Mageslayer supports AutoPlay with Windows 95.
With Windows 95 already running, place the game CD in your CD-ROM drive. The AutoPlay program will automatically start. Click on "Install" and follow the instructions on your screen.
If the AutoPlay program does not start automatically:
Click the Windows 95 Start button.
Select Control Panel.
Select Add/Remove Programs.
Click on Install.
Windows 95 will search for the install program on your CD-ROM drive. When it finds Mageslayer, click Finish to start the installation.
If you do not already have DirectX version 5 or higher installed on your computer, be sure to install it when prompted as the game cannot run with older versions.
DirectX Installation
If you have already installed the game and you did not choose to install DirectX, you can still install it like this:
Double click on the file named "Dxsetup.exe" in the DirectX folder on your CD. If the game you're trying to play has more than one CD, the DirectX folder will normally be found on the CD that you used to install the game itself.
Click on "Install DirectX", or if you have a previous version loaded, click on "Re-install DirectX".
If you are asked at any time during the installation to overwrite your existing drivers, this means that some of your system hardware is not 100% DirectX compatible. If you wish to try installing a generic DirectX driver that may work with your card, ignore the warnings and click on "Yes". If you have problems with your system after doing this, see the section below on how to Uninstall DirectX and restore your original drivers.
When installation is complete, restart your computer, then try your game again.
STARTING A GAME
To Start MageSlayer after installation:
Click the Windows 95 Start button.
Click on Programs.
Click on the Mageslayer folder
Click on the Mageslayer icon.
After a short introduction sequence, a picture of the Lore Thane will appear. Press Enter to bring up the main menu. You can now choose a singleslayer or multislayer game. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the menu, and press Enter when you are ready.
Singleslayer:
After selecting singleslayer from the main menu, you must choose a difficulty setting. Initiate is the easiest setting, and MageSlayer is the hardest setting. After you have chosen, press Enter, and you will be asked to choose a character class. Press Enter after selecting your class, and the game will begin.
Multislayer:
After selecting multislayer from the main menu, you will need to choose what type of connection you will be playing over.
IPX is for local area network games.
TCP/IP is for local area network or Internet games.
Modem is for 2 player modem games only
Direct connect is for 2 computers connected through a serial link cable.
Joining a game:
To join a game already in progress, use the arrow keys to highlight Join and press <Enter>. What happens next will depend on what type of connection you are using.
For IPX games, you will be presented with a list of all games currently available on your local area network.
For TCP/IP, you will need to enter the name of the computer on your LAN that is hosting a game, or the IP address of a computer on the Internet that is hosting a game.
For modem games, you will need to enter a phone number to connect to.
For Direct Connect, you will need to enter the COM port where your serial cable is hooked up to.
Once you have joined a game, you will be asked to choose a name for yourself, and what character class you wish to play as. When you have completed these steps, and if your computer is set up properly for the connection type you chose, the game should begin.
Please note that your network, modem, or serial cable must be set up and working properly prior to playing the game. To play over the Internet, you must be connected to your Internet service provider before starting Mageslayer.
Hosting a game
To host a new game, use the arrow keys to highlight Host and press <Enter>. Follow the on-screen prompts to choose game options such as difficulty level and game type, and options for your own character such as player name and class.
What happens next will depend on what type of connection you are using.
For IPX and TCP/IP games, the game will begin and other players will appear when they join your game.
For modem games, you will see a list of modems on your machine (most systems only have one). Choose the modem on the phone line you wish to use, and click on "Answer". When the other player calls you, your system will answer and the game will begin.
For Direct Connect, you will need to enter the COM port where your serial cable is hooked up to.
Please note that your network, modem, or serial cable must be set up and working properly prior to hosting a game, or other players will not be able to join. To play over the Internet, you must be connected to your Internet service provider before starting Mageslayer.
"The game slows down when I use higher video modes."
Higher video modes use more resources than lower modes. If your system becomes unbearably slow at high resolution, try playing in a lower video mode, or consider installing a 3DFX Voodoo graphics based accelerator card in your computer.
"The screen simply turns black when I try to start up the game."
If you don't have a sound card in your computer, then simply press the <Enter> key and the game should continue normally.
If you have a sound card and the problem occurs anyway, try this:
Double-click the "My Computer" icon on your Windows 95 Desktop.
Double-click the "Mageslayer" folder.
Double click on the "Autoexec.cfg" file.
Find the line labeled "introseq".
Using your arrow keys, move the cursor to the first column in this line.
Type ";" (without the quotes and DON'T press <Enter> afterwards!)
Repeat step 6 for each line up to and including the one labeled "questart".
Save the file and exit notepad.
If the game now works, your problem was the movie files associated with the game. If the screen still turns black, try this:
Follow steps #1 and #2 above.
Double-click on the "serdef.cfg" file.
Using the arrow keys move all the way down to the very end of the file.
Press <Enter> to create a new line.
Type in "vid_setmode 1" (without the quotes) and then press <Enter>.
Save the file and try playing again.
If this works, your problem is with the particular video mode that you were using. Try different video modes in the options menu to find the one that works best for you.
If all else fails, you'll need to install the latest DirectX compatible hardware drivers available for your video card. For more information on updating your hardware drivers, please refer to our How to Update your Drivers FAQ.
"The graphics or sound effects don't look (or sound) right."
This game uses DirectX, which is responsible for all sound and video in the game. If anything is wrong with either your sound or video, it means that either you did not properly install DirectX 5 from the CD, or your hardware is not 100% compatible with DirectX.
Try re-installing DirectX 5 from the CD, paying careful attention to any of the message boxes that come up. If the DirectX installation program recommends that you replace a driver, do it. If it recommends that you keep your existing driver, do that as well.
If you have already done this, and still cannot get your video or sound to work properly, you'll have to install the latest drivers for your hardware available from the manufacturer. For more information on updating your hardware drivers, please refer to our How to Update your Drivers FAQ.
"I can't get the game to work properly with my 3D card."
Most 3D cards will work well with Mageslayer provided that you have the latest drivers available installed. For more information on updating your hardware drivers, please refer to our How to Update your Drivers FAQ.
If you are absolutely sure that you already have the latest drivers installed, check the list below to see if a solution for your particular card is listed.
Any card with less than 4MB of VRAM
These will not work with the game if you try to run it in a resolution of 640 x 400 or higher.
Rendition
Using the default values for the Rendition will result in unreadable text. Change the "Blit Overlays" from "auto" to "on to fix".
Virge
Some Virge cards have hardware limitations which prevent them from rendering some of the effects that Mageslayer uses such as texture shifting/warping and transparencies. Text will also be unreadable.
Matrox
Some Matrox cards cannot do translucency effects.
3dfx Voodoo 1
These cards can lock up if overclocked. Also, don't try running the game in 800x600 as the Voodoo 1 doesn't have enough memory to properly accelerate this resolution. 800x600 should work fine on the Voodoo Rush.
Permedia
These cards exhibit problems when doing transparency effects. This is a driver problem which may be corrected by a driver update from 3d labs. Check their website periodically at http://www.3dlabs.com to see if an updated driver becomes available.
ATI 3D Rage Series
These cards exhibit various problems such as block outlines around the character graphics. There may also be problems with transparency effects and the game will occasionally lock up. All of these can be corrected by installing the latest drivers available from the ATI website at http://www.atitech.ca.
"The game crashes with an invalid page fault while I'm playing in full screen mode."
To fix this problem, try changing to a generic monitor driver. To do this from the Windows 95 desktop:
Click on Start.
Select Settings.
Select Control Panel.
Select Display Properties. This will show you the display type that you are currently using.
Click on the Change display type button.
Click on Show all devices.
Click on Microsoft.
Choose Super VGA.
Click on Apply.
Restart your computer when prompted.
"I'm running Windows 2000, and the game's installer reports that 'This game requires Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0. Installation will not continue.'"
Microsoft has created a registry update that will fool the game into thinking that it is in fact running on a machine with an older version of windows, allowing installation to continue. When Windows 2000 is officially launched, this registry update will be available for download from the Windows 2000 upgrade web site at http://www.microsoft.com.
The update only works for this game and will not affect any other applications running on your system.
Please note that this patch is still in its beta stage and therefore unsupported.
In order to play multislayer games, you must either host or join a game. To join a game, there must already be a game running or waiting for players on another system, and your computer must have the ability to connect to that system.
For instance, if you wish to join an Internet game, you must be connected to the Internet prior to running MageSlayer. If you know the IP address of a system that is currently hosting a game, you can click on "Join" from the multislayer menu, and type in that number to connect to the other player.
If are playing an IPX game, and you know that another computer on the LAN is hosting a game but you can't see it after selecting "join", then there is a problem with your network setup, or the network setup on the other computer, or in the network itself. You will need to ask your network administrator for help.
For modem games, you can only play with one other person. If you both have copies of the game, and you both have modems, then one player can host a game, and the other can call in and join the game. If either modem is not working properly, the game cannot work. If you are having a problem with your modem setup, contact your system or modem manufacturer for help.
"How can I improve the performance in Local Area Network Games?"
Networking default values have been set up for high latency situations such
as dial-up Internet play. For other networking setups, such as Ethernet
IPX, you can change the cl_smoothframes and cl_smoothcorrectionmax variables in the autoexec.cfg file. The server and clients must have the same values set for this to work.
Try setting cl_smoothframes to 2, and cl_smoothcorrectionmax to 200.
"Nothing happens when I insert the CD into my CD-ROM drive"
The Windows 95 AutoPlay feature may be disabled on your system. To learn how to enable AutoPlay, please refer to our Win95 General Troubleshooting FAQ.
If you don't want to enable AutoPlay, you can bring up the installation menu manually. For details, see the section labeled "Installation" near the top of this document.
You must have a sound card installed in order to view the AVI files. If you have a sound card but can't see the movies anyway, try updating your video card drivers to the latest version available.
For more information on updating your hardware drivers, please refer to our How to Update your Drivers FAQ.
"I've installed the patch, and now whenever I finish a level I'm transported back to the 'Rat Lord' level."
A pre-release version of the patch was accidentally released onto the Internet some time ago. A newer version is available that will fix this problem. You can download the correct patch by clicking on the "Patches" button below.
"The problem I've encountered wasn't addressed in this document."
Be sure that you have rebooted your system after installing DirectX. The game cannot run properly until DirectX takes effect on your system.
Shut down all other applications that may be running on your system before playing. Other applications can interfere with the game's normal operation.
For details on how to do this, please see our Win95 General Troubleshooting FAQ.
Check the system requirements to see if your system meets them. The minimum system requirements for Mageslayer are listed on the box and at the top of this document.
