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TROUBLESHOOTING
Updating video drivers from manufacturers
Contact your video card manufacturer and follow the manufacturer's instructions to get the latest driver. These
drivers are often available on the manufacturer's Web site (a list of these sites is available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs/drivers.htm) or from a bulletin board (BBS). The driver is usually
available as a PKZip (ZIP) file or a self-extracting executable (EXE) file.
If the manufacturer of your video card includes specific instructions for installing the driver, follow them.
Otherwise, unzip the files into a temporary subdirectory on your hard disk drive or onto a floppy disk. Then follow
these instructions:
1.
Open the Display Properties dialog box by right-clicking on the Windows® desktop and then clicking
Properties on the popup menu.
2.
In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab.
3.
Click Change Display Type.
4.
In the Advanced Display Properties dialog box, click the Adapter tab.
5.
Click Change.
6.
In the Select Device dialog box, click Have Disk.
7.
If you have the latest video driver from your video card manufacturer on a disk or CD-ROM, select the
appropriate drive and click OK. Otherwise click Browse. Go to the temporary subdirectory you created
for the video card files and open the DISPLAY.INF file.
8.
In the Select Device dialog box, choose the driver that matches your video card and then click OK.
9.
Click OK as many times as necessary to accept the changes.
10.
To restart your computer, click Yes in the System Settings Change dialog box.
Known problems and fixes
Following are some solutions to common problems.
Joystick completely or randomly disconnects
The following fix works well to eliminate joystick issues for Combat Flight Simulator, but reduces the sound quality
(11Khz mono as opposed to 22Khz stereo).
1. Find the COMBATFS.CFG file in your main CFS directory and use a text editor to add the following
lines:
[SOUND]
Channels=1
SamplesPerSec=11025
2. Save the file and restart Combat Flight Simulator.
Why are buttons that are not on the joystick being automatically assigned?
For your convenience we have created default assignments for certain popular joysticks. If your joystick does not
have a default profile, it is given a generic profile that automatically assigns 10 buttons. You can always reassign
each button from within the simulation.
For joysticks with less than 10 buttons, there will be more buttons assigned to actions than there are buttons on the
controller. These extra assignments should not affect game play. If they do, you can manually remove them.
To remove the joystick assignments
1. On the main screen, click Settings.
2.
Click Customize controls.
3.
Click Assignments.
4.
Highlight the mappings you wish to delete and click Clear.
What is the difference between SHIFT+Num 1 and Num 1?
In the Assignments tab of the Customize controls dialog, SHIFT+Num 1 refers to pressing 1 on the numeric
keypad while Num Lock is on. Num 1 refers to pressing it while Num Lock is off.
My joystick does not work properly when daisy-chained through my game pad
When you switch from one device to another (usually through a switch on the gamepad), it may appear that you
have lost functionality. The real issue is that the current controller is using the button mappings from the previous
controller. See the Switching controllers causes some loss of functionality section below for the remedy.
Switching controllers causes some loss of functionality
This is most likely because Combat Flight Simulator is still reading the button assignments for your old controller.
After switching controllers, you must click Reset defaults in the Assignments dialog of the Customize Controls
screen under Settings. This symptom is more apparent when switching from a game pad to a joystick because their
default mappings are so different.
To debug a joystick issue
1.
On the main screen, click Settings.
2.
Click Customize controls.
3.
Click Assignments.
4.
Click anywhere in the Device column.
5.
Click Reset Defaults.
When I program my gamepad or joystick it is difficult to steer my plane, and when I switch to
different views it does not stick to that view
Combat Flight Simulator may be difficult to steer because of the way Windows® responds to keyboards inputs.
When you hold down a button the initial response from Windows is slow, then progressively faster. Thus
when you program a button on your joystick or gamepad to a keyboard button you will get a similar response
from the controller. The plane will respond slowly at first, then very quickly.
When some controllers emulate keyboard inputs they automatically perform a repeat on that key. Thus it makes it
difficult to use the views since the controller is emulating a repeating keystroke instead of one constant key
stroke.
Joystick performance
•
If you unplug your controller while in the simulator, your game may have pauses. Reconnecting the
controller will fix this.
•
You cannot use a digital joystick (Sidewinder 3D, Sidewinder 3D pro, Force Feedback pro, etc) with an
8-bit sound card.
•
Using the MS® Force Feedback joystick and an older sound blaster card (such as Sound Blaster Pro) can
cause your computer to freeze. The Sound Blaster card does not have the features required to run the
Force Feedback joystick.
•
Hooking up the Microsoft® Sidewinder 3D Pro to pedals can cause hardware conflicts that don't allow you
to calibrate correctly. Separate pedals should not be used with this joystick.
•
You must reset the default mappings for the Microsoft Sidewinder USB Game Pad in order to adjust axis
sensitivity.
General video performance
•
If your computer crashes at the start of the introductory movie, the opening and transition movies will no
longer play.
•
Combat Flight Simulator requires 2 MB of free video memory to run in hardware acceleration. At least 4
MB is recommended. Running with 2MB's memory causes some texture dropouts.
•
Combat Flight Simulator requires DX6 to run in hardware acceleration. Some video card drivers are not
compatible with DX6. Contact your video card's manufacturer for updated drivers.
•
If the color of the maps in the Mission Briefing seems wrong and you are running on the original
Windows® 95 (i.e., no service packs have been installed), your COMCTL32 component could be out of
date. Updating to a newer version will fix this. Newer versions are installed with some applications,
including the latest version of Microsoft® Internet Explorer.
•
If you are running in full screen mode on Windows® NT 4.0, you may not be able to press ALT+TAB to
use other applications. To use other applications run Combat Flight Simulator in a window.
•
If you are experiencing system hangs and running Combat Flight Simulator on an AGP video card, you
should edit your COMBATFS.CFG file so that:
TextureAGP = 0 in the [HARDWARE] section
•
The following resolutions are supported by most video cards and are available for selection (if supported):
320x200, 320x240, 640x400, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024.
You may run at other resolutions by editing your COMBATFS.CFG file so that:
LIMIT_RESOLUTIONS = 0 in the [PREFS] section
Running at other resolutions may cause problems on some video cards. At resolutions below
640x480, the location of the mouse cursor may not exactly match the items it has selected.
Issues with specific video cards
3Dfx (Get technical support and information from http://www.3DFx.com.)
Voodoo and Voodoo II chipsets (Diamond Monster I & II, Canopus Pure 3D I & 2, Creative Labs
Voodoo Blaster, etc)
• Sometimes you cannot select the Voodoo card on your system. Completely rebooting your computer
will fix this error.
•
Combat Flight Simulator may not recognize a Diamond Monster II with its retail drivers. Upgrading
to the latest drivers eliminates the problem.
•
Voodoo I users may see a band of rectangles that briefly appear horizontally across the screen. This
condition occurs when the card is downloading new textures while any audio is playing. This is a
problem with the hardware itself and there is no known fix.
•
Errors can occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from the card manufacturer.
Errors include a palette distortion and blurry text.
Rush chipset (Hercules Stingray 128 /3D)
•
Your system may hang when you exit Combat Flight Simulator. This is an issue with the 4.10.1.2059
version of the video driver. Installing the 3Dfx Voodoo Rush Reference Drivers for Windows 95/98
(Single Board) from the 3Dfx web site will fix this problem.
ATI (Get technical support and information from http://www.atitech.com.)
RAGE
•
Textures are corrupted or missing. This is a limitation of the video card. Turning off MIP
mapping will alleviate some of these effects.
RAGE II / II+ chipsets
•
Errors may occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from ATI.
Rage Pro (including the Xpert@work and the Xpert@play)
•
Errors may occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from ATI.
Cirrus Logic (Get technical support and information from http://www.cirrus.com.)
•
Text is corrupted when using the Cirrus Logic CL-546X chipset (including the Creative Labs Graphics
Blaster 3D).
•
When running the Win98 default drivers (cirruslg.drv ver. 4.10.1637) the texture is corrupted in all 16 and
32 bit resolutions. When running under the latest Cirrus Logic drivers (546x.drv ver. 4.10.01.1701)
texture corruption occurs only when running in 32 bit resolutions. Upgrade to the latest driver available
for the manufacture of your card.
Matrox (Get technical support and information from http://www.matrox.com.)
G-100 chipsets (productiva G-100)
•
The textures get blurry on the airplane and ground (MIP mapping errors). This is an error in the
drivers for this card. Contact Matrox for a driver update.
•
The propeller, aircraft canopy, and explosions are stippled (checker pattern). This is a limitation of
the card. It does not support the hardware features required.
G-200 chipsets (Millennium & Mystique G-200)
•
Some older drivers may cause the ground textures to become corrupted. This is an error in the drivers
for this card. Contact Matrox for a driver update.
Mystique and Mystique 220.
•
Can’t run in hardware acceleration with these cards.
•
These cards do not support the features required for Combat Flight Simulator.
Mpact II 3DVD (STB Nitro DVD) (Get technical support and information from http://www.chromatic.com.)
•
At the time of release there were no drivers compatible with Combat Flight Simulator for this chipset.
Please check with your video card vendor for an updated driver. If no new drivers exist and you are
experiencing problems when running in 3-D hardware then you'll need to run the game in 3-D software
mode.
Nvidia (Get technical support and information from http://www.nvidia.com.)
Riva TNT (STB Velocity V4400)
• You may see flickering in cockpits. Downloading the latest driver will fix this. Otherwise
you can check the "Wait for VBLANK" option in the Display section of your Windows
Control Panel.
• If you are experiencing problems with the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) drivers,
installing the latest Riva TNT drivers from http://www.nvidia.com may provide better
functionality.
Riva 128 (STB Velocity 128, Diamond Viper V330)
• On the Dell OEM version of the STB Velocity 128, you may see white horizontal flashes.
Downloading the latest driver from Dell (http://www.dell.com) will fix this.
• On the Diamond Viper V330, you may get a system hang when you crash your airplane.
Upgrading to the latest drivers from Diamond (http://www.diamondmm.com) eliminates the
problem.
Permedia 2 (AccelSTAR II [found in Gateway E3000, Gateway E5000 etc. computers], View top
AGP Mars-2 & 3D Mars-2, Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Exxtreme, Diamond FireGL 1000 Pro,
GLoria Synergy) (Get technical support and information from http://www.3Dlabs.com.)
• Errors can occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from the card manufacturer. Errors
include a green palette distortion, texture dropping, texture corruption, and blurry text.
•
When Combat Flight Simulator is non-full screen (hardware), if an auxiliary view window has focus and
the W key is pressed, two overlapping view panes appear. There is no fix for this.
•
Running at 1600 x 1200 resolution produces sliding polygons at bottom of screen.
PowerVR PCX2 (Grafixstar - Apocalypse 5D) (Get technical support and information from
http://www.powervr.com.)
•
Polygons can be seen in the fog. Clearing the Enable Hardware check box in the Settings dialog will fix
this problem.
Rendition (Get technical support and information from http://www.rendition.com.)
V2x00 (Hercules Thriller 3D, Diamond Stealth II S220)
•
Some minor graphic errors occur on this chipset. There is no known workaround. Updating the
drivers to the most current available from the manufacturer may resolve some issues.
V1000 (Creative Labs 3D Blaster, Canopus Total 3D, Sierra Screaming 3D)
•
Errors may occur in the graphics if you are not using the latest drivers from the card manufacturer.
S3 (For any card with a ViRGE (standard, Vx, Gx, Gx2 etc.) chipset, downloading the latest drivers from
http://www.s3.com eliminates many problems.)
ViRGE (Diamond Stealth 3D 3000)
•
You may not see textures when running on the Diamond Stealth 3D 3000. Upgrading to the latest
drivers from http://www.s3.com eliminates the problem.
ViRGE VX (STB Velocity 3D)
•
Playing for 30 minutes or longer may hang your system. Upgrading to the latest drivers from
http://www.s3.com eliminates the problem.
•
Alpha-blending (partial transparencies) may not work. Upgrading to the latest drivers eliminates the
problem.
Trident Cyber 9397 (Get technical support and information from http://www.tridentmicro.com.)
•
The gunsight may appear distorted. There is no known fix for this.
Audio Performance
If you hear chirping or other sound anomalies, you should find the Combatfs.cfg file in your main CFS directory
and use a text editor to change values to the following:
[SOUND]
Channels=1
SamplesPerSec=11025
This will reduce sound quality but should remove any anomalies.
If you have a Sound Blaster 16 and are not hearing any sound in Combat Flight Simulator or the audio in the
opening movie is not playing correctly, disable the 16-bit DMA channel in the Sound Blaster 16 Configuration
dialog. This is usually found in your Windows® Control Panel's Multimedia section.
If you have a Yamaha sound card in your system and having the sound on greatly reduces your frame rate, go to
your Windows® Control Panel's Multimedia section and select Game Compatible Device as your Preferred
Device on the Audio tab.