Frequently encountered Problems with Skullitaire.

Q: What does "Err4F: No VESA support" mean?
A: This program uses High Resolution-graphics in 640 by 480 Pixels and
   256 Colors.
   To use this resolution, you must map more than 64K of video memory
   and first of all SET this graphics mode.
   Unfortunately there are as many methods to set the video mode as there
   are VGA-Cards.
   Fortunately the manufactorers knew about this...
   ...and set up a standard of accessing the extended possibilities of a
   video card - the VESA-Standard.
   Unfortunately -again- the standard came late, so most of the cards don't
   support this standard, but some do...
   Fortunately -yeah-: For almost all VGA-Cards there is a Software-VESA-
   Driver available; I supply a universal VESA-Driver (Shareware!) named
   "univesa.exe" in the same directory as Skullitaire.
   For those of you guys, who don't have a VESA-Driver implemented in the
   BIOS, you must load a VESA-Driver manually.
   This Error message above means that there is actually no VESA Driver
   loaded, so the program can't start!

Q: I get a "Not enough memory" Error. Why?
A: There are several different types of memory. You machine may have 2, 4,
   8, 16 or more Megabytes of memory but Skullitaire can't use it!
   Skullitaire only needs memory that's called low DOS memory, or conventional
   memory, which is the memory portion below 1Meg!
   DOS can only use 640KBytes of memory, and that's what Skullitaire can use!
   You can check your memory by typing either CHKDSK (DOS before v4.0) or
   MEM (DOS v4.0 or higher). To run Skullitaire you must have at least
   540KBytes of free memory.
   If you don't have this much, you get the above Error message.

Q: I get a "Low memory warning". What shall I do?
A: This means you have enough memory to run Skullitaire, but Skullitaire MAY
   run instable! Instable means, the program may break with a Runtime error
   message, or even crash.
   Instability, though, is fairly seldom... so don't panic!



(more....)




Q: I have enough RAM, SVGA and all but Skullitaire still refuses to run
   correctly. Why?
A: Skullitaire uses the Microsoft mouse drivers. You should try to run
   your mouse in Microsoft mode (By reinstalling the mouse or using the
   setup utilities for your mouse, etc.). In a lot of cases this was the 
   solution to the most problems we encountered on other machines.
   (Some "encounters": Skullitaire crashed even before showing the title.
   The mouse pointer scrambled the background. The mouse pointer did not
   move at all...)


Q: I get a "SoundBlaster environment" Error. Why?
A: Skullitaire has detected a Soundblaster but couldn't utilize it, because
   the Environmet wasn't set. You usually add a line to your autoexec.bat
   which says:
   SET BLASTER=A2X0 IX DX TX
                ^    ^  ^  ^
                |    |  |  +--- Type of Soundblaster 1: normal, 2: pro etc..
                |    |  +------ The DMA-Channel (DMACH). usually 1
                |    +--------- The IRQ-setting. Usually 5 or 7
                +-------------- The Base adress. Usually 220, seldom 240
   where the "X"s are individual for your configuration.
   Make sure that this line is correctly set!

Q: I use a Soundblaster but the Sound isn't played correctly, the sound
   is played half and then breaks!
A: Your IRQ-setting in the environment isn't correct! (see above)

Q: "My screen breaks up, and the animations seem to be played incorrectly!"
A: This is a frequent problem on Machines with a AcuMOS or newer Cirrus-Logic
   Chipset. (These Cards have a ROM-resident VESA-Driver). 
   They don't handle the VESA-implementation correctly, they have a VESA
   v1.1-Implementation, which MAY cause problems. Try using the UNIVESA-
   Driver. On Acumos Chipsets, the Screen may look broken up and moved over
   the Screen-Edges. This is due to the VGA-internal Page-switch algorithem:
   High Resolutions require more than 64KBytes of memory, but the VGA-Card
   can (and must) only map 64K at a time. So you must "switch video pages".
   This means you move a window over the entire video-memory.
   This window can be moved either in 4K, 16K and (most common:) 64K-steps.
   Acumos cards support the steps of 4K and 64K. Standard is 4K. Sometimes,
   though, the card is switched into 64K-"granularity", but the BIOS isn't
   informed about that... So the steps, thought to be 4K, are now 64K in
   size. If you switch Pages, the memory is remapped in far to big steps,
   and you get whats called a "wrap-around": The video memory has been re-
   mapped to a memory location in video memory, that the card doesn't have...
   So the cards starts to map at the beginning of the memory again and you
   write into a memory-location, you don't wan't to write to - and you don't
   even know about it!
   The only practicable solution to this problem is, to restart your 
   computer...


- SCRIPTORIUM, 09/04/1995
