Africa Trail(R) Copyright(c) 1995, MECC(R) and its licensors All Rights Reserved Version 1.0.3 This README file is provided as a reference document to help you setup your Windows environment or fix problems that you are having with Africa Trail. Included in this document: - WINDOWS 95 SETUP - WINDOWS 3.1x, WFW 3.11 & WINDOWS NT SETUP - VIDEO DISPLAY - SOUND AND MUSIC - TROUBLE SHOOTING - VIDEOS - SOUNDTRACK - MECC DEMOS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WINDOWS 95 1. To setup Africa Trail, insert the CD in the drive and select the INSTALL button. 2. Follow the on-screen instructions. 3. Africa Trail installation places three icons in the Start Up menu under the MECC program group: Africa Trail Icon Africa Trail Readme Icon Africa Trail Multimedia Resource Tool 4. Installation is now complete; double-click on the "Africa Trail" icon to start the program. WINDOWS 95 Notes: - Setup for Video for Windows is not required since VFW is included in Windows 95. - If you choose to reinstall Africa Trail, use the Windows 95 Control Panel to uninstall Africa Trail before reinstalling. - The AFRICA.INI file is now located in the program directory, not the Windows directory. - If installing across a network, the install will NOT put the correct UNC path in the AFRICA.INI file. Edit the line "rsrcpath=E:\Data\" in the AFRICA.INI file. Example: rsrcpath=\\School Server\CD ROM\Data\ where "School Server" is the Computer Name and "CD ROM" is the share name for the CD ROM. - When the Africa Trail CD is inserted, an Africa Trail logo screen will appear with "Setup," "Run," "Exit" and "Media Viewer" 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 AFRICA CD folder, open the WIN32 folder and double-click on the SETUP32.EXE file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WINDOWS 3.1x, WFW 3.11 & WINDOWS NT 1. To set up Africa Trail, run the SETUP.EXE program from the CD. 2. Africa Trail installation places three icons in the MECC program group: Africa Trail Icon Africa Trail Readme Icon Africa Trail Multimedia Resource Tool 3. Africa Trail REQUIRES Video for Windows (VFW) to be installed in Windows. After the Africa Trail installation has completed, you will be asked if you would like to install Video for Windows Version 1.1e. (If you already have Video for Windows Version 1.1 installed, you do not need to install it again.) 4. Installation is now complete; double-click on the "Africa 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 =============================== Africa 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 Africa Trail. If you do not have a permanent swap file setup it is recommended that you create one. ========== AFRICA.INI ================================ The AFRICA.INI file is written to the Africa Trail program directory. The following is an example of the AFRICA.INI file: [CDROM] RsrcPath=D:\ [sound] music=on sfx=on vfw=on [game] alwaysstop=on metricunits=on localcurrency=on roadsize=1 [scores] ========== VIDEO DISPLAY ================================ Africa Trail prefers 256 colors in a screen resolution of at least 640 x 480. Africa 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. Africa 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 Africa Trail again or try the Sound Test to see if there is any improvement. ===== TROUBLE SHOOTING =============================== Description: Africa 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 following error message occurs when starting Africa Trail: File Error. Cannot find MSVIDEO.DLL Solution #2: Video for Windows is not installed, installed incorrectly or has been corrupted. From File Manager launch the "Setup.exe" icon located in the VFW11e folder on the Africa Trail CD. Description: Problems with movies in Africa Trail. Solution #3: Video for Windows (VFW) is used to play all movies in Africa Trail. To check VFW, try playing the movies by themselves. To do this, open File Manager, click on the icon for your CD-ROM drive, locate the AVI folder on the Africa Trail CD-ROM and double-click on any of the files that have a "AVI" extension. This loads and plays the selected movie. 101.AVI is a demo movie. If the movie fails to play, try reinstalling VFW as described in Solution #2. If you absolutely, positively, cannot get Video for Windows to work on your computer, the movies can be disabled by changing the "VFW=on" option in your Africa.ini file to "VFW=off". Microsoft Technical Support for Video for Windows is available at 1-206-635-7040. 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 Africa 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: Africa Trail was working before, but now it isn't! Solution #6: Check the surface of the Africa 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, followed by an "Africa Trail cannot locate "Africa.Dat" message. Solution #7: This error will occur if the Africa Trail CD is NOT in the drive or the line "rsrcpath=" statement in the AFRICA.INI does not point to the correct drive. 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 Africa 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: Program or movies freeze in Windows 95. Solution #9: The problem could occur on systems using Avance Logic's 2302 chip-based video driver in Windows 95. Check your Windows 95 display information. At the time of this release the current video drivers or generic Windows video drivers do not solve the problem. Please contact your video manufacturer for information on the latest video driver available for your video card. MECC will add new information as it develops to the 24-hour Automated Technical Support System and also post this information on America-On-Line BBS (keyword MECC). Description: "Video too old" error at program startup. Solution #10: Video for Windows is not installed, installed incorrectly or has been corrupted. From File Manager launch the "Setup.exe" icon located in the VFW11e folder on the Africa Trail CD. Description: "AVI file too big to play in selected VGA mode." error at program startup. Solution #11: 1. Double-click Control Panels icon. 2. Double-click Drivers icon. 3. From the list of drivers that then appears highlight the item named "Microsoft Video for Windows". 4. Click on the setup button to the right of the drivers list. 5. A config windows comes up. 6. Change check box from Full Screen to Window. 7. Click on Set Default button. Description: Can't find Africa.dat file when running Novell DOS 7. Solution #12: You must add the following command to your autoexec.bat file: "Append D:\;D:\Data;D:\Data\AVI" where "D:" is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive. If the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive is different, substitute that letter in place of "D:". Description: Screen colors seem incorrect. Solution #13: This error occurs on systems using ATI Mach 32 video drivers. This caused by the Crystal Font setting. To correct the problem, disable Crystal Fonts in the ATI FlexDesk Control Panel and make sure a 256-color driver is selected. Description: "MCI Error: The specified device is not open or is not recognized by MCI" error at program startup. Solution #14: Video for Windows is not installed, installed incorrectly or has been corrupted. From File Manager launch the "Setup.exe" icon located in the VFW11e folder on the Africa Trail CD. Description: "MCI Error: MMSYSTEM" error at program startup. Solution #15: Video for Windows is may not be installed in Windows 95, installed incorrectly or has been corrupted. From Explorer launch the "Setup.exe" icon located in the VFW11e folder on the Africa Trail CD. Description: "GPF in module unknown" while running program. Solution #16: The problem occurs on systems using Avance Logic's 2228/2301 chip-based 16bit video driver in Windows 3.1. (e.g. Hercules Stingray) At the time of this release the current Hercules video drivers (v2.00) or generic Avance Logic Windows video drivers (2301 v2.20) do not solve the problem. Please contact your video manufacturer for information on the latest video driver available for your video card. MECC will add new information as it develops to the 24-hour Automated Technical Support System and also post this information on America-On-Line BBS (keyword MECC). The current Windows 95 drivers have been tested and are compatible with the program. GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS! Rule #1 is to eliminate as may variables as possible! - In Africa Trail, try turning off Sound, Music and Speech - 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 Africa 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. 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. mecctech@mecc.com ===== Accessing the Africa Trail video files ====================== To view the movies from Africa Trail outside of the program: 1. Open File Manager 2. Open the Africa Trail CD 3. Open the AVI folder 4. Double-click on any of the avi files to launch them. 5. If they do not launch, make sure you have Video for Windows installed on your computer. ===== Africa Trail Soundtrack ====================== This Africa 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. (Warning: Track 1 is where the computer data resides; your CD player will either make no sound_or_ play continuous noise!) Enjoy. Track 2: OPENING/THEME Sowah Mensah: Keyboards, Axatse (Ghana) Kenneth Komtanghi: Guitars (Cameroon) Brain Boma: Bass (Cameroon) Marc Anderson: Percussion (Minnesota) Track 3: LAGOS, NIGERIA Dean MaGraw: Guitars (Minnesota) Jim Anton: Bass (Minnesota) Marc Anderson: Percussion Sowah Mensah: Percussion Track 4: BIKING THEME 2 (Nigeria to Kenya) Sowah Mensah: Sogo, Obonum, Clave, Akasha Marc Anderson: Djembe, Tamalin Track 5: MOZAMBIQUE Sowah Mensah: Dzil 2 Marc Anderson: Dzil 1&3 Track 6: ZAMBIA Kenneth Komtanghi: Guitars Brain Boma: Bass Marc Anderson: Percussion, Drum machine (programmed) All music was written and Produced by Sowah Mensah Engineered and mixed by Marc Anderson Copyright 1995, MECC. ===== Mecc Demos on CD ====================== To run the MECC Demos from File Manager: 1. Open File Manager 2. Open the Africa Trail CD 3. Open the WINDEMO folder 4. Open any of the product folders and double-click the executable file ===== End ========================================================