NFL Football Pro '99 SI Edition Version 2.8 Readme File 1-25-99 If you are having trouble reading this document, make sure word wrap is turned on from the edit menu. *********************************************************************** About This Document: Thank you for purchasing NFL Football Pro '99 SI Edition. This document contains last-minute information about the second revision of NFL Football Pro '99 SI Edition not found in the Help Files. This README file includes information that pertains to general problems and questions you may have concerning the game or your computer. Should you experience any problems with NFL Football Pro '99 SI Edition, please refer to this file for additional help on answering questions about the game or solving technical difficulties. *********************************************************************** New information for version 2.008: * If you are not able to get into the game because you get the warning that you are low on disk space, check your hard drive and free up some space. If you verify that you have plenty of free space available, you can make the following setting in FBSetup.ini: [Overall] SkipResourceCheck=1 * The intro can now be disabled by adding the following line to FBSetup.ini: [Overall] Intro=Off TABLE OF CONTENTS I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS II. GENERAL TECHNICAL ISSUES III. GENERAL GAME ISSUES IV. ROSTER INFORMATION V. THE .INI FILES VI. INCLUDED UTILITY PROGRAMS VII. CONTACTING SIERRA I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS ----------------------- Football Pro '99 is a technically advanced football simulation and arcade game. With the depth of calculations and player artificial intelligence, it can potentially tax even the most modern system . Game performance can be reduced with lower-end systems, but you can help remedy this by turning off many of the graphical options and detail level settings in the game. Minimizing the amount of sound played during the arcade portion of the game, can help performance as well. Football Pro '99 requires this hardware and software to run successfully: * Pentium 166 with 3D accelerator card or Pentium 200 (MMX preferred) without 3D card * Windows 95/98 * 32 MB of RAM * If running 3D hardware, 3D video card must have 4MB of Video RAM * 2D video card must be capable of displaying 800x600 16bit (High Color) color * 4X speed CD-ROM drive * Windows-compatible sound card * Mouse For premium performance it is recommended that the system have: * Pentium II 266 or better * 2nd generation 3D video card, Voodoo II or better. * 64 MB of RAM * 20X speed or better CD-ROM drive * One or more Windows-compatible gamepads with 8 or more buttons such as the Gravis Gamepad Pro or the Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad. Football Pro '99 requires DirectX6 to play. DirectX6 is available on the Football Pro CD and will install during the installation process. If you have any difficulties with the DirectX6 installation program, you can run the program directly from the CD. The install program, DXSETUP.EXE, is located in the \DirectX subdirectory on the CD. II. GENERAL TECHNICAL ISSUES ---------------------------- 1. On some systems, when running in full screen mode, if another application attempts to display a dialog while football is running, the screen will become minimized and you will not be able to restore it. This is why we recommend that all other applications be turned off when playing Football Pro '99. 2. When using the Gravis Exterminator gamepad, the Directional Pad does not work for controlling players. You will need to use the Analog controller. 3. When simulating multiple games, if your computer's monitor is set to turn off after a period of time the game may abort when reentering the arcade if the monitor is off. To correct this, make sure your monitor power saving features are disabled. 4. During uninstall, some files may not be deleted from your hard disk. These are files that were modified by the product after you installed it, such as league data. Since the uninstall program does not automatically delete these files, you may safely delete the folder in which Football was installed after the product has been uninstalled properly, if you wish. 5. We do not support all features of the 3DFX VooDoo Rush chip set. 6. We do not support all of the Rendition V1000 or V2200 chip set features. This includes the Sierra Screamin' 3D card. Please check with your video card manufacturer for updated DirectX6 drivers to solve the problem. However, the game will work properly in Software Mode. 7. The 3DFX VooDoo Banshee card does not support software windowed mode in any color depth other then 16 bit. (All hardware modes are fully supported). 8. We do not support all ATI 3D Rage Pro features in hardware windowed mode. 9. In general, if you are experiencing problems with your 3D, sound, or other hardware, we have included a page of links to the hardware manufactures web sites, and recommend that you get the latest drivers for your hardware. This page is available from the Start menu, under Programs|Sierra|Football Pro 99|Hardware Drivers Update. 10. Some video cards are not capable of supporting some special enhancements such as triple buffering or anti-aliasing. If you attempt to use one of these settings and encounter difficulties, turning the setting off in the Football Pro '99 option menu will correct the problem. 11. You may experience problems with some video cards if your desktop display mode is not set to 16-bit color. To change color depth, right click on the Windows desktop, select properties from the pop-up menu. From the Display Properties window, select Settings. The Colors section should be set to High Color (16 bit). 12. Football will not run on a 3D accelerator with less than 2 MB of frame buffer memory. 13. If you are experiencing sluggish response from the mouse, keyboard or joystick in the arcade, you can increase response by lowering the detail level and turning off options such as Sideline Art. 14. You can increase sim speed by turning off replays from the options menu. 15. If the game ever crashes, an error log is created in the game directory. The name of the file is errorlog.txt. Save this file. This file contains information that could assist us in finding rare or occasional bugs. III. GENERAL GAME ISSUES ------------------------ 1. To view Instant Replay for the last play executed, hit the 'R' key. 2. To turn off translucency press the 'T' key. 3. If your cameras are out of place or unusable, select the camera you wish to use and press 'Ctrl-R'. This will reset the camera. 4. If you leave the game on the main screen for more than 2 minutes the arcade will activate a Demo Mode. Demo mode will end if you press any mouse button or press any keyboard key. 5. In the arcade, when playing with BASIC play calling mode, the computer will perform all substitutions for you. In the INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED mode, you can make substitutions after you have selected the formation. 6. When simulating multiple games, changing the simulation speed will only change the speed for the current game. To change the default simulation speed you will need to change it from the options menu. 7. On the Team Coaching | Team Template screen: When editing or creating a team template it is recommened that you do not fill the 'PLUS' columns. Doing so causes the computer AI to treat all extra players of that position at the value given. A computer AI will load a team with players of that position. Either fill the 'PLUS' columns with zeros or make sure that the values in the plus columns are lower than all other non-plus column values. IV. ROSTER INFORMATION ======================= Roster Accuracy Every effort has been made to make the rosters accurate as of the end of the 1998-99 National Football League season. However, some players on the NFL rosters are not available to us under our license with the NFL Players, Inc. and thus cannot appear in the game. V. THE .INI FILES ======================= Football Pro uses Windows .INI files for many of its settings. The primary .ini file is FBSETUP.INI. This .ini file controls video settings as well as some of the generic user settings. Additional FBSETUP.INI settings that you can add for your tweaking pleasure include: [Arcade] useimpatient = [0|1] Normal speed referees between plays. ShowStands = [0|1] Show the stands during play selection. [League] FlipDraftOrder = [0|1] Use the normal draft order, or use a 'snake' draft order. [Overall] Intro = [On|Off] Use Off to disable the video introduction. Demo Disabled = [On|Off] Use On to disable the automatic demo mode. VI. INCLUDED UTILITY PROGRAMS ======================= We have included several League Tools to assist you in creating and maintaining leagues. Here is a brief description of each. The documentation for each utility can be found on your disk in a .txt file of the same name as the utility. LeagueUtils.exe The league backup/restore utility compresses your league, player table, database, and any log/replay files you may wish to include into one file. It places the file in your league folder, after which you can move it to anywhere you wish. FBProDBM.exe The database manager allows you to maintain your statistical databases by allowing you to delete years in the database or to export to a comma-delimited text file (database lingo for a text file that database programs can read). If you are not into statistics, keep in mind that you can delete all of these databases at any time (the stat, statc databases) and the program will still run. You just won't be able to track any player statistics. GetRatingWeights.exe Rating weights are used to help the team place value on one player over another. Depending on the rating weights for a team, the team might tend to want to trade its Running Backs for Linebackers, or it might realize that it has bad kickers but too many good quarterbacks, and try to leverage its good quarterback with your team to trade with your good kicker. Rating weights are very important in Football Pro '99 if you are a commissioner, so we have included this utility to allow you to extract the ratings weights from your league. NoPreSeason.exe We realize that it was time-consuming to go through an entire preseason if you want to play season games. NoPreSeason.exe will remove preseason games for you. SkinEdit.exe Football Pro '99 has approximatly 1800 NFL players. Many of these have pictures associated with them. In our player table (the league file with the .ply file extension), each player entry points to a position in one of our player art files. Each has a number associated with him to identify his skin color while playing the arcade. There is also a number that identifies his face ID. Player skin colors can be changed using this utility. VII. CONTACTING SIERRA ======================= A) Customer Service, Support, and Sales B) Technical Support C) Legal Information A) Customer Service, Support, and Sales ---------------------------------- United States U.S.A. Sales Phone: (800) 757-7707 International Sales: (425) 746-5771 Hours: Monday-Saturday 7AM to 11 PM CST, Sundays 8 AM to 9PM CST FAX: (402) 393-3224 Sierra Direct 7100 W. Center Rd STE 301 Omaha, NE 68106 United Kingdom Havas Interactive Main: (0118) 920-9111 Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Fax: (0118) 987-5603 Disk/CD replacements in the U.K. are £6.00, or £7.00 outside the UK. Add "ATTN.: Returns." 2 Beacontree Plaza, Gillette Way, Reading, Berkshire RG2 0BS United Kingdom France Havas Interactive Téléphone: 01-46-01-46-50 Lundi au Jeudi de 10h à 19h Vendredi de 10h à 18h Fax: 01-46-30-00-65 Parc Tertiaire de Meudon Immeuble "Le Newton" 25 rue Jeanne Braconnier 92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex France Germany Havas Interactive Tel: (0) 6103-99-40-40 Montag bis Freitag von 9h - 19Uhr Fax: (0) 6103-99-40-35 Robert-Bosh-Str. 32 D-63303 Dreieich Germany On-Line Sales CompuServe United Kingdom:GO UKSIERRA CompuServe France: GO FRSIERRA CompuServe Germany: GO DESIERRA Internet USA: http://www.sierra.com Internet United Kingdom: http://www.sierra-online.co.uk Internet France: http://www.sierra.fr Internet Germany: http://www.sierra.de Disk and or Manual Replacement: Product Returns: Sierra On-Line Returns 4100 West 190th Street Torrance, CA 90504 Sierra On-Line Fulfillment 4100 West 190th Street Torrance, CA 90504 NOTE: To replace your disk(s) please send only Disk #1 (or the CD) and copy of your dated Receipt, if less then 90 days. After 90 days please include a $10 handling fee along with Disk / CD #1. For Documentation, please include a $ 5.00 handling fee and a photocopy ONLY of disk #1. Payment should be made at the time of your request. Sorry, no credit cards. * Returns to this address valid in North America only. B) TECHNICAL SUPPORT ------------------------- North America Sierra On-Line offers a 24-hour automated technical support line with recorded answers to the most frequently asked technical questions. To access this service, call (425) 644-4343, and follow the recorded instructions to find your specific topic and resolve the issue. If this fails to solve your problem, you may still write, or fax us with your questions, or contact us via our Web site. Sierra On-Line Technical Support P.O. Box 85006 Bellevue, WA 98015-8506 Main: (425) 644-4343 Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.- 4:45 p.m. PST Fax: (425) 644-7697 http://www.sierra.com support@sierra.com United Kingdom Havas Interactive offers a 24-hour Automated Technical Support line with recorded answers to the most frequently asked technical questions. To access this service, call (0118) 920-9111, and follow the recorded instructions to find your specific topic and resolve the issue. If this fails to solve your problem, you may still write, or fax us with your questions, or contact us via our Internet or CompuServe sites. Havas Interactive 2 Beacontree Plaza, Gillette Way, Reading, Berkshire RG2 0BS United Kingdom Main: (0118) 920-9111 Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Fax: (0118) 987-5603 http://www.sierra-online.co.uk France Havas Interactive Parc Tertiaire de Meudon Immeuble "Le Newton" 25 rue Jeanne Braconnier 92366 Meudon La Forêt Cedex France Téléphone: 01-46-01-46-50 Lundi au Jeudi de 10h à 19h Vendredi de 10h à 18h Fax: 01-46-30-00-65 http://www.sierra.fr Germany Havas Interactive Robert-Bosh-Str. 32 D-63303 Dreieich Deutschland Tel: (0) 6103-99-40-40 Montag bis Freitag von 9 - 19Uhr Fax: (0) 6103-99-40-35 Mailbox: (0) 6103-99-40-35 http://www.sierra.de Spain Havas Interactive Avenida de Burgos 9 1º-OF2 28036 Madrid Spain Teléfono: (01) 383-2623 Lunes a Viernes de 9h30 a 14h y de 15h a 18h30 Fax: (01) 381-2437 Italy Contattare il vostro distribotore. C) Sierra Warranty & Legal Information ----------------------------------- Sierra's end user license agreement, limited warranty and return policy is set forth in the EULA.txt, found on the CD, and is also available during the install of the product. Copyright (1998 Sierra On-Line, Inc.)