Re: older games dont work

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Jimmy S. (Private)
Date: 03/02/04 

Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 18:31:13 -0500

Hi Hajas,

Let's hope that Service Pack 1 does the trick for you!
If it doesn't, we'll look into the readme in more depth. :-) 

-- 
Cheers,                                 Windows XP MVP Shell / User
Jimmy S.                               http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Game FAQs: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call / Contact
MS Support at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=sz;en-us;top
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty;  nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________
"hajas" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:5b4401c40060$4b76bdf0$a101280a@phx.gbl...
|I found that exist a downloaded version of the SP1, and
| the support of my work have it and will burn a CD to me.
|
| I'll install and let you know what happens.
|
| here the readme.txt of the game to you take a look,
| and any other tips to make this game works will be great.
|
| thanks, Freddy.
| ======================================================
|
|                              Electronic Arts(R) presents
|                                 NEED FOR SPEED(TM) II
|
|
|                           MANUAL AND REFERENCE CARD
| ADDENDUM
|
|
|
| WHAT THIS FILE IS
| ================
| This file contains information which became available
| after the manual and reference card
| were printed. If you are experiencing problems not covered
| in the Reference Card or in this
| README, please contact EA Customer Support (see contact
| methods in the Reference Card).
|
|
|
|
| ***********************************************************
| *******************************
|
|  ADDENDUM
|
| ***********************************************************
| *******************************
|
|
| SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
| ===================
| Some information printed in the reference card is
| incorrect. The following is the accurate
| system requirement list which matches the label on the box:
|
| SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
| Operating System: Windows 95
| CPU Type & Speed: 90MHz Pentium Class processor (Intel,
| Cyrix 6x86)
| Hard Drive Specs: 10 MB free space for game plus space for
| save games (additional space
|   required for DirectX 3.0 installation)
| Memory: 16 MB RAM
| CD-ROM Speed: 4x CD-ROM drive (600 KB/second transfer rate)
| Other Needs:
|   * DirectX 3.0 (included on game CD)
|   * Hi Color (65,535 color) capable 1 MB PCI video card
| with DirectDraw 3.0 compatible
|     driver
|   * Keyboard
|   * Optional joystick or mouse
|   * Optional Sound Card with DirectX compatible sound
| driver
| Supported Input Devices: Any analog joystick, steering
| wheel, or game pad supported by
|   Windows 95 including but not limited to: ThrustMaster
| T1 and T2, CH Products Virtual
|   Pilot and CH pedals, CH Products Force FX, Gravis
| GamePad, Microsoft SideWinder game
|   pad, Extreme Competition Controls
|
| REQUIRED FOR MULTI-PLAYERS
| * Network (2-8 players): Pentium 133 MHz CPU or faster,
| IPX compliant network,
|  1 CD per network game
| * Modem (2 player); 100% Hayes compatible 9600bps or
| faster modem; high speed serial
|  port (16550 UART)
| * Serial play (2 player): null modem cable, high speed
| serial port (16550 UART)
|
| RECOMMENDED
| * Pentium 166 MHz CPU or faster
| * Hard Disk: 70 MB free space for game plus space for save
| games (additional space
|  required for DirectX 3.0 installation)
| * Mouse
| * Analog joystick, PC game pad, or PC steering wheel
| * Sound Blaster 16/32/AWE32 sound card
|
|
| NETWORK PLAY ADDENDUM
| =====================
| * In the chat screen, you can clear your chat box
| completely by pressing the HOME key on
|  your keyboard.
|
| * DirectPlay IPX is not supported by Need For Speed II. To
| play a network game, use the
|  WinSock IPX protocol.
|
|
|
| FORCE FEEDBACK SUPPORT
| ======================
| Need For Speed II includes support for the Immersion
| Corporation "I-Force" force feedback
| driver and the CH Products ForceFX joystick. The I-Force
| driver is automatically copied to
| your Need For Speed II directory during game installation.
| Future force-feedback devices
| which use the "I-Force" driver should also be supported,
| although we have no way of
| guaranteeing compatibility with future controllers.
|
| Ensure your joystick is configured properly under Windows
| 95, all joystick cables are
| properly attached, and run NFS II. From the main menu,
| select OPTIONS, then CONTROLS, and
| then FORCE FEEDBACK. A message saying "Auto detecting"
| will appear and the game will look
| for your force feedback joystick. The message "Device not
| found" appears if the joystick is
| not detected - double-check your joystick configuration in
| Windows 95 is correct and try
| again.
|
| If the joystick is detected, the force-feedback
| sensitivity menu will appear. Use your mouse
| to select the force level you desire; maximum force is
| exerted when the bar is all the way
| to the right, and all forces are disabled when the bar is
| all the way to the left (select
| this level if you want to use your force feedback
| controller as a normal analog joystick
| without any forces). You should notice some resistance on
| the joystick as you change the
| effects level. As soon as you begin playing, you should
| notice the effects immediately. If
| you do not, double-check your settings and effects level.
|
|
| CONTROLLER CONFIGURATION
| ========================
| * If you attempt to configure your controller (ie:
| joystick, wheel, pedals) in the
|  CONTROLS setup, it's important that you keep the
| joystick or wheel centered and not
|  depress the pedals; doing so can cause the controller to
| perform in a reverse manner.
|
|  Make sure that you have the pedals in the full up
| position (off gas) when you select
|  to map a pedal as a control (ie: ACCELERATE or BRAKE).
| If you have the pedal depressed
|  when you try to map it as either ACCELERATE or BRAKE
| (and then release the pedal to map
|  it), then the pedal will have a reverse effect in
| gameplay.  (ie: releasing the pedal
|  with your foot will act as acceleration, while
| depressing the pedal will let off the
|  gas).
|
|  Make sure that you have the steering wheel in the center
| position when you select STEER
|  LEFT in the CONTROLS setup menu and then move the
| steering wheel to the left to map it
|  correctly.  If you are holding the steering wheel to the
| left when you click on the STEER
|  LEFT selection, and then release the steering wheel,
| this will result in your steering
|  wheel being mapped backwards in gameplay (ie: Steering
| Left with the steering wheel in
|  gameplay will result in your car steering more to the
| right).
|
| * An ANALOG/DIGITAL toggle option has been added to the
| CONTROLS menu. The default setting
|  is ANALOG. If you have a digital controller, change this
| option to DIGITAL. This will
|  give you better control when driving with a digital
| controller.
|
| * The STEERING SENSITIVITY option has no effect if
| steering is mapped to a keyboard or
|  joystick buttons.
|
|
| THRUSTMASTER T1 AND T2 WHEEL CONFIGURATION
| ==========================================
| ThrustMaster T1 and T2 users may experience control
| problems in the game or front end as a
| result of Windows 95 driver problems. This can be resolved
| by using a special JOYCAL.EXE
| program which is automatically copied to your hard disk
| during game installation. To
| correct these problems, do the following:
|
| 1. Install Need For Speed II.
| 2. Configure your T1 or T2 using the Windows 95 Joystick
| control panel (please refer to
|   either the Windows 95 documentation or your controller
| manual for details).
| 3. Using either Windows Explorer or an MS-DOS Prompt
| shell, change your current directory
|   to where you installed NFS II (the default installation
| directory is
|   "Electronic Arts\Need For Speed II").
| 4. If using Windows Explorer, click on the "JOYCAL.EXE"
| icon. If using an MS-DOS Prompt,
|   type "JOYCAL.EXE" and press RETURN.
| 5. A simple controller configuration screen will appear,
| with two horizontal bars stacked
|   on top of one another. Move your wheel all the way to
| the left and right, and press
|   your gas and brake pedals down completely one at a
| time. The small white blocks in each
|   horizontal bar should now be centered within the bar
| (it is acceptable for them to jitter
|   a little).
| 6. Press a button on your T1 or T2 to exit JOYCAL.
| 7. Play NFS II. Any previous problems experienced should
| no longer occur.
|
| NOTE: If you stop using the T1 or T2 (ie: start using a
| joystick instead), be sure to delete
| the file JOYCAL.CFG from your NFS II root directory. NFS
| II looks for this configuration
| file at runtime, and if present, uses the controller
| configuration information stored in it
| instead of the information supplied by Windows 95.
|
|
|
| MODEM COM PORT
| ==============
| Need For Speed II will auto detect your modem's COM port.
| However, Need For Speed II may
| have difficulty detecting your modem's COM port if you are
| using a Plug and Play modem.  If
| this is the case, you will have an option to manually
| select your modem's COM port after you
| click 'Dial' or `Answer'.  Need For Speed II will remember
| this COM port setting until you
| exit to Windows 95.  You will have to manually enter your
| modem's COM port again the next
| time you run Need For Speed II.  If you are unsure of
| which COM port your modem is on, you
| can find out this information by following these steps:
|
| - Left click on the START button, and move your mouse
| pointer over the SETTINGS item.
| - When a submenu appears, select CONTROL PANEL.
| - Double click on `Modems'.
| - Select your modem and click `Properties'.
| - The modem's COM port will be displayed here
|
| If you open 'Modems' from the Control Panel and cannot
| locate your modem, you need to
| install it in Windows 95 first before using it in Need For
| Speed II.  Contact your modem
| manufacturer if you are having difficulty installing your
| modem in Windows 95.
|
|
| AUDIO ADDENDUM
| ==============
| * An INTERACTIVE MUSIC option has been added to the AUDIO
| menu which can be toggled ON and
|  OFF. Turning this option ON allows interactive racing
| music to be played during the game
|  (each track's racing music is temporarily copied to your
| hard disk for that race, and
|  could increase track load times up to 30 seconds); you
| will be notified if you have
|  insufficient hard disk space to turn interactive music
| on. Turning this option OFF will
|  instead use normal non-interactive music played from the
| game disc (songs are not copied
|  to the hard disk, nor are load times increased). This
| option is set to OFF by default.
|
|
|
|
| ***********************************************************
| *******************************
|
| TROUBLESHOOTING
|
| ***********************************************************
| *******************************
|
|
| MODEM PROBLEMS
| ==============
| * Need For Speed II relies upon the modem settings you set
| in the Windows 95 Modem control
|  panel. If you need to adjust your modem's settings, you
| will need to do so in the Modem
|  control panel. Please refer to your Windows 95 manual
| for further details on how to
|  configure a modem's settings using the Modem control
| panel.
|
| * To disable Call Waiting, enter the appropriate code
| (usually *70 or 70#) before the
|  telephone number in the modem phone number list (ie: *70-
| 123-4567). In certain instances,
|  particularly in an office environment, you may need to
| enter a "9" before the telephone
|  number if you must access an outside line (ie: 9,123-
| 4567); contact your telephone system
|  administrator for exact details.
|
|
| NETWORK PLAY PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS
| =================================
| The following can help improve performance during network
| games:
|
| * The host system MUST be the fastest system participating
| in a network game (see
|  SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS section above).
|
| * Performance will improve on systems with additional
| memory above the minimum requirement
|  (ie: total of 24 MB or 32 MB RAM).
|
| * Turn racing music OFF in the AUDIO submenu (from the
| main game menu, select OPTIONS, then
|  AUDIO).
|
|
| VIDEO & GRAPHICS PROBLEMS
| =========================
| * The Diamond Viper Pro 2MB VRAM PCI card is not
| explicitly supported by NFS2 using the
|  2.14b beta driver from Diamond Multimedia. This was the
| most recent driver available at
|  the time of release; for a newer driver, call your local
| Diamond Multimedia customer
|  support office or check the Diamond Multimedia Web site
| at www.diamondmm.com (see your
|  video card manual for the customer support telephone
| number for your country).
|
|
| STUTTERING OR SLUGGISH PERFORMANCE
| ==================================
| In the event that the game stutters or performs sluggishly
| on your system, try the following
| suggestions for improving game performance. The benefits
| of each will vary upon your
| computer's processor type and speed, total memory, etc.
|
| * Let Windows 95 manage virtual memory: Some systems may
| experience a brief pause during
|  gameplay. This is due to Windows 95 virtual memory
| management. Ensure you allow Windows 95
|  to manage virtual memory and that your hard disk has at
| least 30 MB free space for
|  Windows 95 swap space. Windows 95 manages virtual memory
| by default. To enable automatic
|  virtual memory management, click on the START button in
| the Windows 95 menu bar, select
|  SETTINGS, then CONTROL PANEL. When the Control Panel
| window opens, double click on SYSTEM.
|  A System Properties control panel will open - select
| PERFORMANCE, then VIRTUAL MEMORY.
|  Ensure that the option "Let Windows manage my virtual
| memory settings" is selected. Press
|  OK, then press OK again. You will need to restart your
| system for the change to take effect.
|
| * Avoid running other programs in the background: We
| strongly recommend that you shut down
|  all other Windows 95 applications before running Need
| For Speed II. Applications running
|  in the background use memory and processing power, and
| can cause gameplay to be sluggish
|  or stutter.
|
| * Turn off racing music: From the main menu, select
| OPTIONS, then AUDIO, and set the racing
|  music level to the minimum setting - this turns off the
| racing music. All music is played
|  directly off of the game CD, so by turning off the
| racing music, the CD will not longer be
|  accessed to read music thus lightening the load on the
| CPU.
|
| * Disable CD-ROM read-ahead caching: Click on the START
| button in the Windows 95 menu bar,
|  select SETTINGS, and then CONTROL PANEL. Double click on
| the SYSTEM control panel. Select
|  PERFORMANCE, FILE SYSTEM, and then CD-ROM. Change
| the "Optimize access pattern for"
|  option to read "No read-ahead". This will disable CD-ROM
| read-ahead caching.  Press OK,
|  then press CLOSE. You will need to restart your system
| for the change to take effect.
|
|
| SERIAL LINK PROBLEMS
| ====================
| If you are experiencing difficulties establishing a serial
| game connection, check to ensure
| you are using a null-modem cable, and not a standard
| serial cable. Null modem cables are
| wired in a manner which allows two computers to talk to
| one another. If you discover that
| you are using a standard serial cable and not a null-modem
| cable, you can obtain an
| inexpensive "null modem adapter" from almost any
| electronics supply shop which you can
| connect to one end of the serial cable; this adapter
| serves the same function as a standard
| null-modem cable when used with a normal serial cable.
|
|
| SOUND CARDS WITHOUT DIRECTX SUPPORT
| ===================================
| If you are using a sound card, Need For Speed II requires
| that it be supported by DirectX
| drivers. If your sound card drivers do not have DirectX
| support, you may experience delayed
| sound, stuttering, or sound drop out.  In addition, you
| may experience some difficulties
| maneuvering in the menus with your joystick, if it is
| attached to the sound card's game
| port.  If this is the case, you can maneuver in the menus
| with your mouse or keyboard.
|
|
| WINDOWS NT
| ==========
| Need For Speed II was written to operate under Windows 95
| and does not specifically support
| Windows NT. If you are attempting to run the game under
| Windows NT and have questions
| related specifically to Windows NT, please contact
| Microsoft directly via the Customer
| Support contact methods supplied with your Windows NT
| documentation.
|
|
| LEGAL
| =====
| NEED FOR SPEED is a trademark of Electronic Arts, Inc.
| WINDOWS, WINDOWS 95,
| WINDOWS NT, and DIRECTX are trademarks of Microsoft
| Corporation. This document is
| Copyright 1997 by Electronic Arts, Inc.
|
| English README Revision 6
|

Relevant Pages

  • Re: older games dont work
    ... the support of my work have it and will burn a CD to me. ... and any other tips to make this game works will be great. ... Windows 95 including but not limited to: ... to map a pedal as a control ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.games)
  • Re: Serial Port Problems
    ... >>I am having the following problem with my serial port, ... >> I think Windows is controlling the DTR and RTS signals from ... control lines; Data Terminal Ready and Data Set Ready, ... The other approach is to talk to the modem via ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: My over all windows colors are off. How do I get them back?
    ... There is no system restore in Windows 2000. ... by going Control Panel|Display|Appearance Then try logging on as a new user. ... That game has now been ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: Column: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Security for Gamers
    ... firmware update for the modem. ... Microsoft Windows MVP ... Since installing Win XP SP2 and playing freelancer ... I have been playing the game ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.games)
  • RE: Dial-UIp
    ... The default settings in 2000/XP allow for the maximum throughput for the modme you are ... or some settings on the modem that is causing this. ... '--'site to out workplace on Windows 2000. ... '--'this a setting that can be changed in control panel or ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.networking)