EXILE: ESCAPE FROM THE PIT A fantasy role-playing game from Spiderweb Software This text file contains a full description of Exile: Escape From the Pit and some troubleshooting information. If you have trouble installing or playing Exile: Escape From the Pit, look below. DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME: Exile: Escape From the Pit A Fantasy-Role Playing Game for Windows 3.1 and 95 Spiderweb Software proudly presents Exile: Escape From the Pit, a new, full-length, fantasy role-playing shareware game for Windows. Exile features a huge, highly detailed world with many quests, scads of characters to interact with, and almost eighty towns and dungeons, scattered over an enormous world. Exile has several overall game quests, of varying difficulty, each the size of a full game. If one doesn’t appeal to you, you can try another, or all of them! The game can be as linear and goal-driven as you want it to be. Exile also has a simple, elegant skill-based character system. No more character classes - you design characters who do exactly what you want them to do, with as much versatility as you want to put into them. In addition, Exile has all the features game players have come to expect, including intricate graphics and sound, full auto-mapping, many, many puzzles, and, of course, the obligatory hordes of evil nasties just waiting to be robbed and butchered. Finally, the first full half of the game is free, with full functionality! The story: "exile n. 1. Enforced removal from one's native country. 2. The state or circumstance of being in Exile." Above ground, there is only one nation: The Empire. That's all it's called. What need is there for fancy names when there's really only one game in town? The Empire maintains order at all costs. Misfits, magical creatures, and petty criminals of all sorts are unwanted, and the Empire has one tried and true way of disposing of them... They are sent through a one-way teleporter into the Underworld. And, alas, you have had the bad luck to be considered misfits. There are hundreds of miles of twisting tunnels and enormous caverns under the surface world, filled with creatures fantastic and mundane, all scrabbling for the same limited food and limited space. It is into this hostile, war-ravaged land that you are sent to find your fortune. Or just try to survive. Exile is $25 shareware. It requires Windows 3.1 or 95, 2 MB free RAM, 256 colors, and a 13" monitor. The author is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). Exile is compatible with Windows 95. Spiderweb Software PO Box 85659 Seattle, WA 98145-1659 Internet: SpidWeb@aol.com TROUBLESHOOTING: The information below should solve many of your problems installing or running Exile: Escape From the Pit... Question: Exile: Escape From the Pit refuses to install! Answer: First, make sure you have ten megabytes of free space on the drive you're trying to install too (the game takes up 5, but the installer needs a little extra space). Then reboot, make sure no other programs are running, and try installing Exile again. If this doesn't work, contact SpidWeb@aol.com. Question: Exile crashes sometimes for no reason! Answer: Several steps to try, which will eliminate most problems. 1. Select Preferences from the Options menu. Select Fewer Sounds. If this doesn't help, turn off sounds. This will fix most problems. 2. Run Exile with no other programs running. 3. Make sure you have 2.5 megabytes of free RAM. Question: I get crashes when targeting a spell or missile, and nothing helps! Answer: Select No Targeting Line from the Options menu. Question: The Exile screen is really tiny! Answer: Go into Windows preferences, and select a monitor mode with a different resolution. 640x480 is recommended. Question: The Exile screen colors are all bizarre! Answer: You need to play Exile in 256 color mode. Run Exile, hit F1 (for help), and read the section on how to get 256 colors on your screen. Question: When I run Exile, the colors of all my other running programs get strange! Answer: This is an unavoidable side effect of the way Windows handles color palettes. Exile requires control of all 256 available colors. If the color change makes the other program unusable, don't use it while playing Exile. Question: OK. I installed the game. It runs fine. It looks fine. But I keep starving, if the monsters don't kill me first, and I don't have any gold! Answer: Read the Hints For Getting Started section near the end of the manual (hit F1 to get the manual).