Origin - Tech - Help - Wing Commander IV MAC

Wing Commander IV:
Macintosh
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.
Startup Configuration	Requirements	Error Messages	General
Controller	Sound	Video	Notes

MAC Startup Configuration
for use only with shortcuts and boot disks.

Required EXTENSIONS

 CD-ROM
	Sound Manager 3.1 (on CD)
	Joystick Manager [if present on your system]
	SCSI Manager[if your system uses any SCSI devices]

Required CONTROL PANELS

 Memory
	Sound Manager  [except for System 7.5.3] 
	Extensions Manager
	Joystick [if present on your system]

Color Code:
BLACK:	Must use the exact lettering provided.
RED:	May need to be modified to reflect the wording in your Extensions manager.
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.
Unfortunately, there is no way to automatically configure the Macintosh Power PC with our configuration-creation software. Locate your Extensions manager and allow ONLY the necessary components to be "on" prior to running Wing Commander 4.

Requirements & Other Useful Info

Minimum Requirements

Power PC, System 7.1 or higher, 8Mb of RAM

Memory Requirements

Free: 4755K Virtual Memory On (8MB Ram)

Free: 5900K (10MB Ram)

Installation Requirements:

Minimum: ~46 MB

Maximum: ~83 MB

To Install:

Put the game disk in the CD-ROM drive, click on the Wing Commander Installer program.

To Run:

Click on the WC4 icon located within the WC4 folder on the hard drive.

To Quit:

Command-Q

Sound Configuration File:

There is no separate sound configuration. For sound trouble, check the troubleshooting section below.

Natively Supported Soundcards:

All hardware supported by your Sound Manager running under System 7.1 or higher.

Savegame File Names

The names of Saved Game files for Wing 4 Macintosh default to the "mission number."

Input Devices

Keyboard

Macintosh Joystick

Mouse

Calibration:

Calibrate joystick in the Macintosh Control Panel

Notes

Configuration Help and Tips:

Memory Information

If you are having problems related to memory, be sure to check your system memory. To accomplish this, click on the APPLE icon, and then choose "About this Mac." The amount of RAM on the computer is listed under "Built-in Memory" while the amount of available memory is listed as "Largest Unused Block." Compare these values to the required values listed above.

Lockups or Error Messages:

If you receive a lockup or a fatal error message while running Wing 4 for the Mac, DELETE the Wing Commander IV preferences before restarting the game. Here's how:

Double-click on the system folder, and then double-click on the preferences folder.
Highlight "Wing Commander IV" and drag it to the Trash can.
Click on the 'special menu' and select "Empty trash."
You're now ready to restart the game. Ensure that your extensions match the required (above).

Optimizing: Setting Minimum and Preferred

Highlight the WC4 executable program and then press COMMAND-I. This will bring up the WC4 Information screen. Under "Memory Requirements" MINIMUM should be set to 4755 Kb while PREFERRED should be set to 5855 on Mac systems with 8MB of Built-in RAM. If you have 10Mb of built-in RAM, set MINIMUM to 5900Kb. PREFERRED can be set to 200Kb less than the "Largest Unused Memory Block."

Optimizing: How to turn Virtual Memory ON:

Click the Apple icon and then choose "Control Panels."
Double-click on Memory.
Under "Virtual Memory," click ON, and use the arrow keys to set the size of your new system "Virtual Memory" to 16Mb.

Wing Commander IV for Macintosh
Common Issues

Error Messages

"There is not enough memory to open WC4... To make more memory available..."
Wing Commander IV will report that there is not enough memory even though your system may have ample built-in RAM. Check to see what other programs are still running. The more programs that run in the "background," the less memory there is for Wing Commander IV. Close all programs except for Wing Commander IV. Also, run only the necessary extensions (listed above), and the game should be able to run more effectively.

"You do not have enough memory to run WC4. Please try to free some memory..."
If the Minimum Memory setting is lower than the default 5900Kb, this message will appear. Open the Wing Commander IV preferences and change the Minimum Memory setting. Refer to the NOTES section above: 'Optimizing : Setting Minimum and Preferred'

"To Run WC4, your Mac must have Sound Manager 3.1"
Even though Sound Manager 3.1 is included with the installation of Wing Commander IV,you must RE-START your computer before it will take effect. After running the INSTALLATION for Wing Commander IV, re-start your computer and try again.

"ERROR -192"
If you are running Wing Commander IV on a 68K Macintosh, this message will appear. Wing Commander IV can only be played on a Power Mac.

"Malloc is returning nil"
This error message appears when you fly "manually" to a waypoint within the game. Use the "AUTOPILOT" feature of Wing Commander IV to 'automatically' fly to the next action area. If you are ALREADY using the "Autopilot" to go from place to place, and have received this error after playing for a long time without interruption, we recommend that you power your computer system down for a while. Re-start the game after a short while and fly from your latest saved game.

"System Error 11 (during mission E1)"
This error appears when you attempt to "match speed" with a 'cap ship' missile. Instead of trying to match speed, use your AFTERBURNERS to overtake the missile. That way, you'll be sure to knock the missile out before it hits its mark.

General

My frame rate is slow / My game pauses during space-flight!
If the game pauses or responds slowly on your system, you may need to 'Defragment' your hard drive. Run Norton Utilities or Mac Tools to optimize your hard drive. In addition, try turning 'OFF' the in-flight video sequences. In-flight video can be a huge processor burden. Using 'Command-T' while in-flight can speed up the game by using smaller object textures. Give it a try (especially when flying ground-based missions). Go to the Wing Commander Options menu and choose 'Quit Other Programs.' This will free up some memory. You might also want to try to install the DATA files on the Wing Commander IV CD to your hard drive.

There are +'s and -'s showing up in the text boxes.
Make sure that your joystick is calibrated in the Macintosh control panel. If you have a throttle stick, make sure it is calibrated as well. It is the absence of good calibration data that causes these +'s and -'s to appear.

Game locks and crashes at random / stutters and pauses during movies.
Generally, persistent yet random lockups and crashes can be the result of using 'RAM Doubler' on your system. Wing Commander IV does not support 'RAM Doubler.' 8 megabytes of 'built-in' RAM is required to run the game.

I have an NEC CD-ROM and I'm getting Lockups and Crashes!
The NEC driver version 5.21 causes lockups and crashes within the game. To solve the problem, revert to an earlier version of this CD-ROM device driver. Contact NEC for technical support if you do not have an earlier version of the driver.

Controller

The Thrustmaster file on the CD-ROM does not work with my system!
The pre-set file on the CD-ROM was intended for use with Thrustware versions 2.0 and later. If you do not have this version of Thrustware, the pre-set file will not work. Create your own file using the version of Thrustware on your system or contact Thrustmaster for information about upgrading your joystick hardware to take advantage of the new 2.0 version.

The game crashes when I go back into spaceflight and pull BACK on the throttle.
This problem appears when using the Thrustmaster WCS Mark I in 'afterburn' position at the end of a mission. Be sure to bring the WCS Mark I out of the 'afterburner' position before you land. The crash should no longer appear.

My joystick won't select conversation 'morale' choices!
If the 'trigger' button on your joystick is set up for 'space-bar,' it will not be able to act as a selection device. To remedy the problem, you can use your Mouse device to make the selections, or go into the machine's control panel and re-configure the joystick 'trigger' button to act as the mouse button (instead of the space-bar).

I lose my calibration and my flight window has a Large Black Border!
If you rmonitor is set to a resolution larger than 640x480, this 'black border' problem will appear. Go to your monitor's control panel and set the resolution back down to 640x480.

The mouse pointer jumps back to the center of the screen randomly!
Although the problem is visible as a 'mouse' issue, it is probably the joystick driver at fault. Try using your joystick in gamelfow scenes instead of the mouse, or contact the joystick manufacturer for more recent drivers for your system.

Sound

My sound volume seems to fluctuate!
This problem does appear on certain systems. Try going to the options screen and selecting a new sound volume. In many cases, this problem will resolve itself within a few minutes of gameplay.

My in-flight comms do not have sound!
Use 'Command-I' to get the "Get Info" screen on Wing Commander IV. Check the Preferred memory. It should be 200Kb less than the 'Largest Unused Block.' If this does not solve the problem, reduce the number of active control panels and extensions. The problem is a matter of memory. With fewer extensions and control panels, the problem should go away.

Video

I get lockups and/or stuttering during the intro video sequence!
If you are running on a machine with 8Mb of built-in RAM, you must turn ON Virtual memory. Without virtual memory, the game's performance can be seriously degraded on 8Mb machines. Graphics detail can compound this problem. While in-flight, use 'Command-P' and choose 'Graphics.' Change your color depth to 256 colors. Additionally, you may want to set the movie video quality to 'Good,' or lower.

I'm getting strange palette shifts and/or screen trash!
When your system's monitor resolution is set to a mode higher than 640x480, this can happen. Check the control panel for your monitor and change the resolution to 640x480.































Copyright 1997 Origin Systems, an Electronic Arts Company