Thank you for purchasing EA Sports Triple Play Baseball. ################################################################ Contents: 1) System Requirements 2) Installation 3) Gameplay Performance Tips 4) Sound Card 5) CD-ROM 6) Gamepads 7) Network 8) Modem 9) Windows 2000 and Windows ME 10) Miscellaneous ################################################################ ================================================================ 1. System Requirements ---------------------------------------------------------------- MINIMUM CONFIGURATION: Operating System Windows 95/98 CPU Type and Speed 200MHz or faster Intel or equivalent AMD processor CD-ROM Speed 4x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive (600KB/second transfer rate) using 32-bit Windows 9x CD-ROM/DVD driver Hard Drive Space 76MB free hard disk space plus space for saved games (additional space required for DirectX 8.0 installation) Memory 32MB RAM Graphics 4MB PCI or AGP video card with full Direct3D support and DirectX 8.0 compatible driver Other needs Sound card with DirectX 8.0 compatible driver, mouse, keyboard. RECOMMENDED CONFIGURATION: · 450MHz or faster Intel or equivalent AMD processor · 64MB RAM · 8x or faster CD-ROM drive (1200KB/second transfer rate) using 32-bit Windows 9x CD-ROM/DVD driver · 561MB free hard disk space plus space for saved games (additional space required for DirectX 8.0 installation) · 16MB or greater PCI or AGP video card with full Direct3D support and DirectX 8.0 compatible driver · Supported input device REQUIRED FOR MULTIPLAYER: INTERNET (2 Players; 2 PCs) 28.8 Kbps or faster Internet connection 1 CD per computer; 1 player per computer NETWORK (2 Players; 2 PCs) TCP/IP compliant network 1 CD per computer, 1 player per computer MODEM (2 Players; 2 PCs) 28.8 Kbps or faster DirectPlay compatible modem High speed serial port (16550 UART) for external modems 1 CD per computer, 1 player per computer SINGLE SYSTEM (2 Players) Supported input device required for each player SUPPORTED INPUT DEVICES: Mouse, Keyboard Logitech, Microsoft, Gravis or any DirectX 8.0 compatible gamepads (10 or more buttons recommended), ================================================================ ================================================================ 2. Installation ---------------------------------------------------------------- When you insert your CD, the Triple Play Auto-run screen will automatically appear (if you have auto-insert notification turned on), and guide you through the installation. Alternately, you can use "Add/Remove Programs" in the Control Panel to install Triple Play in Windows 95/98. Ensure that no other Windows applications are running while you are installing Triple Play Baseball. To run the game, simply double-click on the Triple Play icon from your Windows 95/98 desktop or select it from Windows Explorer. Triple Play requires the Microsoft DirectX 8.0 drivers to be installed, to run the game in Windows 95/98. These drivers are included with Triple Play. If you do not have DirectX 8.0 drivers installed, the Triple Play install will prompt you to do so. After the DirectX 8.0 installation, you will be required to reboot your computer for the drivers to take effect. INSTALLATION PROBLEMS! If installation is completed but you are having problems running the game, make sure to check that you have an extra 32 MB available on your hard drive for the swap file. ================================================================ ================================================================ 3. Gameplay Performance Tips ---------------------------------------------------------------- To improve speed and responsiveness in gameplay, you can use the "Render Options", accessible from the in-game Pause menu to toggle various options on or off. You can also customize the screen resolution to enhance performance. Details that may improve gameplay performance: - Change video mode to a lower resolution (e.g. 640 x 480) - Switch to lower Player Detail - Switch to lower Shadow Detail - Switch Ball Trail Off Graphic options (accessible through "Render Options" in the gameplay Pause menu and through "Graphic Options" in the Main Menu screen); adjust these options to achieve the desired balance of graphic quality and game speed: Filtering -- Point/Bilinear/Trilinear Buffer -- Double/Triple Important Notes About Switching Resolutions: When changing graphics resolutions, if the new resolution chosen does not work correctly (which can occur due to incompatible drivers, incompatible modes or other reasons), pressing F9 at any time during gameplay will restore the game to the default resolution of 640x480. Only game resolutions supported by your hardware will be listed. If your display becomes garbled after changing your gameplay resolution, your display adapter refresh rate setting might not be compatible with your monitor. Try setting your Adapter refresh rate to the DEFAULT setting. You can do this by going into the START>SETTINGS>CONTROL PANEL>DISPLAY, choose the "Settings" tab and click the "Advanced Properties" button. On the next window you should see a "Refresh Rate" setting. Change it to "Adapter Default". This game was developed using DirectX 8.0 and should work properly with any graphics cards with DirectX 8.0 drivers. ================================================================ ================================================================ 4. Sound Card ---------------------------------------------------------------- Make sure you have the correct Windows 95/98 drivers for your sound card installed. (Refer to the sound card documentation provided by the manufacturer). Your sound card and driver must have DirectX support in order for Triple Play to run properly. If your sound card does not have DirectX support, you may experience sound delays and audio break-up in the game. Should you ever replace your existing sound card with a different one, follow the manufacturer's instructions for installing the new card. Once you've verified that the sound card works properly under Windows 95/98 and you've reinstalled DirectX, run the game again and it should automatically be detected; it should not be necessary to run the installer again to configure the game for your new sound card. Note that slower CD-ROM drives may cause audio to stutter between menu screens under Windows 95/98. Gravis Ultrasound Users: If you have a GUS Classic sound card and experience problems with video or audio playback, select the system icon from the Control Panel, select the Device Manager, then the Sound, Video and Game Controller option, select the Gravis Ultrasound Classic driver and choose Properties. Select the Ultrasound Set-up tab and try setting the Playback DMA Buffer Size option to at least 4096. ================================================================ ================================================================ 5. CD-ROM ---------------------------------------------------------------- A quad speed (4x) CD-ROM drive is required to run Triple Play Baseball. A slow CD-ROM can adversely affect screen load times, audio playback, and video playback. See "Audio Tips and Video Tips" for more information. If you receive a "File not found" error message when installing or running the game, make sure that the CD is in the CD drive. The CD must be in the drive to install or run the game. ================================================================ ================================================================ 6. Gamepads ---------------------------------------------------------------- A Microsoft compatible mouse is required to navigate through the front-end screens and menus of Triple Play. During gameplay, the mouse or keyboard may be used; however, for maximum enjoyment of Triple Play we recommend using a Gravis PC Gamepad Pro, Microsoft Sidewinder, or Logitech Wingman Gamepad during gameplay. If the Gameplay controller responds erratically during gameplay, you may need to recalibrate it, or your game port may not be configured correctly. Refer to your game/sound card documentation for configuration information. Windows 95/98 users that experience calibration or control problems with their controllers may need to configure them properly using the Windows 95/98 Joystick Control Panel. Once you have done this, run the game again. Go to the Control Panel, click on the system icon, and select the Device Manager tab. Make sure your game port joystick driver is listed under Sound, video and game controllers and is functioning properly. Calibrate and choose your joystick configuration from the Control Panel, click on the Joystick Icon and select your joystick from the list. Press Calibrate and follow the onscreen instructions to calibrate your joystick. ================================================================ ================================================================ 7. Network ---------------------------------------------------------------- Triple Play requires an IPX protocol network for network play. TCP/IP network play is only supported through Internet play. If you experience difficulties with network play, you may want to consult your network manual or network administrator for specific information on loading drivers. > CONFIGURATION - Triple Play network play is not compatible with "File and Printer Sharing for Netware Networks" if installed in Windows 95/98. - You must have a Windows 95/98 compliant Network Interface card driver and Windows 95/98 IPX/SPX driver installed when you boot your machine. > CONNECTION PROBLEMS - Make sure the computers you are trying to connect are on the same network, and are using the IPX. - If there are communication problems in the game, try closing all applications, and rebooting the computer. Clearing memory may solve these problems. > NETWORK PERFORMANCE ISSUES - There are various things you can do to make sure you get the best performance out of your network game. - These apply to the host computer as well as the client's, but try them on the host alone first as this may solve all the problems. - Make sure the host computer (the one that creates the network game) is the fastest computer. - High-traffic networks will slow the game down considerably. Avoid playing the game at peak traffic hours, while there are large file transfers or print jobs being done. ================================================================ ================================================================ 8. Modem ---------------------------------------------------------------- Triple Play requires a DirectPlay compatible 28.8 Kbps or faster modem, with a high-speed (16550 UART) serial port for modem play. Note that in Windows 95/98, you may not be able to run your modem on COM4 if you have a video card based on the S3 chip-set. Please try a different COM port. > GENERAL MODEM INFORMATION - Your modem must be set to connect with data compression disabled. Your modem should not be locked into any specific speed settings. - Hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control must be enabled. - When modems have trouble connecting, the problem may be that they did not initialize properly. Try turning off both modems, then start the connection procedure again. - If you are experiencing slow or choppy Gameplay after connecting, this may be due to data compression being enabled. Consult your modem's owner manual for the proper initialization string to disable these settings. - Some modems load settings into NVRAM (non-volatile RAM) when you turn them on; these settings may be incompatible with Triple Play. - If your modem has difficulty initializing and there are no apparent COM port or IRQ conflicts, try the following: go into a communications program (i.e. HyperTerminal in Windows 95/98, Procomm, etc.), and type AT&F. Wait for the OK then type AT&W0. This will reset your modem with the factory default settings loaded into NVRAM. ================================================================ ================================================================ 9. Windows 2000 and Windows ME ---------------------------------------------------------------- Although not officially supported, we have tested Triple Play on Windows 2000 and Windows ME and have not encountered any major problems. Occasionally, Triple Play will start up minimized when running on Windows 2000. Click on the Triple Play taskbar item to maximize it. To install and run Triple Play on Windows 2000, you must have administrative rights. ================================================================ ================================================================ 10. Miscellaneous ---------------------------------------------------------------- It would appear that there are cases of frame rate drops when playing Triple Play on an Intel 810e chipset. It appears that there is an incompatibility issue when running Triple Play on an AMD K7 Athlon that has an Nvidia Geforce 2 GTS AGP. There are three video cards that we have encountered incompatibilities with due to lack of DirectX8 support for them. They are the Rendition Verite, S3 Savage3D and the 3DLabs Permedia2 cards. At least one game controller should be assigned to ID1. To do this, select the Start bar, select Settings, select Control Panel, select Gaming Options, highlight the controller and select the Controller ID tab and ensure that at least one game controller is assigned to ID1. GENERAL NETWORK INFORMATION *Do not run any Windows 95 or 98 applications that communicate over the network in the background (e.g., mail programs, personal schedulers, system or network monitors). *Make sure you have disabled Network Messages, if you are connected to a Novell network. ================================================================