Madden NFL(tm) 99 9-15-98 - REMOTE PLAY SUPPORT Low Latency and High bandwidth are required for playing Madden remotely. If you have a low latency connection, (150ms) but a small bandwidth (24,000 baud) you will experience sub optimal results. The same result will happen with a High bandwidth, and a high latency. - Latency Low latency connections are necessary to play Madden 99 on TCP/IP networks. We have found that a latency of 190 or less is optimal for a good experience. To find out what your latency is for a remote game, use the ping utility that is included with Windows. It is an ms-dos utility. Simply type "ping" and the IP address you would like to ping from the run command, and you will see a window with the ping time. A "timed out" message means that the other computer can not be reached. If your latency is too high a warning will be displayed. If a user is behind a security firewall, that user will not be able to host a TCP game. For more info. on this subject please consult http://whatis.com/ Search for latency, and ping. - IPX Games To assure that you can see your opponent do not enter the remote play area until they have hit the confirm button to host a game. Sometimes an IPX game that is created will not be able to be seen from the client side of the connection. The games will not be found if your are negotiating too many routers. Trying different hosts will sometimes help. - Modem Games A CONNECTION of 28.8 is REQUIRED to connect with Madden 99. Warnings will be displayed if you are not connecting at 28.8. Sometimes modems on certain telephone lines will not be able to connect at such high speeds. The result will be high latency and inconsistent results. Having a 28.8 modem does not mean you will connect at that speed. To test your modem connection we found a good application called net.medic available at http://www.download.com - Chat Mode Chat is available from the pause menu. A red dot and a horn sound will alert the user that the other player is chatting. If the user is at the small pause menu there will only be a sound indication. The alert will only be triggered after a player has typed in the chat room. - Output Files At the end of any remote game, a file will be created to report the results and conditions of the game played. The file will be created in the rosters directory. Use this file to validate your game with your league manager. This file will be over written with each remote game, if you need to save your results make sure that you copy or move this file to keep it. - Frame Rate Frame rate will vary depending on your system. To increase the frame rate, turn the detail settings lower. The lower the settings, the faster the frame rate will be. The high settings should only be used if your system is a a P2 333 or faster, even some 333's will experience slower frame. A frame rate warning will appear at the conclusion of a play if your frame rate is too low. If this occurs lower your detail settings and try again. Switching to Direct3D or Glide (if available) may help increase the frame rate. - Auto Detect Detail Settings This feature will evaluate your system performance and suggest the appropriate detail settings. This works on system performance not hardware detection. If you think your system should report better results, make sure your system is optimally configured. - High Resolution Support The option of 800x600 and 1024x768 should only be used on high end systems. These settings require a lot of resources. SLI Voodoo II 12MB is required for 1024x768 in Glide. Only high end systems are recommended with Direct3D and software acceleration for higher resolutions, anything less will result in poor performance. The first time the game runs it will detect if your hardware is capable of these high resolutions, if not the option will not be available to you. - Downloadable Rosters Again this year we will update the NFL rosters weekly. Hitting update at the launch menu will launch your browser and connect you to the update page. Please make sure you have an active Internet connection before hitting the update button. Follow instructions on the Web page to update your rosters. To play a remote game with updated rosters, both parties must have the same roster. You may experience erratic results if both parties rosters are not consistent. If you have an existing franchise, season, tournament, saved game etc.,the game will retain the roster that it was originally created with. Updated rosters will only affect if you create a new franchise, season, exhibition game,etc. - Shared Files The files below can be shared between users, simply put the file in the appropriate directory to see the file in the game. (in the \MADDEN 99\SAVE directory)If you are sharing files from others make sure that you don't overwrite your saved files. Copying your files to another folder is a good way to assure this does not happen. (Do not share settings files, these could cause erratic results) !!!!DO NOT RENAME FILES, THEY WILL BECOME INVALID!!!!!!! Profile settings (including playbooks and created plays) named- *.PRO0 (PRO1 etc)profile name as wildcard,in the save directory. Created teams named- *.TEM1 team name as wildcard, in the save directory Instant replays named- *.IRS0 (IRS1 etc)matchup as wildcard, in the save directory. Franchise games named- MADN99 YR 1 WK 1.FRA0 (FRA1 etc), in the save directory -Other Files At the end of a franchise game, a file will be created that shows the results of the simulated games of your selected team for each week. It is created in the root of the Madden 99 directory. - Supported 3D Accelerator Hardware Madden 99 supports most 2nd generation 3D chipsets including: ATI Rage Pro i740 G200 MGA-2164 (Millennium II) MGA-1164 (Mystique 220) Permedia 2 Rendition V2100 Rendition V2200 Riva 128 Riva 128 ZX Riva Tnt Ticket 2 Ride Voodoo Voodoo2 Voodoo Banshee Voodoo Rush - Hardware issues Gravis Gamepad Pro If you are using a Gravis Gamepad Pro, make sure you are using the most recent drivers. Available at http://www.gravis.com. The game only supports Gravis Xperience 2.1. Matrox Millennium II Users who experience graphical problems should try the version 3.70 drivers available at Matrox's web site, http://www.matrox.com Riva 128 Cards with this chipset should use nVidia's 4.10.01.0250 or later drivers, and use the following settings: - "Use square textures only" should be turned off - "Auto mipmap generation" should be turned off If this is still not working, try turning off more options in the RIVA 128 control panel. Updated drivers are available at http://www.nvidia.com Voodoo graphics If you are experiencing music stutters within the menus of Madden 99, you will need to download the newest drivers available at http://www.3dfx.com/download/download.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SOUND NOTES * Madden NFL '99 defaults to "Dolby" mode. If you don't have surround speakers, you may get better sound if you switch the Sound Type in the Sound Options screen to "Stereo". If you only have 1 speaker, you may get better sound if you switch the Sound Type to "Mono". If you have a DirectSound 3D or Creative Labs Environmental Audio-capable sound card such as a Sound Blaster Live! or Diamond Monster Sound, a fourth mode called "DSound 3D" will become available. Select this mode and your card's special features will be used to accelerate Madden NFL '99s sound effects. * If audio malfunctions occur in "DSound 3D" mode, contact your sound card manufacturer for updated drivers. If the drivers do not fix the problem, you can always fall back to Stereo or "Dolby" mode. In those modes, the game will not attempt to use your sound card's special features and should be compatible with any 16-bit sound card. * If the commentary speech echoes and you are using a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! card in "DSound 3D" mode, check the Creative Labs web site at http://www.sblive.com/ for updated drivers. If newer drivers that fix this problem are not yet available (as of September 13th, 1998 the drivers on the site were not new enough), you will need to fall back to "Stereo" or "Dolby" mode until Creative releases the fixed drivers.