Battlespire Patch v1.5

Battlespire Patch v1.5

This patch for Battlespire will upgrade the software to v1.5.

Display Adapter Drivers for Hot New Video Cards

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Battlespire uses Scitech's Univbe 5.3 video adapters to customize your video card for optimal Battlespire video performance. If you have a hot new video card, and you are having trouble with your video display, you may need to download and install Univbe Version 6.0 from the Scitech web site (www.scitechsoft.com).

Gamma Control [new feature]

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There are two ways to control your monitor brightness [gamma correction].

First way: In the spire.cfg file add a line that says "gamma" and next to it put a value from 1.0 to 1.9. [Place this line BEFORE the video, or bad things happen.]

Second way: Start playing the game, and then use "ctrl +" and "ctrl -" to increase or decrease the gamma. [The current gamma value is NOT saved, so the next time you run Battlespire, the gamma value will be reset to the default 1.0, OR to any value you have specified in the spire.cfg file.

Dialog error while talking with various Vermai

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Once in a while when you try to talk to a Vermai,

the game would crash with a causeway error. This

was due to a typographical error in the dialog

script and has been fixed with this patch.

Random Crashes (DPMI Memory)

---------------------------------

This is the most common problem with running the

game. Around 99% of this can be traced back to an

improper properties setting of the Windows 95 DOS

box. In order to run the game from a Windows 95 DOS

box, you must configure it do so. Here is how:

Start up the DOS box like you normally would.

If the DOS box is full screen, make it windowed

by hitting the alt + enter key combination.

There is an icon in the toolbar of the DOS

window that looks like a hand holding up a sheet of

paper. This is the properties icon. Click on it.

Now you should be looking at the properties sheet

of the DOS box. There is a 'memory' tab near the

top of that sheet. Click on that.

Now you are looking at the memory properties of

the DOS box. Near the bottom is an area that is

labelled "MS-DOS Protected Mode (DPMI) Memory".

This value is normally set to "AUTO" when Windows

95 is installed. That won't work with Battlespire.

What you need to do here is to change this value

to '65535' by typing it in manually.

Near the top of the memory properties sheet is

an area that is labelled "Conventional Memory".

Inside that area is something called "Initial

environment". Change the value in there to 2048.

Now click on the 'OK' button, and close the DOS

box by typing 'exit' at the command prompt. The

next time you open up that DOS box, it will use

the new memory configuration. Battlespire will

now run without bombing out randomly.

Object Memory Crashes [especially level 5 crashes]

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Users experiencing restored game crashes on Level 5 [or whenever receiving the error message "unable to allocate OBJECT memory"] can avoid these crashes by setting object memory to a higher value as follows:

1. Open the spire.cfg file [in your Battlespire directory; usually Batspire] with any text editor. [The Win95 Notepad works fine.]

2. Add the following line to the file. [Add this new line after the line "captions 0", and before the "video" line. The format for these configuration lines is "Word[tab]value or phrase".]

OBJMEMSIZE 3000

This line can be used to set your object memory size to any value between 2500k [the default value] and 9000k [the maximum value]. If you are NOT experiencing problems, leave the value at the default 2500k. A value of 3000k should be sufficient for most users.

EXAMPLE of spire.cfg with user-defined object memory size

path C:\BATSPIRE pathcd D: bypass 1

captions 0

OBJMEMSIZE 3000

video #9 V.T.C. MotionFX 771

Low Disk Space

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Random crashes can also be attributed to having

a low amount of disk space left. Battlespire needs

free disk space for a swap file. It is recommended

that you have at least 40 megabytes of free space

on your hard drive before running Battlespire.

Disk Fragmentation and Crashes

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Virtual Memory Swap File: To effectively use Win95

virtual memory with Battlespire, you must have a

large block [at least 40 megs]of contiguous [ie, all

together and not broken into tiny bits] free disk

space on the appropriate drive [typically C drive].

If you are getting the following DOS error message on

loading Battlespire, and you KNOW you have plenty of

free space on your C drive, you need to defragment the

disk where your virtual memory swap file resides.

"Warning: 31M RAM + Swap detected....... if you

decide to play the game, there is a good chance that

it will crash"

"How do I defragment my disk," you say?

Click on START on the Win95 Taskbar and follow the

hierarchical menus to the "Disk Defragmenter" application by the following path [Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter]. When "Disk Defragmenter" is

running, follow the directions to defragment your disk.

When the defragmenting is finished, run Battlespire again.

Presuming you DO have enough free space on drive C [40

megs], AND presuming you have your DPMI memory settings correct, you should get the following DOS message as Battlespire is launched:

"Good: 55+ RAM and swap detected"

Now you are Happy, and will not have Bad Crashes.

No Sound Card Option

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There have been reports that computers without any

sound cards or people who prefer to run the game

with the sound setting set to 'none' can not run the

game at all. That has been fixed with this patch.

No Music Heard

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Battlespire plays music via your CD-ROM's redbook

audio feature. If you are in the game and can not

hear any music playing:

1) Make sure that the volume control for CD Audio

is raised up to an audible level, and that it is not

muted.

2) If it still doesn't work, then pop the hood of

your computer. Make sure that there is a thin cable

running from the back of your CD-ROM to your sound

card. Refer to the manual that came with your CD-ROM

for further information.

Sound problems in MS-DOS Mode with IBM Aptiva

---------------------------------------------

If you are having problems with sound when running Battlespire in MS-DOS Mode [not in a DOS box in Win95, but in MS-DOS Mode, when you "Restart the computer in MS-DOS Mode"] on the IBM APTIVA (with Mwave), you may configure the machine as follows:

1. From DOS Mode, run the "FASTCFG.BAT" application. [This application is used to customize MS-DOS Mode sound configuration on your Aptiva.]

2. If your Aptiva is from the Magic series [i.e., if your machine is from the M-series, as in "M51"], or from the Odyssey series [i.e., from the A-series], or from the Courageous series [i.e., from the C-series], select the "Games" choice for Sound Blaster emulation.

3. If your Aptiva is from the Stealth series and you have an Mwave card [i.e., if your machine is from the S-series], select the "Standard Configuration" choice for Sound Blaster emulation.

4. After you have customized the sound options for your Aptiva, then run the Setsound application [on your Battlespire CD in the "mss" directory] to configure your Battlespire sound for "Soundblasters and Compatibles."

Ensoniq Sound Card problems

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If you are having problem with sound and have an Ensoniq sound card, reconfigure your sound for "Sound Blaster and Compatibles."

The Wraith Kirel Aman on Level 3

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A dialog bug that prevented an important transaction with the wraith Kirel Aman on Level 3 is fixed in this patch.

Known Intellimouse Driver Problems

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The driver currently shipping with the Intellimouse is causing lock-ups and crashes and crashes when used with Battlespire. This problem has been reported to the manufacturer; hopefully they will release an updated driver. In the meantime, do not use the Intellimouse driver; use one of the standard mouse drivers provided by Win95.

How do I change my mouse driver, you ask?

To remove the Intellimouse, first remove all references to mouse drivers from Autoexec.bat. Then:

- Open the Device Manager [Start/Settings/Control Panels/System/Device Manager]

- Find and highlight the current mouse

- Click on the "Properties" button

- Click on the Driver tab

- Choose "Update Driver"

- Choose "Select from List"

- Find and install the "Standard Serial Mouse"

If Win 95 stubbornly reloads the Intellimouse

original driver, then you must find and delete the ".inf" file associated with the Intellimouse. Search first in C:\Windows\Inf\Other for a filename with the ".inf" extension that sounds msmouse related. If it's not in the

Windows\Inf\Other directory, it's probably in C:\Windows\Inf directory.

Other Fixes in Patch 1.5

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1) When you set the cdrom music volume to zero, the cdrom will now stop spinning. Before it would continue spinning and playing the music, even at zero volume, wearing out the drive.

2) Multiplayer fix: it should be much harder to get stuck inside a monster or another player -- it now automatically bounces you out of player/monsters if you get too close for comfort.

3) Problems with triggering the teleport light cone at the end of level 7 have been fixed.

4) Efforts have been made to improve network traffic for Mplayer network playing. This means you should see less of those "Synchronizing Network" messages.

5) The amount of object memory has been increased. This should prevent reported problems when loading saved games on Level 5.

Catapult Misdirection

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On the castle capture the flag multiplayer level,

there was a bug with the way the catapults worked.

They would work the first time, then the second time

around, they would shoot you backwards into oblivion.

That bug has been squashed.

New Deathmatch Levels

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There are three new multiplayer deathmatch levels

for your slaying pleasure.

Kills Tally

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In multiplayer, when you go into the chat screen,

you can see the scores of the other players but not

their kills tally! Whoops. That has been added.