REBEL ASSAULT 1.2 Last minute manual additions: -------------------------- TROUBLESHOOTING --------------------------------- I) UNEXPECTED INTERRUPT ERRORS/LOCKUPS If you are experiencing crashes running Rebel Assault, first try playing with the "NO SOUND" and "JOYSTICK ONLY" options. If problems disappear, you most likely have a DMA and/or IRQ conflict between your mouse, soundcard, or another device in your computer. See your specific hardware documentation for instructions on how to reconfigure your cards so they do not conflict. IF YOU STILL HAVE PROBLEMS, TRY TYPING "REBEL2" WHILE IN YOUR CD-DRIVE ROOT DIRECTORY. This will launch Rebel Assault with an alternate version of the DOS extender which may be more compatible with some systems. II) SOUNDBLASTER 16 Note that if you are using a Sound Blaster 16 in 16-bit mode, you must configure Rebel Assault to use the 16-DMA channel (default=5) your card is set to. This is not necessarily the same as your 8-bit DMA channel (default=1). You can check your card's setting by looking in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file for the "SET BLASTER" command. The 16-bit DMA channel is preceeded by an "H", while the 8-bit channel follows a "D". Some motherboards cannot use DMA channels higher than 3. Thus, the safest thing to do is to change your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, switching the number following the "H" to be the same as the one after the "D" (probably to 1), and reboot. This will force the Sound Blaster 16 to use the same DMA channel for both 8-bit and 16-bit sound. III) SMARTDRIVE / DISK-CACHING SOFTWARE CD disk-caching software may confuse Rebel Assault should the CD drive encounter a read error. If you are having problems, disable any disk- caching software or caching options of your CD driver. ----------------------------- MISC NOTES ----------------------------------- I) CONFIGURATION FILE REBEL.EXE, the Rebel Assault launcher / config-utility saves its settings in a file REBEL.CFG on your C: drive inside a REBEL\ directory. It will create this directory if it cannot find one. II) HIGH SCORES FILE Rebel Assault saves your high scores in a file REBEL.PTS on your C: drive in the REBEL directory. If this directory is not present, the file will be saved in the root directory instead. To clear the high scores list, you may delete this file. III) RUNNING ASSAULT DIRECTLY REBEL.EXE is the launcher utility, while ASSAULT.EXE is the game itself. Under normal circumstances, you should not need to run ASSAULT directly, but should instead type REBEL. ASSAULT does not pay attention to your saved game and sound card preferences, but instead relies on command-line switches for this information. In a few cases, it may be desirable to run ASSAULT.EXE directly. For instance, if you have a clone sound card which is set to an IRQ or base address not listed in the config program, you will need to pass this information to ASSAULT.EXE directly through command-line switches. A list of supported command-line switches follows: /? - show this list of parameters /x1 - use a low detail level /x2 - use a med detail level (default) /x3 - use a high detail level /c0 - no sound /c1 - use Sound Blaster driver /c2 - use Sound Blaster Pro driver (default) /c3 - use Sound Blaster 16 driver /c4 - use Pro AudioSpectrum driver /c5 - use Pro AudioSpectrum 16 driver /c6 - use Aria driver /c7 - use Ultrasound driver /d - use DMA channel for sound /i - use IRQ for sound /b - use base address for sound /s - set sound buffer size to bytes /f - set frame rate cap to frames per second (default=300) /j - enable joystick control only (default joystick + mouse) /m - enable mouse control only /t - set rate of multitasking timer in Hertz (default=15) /u - set CD drive cpu-usage (=0-9) 0=detect (default), 1=20 percent Thus, you can run Rebel Assault for a Sound Blaster 16 sound card at DMA channel 6, IRQ 5, and Base Address 220 by typing: ASSAULT /c3 /d6 /i5 IV) TWEAKING FRAME RATE If you are experiencing occasional momentary hesitations during game play, you may be able to make the game run smoother by slowing down the frame rate from its default of 15 frames per second. You may also want to slow down the frame rate to make the game easier to play. Make this adjustment in the launcher/configuration program. V) DIABLING EMM386 When disabling EMM386, you must disable or ignore two lines in your CONFIG.SYS file. These are: C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM If you are commenting these out in the CONFIG.SYS file, add "REM" before both lines REM C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS REM C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM If ignoring lines by using the F8 key under DOS 6.0, choose to ignore both lines. VI) CHANGING SOUND CARD VOLUME A volume control exists in the options menu, which can be accessed either at the beginning of the game from the main menu, or at any time by pressing the 'o' key. To change volume, select the volume item and move your controller left or right while holding down the fire button. Note that some cards, such as an original Sound Blaster, do not have a hardware volume control, and so this menu will have no effect. Also note that for the Pro AudioSpectrum, you should use the hotkey-activated TSR to change volume instead. Even if you do not wish to change volume during the game, you should install the TSR on your hard drive as the sound card may otherwise default to no volume when first booted up. VII) CHOOSING A CONTROLLER Although it is possible to use both the mouse and joystick in the same playing session, it is best to choose one and enable only it, as enabling both at the same time may slow down Rebel Assault or cause conflicts when using some mouse drivers. Also, when after plugging or unplugging a joystick, you should recalibrate using the 'j' key. Enjoy the game. May the Force be with you. DOS/4GW Protected Mode Run-Time Version 1.8, 1.92 Copyright (c) Rational Systems, Inc. 1990-1992