Win95/98 Video Troubleshooting FAQ

This document is intended to help you with problems that can frequently occur in Windows '9x/ME.

The video display shows incorrect colors or textures, lines or black boxes on the screen, or other oddities.

Our game uses Microsoft's DirectX for all video and graphics. Make sure that you have installed the  the latest version available from Microsoft.

If the above solution doesn't fix the problem, you may need to update your video card drivers to the latest versions available from the manufacturer.

To learn more about DirectX such as how to install it, obtain the latest version, or fix problems that can occur in any DirectX application, please see our DirectX Frequently Asked Questions.

To learn how to update your video card drivers, check out our How to Update Your Drivers FAQ.

This means that you have a serious Direct-X problem, so look here.

Windows video hardware acceleration may need to be turned down when using DirectX.

To turn down hardware acceleration on Win95/98/ME:


1. Right-click on the "My Computer" icon on your desktop
2. Click on the "Performance" tab
3. Click on "Graphics"
4. Move the slider bar ONE NOTCH to the left (do NOT set to far left)
5. Click on OK
6. Click on OK once more to exit the system properties panel.
   
If you have Windows-XP then try this sequence instead:


1. Start
2. Control Panel
3. Appearance and Themes
4. Display
5. Settings
6. Advanced
7. Troubleshoot, then go to step 4 above about the Slider.

Now try your game. If you still have problems, repeat this process until the game works, or you can't turn acceleration down any further. On some video cards setting this Windows Acceleration to "None" gives your games their best speed and stability.

If you have video hardware acceleration turned all the way down, and the game still won't run, you may need to turn off DirectX acceleration instead. For details, see our DirectX Frequently Asked Questions.

You can modify your display settings under the Windows '95/98 Display control panel. To get there:

1. Click on the Windows Start button, then on Settings, then on Control Panel.
2. Double-click on the Display icon.
3. Click on the Settings tab.
4. At the left of the Settings window is the color palette option. Set this to the correct setting for your game.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions.
6. Select the correct screen resolution on the right side of the settings window.
   
On newer versions of Windows '95, there is no option for screen resolution. Instead, just set the desktop to the correct size and your screen resolution will automatically change.

If your display does not look right after you switch resolutions, don't panic. Leave your computer alone for approximately 15 seconds, and windows will automatically restore your previous settings.

If you cannot switch over to the correct video mode, you may need to re-install the video drivers for your card, or obtain updated drivers.

Most computer and video card companies keep the latest versions of their hardware drivers on their web sites for free download. If you do not have Internet access, you can usually request drivers by telephone. . To learn more about updating drivers, including a list of major manufacturers, check out our How to Update Your Drivers FAQ.

Our games use DirectX, the DirectX installation process will try to determine what hardware is present in your machine, and install the necessary drivers for your hardware. If the DirectX installer comes across a device it does not recognize, it will recommend that you keep your existing driver installed. If you choose not to do this, a generic DirectX driver will be installed. Either way, the game may not function correctly.

If this is the case, contact your computer company or the manufacturer of the device in question for an updated driver that is compatible with the current version of DirectX. For more information on DirectX, please see our DirectX FAQ.

Check the system requirements for the game that you are playing. If your system does not meet the minimum requirements, it may not be able to play the game at normal speed, resulting in choppiness and skipping.

On some computers the Windows Accelerator conflicts with the speed and stability of games, so see the section about on How can I change my Video Hardware Acceleration Settings?

Does your computer hard disk become busy when the game gets slow? That means you do not have enough free memory. Either you have some other applications are taking the memory, or your computer has less memory than is needed to run the game optimally.

Be sure to close down all other applications when running the game. Other applications may take away valuable system resources that the game needs to run smoothly. To be sure you have shut down ALL of your applications, follow these steps:

1. Find your Windows '95/'98 taskbar. This is the gray bar where your START button is located.
2. For every button on the taskbar except for the start button, right-click once and then left-click on "Close".
3. Do the same for each of the icons on the opposite side of the taskbar. If there is no option to Close or Exit the application, don't worry, we'll deal with that in a moment.
4. Once you have closed down all of the applications that you can using this method, press [control] [alt] [delete] (only once!) to bring up the Windows '95/98 task manager. You will see a list of programs that are still running.
5. The only 2 programs that normally need to be there (some exceptions are possible) are Explorer and Systray. For everything else, click once to highlight the program you wish to close, and then click on "End Task". The task manager will close too, so you will need to press [control] [alt] [delete] again if you need to terminate any other programs.
6. Once you have closed down all of the applications on your system except Explorer and Systray, try running your game again.