THAT YOU BUY COMMERCIALLY DO NOT USE XMS MEMORY AUTOMATICALLY. 90% of the software that you buy in stores (including ours) operate primarily in the Conventional memory area. This 640K block is also home to your device drivers and related software, including DOS, your mouse driver, sound card and graphics card drivers, CD-ROM drivers, and so on. These utilities compete with the programs that you run for space in the Lower 640K area. When everything that's in RAM cannot find a home, conflicts (and crashes) occur. Some of this traffic can be alleviated by using a Memory Manager, such as the MEMMAKER.EXE which comes with DOS versions 6.x . These utilities load some of the smaller device drivers into High memory. But there are only a few hundred Kilobytes of High memory available, so loading everything that you can there could still leave a lot of drivers and utilities in Conventional Memory. If you load environments automatically (like booting straight to Microsoft Windows, DOS shell, or a menu program, to name a few), the traffic in the Lower 640K gets worse. To further complicate the matter, sound and graphic-intensive programs (like ours) use more of the Lower 640K than most. Our "PAC-IN-TIME" game, for example, requires 571K OF FREE CONVENTIONAL MEMORY! That leaves only 69K for all of those devices that cannot load into High memory. RUNNING "PAC-IN-TIME" ----------------------------- So what does all of this mean to you? Two things: 1) NO MATTER HOW MUCH RAM YOU HAVE IN YOUR MACHINE, IN MOST SITUATIONS, YOU HAVE ONLY 640K OF RAM TO WORK WITH. 2) IF YOU WANT TO RUN GRAPHIC AND SOUND-INTENSIVE SOFTWARE, YOU >>MUST!!<< FREE UP ENOUGH CONVENTIONAL MEMORY TO DO SO, OR IT WILL NOT RUN!!! AND YOU MUST ALSO CONFIGURE YOUR SYSTEM FOR THE EMS MEMORY REQUIRED. DOS 6'S MEMMAKER ---------------- There are many ways to go about freeing required memory, depending on your situation. As mentioned above, using a Memory Manager program is a straightforward and dependable way to do this. If you are using DOS 6 or higher, you already have a pretty powerful Memory Management tool called MEMMAKER.EXE, which you will find in your DOS directory. Anytime that you find yourself short of memory in DOS 6.x, do the following: 1) Go to a DOS prompt. 2) Type MEMMAKER, then press the Enter key. 3) If you need it (and with "PAC-IN-TIME" you do), answer "Yes" when the program asks you if you will be using programs that require EMS memory. After the computer reboots, get to your DOS prompt. Then type MEM, and press the Enter key. Note the amount of FREE CONVENTIONAL and FREE EXPANDED (EMS); these should be 571K+ and 256K+, respectively. THIRD PARTY MEMORY MANAGERS --------------------------- If they are not, or you do not have DOS 6, you might consider purchasing a professional Memory Manager like Quarterdeck's Expanded Memory Manager (QEMM). These utilities are the finest and most sophisticated way to control memory in all situations, are very easy to use. They do, of course, require you to purchase an additional piece of software. Please note that as the computer industry moves toward more sound and graphic-intensive products (Multimedia), that more and more software that you purchase will require large amounts of free conventional memory, as well as some amount of available EMS. In other words, purchasing a professional Memory Manger is a good bet for your computing future. BOOT DISKS ---------- The final way to free up memory is to create a Boot Disk. A Boot Disk is a disk that runs the computer from a floppy drive, loading only the bare essentials for running the program in question. A Boot Disk for "PAC-IN-TIME" would include a driver for your mouse, the memory manager that loads the mouse driver high, and the basic system configuration information that is always necessary to run your computer. To create a Boot Disk, put a blank disk into floppy drive A:. Then type the following: FORMAT /S A: Then hit the Enter key. Next, you will want to copy two files to this disk: AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG. SYS. AUTOEXEC.BAT is the file that automatically launches utilities that contribute to running your system; CONFIG.SYS is the file that configures that basics of your system. to copy these files, do type the following: COPY C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT A:\ Then hit the Enter key. Then type: COPY C:\CONFIG.SYS A:\ Then hit the Enter key again. The next important step is to Edit these files in order to remove all utilities and programs that are not necessary to the WINTER SPORTS game. To Edit AUTOEXEC.BAT on your boot disk, type the following: EDIT A:\AUTOEXEC.BAT Then hit the Enter key. A blue screen containing batch file information will come up. You can edit this information by moving the cursor to a line, using the Delete key to delete unwanted text, and use the Insert key to add to or overwrite existing text. You will DELETE all but the following lines, with one exception. @ECHO OFF PROMPT=$P$G PATH=C:\;C:\DOS SET TEMP=DOS *NOTE: IF THE LINES IN YOUR AUTOEXEC.BAT DO NOT READ >>>EXACTLY<<< AS THE ABOVE, MODIFY THEM SO THAT THEY DO!!! The one exception is your MOUSE driver. If there is a line in your AUTOEXEC. BAT file for your mouse, it should be relatively obvious to you. It will have a file ending in .BAT, .EXE, or .COM which contains either the word MOUSE, or a an abbreviated name of the company that makes your mouse. DO NOT DELETE THIS LINE! If the line does not begin with LH, add the letters LH (followed by a space) to the beginning of the line. When you have finished these modifications, pull down the File menu (using your mouse or the Alt-F keyboard command) and choose Exit. You will be asked if you want to save the changes to his file; say "yes". Now we will do the same thing to the CONFIG.SYS on your boot disk. Type the following: EDIT A:\CONFIG.SYS Then hit the Enter key. You'll see the blue screen again, this time with lines of DEVICES and such. Again you will DELETE all but the following lines, with TWO exceptions: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM 256 FILES=20 BUFFERS=10 DOS=HIGH,UMB *NOTE: IF THE LINES IN YOUR CONFIG.SYS DO NOT READ >>>EXACTLY<<< AS THE ABOVE, MODIFY THEM SO THAT THEY DO!!! The two exceptions are the MOUSE driver (it might be in either AUTOEXEC.BAT or in CONFIG.SYS, depending on the brand and version) and any HARD DRIVE COMPRESSION utility that you might be running. The MOUSE driver will be a . SYS file containing the word MOUSE, or an abbreviated name of the company that makes your mouse. The HARD DRIVE COMPRESSION utility (if you have one) will also be a .SYS file, and will either be DOUBLESPACE (the DOS 6.x utility), STACKER or SUPERSTORE (two common third-party utilities), or something similar. The line containing either of these types of files will begin with a DEVICE statement. DO NOT DELETE THESE LINES! If they do begin with the statement: DEVICE= ...then change them to read: DEVICEHIGH= As before, Exit and Save the changes at this point. Now you have a Boot Disk. To use it, make sure that it is in the A: drive with the drive door closed, and reboot the machine. To see if it has gotten you enough FREE CONVENTIONAL MEMORY and EMS, type the following: MEM Then hit the Enter key. You must have more than 571K of FREE CONVENTIONAL MEMORY and more than 256K of FREE EMS at this point in order to run the game. If this is not the case, compare all of your work to the instructions above to make sure that you didn't mistype anything, reboot, and check MEM again. If it STILL doesn't work (especially if you have the HARD DRIVE COMPRESSION utility), then make arrangements to contact our Technical Support Department. *NOTE: IF YOU CALL TECH SUPPORT, BE SURE THAT YOU ARE NEXT TO YOUR MACHINE AND AT A DOS PROMPT WHEN YOU CALL. TECHNICAL SUPPORT CONTACT INFORMATION ------------------------------------- Here is Technical Support's hours and phone number: (415) 883-5157 8:30 A.M. to 5 P.M. Pacific Standard Time Monday through Friday. Calling later in the day and later in the week is generally best. Enjoy the game! ALSO AVAILABLE : PAC-IN-TIME Mac/Power Mac version.
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