King's Quest VI
Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
CD Troubleshooting Guide
Revised 4/24/97

Sierra Technical Support provides this documentation as a reference to Sierra customers using Sierra software products. Sierra Technical Support makes reasonable efforts to ensure that the information contained in this documentation is accurate. However, Sierra makes no warranty, either express or implied, as to the accuracy, effectiveness, or completeness of the information contained in this documentation.

Sierra On-Line, Inc. does not warranty or promise that the information herein will work with any or all computer systems. Sierra does not assume any liability, either incidental or consequential, for the use of the information herein, including any and all damage to or lost use of computer hardware or software products, loss of warranties, or lost data by the customer or any third party. No oral or written information or advice given by Sierra, its employees, distributors, dealer or agents shall change the restriction of liability or create any new warranties. In no case shall Sierra's liability exceed the purchase price of the Sierra software product.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 1 - HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
SECTION 2 - INSTALLATION PROCEDURES
SECTION 3 - COMMON INSTALLATION PROBLEMS
SECTION 4 - COMMON GAME PROBLEMS
SECTION 5 - TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS
SECTION 6 - SOUND CARD CONFIGURATION AND SOUND ISSUES

DOS:
Insert the CD and switch to the CD drive by typing the drive letter followed by a colon. Ex: D:. Then type INSTALL to begin the installation program. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation.

WINDOWS 3.1:
Insert the CD into the appropriate drive. From Program Manager, click on File, then Run. In the Command Line field, type the letter of the drive followed by \SETUP. Ex: D:\SETUP. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation.

WINDOWS 95:
Insert the CD into the appropriate drive. Click on the Start Button, then Run. In the Open field, type the letter of the drive followed by \SETUP. Ex: D:\SETUP. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation.

Problem: During installation you receive the error "DISK ERROR / READ ERROR" or "NOT READY READING DRIVE X" (Where X is the drive you are installing from).
Solution: This usually indicates a bad disk. If you have had the product less than 90 days, Sierra will replace your game disks for free. Send Disk #1 with a copy of a dated receipt and a letter requesting disk replacement. Be sure to include your full name, mailing address and a phone number. If you have had the product over 90 days you will need to include a check or money order for $10.00. The address is: CUC Software Fulfillment, 4100 West 190^th Street, Torrance, California 90504.

DOS ONLY:

Problem: After typing INSTALL, a row of dots goes across the screen and stops. The computer is locked up with this row of dots appearing on the screen.
Solution: The dots indicate the hardware detection portion of the installation program. You can bypass the hardware detection (and therefore the lockup) by typing INSTALL /M. If this entry doesn't work, try INSTALL /F. One of these entries should get you past the lockup. If these alternate INSTALL commands do not correct the problem, create an MS-DOS boot disk and install the game under the boot disk environment. The instructions for creating a bootdisk are called MS DOS Bootdisk Instructions.

WINDOWS ONLY:

Problem: You receive an error message stating, "Your current display driver is not supported by this game."
Solution: Sierra's Windows games require that Windows is running in 256 color mode. Running Windows in less or more colors will cause this error message. The following instructions should help you change your Windows video resolution to 256 colors:

Windows 3.1
Double-click on Windows Setup in the Main program group. If the Display line reads "64,000", "32 million", "VGA" or "16 color", you will need to change to a driver that supports 256 colors. ("VGA" is a default Windows video driver that only supports 16 colors and will not work with Sierra's Windows games.) To change video drivers, select Options, then Change System Settings. Open the Display box to see the list of video drivers that are currently available. You should check your video card documentation for information on what 256 color driver to select.

Be careful when changing video drivers! If you choose one that is not designed for your particular video card, Windows will not display properly. If this occurs, change to your Windows directory, type: SETUP, and choose the "VGA" driver again. You should contact your video card manufacturer for the correct driver.

Windows 95
Click on the Start button, select Settings, then Control Panel. Double-click the Display icon. You will see four tabs: Background, Screen Saver, Appearance, and Settings. Click on Settings. In the box under Color Palette, it should say 256 Color. If it does not, click on the down arrow next to the window to view a list of choices, and select the one that says 256 Color. Restart Windows when prompted to do so. If you have any trouble running Windows 95 in 256 color mode, please contact your video card manufacturer for assistance.

Unless otherwise stated, the following issues can occur in both the DOS and Windows version of King's Quest VI.

Problem: When you attempt to run the game, you receive an error message indicating insufficient memory.
Solution: Create a MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, or Windows 95 boot disk and run the game under the boot disk environment. This should free up enough memory to run the game. The instructions for creating a bootdisk are called MS DOS Bootdisk Instructions, BDWIN31, or BDWIN95.

Problem: The game locks up after the first sound effect is played. (DOS version.)
Solution: This usually occurs with Soundblaster 16 and compatible sound cards. To correct this, run the game's INSTALL program, and choose Soundblaster/Adlib for Music and Thunderboard for Speech/Audio.

Problem: When you start the game you see a black screen with the main character(s), and as you move the character the screen clears. (Windows version)
Solution: You are running in a resolution that uses higher than 256 colors. See Section 3 for changing your display driver.

Problem: When the characters are talking, the area around their mouth is distorted. (Windows version)
Solution: If you have an ATI Ultra Graphics Pro video card, you have a program called Flex Desk. To solve this problem turn Device Bitmap Draw off in the Flex Desk application. If you have any other video card, contact the card manufacturer to obtain updated Windows video drivers.

Problem: "Out of Hunk" or "Insufficient Memory" messages.
Solution: Make a MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, or Windows 95 bootdisk and run the game in a bootdisk environment. The instructions for creating a bootdisk are called MS DOS Bootdisk Instructions, BDWIN31, or BDWIN95.

Windows 95 Only

Problem: The icon for the game doesn't look like the King's Quest 6 icon (e.g.- it looks like the Phantasmagoria icon).
Solution: Go into Windows Explorer to the Sierra\KQ6CD directory and change the name of the icon from SIERRAW.ICO to KQ6.ICO and then change the icon. Consult your Windows 95 manual for instructions on changing your icon.

If you do not see your specific problem listed above, these standard troubleshooting procedures correct most problems running King's Quest VI.

Step 1 - Run the program from a minimal boot disk (DOS and Windows versions).
A boot disk is a tool that can be used to resolve most conflicts. Boot disks will free up more system resources and memory for your games. The MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, or Windows 95 boot disk also creates an environment that is "cleaner" or free of extra TSR and utilities that can sometimes cause conflicts. The instructions for creating a bootdisk are called MS DOS Bootdisk Instructions, Win 3.1 Boot Disk Instructions, or Win 95 System Disk Creation Instructions.

Step 2 - Check for corrupted files (DOS and Windows versions).
Run CHKDSK /F or SCANDISK to detect and correct any hard drive errors and corrupted files. If you find any errors such as cross-linked or truncated files or lost allocation units, correct them, then delete and reinstall Phantasmagora.

Step 3 - Check for sound card conflicts (DOS version).
Many lockups in games can be traced to sound card configuration. To determine if you have a sound card lockup, run the INSTALL program and check the current setting for "MUSIC". Make sure the selection is supported by the hardware in your computer. See your sound card's documentation for help resolving sound card conflicts.

Step 4 - Reinstall the game in a clean boot environment (DOS and Windows versions)
Lockups and other technical problems can be caused by corrupted game files. No program will run correctly if the data or executable files are corrupted. These corruptions will occur during the installation of the game and are usually due to conflicts with TSRs or other utilities running in DOS during the installation. Reinstalling the game in the same DOS environment will usually result in the same corrupted data. You should install the game in a "clean" boot environment.

Step 5 - Create a clean Windows environment (Windows version).
Make sure that all screen savers, virus scans, and sound-related Windows programs (IconHear It, Wired for Sound, etc.) are disabled before starting the game. In addition, if you are using an alternate Windows desktop like Norton Desktop or PCTools, use the default Windows desktop instead. Check your swap file settings. If you are using Windows 3.1, swap file should be between 6-10 MB. If you are playing in Windows 95, make sure that your virtual memory is enabled.

Step 6 - Check your drivers!
Outdated or incompatible video or sound drivers can also cause lockups and errors in Windows. Sierra recommends you check with your sound and video card manufacturers to make sure you have the latest versions of these drivers. Some manufacturers update their drivers several times a year, so it's easy to get behind.

DOS SOUND CARD CONFIGURATION
In DOS, the best sound card settings for a SoundBlaster compatible card are I/O 220, DMA 1 and IRQ 5 or 7. If you're using a Pro Audio card, the best settings are I/O 220, DMA 3 and IRQ 5 for the Pro Audio portion of the card, set the SoundBlaster portion of the card to DMA 1 and IRQ 7. Make sure that the SoundBlaster and ProAudio portions do not share the same DMA! Settings outside these parameters can cause lockups and/or choppy, repeating or garbled speech. Most sound cards have test utilities that will tell you what settings you are using. Check your sound card documentation for more information.

WINDOWS 3.1 SOUND CARD CONFIGURATION
Sierra's Windows games should work correctly with any sound card setting, providing there are no hardware conflicts. However, as in DOS, Sierra recommends using the sound card's default settings. When configuring your sound card in Windows, there are two locations to check: the Drivers section of Control Panel and the MIDI Mapper.

In the Drivers section, you should see the following:

MIDI Mapper
Timer
[MCI] CD Audio
[MCI] MIDI Sequencer
[MCI] Sound

These drivers come with Windows, so if you are missing any, they can be installed by choosing the Add button in the Drivers window and installing them off of your Microsoft Windows Installation disks. In addition to these standard Windows drivers, there should be two or three sound card-specific drivers. These drivers should have the name of your sound card in their title. If these are missing, you will need to reinstall the sound card drivers off of the sound card installation disks. Your sound card documentation will tell you the names of these drivers and how to install them.

The MIDI Mapper should be set to "All FM" or something similar if you have a SoundBlaster Pro, SoundBlaster 16, Pro Audio 16 or compatible card. If your MIDI Mapper doesn't have an "All FM" option, you will need to make a new MIDI Mapper setup. From the MIDI Mapper screen, click on New. Enter a name such as "Test" or "All FM" and then click on OK. You will see a screen with four columns and 16 rows. Click on the word None in the 3rd column and the 1st row. Now click on the small arrow that appears on the right of this box. Choose the FM choice or Synthesizer choice. Do this for ports 1 through 16. Then, make sure that the SRC Channel values match the Dest Channel values (i.e. if the SRC Channel is 10, the Dest Channel should be 10). If they are different, change the Dest Channel to match the SRC Channel by clicking in the Dest Channel box and changing its value. Click on OK and close out the MIDI Mapper. For further information on the correct MIDI Mapper configuration for your sound card, please contact your sound card manufacturer.

If you have a General MIDI device, such as a Roland MT-32 or a SoundBlaster AWE 32, please consult your sound card documentation or contact the sound card manufacturer for the correct MIDI Mapper configuration.

WINDOWS 95 SOUND CARD CONFIGURATION
To make sure that your sound card is configured correctly in Windows 95, check the Audio and MIDI settings in the Multimedia section of Control Panel. The Audio setting defines what driver will be used to produce digitized sound (DAC). Speech and sound effects in a game are usually DAC sounds. The MIDI setting indicates what driver is being used for music playback. The following examples are for the SoundBlaster 16:

AUDIO: SB16 Wave Out
MIDI: MIDI for Internal OPL2/OPL3 FM Synthesis

The names of the Audio and MIDI drivers will vary, depending on your sound card. However, they should be similar to these SoundBlaster 16 drivers. For complete information (including driver names and installation instructions) on Windows 95 drivers for your sound card, contact your sound card manufacturer.

DOS SOUND ISSUES

Problem: The game locks up when a character speaks or a sound effect is played.
Solution: This usually happens with SoundBlaster 16 and compatible cards. To fix it, rerun the INSTALL program, change Music to SoundBlaster/Adlib and Audio to Thunderboard. If this does not correct the problem, you may be using non-standard sound card settings, or have a hard ware conflict. See the soundcard chart, SNDCHRT, for lines to use for your soundcard.

Problem: Choppy, repeating or garbled speech.
Solution: This is caused by non-standard sound card settings or a conflict between the sound card and another piece of hardware on your computer. See DOS Sound Card Configuration above for supported settings and refer to your sound card documentation for information on resolving hardware conflicts.

WINDOWS 3.1 SOUND ISSUES

Problem: You hear speech but no music.
Solution: This is caused by an incorrect MIDI Mapper setting. See Windows 3.1 Sound Card Configuration above for information on correctly setting up the MIDI Mapper.

WINDOWS 95 SOUND ISSUES

Problem: No sound or music.
Solution: This usually occurs when your sound card's Windows 95 drivers are not installed correctly. Click on Start, then Settings, Control Panel. Double-click the System icon and choose Device Manager. Then double click on the sound, video and game controllers line. If this line is not present or after clicking on it there is no soundcard driver listed, then the soundcard is not set up correctly for Windows 95. Contact your soundcard manufacturer for the latest Windows 95 drivers and for the correct soundcard set up. See the Windows 95 Soundcard configuration section for further information on checking your Windows 95 sound card drivers.