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Wing Commander:
The Kilrathi Saga
t e c h n i c a l i n f o r m a t i o n

General Troubleshooting. i.e. This is way too much information.
Boot Configuration	Requirements	Error Messages
General	Keyboard	Controller
Sound	Video	Notes

Windows 95 Boot Configuration
(Native to Windows 95 ; You should need to make no Configuration changes.)

CONFIG.SYS

None : Native to Windows 95

AUTOEXEC.BAT

None : Native to Windows 95

Color Code:
BLACK:	Must use the exact lettering provided.
RED:	May need to be modified to reflect the wording in your C:\CONFIG.SYS or C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT, respectively.
GREEN:	Optional. These are not required to run the game. However you may like to have sound with your game, so leaving these out may not be helpful.
[ITALICIZED]:	Comments and are not to be entered as is. Upper or lower case doesn't matter.
If you are still looking at greek by the time you read this, visit our Boot Configuration page which has a plethera of Boot Disk makers, Short Cut makers, and easy to read, step by step information on how to make them manually.

Requirements & Other Useful Info

Minimum Requirements

Pentium 60Mhz, 16MB of RAM, 2X CD-ROM, Windows 95 with DirectX version 2.0 or later

Memory Requirements

Conventional: n/a

High: 16 MB of XMS

Installation Requirements:

Wing Commander 1: ~26mb

Wing Commander 2: ~30mb

Wing Commander 3:

Low: ~10mb

Medium: ~19mb

High: ~41mb

To Install:

D:\KSINIT.EXE Game will automatically run when the CD-ROM is put into your CD-ROM drive and if your system is set for "Auto Insert Notification."

To Run:

KSINIT This program on the CD will bring up the LAUNCHER program that you can use to run any of the games in Kilrathi Saga

To Quit:

Alt-X

Sound Configuration:

DirectX Sound Configuration for Windows 95

Natively Supported Soundcards:

Sound Cards supported by DirectSound

Savegame File Names

Wing Commander 1:

C:\PROGRAM FILES\KILRATHI SAGA\WC1\GAMEDAT\*.WLD

Wing Commander 2:

C:\PROGRAM FILES\KILRATHI SAGA\WC2\GAMEDAT\*.WC2

Wing Commander 3:

C:\PROGRAM FILES\KILRATHI SAGA\WC3\*.WSG

Controllers

Keyboard

Mouse

Joystick

Throttle and Rudders in Wing Commander 3 only.

Notes

Wing Commander 1 and Wing Commander 2:

New Features:

You can swich to the "no-cockpit" option to get a better field of view in Wing Commander(s) 1 and 2. Press the F1 key while in flight and watch the cockpit disappear. Press F1 to bring it back.

Wing Commander(s) 1 and 2 also allow you to change the frame rate within the game. Using ALT-M or ALT-N can raise or lower the frame rate of the game. This can be quite useful on very difficult missions. Drop the frame rate with ALT-M to get a serious advantage on your opponents!

Turning Sound and Music on and off

A note about turning off sound while playing Wing Commander 2: If you turn off the music while you are in spaceflight, and then land, you will not be able to turn on the sound again until you get back into spaceflight.

Wing Commander 3:

New Features:

Playing Wing Commmander 3 in a window.

If your desktop resolution is set to 800x600 pixels or higher, you will be able to play Wing Commander 3 in a window. This does require a great deal of processing power to achieve, but it's an excellent effect! Check your desktop properties by RIGHT-clicking on your Windows 95 desktop. Select Properties and then select the Settings tab. On the right hand side of your display properties settings window you will see a slider bar that indicates your current desktop resolution. If it is less than 800x600, you will not be able to run Wing Commander 3 in a "window." Try setting it to 800x600 or higher to check it out! If you have slow frame rate, or other problems running the game, take the desktop resolution back down to 640x480 and try the game again.

Changing the video resolution of Wing Commander 3 while in spaceflight.

Wing Commander 3 can be changed to suit your video card's capabilities while in-flight. Use ALT-1 ALT-2 ALT-3 or ALT-4 key combinations to set Wing Commander 3 to different video modes. ALT-1 sets "low-resolution without DirectDraw "page-flipping" and is best when trying to get the fastest frame rate. ALT-2 keeps Wing Commander 3 in low resolution but adds the DirectDraw "page flipping" capabilities. ALT-3 disables the "page flipping" option, but elevates Wing Commander 3 to high resolution. ALT-4 also sets Wing 3 to high resolution mode, but adds DirectDraw "page flipping."

What "VGA" means in Wing Commander 3 for Windows 95.

The acronym "VGA" is used to describe the "low-resolution" mode for Wing Commander 3. Since your Windows 95 desktop is operating in super-VGA (SVGA), the precise "resolution" of Wing Commander 3 is also in SVGA mode. Keep in mind: whenever you see "VGA" in the Wing Commander options screen, it means "low resolution" within your existing desktop resolution.

Command-Line Parameters for Wing Commander 3 for Windows 95.

If you are experiencing performance problems or other technical difficulties with Wing Commander 3 for Windows 95, you may want to try using one or more of the available "Command-line" parameters for running the game. Since the game normally runs like any Windows 95 program, you will have to open an MS-DOS Prompt within Windows 95 to execute the command-line parameters. Click on START, on PROGRAMS and then on MS-DOS PROMPT. Change to the Wing Commander 3 directory on your hard drive (by typing CD\PROGRA~1\KILRAT~1\WC3). Type "WC3W " followed by one of the following switches:

Command-Line parameters:

-D This forces the hardware "double-buffering" to turn off. Can be helpful with video-related problems.
-NO_INTERLACE This disables the scanline "skipping" in the Wing Commander 3 movies.
-NO_SOUND Use this to disable Wing Commander 3's use of DirectSound.
-DEAD_ZONE= When you put a number between 0 and 3 after this switch, the joystick "dead zone" will be affected. Use "WC3W -DEAD_ZONE=1" to set up the joystick sensitivity to 'precise.' Use "WC3W -DEAD_ZONE=3" to widen the dead zone.

Wing Commander : The Kilrathi Saga
Common Issues

Error Messages

"ERROR: Full screen mode init failed. Refer to the readme.txt about conflicts with desktop settings"
This error message will appear if your current video drivers are not set to the right color depth to run the game. To fix this problem, you'll need to set your desktop color depth to 256 Colors. Here's how:

Right-click on the My Computer icon on your Windows 95 desktop.

Double-click on the Control Panel icon.

Double-click on Display

Click on the Settings tab at the top of the Display window.

On the left-hand side of the Settings window you'll see the current Color setting.

Select 256 Color and then click on OK

"ERROR: A required .DLL or file xxx.DLL not found"
This problem can appear due to a bad installation of DirectX. Run the DXSETUP.EXE program and check to see if all of your devices are "Certified." You may need to reinstall DirectX. To do this, run DXSETUP.EXE and select the "Reinstall DirectX" option.

Miscellaneous Problems and Error Messages
For any other problems that you may encounter with Wing Commander : The Kilrathi Saga, we suggest that you try the following:

Scandisk / Defrag Using the Windows 95 Scandisk and Defrag utilities, you can ensure that your system's hard drive is in the best possible condition. For any continued serious error message, we recommend that you run both Scandisk and Defrag on your hard drive.

Check the CD Many times, dust and marks on the surface of the CD-ROM can cause problems. Make sure that the underside of your game CD is clear of any scratches, marks or other debris. You might want to clean the CD-ROM carefully with a cotton cloth.

Hard Disk Space Any of the game's functions under Windows 95 will benefit from ample hard drive space. Delete any programs that you no longer use so that Windows 95 can have more room on your hard drive to save valuable information.

Virtual Memory Check your system's memory configuration under Windows 95 by accessing the "System Properties." Right-Click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop, select Properties and then select Performance. A button marked Virtual Memory will appear at the bottom of this window. Click on it and make certain that you have configured Windows 95 to handle your virtual memory automatically.

Re-Install If your problems continue through many steps of troubleshooting, you may need to remove the program and re-install it. Wing Commander : The Kilrathi Saga may exhibit better performance after reinstallation.

General

Gameplay and Movie Pausing
To solve problems with "pausing" in the game or in the cinematic sequences, try some of these tips:

DirectX Make sure that DirectX is fully installed. Re-install DirectX from the game CD-ROM if you have any doubt. Also, run DXSETUP from the game CD to ensure that all of your hardware is "Certified." If your hardware is not "Certified" to run DirectX, performance of the game will be severely degraded.

DirectX Drivers If your hardware is not "Certified" or if your hardware IS "Certified," but you are still experiencing pauses during gameplay, you may need to contact your hardware manufacturer for a more recent DirectX driver. A more recent driver for your hardware created by the manufacturer can solve a wide variety of performance problems related to Kilrathi Saga.

32-Bit Drivers Right-Click on your "My Computer" icon and select Properties. Click on "Performance" and check for the message that reads "Compatibility mode pagin reduces overall system performance." If you see this error message, it indicates that your system is not running the optimized 32-bit device drivers for your hardware. Without these 32-bit drivers, your game will run poorly. Contact your hardware manufacturer for information about how to get 32-bit drivers installed on your system.

"My Screen Saver keeps popping up during gameplay!"
Wing Commander : The Kilrathi Saga does not disable the screen saver that is active on your system. You will need to manually disable your screen saver. Right click on your Windows 95 desktop and select Properties. Click on the "Screen Saver" tab and disable the current screen saver before you try playing the game again.

Keyboard

"I can't use more than a few keys at a time!"
The way that Kilrathi Saga handles the keyboard input may make flight with the keyboard difficult. We recommend that you fly using a joystick for the best overall performance.

"I keep switching to other applications!"
You should quit all other applications before running Wing Commander : The Kilrathi Saga. Any time that you combine the "ALT" key and the "TAB" key, you will switch to another open application. If you end up doing this, you can simply ALT-TAB to return to Wing Commander.

Controller

"My mouse cursor seems to 'leak' through certain cinematic sequences!"
On certain systems, this problem is unavoidable. You can, however, move the mouse cursor away from the center of the screen to allow the movie sequences to play without any visible "leaking" through.

"Selecting Flightstick Pro or Thrustmaster in the Options Menu causes the setting to revert to regular Joystick!"
In order to get your joystick working with full functionality, you will need to make sure that it is set up in the Windows 95 control panel. Double click on "My Computer," and double-click on the "Control Panel" icon. Select the Joystick icon in this folder. You may need to consult your joystick documentation for information on how to set up your joystick hardware.

"My joystick keeps drifting!"
Return to the Windows 95 Control panel by double-clicking on the "My Computer" icon. Double-click on "Control Panel" and then double-click on the "Joystick" icon. Calibrate and Test your joystick in here. It is best to do this while Wing Commander : The Kilrathi Saga is running in the background. Simply use ALT-TAB while running Wing Commander to return to your Windows Desktop.

Sound

"My Sound Blaster version 1.0 does not work!"
Unfortunately, the sound system used by Kilrathi Saga does not support the original Creative Labs "Sound Blaster." Only the later models from Creative Labs are supported under this version of DirectX sound system.

"My Pro Audio Spectrum is producing high-frequency whines and distortion!"
If you are experiencing this problem, you will need to contact your hardware manufacturer. They will be able to supply you with the most recent DirectX drivers for your sound card, and may be able to solve the problem.

"My sound is distorted during movies or gameplay!"
Your audio hardware may not be fully supported under DirectX version 2. Please contact your hardware manufacturer for information about the latest DirectX drivers available for your sound card. Once these drivers are installed, you should be able to get much better audio performance.

Video

"In spaceflight, the HUD sometimes flashes on and off!"
Certain S3 / ATI video cards will exhibit a random "HUD flash." At this time there is no 'fix' for the problem. You may need to contact your manufacturer for updated DirectX drivers. The installation of these drivers may improve your overall game performance and work-around the "flash" problem.

"My Video is distorted or off-center!"
If your video card drivers are not supported under DirectX or if your DirectX drivers are out of date, you will experience these kinds of problems. Reinstall DirectX and see if the problem goes away. If it does not, you will need to contact your video card manufacturer for the most recent DirectX drivers.










































Copyright 1997 Origin Systems, an Electronic Arts Company