GABRIEL KNIGHT TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1 - HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS SECTION 2 - INSTALLATION PROCEDURES SECTION 3 - COMMON INSTALLATION PROBLEMS SECTION 4 - WINDOWS AND DOS ISSUES SECTION 5 - COMMON DOS PROBLEMS SECTION 6 - COMMON WINDOWS PROBLEMS SECTION 7 - SOUND ISSUES AND SOUND CARD SETTINGS SECTION 8 - DOS SOUND ISSUES SECTION 9 - WINDOWS SOUND ISSUES SECTION 10- OBTAINING A SIERRA PATCH DISK SECTION 11- DOS BOOT DISK INSTRUCTIONS SECTION 12- WINDOWS BOOT DISK INSTRUCTIONS SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Floppy disk (3.5) version: REQUIRED 386SX 4MB RAM 20MB hard drive space (compressed 40MB) MS-DOS 5.0 or higher VGA (256 color) Mouse RECOMMENDED FOR BEST PERFORMANCE 486DX 8MB MS-DOS 5.0 or higher CD ROM version REQUIRED 386SX 4MB RAM CD ROM drive Small Install: 1MB hard drive space (compressed 2MB) Medium Install: 20MB hard drive space (compressed 40MB) Full Install: 33MB hard drive space (compressed 66MB) MS-DOS 5.0 or higher VGA (256 colors) Mouse RECOMMENDED FOR BEST PERFORMANCE: 486DX 8MB RAM MS-DOS 5.0 or higher Double speed CD ROM INSTALLING THE GAME INSTALLATION PROCEDURES: DOS: Insert Disk 1 and switch to the floppy disk prompt by typing A: or B:. If you are playing the CD version, insert the CD and switch to the CD drive by typing the drive letter followed by a colon. Ex: D:. Then type INSTALL to begin the installation program. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation. WINDOWS: Insert Disk 1 or the CD into the appropriate drive. From Program Manager, click on File, then Run. In the Command Line field, type the letter of the drive followed by \SETUP. Ex: B:\SETUP, D:\SETUP. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation. COMMON INSTALLATION PROBLEMS DOS: Problem: After typing INSTALL, a row of dots goes across the screen and stops. The computer is locked up with this row of dots appearing on the screen. Solution: The dots indicate the hardware detection portion of the installation program. You can bypass the hardware detection (and therefore the lockup) by typing INSTALL /M. If this entry doesn't work, try INSTALL /F. One of these entries should get you past the lockup. WINDOWS: Problem: During installation, you receive an error message saying "You do not have a 256 color driver loaded in Windows." Solution: Sierra's Windows games require that Windows is running in 256 color mode. Even though your monitor and video card may be capable of displaying 256 colors, Windows may not be set up to use this resolution. To check, double-click on Windows Setup in the Main program group. If the Display line reads "VGA" or "16 color", you will need to change to a driver that supports 256 colors. ("VGA" is a default Windows video driver that only supports 16 colors and will not work with Sierra's Windows games.) To change video drivers, select Options, then Change System Settings. Open the Display box to see the list of video drivers that are currently available. You should check your video card documentation for information on what 256 color driver to select. Warning: Be careful when changing video drivers! If you choose one that is not designed for your particular video card, Windows will not display properly. If this occurs, change to your Windows directory, type: SETUP, and choose the "VGA" driver again. You should contact your video card manufacturer for the correct driver. WINDOWS AND DOS ISSUES: This section contains issues that occur in both the DOS and Windows versions of Gabriel Knight. DOS and Windows-specific issues follow. Problem: When starting the game, you get an "Out of rect list room" error message. Solution: This is an incompatibility with Logitech's MouseWare v6.4. Upgrading to v6.41 will correct the problem. Logitech provides upgrades free of charge to registered users. Their Technical Support phone number is 510-795-0801 and their BBS is 510-795-0408. Problem: When restoring a game, you get the error message "This game was saved under a different interpreter". Solution: You need the Gabriel Knight patch disk (GKPAT for the floppy version, GKCDPAT for the CD version). See the section "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" later in this document. Problem: Saved games take 5-10 minutes to restore. Solution: You need the Gabriel Knight patch disk (GKPAT for the floppy version, GKCDPAT for the CD version). See the section "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" later in this document. Problem: (Disk version only.) Text messages sometimes stay on the screen even when the character has stopped speaking. Solution: You need the Gabriel Knight patch disk (GKPAT for the floppy version, GKCDPAT for the CD version). See the section "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" later in this document. Problem: Game displays a "Fatal - Not An Object" error message after interrogating a character. Solution: You need the Gabriel Knight patch disk (GKPAT for the floppy version, GKCDPAT for the CD version). See the section "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" later in this document. Problem: Game text remains on the screen after character has stopped speaking or game text seems to be missing. Solution: You need the Gabriel Knight patch disk (GKPAT for the floppy version, GKCDPAT for the CD version). See the section "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" later in this document. COMMON DOS PROBLEMS: PLEASE NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, these problems and solutions apply to both the 3.5 disk and the CD ROM version of Gabriel Knight. Problem: You get an "insufficient memory" message when attempting to run the game - even though you have lots of conventional memory available. (This usually happens on 4 meg systems, but can occasionally occur on computers with more RAM.) Solution: The Gabriel Knight program uses a "DOS extender" which allows the game to use very little conventional memory (less than 400k) and access your computer's upper memory directly. If this upper memory is being used by TSR's loaded high - your mouse or CD ROM drivers, for example - you can get this error message. To correct this, run the game with a boot disk. To create a boot disk re-run the INSTALL program and choose "Make Bootable Floppy" from the Installation Options menu. Problem: You get a "DOS 4GW Professional Error" when starting the game. Solution: This error message indicated that memory is low or inaccessible. If you have less than 4 megs (the minimum memory requirement), you will get this error message. Gabriel Knight will not run on computers with less than 4 meg. If you have 4 megs of RAM, run the game with a boot disk. To create a boot disk re-run the INSTALL program and choose "Make Bootable Floppy" from the Installation Options menu. Problem: When starting the game, you get an error message "Memory Allocation Error, cannot load command. System halted." Solution: Locate and run the VESA driver for your video card. This will change the computer's memory allocation and prevent this error. Contact your video card manufacturer or consult your video card documentation for information on obtaining and installing the VESA driver for your video card. Problem: When starting program, game locks up or crashes with the message "Unexpected Interrupt". Solution: There are several factors which can cause this problem. 1. Run the game under a boot disk environment. To create a boot disk re- run the INSTALL program and choose "Make Bootable Floppy" from the Installation Options menu. 2. There could be a sound card conflict. Re-run the INSTALL program and choose PC speaker for Music and No Audio/Voice Card for Audio. If the game starts fine without the sound card activated, check the sound card settings. See the "Sound Card Settings" section of this document. 3. You may need the Gabriel Knight patch disk. (GKPAT for the floppy version, GKCDPAT for the CD version). The patch will correct some lockups and Unexpected Interrupts. See the section "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" later in this document. Problem: When starting the game, an error message is displayed, "Fatal - Screen item does not exist in list: plane.cpp(367) Script 64937/$226 Solution: Gabriel Knight requires a mouse. If a mouse driver is not installed, the above error message will occur after the introduction. Make sure a Microsoft compatible mouse driver is loaded before starting the game. Problem: Game crashes with large (mode 40) text on the screen. Text may contain the words "crash address". May happen when program is started or randomly within the game. Solution: Run the game under a boot disk environment. To create a boot disk re-run the INSTALL program and choose "Make Bootable Floppy" from the Installation Options menu Problem: Game locks up at the "Day 1" screen when paper boy throws paper. Solution: Your I/O address is probably set to something other than 220. If changing the I/O address is not an option, Sierra has developed a new Soundblaster driver that will allow for I/O addresses other than 220. This driver is called SBSCI32. See the section "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" later in this document for information on getting this driver. Problem: Game displays an error message "316.SND, 803.SND, or 916.SND Not Found" message. Solution: 316.SND (CD version only). At the C:\SIERRA\GKCD prompt type COPY D:\PATCHES\227.SND C:\SIERRA\GKCD\316.SND. When you rerun the program the error will not appear. 803.SND and 916.SND (Disk version only). If you get one of these error messages, you are likely to get the other, so type the following two entries: COPY 303.SND 803.SND and COPY 895.SND 916.SND at the C:\SIERRA\GABRIEL prompt. Rerun the program and the error will not appear. Problem: Mouse cursor jumps over items or acts like it's on an invisible "grid". (CD version only.) This may cause you to be unable to pick up the magnifying glass in St. George's Bookshop or select destinations from the map screen. Solution: Some mouse drivers do not work well with SVGA graphics modes. The easiest way to correct this is to rerun the INSTALL program and change the Display setting from VESA to VGA. This will cause the icons, maps and character faces (in conversation mode) to display at 320x200 instead of 640x480. Running the game in this mode should not conflict with the mouse. You can also use another mouse driver. Sierra recommends Microsoft mouse driver 8.x. If neither of these solutions is an option for you, you can run the game in Windows to avoid the mouse problem. Problem: Random lockups during the game using the Gravis Ultrasound card. Solution: Sierra and Gravis have developed new drivers for use with the GUS card and our 32-bit programs. You can download these drivers Problem: Game displays an "out of low memory" message during the game. Solution: There are two possible solutions to this memory issue. First, try making a boot disk and running the game under the boot disk environment. You can use the boot disk instructions found at the end of this document or re-run the INSTALL program and choose "Make Bootable Floppy" from the Installation Options menu. If you make the boot disk through the INSTALL program, add the following lines to the CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DOS=HIGH If the boot disk does not help, you need the Gabriel Knight patch disk (GKPAT for the floppy version, GKCDPAT for the CD version). See the section "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" later in this document. Problem: Game locks up at the beginning of Day 5. A cursor appears and the game halts, but you can still exit the game normally. Solution: At the end of Day 4, turn the speed setting all the way up and the detail setting all the way down. Then, create a boot disk and run the game with the boot disk. You can use the boot disk instructions found at the end of this document or re-run the INSTALL program and choose "Make Bootable Floppy" from the Installation Options menu. If use a boot disk made through the INSTALL program, add the following lines to the CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DOS=HIGH This should get you past the lockup. COMMON WINDOWS PROBLEMS Problem: When you double-click on the Gabriel Knight icon, you get an error message "Watcom Win386 - Not running on a 386 DPMI implementation" Solution: Windows is probably in Standard mode. Exit to DOS and restart Windows by typing WIN /3. When you are back in Windows, check your swap file settings under Virtual Memory in the 386Enhanced section of Control Panel. You should have a permanent swap file of 5-10 megs set up. Problem: When starting the game, you receive an error message "Gabriel Knight requires support for 256 colors". Solution: Sierra's Windows games require that Windows is running in 256 color mode. Even though your monitor and video card may be capable of displaying 256 colors, Windows may not be set up to use this resolution. To check, double-click on Windows Setup in the Main program group. If the Display line reads "VGA" or "16 color", you will need to change to a driver that supports 256 colors. ("VGA" is a default Windows video driver that only supports 16 colors and will not work with Sierra's Windows games.) To change video drivers, select Options, then Change System Settings. Open the Display box to see the list of video drivers that are currently available. You should check your video card documentation for information on what 256 color driver to select. Warning: Be careful when changing video drivers! If you choose one that is not designed for your particular video card, Windows will not display properly. If this occurs, change to your Windows directory, type: SETUP, and choose the "VGA" driver again. You should contact your video card manufacturer for the correct driver. Problem: The "Intro" to the game will not play, however the game itself plays fine. (CD version only.) Solution: Some computers will not play the intro from within the game. You can watch the intro by double-clicking on INTRO.AVI in the AVI directory on the CD. Problem: When starting the game, Windows displays "Insufficient memory. Close one or more applications and try again." Solution: First, make sure you are not running any other programs in Windows. Disable all screen savers, virus scans, IconHearIt, etc. Then, make sure your swap file is at 5-10 megs permanent. You can change the swap file through the Virtual Memory Setting in the 386 Enhances section of Control Panel. In addition, if you're using an alternate Windows desktop like Norton or PCTools, use plain Program Manager instead. You can also make a Windows boot disk. Windows boot disk instructions are included at the end of this document. Problem: The Gabriel Knight window does not fill the whole screen.. Solution: You are running Windows in a resolution higher than 640x480. In 800x600 and 1024x768, the game window will be smaller than the screen. Switching to 640x480 will cause the window to fill the whole screen. Problem: The game suddenly crashes to a black screen. There may be a blinking white cursor in one corner. Solution: There are two possible solution to this problem. First, you may need updated video drivers. You should contact your video card manufacturer to obtain the latest version of their Windows drivers. Second, you may need the Gabriel Knight patch disk. See the "Obtaining a Sierra Patch Disk" section of this document. SOUND ISSUES SOUND CARD SETTINGS: In DOS, the best sound card settings for a SoundBlaster compatible card are I/O 220, DMA 1 and IRQ 5 or 7. If you're using a ProAudio card, the best settings are I/O 220, DMA 3 and IRQ 5 for the ProAudio portion of the card, set the SoundBlaster portion of the card to DMA 1 and IRQ 7. Make sure that the Soundblaster and ProAudio portions do not share the same DMA! Settings outside these parameters can cause lockups and/or choppy, repeating or garbled speech. Most sound cards have test utilities that will tell you what settings you are using. Check your sound card documentation for more information. In Windows, you can use almost any sound card settings. Settings like IRQ 2 or 10 that will not work in DOS will work in Windows. You should check your sound card documentation for information on setting up your Windows sound card drivers. DOS SOUND ISSUES Problem: The game locks up when a character speaks (CD version only) or when the "scoring" bell rings (floppy and CD versions). Solution: This usually happens with SoundBlaster 16 and compatible cards. To fix it, re-run the INSTALL program, change Music to SoundBlaster/Adlib and Audio to Thunderboard. Also, check the sound card settings; see the Sound Card Settings section of this document. Problem: Choppy, repeating or garbled speech. (CD version only.) Solution: See the above section "Sound Card Settings". Problem: Speech or music cuts out occasionally. Solution: This usually happens with SoundBlaster 16 and compatible cards. To fix it, re-run the INSTALL program, change Music to SoundBlaster/Adlib and Audio to Thunderboard. If this does not help, edit the RESOURCE.CFG file in the game directory and change the "audiosize=xx" line to "audiosize=64". You may have to experiment with the audiosize value; you can set it as high as 127. You should also check your sound card settings. See the above section "Sound Card Settings". Problem: Using a Reveal sound card, the music sounds great, but the voices are barely audible. Solution: Create a boot disk using the boot disk instructions at the end of this document. Add the following lines to the AUTOEXEC.BAT: C: CD\MMP16P\UTILITY SETMODE /MSS SG16MIX SG16MIX /Q CD\ Then, reinstall the game and choose Microsoft Windows Sound System for both Audio and Music. Reboot the computer with the boot disk and the voices should be fine. WINDOWS SOUND ISSUES Problem: When starting the game, you get a "Wave Out Open" error message. Solution: This error is caused by two programs trying to use the sound card at the same time. If you are using any sound-related Windows programs like screen savers, IconHearIt, Wired for Sound, etc., you should disable them before you start the game. Packard Bell's Navigator will also cause this problem; you should turn Navigator off before you start the game. (You can prevent Navigator from loading automatically by dragging its icon from the Startup group to the Accessories group and restarting Windows.) Problem: Music and voices cut out. Solution: Edit the RESOURCE.WIN file in the game directory and change the "winAudioSize=20" to "winAudioSize=40". If this doesn't help, try increasing it, but don't set it higher than 127. OBTAINING A SIERRA PATCH DISK The patches available for Gabriel Knight are: GKPAT - This patch corrects some fatal errors and lockups within the game. Floppy version ONLY. GKCDPAT - Same as GKPAT, but for the CD version only. GUS32 - New Gravis drivers for Sierra's 32-bit DOS games. SBSCI32 - New SoundBlaster driver to allow for I/O addresses other than 220. (This is the ONLY function of this driver.) The fastest way to obtain a Sierra patch disk is to download it from one of the following on-line services: the Sierra BBS (206-644-0112), CompuServe (GO GAMAPUB) or America OnLine (KEYWORD SIERRA). You can also request a patch disk be mailed to you by calling Sierra Customer Service at 1-800-SIERRA5 or writing to Sierra On-Line Patch Disks, Dept. 10, PO Box 485, Coarsegold, CA 93614-0485.