Microsoft Crimson Skies Version 1.02 Readme File November 2000 © 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Welcome to Microsoft® Crimson Skies™! Thank you for purchasing Microsoft Crimson Skies. This Readme file contains the most recent information concerning Crimson Skies. CONTENTS A. Version 1.02 B. Version 1.01 C. Installation Issues D. Game Setup Issues E. Gameplay Issues F. Multiplayer Issues G. Configuration Issues G.1. Processor G.2. Display G.3. Audio G.4. Game Controllers G.5. SafeDisc G.6. Software DVD Players H. 3D Card Issues I. 3D Card Drivers and Manufacturers You can find more information about Crimson Skies and Microsoft Product Support Services in the printed manual and on the Crimson Skies Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/games/crimsonskies/). If you have questions about Crimson Skies multiplayer games on the MSN™ Gaming Zone, go to the Zone home page (http://www.zone.com/). A. VERSION 1.02 Crimson Skies version 1.02 fixes several multiplayer, stability, and performance issues that include: • Reduction in players dropped when launching multiplayer games via the MSN Gaming Zone • Improved stability in multiplayer games • Harder to use hacked planes in multiplayer games • Reduction in swap file size • Improved mission load times • Improved performance throughout the user interface Version 1.02 requires DirectX 8.0 or higher to play multiplayer games on the MSN Gaming Zone. If you do not install DirectX 8 or higher, a warning will appear every time a multiplayer game is launched. DirectX can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/directx/. It is also highly recommended to use the latest drivers for your video card. See the list of video card manufacturers' websites at the end of this document. B. VERSION 1.01 Single player saved games can be inadvertently reset to the first mission by playing multiplayer or by customizing a plane in Instant Action. Once this reset occurs there is no way to recover the lost mission state, short of replaying the Campaign. Crimson Skies Update, Version 1.01, specifically fixes this problem. C. INSTALLATION ISSUES If your computer does not automatically install Crimson Skies after the compact disc has been inserted into the CD-ROM drive, perform the following procedure: 1. Click Start, and then click Run. 2. Type x:\setup, where x is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. For example, if your CD-ROM drive letter is D, type d:\setup. 3. Click Install, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen. D. GAME SETUP ISSUES • Support for compressed audio (ADPCM) playback: Crimson Skies requires that certain files from the Windows installation CD are present on your system for in-game audio to function properly. To add ADPCM support, perform the following procedure: 1. Insert the Windows installation CD in your CD-ROM drive. 2. Click Start on the Windows taskbar, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. 3. In the Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs. 4. In the Add/Remove Programs dialog box, click the Windows Setup tab. 5. In the Components box, select Multimedia, and then click the Details button. 6. In the Component box, select Audio Compression, and then click OK. • Fonts corrupted in Keys and Buttons configuration screen: Concurrently running Crimson Skies with Adobe Type Manager and Adobe Pagemaker on a Windows® 98 or earlier operating system will cause characters on the Keys and Buttons configuration screen to become unreadable Wingdings-style symbols. Close Adobe Type Manager and Adobe Pagemaker before running Crimson Skies. • Issues with disabled virtual memory: If virtual memory is disabled while running Crimson Skies, the audio portion of the mission briefings will not play, and upon launching a mission the game will close. It is recommended that virtual memory settings not be altered. • Delay with alternate-drive drop-down list: If you are running the original version of Windows 95 with an Iomega Zip drive installed, and you change the default install location, the alternate install screen and its drop-down list of system drives may take up to a minute to appear when clicked. • Color palette on Windows 95 (Gold, OSR2.x): When launching Crimson Skies on Windows 95, your desktop color palette must be set to High Color (16-bit). • Video resolution of desktop should match in-game resolution: If users experience launching Crimson Skies to a white screen, change the default desktop resolution to the same settings used in gameplay. Crimson Skies supports the following in-game resolutions at 16-bit color: 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768. Note, however, that if this problem occurs in a multiplayer game, set the desktop and in-game resolution to 800x600, and then set the color depth for your desktop to 16-bit color (see a possible exception in the next entry if running Windows Millennium). • Windows Millennium Active Desktop components showing through UI: This may occur if your desktop resolution and color depth are set to the same resolution as the in-game user interface (800 X 600 and 16-bit color depth). This causes the application to minimize on launch, and full mouse control only returns when the application maximizes. This will occur every time Crimson is launched. To resolve this issue set the desktop resolution to other than 800X600 or adjust the color depth to other than 16-bit. • Blank error message with exclamation point upon launch of setup: This may be caused by having the file SETUPENU.DLL in your temp folder. To resolve this problem, delete SETUPENU.DLL from your temp folder. For Windows 98 and Windows Millennium the file can be found in C:\WINDOWS\TEMP. For Windows 2000 the file is in C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Temp. If the Local Settings folder is not visible then click on Tools in an Explorer Window Menu Bar, select Folder Options, click on the View Tab, under Files and Folders, Hidden Files and Folders, select Show All Hidden Files and Folders, then click OK. E. GAMEPLAY ISSUES • Deleting customized planes: There is no maximum to the number of planes that can be created in Instant Action or Multiplayer games. To delete unwanted planes, go to the Planes folder where Crimson Skies is installed (the default location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Crimson Skies\Planes), and then delete the file of the unwanted plane. • Double game speed: This feature has been removed from Crimson Skies. F. MULTIPLAYER ISSUES • Cannot join game once host clicks Ready button: After the host has clicked the Ready button, the connection screen indicates a game is in progress and becomes grayed out. Players cannot join the game after this occurs. • Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) not compatible: ICS, a new home networking program available for Windows, is not supported for Crimson Skies multiplayer games. • Cannot use DNS names for Internet connections: There is an error on page 28 of the manual. For multiplayer Internet games you cannot enter the DNS address for the computer you wish to connect to. You must use the computer’s IP address. • Modems will not hang up: When playing a modem-to-modem multiplayer game, you may be unable to hang up at the multiplayer main menu. To resolve, return to the main game menu, and the modem will then disconnect properly. • Playing with customized planes on the MSN Gaming Zone: A problem may occur if a player connects to the Zone, enters a game lobby and, while waiting for other players to join, launches Crimson Skies to build a custom plane. If the Zone game launches at this time, the player creating the custom plane will fail to launch into the Zone game even though "Game is launching" dialog appears. To resolve this problem, create custom planes before entering a game lobby on the Zone. • Multiplayer on Windows Millennium Edition: To resolve problems that may occur launching a Crimson Skies multiplayer game on a Windows Millennium Edition, change the desktop resolution and in-game resolution to 800x600. Problems associated with these settings usually occur on motherboards that utilize a VIA Technologies chipset in conjunction with an NVIDIA display adapter. To resolve/minimize this issue ensure that the latest available 4-in-1 drivers from VIA (http://www.viatech.com/) and NVIDIA driver version 6.31 or higher (http://www.nvidia.com) are installed, and update your DirectX version to DX 8 (http://www.microsoft.com/directx/). • Players dropping out of multiplayer games: If players drop out of multiplayer games (some players will receive system messages saying that the player has dropped out), install DirectX version 8 or higher from http://www.microsoft.com/directx/. • Zone Multiplayer launches: DirectX version 8 or higher is now required for game play on the Zone. G. CONFIGURATION ISSUES Known hardware and operating system configuration issues are listed in this section. For issues with specific 3D cards, see “H. 3D Card Issues.” G.1. Processor • Issue with Cyrix-based processors: When starting Crimson Skies on a Cyrix-based system, some users may experience an invalid page fault error. This is usually due to out-of-date display drivers for your video card. To resolve, download and install the latest display drivers from your video card manufacturer’s or video chipset vendor’s Web site. G.2. Display • Savage 4 display adapters: If on-screen corruption with the user interface or in-game text occurs, contact your hardware manufacturer for the latest drivers for your product, or download and install the latest reference drivers from http://www.diamondmm.com/. • SiS 620 3D display chipset: With a motherboard using this chipset, the display may appear corrupted or the screen may intermittently flash. To resolve, download and install the latest drivers from the manufacturer (http://www.sis.com.tw). • VIA chipsets: With any operating system other than Windows 2000, you may experience instability and performance issues while playing Crimson Skies. To resolve, download and install the latest 4-in-1 drivers from the manufacturer (http://www.viatech.com/). • Voodoo Rush chipset incompatible with some display adapters: The following display adapters used with the Voodoo Rush chipset may cause Crimson Skies to minimize to the desktop upon starting a mission: California Graphics 3D Emotion, Hercules Stingray 128/3D, Intergraph Intense 3D, and SIIG Aurora 3D GamePro. To resolve, always run the game in Software mode. G.3. Audio Certain sound cards may cause audio skipping and occasionally visual slowdown. To correct this problem, click Preferences on the Crimson Skies main menu, click Audio, and then either select Low in the Sound Quality box and/or deselect In-Game Music. • Aureal Vortex sound card incompatible with Windows 2000: The Aureal Vortex family of audio chipsets (models SQ1500, SQ2500, and SQ 3500) lack proper driver support for Windows 2000. Users may experience frequent sound anomalies while playing Crimson Skies. Contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers. For reference drivers, visit http://support.a3d.com/. • Aureal Vortex SQ1500 sound card on Windows 2000: This sound card may not be properly detected as DirectX compliant by Crimson Skies Setup. To fix this problem, download the latest available Windows 2000 beta drivers for the SQ1500 from Aureal's support site (http://support.a3d.com/downloads/index.htm). • Older Diamond Multimedia Monster sound cards incompatible with Windows 2000: Monster Sound (Original), Monster Sound M80, and Monster Sound MX200 are not compatible with Windows 2000. Contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers. • Vortex 2 audio chipset (Turtle Beach Montego II, Diamond Monster Sound MX-300) compatibility with Windows 2000: Users may experience choppy playback of audio during the installation of Crimson Skies as well as other anomalies. The original manufacturer of the Vortex 2 chipset, Aureal Semiconductor, has gone out of business. No driver updates are available for Vortex 2-based sound cards running on Windows 2000, other than the generic Vortex 2 driver included with Windows 2000. Contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers. For reference drivers, visit http://support.a3d.com/. G.4. Game Controllers • Multiple joysticks not supported: If more than one joystick and/or gamepad is connected to your computer, only one will function in Crimson Skies. • Gravis Blackhawk joystick throttle: The throttle control may not sufficiently slow your airplane enough to dock with a zeppelin. To resolve, install the Pro version of the Gravis joystick software. G.5. SafeDisc • SafeDisc hardware conflicts: Crimson Skies copy protection software is incompatible with some CD-ROM drives. Acer CD-624a: The drive fails when used with real-mode drivers. To resolve, install protected-mode drivers. Memorex CD-RW2224: The drive is incompatible with the current version of SafeDisc. Sanyo CRD-256P: The drive enters a not ready state after several attempts to start the game. This drive is incompatible with the current version of SafeDisc. Sony CDU77E: Early 1.0 firmware versions of this drive fail if configured as a slave on the IDE bus. The drive will work if reconfigured as a master. Yamaha 2216E, 4416SX, and CDR6416S-VK: These drives are incompatible with the current version of SafeDisc. • SafeDisc software conflicts: Crimson Skies copy protection software is incompatible with some software. McAfee (Network Associates) Nuts & Bolts: Nuts & Bolts causes Crimson Skies to fail if the Bomb Shelter utility is in a certain configuration. The following steps allow SafeDisc-protected products to be used: 1. Maximize Bomb Shelter. 2. In the Bomb Shelter dialog box, click Properties. 3. In the Error Protection group, click Advanced. 4. In the Advanced Properties tab, deselect the Write Protect VMM check box. 5. Click Apply or OK, followed by clicking OK on all subsequent screens. G.6. Software DVD Players Certain display cards (for example, those in the Maxi Gamer Xentor family) that come bundled with software DVD players may experience problems when trying to start Crimson Skies due to the opening cinemas being in the MPEG format. To correct this, contact your hardware manufacturer for updated software. If problems persist, uninstall the software DVD player, and the game should start and play normally. H. 3D CARD ISSUES Crimson Skies only fully supports DirectX® 7-compliant video cards. It is good practice to always install the latest certified drivers for all of your hardware. If problems persist, restart Crimson Skies, select Software - Game Z in the Video Device box, and then click OK, or switch to Software mode within the game (click Preferences on the Crimson Skies main menu, click Video, and then select Software in the Graphics drop-down list box). • 3dfx Voodoo Banshee (such as Diamond Monster Fusion): Game textures may appear distorted and flash white. To resolve, download and install the latest reference drivers from 3dfx Interactive (http:/www.3dfx.com/). • 3DLabs Permedia 2 chipset: Shadows may appear distorted. To resolve, disable the Shadows option in the Video menu. Also, in-game menus may appear distorted, or cockpit instruments may be oddly colored. To resolve, contact the hardware manufacturer for updated drivers, or download and install the latest reference drivers from 3DLabs (http://www.3dlabs.com/). • ATI 3D Rage II+: In-game textures may be incorrectly displayed, visual anomalies may occur in the in-game menus, or lines may bisect the screen. To resolve, download and install the latest display drivers from ATI (http://www.ati.com/). • ATI Rage 128: Within a few seconds of entering an Instant Action mission, the game may exit to the End menu. To resolve, change the Sound Quality option in the Audio menu from High to Low. • ATI Rage 128 and ATI Rage Fury Maxx: Intermittent on-screen display anomalies may occur. To resolve, download and install the latest drivers from ATI (http://www.ati.com/). • ATI Rage GL AGP: The game may hang with a black screen when loading missions. To resolve, download and install the latest display drivers from ATI (http://www.ati.com/). • ATI Rage Pro: Additional aircraft shadows may appear in multiplayer games. To resolve, download and install the latest video drivers from ATI (http://www.ati.com/). • ATI Rage Pro turbo AGP: The game may hang with a solid white screen after starting. To resolve, download and install the latest video drivers from ATI (http://www.ati.com/). • Creative Labs 3D Blaster Riva TNT2 Ultra: Game resolution may be limited to 640 x 480. To resolve, download and install the latest video drivers from Creative Labs (http://www.creative.com/). • Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Riva TNT: On-screen textures may be unusually dark or flashing in the distance. With Windows Millennium, using its default Riva TNT driver, the main menu screen may be distorted. To resolve either of these issues, download and install the latest reference display drivers from NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com/). • Creative Labs Voodoo 2: With Windows 98, the game may not start properly. To resolve, download and install the latest reference drivers from the chipset manufacturer (http://www.3dfx.com/). • Diamond Monster Fusion: In game textures may be missing if using the Diamond retail display drivers. To fix this problem, download and install the latest reference driver for the 3dfx Voodoo Banshee display chipset from 3dfx (http://www.3dfx.com/). • Diamond Viper TNT AGP: The player’s aircraft may be subject to an uncontrollable roll, and the game may minimize to the desktop during missions. To resolve, download and install the latest drivers from the manufacturer (http://www.nvidia.com/). • Guillemot Maxi Gamer Cougar: The game may hang when loading missions. To resolve, download and install the latest display drivers from Guillemot (http://www.guillemot.com/) or the reference drivers for this TNT2-based card from NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com/). • Guillemot Xentor 32: Users may experience problems when trying to start Crimson Skies during the opening cinema. To resolve, upgrade your DVD software. If problems persist, uninstall the software DVD player that came bundled with this display card. • Hercules Power Drive Terminator Beast: Additional aircraft shadows may appear on the ground. To resolve, download and install the latest video drivers from http://www.hercules.com/ or the reference drivers for this S3 Savage 3D chip from http://www.diamondmm.com/. • Matrox Millennium II: This model of display adapter does not have sufficient 3D feature support to run Crimson Skies in hardware mode. For example, targeting reticules are not correctly blended. With this video card, always play Crimson Skies in Software mode. • Number 9 Revolution IV: The game may minimize to the desktop after the player is killed and the mission must be restarted from the options screen. Also, the game may hang upon quitting Instant Action missions. To resolve, download and install the latest video drivers from Number 9 Visual Technology (http://www.nine.com/). • Number 9 SR-9 Pro: The terrain in the game may appear distorted. To resolve, download and install the latest reference drivers for the Savage 4 chipset (http://www.diamondmm.com/). • NVIDIA chipset (TNT, TNT2, and GeForce): With Windows 2000, the game will not run in accelerated hardware mode with the NVIDIA display drivers that come with the operating system. To resolve, contact your hardware manufacturer for updated drivers, or download and install the latest reference drivers from NVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com/). • STB Velocity 128 3D AGP: The game may hang while navigating the user interface. To resolve, download and install the latest reference display drivers from the manufacturer (http://www.nvidia.com/). • STB Velocity 4400: System may hang at the Main Menu. To correct this, either download and install the latest retail display drivers from STB Systems (http://www.stb.com/drivers/), or the latest reference display drivers from Nvidia's web site (http://www.nvidia.com). • STB Velocity 4400: Textures may become distorted after a few minutes of gameplay. To resolve, download and install the latest reference drivers from the chipset manufacturer (http://www.nvidia.com/). If you installed the latest retail drivers that STB offered for this card, an error message may appear and the game will not start. Downloading and installing the latest reference drivers from the chipset manufacturer will also resolve this problem. I. 3D CARD DRIVERS AND MANUFACTURERS Make sure that you have the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your video card. Many video issues will be resolved if you install your video card's latest drivers. Crimson Skies may not detect some older video cards properly because their video drivers are not DirectX 7-compliant. Please contact your video card manufacturer for updated drivers or install the latest reference drivers for your video board. Note that many reference drivers are not supported by the chipset manufacturer. Listed below are some common video card manufacturers' Web sites. Crimson Skies may not support some or all of the cards produced by a particular manufacturer. 3dfx Interactive - http://www.3dfx.com/ 3Dlabs - http://www.3dlabs.com/ AccelGraphics - http://www.accelgraphics.com/ Asus - http://www.asus.com/ ATI - http://support.atitech.ca/ Aztech Labs - http://www.aztechlabs.com/ Canopus - http://www.canopuscorp.com/ Creative Labs - http://www.creativelabs.com/ Diamond Multimedia - http://www.diamondmm.com/ Elsa Technology - http://www.elsa.de/ Gateway 2000 - http://www.gw2k.com/ Guillemot - http://www.guillemot.com/ Hercules (see Guillemot) - http://www.guillemot.com/ I/O Magic - http://www.iomagic.com/ Intergraph (see 3Dlabs) - http://www.3dlabs.com/ Jaton - http://www.jaton.com/ Leadtek - http://www.leadtek.com/ Matrox - http://www.matrox.com/ Number Nine - http://www.nine.com/ NVIDIA - http://www.nvidia.com/ Orchid (see Diamond Multimedia) - http://www.diamondmm.com/ S3 Incorporated - http://www.s3.com/ SiS - http://www.sis.com.tw/ Silicon Integrated Systems Corporation (SiS) - http://www.sis.com.tw/ STB (see 3dfx Interactive) - http://www.3dfx.com/ VIA Technologies - http://www.viatech.com/ VideoLogic - http://www.videologic.com/