AZTECH GAMES CUBE MANAGER HELP FILE

This CD-ROM disc compilation and various other items are Copyright 1996 Aztech New Media Corp.

Select a topic:

GENERAL INFORMATION

A NOTE ABOUT SHAREWARE

USING THE AZTECH GAMES CUBE MANAGER

ROSENTHAL UNINSTALL

MOST COMMON DOS SHAREWARE PROBLEMS

Thank you again for purchasing Aztech's Hall of Fame Games Cube Collection. We hope you truly enjoy this compilation.

Other questions concerning the operation of this CD

may be directed to Aztech at:

FAX: (416) 449-1058   Attn: Technical Support


GENERAL INFORMATION

Thank you for purchasing Aztech's Games Cube Collection. This compilation represents some of the very best shareware applications games currently available. To reflect the changing times, this collection features one DOS-based CD and 6 Windows-based (3.1 or Windows 95) CD's.

Many of the applications on this CD-ROM run directly from the CD-ROM, although you may not be able to save games or save reconfigure options (you can't change the contents of a CD-ROM). Some games may need to be placed on your hard drive because the program needs to determine the configuration of your PC as it installs itself.

Some games want to write a configuration file or a high score file to disk. Since it is not possible to write information to a CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory) any changes you make to the a game's configuration will have to be done each time you play the game. To overcome this, you will have to Install the game to your hard disk or to a floppy.

All of the applications have been reviewed. They all work. They are all decompressed and each application resides in its own directory. You do not need to know the "executable" file. You do not need to know how to use various decompression programs.

A NOTE ABOUT SHAREWARE

It is important to note that the bundled price of this CD-ROM covers only the medium, research, assembly, production, packaging, and distribution costs. The actual intellectual properties (that is, the shareware programs) require separate payment to the author(s) if you intend to use them.

These programs are "shareware." They are not free unless specifically identified as such. Many of the games offer the first episode or level for free with the hope that you will enjoy them enough to want to buy the additional episodes. This is one of the best methods of shareware. Try the first level - if you like it buy the rest.

Other games give you the full functionality and the author expects that if you like and use their product that you will forward a recommended payment to them. Usually there are additional incentives for "registering."

USING THE AZTECH GAMES CUBE MANAGER

Main Window

The main window has three basic functions: Selecting a program, running and installing a program.

Selecting a program:

All the applications on this CD are displayed in the list box on the left side of the main window. The currently selected program is described in the text box on the right side of the main window. A screen shot of the currently selected program is displayed in the screen shot frame in the middle of the main window. The title of the currently selected program is displayed above the screen shot frame.  A program can be selected by clicking on its name in the list box. The other windows will then update with the corresponding images and text. You can scroll through the list of programs in the list box with scroll gadgets attached to it. If the list box is selected you may also scroll through the list with the up and down arrow keys.

Running a program:

The 'Run From CD' button will be enabled ( not ghosted ) if the currently selected program may be run directly from the CD. If the 'Run From CD' button is disabled then it indicates that the program must be installed to be run (read the Installing a program section for more information on installing).

Clicking on the 'Run From CD' button will start the currently selected program. Note that programs started in this manner can not save player information or settings since they are running from a read-only device ( a CD-ROM ). To allow game, score and settings saving you will have to install the program ( read the Installing a program section for more information on installing ).

Installing a program:

Clicking on the 'Install to HD' button will start the installer for the currently selected program. Note that if the 'Run Uninstaller Before Installing' Option is set ( see the Menu Options section for more information ) the manager will run Rosenthal Uninstall before running the installer. This allows you to take a snapshot of your system before the installation occurs so that, if you desire, you may return your system to this state afterwards ( see the Rosenthal Uninstall section for more information ).

Menu Options

File Menu:

Run Rosenthal Uninstall - Selecting this option starts the 	Rosenthal Uninstall program. This option allows the user to update his uninstall information or uninstall a program at anytime as opposed to waiting unit another program is installed(see the Rosenthal Uninstall section for more information).

Exit - This will close the Games Cube Manager program. Select this option when you are done playing or installing games.

Options Menu:

Show Screen Shot - This option may be toggled on and off. It is on by default. When this option is on the Game Cube Manager will display a screen shot of the currently selected program in the screen shot frame. When this option is turned off, the Games Cube Manager will display a big X in the screen shot frame. Turning this option off makes the Games Cube Manager scroll faster through the program list.

Play Sound - This option may be toggled on and off. It is on by default. When this option is on the Game Cube Manager will play a sound ( corresponding to the type of game currently selected )every time a game is launched or installed. Turning this option off makes the Games Cube Manager not play any sounds.

Run Uninstaller Before Installing - This option may be toggled on and off. It is on by default if Rosenthal Uninstall is installed on your system and is otherwise turned off. When this option is on the Game Cube Manager will automatically launch the Uninstaller before any software is installed to your system(see the Rosenthal Uninstall section for more information).

Read Me Menu:

Read Me - This option opens THIS help file.

ROSENTHAL UNINSTALL

Rosenthal Uninstall is provided with this Games Cube for your convenience. This uninstaller allows you to remove any programs installed since the last time you updated the uninstaller with information about your hard drive.

What does this mean???

1)	If you don't use the installer you can't uninstall programs properly.

2)	That if you don't update the uninstaller with your hard disk information you can't uninstall programs properly.

3)	If you do use the uninstaller and update date it properly you can uninstall programs you install as well as restore changed files such as autoexec.bat config.sys and even special windows file that may be changed by installations such as win.ini, system.ini user.dat et cetera.

This can be very convenient because some programs don't always come off of your system as easily as they came on. You may get bored with a game or just decide you have a better use for the hard drive space and then it can be difficult to get rid of the software you have installed without a good uninstaller.

The information provided in this help file on Rosenthal Uninstall is by no means complete. For further information on how Rosenthal Uninstall works and how best to use it, refer to the information in the Uninstaller itself by pressing the 'H' key while the uninstaller is running.

Note that the uninstaller may be switched off ( so that it does not run every time a program is installed from the manager ) by toggling 'Run Uninstaller Before Installing' off from the 'Options' Menu of the Games Cube Manager.

MOST COMMON DOS SHAREWARE PROBLEMS

Unfortunately, the MS-DOS world of PC's has its own share of software and hardware problems because of its 15-year legacy of trying to maintain compatibility with older versions of software and the all-important customer data. This has led to numerous inconsistencies and patch fixes for making MS-DOS and PC hardware do things they were never designed to do.

The shareware Aztech selected for this compilation is among the best in the world and some of these games approach or even exceed the quality of some commercial game products. Applications will freeze, hang-up, lock out, cause the screen to go screwy, terminate abnormally and do all the most horrific things that we all dislike about PC's and none of it is specific or even necessarily caused by the application currently running. The most common problems you may run into are:

    Some games on this disc were written without consideration for the continuing improvements in CPU performance. If the game runs too fast then you might consider pressing the "Turbo" or similarly-labeled button on your machine's front panel. It should change the display from the usual 33, 66 or 100 MHz to something like 8 or 12 MHz.

     Read the CD label which states, TO RUN: Log on to CD-ROM drive and type GO. Go launches a menu which allows you to run 90% of the games directly from the CD.

     You did not read the HELP file (which you ARE now reading). This short file has some useful information about how to use the disc and how to exit from games that don't have an obvious exit.

     Not enough conventional memory usually raises the ire of many of us with more than 2 MB of RAM. We know we have enough memory to play most any game. You may have lots of RAM and still be getting this kind of symptom or error message because the application may require more of the first 640 KB of RAM in your computer than is actually available.

     Read about loading drivers and applications in high memory and how to disable Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) programs.

     The application is asking for information about your PC that any "normal" person wouldn't know but is "guessing" at, such as:

     The demonic IRQ (Interrupt ReQuest) number, most often asked by applications when determining the SoundBlaster sound card, usually defaults to "7."  However, the assumption is that sound cards would never be used at the same time someone is printing something. IRQ 7 is also the number for the parallel port. Only one device may use an IRQ at a time so if the user is playing music on the sound card and wants to print something or another device is also using IRQ 7, an "IRQ conflict" arises and the system will instantly hang( usually leaving the last note played also hanging on your eardrum as an irritating reminder of the conflict ). Changing an IRQ is not something a novice should do. However, the only real alternative is to go through all the options of a particular game to find one that works or getting an experienced person to identify the conflict and change the IRQ setting on one or more of the hardware cards.

     If the IRQ number is asked for, then another number is also usually  asked for. This is the port address, which is the unique address of the device, much like the house number on a street is unique to the human device(s) residing in it. This number usually defaults to 220 for the SoundBlaster and this one has to be handled the same as the IRQ.

     The villainous video card is amongst the most common and most misunderstood creatures of the PC. EGA was wonderful because it was a standard. However, the world cannot be viewed through 16-color glasses and so S/VGA was conspired as someone's master plan to reduce tech support people all over the world to blithering idiots. Again, the assumption is that you will know which particular VGA or S/VGA card you have in your PC. While the PC industry has been getting smarter about automatic detection of these cards, it still remains that most applications in the PC world do not support every manufacturer's version of S/VGA. To compound problems, the VESA standard is not strictly adhered to by even the very largest video card manufacturers. You may have a manual for the card. If not, many video cards will identify themselves, typically on one of the very first lines to be displayed on the PC monitor during bootup. If it flashes by too quickly for the user to see it, sometimes hitting the PAUSE button on the keyboard will pause the bootup procedure. More often it will hang the PC and the user will have to reboot. Adding to this is the question of what the maximum resolution supported by the card is. Of course you will always want to pick the best one because you rightly believe you have bought the most current technology only six months go. Of course, the de facto standard changed since then.

When it comes to a shareware compilation, each application is written by a different author. Not every hardware combination of video cards, CD-ROM drives, memory availability and sound cards can be supported by every application. Aztech has tried every game on this CD on at least three entirely different PC configurations.

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