I. INSTALLATION OF THE CGP MPEGStar DOS MPEG DRIVERS ============================================================ 1.1 To install driver and associated files run INSTALL.BAT under DOS. The following files will be installed on the hard disk: Drivers and dependent files: ---------------------------- README .TXT - This readme file FMPDRV .EXE - ReelMagic compliant DOS MPEG Driver S3RMDRV .SYS - S3 MPEG Environment driver DOSMPEG .INI - Configuration parameters ALLOC_0 - Audio decoder file ALLOC_1 - Audio decoder file ALLOC_2 - Audio decoder file ALLOC_3 - Audio decoder file DRAGON .BAT - Command file to run first version of Dragon's Lair Since installation utility does NOT modify AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS, the installation will take effect only after you edit these files and reboot the computer. 1.2 Complete installation requires the following modifications to the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files (X:\S3MPEG represents the full path you specified during the installation process): Add to the CONFIG.SYS (essential): -------------------------------------------------------- DEVICE=X:\S3MPEG\S3RMDRV.SYS Add to the AUTOEXEC.BAT (optional): -------------------------------------------------------- PATH=%PATH%;X:\S3MPEG You must edit these files yourself! Windows 95 may keep three versions of CONFIG and AUTOEXEC files. Their extensions will be .SYS/.BAT, .WIN, and .DOS - Windows 95 uses different pairs of files being boot to DOS or to Windows. You may modify all .SYS/.BAT, .WIN, and .DOS files so that DOS MPEGStar drivers will be installed and accessible in any circumstances. 1.3 It is impossible, of course, to predict how CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files will look on your system. Provided is a sample highlighting some issues which may help you to master your DOS environment. See comments, "rem"s, included in the samples. CONFIG.SYS: ------------------------------------------------------- DOS=HIGH,UMB DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS HIGHSCAN rem Using HIGHSCAN may give you a couple of extra K-bytes but may rem give some troubles as well BUFFERS=20,0 FILES=35 FCBS=20,0 STACKS=9,256 rem Preceding four lines define, after all, how many files can rem be simultaneously opened on the system. Proposed parameters rem will work for all supported DOS MPEG titles LASTDRIVE=F rem DOS will reserve some space for each additional drive. So if rem you try to squeeze the maximum free space, you should specify rem as few drives as possible. Usually LASTDIVE need to be the next rem after CD-ROM drive. For example, if the CD-ROM drive is E: rem you can make LASTDRIVE=F SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /P /E:1636 DEVICEHIGH=C:\SB16\DRV\SBIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /M:P rem CD-ROM models and drivers will vary, but you definitely have rem a CD-ROM drive on your system. As an example we used rem Creative Labs 4x IDE CD-ROM drive. DEVICEHIGH=C:\SB16\DRV\CTSB16.SYS /UNIT=0 /BLASTER=A:220 I:5 D:1 H:5 DEVICEHIGH=C:\SB16\DRV\CTMMSYS.SYS rem Most games will work more spectacular if you have a sound rem device on your computer. Please check your User's Guide rem to see how MPEG device and Sound device should be connected. rem The given sample shows how Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 can rem be configured DEVICE=C:\S3MPEG\S3RMDRV.SYS rem This is the MPEGStar driver! AUTOEXEC.BAT: ------------------------------------------------------- @ECHO OFF PROMPT $p$g SET TEMP=C:\TMP PATH=C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS;C:\MOUSE C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.EXE LH C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /U rem If using SmartDrive, use the /U option to disable the buffering rem for the CD-ROM. It is recommended that you do not use rem SmartDrive for the DOS MPEG playback - it will eat a lot of rem space and will not give any performance advantages (may give rem disadvantages though). rem The following is for the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 Sound rem card. Consult your manual for other cards. SET SOUND=C:\SB16 SET BLASTER=A220 I5 H5 P330 T6 SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S C:\SB16\SB16SET /P /Q C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 rem For best results, do not use the /M:X buffering settings with rem MSCDEX.EXE. It may slow down MPEG playback dramatically. PATH=%PATH%;C:\S3MPEG rem We have just added it ! 1.4 Most MPEG titles require a lot of free memory. To get the maximum free DOS memory on your system, remove all unused or irrelevant device drivers, TSRs, and settings and run MEMMAKER.EXE - DOS memory configuration utility. Consult DOS Help for additional information about MEMMAKER. To check how much free memory is available, use MEM.EXE - another DOS utility. Consult DOS Help for additional information about MEM. 1.5 To achieve the best performance and smooth MPEG playback your system should be equipped with 4x or better CD-ROM drive. You should also disable any kind of CD-ROM access caching. Please consult your CD-ROM drive manual for additional information. Be prepared to spend some time configuring your CD-ROM drive - it will pay off ! II. CONFIGURATION OF THE MPEGStar DOS DRIVERS ============================================== 2.1 DOSMPEG.INI is the configuration file for the DOS MPEG drivers. This section explains in detail all entries of this file. 2.2 Board's unchangeable parameters. This parameters represent the board type and should not be modified. The parameters are: PCI Combo Card --------------- board=3 clock=444 2.3 Interrupt (IRQ) configuration. There are two entries in the DOSMPEG.INI responsible for it: "irq" and "irqlet" In case of the PCI (board=3) systems, drivers can detect IRQ automatically. To specify it, the configuration file will contain: irq=0 irqlet=P When "irq" is equal to 0 (zero), the autodetection mechanism will be involved. On some PCI systems, especially with the older versions of the PCI BIOS this mechanism may not work properly. In this case you may want to force MPEGStar to use a specific interrupt vector. To do it, you should specify IRQ number explicitly, for example: irq=11 will force interrupt 11 to be used. Here is a list of possible settings: irq irqlet ------------- 3 A 4 B 5 C 6 D 7 E In this case if, for example you decided to use interrupt 6, you should make: irq=6 irqlet=D IRQ is the master - select IRQ first and then find the corresponding letter. 2.4 Operating system parameters are: win95=0 win31=0 If equal to "0", drivers will totally refuse to work under Windows95 or Windows 3.1 respectively. It is possible though to force drivers to work in full screen Windows 3.1 or Windows 95. Set the respective value to "1". For example "win95=1" will make driver loadable under Windows 95. Important ! It is not advised to run drivers in the multitasking environment. Many titles will fail. III. SUPPORTED REELMAGIC DOS MPEG TITLES ========================================= 3.1 Return to Zork ---------------------------- Run installation and follow the instructions. Choose Sound Blaster Pro as a sound device. Parameters should be port=220, irq=5, dma=1. This game requires a lot of conventioal DOS memory. Because of palette switching problem, there are a few areas where parts of the screen may flicker. This will not effect gameplay. 3.2 Space Ace (ReelMagic ver.) ---------------------------- Change active drive to be a CD-ROM drive and run PLAY.BAT. 3.3 Dragon's Lair ---------------------------- There are two versions of this game. The early version of the game uses "play-from-file" ReelMagic API; the other - "play-from-buffer". If there is PLAY.BAT file on the CD-ROM - it is the second version, if not - the first. Second version of the game can be run directly from CD-ROM. Simple run PLAY.BAT. Since the earlier version did not contain this useful file, we provide one (it is called DRAGON.BAT) on our installation diskette. If you get an "Invalid drive" error, then modify the line that reads "D:" to reflect which drive is the CD-ROM. There is a known problem with the play-from-files version of Dragon's Lair title in the room Black Knight and the Checkerboard Floor. If the room starts out with a jump to the right, the room cannot be completed. There is a mirror image of this room, so you will have to restart the game and play until you start with a jump to the left. 3.4 The Horde ---------------------------- Install and run. This title will not display MPEG clips if mouse is not installed. Be sure to have mouse installed. If the game locks up as you start gameplay, it is an indication that the sound card was not detected properly. This game is unique in that it does not allow for manual configuration of your sound card, and occasionally it will detect the wrong settings. Consult your Sound Card manuals and adjust the settings until it works properly. You will know it is correct when a "selection" noise plays when you scroll through the options on the "New Game", "Load Game", "Quit" screen. 3.5 Lord Of The Rings ---------------------------- It is the most "memory greedy" program so far. Installation guide suggests the way to install this game. We found that game can be installed successfully if before MEM.EXE reports more than 580K (593,920 bytes) in Conventional Memory and more than 129K (132,096 bytes) in Upper Memory. In order to free this amount of space you will have to remove all drivers and TSRs from AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. It will also help if you move CD-ROM drivers to lower memory. Here is the sample of how you can meet memory restrictions on the Compaq system. The following modifications ot AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS are advised (please refer to sample files in section 1.3 of this README file): CONFIG.SYS: remove -> DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\CPQWIN\CPQCM.SYS remove -> DEVICEHIGH /L:1,12048 =C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE edit -> DEVICEHIGH /L:1,14816 =C:\CPQDOS\CPQIDECD.SYS /D:IDECD001 to -> C:\CPQDOS\CPQIDECD.SYS /D:IDECD001 AUTOEXEC.BAT: remove -> LH /L:0;1,45536 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /U edit -> LH /L:1,27952 C:\CPQDOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:IDECD001 to -> C:\CPQDOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:IDECD001 You may have to run the game without mouse support. It may not be possible to free enough memory to run this game on some systems. 3.6 Man Enough ---------------------------- Run installation utility with /A option (INSTALL /A) and follow the instructions. Choose Sound Blaster (NOT Sound Blaster Pro) as a sound device in both cases. Put the scroller in the middle of [MIN-MAX] scroll bar; Scroller [Music-Samples] should be 1/2" from Samples. 3.7 Flash Traffic ---------------------------- Run installation and follow the instructions. Do not try to profile CD-ROM (cancel it as soon as possible, otherwise it may crash). Choose Sound Blaster Pro as a sound device in both cases. Parameters should be port=220, irq=5, dma=1. This game should be always installed after the driver, since it tries to find driver in path and than hardcodes it in batch file.