Common Questions and Problems With BassTour The following represents the most common questions and problems encountered with BassTour. Before calling or writing us, please read the instruction manual thoroughly. We have found that many problems can be answered right there. [1] PROBLEM: "I cannot make the program scroll to another section of the lake". SOLUTION: First, make sure the NUM LOCK is not set on your keyboard. Then, be sure you are using the NUMERIC KEYPAD ARROWS, not the separate cursor control arrows on 101 key enhanced keyboards. Remember to press the SHIFT key while you press the arrow keys. On many computers, in particular the early Tandy machines, there was an incompatibility with the keyboard. These machines would not generate a different keycode when the NUMERIC KEYPAD arrow keys were shifted. This problem occurs on some 'clone' machines too. This can usually be remedied by using the 2,4,6 and 8 keys in the top row of your MAIN KEYBOARD. Do not use the SHIFT key when using this method. [2] PROBLEM: "Sometimes 'garbage' appears when I try to scroll the screen or select a rod or bait". SOLUTION: BassTour needs lots of FREE memory. Just because your computer has 640k or more of memory does not mean it's all free for BassTour to use. We have found that memory resident programs (TSR'S) are one of the main causes of this problem. Programs like RAM DISKS, PRINTER BUFFERS, KEYBOARD ENHANCERS and MENU programs should not be loaded before running BassTour. These programs occupy memory space even when not running, thus making it unavailable to BassTour. Another occasional cause of this problem is lack of sufficient memory on your EGA card (if you are using one). Many of the older EGA cards only had 64k or 128k of video memory. They should have 256k to properly run BassTour. [3] PROBLEM: "The program tries to start, but then stops." SOLUTION: One of the main causes of this problem is too many open files. DOS only allows 15 open files per process. Check your CONFIG.SYS file to be sure it contains the following two lines: FILES=20 BUFFERS=20 BassTour tries to open several files when it starts. It then assumes they were open for its use. If in fact they were NOT opened, the program may hang waiting for them to be available. The two lines described above will help prevent this from happening. [4] PROBLEM: "I cannot save a game to the disk." SOLUTION: Many people try to save games (to be played later) on the original distribution diskette. A saved game uses about 60k of disk space, and the distribution diskette must have at least that much free if you expect to save a game. Also, make sure you're not in CAST MODE when trying to save a game with the ALT-S key combination. Sometimes, people have a clock or some other interrupt driven program running at the same time they're running BassTour. Since these programs use interrupts, they can 'steal' time from BassTour. If one of these prrograms decides to 'steal' its time while BassTour is writing to the disk, the resultant file may be damaged. This is because DOS itself is inherently non-reentrant, and BassTour uses DOS facilities to write to the disk. See #3 above as well. [5] PROBLEM: "I cannot restore a saved game." SOLUTION: See #3 and #4 above. Also, make sure ALL files that are supplied on your BassTour distribution disk are in the same directory as BassTour.EXE. [6] PROBLEM: "BassTour does not always save my record catches properly!" SOLUTION: See #3 above. Also, some people thought they were clever, and tried to edit the LAKERECS.TXT and/or the STRINGER.TXT files. Don't try it! One misplaced space or deleted/added line can mess the files up beyond repair. [7] PROBLEM: "I get a RUNTIME ERROR 002 then the program stops!" SOLUTION: This means that BassTour cannot open a file it needs. This can happen if you do not have all the files that are supplied on the original distribution diskette in the same directory as the main program, BASSTOUR.EXE. It can also happen if you are missing a file altogether. Also, refer to item 3, above. [8] PROBLEM: "I get a runtime ERROR 004 then the program stops!" SOLUTION: This means that access to a file needed by BassTour has been denied by DOS. Make sure there is no write-protect tab on your diskette, and see item 3 above. [9] PROBLEM: "I have an IBM PS-2. The program reports that it detects a VGA card then stops, hanging up my machine". SOLUTION: Some models of PS-2 computers have the MCGA video mode. This mode (320 x 200 x 256 colors) is a subset of the VGA specification. These computers reports VGA when queried by BassTour. BassTour then assumes that since a VGA card was detected, that it should use the maximum screen resolution it can, which is 640 x 350, 16 colors. You can force BassTour to run in either standard CGA mode (320 x 200 x 4 colors) or in the MCGA mode by using one of these command lines when you start the game: BASSTOUR -C (for CGA Mode) BASSTOUR -M (for MCGA mode) [10] QUESTION: "I have a VGA card in my machine, yet the program seems to run in 16 color EGA mode. Why, and how do I make it utilize the 256 colors of my VGA?" ANSWER: See item 9, above. BassTour runs in the EGA mode of your VGA card. It does not support true VGA (640 x 480 x 16 colors) at this time. You can use the MCGA mode of VGA (320 x 200 x 256 colors) as described in item 9. [11] QUESTION: "I have a Tandy machine that supports 16 color CGA mode. Is there a way I can run BassTour in this mode, or am I stuck with the four color CGA mode?" ANSWER: No, at least not at this time. The 16 color 'Tandy' mode is a non-standard video mode currently only supported by Tandy machines. I'm afraid you're stuck with good ol' CGA. Why not upgrade to VGA if you want great color and screen resolution in BassTour? [12] QUESTION: "Why did you choose such awful colors in CGA mode? Why not blue for the water, brown for land, or something more realistic?" ANSWER: We didn't choose those colors! In CGA, we have a choice of Palettes (groups of colors), NOT the individual colors within those palettes. If you think these colors are bad, take a look at your CGA card manual and see what the alternatives were! [13] QUESTION: "I have added disks LAKES #1 and LAKES #2 to BassTour. Having 20 lakes to choose from is great, but why do I set lakes records with such small fish? I find it annoying to wait for the 'Record Fish Ceremony' each time!" ANSWER: You won't for long. As supplied, BassTour only has record information for the original six lakes. When you add new lakes, records need to be established for those lakes. At first, a one pound fish will be a record. Gradually, as the sizes of the record fish increase, record setting will occur much less often. Why not just get it over with quickly and catch an 8 or 10 pound fish right away! [14] QUESTION: "On some lakes, my boat doesn't appear on the screen when the game begins. How do I know where my boat is!" ANSWER: This occurs mostly on CGA or MCGA video displays, but may happen on lakes of your own creation as well. It simply means that the boat is in a section of the lake that is not currently visible. Press the M key to show the contour map. The blinking block you'll see is where your boat is. Scroll the screen and your boat will come into view.