Amazon Trail(R)
Copyright(c) 1996, MECC(R) and its licensors
All Rights Reserved
Version 1.1
This README file is provided as a reference document to help you setup
your Windows environment or fix problems that you are having
with Amazon Trail.
Included in this document:
- WINDOWS 95 SETUP
- WINDOWS 3.1x, WFW 3.11 & WINDOWS NT SETUP
- SOUND AND MUSIC
- TROUBLE SHOOTING
- SOUNDTRACK
- MECC DEMOS
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WINDOWS 95
1. To setup Amazon Trail, insert the CD in the drive. An AutoRun screen
should appear. Click on the "Setup" button.
If the AutoRun screen does not appear, Click on the "START" button,
select Run and type "D:\setup" (substitute the correct drive letter if
your CD drive is not "D:").
2. Follow the on-screen instructions.
3. Amazon Trail installation places an icon in the Start menu
under the MECC program group:
Amazon Trail Icon
4. Installation is now complete; select the "Amazon Trail"
icon to start the program.
WINDOWS 95 Notes:
- If you choose to reinstall Amazon Trail, use the Windows 95 Control Panel
to uninstall Amazon Trail before reinstalling.
- When the Amazon Trail CD is inserted, an Amazon Trail logo screen
will appear with "Setup," "Run," "Demos," and "Exit" buttons at the bottom.
If the logo appears without buttons, try resizing the Window until the
buttons appear. If the buttons are still not visable, change your
screen font to "small fonts" (in Control Panel/Display settings).
If problems still exist, start Windows 95 Explorer, open the Amazon
CD folder, open the WIN32 folder and double-click on the SETUP32.EXE file.
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WINDOWS 3.1x, WFW 3.11 & WINDOWS NT
1. To set up Amazon Trail, run the SETUP.EXE program from the CD.
For example, Select "Run" from the FILE menu and type "D:\setup".
2. Amazon Trail installation places an icon in the MECC program group:
Amazon Trail Icon
3. Installation is now complete; double-click on the "Amazon Trail"
icon to start the program.
There are product demos for other MECC products on this CD. Please see the
section of this document that describes them.
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Requirements
- 486 or higher
- 4 MB RAM, 8MB RAM highly recommended
- DOS 5.0 or later
- Windows 3.1 or later
- Double-speed CD-ROM
- 256 colors, 640 x 480
- Windows-compatible sound card
- Video for Windows 1.1e (supplied on the CD)
Warning: If you are using Windows 95 or Windows for Workgroups, 8MB of RAM
is highly recommended.
========= MEMORY - RAM ===============================
Amazon Trail requires a minimum of 4 megabytes of
random access memory (RAM) to operate. Check that available
memory is adequate. Although Windows allows you to run more
than one application simultaneously, it is highly
recommended that you close everything else to release all
available memory when you run Amazon Trail.
If you do not have a permanent swap file setup it is recommended
that you create one.
========== VIDEO DISPLAY ================================
Amazon Trail prefers 256 colors in a screen resolution of at
least 640 x 480. Amazon Trail can be run in 65k color mode,
but performance will be diminished. (In 256 colors, graphics
can be written directly to the screen. With 65K colors or more,
the graphics must be built off-screen and then displayed. If
the display is painted in large sections, then a 256 color
driver is not in use.)
To install the preferred 256-color video driver, use the
"Windows Setup" icon (setup.exe) and take the following
steps (note: setup.exe can also be accessed from DOS when in
the windows directory) :
1. Locate your video card manufacturer's display drivers disk.
2. Find your Windows disks.
3. Find the Windows Setup Icon (setup.exe) in the Main Group.
4. Select Change System Settings from the Options menu.
5. In the pop-up menu, locate the Other Drivers selection.
6. Specify the drive and/or directory of the video display
drivers disk.
7. Select the driver which supports 640 x 480 in 256 colors
and click OK.
8. You may need to insert some of the Windows disks for fonts,
etc.
9. To change to any other video mode, simply follow steps 1
through 8 for whatever mode required.
10. Once the above steps are completed, restart Windows.
Note that current drivers may be obtained directly from the
video card manufacturer or from bulletin boards that are
often setup by the video board manufacturers. Bulletin
boards are databases that are accessible via a modem.
Problems with specific video cards are described in the
Trouble Shooting section at the end of this file.
====== SOUND and MUSIC =================================
There are a great number of manufacturers of MPC sound cards of
varying qualities.
1. Amazon Trail will have a small amount of "white noise" or
background hiss when playing digitized sound effects and
speech. It should not "crackle," "pop" or "motorboat."
2. If sound or music fails to play at all or the quality is still
not as expected, then try reinstalling your sound card drivers
as follows:
Locate your manufacturer's driver disk for the sound card. Also
check your manual for any information regarding installation.
Usually there is a set procedure for installation and most of the
steps are done for you. Follow the manufacturer's procedures for
installation which usually works.
However if the manufacturer's installation doesn't work
or is incomplete, the following describes a more "manual"
installation process:
1. Keep your Windows 3.1 disks handy. They're often
needed for hardware installations.
2. Find the Windows "Control Panel."
3. Find the Drivers Icon.
4. Find the Add button and click on it.
5. Find and select "Other."
6. Insert your sound card manufacturer's driver disk.
7. Click on OK and follow the prompts.
8. If necessary, delete older drivers.
Once the above steps are completed, restart Windows.
9. Try installing Amazon Trail again or try the
Sound Test to see if there is any improvement.
===== TROUBLE SHOOTING ===============================
Description: Amazon Trail won't complete its installation.
Solution #1: Check the surface of the CD-ROM (the shiny side) for
any smudges, scratches, fingerprints, peanut butter
or other foreign substances. Anything that can bend
or obstruct light can cause incorrect data to be read.
Description: The Amazon Trail title screen comes up but I can't continue.
Solution #2: Three buttons should appear at the bottom of the title
screen. Those buttons allow you to start the game. If those
buttons don't appear you probably have a video card with an
S3 chip. If that is the case try the most recent video driver
for that card. You may also you the generic S3 864 video
driver.
Description: The Amazon Trail locks up at the title screen.
Solution #3: Three buttons should appear at the bottom of the title
screen. Those buttons allow you to start the game. If those
buttons don't appear you probably have a video card with an
S3 chip. If that is the case try the most recent video driver
for that card. You may also you the generic S3 864 video
driver.
Description: Cannot hear any sound or music.
Solution #4: Try using the MEDIA PLAYER that comes with Windows 3.1
This will allow you to try MIDI or WAVE sounds (there
are some .mid and .wav files in the Windows directory
for you to try). From Program Manager select RUN and type
MPLAYER CANYON.MID
Hit the play button and you should hear music.
If you still don't hear anything, this means that
the problem is not just Amazon Trail but may be the
connection between your sound card and your speakers.
Check all your connections with speakers, headphones and
volume controls.
Solution #5: "No. I'm still not hearing any sounds." - Take a look at
the software mixer in Windows that came with your sound card
Are the sliders for MIDI and WAVE turned up? Is the
master volume control turned up?
If you still are not hearing sound/music, contact your
computer and/or hardware manufacturer.
Description: Amazon Trail was working before, but now it isn't!
Solution #6: Check the surface of the Amazon Trail CD-ROM (the shiny
side) for any smudges, scratches, fingerprints, peanut
butter or other foreign substances. Anything that can
bend or obstruct light can cause incorrect data to be read
and can cause some very bizarre errors to occur.
Description : A "System Error Cannot read from drive D" error message
appears.
Solution #7: This error will occur if the Amazon Trail CD is NOT
in the drive or if the CD is dirty or damaged.
Clean the CD and check for any damage.
Please check with your computer vendor for other suggestions
for getting the drive to read the CD.
Description: "Inadequate video mode" error at program startup
Solution #8: This error occurs on systems using ATI Mach 64 video
drivers. User's current video mode indicates 256
colors, however Amazon Trail/Windows does not detect
the video mode as a 256-color video mode.
Unfortunately, at the time of this release a solution is
not available. MECC is continuing to investigate what
appears to be a video driver problem. As soon as a
solution is available, MECC will add it to the 24-hour
Automated Technical Support System and also post the
solution on America-On-Line BBS (keyword MECC).
Description: Amazon Trail freezes at startup
Solution #9: Delete the file "amazon.cfg" in the Windows directory.
Relaunch the program.
GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS!
Rule #1 is to eliminate as may variables as possible!
- In Amazon Trail, try turning off Sound and Music - does
the error still occur?
- Are any other programs running in the background? Hold down the
Ctrl & Esc keys to bring up Windows task list. Close all applications
except Program Manager. Then start Amazon Trail.
- DOS 6.0 and above allow users to step through the Config.sys and
Autoexec.bat files, answering Yes or No for each line. When your
computer is starting up, a "Loading MS-DOS" message appears. Hold
down the F8 key to step through these system files. Do not attempt
this if you do not know what each line is doing.
- If you are experiencing display problems, disable background programs and
make sure you have the latest video drivers for your system.
NOTE: Check to make sure you have the latest Windows video & sound drivers
for the video and sound cards installed in your computer. Check the
documentation that came with your video card or sound card for
information on obtaining updated drivers.
MECC Technical Support is available through the following:
1. 24-Hour Automated Technical Support System. 1-612-569-1678
2. E-Mail. When sending a technical support request via E-Mail,
please be sure to include detailed information about the problem
you are having and include the following:
(examples for MAC & Windows systems)
Platform: Windows Macintosh
Computer Type/Model: Gateway 2000 Performa 6115CD
Operating System: Windows 3.1 System 7.5
RAM: 8 Meg 8 Meg
Video Driver: CL GD5426/28
Sound Card: Ensoniq
Contact MECC Technical Support online at:
America Online. keyword MECC
Internet. http://www.mecc.com/
E-Mail. [email protected]
===== Amazon Trail Soundtrack ======================
This Amazon Trail CD contains a number of audio tracks that can be played
with your CD-ROM drive or a standard audio CD player. On an audio-only CD
player, start playing at Track 2. Enjoy.
(Warning: Track 1 is where the computer data resides; your CD player will
either make no sound_or_ play continuous noise!)
Track Title
2 Xingu River
3 Santarem
4 Trombetas
5 Manaus
6 Ica
7 Iquitos
8 Apurimac
9 Vilcabamba
10 Celebration
===== Mecc Demos on CD ======================
To run the MECC Demos from File Manager:
1. Open File Manager
2. Open the Amazon Trail CD
3. Open the WINDEMO folder
To run the AFRICA TRAIL demo, do the following:
-Open the AFRICAD folder
-Double-click the file AT.EXE to launch the demo.
To run the MAYA QUEST demo, do the following:
-Open the MAYAD folder
-Double-click the file MQ_ENG.EXE to launch the demo.
To run the MATH MUNCHERS demo, do the following:
-Open the MMUNCHD folder
-Double-click the file MM_DEMO.EXE to launch the demo.
To run the OPENING NIGHT demo, do the following:
-Open the OPENINGD folder
-Double-click the file OPENING.EXE to launch the demo.
To run the TESSELMANIA demo, do the following:
-Open the TSMANIAD folder
-Double-click the file TSSMANIA.EXE to launch the demo.
To run the STORYBOOK WEAVER DELUXE demo, do the following:
-Open the SBWDWIND folder
-Double-click the file SBW.EXE to launch the demo.
To run the OREGON TRAIL II demo, do the following:
-Open the OTIID folder
-Double-click the file GEN_WIN.EXE to launch the demo.
===== End ========================================================